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28 Abba Abba Arika

Tin; .IKWISH

with your relatives as well as with others, even with striiiigers in the iimikct|)liict'."

Abiiyi' urgril his disciples to conduct themselves such !i way as to li-ad nthers to the love of God

in

In Bililical cxcircsis he wasoncof tlu' a disliiu-I linr lu'twcon tin- evident nieaninji of the text {luslmt) and the sense aseiihed to it by niidrashio inteiprelalion. lie foinudated the followiiii; rule, of great inipoitanee in Talniudic exegesis (Sanli. ;i4< "One Bible velse can be referred to dilVerenl sulijeets. but several dilTerent IJible verses can iii>t refer to one and the sjinie subjeel." He defended the Apocryphal l)o<ik Ecclesiasticus against liis teacher .luseph. 15y i|noling from it a nuuil)er of edifying passages lie sliowed that it did not belong to the hereti<'al books which are forbidden, and even coni|)elled his teacher to admit that quotations might willi advantage be taken from it for liomilelical purposes (Sanh. lOItt). Possessing an extensive knowledge of tradition. Aliaye iHcame a most eager disciple of Diini. the Palest in ian amora. who had brought to Babylonia a perfect treasury of interiirelatioiis by Palestinian amoraim. Abaye considereil Dimi. as a rei)resentative of the Palestinian scliool. a (lualitied Bible cxegcte, aial used to ask him liow this or that Bible verse was cx]ilained in "the West." or Palestine. Of his own interpretations of Biblical passages only a few. of a haggadic nature, are preserved; but he often supplements, elucidates, or corrects the opinions of older authorities. (Vonia. to

tirst

t*")-

BiBLiocRAPHV Lainprcmti, Sider ha-D, with Strasc-liim's notes.

tolcolskl ia

^v.

ABBA

B.

'A/9,3<i).— In Theolog-y The (X3X Aramaic word lor" Father." " my Father," which, to:



gether with the Greek equivalent, occvirs three times in the New Testament. It is an invocation to God. expressive of a clo.se personal or filial relation of the speaker to God. It is found in 3Iark, xi v. liO, the jjarallel passage. ^Malt. xxvi. litl. having only the Greek words "my Father." Paul, in Horn. viii. l.j and Gal. iv. (!. sliows that, in admitting proselytes to niembershi]) in the new faith, llii'V were declared to be the children of God while addressing Him as "Aliba, Father." But there is nothing specially Christian ab<iut this. It was the formula for addressing God most familiar to Jewish saints of the

New

Testament times:

" To Itanan. the grancison of Ontas. Ibe children camp diirlnp droiitflil, crying. ' AWia [Fattier], kIvi- us rain ' wlierethe salnl prayed : ' Ruler ef the world, for the sake of these little ones who can nol discriminate lieiweeii the .ttlia [the Falher] who Rlveth rainand the AliUa [tln' father] who can only pray for, but can not give, rain, hear my prayer ! '—and Ijehold rain came " (Ta'anlt, iSi'i).

a ureal

1

iilion

Of

Onias,

the grandfather of Hanan.

we

road

(Ta'anit. 2*/) that he prayed to God, saying: " Lord. I am as a son in Thy house, and by Thy great name I beseech Thee, nor will I leave this spot until Thou hast shown mercy to Thy children and grantcfl

my

request." Then Simon ben the Pharisees, said to Onias; "

Shetal.i,

the leader

o"f

would excommunicate thee for thine Irreverent mode of tl not that before God thou art a privlleKed son, sayelh to his falher, ' Abba, do this and do thai for me,' and the falher grantelh him whatever he wisheth." I

prayer, were

who

Thus,in Tanna debe Eliyahu R.ix. Elijah addresses "My Father in heaven." Compare the expression "My Father in heaven " in a Midrash of the Lord as

28

the Hadrianic time, Mek.. Yithro, 6, and elsewhere. Likewi.se in Jlislinah. v. 1. Bab. Gem. 'Mli. Ber. v. 1: "Tile ancient Hasidim sjient an hour Father in in silent meditation before the prayer so as to put their hearts in the right Prayer,

dniw



ii..

