Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 1.pdf/137

91 this sort, as tlii-Ti'll-el-Aiiiiirua inscriptions indicate, must be rejrarded as possible. If a motive for the

be sought, it may be found in the wars which were constantly going on between the thickly settled and feebly organized inhabitants of the valley between the rivers. Distinct indications of an AbraIiamic migration from Babylonia are found by some scholars in the similarity between ISabylonian and Hebrew institutions (as the Sabbath) and m3ths (Creation, Flood, etc.): by others this similarit}' is

movement

referred to Canaanite intermediation, or to later bor-

rowing from Assyria or liaby Ionia. The supposed relation of the names " Sin " (the wilderness) and "Sinai" (the mountain, and a Canaanite tribe) to the Habylonian moongod. Sin, is The migratina: tribes would speak Babydoubtful. lonian or Anmiaic, but would speedily become absorbed in their new sunoundiiigs and adopt the language of the region. If such a l)r)dy settled in northern Arabia, this might account for the connecThe tinn of Abndiam with Ilagar and Krtunih.

Hebrew

tribes proper, cominj; to dwell in that region. have found his name as that of a local hero, and

may may gradually have adopted

it. But of the condition Canaan from '2'i» to 'J(Mi n.c. nothing is known, and between Abraham and .Moses there is almost an absolute blank in the history.

of things in

BiiiLKX^iiAniv

M

eU.. ISilT;

Sew York

passim



("



Tomkins, .SfwdiMoii thr Time iif Ahrnlinm, J. Dfane, .Dmiluim Ili< l,l(r ,niil Tinu.^.

W.

Mm nf



tin llilih S. ri. s "

,



KiUrl.

passim; Uubert.-ntn. Kitrlji lirliiiinn Uommel, Ancknt Hcbr. Traditiotu v.

i/c/^rcioi.

1.

Ili.-t. i.i lli.

n1

IsnnK T.

ABRAHAM, APOCALYPSE OF

An apocserved in Old Slavonic literature. Its title does not fully explain its contents, for about one-third of it might more appropriately be called "The Legend of Abraham," as this contains an account of Abraham's conversion from idolatry to monotheism quite apart from the Apocalypse which follows. Abraham, the son of the idol-maker Tek.ii (Gen. -X.xxviii. 13), was, like his father, a thorough]{. ryplioii

ilial

Abraham

lias

lin

ii

going idolater, being chietly devoted tothe worship of the stone idol called

Merumat

the




 * in

("Ebeii

Marumah," stone of

Iconoclast, deceit and corruption). But on a journey to a plae(Miear Fandana (Padanaram), some of his idols were smashed, and having long felt misgivings as to their power, he became convinced of the unreality of such deities. Hencehe fearlessly j>ropagaled this n<w truth, defending it even against his own father, whom he in vain I'udeavored to cnnvert. He threw the wooden iddl Barisat— (K)nL"X "13 ("Son of the Fire")— into the tlames, and when remonstrated with declared that it must have thrown itself in, in order to hurry the boiling of the f( If id (compare a similar anecdote related of Abniham in (!i'n. H. .xx.xviii. Hi). But not forth

this argument more elaborate ones

intliieneed his father; and his in favor of monotheism, which almost to the very letter are identical with those found in the Midmsh (Den. I{. I.e.), also proved futile. Finally (!od told Abraham to li'ave his father's house, which, no sooner had li<' dune, than it was consumed bv lire, as was also his father. The Biblical "Irof the Chaldets" ((Jen. xi. ;tl, xv. 7) ev<'n

is

here interprited as

later Btill

in

llie tire

of the Chaldees, and

fuller detail in the Book of Jubilees, and fully in the rilidnush. Gen. Ii., ami in

more

In till' last pas,sjigo the account of llu' death of Ha ran and of I hi' miniculoiis escape of Abraliam from the lire of the Chaldees is based on a combination of this .Vpoealypse with the Book of .111Pi's.

Abraham

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

91

lHit.

Abraham, Apocalypse of

bilees. The relative age of these works can be determined by comparing the legend of Abraliam as contained in the Apocalypse with Date of Its those in the Talmud and in the Book of Composi Jubilees. The legend of the raven in tion. the Book of Jubilees (xi. 18) and the account of the conversion of Abraham in his boyhood are still unknown to the Apocalypse, while the legend of the tire of the Chaldees is found there still in its incipient stage. The mockery of the idol Barisat is more extended in the Midrash than ill the Apocalypse also the condemnation of Terali as an itiolater. as related in the Apoealy])se,

discloses the older Haggadah (Gen. K. xxxi.x". 7), whereas the Book of Jubilees iire.sents the later one (compare Gen. R. xx.. 4, xxxix. 7, where Terah is treated (luite mildly). As the Book of Jubilees can not have been written later than 70 (see Jumr.EES, Book of), the date of the composition should be

middle of the

set before the It is by no

first

century.

means

dillieult to ascertain

Israel

up

with some degree of certainty the language in which this legend was originally written. The Its Origi- siircastic names given to the idols prenal suppose a familiarity with a Semitic Language, dialect which a Greco-.Iewish writer would scarcely have expected of his readers. It is not certain whether the book was written in Hebrew or Aramaic. The frequent phrase, And 1 said. Behold me." suggests the Hebrew idiom 'Jjn. while the expression "silver" for "money" is common to both languages. The .second part of the book, the main Apocalypse, is a commentary on Gen. xv., which is not only interpreted by the Haggadah as a Abraham revelation of the future destinies of

and the Angels.

to

their

final

redemption

(Gen. H. xliv. l,")), but also as implying the fact that "God lifted .bniliam

above the firmament" and told him to "look down upon the world beneath." The Apocalypse relates minutely the circumstances under which this ascension, mentioned in the Jlidnish, took jdacc. According to this, Abniliam's sacrifice of the animals (Gen. XV.) took place, by God's commami, on the holy Mount Iloreb, whither Abraham was led by the angel ?Nin' (Yahoel) after a journey of forty days. The angel introduces himself to Abraham, the "frienil of God "(Book of Jubilees, lil; Jleu. r<3l>), as a being pos-scssed of the power of the Ineffable Name n^^n Df (Name of the Existing) a quality assigned elsewhere bj' the rabbis to ME'r.'rnoN, " whose name is like unto that of God Himself " (Sanh. 38A). This also explains why, in the Apocalypse, the name Yahoel is evidently a substitute for the of which even the wriIneffable Name (niiT) ting out in full was forbidden. Yaboil is also the heavenly choirniaster, who teaches the angels their hymn (m'C). a function which, according to YalSimilarly, the kut, i. S i;i;i, is as.signed to Michael. control over "the threats and attacks of the reptiles" ascribed here to Yahoel is iLssigned to Michael (see Even Jlichael's Sciiwab, " Vocabulaire," p. "JH;!). chief tji.sk of protecting and watching over Israel ,

,

by Yahoel, who says to with the generation prepared from of old to come frimi thee, and with me is (Dan.

xii.

Abraham:

1)

"I

is tussiinicd

am

.

.

.

These are the oldest instances of the Michael." gradual transformation of Michael, originally the guardian angel of Israel, into Me|a(ron that is, unto the one who conci'Ulrates in hims<'lf all that is great, a developmeiil in Jewish angelology of the greatest inllueiice upon the Christian doctrine of I'nJer the I.K)gos (see Aiiu.Mi.v.M. Tkst.vmknt of).

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