Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 1.pdf/131

85 THE JEWISH EXCYCLOPEDLV

85

from anionj; Abralmm's own people. Eliczer jourricycil to Xiilior. ami rctunicil with Ri-bckah, Abraham's frraiKlniccc. whniii Isaac, marricil {ih. xxiv.). Ahraliam now man'i<'il aj;ain,lakiiis;as his wife Kt'tuBcfiirc his rail, liy whom he had srvrnil children. death "he "i^aveall that he had" to Isaac, and sent the sons of his concubines away after lieslowinsr some gifts upon them {ib. v. l-fi), Abraham died

Abraham

had to leave tlieir country and go to Canaan. Afterward, when he came to fegyjit. he entered into disputes with all Ihe iiriests and the wise men. and

won their admiration and, in many cases, their assent to his highi'r views, lie 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 Abndiain," xvii.), in connection with Gen. xv. (compare Gen. U. xliv.). Concerning his religious awakening in his father's house, the Book of .Juliilecs, written ])rol)ably in the time of John Hyrcanus. relates (xi.) that, in order not to participate in the idolatry pracOpposes tised in connection with astrologj' Idolatry, by the whole house of Xahor, Abra.")

Abralmm and (From

til..

ham, when he was fourteen 5-ears of age, left his father, and prayed to God to save him from the errors of men. Abrah;im became an inventor of better modes of agriculture, showing the iicojile how to save the seeds in the field from Ihe ravens that devoured them, lie then tried to persuade his father to reuomice idol-worshi]), but Terah was afraid of the people and told him to keep silent. Finally, when Abraham met with the oi)position of his brothers also, he arose one night and si't lire to the housit in which Ihe idols were kept. In an attempt to save these, his brother llanin was

Isaac.

Saraj.'V.i HA};i;^'i"h.)

burned tode;ith. at the auo of one hundred and sevontyfive years; and Isaac and Ishmael buried him beside Sarah in C. J. M. the cave of Machpelah (rt, ..v. 7-9).

In Apocryphal and Rabbinical Literature



In the Old Ti'StanKMit Abraham ]iresenls the type of a simple Bedouin sheik who wanders from |)iace to ]dace in search of paslure for his herds, a kindhearted, riirhteous, and God-fcarinir Prototype man whom God chose on account of his faithful and rifihtcous character to of the Jewish be the father of a nation peculiarly favored by Him in the possession of Race. Once he the coveted land of Canaan. Incidentis spoken of as a " prophet " (Gen. x.. 7). ally wi' learn that his fallier, '!"( rah, was an idolater, like the rest of the Chaldeans (.losh. .xiv. 2); blU how Abraham betaine a worshiper of the TiOrd. or why God singleil him out and led him forth to CaNo sooner, however, did naan, is left to surmise. Ihe .Jewish jx'ople come into closer contact with nations of hiirher culture, especially with the Greeks in Alexandria, than the figure of Abraham became the prototype of a nation sent forth to proclaim the moMotheisi je faith to Ihe world while wanderinir from land to land. Aceordingly. the divine promi.se (Gi'n, xii. I!, xxii. >^) is undersiooil to mean; "... in thee [instead of " with lhi'e"| shall all Ihe families of the earth be blessed" (see I, XX. mi lor.). In the third and second centuries li.r,, Alexan drini' .lews, writing under the name of Heiata'usand

Herosus, and Samaritans, like Kupole <oinposeil works on .lewish his tory, from which .losephus (".Vnt." i. of the Knowledge 7, S; f<) gives the following: Abraham, endowed with great sagacity, with a of God. higher knowledge of (iod and greater virtues than all the risl. was determined to change He was the first the erroniiius opinions of men. who hail Ihe courage to proclaim GimI as Ihe sole Cre alor of the universe, to whose will all Ihe heavenly bodies are stibjeet, for Ihcv by their motions show His opposiiion to astrol Ihcir depeiiilenee on Ilim. ogy prcivcikid Ihe wrath of the Chaldeans, and In-

When,

in the night of

thenew moonof Tishri

(the

Xew-year), Abraham was watching the stars to forecast the year's fertility, the revelation came to him that, in view of God's omnijjotent will, all astrological predictions were valueless, and. after fervent jirayer, he received word from God to leave the Chahieans and set out on his mission to ble.ss the ualions by teaching them the higher trnlhs. An angel of God taught him Hebrew, the hinguagc of revelation, by which he was enabled to deei])herall the secretsof Ihe ancient books (see Gen. I{. xlii). Leaving hisbrotherXahor with his father, Abraham went to the Holy Land and ol)served there all Ihe festivals and new moons (afterward ]irescribed to the Israelites, but already written on the heavenly tablets re-

Propagator mus,

AhnUiaai ami (Kr..m n lonili«loli«

tti III..


 * rT»%'ry«r,l

ii(

Ihif

Isuiic.

Anwlor.lam PortamiM*

Coni:T»ir»li,'ii.)

vealed to Enocli), besides many other custonts observed bv the i>riestliood of the second rentury n.r. Accorc^ing to one opinion, .Vbraham altaincd the true knowlidgi' of God when liewas threeyeai'sold: according to otlurs, at ten; and again a more soImt opinion claims that he was forty eight years old l{. xxx). In his warfare ngninst the liosts of Anini>hel anil

(til'll,