His Only Son (2023) Movie Script
1
[musical swirl ]
[low, soft strings ]
[music brightens ]
[music swells ]
THE LORD:
[whispers] Abraham.
- [gasps]
[soft music ]
[wind blowing]
[soft strings ]
[wind blowing]
- Lord...
here I am.
THE LORD:
Take now your son...
your only son, Isaac
whom you love...
and go to the land
of Moriah.
And there, offer him,
as a burnt offering
on one of the mountains
I will tell you.
ABRAHAM:
Oh, Lord!
[crying]
No!
No!!!
[Solo horn ]
[acoustic guitar ]
[hammer pounds]
SARAH:
Abraham?
What are you doing,
Abraham?
All this commotion...
so early!
Abraham?!
- The Lord's asked
for a sacrifice.
- He has spoken
to you?
He hasn't done that
in years.
- I must go
to Moriah.
- Moriah?!
It'll take two days'
to journey--
- It'll take three.
- Why don't you build Him
an altar here...
as you did
in Shechem?
As you did
in Hebron?
- Because He says
Moriah.
- But traipsing
across the wilderness,
as old as we are--
- Sarah!
It is not my decision
to make!
The Lord has said
to go to Moriah.
Take your questions
to Him.
- When do we leave?
- Isaac and I
will go alone.
SARAH:
Isaac?
Why Isaac?
Why not one
of the other men?
- Because the Lord
commands it...
- You know how much
that troubles me.
- I know.
- The road is
a dangerous place, Abraham.
- The Lord has set us
on this path.
He will guide us...
regardless.
- But still,
let me rest easy.
take a few other men
with you.
[sheep bleating]
- My lord!
- Eliezer.
- How are you
this morning?
- The Lord came to me
last night.
- Truly?!
- I haven't heard you
say those words in--
- In a long time...
- A very long time.
- I must go
to Moriah.
- Moriah?
What reason?
- I must make a sacrifice
to Him there.
- Quite a distance
for a sacrifice.
- Sarah said
the same.
She said I should
take a couple men
along with
Isaac and I.
- Starting to worry about you
in your old age, huh, is she?
- So...
who can you spare?
- [shouting]
Kelzar!
- You know, you don't need
to volunteer your own son.
- No, I don't,
but if I must stay here
and manage your house,
at least let me send
my flesh and blood in my place.
Plus,
he's the best man I have.
- All the more reason
for him to stay here.
You know, there is some truth
to Sarah's worries--
the road can be...
unpredictable.
- Abraham...
you forget,
since we first entered
this land decades ago,
I have seen
the bounds of protection
the Living God
has placed around you,
by your side.
There's no place safer
for my son to be.
- Lord Abraham,
good morning!
- Good morning,
son.
- Yes, Father?
- The Lord called our master
to a short journey, to Moriah,
to give a sacrifice
there.
I want you
to go with him...
if he allows.
- Of course.
- Take another one
of your men with you,
and ensure that our master
has everything he needs.
- Yes, Father.
When do we leave?
- As soon as we can.
[soft music ]
- Father?
- Is something
the matter?
- How is your morning,
my son?
- A young lamb slipped into
the narrow wash in the west end.
The other shepherds had
to lower me down on a line
to get her out.
- They had to
lower you down?
- Someone had
to do it...
why not me?
It set us back
a bit, but...
we'll make up time
by day's end.
- Good.
- How about you,
Father?
How is
your morning?
The Lord came to me
last night.
- What?
The Lord God?!
- Yes.
- In a dream?!
- He stood
before me...
just as you stand
before me now.
- What did He say?
- He says we are to go
to Moriah, you and I...
and make a sacrifice
to Him there.
- Moriah?
Where is that?
- North,
about a three-day walk.
Pack a bag
and meet me at my tent.
We leave shortly.
- But my tasks--
- Eliezer
will see to them.
[birdsong]
- Is everything
all right?
- Almost ready,
making the final
adjustments.
- Remind me your name.
- Me?
Eshcolam.
- You're one
of the shepherds?
- I do what's needed,
what I'm told.
I tend to their goats,
mostly.
- Sorry to keep you
waiting, Father.
- Here.
- Are we ready?
- Ready.
- All right...
let's move.
SARAH:
Wait!
Isaac!
KELZAR: Leaving without
kissing your mother?
[scoffs]
- Don't you leave without
telling your mother goodbye.
Hmm?
Look after
your father.
He's not as young
as he used to be.
- Ha, mistress,
my lord's hair may be gray,
but his legs
are still strong.
- I'll be the judge
of my husband's legs.
- Look after him.
- I will.
- Where have
the years gone?
- We should be
on our way.
- I know.
I know.
Where have
the years gone?
Make sure no harm
comes to our son.
- God is with us.
- God is with us.
[stirring music swells ]
[panting]
Abram?
Abram?!
- What's happened?!
What's wrong?!
- What is it,
Abram?
Are you harmed?!
- What is it,
Abram?
Abram!
- I...
uh...
I saw...
God...
- You saw a god?
- I saw God...
The God.
He appeared as a man
before me.
He spoke to me.
- What are you
saying?
- I must go to a land
He will show me.
- What?
For how long?
- For good.
- Abram...
our good name,
our home,
our place
at the temple.
- Everything
has changed.
I can no longer serve
the gods of my father.
- This is blasphemy.
- You cannot
blaspheme a lie.
- Abram,
don't say it--
- He has promised to
make of me a great name...
a great nation,
that all the families
of the earth
will be blessed
through...
- A nation?
We haven't
even a son.
- We will.
- How long
have we tried?
- He will provide.
He--He will
make a way.
- Abram, you don't
even know this God!
How do you know
this god is even good?!
How do you know
He is even a god at all?
- Sarai...
He is.
There is
no other God.
- How do you know this,
Abram?!
- I know.
I know.
I know.
[stirring music ]
[horses whinny and gallop]
- Clear the path.
[horses nicker and whinny]
- Good day,
gentlemen.
Where are you
headed?
- We're going north.
[horse whinnies]
- I can see that...
Where?
- Up beyond Hebron.
- There's a tribute
to be paid.
This road belongs to Abimelech,
King of Pelesheth.
- I know who
owns this road.
I have given your king
plenty of tributes.
- Oh, you have?
- Have you given a tithe
of those goods you carry there?
- We carry nothing
of value...
- Come now, if you
have nothing of value,
why carry it
at all?
- We have nothing!
- Isaac!
- Don't speak
out of turn, boy--
your grandfather and I
are having a conversation...
- He is my father!
- That's enough,
Isaac!
[supplies thud on ground]
COMRADE 1: Nothing
but food and water...
COMRADE 2: Be sure
to check their persons.
- What is the purpose
of your travels?
- I go to give a sacrifice
to the Lord God.
- The Lord God?
- What is your name,
old man?
- Abraham.
- Once called Abram?
Of the Kasdim?
- The man who defeated
the kings of the east
and freed
the captives of Sodom...
all with an army
of shepherds?
- That was
a long time ago.
- Our king
speaks highly of you.
Mount up.
We're losing
the light.
- May your God
watch over you...
the road holds
the unexpected.
Beware of
the wild beasts...
careful the animals
as well.
- Seafaring dogs.
- Those are my people.
- That's right...
I forgot.
Well, next time
can you tell your people
not to scatter our supplies
all over the road?
ABRAHAM:
Praise be to God,
He has delivered you
from that path.
KELZAR: We should start camp
before it's full night.
- Mm.
These are good.
- That horseman
today...
he spoke of you
leading an army...
When was this?
ABRAHAM:
There was no army...
only herdsmen...
armed with whatever weapons
we could find.
- And...
the power of God.
[fire crackling]
- For what purpose?
Why did you need to
save the Sodomites?
- Kings from Shinar
in the east
had come up against the kings
of Sodom, Gomorrah
and their
surrounding cities.
They pillaged
all they could find
and took those
left there captive.
They made it beyond Damascus
before we could reach them.
I had family
among the captives...
So I did
what I had to do.
- My father's
rarely spoken of this.
- I know.
- To travel
that far...
putting your life
on the line...
rescuing all
those people...
only to have them burn
with their cities later.
You must have felt your efforts
were for nothing.
- The people of Sodom were
deeply wicked and depraved.
ABRAHAM: We are
no different...
when we go
our own way.
