Srholl Gahng
Period 8th
Alpha #4
Sibi and the story of Abraham and Isaac The stories of Sibi and Abraham and Isaac have quite similarities but also some differences between them. There are similar roles of characters in both of the stories. In Sibi, the king Sibi could be compared to Abraham. In both of the stories, Abraham and the king Sibi face to make such a difficult decision like offering his own son to God and giving up the dove which sought for his protection. The dove in Sibi is like Isaac, in the story of Abraham and Isaac, as it also has the same role as the offering for sacrifice but in this case not to God but to a hawk. Furthermore, the hawk and God play the role of testing the king Sibi and Abraham whether the king Sibi would give up the dove or Abraham would sacrifice his son, Isaac. At last, the both of the stories have the same literary characteristic of Deus ex machine where the angel of the Lord or Indra and the God of Fire resolve the whole conflicts of the stories. In the story of Abraham and Isaac, the angel of the Lord stops Abraham from sacrificing his son, Isaac. In addition, the angel of the Lord told Abraham about the ram which was caught by its horn in a thicket which would be sacrificed instead of Isaac. In the end of Sibi, the hawk transforms into Indra and the dove transforms into the God of Fire and congratulated the king Sibi for succeeding and beating the challenge of gods.
Sibi and the story of Abraham and Isaac are very interesting stories where they both have major conflictions whether to sacrifice his own son (Abraham and Isaac) to God or give up the dove to the hawk (Sibi) as a prey. However, there is a major difference on how and what they decided to do about the situation. In the story of Abraham and Isaac, Abraham was asked by God to take Isaac (his son) whom Abraham dearly loved and to sacrifice him at the region of Moriah as a burnt offering on a mountain (Genesis 22). Abraham quickly obeyed the word of God and prepared to sacrifice his son in the early next morning. This quick response of obeying what Abraham was asked to do without any hesitation is quite different than what the king Sibi did to answer the hawk’s desire. In Sibi, the king Sibi responded the opposite way of what Abraham have answered the God’s request. His character shows that he would do anything that the hawk would ask him to do except giving up the dove to feed the hawk. The king Sibi argues his way through to persuade the hawk not to prey on the dove. The king Sibi suggests to the hawk that he would guarantee the hawk’s food every day in the king Sibi’s palace for the hawk’s life time. He also offers the hawk his service to answer all of the hawk’s need except the dove. However, after all these very satisfactory offerings of king Sibi, the hawk still refuses the entire offer. In response to King Sibi, the hawk also argues very logically and reasonably that the King Sibi should give up the dove. The king Sibi, already determined not to give up the dove to the hawk, decided to give up his flesh in the same amount as the dove would have to the hawk. This is decision that the king Sibi made is quite the opposite of Abraham as Abraham instead was quick to obey the first command of God without question.