Abraham

Abraham fell from the sky. He landed in the tall grass, and looked out. The land all around him was lush and fertile. Animals roamed freely. The sky was blue and clear. And he saw it, and knew it was beloved of the Lord.

Of young spirit, strong mind, and bound by sacred Covenant, Abraham established a dynasty in this new land. He had three-score and five in his tribe in the fiftieth year of his reign, when the Aramites came to parley with him.

Their leader, Aram son of Benjamin son of Aram son of Joseph son of Adam, was wroth with Abraham. He decried Abraham; for his despoiling of the land, founding a fixed settlement, against the customs of the Aramites; for stealing from the Aramites their cattle, and their golden idols; and for binding themselves in the sacred Covenant, when the Aramites had always worshiped lesser gods. Abraham would say only that he followed the Lord; and so Aram departed.

He brought together a mighty army, formed of a half-dozen tribes all jealous and angry of the tribe of Abraham. Of them, the Jehovites did number two-score and six, the Sarmites numbered a score and fourteen, the Karamites numbered two-score and nine, the Jeiganites numbered three-score and three, the Onanites numbered two-score and one, and the Aramites numbered four-score and sixteen. And they gathered in the valley of the Abrahamites; and the hearts of their enemies were afraid.

Lo, Abraham's people did counsel him to make amends, or to flee; but his heart was stern and the Lord's eyes were upon him, and he did not. Instead he rallied his people to war, garbed his only son, Isaac, with his own hands.

The Lord favored them, and they were as a scythe unto the Aramites and the other tribes. The Aramites were cut down by the fury of the Abrahamites' attack, and their allies deserted them in their time of need, desiring to profit from their defeat. And on the field of battle, surrounded by the fallen of his foe, Abraham's heart was made glad.

Many of the Abrahamites, too, lay dead. Isaac looked upon them, and saw his cousin, his uncle, his friend. And he looked unto the Aramite dead, and he saw the same; for, even as all men are brothers unto the Lord, Abraham's wife was of the Aramites, and so in this battle, brother had fought brother. And Isaac was angered.

He looked unto the Abrahamites, and cried out, What have we wrought? Lo, we were told that we should fight for the Lord; but as the Lord decries murder, so we have murdered; as the Lord saith, "Love thine father", we have laid him cold on the ground. Abraham would sacrifice his own son for war. We are betrayed. And Abraham was cast out from the tribe, to be forgotten that the Covenant might be restored.

And Isaac ordered a fatted calf sacrificed to the Lord; and he met with Benjamin, son of Aram, and gave him poultry and goats, that the Aramites might yet live. And so was Isaac known as the father of his tribe, a man of peace; and Abraham was forgotten in the annals of the Isaacites.

And Abraham did wander alone in the wilderness, for forty days and forty nights. And he did find himself in the kingdom of the Pharaoh; and as he was brought to high station through his cunning and knowledge, his thoughts never strayed long from revenge, for he was one who set brother against brother, father against son, and unto his death, he found filicide the sweetest hope.