Genesis 15:6
Hebrew Bible
5 The Lord took him outside and said, “Gaze into the sky and count the stars—if you are able to count them!” Then he said to him, “So will your descendants be.” 6 Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord credited it as righteousness to him. 7 The Lord said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”
Date: 5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Nehemiah 9:8
Hebrew Bible
7 “You are the Lord God who chose Abram and brought him forth from Ur of the Chaldeans. You changed his name to Abraham. 8 When you perceived that his heart was faithful toward you, you established a covenant with him to give his descendants the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, and the Girgashites. You have fulfilled your promise, for you are righteous. 9 “You saw the affliction of our ancestors in Egypt, and you heard their cry at the Red Sea.
Date: 4th Century B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Jubilees 17:15
Pseudepigrapha
15 During the seventh week, in the first year during the first month — on the twelfth of this month — in this jubilee [2003], there were voices in heaven regarding Abraham, that he was faithful in everything that he told him, that the Lord loved him, and that in every difficulty he was faithful. 16 Then Prince Mastema came and said before God: ‘Abraham does indeed love his son Isaac and finds him more pleasing than anyone else. Tell him to offer him as a sacrifice on an altar. Then you will see whether he performs this order and will know whether he is faithful in everything through which you test him.’ 17 Now the Lord was aware that Abraham was faithful in every difficulty which he had told him. For he had tested him through his land and the famine; he had tested him through the wealth of kings; he had tested him again through his wife when she was taken forcibly, and through circumcision; and he had tested him through Ishmael and his servant girl Hagar when he sent them away.
Date: 150-100 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Notes and References
"... The words spoken in heaven about Abraham said that he was faithful in everything that He God had told him ... This drumbeat repetition of “faithful” is all the more surprising because the word does not appear at all in the Genesis story. Its first occurrence in connection with Abraham is in Nehemiah 9:8; thereafter it became his adjective par excellence: Sirach 44:20, 1 Maccabees 2:52, 4Q226 Pseudo-Jubilees ..."
Kugel, James L.
A Walk through Jubilees: Studies in the Book of Jubilees and the World of Its Creation
(p. 109) Brill, 2012
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
Your Feedback:
User Comments
Anonymous comments are welcome. All comments are subject to moderation.