Abraham Je

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THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA Abot de-Kabbi NathanAbrahamof the thirteenth century. Joseph was ministerIII. (127C-85). Solomon" twoprinces." The incident which brought them

nformers from whom medieval Jews sufferedh and on whom Jewish law was so severe.

of danger to the Jews of A ragon. Pedro III.,e Jewish communities into his presence tocertain charges. Knowing tha t these could

to withdraw his charges, at leastthis occasion; but the renegade refused to bede from his purpose. At this momentinterceded with the king, expospunishment. Joseph 's intercession met with ensuccess. Pedro III . caused the informer to bezed and delivered over to the Jews. Jonah of(Geronda), and later also Solomon ben Adret,the case. They condemned him, though1281. I t seems that this draswas prompted chiefly by Joseph,

after the latter 's death many gave vent to theirThis bitter feeling caused the leadingGerona (Geronda) to ask Solomon ben Adretvise the whole case. Adret unreservedly apd of the action of Joseph, and in order fully toision. These responsa make it posascertain the date of Josep h's death, on whichauthorities are greatly at variance. Steinschnei-

mentions Joseph Abrabalia with the memorialJfJ. D. Kaufmann places the date of deathA Moses Abrabalia is also mentioned

IOGRAPHY : D. Kaulmann, In Jew. Quart. Rev. viii. 222 elwhere the responsa referred to are reproduced.M. B.See ABRAVANEL.

L M A R T I N E Z ) . See DOBMIDO, DAVID ABRAMagic word or formula

or inflammation, the patient wearing an amfollowing inscription:A B R A C A D A B R AA B R A C A D A B RA B R A C A D A BA B R A C A D AA B R A C A DA B R A C AA B R A CA B R AA B RA BA ce the spirit of the

patient. It is first mentioned by Seronus Sammoni-cus, physician to the emperor Caracalla,whose work,"De Medicina Pracepta," was admired by the emperors Geta and Alexander Severus. He prescribesthat the word be written in the form of an invertedcone, the whole word being written out at first, thenwith one letter less on each line until one letterstands alone (see King, "Gnostics and Their Remains," p. 317). The explanation that it is a corruption of iia-Braclia and Dobar hardly deserves consideration. The Jewish Cabala probably had nothingto do with it. But it finds a striking parallel inPesahim, 112a, which recommends the same meansof gradually reducing the power of disease by an incantation formula which subdues the invoked sp iritof the disease. The person who is in danger of becoming a victim of the spirit Shabriri (" Blindness")is told to say: " My mother hath told me to bewareofS H A B R I R IA B R I R IR I R IR I R

RI."It is, therefore, probable that the word was originally the name of a demon which is no longer recognizable. It has been the subject of the followingstanza (King, I.e.):"Thou shalt on paper write the spell divine.Abracadabra called, in many a line;Each under each in even order place,But the last letter in each line efface.As by degrees the elements grow fewStill take away, butfix he residue.Till at the last one letter stands aloneAnd the whole dwindles to a tapering cone.Tie this about the neck withflaxenstring;Mighty the good 'twill to the patient bring.Its wondrous potency shall guard his head,And drive disease and death far from his bed."K.

ABRAHAM.Biblical Data: According to theBible, Abraham (or Abram) was the father of theHebrews. The Biblical account of the life of Abramis found in Gen. xi. 26 to xxv. 10. According tothis narrative, he was the son of Terah and wasborn at Ur of the'Chaldees. Terah, with Abram,Sarai (Abram's wife), and Lot (Abram's nephew),left Ur to go to the land of Canaan; but they tarriedat Haran, where Terah died (Gen. xi. 26-32). Therethe Lord appeared to Abram in the first of a seriesof visions, and bade him leave the country with hisfamily, promising to make of him aBirth an d great nation (ib. xii. 1-3), a promiseWander- that was renewed on several occasions.ings. Accordingly, Abram with Sarai andLot started for Canaan; and at the siteof Sichem (or Shechem) the Lord promised the landas an inheritance to the pa triarch's seed. After sojourning for a while between Beth-el and Hai (or Ai),Abram, on account of a famine, went to Egypt.Here, to guard against Pharaoh 's jealousy, he passedSarai off as his sister. Pharaoh took her into theroyal household, but, discovering the deception, released her and sent Abram and his family away (ib.xii. 9-20). Abram returned northw ard to his formerplace of sojourn between Beth-el and Hai. Therehis shepherds quarreled with those of Lot, and theuncle and nephew separated, Lot going east to Sodom, while Abram remained in Canaan (ib xiii. 1-12).Again the Lord appeared to the patriarch, and promised him an abundant progeny which should inheritthe land of Canaan (ib. xiii. 14-17).Abram now removed to Mamre (ib. xiii. 18) in


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Abraham THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 84Hebron, whence he made a successful expeditionagainst Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, and his confederate kings, from whom he rescued Lot, whomChedorlaomer had captured in the course of an attack upon Sodom and Gomorrah. On his return

could be found therein (ib. xviii. 17-32). The citieswere destroyed; but Lot and his family, who hadbeen warned,fledfrom Sodom before its destruction.Abraham now journeyed to Gerar, between Kadeshand Shur, and for the second time passed Sarah off as

TRADITIONAL HOUSE OF ABRAHAM.(From a photograph reproduced by permission of the Palestine Exploration Fund.)from this expedition, Abram was blessed by Melchizedek, king of Salem, and refused to retain therecaptured booty offered him by the king of Sodom(ib. xiv.).Once more the Lord appeared to Abram with apromise of abundant offspring, at the same timeforetelling their captivity for four hundred years ina strange land and their subsequent inheritance ofthe land between "the river of Egypt" and theEuphrates. " And he believed in the Lord; and hecounted it to him for righteousness" (ib. xv. 6).Sarai had hitherto been barren. She now gaveAbram her handmaid Hagar, an Egyptian, as wife;and the latter bore a son, Ishmael, Abram beingat the time eighty-six years old (ib. xvi.). Againthe Lord appeared to the patriarch with the promise of a numerous posterity. At the same time, intoken of the promise, Abram's nameB ir th of was changed to Abraham (" Father ofIsh m ae l. Many Nations "), and that of Sarai toSarah (" Princess "). The Lord also instituted the " covenant of circumcision," and promised that Sarah should bear a son, Isaac, with whomhe would establish it. Abraham thereupon circumcised himself and Ishmael (ib. xvii. 1-21). Soon after,three angels in human guise were hospitably entertained by Abraham in Mamre, where the Lord againforetold Isaac's birth, and when Sarah doubted thepromise, the Lord himself appeared and renewed it(ib. xviii. 1-15).In recognition of Abraham's piety the Lord nowacquainted him with His intention to destroy Sodomand Gomorrah on account of their wickedness; but,after several appeals from Abraham, He promisedthat Sodom should be spared if ten righteous men |