[fire crackling]
[fire crackling, winds blowing]
[soft, tender music ]
THE LORD:
Abram.
- Lord!
THE LORD:
To your descendants...
I will give
this land.
Count the stars
if you are able.
So shall
your descendants be.
[in dream]
- Father...
Father!
Father.
The sun is risen.
[breathing heavily]
[winds blowing]
- It's late.
- Behold your
inheritance...
...a dead land.
Your flocks
are starving.
Your people will
soon starve as well.
What now,
Abram?
Hmm?
This--this God has lead you
right into a famine.
- The Lord
has made a promise...
- My time has come upon me
once again.
So not only has He lead you
to a barren land...
He has made your wife
to be barren as well.
We can't stay here.
We need to go
back home...
- No...
no turning back.
- Then what,
Abram?!
- I have heard
from the women here
that many of them
are going to Egypt.
The river is full
and the land, fertile.
Maybe we should
go there as well.
[water burbling]
[birdsong]
- So, Esh...
you think your mother's
faring well without you?
- I suppose.
The northern flock
was just sheared.
She's so busy,
she may not have
even noticed I've gone.
How 'bout
your mother?
- I'm certain she fares
better than any of us...
being now
in the Lord's presence.
- Oh, that's right.
I forgot.
- That's all right.
Your mother,
however...
she's probably in a living hell
with you gone.
- What's happened here?
- Who would leave
all this behind?
- That doesn't
belong to us.
- What a waste.
- We should
get moving.
- There's
someone here!
- Isaac, wait!
- Sir?!
Sir,
what happened?!
Who did this
to you?
- They took
my daughter.
He's bled out
a lot!
- We should load him
into his cart
and take him
back to Hebron.
- Th-they... took...
my daugh-ter.
- What?
Who's they?
- [whispered]
The men.
- What men?
What men?
What men?
What men?!
[somber music ]
ISAAC: Who could have
done this?
- The horsemen.
- From yesterday?
- How can
you be so sure?!
- What do we do
with him?
- Nothing.
- Shouldn't we
bury him?
- What for?
For him to lie
in an unknown grave?
If he's buried,
he's forgotten.
If he's left here
by the road,
he stands
as a witness...
a witness to the depth
of which mankind has fallen.
[soft music ]
ISAAC:
Is that Hebron?
ABRAHAM:
Yes.
- That's Hebron.
[woman coughing]
[Sarah crying]
- We going in?
- Now.
- What are you doing?
- Praying...
- Wait!
- We don't pray
like this anymore,
like the old ways.
We pray to
The Lord Most High...
not to stones or the stars
or the moon...
- I do pray to Him...
and I pray
to Him...
and I pray
to Him...
...just as you said
we should.
But why doesn't He
hear me?
- He hears you.
He does.
- It's been
ten years...
ten years...
since we left home.
You say--
you say
He promised us land...
yet we haven't even a plot
to our name.
You said He promised us
descendants;
yet here I am,
still barren...
and aging.
- The Lord
will provide.
- When, Abram?!
When?
- When He wills.
- You cannot
have a nation...
if you cannot
even have a son.
[music swells ]
- [whispers]
How much longer?
How much longer,
Lord?
[loud musical flourish]
[stirring music ]
THE LORD: Do not
be afraid, Abram.
[Abram coughing]
I AM your shield...
your exceedingly
great reward.
- Lord God,
what will You give me,
seeing I remain
childless?
[coughing]
And the heir of my house
is Eliezer of Damascus.
You have given me
no offspring.
A servant in my house
is my heir.
A servant in my house
is my heir.
[stirring music ]
THE LORD: This servant
shall not be your heir...
but one who will come
from your own body
shall be your heir.
[background voices and music]
- Some men
are approaching.
Prepare the tent.
Turn aside men,
come.
I have beauties
for all your tastes.
Come!
Anything you want,
I have it,
I have it!
If these are not
to your liking,
I have even more
in my city!
Relax,
you deserve it!
Or not.
Whatever you want!
Whatever you wish!
Satisfy
your desires.
ABRAHAM:
Keep to the path.
- Come!
Whatever you wish,
I have.
He who is weary,
will find rest here!
[donkey brays and nickers]
KELZAR: It's different
than I remember it.
- You lived
in Hebron?
KELZAR:
We all did.
That was before
Isaac's time.
I was actually
born there.
- Was Ishmael
born there as well?
- Yes...
he was born there
as too.
[bird cawing]
[panting]
- Sarai!
- What?
What on earth?
- The Lord came to me!
- Hagar, bring a bowl
of water!
- Are you hurt?!
- No.
- Where have you been?
It's been
over a day.
- With the Lord.
He came to me.
First, in a vision
and then here in this tent.
- What?
- Then He took me out
into the night.
- Mistress...
- Place it
on the table.
- And?
- He says--He says
He will give me descendants
as numerous
as the stars!
- (quietly)
My lord...
- I'll take care
of it.
- Here, sit.
When I woke yesterday,
I looked everywhere for you.
Before long,
I began to panic.
- I'm sorry.
- I thought
the Mesopotamians
had come
in retaliation
and taken you
from me.
- I should
have told you.
I'm sorry.
- Finally,
I found Eliezer.
He said you had taken a heifer
and some livestock.
- Yes, yes,
the Lord has--
- Required
a sacrifice?
- No.
He has made
a covenant...
the promise of descendants
and this land.
- Abram,
I heard this before.
- No, but now
there's more.
The Lord has made
a covenant.
It cannot
be broken.
- Well, how does He intend
to bring this to pass?
Through the line
of Eliezer?
- Eliezer of Damascus
will no longer need be my heir.
The Lord has said that my heir
will come from my own body.
- Your body.
- Yes.
- Your body.
[crying] I am like a dry seed
in the summer sun...
I can bear you
no heir.
- No...
the Lord has said--
- The Lord has said He will
make a nation of you ...
give you
descendants...
give you
an heir...
of your body...
not mine.
- No.
- Yes.
For ten years--
for ten years
He has promised this.
I understand now.
I understand.
If the Lord
has restrained me
from bearing children...
go into my maid, Hagar,
the Egyptian.
- Why would you
say that?
- Perhaps through her
I'll bear children.
- No, I can't!
I can't go
and lie with--
- Abram, noble men back home
do the same.
- But this can't
be the Lord's plan.
- When He first
came to you in Ur,
He told you to
leave your country.
He told you to
leave your family, hmm?
Maybe all along...
you needed
to have left me.
- No.
Sarai--
- [crying] Husband,
He has a plan for you.
- Sarai.
- I will not
stand in your way.
- You're not standing
in the way of that.
You're standing
by my side.
You're my wife.
- Yes...
now, let me be
a good wife.
[soft music ]
[crying]
[wind blowing]
[donkey braying]
- We'll stop there
and make camp.
I'll gather wood and kindling
for the fire.
- Why don't you
have Esh do that?
- No.
We need to be unpacked
before we lose the light.
- Yes, right.
- We can use some of the wood
we already have.
- No.
We'll need
all of it...
for tomorrow.
[knife slides out of sheath]
- Father!
[chuckling]
It's only me.
- This place is sprawling
with wolf tracks.
ISAAC:
Should we move camp?
- No; they'll fear the light,
once the fire's lit.
- They're nearly
all set,
so I thought I'd come
and give you a hand.
- All right.
tie this bundle.
Get the fire started
before we're in the dark.
- My lord.
May I ask you
a question?
Why is the Lord having you
trek all this way
for a sacrifice?
- I don't know.
- You don't know?!
- Well, if sacrifices
earn greater favor,
then you're sure
to gain--
- The Lord's favor
is not earned.
- But...
how can you say that,
when, clearly,
you've earned it yourself?
- I have earned
nothing.
One who thinks he can stand
before the Most High God
and offer his own filthy,
feeble deeds as a bargain...
is blind to
the holiness of God,
and blind to the depths
of his own sin.
- Blind...
So am I blind?
- KELZAR:
Esh!
- Everyone's blind...
until their eyes
are opened.
- Is that
some sort of riddle?
- If the Lord God
stands infinitely holy...
then any sin
must pit us infinitely
opposed to Him.
How can a man
bridge such a chasm?
We are lost at sea
paddling into the wind...
until the Lord
comes to us ...
