|
In
light of Kohelet’s preoccupation with death, his reference to Abel is
striking. Abel is the first human being to die. Just two verses after
humankind was denied the tree of eternal life, his story becomes the
embodiment of human mortality. It is in this context that we may reread
the verses of Ecclesiastes: “Man sets out for his eternal abode, with
mourners all around in the street.… And the dust returns to the ground
as it was, and the life breath returns to God who bestowed it. Hevel
havalim, says Kohelet. All is hevel.”19
However,
Abel’s representation of death is only one side of the story. He is also
the first human being to offer a sacrifice that God accepts. This is no
trifle. A far cry from the guilt of Adam, Eve, and Cain, all of whom were
rebuked by God, Abel was the first human whom God clearly likes. Before
him, we did not even know it was possible. When we read that “the Lord
heeded Hevel and his offering,” the verb “heeded,” vayisha,
carries a powerful overtone of deliverance as well as acceptance. Isaiah,
for example, declares, “
Israel
shall be delivered (nosha) in the
Lord, an eternal salvation (teshuat).”20 Moses, in his
very last words on earth, proclaims: “O happy
Israel
! Who is like you, a people delivered (nosha)
in the Lord.…”21 Furthermore, God is deliberately
accepting, or as the Hebrew connotes, “delivering,” not only the
offering, but Abel himself. Not until Abraham do we find such unqualified
approval by God. Not until the crowning moment of Exodus, as God forged
his eternal bond with the people of
Israel
, is the cognate word for
“deliverance,” yeshua, used again. |