his sister. Abimelech, king of Gerar, took her intohis house; but, on being rebuked by God, releasedher precisely as Pharaoh had done (ib. xx.).At the appointed time Isaac was born, Abrahambeing a hundred years old. Soon after, Ishmael,Haga r's son, was seen " mocking " byB irt h a nd Sarah, and at her solicitation he andSacrifice his mother were banished. Hagar wasof Isaac, comforted in the wilderness by an angelof God (ib. xxi. 1-12). Abraham wasnow a powerful man; and at the solicitation of Abimelech, king of Gerar, he made a covenant with thatmonarch at Beer-sheba in the land of the Philistines. At Beer-sheba Abraham sojourned many days(6.xxi. 22-34).The greatest trial of the patriarch's life camewhen God bade him offer up his only son as a burn toffering. Without a moment's hesitation Abrahamtook Isaac and proceeded to the land of Moriah,where he was just about to sacrifice him, when anangel of the Lord restrained him, once more delivering the prophecy tha t the patriarch 's seed shouldbe "as the stars of the heaven, and as the sandwhich is upon the seashore," and that in them allthe nations of the earth should be blessed. Insteadof Isaac a ram caught in a thicket was sacrificed (ib.xxii. 1-18). Abraham returned to Beer-sheba, andwas sojourning there when Sarah died at Kirjath-arba (also called Hebron and Mamre), at the age ofone hundred and twenty-seven (ib. xxiii. 1, 2).Abraham went to Mamre and bought the cave ofMachpelah as a burial-place ; and there he buriedSarah (ib. xxiii. 3-20).Isaac was now thirty-six years old, and Abrahamsent Eliezer, his servant, to bring a wife for him


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8 5 THE JEAVISH ENCYCLOPEDIA Abrahamfrom among Abraham's own people. Eliezer journeyed to Nahor, and returned w ith Rebekah, Abraham's grandniece, whom Isaac married (ib. xxiv.).Abraham now married again, taking as his wife Ketu-rah, by whom he had several children. Before hisdeath he " gave all that he had " to Isaac, and sentthe sons of his concubines away after bestowingsome gifts upon them (ib. xxv . 1-6). Abraham died

Abraham and Isaac.(From the Sarajevo Haggadah.)at the age of one hundred and seventy-five years;and Isaac and Ishmael buried him beside Sarah inthe cave of Machpelah (ib. xxv . 7-9). C. J. M.In Apocryphal and Rabbinical L iterature :In the Old Testament Abraham presents the typeof a simple Bedouin sheik who wanders from placeto place in search of pasture for his herds, a kind-hearted, righteous, and God-fearingPrototype man whom God chose on account ofof th e his faithful and righteous character to

Jewish be the father of a nation peculiarlyRace. favored by Him in the possession ofthe coveted land of Canaan. Once heis spoken of as a " prophet" (Gen. xx. 7). Incidentn th at h is father, Terah, was an idolater,like the rest of the Chaldeans (Josh. xxiv. 2); buthow Abraham became a worshiper of the Lord, orwhy God singled him out and led him forth to Canaan, is left to surmise. No sooner, however, didthe Jewish people come into closer contact with nations of higher culture, especially with the Greeksin Alexandria, than the figu re of Abraham became]the prototype of a nation sent forth to proclaim the!monotheistic faith to the world while wandering fromland to land. Accordingly, the divine promise (Gen.3, xxii. 18) is understood to mean: " . . . in theel[instead of "with thee"] shall all the families of the]earth be blessed " (see LXX . ad loc). /In the third and second centuries B.C, AlexanJews, writing under the name of Hecatseus andBerosus, and Samaritans, like Eupole-mus, composed works on Jewish his-of th e tory, from which Josephus ("Ant." i.Knowledge 7, 8) gives the following: Abraham,of God. endowed with great sagacity, with ahigher kno wledg"e of"God" and greater;change'roneous opinions of men. He was the firsto had the courage to proclaim God as the sole Credependence on Him. His opposition to astrol-provoked the wrathof "The Chaldeans, and he

had to leave their country and go to Canaan. Afterward, when he came to Eg ypt, he entered into disputes with all the priests and the wise men, andwon their admiration and, in many cases, their assent to his higher views. He imparted to them theknowledge of arithmetic and astronomy, which sciences came to Egypt from Chaldea only in the daysof Abraham. Abraham 's revolt from Chaldeanastrology is spoken of in Philo ("On Abraham,"xvii.), in connection w ith Gen. xv. 5 (compare Gen.R. xl iv . )^^Concerning his religious awakening in his father'shouse, the Book of Jubilees, written probably in thetime of John Hyrcanus, relates (xi.) that, in ordernot to participate in the idolatry prac-Opposes tised in connection with astrologyIdolatry, by the whole house of Nahor, Abraham, when he was fourteen yearsof age, left his father, and prayed to God 'to savehim from the errors of meiy Abraham became aninventor of better modes of agriculture, showingthe people how to save the seeds in the field fromthe ravens that devoured them. He then tried topersuade his father to renounce idol-worship, butTerah was afraid of the people and told him to keepsilent. Finally, when Abraham met with the opposition of his brothers also, he arose one night andset fire to the house in which the idols were kept.In an attempt to save these, his brother Haran wasburned to death.When, in the night of the new moon of Tishri (theNew-year), Abraham was watching the stars toforecast the year's fertility, the revelation came tohim that, in view of God's omnipotent will, all astrological predictions were valueless, and, after fervent prayer, he received word from God to leave theChaldeans and set out on his mission to bless the nations by teaching them the higher truths. An angelof God taugh t him Hebrew, the language of revelation, by which he was enabled to decipher all the secrets of the ancient books (see Gen. R. xiii). Leavinghis brother Nahor with his father, Abraham went tothe Holy Land and observed there ali the festivalsand new moons (afterward prescribed to the Israelites, but already written on the heavenly tablets re-

Abraham and Isaac.(From a tombstone in the graveyard of the Amserdam Portuguese Congregation.)vealed to Enoch), besides many other customs observed by the priesthood of the second century B.C.According to one opinion, Abraham attained thetrue knowledge of God when he was three years old;according to others, at ten; and again a more soberopinion claims that he was forty-eight years old(Gen. R. xxx).In his warfare against the hosts of Amraphel and


