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93 Abraham, Apocalypse of Abraham, Testament of

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

93

According to IV Mace. of bliss in the othtT world. .iii. 17, the righloous who die for their faith are received by Abraham, Isjuic. and Jacolj in paradise (ciimpare Matt. viii. 11: "Many shall come from the cast and the west and sit down with Abraham, liijiac. and Jacob in the kingdom <if lieaven "). In Kid. 72A, Adda bar Ahal]a, a ralilii of the third century, is said to be "sittinir in the bosiim of Abraliam," which means that he has entered i)aradise. With Ibis should be eom])ared the statement of K. Levi (Gen. "In the world to come Abraham sits at H. xlviii.) the gate of Gehenna, permitting none to enter who bears the seal of the covenant " (see CiiiClMcisioN). In the Hellenistic Testament of Abraham it is Adam, the representative of humanity, who sits at the gate of hell ami paradise; the Jewish view of later times placed Aliiaham. the progenitor of Israel, This was also the view of the New in Adam's place. Testament writers as presented in Luke, xvi. 19-31, Lazarus, the story of La/.arus and the rich man. the beggar, died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's IJosom; the rich man died and was put into Gehenna, where he sjiw La/arus in the ISosom of Abraham, full of joy, whereas lu' suffered great torment. Thereat he cried: " Father Aliraham, have mercy on me " and linally he asked .Vljrahaiu to send La/.arus to his father's housi' to admonish his five brothers to lead lives characteri/ed by repentance, in order not to meet the sjime fate as his own. AVhcreupon Abraham siud "They have the law of Moses and the teaclungsof the proi)hets; let them be mindful (if these, and they will enter paradise as well as

fairs were held under it. During the Crusades Abraham's Oak was visited frequently bj' the pilgrims; and it became customary to hold the Feast of the Trinity under its shadow, connecting the subject of

the feast with the three angels of the Biblical narrative. The inventive traveler Odoricus (1286-1331)



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On La/arus (Kliezer) and Abraham see La/.arus." (Jeiger's " Ji'idiselie Zeitsclirifl fi'ir Wissenschaft uiul Leben," vii. 200. It is iilain that Alnaham is here viewed as the warden of paradise, like Michael in Jewish and St. Peter in Christian folk lore ("Texts Of Abraham and Studii-s." v. tii). Camhridge). as attornev i>leading for Israel, R. Jonathan also " speaks Sliab, Nil/- ). K. .")."i,

I

ABRAHAM'S OAK A

famous and venerable (y.ik {(^iiiiciiK imiiihi-ciicrifirtt) which still stands at Manue, half an hour's journey west of Hebron, and is surrounded by a wall over which it projects. Josephus probably refers to it ("Ant." i. 10, ^4), or a predeces.sor on the same spot, when he mentions that Abraham dwelt by an "ogygian" (prehist<irie)

Abraliam 's Ual: as

it

appeared in

liiil7.

connects the oak with the legend of the Cross (" Itinerarium," chap. xlvi.). Josippon stales that it lasted until the days of the Emperor Theodosius, when it withered. Its wood was used for medicinal purposes, the belief being that such a use itreventcd any illness up to the day of death (Chronicle of Jerahmeel, i)p. Ixxi. and 78). Near the oak in former times, on its north side, stood a terebinth, which, according to Josephus (" H. J." iv. i), S; 7). had existed since the beginning of the world. It was under this tree that, in liadrian's time, the great sales of Jewish slaves, numbering, it is said, no less than lii.5.000. took place. Abraham's Oak has become considerably weak-

ened in recent yeai's. as is shown by the acconijianying illustrations, taken in the years 1847 and 18it7 respectively. In 183'2 a large branch was broken oil by lightning and the wood from it formed eight camel;

loads. BlBI.IofiRAPIIV: Sepp, JinwWfiii loiri (/(in Ki'id'yc Laml, I. (ill-IESi: I'aU'stine Exploration Fund, (Jmirtirly SttilciiKUt, ISW, pp. 3», 40. F. II. J.

ABKAHAM, TESTAMENT

IC— OF: An apoc-

ryphal li'iol^, piil.lisli, il Inr ilic lir-i time by Montague Kliodes James, in two ililVeient i-ecensions, in

Recent Discovery of Book.

IJobinson's "Texts and

Studies,"

No. 2 (Camliridge, lis'.12). and translaled from the Greek original by W. A. Craigie in the " Ante-Nicene Libraii.

ry," ix. 182-201.

Elhiopic. Slavonic,

and Humanian versions also have been found, and

some of them published. The book contains the story of the death of Abraham, told in exactly the saini- foiin as that in which

Altnilllilti'o

'

)ak

III

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1.

According to trailition, it was opposite this oak that .Mindiam's lent was pitched at the time thai the anirels came to him and promised him a son and heir; also when he was ni'gotialing with K|)liidn the Ililtite for the eavi> of .Maehpelah (Gen. xviii. and x.iii.). Some have eonneeled the oak with an earlier stage of tree worship. In Jerome's time, tree.

the death of Moses is deserilxil by the ancient Ilaggadah; with the view of portraying in poetic style the pious man. on the one hand, struggling against the fate of mortality, and yet. on the ollii'i-, enjoying, while still in mortal garb, the privilege of survi'yiiig the whole World with the eyes of an immortal being (.'2. inlerpn-ting Josh. V. 14), to prepare him for the approaching end.

The

ari-hangel appears as a

common

tniveler