He makes the way.
I gave sacrifice
after sacrifice
in the temples of the gods
of my fathers...
thinking I was
nearing the divine.
But all of it,
all that effort,
all those rites
and rituals,
all I was doing was--
was paddling
into the wind.
- You were sacrificing
to the wrong gods.
- False gods.
But even if I were sacrificing
in the name of the Lord,
my faith was placed in
my own abilities, not His--
how much
I could give,
how much
I could do.
I believed
I could--
I believed
I could...
right my own wrongs.
But,
in spite of it all,
in spite of
all I'd done...
in spite of myself,
while on my way to serve
those demons I called gods,
the Lord Himself
came to me.
He appeared
before me.
And--and in an instant,
I was undone.
When I saw Him,
I saw myself
for who I really was--
worthless,
apart from His grace.
- Your eyes were opened.
- Then why
all this way?
Why go
all this way?
Go through
all this effort?
- Because this is
what the Lord commands.
- If He's the One
who makes the way,
why would He
require sacrifices?
- I suppose...
He has us do this
in remembrance,
as a reminder.
- To remind us
of what?
- That death
is the penalty for sin.
- But how is
that not--?
As you make
sacrifices,
you are,
yourself,
making payments
for the sins you've done,
righting
your own wrongs.
The death you say
He requires...
it is a life
for a life.
ISAAC: How does the life
of an animal
measure up to
that of a man?
- It cannot.
- Then why journey
all this way,
if only
for some symbol;
if that's
all it is?
KELZAR:
Esh,
that's enough
belaboring.
- Who can know
the mind of God,
His ways,
His thoughts?
He has His reason
for commanding a sacrifice,
be it a symbol,
or a memorial,
whatever the purpose,
the Lord knows...
and it must be good.
- You believe that?
- I must believe that.
- I don't know,
to trek so far...
seems more like some act
of penance for some great sin.
[somber music ]
- She shall be a wife
to you as well.
[birdcalls]
[Sarah crying]
- Lord have mercy.
[owl hoots]
[panting]
- Oh, Lord...
my sin has been great
before You, I know.
And if this is
Your retribution,
it is just.
But Lord God,
I beg You...
I beg You
for Your mercy.
Do not let my sins
be on my son's head...
the son
You promised.
What's Your purpose
in this?
If this is
Your judgment on me...
then take my life,
not his.
Take my life,
not his.
Not his, Lord;
take me.
Take me.
Take me!
Take me!!
[crying]
Lord, I lay--I lay
my life down at Your feet.
It is Yours.
Please hear me,
Lord.
Please grant me this,
by Your grace,
Lord, please...
please.
Please hear me.
Please.
[crying]
Please.
[crying]
- Your brazenness
last night...
is unacceptable.
You will
show him respect.
- Just as he shows respect
to me and my people?
- Esh...
he's right
when he tells you
that you're better off
in his house
than with those people.
They're ruthless
and wicked.
- So I should drop down
and kiss his feet
for giving me the honor
of being his slave?
- Much better to be a slave
to the righteous
than a slave
to the wicked.
- Righteous?
Are you
delusional?
Or is your flattery
only because of your position?
- What position?
- You're the son
of the chief servant.
Do you not see how
advantageous your situation is?
- I love my master.
- With Ishmael and his mother,
Hagar, banished,
if anything
were to befall Isaac,
His inheritance would revert
back to your father,
back to you.
- No.
- Oh, so this has
crossed your mind.
- Stop.
Isaac is
my friend.
- And Ishmael
was mine!
- You've given the devil
a foothold in your mind.
Shut your mouth
and put away those thoughts.
- Think of your progeny.
How else will they be
anything more than slaves?
- That's enough!
Don't give me a reason to
bring a report to my father.
- Your master's not
as righteous as you claim...
[intense music]
[sheep bleating]
- Sarai?
What's wrong?
- Everything is wrong.
- What?
- Don't play ignorant
with me!
I have followed you
all these years.
I have clung to you
through every trial,
every day,
every week,
every month,
year after year...
waiting for what you claimed
the Lord has promised.
And now,
after all this...
what do I have?
Hmm?
A husband that
I must share...
a bed that
has been stained...
and a hope that
has faded away.
No.
No!
Don't act like
you care for me!
It's you!
- It's your fault!
All of this
is your fault!
Your fault;
it's all I have.
[crying]
No...
I'm such a fool.
- I'm sorry.
I'm so sorry
for this long-suffering.
We must believe the Lord's
working something in it all.
Look at me.
We must cling
to our faith.
- As you did...
when you went
into my handmaiden?
- You gave her to me.
I protested.
- You protested?!
- Yes.
- The child in her belly
would say otherwise!
- You suggested that.
- I was a wife striving
to please her husband!
Seeing the disappointment
in your eyes,
month after month,
year after year.
[crying] It broke me,
Abram.
I was broken.
So in weakness,
I gave my maid
into your embrace.
But you--
you embraced her!
You took her!
You laid with her!
You! You!
And now that she
has conceived,
I am disgraceful
in her eyes--
walking around like
this is her household.
[crying]
I hear the whispers.
The way she looks
at you.
The way she looks
at me.
She vies for my place.
And she has it.
- No.
- Yes!
- No, she doesn't
have it.
- You may have
your heir,
you may have
your nation,
you may have
everything.
But know this...
your house now stands
divided, Abram.
And it's on you,
Abram.
Let the Lord be the Judge
between you and I.
- Listen to me.
My wife, I--
I--
- You what?
- She does not
have your place...
If there's
any contention,
do with her
as you will.
Hagar is your maid.
- Do not preach to me
about faith any longer.
ISAAC:
Is today the day?
- Hmm?
- We'll make it
to Moriah today?
- [softly]
Yes.
We'll make it
to Moriah today.
ISAAC:
Beautiful.
How can the Lord be so good--
as to give us all this?
What can we ever give
in return?
- We should
be on our way.
- Father?!
What have I done?
- You have
done nothing.
- Your silence and separation
these past few days...
what is it?
- Sometimes...
sometimes the Lord calls us
to great tasks...
impossible tasks.
- Is anything too difficult
for the Lord?
- No.
No, my son...
no.
KELZAR: All's loaded
and ready, my lord!
KELZAR:
Is this it?
ABRAHAM:
This is Ephrathah.
- I have never
noticed that before.
Is that from your time
in Egypt?
ABRAHAM:
No...
these aren't
Egyptian.
- What does it say?
- I don't know.
This was
my father's staff.
It was his father's
before him,
His father's before him,
and so on,
It's a language
now forgotten, I suppose.
- I never knew that.
- And some day
he'll hand it down to you.
ISAAC:
May I see it?
Wow.
This is amazing.
- One more thing
for you to inherit.
- These last days
on the road,
a question has
lingered in my mind.
If you were willing
to save wicked Sodomites
from the hands of foreign kings
all those years ago...
why do you hold
such a bitter disdain
for the Pelishtiy,
my people, today?
ABRAHAM:
I do not disdain them.
- Then why are you so quick
to belittle them,
and so quick
to blame them
for the murder of that man
on the road?
- I disdain
their deeds--
and I blame them
for that man's murder...
and for the robbing
of his daughter,
because it is like them
to do such a thing.
- Oh, it's like them
to do so?
- Yes.
- And how
do you know this?
- Because they
once took my wife.
They placed her in the harem
of Abimelech their king.
But the Lord plagued
his house and his people.
So when he found out
she was my wife,
he gave her back--
along with wealth and servants
as repayment.
And so you and your mother
entered into my household.
Praise God Abimelech
hadn't yet lain with her.
- That still doesn't prove
that that man's daughter
was taken
by men of Pelesheth.
- No,
it doesn't,
but the odds
are in their favor.
Wicked kings are renowned
for storing up stolen women.
Ask your mother
if she would disagree.
Ultimately, however,
in this world,
all men are capable
of such evil.
- Even you?
- Yes, even me.
Apart from
my God's grace,
all men are capable
of much worse.
Praise God that
He has delivered you out
from under
such taskmasters.
- You pride yourself
on being a safe haven
for pagan refugees?
- Pride myself?
If I can point man
back to his Creator...
then to God
be the glory.
- Point man
back to his Creator.
Is that
what you were doing
when you banished your own son
with his Egyptian mother?
