Biblical Abraham Is Placed on Mock Trial in New York City for Attempting to Murder Isaac; and the Verdict Is …
With a jury of more than 1,300 Jews who claim Abraham as their father watching, two of New York City's most prominent Jewish attorneys went head-to-head in a mock trial of the biblical patriarch for the attempted murder of his son, Isaac, on Sunday, and the verdict at the end of the intellectual dust-up was unsurprising.
Not guilty.
The trial, which lasted about an hour at Manhattan synagogue Temple Emanu-El, according to The New York Post, was prosecuted by disgraced former governor and attorney general of New York Eliot Spitzer, while Alan Dershowitz, a Harvard Law School professor more popularly known for defending O. J. Simpson, served as Abraham's defense.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
In the book of Genesis, an angel stopped Abraham from sacrificing Isaac's life after it was determined that the patriarch had proven his devotion to God.
In prosecuting the case, however, Spitzer argued that "The voice of God is no defense to criminal acts," according to The New York Times.
"We have heard too much, in too many parts of the world, about acts justified by the mandate of God to permit those ... commands to determine what is acceptable under criminal laws," he added.
The voice of God defense, Spitzer argued, was not enough to cast aside the fact that Abraham plotted Isaac's death without question and even forced his son to fetch the wood on which he would have been sacrificed.
"Voices told me to do it! God spoke to me," Mr. Spitzer mocked before pausing with sarcasm.
"Really?" he asked, as the jurors erupted in laughter.
In making his case against Abraham, Spitzer further reminded the jurors that Abraham had endangered his firstborn son, Ishmael, by throwing him out with his mother, Hagar, to wander the desert.
Dershowitz, who was also Spitzer's professor, argued, however, that Abraham had to be pardoned, because "if you believe in the Bible, you must acquit."
He first motioned to dismiss the charge of child endangerment, noting that there was no proof that Isaac was younger than 17 at the time of Abraham's test. He argued that the Bible's literal account of the story suggests that Isaac was well past 17.
In his final argument he leaned on theology saying Abraham and God were just playing "a game of theological chicken. He never would have plunged that knife."
Most of the jurors sided with Dershowitz. On the count of endangering the welfare of a child, 748 jurors voted not guilty, while 529 voted guilty. On the count of attempted murder, 687 jurors voted not guilty, while 590 voted guilty.