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Abraham THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 86other kings, Abraham cast dust upon them, and itturned into swords and lances, and the stubble turnedinto bows and arrows (according to Isa. xii. 2). Og,the giant king of Bashan, was the one " that escaped "(ha-palit), and brought him the news of the cap tureof Lot. Og was of the remnant of the giants thatlived before the Flood (Deut. iii. 11). He cast a lustful eye upon Sarah, and hoped to see Abraham killedin the war in order that he might take her to wife.Far more explicit is the story of Abraham's lifein his Chaldean home as told by the Palestinian rabbis of the second century, and after-His Birth, ward further developed under the influenc e of Babylonian folk-lore. Hewas born in Kuta, another name for Ur of the Chal-dees (B. B. 91a). On the night when he was born,Terah's friends, among whom were councilors andsoothsayers of Nimrod, were feasting in his house,and on leaving late at night they observed a starwhich swallowed up four other stars from the foursides of the heavens. They forthwith hastened toNimrod and said: " Of a certainty a lad has beenborn who is destined to conquer this world andthe next; now, then, give to his parents as large asum of money as they wish for the child, and thenkill him." But Terah, who was present, said: "Yo uradvice reminds me of the m ule to whom a man said,' I will give thee a house full of barley if thou w iltallow mo to cut off thy head ,' whereupon the mulereplied: ' Fool that thou art, of what use will thebarley be to me if thou cuttest off my head?' ThusI say to.you: if you slay the son, who will inheritthe money you give to the paren ts?" Then the restof 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 isdead." Terah then went home and hid his son in acave for three years. When, on coming ou t of thecave, Abraham saw the sun rising in all his glory inthe east, he said to him self: "Sure ly th is is theLord of the universe, and Him I will worship." Butthe evening came, and lo! the sun set and nightbefell him, and seeing the moon with hersilver radiance, he said, " This, then, is the Lord of the world, and all the stars are His servants; to Him I willkneel." The following morning, when moon andstars had disappeared and the sun had risen anew,Abraham said: " Now I know that neither the onenor the other is the Lord of the world, but H e whocontrols both as His servants is the Creator andRuler of the whole world." Forthwith Abrahamasked his father: " Who created heaven and earth? "Terah, pointing to one of his idols, replied: " Thisgreat image is our god." " Then let me bring a sacrifice to him! " said Abraham, and he ordered a cake offine flour to be baked, and offered it to the idol, andwhen the idol did not eat it, he ordered a still finermeal-offering to be p repared , and offered it to theidol. But the idol did neither eat nor answer whenaddressed by him, and so Abraham grew angry and,kindling a fire, burned them all. When T erah, oncoming home, found his idols burnt, he went toAbraham and said: "Wh o has burned my gods?"Abraham replied: "The large one quarreled withthe little ones and burned them in his anger." " Foolthat thou art, how canst thou say that he who cannot see nor hear nor walk should have done this ?"Then Abraham said: " How then canst thou forsakethe living God and serve gods that neither see norhear?"According to Gen. R. xxx viii. and Tanna debe Eli-yahu, ii. 25 (probably a portion of Pirke R. El.),Terah was a manufacturer of idols and had them forsale. 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 handedhim the one on top, and he gave himBreaks the price asked. " How old art thou ? "Idols. Abraham asked. "Seventy years," wasthe answer. "Thou fool," continuedAbraham, "how canst thou adore a god so muchyounger than thou ? Thou wert born seventy yearsago and this god was made yesterday." The buyerthrew away his idol and received his money back.The other sons of Terah complained to their fatherthat Abraham did not know how to sell the idols, andso Abraham was told to attend to the idols as priest.One day a woman brought a meal-offering for theidols, and, as they would not ea t, he exclaimed: " Amouth have they but speak not, eyes bu t see not, earsbut 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 burnedthem. Abraham was brought before Nimrod, whosaid: "Knowest thou not that I am god and ruler ofthe world? Why hast thou destroyed my images?"Then Abraham said: " If thou ar t god and ruler of theworld, why dost thou not cause the sun to rise in thewest and set in the east? If thou art god and ruler ofthe w orld, tell me all th at I have now at heart, andwhat I shall do in the future." Nimrod was dum-founded, and Abraham continued: " Thou art the sonof Cush, a mortal like him. Thou couldst not save thyfather from death, nor wilt thou thyself escape it."According to Gen. R. xxxviii, Nimrod said: " Worship the fire! " " Why not water that quenchesthe fire?" asked Abraham. "Very well, worshipthe water! " " Why not the clouds which swallow thewater ? " " So be it; worship the clouds!" Then Abraham said: "Rather let me adore the wind whichblows the clouds abo ut!" "So be it; pray to thewind! " "But," said Abraham, "man can stand upagainst the wind or shield himself behind the walls ofhis house." " Then adore me!" said Nimrod. Thereupon Nimrod (Amraphel; see Pesik. R. 33, 'Er. 53a)ordered Abraham to be cast into a furnace. He hada pile of wood five yards in circumference set onfire, and Abraham was cast into it. But God Himselfwent down from heaven to rescue him. Whereforethe Lord appeared to him later, saying: "I am theLord who brought thee out of the fire of the Chaldeans " (Ur Kasdim, Gen. xv. 7). The legend betraysPersian influence (compare the Zoroaster legend inWindischmann, " 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, thecloud, wind, and man to God, has its parallel inHindu legend (seeBenfey, "Pa ntsch atantra," i. 376).Abraham is thereupon commissioned by God topropagate His truth throughout the world, and hewins 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 bringsthem under the wings of God. He is the father ofthe proselytes (Gen. R. xliii; Mek., Mishpatim, 18).Henceforth he was to become " like a stream ofblessing to purify and regenerate the pagan world."Of the manner in which he convertedA s a Phi- the heathen it is related that he hadlanthropist. a palatial mansion built near the oak-tree of Mamre or at Beer-sheba on thecrossing of the roads, wherein all kinds of victualsand wine were spread on the table for the passers-by, who came through the doors kept open on allsides; and when they, after having partaken of themeal, were about to offer their thanks to him before