- Eshcolam!
My father will hear
of your insolence!
- It's all right.
I'd rather answer
his question
and bring truth
to light
than allow animosity
to fester.
When Isaac
was very young,
Ishmael's scoffing towards him
became too much to bear.
We had seen the same contention
in his mother years before.
Eventually, the Lord had said
to send them away.
- The Lord said.
- It brought me
great pain...
but the Lord says
He will make a great nation
of him as my seed...
and that 12 princes
will come from his line.
- Does that help
settle your conscience?
- Get out!
- I'm not finished!
- Yes, you are!
- You give yourself license
to do whatever you wish
as long as you can say,
"the Lord has said!"
Bastardize
your son--
ABRAHAM:
Kelzar, wait.
ESHCOLAM: --enslave
whoever you wish,
ABRAHAM:
Kelzar!
mutilate the men
of your house!
- Wait!
- I know
your intentions!
You come plant yourself here
in my homeland
and seek to build a slave army
to overthrow my people!
You think you deserve
this land?!
- No...
no;
neither do you.
What man deserves
any good thing in this world?
- You expect me
to praise your God
for giving me the privilege
of being your slave...
...O master
of righteousness ?!
- That's it!
I'm going to bring you
back home by a rope!
Isaac,
grab the vine.
- What torments you,
Abraham?!
Take your hands
off me!
Tell us what
you're hiding!
What you scream of
at night!
[thud]
- Ahh!
- This is my land!
[thud]
[horse neighs]
[galloping horse hooves]
[horse nickers]
[horseman laughing]
[horse neighs]
LEAD HORSEMAN:
Well done, old man.
Seems our
warrior shepherd
is still one to be
reckoned with...
even in the twilight
of his years!
Abram
of the Kasdim.
- Abraham.
- Having a bit
of a scuffle, are we?
You know, you shouldn't charge
your master like that.
Especially one known
to conquer kings.
You'll be fortunate
if he doesn't
put you to death for it.
ABRAHAM: It's only
a misunderstanding.
LEAD HORSEMAN:
If I'm not mistaken,
you were headed
to Hebron.
Did you miss it?
It's a day's walk
back that way.
- "Beyond Hebron"
is what I said.
- Beyond...
certainly well beyond.
If you were
more truthful,
I would've been
more intentional
about collecting
a tithe
for the extent of which
you used my king's road.
- Looks to me like you've
taken enough "tithes" already!
- Isaac,
quiet yourself!
- Looks to me
you need a lesson
in speaking
out of turn, boy.
- We are far
from the coast.
Abimelech has no territory
this far into Canaan.
- Our king
is a man of ambition.
- And since when
does tithing
require robbing a poor father
of his daughter?
- You speak of what
you do not know, boy.
- Put your sword away.
You can take
whatever you want.
- I know exactly
of what I speak...
a man slain
on the road,
whose dying lips only spoke
of his stolen daughter.
- Isaac!
[girl crying]
ISAAC:
You snakes!
You think you can flee the
condemnation that awaits you?!
- Come to me.
I will give your flesh
to the birds of the air
and the beasts
of the field.
- Let the girl go!
- We've come only to sacrifice
to the Lord God!
Take what you want;
we'll be on our way!
- How about I take you
as a tithe?
- You will not!
- So be it.
My life...
for hers.
COMRADE 4: She's used goods
now anyway.
[crying]
We can make him
an effeminate!
- [laughing] Many in the court
will love that!
- You will do
nothing...
other than leave
right now!
- Stop!
How about I cut a tenth
of your son's body...
we'll call it
a day?
- My son
speaks the truth.
You cannot escape the eternal
torment that awaits you.
The road
you're on now
will only lead
to fire and flame.
Now,
let go of my son!
- Isaac!
- Watch out!
SARAH: Do not preach to me
about faith any longer.
If all your hopes were
dashed upon the rock...
and all that you loved
was lost...
would your faith
still stand?
Or would you curse God
to His face?
THE LORD:
Should I hide
what I am about to do
from Abraham?
For I have chosen him,
so that he will
command his children
and his house
after him,
to keep the way
of the LORD.
This is how the LORD
will fulfill to Abraham
what He promised him.
KELZAR:
Get away from him!
Don't touch him!
COMRADE 1:
Captain!
The king will have your head
if he gets word of this!
KELZAR:
You must leave now!
COMRADE 1:
It's not worth it!
LEAD HORSEMAN:
Saddle her up.
Let's go...
I'll leave them
for the vultures.
THE LORD:
I am God Almighty.
Walk before Me
and be blameless.
[crows cawing]
KELZAR:
My Lord!
Isaac!
THE LORD: No longer
shall you be called Abram.
Abraham shall
be your name.
For I have made you
a "Father of many nations."
As for your wife,
no longer shall
you call her Sarai.
Sarah shall be
her name.
She shall be
the mother of nations.
Kings of peoples
shall be from her.
I will bless her
indeed.
Your wife, Sarah,
will bear you a son,
and you shall
call his name--
ISAAC:
Father!!
THE LORD:
--Isaac.
- Father,
are you all right?!
THE LORD: I will confirm
my covenant with him...
as a permanent
covenant.
- I'm all right,
my son;
I'm all right.
ABRAHAM: Are you all right...
my love?
Are you all right?
Sarah?
- I feel... there's a child
growing in my belly.
- Are you certain?!
- It's impossible!
Who would believe it?!
- Is anything too difficult
for the Lord?
[laughing]
- We'll go up
and worship;
then come back
to you.
- My mother...
and my father...
devoted their lives
to the gods of Damascus--
striving to earn favor
from wood and stone.
Then one day,
that man
entered their city.
Where would I be
without him?
Where would
my mother be?
When all of the world
went wicked,
the Lord chose that man
out from the wicked,
that hope
may endure.
[music swells ]
[owl hoots]
MIDWIFE:
My Lord Abraham!
ISAAC:
Father?
- I'm here,
my son.
- We have the fire,
the wood...
but... where's the lamb
for the burnt offering?
MIDWIFE:
Your son!
Your son is here!
ABRAHAM:
God Himself
will provide a lamb
for the burnt offering.
THE LORD:
There...
- The wood, now.
- [crying]
I don't deserve this.
[whispers] God
is so good to us.
He keeps
His promises.
ISAAC:
What's wrong?
- Forgive me.
- For what?
- The Lord has said--
the Lord has said for you
to be the sacrifice.
- What?
Wh-why?
- I don't know.
- Ask Him.
Speak to Him;
perhaps there's
another way.
- I did!
Every night
as I lie awake!
Every moment
of our journey!
Every step
toward this place,
this has been
my heart's constant cry.
Silence has been
His only answer.
- Have I done wrong?
- No... no.
You have done
no wrong in my eyes.
- Am I not the son
He intended for you?
- You are!
You are
the son of promise.
He has promised
a great nation through you...
you, Isaac;
He has called you
by name.
- Why then
must you kill me?
- I don't know.
I don't know.
Whatever He's doing
in all this...
whatever He's
trying to teach...
whatever He's
trying to show...
I'm lost.
I begged for Him to let me
lay my own self down...
but that's not
what He's asked for.
[crying]
So, now--
now, I must
lay down my son,
my only son,
whom I love.
And we must have faith
that our God,
the giver and the taker
of life...
has the power to give life
once again.
I believe that.
Look at me.
I know that.
I know that.
- As do I.
I don't want this.
But...
not my will...
let His be done.
[both crying]
[stirring music ]
- Give me the strength
to do Your will.
[music swells ]
[lightning strikes, thunderclap]
[Sarah screams]
THE LORD:
Abraham!
Abraham!
- Here I am.
Here I am, Lord.
THE LORD: Do not lay a hand
on the young man.
Do nothing to him.
[crying]
THE LORD: Now I know
that you fear God...
since you have not
withheld your son,
your only son,
from Me.
- What's happened?!
- He has spared you!
The Lord
has spared you!
[ram bleats]
A substitute.
The Lord will provide
in this place.
Here...
in the Mount of the LORD
it shall be provided.
THE LORD: By Myself
I have sworn.
Because you have not
withheld your son,
your only son,
in your seed
all the nations of the earth
shall be blessed...
[distant crying]
- Truly,
this Man was...
the Son of God.
