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Genesis 15 leaves the birds whole while Abraham divides the other sacrificial animals. The Apocalypse of Abraham reshapes this unexplained difference into preparation for his ascent, since the uncut birds carry Abraham and his angel to heaven.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Genesis 15:10
Hebrew Bible
9 The Lord said to him, “Take for me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.” 10 So Abram took all these for him and then cut them in two and placed each half opposite the other, but he did not cut the birds in half. 11 When birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. 12 When the sun went down, Abram fell sound asleep, and great terror overwhelmed him. 13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign country. They will be enslaved and oppressed for 400 years. 14 But I will execute judgment on the nation that they will serve. Afterward they will come out with many possessions.
Apocalypse of Abraham 12:8
Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
7 And the angel said to me: "Abraham!" I said: "Here I am." 8 And he said to me: "Slaughter all these, and divide the animals into halves, one against the other, but the birds do not sever; 9 and ("but") give to the men, whom I will show you, standing by you, for these are the altar upon the Mountain, to offer a sacrifice to the Eternal; 10 but give the turtledove and the pigeon to me, for I will ascend upon the wings of the bird, in order to show you in heaven, and on the earth, and in the sea, and in the abyss, and in the under-world, and in the Garden of Eden, and in its rivers and in the fulness of the whole world and its circle — you shall gaze in (them) all."
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Notes and References
“... See
Apoc. Ab. 15:2, where Abraham is set on a pigeon and Yahoel on a turtledove (cf. Exod. 19:4).
That explains why Abraham here (as well as in Gen. 15:10) does not cut up the birds. They are
supposed to function as the psychopompoi, “carriers of souls” of pagan sources. The motif is
unique to Apocalypse. ...”
Kulik, Alexander
"Apocalypse of Abraham" in Louis H. Feldman, James L. Kugel, and Lawrence H. Schiffman (eds.) Outside the Bible: Ancient Jewish Writings Related to Scripture
(p. 1465) The Jewish Publication Society, 2013
* 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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