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87 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA Abrahamgoing on their way, he pointed to God above, whosesteward he was and to whom alone they owed thanks.Thus, by his love for m an, he taught people how toworship God. ABRAHAM'S OAK, in connection withwhich the Midrash (to Gen. xxi. 33) relates thesethings, is mentioned also by Jerome (quoted inUhlman's "Liebesthatigkeit," p. 321). This philanthropic virtue of Abraham is specifically dwelt uponin the TESTAMENT OP ABRAHAM.His prophetic vision (Gen. xv.) furnished especially grateful material to apocalyptic writers, whobeheld foreshadowed in the four differ-Prophetic ent animals used for the covenant sac-Vision, rifice the " four kingdoms " of the Book. of Daniel (see also the Midrashim andTargums and Pirke R. El. xxv iii; compare Apocalypse of Abraham, ix.).Regarding Abraham's relation to Melchizedek,who taught him new lessons in philanthropy, seeMELCHIZEDEK. Whereas the Bible speaks of onlyone trial that Abraham had to undergo to give proofof his faith in and fear of God (the offering of his sonIsaac, Gen. xxii.), the rabbis (Ab. v. 4; Ab. R. N.xxxiii. [B. xxxvi.]; and Pirke 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 sonforming the culmination. Yet this was sufficientreason for Satan, or Mastemah, as the Book of Ju bilees calls him, to put all possible obstacles in his way.When Abraham finallyheld the knife over his beloved son, Isaac seemed doomed, and the angels ofheaven shed tears which fell uponSupreme Isaac's eyes, causing him blindnessTes t in later life. But their prayer wasof Faith, heard. The Lord sent Michael thearchangel to tell Abraham not to sacrifice his son, and the dew of life was poured on Isaacto revive him. The ram to be offered in his placehad stood there ready, prepared from the beginningof creation (Ab. v. 6). Abraham had given proofthat he served God not only from fear, bu t also out of*love, and the promise was given that, whenever the'Akedah chapter was read on the New-year's day,on w hich occasion the ram 's horn is always blown,the descendants of Abraham should be redeemedfrom the power of Satan, of sin, and of oppression,owing to.the merit of him whose ashes lay beforeGod as though he had been sacrificed and consumed(Pesik. 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 remainedwith him to the very last, receiving his instructionsand his blessings. But while the same source informsus 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 hebequeathed the knowledge of magic to the sons ofhis wife, K eturah.

About his death rabbinical tradition haspreservedonly one statementthat the Angel of Death had nopower over him (B. B. 17a). There isAbraham's nevertheless a beautiful descriptionDeath. of his glorious end in the Testamentof Abraham (see ABRAHAM, TESTAMENT OP). The same work gives a touching pictureof his love for man, while Ab. R. N. (xxxiii.) offersillustrations of his spirit of righteousness and equity.ABBA ARIKA (Rab) even professed to know how themen of Abraham's time expressed their grief at hisbier: " 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 as-jcribed to Abraham the invention of the alphabet,the knowledge of magic, and of all secret lore ('AbJZarah, 146; Eusebius, "Prasp. Ev."; D'Herbeloty"Bibliotheque Orientale," s.v. "Abraham"; "SeferYezirah," toward the end). All this is based on Gen.R. to Gen. xv. 5: " God lifted him above the vau lt ofheaven to cause him to see all the mysteries of life."It is related (Tosef., Kid., at end) that he wore apearl or precious stone of magic power on his neck,wherewith he healed the sick; and that all the secretsof the Law were disclosed to him, while he observedeven the most minute provisions of the rabbis (Mish-nah Kid., at end; Gen. R. lxiv.). Even in physicalsize he towered above the rest of men, according toGen. R. xlix. and Soferim, xxi. 9.There is a deep undercurrent of his true humanity in all the legends about Abraham. " UntilAbraham's time the Lord was knownTrue only as the God of heaven. WhenType of He appeared to Abraham, He becameHumanity, the God of the earth as well as ofheaven, for He brought Him nigh toman " (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, anda humble spirit, or who is humble and pious, is a)disciple of Abraham (Ab. v. 29, andBer. 6b), and herwho lacks kindness of heart is no true son of Abrajham (Bezah, 32a). But it is particularly Abraham,the man of faithjhe " fri njLofGod " (Isa. xii. 8),upon wRoTn^aTreiounded anketEe Synagogue (seePes. 117J; Mek., Beshallah, 3; I Mace. ii. 52; Philo,"Who is the He ir?" xv iii.-xix.), the Church (seeRom. iv. 1; Gal. iii. 6; James, ii. 23), and the Mosque(Koran, sura iii. 58-60). "Abraham was not a Jewnor a Christian, but a believer in one God [a Moslem],a hater of idolatry7^TiWnT5f"perfe'ct faith " (ib. surasii. 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 basedon the Koran found their way back to Jewish works(see Jellinek, "B. H." i. 25, and introduction, xv.).BIBLIOORAPHY : Weil, Bibl. Legenden der Muselm&nner, p.68; Grunbaum, Neue Beitrdge zu r Semitischen Sagen-kunde, pp. 91-93; B. Beer, Leben Abrahams, nach Auffas-sung der Jttdischen Sage, especially pp. 95-210, Leipsic, 1859this book contains a very lull account, with valuable references, ot the rabbinic traditions concerning Abraham); Hughes,Dictionary of Islam, s.v.

In Mohammedan Legend: Of all the Biblical"personages mentioned in the Koran, Abraham is undoubtedly the most important. As is the case withall the Biblical material contained in the Koran, itssource must be looked for not in any written documents, but in the stories, more or less tinged bymidrashic additions, which Mohammed heard fromhis Jewish or Christian teachers and friends. Caremust also be taken to distinguish the various periodsin the preaching of the Arabian prophet; for in thesematters Mohammed lived from hand to mouth, andhis views as to the importance of Biblical personages varied with changing circumstances and changing needs. In his early preachings Mohammedshows very little knowledge of the patriarch. Theonly mention of him during the early Meccan periodis found in sura lxxxvii. 19 (compare sura liii. 37),where Mohammed makes a passing reference to the" Suhuf Ibrahim " (the Rolls of Abraham); thesecan not have reference, as Sprenger thinks ("Lebenu. Lehre Mohammeds," ii. 348, 363 et seq.), to anyreal apocryphal books, but merely to a reminiscence

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Abraham THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 88