[stirring strings ]
[birdsong]
[soft strings ]
[musical swirl ]
[low, soft strings ]
[music brightens ]
[music swells ]
THE LORD:
[whispers] Abraham.
- [gasps]
[soft music ]
[wind blowing]
[soft strings ]
[wind blowing]
- Lord...
here I am.
THE LORD:
Take now your son...
your only son, Isaac
whom you love...
and go to the land
of Moriah.
And there, offer him,
as a burnt offering
on one of the mountains
I will tell you.
ABRAHAM:
Oh, Lord!
[crying]
No!
No!!!
[Solo horn ]
[acoustic guitar ]
[hammer pounds]
SARAH:
Abraham?
What are you doing,
Abraham?
All this commotion...
so early!
Abraham?!
- The Lord's asked
for a sacrifice.
- He has spoken
to you?
He hasn't done that
in years.
- I must go
to Moriah.
- Moriah?!
It'll take two days'
to journey--
- It'll take three.
- Why don't you build Him
an altar here...
as you did
in Shechem?
As you did
in Hebron?
- Because He says
Moriah.
- But traipsing
across the wilderness,
as old as we are--
- Sarah!
It is not my decision
to make!
The Lord has said
to go to Moriah.
Take your questions
to Him.
- When do we leave?
- Isaac and I
will go alone.
SARAH:
Isaac?
Why Isaac?
Why not one
of the other men?
- Because the Lord
commands it...
- You know how much
that troubles me.
- I know.
- The road is
a dangerous place, Abraham.
- The Lord has set us
on this path.
He will guide us...
regardless.
- But still,
let me rest easy.
take a few other men
with you.
[sheep bleating]
- My lord!
- Eliezer.
- How are you
this morning?
- The Lord came to me
last night.
- Truly?!
- I haven't heard you
say those words in--
- In a long time...
- A very long time.
- I must go
to Moriah.
- Moriah?
What reason?
- I must make a sacrifice
to Him there.
- Quite a distance
for a sacrifice.
- Sarah said
the same.
She said I should
take a couple men
along with
Isaac and I.
- Starting to worry about you
in your old age, huh, is she?
- So...
who can you spare?
- [shouting]
Kelzar!
- You know, you don't need
to volunteer your own son.
- No, I don't,
but if I must stay here
and manage your house,
at least let me send
my flesh and blood in my place.
Plus,
he's the best man I have.
- All the more reason
for him to stay here.
You know, there is some truth
to Sarah's worries--
the road can be...
unpredictable.
- Abraham...
you forget,
since we first entered
this land decades ago,
I have seen
the bounds of protection
the Living God
has placed around you,
by your side.
There's no place safer
for my son to be.
- Lord Abraham,
good morning!
- Good morning,
son.
- Yes, Father?
- The Lord called our master
to a short journey, to Moriah,
to give a sacrifice
there.
I want you
to go with him...
if he allows.
- Of course.
- Take another one
of your men with you,
and ensure that our master
has everything he needs.
- Yes, Father.
When do we leave?
- As soon as we can.
[soft music ]
- Father?
- Is something
the matter?
- How is your morning,
my son?
- A young lamb slipped into
the narrow wash in the west end.
The other shepherds had
to lower me down on a line
to get her out.
- They had to
lower you down?
- Someone had
to do it...
why not me?
It set us back
a bit, but...
we'll make up time
by day's end.
- Good.
- How about you,
Father?
How is
your morning?
The Lord came to me
last night.
- What?
The Lord God?!
- Yes.
- In a dream?!
- He stood
before me...
just as you stand
before me now.
- What did He say?
- He says we are to go
to Moriah, you and I...
and make a sacrifice
to Him there.
- Moriah?
Where is that?
- North,
about a three-day walk.
Pack a bag
and meet me at my tent.
We leave shortly.
- But my tasks--
- Eliezer
will see to them.
[birdsong]
- Is everything
all right?
- Almost ready,
making the final
adjustments.
- Remind me your name.
- Me?
Eshcolam.
- You're one
of the shepherds?
- I do what's needed,
what I'm told.
I tend to their goats,
mostly.
- Sorry to keep you
waiting, Father.
- Here.
- Are we ready?
- Ready.
- All right...
let's move.
SARAH:
Wait!
Isaac!
KELZAR: Leaving without
kissing your mother?
[scoffs]
- Don't you leave without
telling your mother goodbye.
Hmm?
Look after
your father.
He's not as young
as he used to be.
- Ha, mistress,
my lord's hair may be gray,
but his legs
are still strong.
- I'll be the judge
of my husband's legs.
- Look after him.
- I will.
- Where have
the years gone?
- We should be
on our way.
- I know.
I know.
Where have
the years gone?
Make sure no harm
comes to our son.
- God is with us.
- God is with us.
[stirring music swells ]
[panting]
Abram?
Abram?!
- What's happened?!
What's wrong?!
- What is it,
Abram?
Are you harmed?!
- What is it,
Abram?
Abram!
- I...
uh...
I saw...
God...
- You saw a god?
- I saw God...
The God.
He appeared as a man
before me.
He spoke to me.
- What are you
saying?
- I must go to a land
He will show me.
- What?
For how long?
- For good.
- Abram...
our good name,
our home,
our place
at the temple.
- Everything
has changed.
I can no longer serve
the gods of my father.
- This is blasphemy.
- You cannot
blaspheme a lie.
- Abram,
don't say it--
- He has promised to
make of me a great name...
a great nation,
that all the families
of the earth
will be blessed
through...
- A nation?
We haven't
even a son.
- We will.
- How long
have we tried?
- He will provide.
He--He will
make a way.
- Abram, you don't
even know this God!
How do you know
this god is even good?!
How do you know
He is even a god at all?
- Sarai...
He is.
There is
no other God.
- How do you know this,
Abram?!
- I know.
I know.
I know.
[stirring music ]
[horses whinny and gallop]
- Clear the path.
[horses nicker and whinny]
- Good day,
gentlemen.
Where are you
headed?
- We're going north.
[horse whinnies]
- I can see that...
Where?
- Up beyond Hebron.
- There's a tribute
to be paid.
This road belongs to Abimelech,
King of Pelesheth.
- I know who
owns this road.
I have given your king
plenty of tributes.
- Oh, you have?
- Have you given a tithe
of those goods you carry there?
- We carry nothing
of value...
- Come now, if you
have nothing of value,
why carry it
at all?
- We have nothing!
- Isaac!
- Don't speak
out of turn, boy--
your grandfather and I
are having a conversation...
- He is my father!
- That's enough,
Isaac!
[supplies thud on ground]
COMRADE 1: Nothing
but food and water...
COMRADE 2: Be sure
to check their persons.
- What is the purpose
of your travels?
- I go to give a sacrifice
to the Lord God.
- The Lord God?
- What is your name,
old man?
- Abraham.
- Once called Abram?
Of the Kasdim?
- The man who defeated
the kings of the east
and freed
the captives of Sodom...
all with an army
of shepherds?
- That was
a long time ago.
- Our king
speaks highly of you.
Mount up.
We're losing
the light.
- May your God
watch over you...
the road holds
the unexpected.
Beware of
the wild beasts...
careful the animals
as well.
- Seafaring dogs.
- Those are my people.
- That's right...
I forgot.
Well, next time
can you tell your people
not to scatter our supplies
all over the road?
ABRAHAM:
Praise be to God,
He has delivered you
from that path.
KELZAR: We should start camp
before it's full night.
- Mm.
These are good.
- That horseman
today...
he spoke of you
leading an army...
When was this?
ABRAHAM:
There was no army...
only herdsmen...
armed with whatever weapons
we could find.
- And...
the power of God.
[fire crackling]
- For what purpose?
Why did you need to
save the Sodomites?
- Kings from Shinar
in the east
had come up against the kings
of Sodom, Gomorrah
and their
surrounding cities.
They pillaged
all they could find
and took those
left there captive.
They made it beyond Damascus
before we could reach them.
I had family
among the captives...
So I did
what I had to do.
- My father's
rarely spoken of this.
- I know.
- To travel
that far...
putting your life
on the line...
rescuing all
those people...
only to have them burn
with their cities later.
You must have felt your efforts
were for nothing.
- The people of Sodom were
deeply wicked and depraved.
ABRAHAM: We are
no different...
when we go
our own way.
