Abraham in Apocryphal and Rabbinical Literature
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In the Old Testament Abraham presents the type of a simple Bedouin sheik who wanders from place to place in search of pasture for his herds, a kindhearted, righteous, and God-fearing man whom God chose on account of his faithful and righteous character to be the father of a nation peculiarly favored by Him in the possession of the coveted land of Canaan. Once he is spoken of as a "prophet" (Gen. xx. 7). Incidentally we learn that his father, Terah, was an idolater, like the rest of the Chaldeans (Josh. xxiv. 2); but how Abraham became a worshiper of the Lord, or why God singled him out and led him forth to Canaan, is left to surmise. No sooner, however, did the Jewish people come into closer contact with nations of higher culture, especially with the Greeks in Alexandria, than the figure of Abraham became the prototype of a nation sent forth to proclaim the monotheistic faith to the world while wandering from land to land. Accordingly, the divine promise (Gen. xii. 3, xxii. 18) is understood to mean: " . . . in thee [instead of "with thee"] shall all the families of the earth be blessed" (see LXX. ad loc.).
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Propagator of the Knowledge of God.
In the third and second centuries B.C., Alexandrine Jews, writing under the name of Hecatæus and Berosus, and Samaritans, like Eupolemus, composed works on Jewish history, from which Josephus ("Ant." i. 7, § 8) gives the following: Abraham, endowed with great sagacity, with a higher knowledge of God and greater virtues than all the rest, was determined to change the erroneous opinions of men. He was the first who had the courage to proclaim God as the sole Creator of the universe, to whose will all the heavenly bodies are subject, for they by their motions show their dependence on Him. His opposition to astrology provoked the wrath of the Chaldeans, and he had to leave their country and go to Canaan. Afterward, when he came to Egypt, he entered into disputes with all the priests and the wise men, and won their admiration and, in many cases, their assent to his higher views. He imparted to them the knowledge of arithmetic and astronomy, which sciences came to Egypt from Chaldea only in the days of Abraham. Abraham's revolt from Chaldean astrology is spoken of in Philo ("On Abraham," xvii.), in connection with Gen. xv. 5 (compare Gen. R. xliv.).
Opposes Idolatry.
Concerning his religious awakening in his father's house, the Book of Jubilees, written probably in the time of John Hyrcanus, relates (xi.) that, in order not to participate in the idolatry practised in connection with astrology by the whole house of Nahor, Abraham, when he was fourteen years of age, left his father, and prayed to God to save him from the errors of men. Abraham became an inventor of better modes of agriculture, showing the people how to save the seeds in the field from the ravens that devoured them. He then tried to persuade his father to renounce idol-worship, but Terah was afraid of the people and told him to keep silent. Finally, when Abraham met with the opposition of his brothers also, he arose one night and set fire to the house in which the idols were kept. In an attempt to save these, his brother Haran was burned to death.
When, in the night of the new moon of Tishri (the New-year), Abraham was watching the stars to forecast the year's fertility, the revelation came to him that, in view of God's omnipotent will, all astrological predictions were valueless, and, after fervent prayer, he received word from God to leave the Chaldeans and set out on his mission to bless the nations by teaching them the higher truths. An angel of God taught him Hebrew, the language of revelation, by which he was enabled to decipher all the secrets of the ancient books (see Gen. R. xlii). Leaving his brother Nahor with his father, Abraham went to the Holy Land and observed there all the festivals and new moons (afterward prescribed to the Israelites, but already written on the heavenly tablets revealed to Enoch), besides many other customs observed by the priesthood of the second century B.C.
According to one opinion, Abraham attained the true knowledge of God when he was three years old; according to others, at ten; and again a more sober opinion claims that he was forty-eight years old (Gen. R. xxx).
In his warfare against the hosts of Amraphel andother kings, Abraham cast dust upon them, and it turned into swords and lances, and the stubble turned into bows and arrows (according to Isa. xli. 2). Og, the giant king of Bashan, was the one "that escaped" (ha-paliṭ), and brought him the news of the capture of Lot. Og was of the remnant of the giants that lived before the Flood (Deut. iii. 11). He cast a lustful eye upon Sarah, and hoped to see Abraham killed in the war in order that he might take her to wife.