Iof what Mohammed had heard about the mention ofAbraham in the sacred books of the Jews and Christians (Kuenen, "National and Universal Religions,"p. 297, note 1, and pp. 317-323, New York, 1882).Similarly in sura liii. 37a passage certainly notolder than the end of the first Meccan period (Nol-deke, "Gesch. des Korans," p. 79)he speaks ofAbraham as of one that had fulfilled his word, giving as his reference the same Rolls of Abraham(Hirschfeld, "Beitrage zur Erklarung des Korans,"p. 12; compare Gen. xxii. 16). To this later Meccanperiod may also belong what Mohammed has to say["of Abraham as one who was oppressed for preaching the true religion and for championing his God.I This part of Abraham 's career appealed very stronglyto Mohammed; for he saw in'it a certain prototypeof his own early and severe struggles with the patricians of his native city. As Moliain.jnfld_jg thelas_tj)f--the prophets, so Abraham is among tiiefirst.Abraham is evidentlytlwu^IPffiiTis not directlystatedone of the seven bearers of Matani, the messages repeated from out of the heavenlyjDOok (suraxv. 87; compare xxxix . 24). The other six are theprophets of Ad, Thamud, and Midian, and Noah,Lot, and Moses. Abraham is arighteousman (pHS)and prophet (sura xix. 42).In the later suras Mohammed seems to have learnedmore about Abraham. In sura vi. 75 he relateshow the prophet came to worship God by watching physical phenomena: "Thus did we show Abraham the kingdom of heaven and of the earth, thathe should be of those who are sure. And whenthe night overshadowed him he saw a'' Gre at, star and said, ' This is my Lord'; bu tGrea ter , when it set he said, ' I love not thoseG rea tes t." that set.' And when he saw the moonbeginning to rise he said, ' This is myLord'; but when it set he said, ' If my Lord guidesme not I shall surely be of the people who e rr.' Andwhen he saw the sun beginning torisehe said,' Thisis my Lord, this is the greatest of all'; but when itset he said, ' O my people, verily, I am clear of whatye associate with God; verily, I have turned my faceto Him who created the heaven and the earth .' "

The name of Abraham's father is said to have beenAzar, though some of the later Arab writers give thename correctly as Terah. ' Others claim that Azarwas his real name, while Terah was his surname(Nawawi, "Biographical Diet, of Illustrious Men,"p. 128; but see Jawaliki, " Al-Mu'arrab," ed. Sachau,p. 21; " Z. D. M. G." xxxiii. 214). Still a third classof authorities say that Azar means either " the oldman " or " the perverse one." Modern scholars havesuggested that the word is a mistake for imTKn(B. B. 15a; see Pautz, "Mohammed's Lehre von derOffenbarung," p. 242). This Azar was a great worshiper of idols, and Abraham had hard work in dissuading him from worshiping them. The story istold in sura xxi. 53 et seq.: " And we gave Abrahama right direction before; for about him we knew.When he said to his father and to his people, 'Whatare these images to which ye pay devotion?' saidthey, 'W e found our fathers serving them.' Saidhe, ' Both ye and your fathers have been in obviouserror.' They said, ' Dost thou come to us witb thetruth, or art thou of those that sport ?' He said, 'Nay,but your Lord is Lord of the heavens and of theearth, which He created; and I am of those who testify to this, and, by God, I will plot against youridols after ye have turned and shown me your backs.'So he brake them all in pieces, except a large onethat haply they might refer it to [lay the blame upon]him. Said they, ' Who has done this with our gods?Verily, he is of the wrong-doers.' They said, ' We

heard a youth speak of them, who is called Abraham.'Said they, ' Then bring him before the eyes of men;haply they will bear witness.' Said they, ' Was itthou who did this to our gods, O Abraham?' Saidhe, ' Nay, it was this largest of them; but ask themif they can speak. . . . ' Said they, ' Burn him andhelp your gods if ye are going to do so.' We said,'Ofire! be thou cool and a safety for Abraham .' " Insuras xxvii. and xxxix. Mohammed returns to th is ,story, and adds the account of the messengers thatcame to Abraham, of the promise of a son namedIsaac, and of the coming destruction of Sodom andGomorrah. " We turned these cities upside down andrained on them stones of baked clay " (compare surali. 34). The destruction of the two cities served Mohammed as a warning, taken from history, which hedesired to impress upon his opponents in Mecca.The 'Akedah, or sacrifice of Isaac, is mentionedin several places in the Koran. The following account is found in sura xxxvii. 100 et seq.: " Andwhen he reached the age to work with him he said:' O my boy ! verily I have seen in a dream that Ishould sacrifice thee; look, then, that thou seestrigh t.' Said he, ' O my sire! do what thou art bidden; thou wilt find me, if it please God, one of thepatien t.' And when they were resigned and Abraham had thrown him down upon his forehead, wecalled to him, 'O Abraham! thou hast verified thevision; verily, thus do we reward those who do good.This is surely an obvious trial.' And we rewardedhim with a mighty victim."Mohammed, however, wen t further than this, and, >in order to strengthen his position against his Jew- /ish opponents in Medina, made out of Abraham the /most prominent figure in premoham- JProminence medan religious history. He allegesGiven to that Abraham was the real founder ofAbraham, the religion that he himself was preaching; that Islgm was merely a restatement of the old religion ofAbraham and not a newfaith now preached for the firs t time. Abraham isthe " friend of God " (sura iv. 124), an appellation thatthe followers of Islam now usually apply to him, andon account of which to-day the city of Hebron iscalled Al-Halil (compare Isa. xii. 8; Ab. R. N. 61a).He is also said to have been an imam, or religiousleader (compare suras ii. 118, xvi. 121), and perhapsalso a "hanif "; "he was not one of the idolaters. . . .[God] chose him, and He guided him unto the rightway. . . . Then we inspired thee, Follow the faith ofAbraham, a hanif, for he was not of the idolaters."The exact meaning of "hanif" is uncertain; but itseems in general to designate a man who searchedafter the truth and despised idolatry (Kuenen, I.e.note 2, pp. 323-326; Wellhausen, " Skizzen," iii. 207f.Characteristic is the following saying: "Abrahamwas not a Jew nor yet a Christian, but he was ahanif resigned, and not of the idolaters. Verily,the people most worthy of Abraham are those thatfollow him and his prophets, and those that believe "(sura iii. 60). With the same theological intentMohammed makes various references to the MillatIbrahim (" Religion of Abraham ") as the one he desires his people to follow (suras xvi. 124, ii. 124,xxii. 77).During the latest period of Mohammed's activityin M edina he became s till bolder, and, in developinghis theory in regard to Abraham, left entirely thebeaten track of Jewish and Christian Midrash. It /had become necessary for him to b reak entirely with *the Jews, who refused to acknowledge him asprophet. The kiblah, or direction of prayer, wasstill toward Jerusalem. As the Jews had refusedto follow Mohammed it was necessary to dissociate

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THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA Abrahamts of his followers from Jerusalem to Mecca.