[fire crackling]
[fire crackling, winds blowing]
[soft, tender music ]
THE LORD:
Abram.
- Lord!
THE LORD:
To your descendants...
I will give
this land.
Count the stars
if you are able.
So shall
your descendants be.
[in dream]
- Father...
Father!
Father.
The sun is risen.
[breathing heavily]
[winds blowing]
- It's late.
- Behold your
inheritance...
...a dead land.
Your flocks
are starving.
Your people will
soon starve as well.
What now,
Abram?
Hmm?
This--this God has lead you
right into a famine.
- The Lord
has made a promise...
- My time has come upon me
once again.
So not only has He lead you
to a barren land...
He has made your wife
to be barren as well.
We can't stay here.
We need to go
back home...
- No...
no turning back.
- Then what,
Abram?!
- I have heard
from the women here
that many of them
are going to Egypt.
The river is full
and the land, fertile.
Maybe we should
go there as well.
[water burbling]
[birdsong]
- So, Esh...
you think your mother's
faring well without you?
- I suppose.
The northern flock
was just sheared.
She's so busy,
she may not have
even noticed I've gone.
How 'bout
your mother?
- I'm certain she fares
better than any of us...
being now
in the Lord's presence.
- Oh, that's right.
I forgot.
- That's all right.
Your mother,
however...
she's probably in a living hell
with you gone.
- What's happened here?
- Who would leave
all this behind?
- That doesn't
belong to us.
- What a waste.
- We should
get moving.
- There's
someone here!
- Isaac, wait!
- Sir?!
Sir,
what happened?!
Who did this
to you?
- They took
my daughter.
He's bled out
a lot!
- We should load him
into his cart
and take him
back to Hebron.
- Th-they... took...
my daugh-ter.
- What?
Who's they?
- [whispered]
The men.
- What men?
What men?
What men?
What men?!
[somber music ]
ISAAC: Who could have
done this?
- The horsemen.
- From yesterday?
- How can
you be so sure?!
- What do we do
with him?
- Nothing.
- Shouldn't we
bury him?
- What for?
For him to lie
in an unknown grave?
If he's buried,
he's forgotten.
If he's left here
by the road,
he stands
as a witness...
a witness to the depth
of which mankind has fallen.
[soft music ]
ISAAC:
Is that Hebron?
ABRAHAM:
Yes.
- That's Hebron.
[woman coughing]
[Sarah crying]
- We going in?
- Now.
- What are you doing?
- Praying...
- Wait!
- We don't pray
like this anymore,
like the old ways.
We pray to
The Lord Most High...
not to stones or the stars
or the moon...
- I do pray to Him...
and I pray
to Him...
and I pray
to Him...
...just as you said
we should.
But why doesn't He
hear me?
- He hears you.
He does.
- It's been
ten years...
ten years...
since we left home.
You say--
you say
He promised us land...
yet we haven't even a plot
to our name.
You said He promised us
descendants;
yet here I am,
still barren...
and aging.
- The Lord
will provide.
- When, Abram?!
When?
- When He wills.
- You cannot
have a nation...
if you cannot
even have a son.
[music swells ]
- [whispers]
How much longer?
How much longer,
Lord?
[loud musical flourish]
[stirring music ]
THE LORD: Do not
be afraid, Abram.
[Abram coughing]
I AM your shield...
your exceedingly
great reward.
- Lord God,
what will You give me,
seeing I remain
childless?
[coughing]
And the heir of my house
is Eliezer of Damascus.
You have given me
no offspring.
A servant in my house
is my heir.
A servant in my house
is my heir.
[stirring music ]
THE LORD: This servant
shall not be your heir...
but one who will come
from your own body
shall be your heir.
[background voices and music]
- Some men
are approaching.
Prepare the tent.
Turn aside men,
come.
I have beauties
for all your tastes.
Come!
Anything you want,
I have it,
I have it!
If these are not
to your liking,
I have even more
in my city!
Relax,
you deserve it!
Or not.
Whatever you want!
Whatever you wish!
Satisfy
your desires.
ABRAHAM:
Keep to the path.
- Come!
Whatever you wish,
I have.
He who is weary,
will find rest here!
[donkey brays and nickers]
KELZAR: It's different
than I remember it.
- You lived
in Hebron?
KELZAR:
We all did.
That was before
Isaac's time.
I was actually
born there.
- Was Ishmael
born there as well?
- Yes...
he was born there
as too.
[bird cawing]
[panting]
- Sarai!
- What?
What on earth?
- The Lord came to me!
- Hagar, bring a bowl
of water!
- Are you hurt?!
- No.
- Where have you been?
It's been
over a day.
- With the Lord.
He came to me.
First, in a vision
and then here in this tent.
- What?
- Then He took me out
into the night.
- Mistress...
- Place it
on the table.
- And?
- He says--He says
He will give me descendants
as numerous
as the stars!
- (quietly)
My lord...
- I'll take care
of it.
- Here, sit.
When I woke yesterday,
I looked everywhere for you.
Before long,
I began to panic.
- I'm sorry.
- I thought
the Mesopotamians
had come
in retaliation
and taken you
from me.
- I should
have told you.
I'm sorry.
- Finally,
I found Eliezer.
He said you had taken a heifer
and some livestock.
- Yes, yes,
the Lord has--
- Required
a sacrifice?
- No.
He has made
a covenant...
the promise of descendants
and this land.
- Abram,
I heard this before.
- No, but now
there's more.
The Lord has made
a covenant.
It cannot
be broken.
- Well, how does He intend
to bring this to pass?
Through the line
of Eliezer?
- Eliezer of Damascus
will no longer need be my heir.
The Lord has said that my heir
will come from my own body.
- Your body.
- Yes.
- Your body.
[crying] I am like a dry seed
in the summer sun...
I can bear you
no heir.
- No...
the Lord has said--
- The Lord has said He will
make a nation of you ...
give you
descendants...
give you
an heir...
of your body...
not mine.
- No.
- Yes.
For ten years--
for ten years
He has promised this.
I understand now.
I understand.
If the Lord
has restrained me
from bearing children...
go into my maid, Hagar,
the Egyptian.
- Why would you
say that?
- Perhaps through her
I'll bear children.
- No, I can't!
I can't go
and lie with--
- Abram, noble men back home
do the same.
- But this can't
be the Lord's plan.
- When He first
came to you in Ur,
He told you to
leave your country.
He told you to
leave your family, hmm?
Maybe all along...
you needed
to have left me.
- No.
Sarai--
- [crying] Husband,
He has a plan for you.
- Sarai.
- I will not
stand in your way.
- You're not standing
in the way of that.
You're standing
by my side.
You're my wife.
- Yes...
now, let me be
a good wife.
[soft music ]
[crying]
[wind blowing]
[donkey braying]
- We'll stop there
and make camp.
I'll gather wood and kindling
for the fire.
- Why don't you
have Esh do that?
- No.
We need to be unpacked
before we lose the light.
- Yes, right.
- We can use some of the wood
we already have.
- No.
We'll need
all of it...
for tomorrow.
[knife slides out of sheath]
- Father!
[chuckling]
It's only me.
- This place is sprawling
with wolf tracks.
ISAAC:
Should we move camp?
- No; they'll fear the light,
once the fire's lit.
- They're nearly
all set,
so I thought I'd come
and give you a hand.
- All right.
tie this bundle.
Get the fire started
before we're in the dark.
- My lord.
May I ask you
a question?
Why is the Lord having you
trek all this way
for a sacrifice?
- I don't know.
- You don't know?!
- Well, if sacrifices
earn greater favor,
then you're sure
to gain--
- The Lord's favor
is not earned.
- But...
how can you say that,
when, clearly,
you've earned it yourself?
- I have earned
nothing.
One who thinks he can stand
before the Most High God
and offer his own filthy,
feeble deeds as a bargain...
is blind to
the holiness of God,
and blind to the depths
of his own sin.
- Blind...
So am I blind?
- KELZAR:
Esh!
- Everyone's blind...
until their eyes
are opened.
- Is that
some sort of riddle?
- If the Lord God
stands infinitely holy...
then any sin
must pit us infinitely
opposed to Him.
How can a man
bridge such a chasm?
We are lost at sea
paddling into the wind...
until the Lord
comes to us ...
He makes the way.
