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Pseudo-Philo and the Rabbinic midrash in Genesis Rabbah describe Abraham being lifted above the solid firmament to view the stars below, following ancient Near Eastern cosmology where the stars are attached to a solid dome over the earth.
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Pseudo Philo Biblical Antiquities 18:5
Classical
4 And in the night God said unto him: Who are the men that are come unto thee? And Balaam said: Wherefore, Lord, dost thou tempt the race of man? They therefore cannot sustain it, for thou knewest more than they, all that was in the world, before thou foundedst it. And now enlighten thy servant if it be right that I go with them. 5 And God said to him: Was it not concerning this people that I spake unto Abraham in a vision saying: Thy seed shall be as the stars of heaven, when I raised him up above the firmament and showed him all the orderings of the stars, and required of him his son for a burnt offering? and he brought him to be laid upon the altar, but I restored him to his father. And because he resisted not, his offering was acceptable in my sight, and for the blood of him did I choose this people. And then I said unto the angels that work subtilly: Said I not of him: To Abraham will I reveal all that I do?
Date: 50-120 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Genesis Rabbah 44:12
Aggadah
Rabbinic
AND HE BROUGHT HIM FORTH WITHOUT - HA-HUZAH. R. Joshua said in R. Levi’s name: Did He then lead him forth without the world, that it says, And HE BROUGHT HIM FORTH WITHOUT? It means, however, that He showed him the streets of heaven, as you read, While as yet He had not made the earth, nor the outer spaces—huzoth. R. Judah b. R. Simon said in R. Johanan’s name: He lifted him up above the vault of heaven; hence He says to him, (HABBET) NOW TOWARD HEAVEN, HABBET signifying to look down from above. The Rabbis said: [God said to him]: ‘Thou art a prophet, not an astrologer,’ as it says, Now therefore restore the man’s wife, for he is a prophet. In the days of Jeremiah the Israelites wished to entertain this belief [in astrology], but the Holy One, blessed be He, would not permit them. Thus it is written, Thus saith the Lord: Learn not the way of the nations, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven, etc.: your ancestor Abraham wished to entertain this belief long ago, but I would not permit him.
Date: 500 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Genesis Rabbah (44:12) also interprets the reference to YHWH bringing Abram 'outside' in an overtly cosmological manner, in a way that appears both to presuppose and to censure his use of astrology outright (Such an interpretation of the lifting above the firmament is, in fact, represented in the so-called Midrash Aggadah of Solomon Buber (based on a Mediaeval manuscript from Aleppo), which explicitly says (ad loc.) that although most humans are "under their constellation" (bënê ädäm tahat mazzäläm) which 'therefore judges them' (lëpikäk hammazzäl dän ötäm), Abra(ha)m is "above the dome of the firmament, in which the constellations are" (lëmalá mikktppat häräqta sehammazzäl säm), and therefore, presumably, exempt from astrological influence) ..."
Wikander, Ola
"Go Out from Your Sign": Rashi to Genesis 15:5 as a Reference to Astrological Primary Direction - Its Background in Rabbinic Literature and Parallels in Abraham bar Hiyya
(pp. 1-5) Old Testament Essays Vol.33, No. 3, 2020
* 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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