little friction as possible, Mohammed connectedand its holy house, the Kaaba, with the his-of Abraham, the real founder of his Islam. Itthat Ishmael comes for the first time promiforward!"- In one of the latest suras (ii. 118seq.) a passage reads: "And when we made the

saying, ' Do ye two cleanse my house for thosethe circuit, for those who pay devotionse. . . .' And when Abraham raised up

ve it from us. Verily, Thou art hearing andLord, and make us, too, resigned, and show us our rites, and turn toward; verily, Thou art easy to be turned and merciful.and send them an apostle from amongst them

them; verily,the mighty and the wise' " (compare surasThere is no local tradition connecting AbrahamMecca; and we are forced to put this down aspolitical nswell as nr\ theological reasons Acto Bhahrastani (Arabic text, p. 430), thise "Makam Ibrahim," or Station of Abraham,_istile 'sacred enclosure atand the footsteps of the patriarch are be

onje," Het Mekkaansche Feest," p. 40; Mekka,11).The stories in regard to Abraham, told in a fewfurther midrashic expansion among

Moham- the Arabs.- The likeness of the historymedan of Abraham to certain features in theM idr as h life of the ir Own propheTmade him aon favorite subject in the hands of corn-Abraham, mentators and historians. Mohammedan writers had two sources from whichtheir knowledge of the Bible and of its mid(" rabbis "), and a study of the text of the

fic of the two. The material is to be found in thecommentators on the KoranZamakhshari,heir histories with the earliest accounts of man,

Midpon it. Some of the historians are quite exIbn Kutaibah, and the first philosopher ofHamza, Biruni, Ma-al-Athir, Abu al-Fida (compare Goldziher,Uber Mohammedanische Polemik gegen die Ahl al-itab," in"Z.D.M.G."xxxii. 357). Theyhavemucho say about the trials that Abraham underwentfighting idolatry. They dilate upon the greaturnace that Nimrod had built in Kutha for thispurpose, and how the furnace was changed intogarden. A Kurd named Hayun, Haizar, or Hai-zan, is said to have advised Nimrod to have Abraam burnt. Abraham 's father is said to have

been a carver of images; and Abraham, in sellinghis father's wares, attempted to convert the peopleby crying out, "Who wishes to buy that whichneither hu rts nor betters?" Large midrashic additions are made in order to bring Nimrod into connection with Abraham. It is said that the star-gazers warned him that a boy would be born thatwould in the future break all the idols; that Nimrodgave orders to put to death all children born; butthat when Abraham was born his mother hid himin a cave in which, during a few days, he grew toman 's estate, and thus foiled the purpose of the k ing.The incongruity of Mohammed's connecting Abraham with the building of the Kaaba was evidentlyclearly felt, and it is therefore added that his goingto Mecca was due to the rupture between Sarah andHagar. God told Abraham to take the bondmaidand her child, Ishmael, into Arabia;, and it was atthe Zemzem well within the sacred enclosure thatthe water rose up which slaked the thirst of theboy. On two occasions Abraham is said to havepaid a visit to Ishmael's house in his absence; and,by the answers which each wife gave to her father-in-law, Abraham advises his son, in the one case, tosend his first wife away, and in the other to keephis second wife. In the building of the Kaaba,Abraham was assisted by the Shekinah (nyatJ*); others say by a cloud or by the angel Gabriel. Abraham acted as muezzin, delivered all the necessaryprayers, and made the various circuits demandedby the later ritual. It was he also who first threwstones at Iblis (the devil) in the valley of Mina, aprocedure which still forms part of the ceremoniesconnected with the Tiajj. It is natural that in theselater accretions Ishmael should take the place ofIsaac. Some authors even state that it was Ishmaelwho was to have been offered up; and that he therefore bears the name Al-Dhabih (" Slaughtered One ").The place of the 'Akedah is also transferred to Mina,near Mecca. The ram offered up in lieu of the sonis said to have been the same as the one offered byAbel. The slaughtering of Isaac is dwelt upon atlength, as well as thefirmnessof Abraham in resisting the enticement of Iblis, who placed himself directly in his path. This is said to have been one ofthe trials (sura ii. 118) which Abraham underwent.Arabic commentators, however, speak of three trialsonly, and not of ten, as does the Jewish Haggadah.Many of the religious observances that are nowfound in Islam are referred to Abraham; parallelsto which, as far as the institution of certain prayersis concerned, can be found in rabbinical literature.Abraham is often called by Arabic authors the" father of hospitality "; and long accounts are givenof the visit of the angels. He is also said to havebeen the firs t whose hair grew white. Of his deathan Arabic Midrash has the following: When Godwished to take the soul of Abraham He sent theAngel of Death to him in the form of a decrepit oldman. Abraham was at table with some guests, whenhe saw an old man walking in the heat of the sun.He sent an ass to carry the man to his tent. The oldman, however, had hardly sufficient strength to pu tthe food set before him to his mouth; and even thenhe had the greatest difficulty in swallowing it.Now, a long* time before this, Abraham had askedGod not to take away his soul until he (Abraham)should make the request. When he saw the actionsof this old man he asked him what ailed him. " Itis the result of old age, O Abraham! " he answered."How old are you, then? " asked Abraham. Theold man gave his age as two years more than thatof Abraham, upon which the patriarch exclaimed," In two years' time I shall be like him! 0 God! take


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AbrahamAbraham, Apocalypse of THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 9 0me to Thyself." The old man, who was no other thanthe Angel of Death, then took away A braham's soul.Rabbinical midrashic parallels can easily be foundto most of the legends referred to above: a largenumber are given in Griinbaum ("Neue Beitragezur Semitischen Sagenkunde"). It is of interestto observe that these Mohammedan additions havealso, in some cases, found their way into Jew ish literature. They are met with in works that havebeen written under Arabic influence in one form oranother. Abraham's visit to Ishmael is found in thePirke R. El. xxx. and in the " Sefer ha-Yashar." Inthe " Shebet Musar " of Elijah ha-Kohen there is anappendix entitled " Tale of That Which Happenedto Our Father Abraham in Connection with Nimrod." Elijah lived in Smyrna at the beginning ofthe eighteenth century, which fact will explain theArabic influence.BIBLIOGRAPHY : Koran, suras ii. iii. iv.vi. xi. xxix. xxxvii. Ii. Ix.(the citations above are from Palmer's translation in the Sacred Books of the East, vols. vi. ix.), and the commentatorsmentioned in the article; Tabari, Annales, i. 254 et seq.; Ibnal-Athir, Cfironicon, ed. Tornberg, i. 67 et seq.; Ibn Kutaibab,Handbuch der Gteschichte, ed. wiistenfeld, pp. 16 et seg.; Ma-sudi, Les Prairies d'Or, ed. Barbier de Meynard, ix. 105, index ; Pseudo-Masudi, Abrege des MerveiUes, tr. by Carra deVaux, pp. 131, 322; Wiistenfeld, Die Chroniken der StadtMekka, Arabic text, i. 21 et seg., German tr. iv. 7 et seg.;Al-Yakubi, Histories, ed. Houtsma, i. 21 et seq.; Yakut's Oeo-grapliisches W6rterbuch, ed. Wiistenfeld, vi. 266, index.