I gave sacrifice
after sacrifice
in the temples of the gods
of my fathers...
thinking I was
nearing the divine.
But all of it,
all that effort,
all those rites
and rituals,
all I was doing was--
was paddling
into the wind.
- You were sacrificing
to the wrong gods.
- False gods.
But even if I were sacrificing
in the name of the Lord,
my faith was placed in
my own abilities, not His--
how much
I could give,
how much
I could do.
I believed
I could--
I believed
I could...
right my own wrongs.
But,
in spite of it all,
in spite of
all I'd done...
in spite of myself,
while on my way to serve
those demons I called gods,
the Lord Himself
came to me.
He appeared
before me.
And--and in an instant,
I was undone.
When I saw Him,
I saw myself
for who I really was--
worthless,
apart from His grace.
- Your eyes were opened.
- Then why
all this way?
Why go
all this way?
Go through
all this effort?
- Because this is
what the Lord commands.
- If He's the One
who makes the way,
why would He
require sacrifices?
- I suppose...
He has us do this
in remembrance,
as a reminder.
- To remind us
of what?
- That death
is the penalty for sin.
- But how is
that not--?
As you make
sacrifices,
you are,
yourself,
making payments
for the sins you've done,
righting
your own wrongs.
The death you say
He requires...
it is a life
for a life.
ISAAC: How does the life
of an animal
measure up to
that of a man?
- It cannot.
- Then why journey
all this way,
if only
for some symbol;
if that's
all it is?
KELZAR:
Esh,
that's enough
belaboring.
- Who can know
the mind of God,
His ways,
His thoughts?
He has His reason
for commanding a sacrifice,
be it a symbol,
or a memorial,
whatever the purpose,
the Lord knows...
and it must be good.
- You believe that?
- I must believe that.
- I don't know,
to trek so far...
seems more like some act
of penance for some great sin.
[somber music ]
- She shall be a wife
to you as well.
[birdcalls]
[Sarah crying]
- Lord have mercy.
[owl hoots]
[panting]
- Oh, Lord...
my sin has been great
before You, I know.
And if this is
Your retribution,
it is just.
But Lord God,
I beg You...
I beg You
for Your mercy.
Do not let my sins
be on my son's head...
the son
You promised.
What's Your purpose
in this?
If this is
Your judgment on me...
then take my life,
not his.
Take my life,
not his.
Not his, Lord;
take me.
Take me.
Take me!
Take me!!
[crying]
Lord, I lay--I lay
my life down at Your feet.
It is Yours.
Please hear me,
Lord.
Please grant me this,
by Your grace,
Lord, please...
please.
Please hear me.
Please.
[crying]
Please.
[crying]
- Your brazenness
last night...
is unacceptable.
You will
show him respect.
- Just as he shows respect
to me and my people?
- Esh...
he's right
when he tells you
that you're better off
in his house
than with those people.
They're ruthless
and wicked.
- So I should drop down
and kiss his feet
for giving me the honor
of being his slave?
- Much better to be a slave
to the righteous
than a slave
to the wicked.
- Righteous?
Are you
delusional?
Or is your flattery
only because of your position?
- What position?
- You're the son
of the chief servant.
Do you not see how
advantageous your situation is?
- I love my master.
- With Ishmael and his mother,
Hagar, banished,
if anything
were to befall Isaac,
His inheritance would revert
back to your father,
back to you.
- No.
- Oh, so this has
crossed your mind.
- Stop.
Isaac is
my friend.
- And Ishmael
was mine!
- You've given the devil
a foothold in your mind.
Shut your mouth
and put away those thoughts.
- Think of your progeny.
How else will they be
anything more than slaves?
- That's enough!
Don't give me a reason to
bring a report to my father.
- Your master's not
as righteous as you claim...
[intense music]
[sheep bleating]
- Sarai?
What's wrong?
- Everything is wrong.
- What?
- Don't play ignorant
with me!
I have followed you
all these years.
I have clung to you
through every trial,
every day,
every week,
every month,
year after year...
waiting for what you claimed
the Lord has promised.
And now,
after all this...
what do I have?
Hmm?
A husband that
I must share...
a bed that
has been stained...
and a hope that
has faded away.
No.
No!
Don't act like
you care for me!
It's you!
- It's your fault!
All of this
is your fault!
Your fault;
it's all I have.
[crying]
No...
I'm such a fool.
- I'm sorry.
I'm so sorry
for this long-suffering.
We must believe the Lord's
working something in it all.
Look at me.
We must cling
to our faith.
- As you did...
when you went
into my handmaiden?
- You gave her to me.
I protested.
- You protested?!
- Yes.
- The child in her belly
would say otherwise!
- You suggested that.
- I was a wife striving
to please her husband!
Seeing the disappointment
in your eyes,
month after month,
year after year.
[crying] It broke me,
Abram.
I was broken.
So in weakness,
I gave my maid
into your embrace.
But you--
you embraced her!
You took her!
You laid with her!
You! You!
And now that she
has conceived,
I am disgraceful
in her eyes--
walking around like
this is her household.
[crying]
I hear the whispers.
The way she looks
at you.
The way she looks
at me.
She vies for my place.
And she has it.
- No.
- Yes!
- No, she doesn't
have it.
- You may have
your heir,
you may have
your nation,
you may have
everything.
But know this...
your house now stands
divided, Abram.
And it's on you,
Abram.
Let the Lord be the Judge
between you and I.
- Listen to me.
My wife, I--
I--
- You what?
- She does not
have your place...
If there's
any contention,
do with her
as you will.
Hagar is your maid.
- Do not preach to me
about faith any longer.
ISAAC:
Is today the day?
- Hmm?
- We'll make it
to Moriah today?
- [softly]
Yes.
We'll make it
to Moriah today.
ISAAC:
Beautiful.
How can the Lord be so good--
as to give us all this?
What can we ever give
in return?
- We should
be on our way.
- Father?!
What have I done?
- You have
done nothing.
- Your silence and separation
these past few days...
what is it?
- Sometimes...
sometimes the Lord calls us
to great tasks...
impossible tasks.
- Is anything too difficult
for the Lord?
- No.
No, my son...
no.
KELZAR: All's loaded
and ready, my lord!
KELZAR:
Is this it?
ABRAHAM:
This is Ephrathah.
- I have never
noticed that before.
Is that from your time
in Egypt?
ABRAHAM:
No...
these aren't
Egyptian.
- What does it say?
- I don't know.
This was
my father's staff.
It was his father's
before him,
His father's before him,
and so on,
It's a language
now forgotten, I suppose.
- I never knew that.
- And some day
he'll hand it down to you.
ISAAC:
May I see it?
Wow.
This is amazing.
- One more thing
for you to inherit.
- These last days
on the road,
a question has
lingered in my mind.
If you were willing
to save wicked Sodomites
from the hands of foreign kings
all those years ago...
why do you hold
such a bitter disdain
for the Pelishtiy,
my people, today?
ABRAHAM:
I do not disdain them.
- Then why are you so quick
to belittle them,
and so quick
to blame them
for the murder of that man
on the road?
- I disdain
their deeds--
and I blame them
for that man's murder...
and for the robbing
of his daughter,
because it is like them
to do such a thing.
- Oh, it's like them
to do so?
- Yes.
- And how
do you know this?
- Because they
once took my wife.
They placed her in the harem
of Abimelech their king.
But the Lord plagued
his house and his people.
So when he found out
she was my wife,
he gave her back--
along with wealth and servants
as repayment.
And so you and your mother
entered into my household.
Praise God Abimelech
hadn't yet lain with her.
- That still doesn't prove
that that man's daughter
was taken
by men of Pelesheth.
- No,
it doesn't,
but the odds
are in their favor.
Wicked kings are renowned
for storing up stolen women.
Ask your mother
if she would disagree.
Ultimately, however,
in this world,
all men are capable
of such evil.
- Even you?
- Yes, even me.
Apart from
my God's grace,
all men are capable
of much worse.
Praise God that
He has delivered you out
from under
such taskmasters.
- You pride yourself
on being a safe haven
for pagan refugees?
- Pride myself?
If I can point man
back to his Creator...
then to God
be the glory.
- Point man
back to his Creator.
Is that
what you were doing
when you banished your own son
with his Egyptian mother?
- Eshcolam!
