Texts in Conversation
Jesus in Matthew 7 and the Testament of Abraham both follow the tradition of the “two ways” found in Deuteronomy, where life and death are used to describe covenant obedience. Later Jewish traditions often reinterpret it as an eschatological choice.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Matthew 7:13
New Testament
13 “Enter through the narrow gate because the gate is wide and the way is spacious that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14 How narrow is the gate and difficult the way that leads to life, and there are few who find it! 15 “Watch out for false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are voracious wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruit. Grapes are not gathered from thorns or figs from thistles, are they? 17 In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.
Testament of Abraham 11:3
Pseudepigrapha
2 Outside the two gates he saw a man sitting on a gilded throne, and the appearance of that man was terrifying, like that of the Lord. They saw many souls driven along by angels and led in through the broad gate, and other souls, few in number, taken by the angels through the narrow gate. When the marvelous one who sat on the golden throne saw few entering through the narrow gate and many entering through the broad one, he immediately tore the hair of his head and the sides of his beard, and threw himself from his throne to the ground, weeping and mourning. 3 But when he saw many souls entering through the narrow gate, he got up from the ground and sat on his throne in great joy, rejoicing and celebrating. Abraham asked the chief-captain: My Lord chief-captain, who is this most marvelous man, dressed in such glory, who sometimes weeps and mourns and sometimes rejoices and celebrates? The Incorporeal One said: This is Adam, the first created, who is in such glory, and he watches the world because everyone is born from him. When he sees many souls going through the narrow gate, he gets up and sits on his throne rejoicing and celebrating with joy, because this narrow gate belongs to the righteous and leads to life, and those who enter through it go into Paradise.
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Notes and References
"... The Testament of Abraham was produced at about the same time as 4 Ezra and like it is concerned with the nature of the afterlife ... The narrative begins with a humorous tale of Abraham, the father of the Jews, steadfastly refusing to die when his time has come. God sends his “Commander-in-Chief,” the archangel Michael, to the 995-year-old Abraham to tell him that his soul must now depart from his body in death ... When they come to the “first gate of heaven,” Abraham sees two paths, one broad and spacious on which a large number of “souls” are driven by angels, the other straight and narrow, on which only a few are led. The narrative, to this point told in the third person, now shifts to the first person as Abraham relates what he sees ..."
* 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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