Texts in Conversation
Rabbinic tradition in Pirkei Avot pairs God’s foreknowledge with human choice. The Apocalypse of Abraham echoes this tension in God’s reply about Terah, setting his refusal to abandon idols beside God’s plans for future generations.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Apocalypse of Abraham 26:5
Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
2 And He said to me: "Hear, Abraham; understand what I say to you, and answer me as I question you. 3 Why did your father Terah not listen to your voice, and (why) did he not cease from the devilish idolatry until he perished [and] his whole household with him?" 4 And I said: "O Eternal, [Mighty One]! (It was) entirely because he did not choose to listen to me; but I, too, did not follow his works." 5 And He said [to me]: "Hear, Abraham. As the counsel of your father is in him, and as your counsel is in you, so also is the counsel of my will in me ready for the coming days, before you have knowledge of these, 6 or (can) see with your eyes what is future in them.
Pirkei Avot 3:15
Mishnah
Rabbinic
15 Everything is foreseen, yet freedom of choice is granted. The world is judged with goodness, and everything depends on the preponderance of deeds. 16 He used to say: everything is given against a pledge, and a net is spread out over all the living. The store is open and the storekeeper allows credit, but the ledger is open and the hand writes. Whoever wishes to borrow may come and borrow, but the collectors go round regularly every day and collect payment from a person with or without his consent, and they have grounds for their claims, seeing that the judgment is a righteous judgment, and everything is prepared for the banquet.
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Notes and References
“... We are dealing here with the Rabbinic conception of free will combined with
the inevitability of God’s will (predetermination); cf. M. Avot 3:5: “Everything is predestined,
but freedom is given.” The same idea is probably reflected also in Pss. Sol. 9:4; cf. also the testi-
mony of Josephus on Pharisaic beliefs in J.W. 2.8.14. ...”
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. 1473) 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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