You know the popular Bible story of Abraham and Isaac? It played out in my head like this…
By: Victor Akinsola
Tags: Fiction, Pov, Imagination, Creative Writing, Bible Storytelling

You know the popular Bible story of Abraham and Isaac? It played out in my head like this… victor akinsola Sep 7·5 min read

“Here I am!!!” Habee shouted, suddenly, out of nowhere, and just like the countless times he had screamed those exact same words.

By now everyone was used to the weird ways of the master, they don’t know anyone as weird and dysfunctional as him.

“Something strange is about to happen again” Tahir said to Hancor, they were servants in the gigantic household of the great Habee, the great Habee that is visited by Kings, the great Habee everyone wants on their side, the great Habee with the great I AM, his god. They were just about to rest their heads after a long day of working with the other servants.

“Master Habee has connected to his heavenly bandwidth again” said Hancor and they both laughed. Master Habee had over a thousand servants under him. There was hierarchy, there were cliques and factions, not everybody liked everybody. The most disliked and feared group were the 318, the trained servants who do the master’s dirty, bloody jobs.

Tahir and Hancor pressed their ears to the side of the door and tried to listen to the master’s ramblings, he was talking to himself again, he seemed a bit more distressed than usual, what had the Lord told him this time. They didn’t like that they had to, but the duo and every other servant had the deepest respect for Habee. He was a man of God, clearly, indeed and in speech. They all knew his story, the blind trust that got him to leave his hometown, family, friends, everything to wander foreign lands and how I AM, his god had kept him alive and made him the greatest of all time. Some of the servants placed bets on whether he was eventually going to have a son, an heir to all his wealth and legacy, for Habee had crazy wealth, livestock that couldn’t be numbered, lands that spread beyond the horizon, he was rusty and dusty when they had the bet, Madam Sera, his wife was dilapidated, there seemed to be no hope for the overly anticipated, overhyped heir. When Izark finally came, there was a myriad of feelings in the air, those who won the bet rejoiced, and the losers gnashed their teeth, they lost heavily but soon after Habee threw the largest party ever, everyone forgot their sorrows and rejoiced with the master.

In the early hours of the next day, Master Habee saddled his donkey, chopped wood for a fire for a burnt offering and called on Tahir and Hancor, and Izark, his son to set out with him, they had no idea where they were going but followed Habee quietly.

Tahir and Hancor exchanged glances for the thousandth time, they looked like they were ready to strangle Habee, he had said “come with me” and they had thought it was to the neighboring town or something but three days in, they were still ‘coming with him” they were angry and exhausted. Before long, Habee stopped, told them to look after the donkey and he set out with Izark carrying the chopped wood, both looking grim.

“What’s this weird feeling of despair” Hancor asked no one in particular as they watched the two masters disappear up the hill.

“I also feel something is off” said Tahir as they both sat to rest their legs but soon enough their restlessness and curiosity got the better of them and they followed the trail of father and son, as soon as they saw them in the distance, they crouched swiftly, crawled closer on their bellies, and soon saw the unbelievable, they were about to witness one of the weirdest encounter of their lives, they watched with eyes bulging out of their sockets a sight they never imagined could happen. Habee was tying Izark to the altar he had built and was carefully arranging the chopped wood on the altar. Habee was going to sacrifice his son, Izark. It took a lot of willpower for the servants not to scream out, what had come over their master! They had questions. They instantly remembered I AM had spoken to Habee last night, but they couldn’t believe this was what he told him to do.

“He wants Habee to sacrifice Izark? Tahir asked shocked beyond control.

“The son he waited for so long. The heir to everything, this can’t be right, Tahir” said Hancor

“No, it isn’t, we should do something quickly, and why is Izark not doing anything, why is he just accepting to be killed? Why? asked a confused Tahir.

Habee picked up the knife, raised his hand, and was ready to go in for the kill. Hancor and Tahir covered both their mouths from screaming, they were bewildered but just as Habee could swing low, he paused, they saw him mumble something, the angel of the Lord called Habee from heaven and said “Don’t lay a hand on the boy, do not hurt him in any way, for I know you truly fear God” the servants couldn’t see or hear any of this, they only saw him turn to see a ram caught by its horns in a thicket, they looked at themselves because they were sure that wasn’t there just a minute ago, so how? Habee named the place Yahweh-Yireh which means “the Lord will provide” (history has it that millenniums later, the son of I AM himself was killed on that same hill). Habee untied Izark and replaced him with the mystery ram and killed it instead of his son. I AM appeared to Habee again and said to him “Because you have obeyed me and have not withheld even your son, your only son, I swear by my own name that I will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies and through the descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed- all because you have obeyed me”

As soon as they started to make their way back, Tahir and Hancor rushed down the hill to stay by the donkey and acted like they hadn’t just witnessed another dimension of their weird master. They were incredibly lucky to have found the donkey still waiting patiently by the foot of the hill.

The journey back home was even weirder than when they were coming, the silence was deafening, no one said a word throughout, not Izark, who looked white as a ghost, not Habee, and definitely not the servants.