Sacrifices and Stories
Hum 110
Gail Sherman

I. Introduction: Questions underlying the lecture:

A. How does the book of Genesis function as a foundation myth?

B. What does sacrifice do?

C. How does Israelite sacrifice compare to Greco-Roman sacrifice?

D. How do representations of sacrifice tell us about the functions of sacrifice in Israelite society during the periods of the First and Second Temple in Jerusalem? What re-interpretations of sacrifice does Genesis encode? How are sacrifice ,and Abraham and Isaac, reinterpreted by later biblical and extra-biblical books?

II. Some ways of looking at sacrifice

A. What does sacrifice do? or, What does "I sacrificed my sleep to come to Hum lecture" mean? Nancy Jay et al.

B. Greco-Roman sacrifice: Hesiod, Theogony, 535-607

C. Israelite sacrifice: Genesis, Exodus, monarchy and the temple in Jerusalem

III. Sacrifice as a way of creating a family, people, nation with kings and priests

A. Stories about sacrifice: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob; Joseph; Moses.

1. Patrilineal descent in Genesis

2. J, E, and P on sacrifice, stories, mothers and fathers

IV. A brief glance at later interpretations of sacrifice and the Akedah (Binding of Isaac).

A. "Man born of woman may be destined to die, but man integrated into an 'eternal' social order to that degree transcends mortality. I use the word 'man' advisedly, for in sacrificially maintained descent groups, 'immortality,' which may be no more than the memory of a name in a genealogy, is commonly a masculine privilege. It is through fathers and sons, not through mothers and daughters, that 'eternal' social continuity is maintained. . . . Where participation in 'eternal' social continuity is a paternal inheritance, mortality itself may be phrased as a maternal inheritance." Nancy Jay, 39-40.

B. When the gods and mortal men were settling their accounts
at Mekone, Prometheus cheerfully took a great ox,
carved it up, and set it before Zeus to trick his mind.
He placed meat, entrails, and fat within a hide
and covered them with the ox's tripe,
but with guile he arranged the white bones of the ox,
covered them with glistening fat, and laid them down as an offer.
Then indeed the father of gods and men said to him:
"son of Iapetos, you outshine all other kings,
but friend, you have divided with self-serving zeal."
These were the sarcastic words of Zeus, whose counsels never perish,
but Prometheus was a skilled crook and he smiled faintly,
all the while mindful of his cunning scheme,
and said: "Sublime Zeus, highest among the everlasting gods,
choose of the two portions whichever your heart desires."
He spoke with guileful intent, and Zeus, whose counsels never perish,
knew the guile and took note of it; so he pondered evils in his mind
for mortal men, evils he meant to bring on them.
With both hands he took up the white fat,
and spiteful anger rushed through his mind and heart
when he saw the white bones of the ox laid out in deceit.
From that time on the tribes of mortal men on earth
have burned the white bones for the gods on smoky altars.
. . .
[Zeus] thereafter never forgot that he had been beguiled
and never gave to ash trees the power of unwearying fire
for the good of men who live on this earth,
. . .but{Prometheus} within a hollowed fennel stalk stole the far-flashing
unwearying fire. This stung the depths of Zeus's mind,
...
so straightway because of the stolen fire he contrived an evil for men
. . .Zeus who roars on high made womaen
to be an evil for men, helpmates in deeds of harshness.
And he bestowed another gift, evil in place of good:
whoever does not wish to marry, fleeing the malice of women,
reaches harsh old age with no one to care for him;
then even if he is well-provided
he dies at the end only to have his livelihood shared
by distant kin.
Hesiod, Theogony, 535-607

C. The story of Isaac is a patriarchal cautionary tale. Isaac is a transformation of the same theme as Abraham but without sacrifice. Like Abraham, Isaac married a patrilineal classificatory sister. Like Abraham, his brother had twelve sons while his own wife was barren. Like Abraham, Isaac claimed his wife was his sister and she spent a time in a foreign king's harem. Like Abraham, he had two sons, the older a "father's son," the younger a "mother's son," who also carried the ambiguous line of descent. the outside/inside contrast, which in Abraham's generation was a feature of the two women (one exogamous, the other endogamous), has shifted to the two sons: Esau was a man of the outdoors, "a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents" (Gen 25:27). The stories of both Abraham and Isaac tell of conflict about descent, but Abraham saved patrilineal descent by sacrificing, and Isaac never sacrificed. In the Isaac stories the descent conflict latent in the Abraham narratives is played out to its full disastrous consequences."
Nancy Jay, Throughout Your Generations Forever, 102; (Jay's emphasis).

D. The blessing of Jacob (Gen 49) . . . is older than the work of [the supposed sources] J, E, or P. . . . As in other Genesis narratives, descent flows through the blessing. All twelve sons were blessed, but only Joseph received a blessing of the mother: "blessings of the breast and of the womb" (49:25). Biblical scholars who try to explain this blessing of the mother do not ask why only Joseph was so blessed, nor do they consider that a social issue of descent may have been involved.

