The binding of Isaac is
a story that I have wrestled with for many years. When I
first came to it, was overwhelming
in its injustice. But now I understand that this is a story,
not of God's cruelty, but of God's
infinite love and kindness toward humanity. It is also a story of the
power of surrender.
The Binding of Isaac is about being
in an impossible situation, something that is so
terrible that we think we cannot face it. This is a
common human experience. It is not a question of
the justice or injustice of a situation, it is a
question of how we face a situation we cannot change or
escape. Can we trust the
Divine forces in our lives or do we fight and struggle? I have
been in this situation over and over again with my
health, how do you accept the unacceptable? But I have
accepted it and learned to surrender as Abraham did
and just as Abraham was shown such compassion and
kindness, so have I. The Divine desires us to be
creative luminous beings and if we won't listen to this
desire, the we will be forced to listen but in the
kindest possible way that we can listen to. The act of
surrender is the act of hearing God. More on this in my blog
post.
The first piece is Abraham's
Annunciation when he is told by God of his task. The
second piece is the Binding of Isaac. There
are two more pieces in this series to be completed, the
moment Abraham puts the knife to Isaac's neck and the
unbinding of Isaac. These pieces are in progress
and will be posted.
Spiritual meaning of material used: These
pieces are on sheep skin parchment representing the ram
that Abraham sacrificed. The 22k gold leaf represents
the spiritual perfection achieved by Abraham in his of
of surrender. The pigments are handmade, for the most
part from stones and plants representing the mountain
Abraham climbed for his sacrifice. I also used bone
black a pigment made from charred bones to represent the
ram. For more on this check my forthcoming book Lapis
& Gold: Unlocking the secrets of Medieval
Illuminators.
Abraham's
Annunciation
The writing pouring into Abraham's head is the Hebrew
text from the Bible.