For special histories of the propbets see Brockelmann, Gesch.der Arabischen Lit. i. 350. The traditions in the Koran andlater works are collected in Al-Nawawi, Biographical Diet,of Illustrious Men, ed. Wiistenfeld, pp. 125 et seq.; and Abual-Fida, Historto Anteislamwa, ed. Fleischer, pp. 125 et seg.Abraham's position in the history of religion from the Mohammedan standpoint is considered by Al-Shahrastani,Kitab al-Milal wcd-Nahal, ed. Cureton, pp. 241, 247, 261 (Germantransl. by Haafbrilcker, index, s.v.). Modern works on thesubject: Geiger, Was Hat Mohammed aus dem JudenthumeAufgenommen 1 pp. 121 et seq.; Hirschfeld, Beitrage zur Erklarung des Korans, pp. 43, 59; Grimme, Mohammed, 1. 60et seq., ii. 76, 82 et seq.; Pautz, Mohammed's Lehre von derOffenbarung, pp. 173, 228; Smith, The Bible and Islam, pp.68 et seq.; Bate, Studies in Islam, pp. 60 et seg. For the laterlegends see Weil, Biblische Legenden der Muselmdnner, pp.68 et seg.; Griinbaum, JVeue Beitritge zu r SemitischenSagenkunde, pp. 89 et seg.; Bacher, Bibel und BiblischeOeschichte in der Mohammedanischen Ltteratur, in Ko-bak's Jeschurun, viii. 1-29; G. A. Kohut, Haggadie Elements in Arabic Legends, in Independent, New York,1898, Jan. 8 et seg.; Lidzbarski, De Profeticis, quce dicuntur,Legendis Arabicis, Leipsic, 1893.G.Critical View: The original and proper formof this name seems to be either " Abram" or " Abiram"(I Kings, xvi. 34; Deut. xi. 6), withEtymology, the meaning, "my Father [or myGod] is exalted." The form "Abraham" yields no sense in Hebrew, and is probablyonly a graphic variation of "Abram," the h beingsimply a letter, indicating a preceding vowel, a;but popular tradition explains it "father of amultitude" (ab hamon), given as a new name onthe occasion of a turning-point in the patriarch'scareer (Gen. xvii. 5). The name is personal, not tribal;it appears as a personal name in Babylonia in the timeof Apil-Sin (about 2320 B.C.; Meissner, "Beitragezum Altbabylonischen Privatrecht," No. Ill), and is

not employed in the Old Testament in an ethnicalsense (for example, it is not so employed in Micah,.pi. 20, nor in Isa. xii. 8).fj In the earlier so-called Jahvistic narrative, Abraham embodies particularly the conception of Israel'stitle to the land of Canaan. He comesN at io na l from the East to Canaan, receives theSignifl- promise of the land, separates fromcance. Lot (Moab and Ammon), from Ishmael (Arabian tribes), and from thesons of Keturah (other Arabian tribes), thus eliminating any possible future contention as to thetitle to the country. A continuous process of selec

tion and exclusion is here exemplified, the result ofwhich is to identify Abraham with Canaan; suchwas the popular conception of him as late as thetime of Ezekiel (Ezek. xxxiii. 24). In the narra tivewhich the critics regard as postexilian, or the PriestlyCode, A braham further repjesents the icjxnaJLccje-nant of GMTEllSrrmMaiy'with the nation, sealed by~tlle~rite or circTnrrciSion (COVENANT). He stands,in a word, for the premosaic religious constitution^of the people. yAbraham's singularly majestic and attractive personality, as it appears in Genesis, is in this view theoutcome of generations of thought.Ch ar ac ter . Each age contributed to the portraitf of what it held to be purest and(noblest and worthiest of the first forefather. Theresult is a figure, solitary, calm, strong, resting unswervingly on God, and moving unscathed amongmen. Later he was thought of as " the friend of God "(Isa. xii. 8). Paul calls him the father of all whobelieve (Rom. iv.). Mohammed takes him as therepresentative of the absolute primitive religion,from which Judaism and Christianity have diverged,and to which Islam has returned. The charactershows, however, a commingling of highand low.There are generosity (Gen. xiii.), bravery (Gen. xiv.),afinesense of justice (Gen. xviii.). Bu t tradition, in

order to bring out God's special care of the hero,twice makes him guilty of falsehood (Gen. xii., xx.);this last fact throws light on the ethical ideas of theeighth century.Is there any historical kernel embedded in thenarrative? Obviously it contains much legendarymatter. The stories of Lot, Hagar,Relation to and Keturah are ethnological myths;History, the theophanies and the story of thedestruction of the cities are legends;circumcision was not adopted by the Israelites inthe way here represented; and the story of the attempted sacrifice of Isaac i$ a product of the regalperiod. Abraham's kinsfolk (Gen. xxii. 20-24) arepersonifications of tribes, and his predecessors andsuccessors, from Noah to Jacob, are mythical orlegendary. What is to be said of the much debatedfourteenth chap ter? First, it must be divided intotwo parts: the history of the Elamite invasion, andAbraham's connection with it. The first part maybe historical, b ut i t no more follows tha t the secondpart is historical than the reality of the miraculous r61e assigned to Moses follows from the realityof the Exodus. On the contrary, the mention ofSalem and of tithes points to a postexilian originfor the paragraph. The invasion may be historical "lDJ)p"n3 (Chedorlaomer) and "V*IX (Arioch) areElamite, and a march from Babylonia to Canaan isconceivablebut no mention of it has been found ininscriptions, and it is not easy to reconcile it withknown facts. If PQIOS (Amraphel) be Hammurabi,Abraham's date is about 2300 B.C.The biography of Abraham in Genesis is probabl}''to be regarded as legendary; it has grown up aroundsacred places, ideas, and institutions. Yet there canbe little doubt that the name involves some historical fact, and that this fact has to do with tribalmigration: the name, though personal, not tribal,may represent a migration. By reason of the paucity of information the whole question is obscure, andany conclusions must be largely conjectural.The text represents Abraham as coming to Canaanfrom the Tigris-Euphrates valley. A migration ofHebrew ancestors from that region is not necessaryfor the explanation of what we know of Hebrewhistory. But weight must be attached to the well-formed and persistent tradition, and a migration of

