The Bible Story Behind Sufjan Stevens’ ‘Abraham’ From ‘Seven Swans’
Sufjan Stevens’ Seven Swans and his music as a whole is beloved by hipsters who may not have paid attention in Sunday School (if they even attended it). Here’s a look at the Bible story that inspired the track “Abraham” from Seven Swans. It’s a morally complex tale that has been interpreted differently by Jews and Christians.
Sufjan Steven’s ‘Seven Swans’ references an attempted child sacrifice from the Bible
In the Book of Genesis, God blesses the prophet Abraham with a son named Isaac in his old age. Subsequently, God asks Abraham to execute Isaac. Abraham binds his own son in preparation for a human sacrifice, and an angel tells him that the Lord was merely testing his faith by asking him to sacrifice Isaac. The Lord blesses Abraham and he sacrifices a ram, rather than his son, to the divine. Christians often interpret this story as prefiguring Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. Just as the ram was a substitute for the death of Issac, Jesus’ death is a substitute for the spiritual deaths of all humanity.
The story, often called The Binding of Isaac, has inspired everything from a Rembrandt painting to an indie video game. When Stevens retells the tale in his song “Abraham,” he adds the Christian interpretation of the story as an addendum. The track’s somber instrumentation asks listeners to consider the magnitude of the sacrifice Abraham nearly made.
‘Sevens Swans’ includes other allusions to the Bible
Seven Swans includes several other references to the Bible, with song titles like “The Transfiguration” and “In the Devil’s Territory.” Stevens is not the first or the last singer to find inspiration in the Good Book! However, in a 2018 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he said writing about biblical figures is part of a larger pattern in his songwriting.
“I’m a creative person,” he explained. “I write songs about people, historical people, living or dead, mythological or not. It’s my job. My job is to write a song about Tonya Harding or Abraham Lincoln or John Wayne Gacy or Moses or Venus. (Laughs.) It’s my job!”
Sufjan Stevens called Christianity ‘amorphous’ and ‘extremely malleable’
All this raises questions about Stevens’ Christian faith. Fans know he’s not shy about it! In a 2015 interview with Pitchfork, he revealed he is no fundamentalist.
“I still describe myself as a Christian, and my love of God and my relationship with God is fundamental, but its manifestations in my life and the practices of it are constantly changing,” he said. “I find incredible freedom in my faith. Yes, the kingdom of Christianity and the Church has been one of the most destructive forces in history, and there are levels of bastardization of religious beliefs. But the unique thing about Christianity is that it is so amorphous and not reductive to culture or place or anything. It’s extremely malleable.”
A reporter asked him if other religions are just as malleable as Christianity. “Yeah, but some of them are cultural and require an allegiance to a place and a code,” he replied. “We live in a post-God society anyway — embrace it!”
We might live in a post-God society but Stevens is not a post-God singer.
