The mountain climb
The uphill climb of Abraham and Isaac is a haunting imagery that represents the strange nature of human suffering. Not only are humans heading toward certain death, we also have to climb to the top of a mountain to die, so the imagery is similar in kind to the myth of Sisyphus. The imagery is a clear portrait of the concept of navigation and ascent which are symbolic aspects of Abrahamic religions. For instance, Moses also climbs a mountain in the style of Abraham. Elijah also meets with God on mountain tops.
The generational heroes
The imagery of dual heroes is an important part of what makes this play unique from the source material. The heroes are both challenged with equal and opposite aspects of human fate: Abraham represents human experience, because he is not spared from bloodguiltiness; in fact God demands that Abraham break one of life's most basic rules—not to kill anyone, especially not one's own beloved son. Isaac represents innocence and the point of view that defines innocence. The story is a depiction of essential qualities of the epic human experience.
Pagan spiritualism
Surprisingly, the imagery that best defines this play's action is not "Jewish," per say, but proto-Jewish, which is to say that the imagery of the plot belongs to Chaldean paganism. In polytheistic tribal communities, the idea of child sacrifice sometimes arises, like with the ancient Mexican native civilizations who would ceremonially execute their newborns. The motif is obviously woven into the text of the Jewish scriptures, and in this play, the imagery is brought to life as a stage production. The knife raised to slaughter the innocent child sacrifice is pagan imagery at full volume.
New religion
However, that does not mean the effect of the play is pagan. In fact, this story is being depicted as the origin story for a new religion where humans are not asked to sacrifice their own sons to appease the angry gods above. Instead, the new religion is defined by faith and mercy, because Abraham only has to trust that God's will is essentially good, and then the story radically transforms to be a commentary on karma. By trusting in God's will, Abraham attains lofty karmic rewards.