ENCYCLOPEDIA

relation

to their

Almost the same expression

is

Father found

heaven."

in in

the Apos-

tolic Constitutions, vii. 24:

" Pray thrice a day, preiiarlnir yourselves lieforehaiid, so n.s to worthy of lieInK calleil ilie cliililn'ii of tln' Father, li-sl when .von call lllm Falher" unworthily, you v reproached liv IIIiii, lie

'

lus

His

Israel,

where (Mai.

I.

son,

tlrsl-liorn

mine honor'/ and

is

if

was I

Ih'

told, "If then be a father, a master, where is inv fear'/ 1

«.)"

For the appellation "Fiither" as it occurs in the Bible with special reference to Israel (I)eiit. xxxii. C; Is)i. Ixiii. C. Ixiv. 7; Jcr. iii. 4; Mai. i. (i. ii. 10), see F.Tiii;itnooi) OK Goi). For the universal Fatherhood

of God, compare Wisdom, ii. l;i Ecclesiasticus. iv. 10 1 .John, iii. 2; Abot, iii. 2W [1(S| Abot. v. liO Sifre. Deut. 96, 1 Yoma, viii. i) To.sef., Peali, iv. 21; see also AniNU Malkknu, and Dalman, "Die AVortc .Jesu," i. l.")(i.





God 6.

is

8, §

Father

Apocrypha. as

is

1.50-1.J.5),

24);



in the

Still,

"Father"

bj' Josephus (" Ant." ii. "the Father of the whole human race" by Pliih) (".Sacritice of Abel." IH, and elsewhere see Drum-

called

§ 8; iv.







niond. " Philo," ii. (i:i; Test. Patriarchs, I idali. 24; Wisdom. ,xii. :!; Sirach, xxvi. 1 and Ii. 10; and Toliit. xiii. 4). .

shown by Dalman ("Die Worte

the fatherly relation of

God

to

.lesu,"

i.

man was

only gradually recognized and expressed by the worshijier. In the Book of Wisdom, ii. IG (compare ii. 18. 18). it is the righteous man only who claims that God is his Father and he His child; or it is the ])riest, who.seholy ministration entitles him to the privile.ge of addressing (fod as "Father" (Test. Patriarchs. Levi. xvii. 1S|. Therefore it liecanie ciistomaiy to sjieak of God in connection with v<irship as the Father of the worshiper (see Tosef., Sanh. vii. 9). "Israelites lift up their eyes to their Father in heaven " (Midr. Teh. cxxi. 1). " I.smel was shielded under the wings of his Father in heaven" (Mek., Aiualek, i. H. H. iii. 8). In the first century .Jolianan ben Zakkai referred to "the altar sis establishing peace between Israel and liis F'ather in

heaven"

(To.scf..

B.

.

vii.

(!.

T);

when

idso.

re-

ferring to the mysteries of God, he said: "Blessed be the God of Israel for this son of Almdiam, who has penetrated into the glories of our Father" (Tosef.,

Hag.

ii.

2).

Subse(|uently Akilia. comforting his people in the luisery after the destruction of the Tem|)le, .says: "Happy arc ye, O Israel, your Fountain of Pui'ification is your Fatherin heaven "(Yoma, I.e.). Likewise Simon ben Yol.iai calls God "the Father in heaven " (.Sjfre, Deut. xlviii.). The iiaternal relation of (tod. while chiefly ajiidied to Israel as the correct worshipers of God. was also apjilied to individuals who maintained this sjiiritual relationship (Sotali. ix.

l.j;

Ab.

v.

20;

Jlek.,

Midr. Teh. ix. 4; Ps. xii. xciv. 2, cxxiii. 1). AVhercforr' the very invocation. "Abinu Malkenu!" (Our Father, our King!), uttered by a devout worsliiper. was regarded by the people as endowed with special eflicacy. The opinion expressed by Weljcr ("see Alts_ynagogale Theologie." ji. 1.50) and others, that .Jesus was the first to invoke God by the name of Father, does not rest on a solid foundation, and has already been refuted b}' Daliuan. Yithro,

(J.



,">,

Bibliography: Zimz, GotteMienstliche VortrOye, .333,

pp. 330,

SK.

K.