The next verse (49:26a) continues Jacob's blessing and is a lucid and explicit expression of the conflict and resolution of patriarchal descent: It condenses the whole story into a single phrase. . . ."The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors' [literally, 'conceivers' (horai, masculine plural form)] unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of him that was separate from his brethren." . . . The ancient poet needed a word referring to Rebekah and to Laban and probably also to their whole family, including Rachel. (Jacob's struggle was with Laban, not with Rebekah). Not having access to terms like "matrilineal descent group," the author sensibly, grammatically, and aesthetically chose "conceivers," in the masculine plural. The passage is to be understood in this way: The blessings of (and therefore descent from) your father (Jacob, who restored patriliny by sacrifice) have prevailed over the blessings of (descent from) my conceivers (my mother's family: Laban and his line of descent through mothers) unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills. Nancy Jay, 110.

E. As Isaac grew up, he endeared himself to Abraham as his only son and because of his many virtues. He was zealous in the worship of God, and loved and honored his parents. Abraham's happiness focused on Isaac as his successor.

To test his obedience, however, God appeared to Abraham. After reminding him of all the blessings he had lavished on him -- Isaac was only one of his many gifts -- he required that Abraham take his child to Mount Moriah, build an altar, and sacrifice Isaac on it as a burnt offering.

Abraham never thought of disobedience, for he knew that God's will must be done. He did not tell Sarah or any of their household about God's command, for he was afraid that they might try to dissuade him from obeying God. he had Isaac and two servants load a donkey with requisites for sacrifice, and they set out for Mount Moriah. They traveled for two days, and on the third, the mountain came into view. Abraham left the servants in the plain and continued with his son to the mount, on which King David would later erect the temple.

While building the altar, Isaac, now age 25, asked his father what victim they would offer. God would provide the victim, his father replied. But when the altar was finished, Abraham laid the split wood on it and all was ready, and then he said to Isaac, "My son, through many prayers I implored God for your birth. And when you came into the world, I lavished everything on your upbringing, and my highest happiness would have been to see you grow to manhood and become heir to my dominion when I died. But since it is now God's will that I resign you to him, bear this consecration valiantly. Depart this life not by the common road, but sped on your way to God by your own father through the rites of sacrifice."

Isaac received these words with gladness. He exclaimed that if he were to reject the decision of God and of his father, he would deserve never to have been born at all. Indeed, if this were his father's decision alone, it would have been impious to disobey. With that, he rushed to the fateful altar.

And the deed would have been done had not God interposed. forbidding him to kill the lad, God said that he did not desire human sacrifice but had only wanted to test Abraham's obedience. Since he was now sure of it, God was glad that he had bestowed so many blessings upon him, and would continue to watch over him and his people. Isaac would live a long life and have numerous descendants, who would become wealthy, inherit the land of Canaan, and be envied by all men.

After God had spoken, he produced a ram for the sacrifice. Then father and son, greatly rejoicing, embraced one another and returned home to Sarah after the sacrifice, and they lived in bliss.

Not long afterward, Sarah died...."

(Josephus, Antiquities A I, 213-236; trans Paul Maier, 30-31).

F. "And the child [Abraham] began to realize the errors of the land - that everyone was going astray after graven images and after impurity. And he began to pray to the Creator of all so that he might save him from the errors of mankind. . .And he said [to his father], 'What help or advantage do we have from these idols?. . .Worship the God of heaven.' . . .And his father said to him: '. . .Be silent my son, lest they kill you.'" Jubilees 11:16-17, 12:2, 6-7 [mid-second century BCE]; Kugel, 246.

G. "R. Hiyya said: Terah was an idolator. Once he went off somewhere and left Abraham to sell [idols] in his place. A certain man came wishing to buy. [Abraham] said to him: 'How old are you?' He said: 'Fifty.' he said: "Fifty years old and you are going to bow down to something only one day old [that is, this idol]!??' The man went off in embarrasment. Later, a woman came bearing a container of flour. She said to him, 'Here, offer this before them [the idols].' He took a stick and broke them [the idols] and then put the stick into the hand of the biggest of them. When his father came he said to [Abraham], 'What happened to these?' [Abraham] said to [Terah]: . . .'One [idol] said, "Let me be the first to eat," another said, "No, let me be the first to eat," then the biggest one took a stick and broke them [the others].' [Terah said:] 'Why do you mock me - do these idols know anything? [Abraham] said: 'Cannot your ears hear the words coming from your own mouth?' "
Genesis Rabba 38:13; Kugel, 248-9. (A similar story is told in the Apocalypse of Abraham, c. 200 BCE-200CE).

Works Cited:

Alter, Robert and Frank Kermode. The Literary Guide to the Bible. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1987.

Auerbach, Erich. Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature. trans. Willard Trask. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1953.

Feldman, Louis H. Jew And Gentile in the Ancient World. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993.

Jay, Nancy. "Throughout your generations forever:" Sacrifice, Religion and Paternity. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992.

Josephus, trans. Paul L. Maier. Josephus: The Essential Writings. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1988.

Kierkegaard, Soren. Fear and trembling. trans. Walter Lowrie. Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1941.

Kraemer, Ross Shepard. Her Share of The Blessings: Women's Religions among Pagans, Jews, and Christians in the Greco-Roman World. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.

Kugel, James L. Traditions of the Bible: A guide to the Bible as it was at the start of the Common Era. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998.

Spiegel, Shalom. trans Judah Goldin. The last trial : on the legends and lore of the command to Abraham to offer Isaac as a sacrifice: the Akedah. Philadelphia : Jewish Publication Society of America, 1967.