Primary Documents: Genesis

I've tried to make Bound a play for people who have all levels of knowledge of the story that Jews traditionally call the Binding of Isaac, from those with a vague memory from a childhood Sunday School tale to those who have done serious comparative scholarship. I hope that some people are taken with an itch to go back to the story, so for them, I thought I would collect some of the texts that I used as inspiration. These are some of the quotes from Genesis.

First, Gen 22:1-14, which we call the Binding or Akedah

And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, [here] I [am]. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only [son] Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.

Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid [it] upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together. And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here [am] I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where [is] the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here [am] I. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only [son] from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind [him] a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said [to] this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.

This is very sparse story-telling. Not a lot of details. I began writing with the idea that I would not contradict the text at all, while of course adding lots and lots and lots of my own imagination. There are two places where I decided to break with the text. First, there is no donkey on stage. This was a technical decision on my part. I did briefly consider having two guys in a donkey suit, but upon reflection I decided that would be distracting, without adding anything other than the opportunity for a brief dance routine in between scenes. The other is in a line of dialogue: I have Abraham address the line to Eliezar alone rather than to the two (unnamed) men of the text. I’ll probably talk a bit more about that line in a later post.

Also relevant is Gen 21:9-21, the casting out of Ishmael:

And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking. Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, [even] with Isaac. And the thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight because of his son.

And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he [is] thy seed.

And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave [it] unto Hagar, putting [it] on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. And she went, and sat her down over against [him] a good way off, as it were a bowshot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against [him], and lift up her voice, and wept.

And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he [is]. Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation. And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink. And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.

These events do not take place within the play, but they are important in the characters’ backgrounds, of course, and they are discussed a couple of times, from different points of view. I did not feel compelled to maintain any fidelity to the text, because of the filtering through the characters’ memories, but I did try to encompass the details in my character building. Ishmael’s character and his relationship with Abraham are of course largely formed by the expulsion, but then Abraham’s relationship with Isaac is formed in the wake of that expulsion as well.

I’ll just put one more bit in before finishing up with Genesis: Gen 15:2-4

After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I [am] thy shield, [and] thy exceeding great reward. And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house [is] this Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. And, behold, the word of the LORD [came] unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.

This is the only mention of Eliezar of Damascus by name in Genesis. Whenever Abraham deals with servants, they are mentioned in the text only as servants, or lads, or something vague like that. So we don’t really know who they are. Later, when the Rabbis start to ask who went with Abraham to visit Lot? and who was the servant who finds Rebecca for Isaac? and who were the servants who go with Abraham and Isaac to Moriah? they answer themselves that it was always Eliezar of Damascus. And why not? But that makes Eliezar of Damascus a pretty interesting guy, don’t you think?

Thanks, -Ed.