The Brome play of Abraham and Isaac

The Brome play of Abraham and Isaac (also known as The Brome “Abraham and Isaac”, The Brome Abraham, and The Sacrifice of Isaac) is a fifteenth-century play of unknown authorship, written in an East Anglian dialect of Middle English, which dramatises the story of the Akedah, the binding of Isaac.

In the opening scene, Abraham prays to God, thanking Him for His various blessings, most of all his favourite son, Isaac. Next, God reveals to an angel that he will test Abraham's faith by asking him to sacrifice Isaac. The angel conveys this instruction to Abraham who, though he is distraught, agrees to comply with it. Abraham takes Isaac to the place of sacrifice, his grief made all the greater by Isaac (not yet knowing he is the "qweke best" intended for sacrifice) being eager to aid his father. When Abraham reveals that he means to kill him, Isaac at first pleads for his life. However, when he learns that it is God's will that he should die, Isaac acquiesces in his death, even urging his father not to tarry over the deed. Abraham binds Isaac so that he will not deflect his father's sword but when he draws that sword and prepares to strike, the angel appears and takes it out of his hand. The angel reveals that God is pleased with Abraham's obedience and that Isaac need not be sacrificed after all. Leaving them with a ram, the angel departs. As they make the offering, God appears above (the medieval custom was to have God act at a higher level than other characters) and promises them that “for thys dede | I schall mvltyplye yowres botheres [both] sede | As thyke as sterres be in the skye”. In an epilogue a doctor, a stock figure in medieval drama, appears and points the moral that we should obey God's commandments and not rail against the designs God has for us.

The text of the play was lost until the 19th century, when a manuscript was found in a commonplace book dating from around 1470–80 at Brome Manor, Suffolk, England. The manuscript itself has been dated at 1454 at the earliest. This manuscript is now housed at Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

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