His Birth.
Far more explicit is the story of Abraham's life in his Chaldean home as told by the Palestinian rabbis of the second century, and afterward further developed under the influence of Babylonian folk-lore. He was born in Kuta, another name for Ur of the Chaldees (B. B. 91a). On the night when he was born, Terah's friends, among whom were councilors and soothsayers of Nimrod, were feasting in his house, and on leaving late at night they observed a star which swallowed up four other stars from the four sides of the heavens. They forthwith hastened to Nimrod and said: "Of a certainty a lad has been born who is destined to conquer this world and the next; now, then, give to his parents as large a sum of money as they wish for the child, and then kill him." But Terah, who was present, said: "Your advice reminds me of the mule to whom a man said, 'I will give thee a house full of barley if thou wilt allow me to cut off thy head,' whereupon the mule replied: 'Fool that thou art, of what use will the barley be to me if thou cuttest off my head?' Thus I say to you: if you slay the son, who will inherit the money you give to the parents?" Then the rest of the councilors said: "From thy words we perceive that a son has been born to thee." "Yes," said Terah, "a son has been born to me, but he is dead." Terah then went home and hid his son in a cave for three years. When, on coming out of the cave, Abraham saw the sun rising in all his glory in the east, he said to himself: "Surely this is the Lord of the universe, and Him I will worship." But the evening came, and lo! the sun set and night befell him, and seeing the moon with her silver radiance, he said, "This, then, is the Lord of the world, and all the stars are His servants; to Him I will kneel." The following morning, when moon and stars had disappeared and the sun had risen anew, Abraham said: "Now I know that neither the one nor the other is the Lord of the world, but He who controls both as His servants is the Creator and Ruler of the whole world." Forthwith Abraham asked his father: "Who created heaven and earth?" Terah, pointing to one of his idols, replied: "This great image is our god." "Then let me bring a sacrifice to him!" said Abraham, and he ordered a cake of fine flour to be baked, and offered it to the idol, and when the idol did not eat it, he ordered a still finer meal-offering to be prepared, and offered it to the idol. But the idol did neither eat nor answer when addressed by him, and so Abraham grew angry and, kindling a fire, burned them all. When Terah, on coming home, found his idols burnt, he went to Abraham and said: "Who has burned my gods?" Abraham replied: "The large one quarreled with the little ones and burned them in his anger." "Fool that thou art, how canst thou say that he who can not see nor hear nor walk should have done this?" Then Abraham said: "How then canst thou forsake the living God and serve gods that neither see nor hear?"
Breaks Idols.
According to Gen. R. xxxviii. and Tanna debe Eliyahu, ii. 25 (probably a portion of Pirḳe R. El.), Terah was a manufacturer of idols and had them for sale. One day when Terah was absent and Abraham was left to take charge of the shop, an old, yet vigorous, man came in to buy an idol. Abraham handed him the one on top, and he gave him the price asked. "How old art thou?" Abraham asked. "Seventy years," was the answer. "Thou fool," continued Abraham, "how canst thou adore a god so much younger than thou? Thou wert born seventy years ago and this god was made yesterday." The buyer threw away his idol and received his money back. The other sons of Terah complained to their father that Abraham did not know how to sell the idols, and so Abraham was told to attend to the idols as priest. One day a woman brought a meal-offering for the idols, and, as they would not eat, he exclaimed: "A mouth have they but speak not, eyes but see not, ears but hear not, hands but handle not. May their makers be like them, and all who trust in them" (Ps. cxv. 5-8, Heb.), and he broke them to pieces and burned them. Abraham was brought before Nimrod, who said: "Knowest thou not that I am god and ruler of the world? Why hast thou destroyed my images?" Then Abraham said: "If thou art god and ruler of the world, why dost thou not cause the sun to rise in the west and set in the east? If thou art god and ruler of the world, tell me all that I have now at heart, and what I shall do in the future." Nimrod was dumfounded, and Abraham continued: "Thou art the son of Cush, a