Who's first?

Haiku of sibling rivalry

Rebeckah’s pregnant!

After all these years, Isaac’s

prayers have been answered!

Twins! The two children

fight it out within the womb.

Rebeckah’s anxious.

They are two nations,

says the Lord. The elder one

will serve the younger.

A time to be born.

The first boy was red, hairy.

They named him Esau.

The second emerged,

hand upon his brother’s heel.

They named him Jacob.

Esau the hunter,

loved by his dad; Jake, quiet

loved by Rebeckah.

Let me have some stew,

said Esau. Sure, said Jacob;

Sell me your birthright.

I’m starving to death,

what’s the use of my birthright?

Swear to me! I swear.

Trading his birthright

Esau ate the stew with bread,

and went on his way.

Short term benefit

or some vague future increase;

what would be my choice?

© Ken Rookes 2023

A romantic yarn

Haiku for a happy arrangement

A romantic yarn

from ancient times; how Isaac

came to wed his bride.

The servant was sent

to find a bride from among

the far-off rellies.

The girl drew water

for me and my camels, I

knew she was the one!

Rebeckah receives

bracelets of gold and a ring

for her nose: how cool!

Will you go with him?

Her father asks. She’s feisty:

I’ll give it a go!

The girl demurely

dons her veil before meeting

her husband-to-be.

Isaac, Rebeckah;

they become a couple, with

love sorting it out.

An arranged marriage,

but at least the girl was asked;

she could have said No.

© Ken Rookes 2023

A story most strange

A story most strange

Haiku that challenge our notions of God.

A story most strange;

a father is told to kill

his beloved son.

It was just a test.

We know that. Did Abraham

pass, or did he fail?

Should he have stood firm

and refused God’s mad request?

I hope I would have.

Where is the lamb, Dad?

We have the wood and the fire,

but where is the lamb?

It’s a grim picture;

father poised with knife in hand,

ready for murder.

Just kidding, says God.

Hmm. That’s a relief. Hey God;

strange sense of humour!

How could Abraham

not know the voice that says kill,

can not be from God?

The point of the tale:

God, (unlike others), rejects

human sacrifice.

© Ken Rookes 2023

No laughing matter

Haiku of unexpected fecundity

There, at Mamre’s oaks

Abraham met three strangers;

he made them welcome.

Hospitality:

bread, cheeese and a barbecue;

the men were grateful.

She will have a son,

Sarah, your wife. Hearing this,

the old woman laughed.

Shall we have pleasure;

is life in these old bodies?

(The young don’t think so!)

Why did Sarah laugh?

God wants to know. There’s nothing

too tricky for God!

The thing came to pass

as the Lord had promised them:

Isaac, laughing boy.

Sarah was most pleased;

God has brought laughter to me,

laugh out loud with me!

Abraham, Sarah;

hard to believe such old folk

could become parents!

© Ken Rookes 2023

Carravagio, sacrifice of isaac

a difficult story

but where is the lamb. . .?

The child asks the question

for which his father has no answer,

save that his strange and fearsome God

will provide. And in the end, we,

along with the unquestioningly faithful man,

discover a hapless ram caught by its horns

in a thicket; providentially available

to be offered up in place of the child.

We all heave a sigh of relief,

assured that this terrifying deity

has a heart and is still worth worshipping;

only testing.

It was never God’s intention

that the boy should be killed;

only testing.

It was never God’s intention

that a rampant humanity

should dominate and abuse;

only testing.

It was never God’s intention

that humankind, elevated to the position

of planetary supremo

should mortgage our children’s future;

only testing.

It was never God’s intention

that the obscenely wealthy

should buy and sell the poor;

only testing.

It was never God’s intention

that the anxious and the fearful

should trample on the rights of the foreigner,

and that the plight of the vulnerable

and the stateless should be so carelessly disregarded.

Only testing.

© Ken Rookes 2011