My father will hear
of your insolence!
- It's all right.
I'd rather answer
his question
and bring truth
to light
than allow animosity
to fester.
When Isaac
was very young,
Ishmael's scoffing towards him
became too much to bear.
We had seen the same contention
in his mother years before.
Eventually, the Lord had said
to send them away.
- The Lord said.
- It brought me
great pain...
but the Lord says
He will make a great nation
of him as my seed...
and that 12 princes
will come from his line.
- Does that help
settle your conscience?
- Get out!
- I'm not finished!
- Yes, you are!
- You give yourself license
to do whatever you wish
as long as you can say,
"the Lord has said!"
Bastardize
your son--
ABRAHAM:
Kelzar, wait.
ESHCOLAM: --enslave
whoever you wish,
ABRAHAM:
Kelzar!
mutilate the men
of your house!
- Wait!
- I know
your intentions!
You come plant yourself here
in my homeland
and seek to build a slave army
to overthrow my people!
You think you deserve
this land?!
- No...
no;
neither do you.
What man deserves
any good thing in this world?
- You expect me
to praise your God
for giving me the privilege
of being your slave...
...O master
of righteousness ?!
- That's it!
I'm going to bring you
back home by a rope!
Isaac,
grab the vine.
- What torments you,
Abraham?!
Take your hands
off me!
Tell us what
you're hiding!
What you scream of
at night!
[thud]
- Ahh!
- This is my land!
[thud]
[horse neighs]
[galloping horse hooves]
[horse nickers]
[horseman laughing]
[horse neighs]
LEAD HORSEMAN:
Well done, old man.
Seems our
warrior shepherd
is still one to be
reckoned with...
even in the twilight
of his years!
Abram
of the Kasdim.
- Abraham.
- Having a bit
of a scuffle, are we?
You know, you shouldn't charge
your master like that.
Especially one known
to conquer kings.
You'll be fortunate
if he doesn't
put you to death for it.
ABRAHAM: It's only
a misunderstanding.
LEAD HORSEMAN:
If I'm not mistaken,
you were headed
to Hebron.
Did you miss it?
It's a day's walk
back that way.
- "Beyond Hebron"
is what I said.
- Beyond...
certainly well beyond.
If you were
more truthful,
I would've been
more intentional
about collecting
a tithe
for the extent of which
you used my king's road.
- Looks to me like you've
taken enough "tithes" already!
- Isaac,
quiet yourself!
- Looks to me
you need a lesson
in speaking
out of turn, boy.
- We are far
from the coast.
Abimelech has no territory
this far into Canaan.
- Our king
is a man of ambition.
- And since when
does tithing
require robbing a poor father
of his daughter?
- You speak of what
you do not know, boy.
- Put your sword away.
You can take
whatever you want.
- I know exactly
of what I speak...
a man slain
on the road,
whose dying lips only spoke
of his stolen daughter.
- Isaac!
[girl crying]
ISAAC:
You snakes!
You think you can flee the
condemnation that awaits you?!
- Come to me.
I will give your flesh
to the birds of the air
and the beasts
of the field.
- Let the girl go!
- We've come only to sacrifice
to the Lord God!
Take what you want;
we'll be on our way!
- How about I take you
as a tithe?
- You will not!
- So be it.
My life...
for hers.
COMRADE 4: She's used goods
now anyway.
[crying]
We can make him
an effeminate!
- [laughing] Many in the court
will love that!
- You will do
nothing...
other than leave
right now!
- Stop!
How about I cut a tenth
of your son's body...
we'll call it
a day?
- My son
speaks the truth.
You cannot escape the eternal
torment that awaits you.
The road
you're on now
will only lead
to fire and flame.
Now,
let go of my son!
- Isaac!
- Watch out!
SARAH: Do not preach to me
about faith any longer.
If all your hopes were
dashed upon the rock...
and all that you loved
was lost...
would your faith
still stand?
Or would you curse God
to His face?
THE LORD:
Should I hide
what I am about to do
from Abraham?
For I have chosen him,
so that he will
command his children
and his house
after him,
to keep the way
of the LORD.
This is how the LORD
will fulfill to Abraham
what He promised him.
KELZAR:
Get away from him!
Don't touch him!
COMRADE 1:
Captain!
The king will have your head
if he gets word of this!
KELZAR:
You must leave now!
COMRADE 1:
It's not worth it!
LEAD HORSEMAN:
Saddle her up.
Let's go...
I'll leave them
for the vultures.
THE LORD:
I am God Almighty.
Walk before Me
and be blameless.
[crows cawing]
KELZAR:
My Lord!
Isaac!
THE LORD: No longer
shall you be called Abram.
Abraham shall
be your name.
For I have made you
a "Father of many nations."
As for your wife,
no longer shall
you call her Sarai.
Sarah shall be
her name.
She shall be
the mother of nations.
Kings of peoples
shall be from her.
I will bless her
indeed.
Your wife, Sarah,
will bear you a son,
and you shall
call his name--
ISAAC:
Father!!
THE LORD:
--Isaac.
- Father,
are you all right?!
THE LORD: I will confirm
my covenant with him...
as a permanent
covenant.
- I'm all right,
my son;
I'm all right.
ABRAHAM: Are you all right...
my love?
Are you all right?
Sarah?
- I feel... there's a child
growing in my belly.
- Are you certain?!
- It's impossible!
Who would believe it?!
- Is anything too difficult
for the Lord?
[laughing]
- We'll go up
and worship;
then come back
to you.
- My mother...
and my father...
devoted their lives
to the gods of Damascus--
striving to earn favor
from wood and stone.
Then one day,
that man
entered their city.
Where would I be
without him?
Where would
my mother be?
When all of the world
went wicked,
the Lord chose that man
out from the wicked,
that hope
may endure.
[music swells ]
[owl hoots]
MIDWIFE:
My Lord Abraham!
ISAAC:
Father?
- I'm here,
my son.
- We have the fire,
the wood...
but... where's the lamb
for the burnt offering?
MIDWIFE:
Your son!
Your son is here!
ABRAHAM:
God Himself
will provide a lamb
for the burnt offering.
THE LORD:
There...
- The wood, now.
- [crying]
I don't deserve this.
[whispers] God
is so good to us.
He keeps
His promises.
ISAAC:
What's wrong?
- Forgive me.
- For what?
- The Lord has said--
the Lord has said for you
to be the sacrifice.
- What?
Wh-why?
- I don't know.
- Ask Him.
Speak to Him;
perhaps there's
another way.
- I did!
Every night
as I lie awake!
Every moment
of our journey!
Every step
toward this place,
this has been
my heart's constant cry.
Silence has been
His only answer.
- Have I done wrong?
- No... no.
You have done
no wrong in my eyes.
- Am I not the son
He intended for you?
- You are!
You are
the son of promise.
He has promised
a great nation through you...
you, Isaac;
He has called you
by name.
- Why then
must you kill me?
- I don't know.
I don't know.
Whatever He's doing
in all this...
whatever He's
trying to teach...
whatever He's
trying to show...
I'm lost.
I begged for Him to let me
lay my own self down...
but that's not
what He's asked for.
[crying]
So, now--
now, I must
lay down my son,
my only son,
whom I love.
And we must have faith
that our God,
the giver and the taker
of life...
has the power to give life
once again.
I believe that.
Look at me.
I know that.
I know that.
- As do I.
I don't want this.
But...
not my will...
let His be done.
[both crying]
[stirring music ]
- Give me the strength
to do Your will.
[music swells ]
[lightning strikes, thunderclap]
[Sarah screams]
THE LORD:
Abraham!
Abraham!
- Here I am.
Here I am, Lord.
THE LORD: Do not lay a hand
on the young man.
Do nothing to him.
[crying]
THE LORD: Now I know
that you fear God...
since you have not
withheld your son,
your only son,
from Me.
- What's happened?!
- He has spared you!
The Lord
has spared you!
[ram bleats]
A substitute.
The Lord will provide
in this place.
Here...
in the Mount of the LORD
it shall be provided.
THE LORD: By Myself
I have sworn.
Because you have not
withheld your son,
your only son,
in your seed
all the nations of the earth
shall be blessed...
[distant crying]
- Truly,
this Man was...
the Son of God.
[stirring strings ]
[birdsong]
[soft strings ]