mortal like him. Thou couldst not save thy father from death, nor wilt thou thyself escape it." According to Gen. R. xxxviii, Nimrod said: "Worship the fire!" "Why not water that quenches the fire?" asked Abraham. "Very well, worship the water!" "Why not the clouds which swallow the water?" "So be it; worship the clouds!" Then Abraham said: "Rather let me adore the wind which blows the clouds about!" "So be it; pray to the wind!" "But," said Abraham, "man can stand up against the wind or shield himself behind the walls of his house." "Then adore me!" said Nimrod. Thereupon Nimrod (Amraphel; see Pesiḳ. R. § 33, 'Er. 53a) ordered Abraham to be cast into a furnace. He had a pile of wood five yards in circumference set on fire, and Abraham was cast into it. But God Himself went down from heaven to rescue him. Wherefore the Lord appeared to him later, saying: "I am the Lord who brought thee out of the fire of the Chaldeans" (Ur Kasdim, Gen. xv. 7). The legend betrays Persian influence (compare the Zoroaster legend in Windischmann, "Zoroastrische Studien," pp. 307-313). Regarding the cave in which Abraham dwelt, see ib. p. 113; compare also B. B. 10a. The dialogue with Nimrod, pointing from fire, water, the cloud, wind, and man to God, has its parallel in Hindu legend (see Benfey, "Pantschatantra," i. 376).
Abraham is thereupon commissioned by God to propagate His truth throughout the world, and he wins many souls for Him: while he wins the men, Sarah, his wife, converts the women. In this manner "they made souls in Haran" (Gen. xii. 5, Heb.). He awakens the heathen from slumber and brings them under the wings of God. He is the father of the proselytes (Gen. R. xliii; Mek., Mishpaṭim, § 18).
As a Philanthropist.
Henceforth he was to become "like a stream of blessing to purify and regenerate the pagan world." Of the manner in which he converted the heathen it is related that he had a palatial mansion built near the oaktree of Mamre or at Beer-sheba on the crossing of the roads, wherein all kinds of victuals and wine were spread on the table for the passersby, who came through the doors kept open on all sides; and when they, after having partaken of the meal, were about to offer their thanks to him beforegoing on their way, he pointed to God above, whose steward he was and to whom alone they owed thanks. Thus, by his love for man, he taught people how to worship God. Abraham's Oak, in connection with which the Midrash (to Gen. xxi. 33) relates these things, is mentioned also by Jerome (quoted in Uhlman's "Liebesthätigkeit," p. 321). This philanthropic virtue of Abraham is specifically dwelt upon in the Testament of Abraham.
Prophetic Vision.
His prophetic vision (Gen. xv.) furnished especially grateful material to apocalyptic writers, who beheld foreshadowed in the four different animals used for the covenant sacrifice the "four kingdoms" of the Book of Daniel (see also the Midrashim and Targums and Pirḳe R. El. xxviii; compare Apocalypse of Abraham, ix.).
Regarding Abraham's relation to Melchizedek, who taught him new lessons in philanthropy, see Melchizedek. Whereas the Bible speaks of only one trial that Abraham had to undergo to give proof of his faith in and fear of God (the offering of his son Isaac, Gen. xxii.), the rabbis (Ab. v. 4; Ab. R. N. xxxiii. [B. xxxvi.]; and Pirḳe R. El. xxvi. et seq.; compare also Book of Jubilees, xvii. 17, and xix. 5) mention ten trials of his faith, the offering of his son forming the culmination. Yet this was sufficient reason for Satan, or Masṭemah, as the Book of Jubilees calls him, to put all possible obstacles in his way.
Supreme Test of Faith.
When Abraham finally held the knife over his beloved son, Isaac seemed doomed, and the angels of heaven shed tears which fell upon Isaac's eyes, causing him blindness in later life. But their prayer was heard. The Lord sent Michael the archangel to tell Abraham not to sacrifice his son, and the dew of life was poured on Isaac to revive him. The ram to be offered in his place had stood there ready, prepared from the beginning of creation (Ab. v. 6). Abraham had given proof that he served God not only from fear, but also out of love, and the promise was given that, whenever the 'Aḳedah chapter was read on the New-year's day, on which occasion the ram's horn is always blown, the descendants of Abraham should be redeemed from the power of Satan, of sin, and of oppression, owing to the merit of him whose ashes lay before God as though he had been sacrificed and consumed (Pesiḳ. R. § 40 and elsewhere).
