The Binding of Isaac and Messiah: Law, Martyrdom, and Deliverance in Early Rabbinic Religiosity

8. If Not Now, When? Repentance

Chapter Eight I[Not Now) When? Repentance We have seen that martyrdom as a Binding of Isaac is part of a scenario in which religious man is drawn into a dialectic of Law and martyrdom because he takes being in the world seriously and therefore is painfully sensitive to the existence ofevil in the world. We shall now examine an experiential phenomenon that may serve as a focal point for viewing the directions of Law and martyrdom because of its central place in an experience of their dialectic. The phenomenon we have in mind is that designated by the Hebrew word teshuva, "return," which in a religious context is translated as "repentance." Wisdom was asked, "What shall be the sinner's punishment?" She answered, "Evil pursueth sinners" (Proverbs 13:21). Prophecy was asked,"What shall be the sinner's punishment?" She answered, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die" (Ezekiel 18:4). The Holy One Blessed is He was asked, "What shall be the sinner's punishment?" He answered, "Let him repent and thus be atoned." This is what is written, "Therefore doth He instruct sinners in the way" (Psalms 25:8): He instructs sinners in the way of repentance. (PT Makkot 2:7 [31d]) The nature ofman as known by Wisdom points to a certain continuity and inevitability. Punishment in that view is an epitomization of the sinner's life. In sinning he spins a thread of fate into destruction. So, too, the prophet in his vision sees that road upon which the sinner is treading as a self-entrapment (the homilist has intentionally overlooked the context of Ezekiel's words). The man caught up in that way surely has surrendered to nothingness and death. 147 148 The Binding ofIsaac and Messiah But the Holy One, blessed is he, knows man as he turns to God in yearnmg: Unto Thee, 0 Lord, do I lift up my soul. Show me Thy ways, 0 Lord; Teach me Thy paths. Guide me in Thy truth, and teach me; For Thou art the God of my salvation; For thee do I wait all the day. Remember, 0 Lord, Thy compassions and Thy mercies; For they have been from old. Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions; According to Thy mercy remember Thou me, For Thy goodness' sake, 0 Lord: Good and upright is the Lord: Therefore doth He instruct sinners in the way. For Thy name's sake, 0 Lord, Pardon mine iniquity, for it is great. See mine affliction and my travail: And forgive all my sins. (Psalms 25:1, 4-8, 11, 18) Neither through wisdom nor through vision into the future can the way of repentance be known. As we shall see later, this statement does not arise merely in the whim of the homily. It rather echoes, albeit distantly, different attitudes toward the phenomenon of repentance. We shall have to ask and answer the question What is it about repentance that makes it knowable through God alone and not through Wisdom and Prophecy? If we gain insight in this question we shall be able to understand the different attitudes toward repentance as they find expression in our sources. In Ezekiel we find an already developed and clear notion of repentance : And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying: "Son of man, when a land sinneth against Me by trespassing grievously, and I stretch out My hand upon it, and break the staffofthe bread therefore, and send famine upon it, and cut off from it man and beast; though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God. If I cause evil beasts to pass through the land, and they bereave it, and it be desolate, so that no man may pass through because ofthe beasts; though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor IfNot Now, When? Repentance 149 daughters: they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate. Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say: Let the sword go through the land, so that I cut off from it man and beast; though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be...