Texts in Conversation
In Jubilees 12, Abraham abandons reading the stars for signs of rain because their movements belong to God. The Apocalypse of Abraham echoes this rejection of star worship within a wider argument that the sun, moon, and elements cannot be gods.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Jubilees 12:18
Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
16 And in the sixth week, in the fifth year of it, [1951] Abram sat up throughout the night on the new moon of the seventh month to observe the stars from the evening to the morning, in order to see what would be the character of the year with regard to the rains, and he was alone as he sat and observed. 17 And a word came into his heart and he said: All the signs of the stars, and the signs of the moon and of the sun are all in the hand of the Lord. Why do I search (them) out? 18 If He desires, He causes it to rain, morning and evening; And if He desires, He withholds it, And all things are in his hand.'
Apocalypse of Abraham 7:10
Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
6 But I call the earth much more worthy of honour, because it overpowers the nature (and the fulness) of the water. 7 Even it (viz. the earth), however, I do not call god, [because] it, too, is dried up by the sun, [and] is apportioned to man to be tilled. 8 [I call the sun more worthy of honour than the earth,] because it with its rays illumines the whole world and the different atmospheres. 9 [But] even it I do not call god, because at night and by clouds its course is obscured." 10 Nor, again, do I call the moon or the stars god, because they also in their season obscure [their] light at night.
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Notes and References
“... The Apocalypse of Abraham, like Jubilees,
also develops a connection between idolatry and astrology (Apoc.
Abr. 7:7-9; cf. Jub. 12:16-17). In both texts, Abraham concludes
that God has ultimate control over all cosmic and earthly phe-
nomena (Apoc. Abr. 7:10-12; Jub. 12:18-21). ...”
Nickelsburg, George W. E.
"Abraham the Convert: A Jewish Tradition and Its Use by the Apostle Paul" in Stone, Michael E.; Bergren, Theodore A. (ed.) Biblical Figures Outside the Bible
(p. 164) Trinity Press International, 1998
* 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.
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