According to the Book of Jubilees (xx.-xxii.), Abraham appointed Jacob, in the presence of Rebekah, heir of his divine blessings. Jacob remained with him to the very last, receiving his instructions and his blessings. But while the same source informs us that he ordered all his children and grand-children to avoid magic, idolatry, and all kinds of impurity, and to walk in the path of righteousness, Jeremiah bar Abba (in Sanh. 91a) tells us that he bequeathed the knowledge of magic to the sons of his wife, Keturah.
Abraham's Death.
About his death rabbinical tradition has preserved only one statement—that the Angel of Death had no power over him (B. B. 17a). There is nevertheless a beautiful description of his glorious end in the Testament of Abraham (see Abraham, Testament of). The same work gives a touching picture of his love for man, while Ab. R. N. (xxxiii.) offers illustrations of his spirit of righteousness and equity. Abba Arika (Rab) even professed to know how the men of Abraham's time expressed their grief at his bier: "Alas for the ship that hath lost its captain! Alas for humanity that hath lost its leader!" (B. B. 91a, b.)
Besides the discovery of astronomy, we find ascribed to Abraham the invention of the alphabet, the knowledge of magic, and of all secret lore ('Ab. Zarah, 14b; Eusebius, "Præp. Ev."; D'Herbelot, "Bibliothèque Orientale," s.v. "Abraham"; "Sefer Yeẓirah," toward the end). All this is based on Gen. R. to Gen. xv. 5: "God lifted him above the vault of heaven to cause him to see all the mysteries of life." It is related (Tosef., Ḳid., at end) that he wore a pearl or precious stone of magic power on his neck, wherewith he healed the sick; and that all the secrets of the Law were disclosed to him, while he observed even the most minute provisions of the rabbis (Mishnah Ḳid., at end; Gen. R. lxiv.). Even in physical size he towered above the rest of men, according to Gen. R. xlix. and Soferim, xxi. 9.
True Type of Humanity.
There is a deep undercurrent of his true humanity in all the legends about Abraham. "Until Abraham's time the Lord was known only as the God of heaven. When He appeared to Abraham, He became the God of the earth as well as of heaven, for He brought Him nigh to man" (Midr. R. to Gen. xxiv. 3). Abraham, called "the One" (Isa. li. 2, Heb., and Ezek. xxxiii.), rendered the whole human family one (Gen. R. xxxix) Whosoever has a benign eye, a simple heart, and a humble spirit, or who is humble and pious, is a disciple of Abraham (Ab. v. 29, and Ber. 6b), and he who lacks kindness of heart is no true son of Abraham (Beẓah, 32a). But it is particularly Abraham, the man of faith, the "friend of God" (Isa. xli. 8), upon whom are founded alike the Synagogue (see Pes. 117b; Mek., Beshallaḥ, § 3; I Macc. ii. 52; Philo, "Who is the Heir?" xviii.-xix.), the Church (see Rom. iv. 1; Gal. iii. 6; James, ii. 23), and the Mosque (Koran, sura iii. 58-60). "Abraham was not a Jew nor a Christian, but a believer in one God [a Moslem], a hater of idolatry, a man of perfect faith" (ib. suras ii. 118, iv. 124, vi. 162, xvi. 121). When God said, "Let there be light!" He had Abraham in view (Gen. R. ii.).
Many Arabic legends concerning Abraham based on the Koran found their way back to Jewish works (see Jellinek, "B. H." i. 25, and introduction, xv.)
Bibliography: Weil, Bibl. Legenden der Muselmänner, p. 68; Grünbaum, Neue Beiträge zur Semitischen Sagenkunde, pp. 91-93; B. Beer, Leben Abrahams, nach Auffassung der Jüdischen Sage, especially pp. 95-210, Leipsic, 1859 this book contains a very full account, with valuable references, of the rabbinic traditions concerning Abraham); Hughes, Dictionary of Islam, s.v.