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91 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA AbrahamAbraham, Apocalypse ofthis sort, as the Tell-el-Amarna inscriptions indicate,must be regarded as possible. If a m otive for themovement be sought, it may be found in the warswhich were constantly going on between the thicklysettled and feebly organized inhabitants of the valleybetween the rivers. Distinct indications of an Abrahamic migration from Babylonia are found by somescholars in the similarity between Babylonian andHebrew institutions (as the Sabbath) and myths(Creation, Flood, etc.); by others this similarity isreferred to Canaanite intermediation, or to later borrowing from Assyria or Babylonia.The supposed relation of the names "Sin" (thewilderness) and " Sinai" (the mountain, and a Canaanite tribe) to the Babylonian moon-god, Sin, isdoubtful. The migrating tribes would speak Babylonian or Aramaic, but would speedily become absorbed in their new surroundings and adopt thelanguage of the region. If such a body settled innorthern Arabia, this might account for the connection of Abraham with Hagar and Keturah. TheHebrew tribes proper, coming to dwell in tha t region,may ha,ve found his name as that of a local hero, andmay gradually have adopted it. But of the conditionof things in Canaan from 2300 to 2000 B.C. nothing isknown, and between Abraham and Moses there is almost an absolute blank in the history.BIBLIOGRAPHY : Tomkins, Studies on the Time of Abraham,2d ed.. 1897; W. J. Deane, Abraham: His Life and Times,New York C Men of the Bible Series "); Kittel, Hist, of theHebrews, 1. passim; Bobertson, Early Religion of Israel,passim; Hommel, Ancient Hebr. Tradition, v. T.ABRAHAM, APOCALYPSE OF: An apoc-ryphon that has been preserved in Old Slavonicliterature . Its ti tle does not fully explain its contents, for about one-third of it might more appropriately be called "The Legend of Abraham," as thiscontains an account of Abraham's conversion fromidolatry to monotheism quite apart from the Apocalypse which follows.Abraham, the son of the idol-maker TERAU" (Gen.R. xxxviii. 13), was, like his father, a thoroughgoing idolater, being chiefly devotedAbraham to the worship of the stone idol calledth e Merumat ("Eben Marumah," stone ofIconoclast, deceit and corruption). But on a journey to a place near Fandana (Padan-aram), some of his idols were smashed, and havinglong felt misgivings as to their power, he becameconvinced of the unreality of such deities. Henceforth he fearlessly propagated this new tru th, defending it even against his own father, whom he invain endeavored to convert. He threw the woodenidol Barisat(K)riCN "13 (" Son of the Fire ")intothe flames, and when remonstrated with declaredthat i t must have thrown itself in, in order to hurrythe boiling of the food (compare a similar anecdoterelated of Abraham in Gen. R. xxxv iii. 13). But noteven this argument influenced his father; and hismore elaborate ones in favor of monotheism, whichalmost to the very lette r are identical with thosefound in the Midrash (Gen. R. I.e.), also provedfutile. Finally God told Abraham to leave his father's house, which, no sooner had he done, than itwas consumed by fire, as was also his father. TheBiblical "Urof the Chaldees" (Gen. xi. 31, xv. 7)is here interpreted as the fire of the Chaldees, andlater in fuller detail in the Book of Jubilees, andstill more fully in the Midrash, Gen. R., and inPes. 118a. In the last passage the account of thedeath of Haran and of the miraculous escape of Abraham from thefireof the Chaldees is based on a combination of this Apocalypse with the Book of Ju

bilees. The relative age of these works can bedetermined by comparing the legend of Abrahamas contained in the Apocalypse withD ate of It s those in the Talmud and in the Book ofCom posi- Jubilees. The legend of the raven inti on . the Book of Jubilees (xi. 18) and theaccount of the conversion of Abrahamin his boyhood are still unknown to the Apocalypse, while the legend of the fire of the Chaldees isfound there still in its incipient stage. The mockeryof the idol Barisat is more extended in the Midrashthan in the Apocalypse ; also the condemnation ofTerah as an idolater, as related in the Apocalypse,discloses the older Haggadah (Gen. R. xxxix. 7),whereas the Book of Jubilees presents the later one(compare Gen. R. xxx. 4, xxxix. 7, where Terah istreated quite mildly). As the Book of Jubilees cannot have been written later than 70 (see JUBILEES,BOOK OP), the date of the composition should beset before the middle of the first century .It is b y no means difficult to ascertain w ith somedegree of certainty the language in which thislegend was originally written. TheI t s Origi- sarcastic names given to the idols pre-nal suppose a familiarity with a SemiticLanguage, dialect which a Greco-Jewish writer

would scarcely have expected of hisreaders. It is not certain whether the book was written in Hebrew or Aramaic. The frequent phrase," And I said, Behold me," suggests the Hebrew idiom"JJD, while the expression "silver" for "money" iscommon to both languages.The second part of the book, the main Apocalypse, is a commentary on Gen. xv., which is notonly interpreted by the Haggadah as aA b ra ha m revelation of the future destinies ofan d th e Israel up to their final redemptionA ng els . (Gen. R. xliv. 15), but also as implying the fact that " God lifted Abrahamabove the firmament" and told him to " look downupon the world beneath." The Apocalypse relates minutely the circumstances under which thisascension, mentioned in the Midrash, took place.According to this, Abraham 's sacrifice of the animals(Gen. xv.) took place, by God's command, on theholy Mount Horeb, whither Abraham was led by theangel PKIIT (Yahoel) after a journey of forty days.The angel introduces himself to Abraham, the"friend of G od" (Book of Jubilees, 19; Men. 536),as a being possessed of the power of the IneffableName n^n DB> (Name of the Existing), a qualityassigned elsewhere by the rabbis to METATKON," whose name is like unto tha t of God Himself " (Sanh.386). This also explains why, in the Apocalypse,the name Yahoel is evidently a substitute for theIneffable Name (nii"P), of which even the writing out in full was forbidden. Yahoel is also theheavenly choirmaster, who teaches the angels theirhymn (DTKO, a function which, according to Yal-ku{, i. 133, is assigned to Michael. Similarly, thecontrol over " the threats and attacks of the reptiles "ascribed here to Yahoel is assigned to Michael (seeSchwab, " Vocabulaire," p. 283). Even Michael'schief task of protecting and watching over Israel(Dan. xii. 1) is assumed by Yahoel, who says toAbraham: "I am . . . w ith the generation prepared from of old to come from thee, and with me isMichael." These are the oldest instances of thegradual transformation of Michael, originally theguardian angel of Israel, into Metatronthat is,unto the one who concentrates in himself all thatis great, a development in Jewish angelology of thegreatest influence upon the Christian doctrine ofthe Logos (see ABKAHAM, TESTAMENT OP). Under

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