In this story we also are presented with a variant version of racism. Ismael, we are told, was a ‘zebra of a man’ (a mixed breed). He is by way of extension not suitable for vouchsafing Jewish lineal descent. Where and when does it stop? I must say that the only thing dark and impure about this story is our understanding of it. The story’s true meaning is lost not just in this instance, but in other stories like it wherein different names, time periods and circumstances are used to convey a persistent, common biblical theme - the scapegoat ritual.
The scapegoat ritual from the old testament essentially consists of two goats and a high priest presiding over the ceremony. During the ceremony, the priest lays his hands on the scapegoat which signifies laying the sins of the people on it. He then sets the goat loose into the wilderness which symbolically carries away the sins of the people as it goes. The second goat, supposedly unblemished, is then sacrificed, dying for the sins of the people. As I have said, the ‘scapegoat ritual’ story is a recurring Biblical theme. We find it in the story of Adam and Eve. Let’s scapegoat Eve. She caused the fall of humankind. Then there is Jesus and Job dealing with their arch enemy, the Devil. I wonder if these stories, rather than being what we are told they are, actually illustrate a spiritual process that humans must go through to be saved. A seven labors of Hercules sort of thing. Is the Devil simply adversity? Didn’t God send Satan, one of his sons, to test Job with extreme adversity - Job1: 6 ‘Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.’ Hmmm? The same way that Jesus, supposedly, was tested. And Perseus the demi-god of Greek folklore was tested. And then there is the story of Esau and Jacob. Esau is cast as a red skinned brute of a man, an imbecilic heathen. Let’s scapegoat Esau, when in truth it was the thoughts and deeds of Jacob and Sarah that were sinister and shameless. Just a few examples of the scapegoat ritual. The clearest example of the ritual, however, is illustrated in the story of Jesus and Barabbas. With Pontius Pilate acting out the role of high priest.