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Apocalypse of Abraham

About this book

Azazel Challenges Abraham

Chapter 13

1 And I did everything as the angel commanded, and gave the angels, who had come to us, the divided animals, but the angel took the birds. 2 And I waited for the evening sacrifice. 3 And an unclean bird flew down on the carcasses, and I drove it away.⁠ 4 And the unclean bird spoke to me, and said: "What are you doing, Abraham, on the holy Heights, where no one eats or drinks, and there is not (any) human food there, but these consume everything with fire, and (will) burn you up. 5 Leave the man who is with you, and run away; for if you go up to the Heights they will destroy you. 6 And when I saw the bird speaking, I said to the angel: "What is this, my lord?" And he said: "This is godlessness, this is Azazel."⁠ 7 And he said to it: "Shame on you, Azazel! For Abraham's lot is in heaven, but yours on the earth. 8 Because you have chosen and loved this as the dwelling(place) of your impurity, the eternal mighty Lord therefore made you live on the earth 9 and through you comes every evil spirit of lies, and through you come anger and trials for the generations of godless people; 10 for God, the Eternal, Mighty One, has not allowed the bodies of the righteous to be in your power, so that in this way the life of the righteous and the destruction of the unclean may be made certain. 11 Listen, counselor, leave me in shame. For you have not been allowed to tempt all the righteous. 12 Leave this man!⁠ 13 You cannot deceive him, because he is an enemy of you and of those who follow you and love what you want. 14 For look, the garment that was once yours in heaven has been set aside for him,⁠ and the mortality that was his has been transferred to you."⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Matthew 22:12 and Apocalypse of Abraham 13:12

New Testament · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

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Summary

In Matthew, Jesus’ parable of the wedding guest without proper clothes resembles the Apocalypse of Abraham, where Azazel is stripped of a heavenly garment and clothed with sin. Both use clothing as a marker of status, contrasting inclusion and exclusion.

Passages

Matthew 22:12

New Testament
10 And those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all they found, both bad and good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11 But when the king came in to see the wedding guests, he saw a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ But he had nothing to say. 13 Then the king said to his attendants, ‘Tie him up hand and foot and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”
70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Matthew

Apocalypse of Abraham 13:12

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
10 for God, the Eternal, Mighty One, has not allowed the bodies of the righteous to be in your power, so that in this way the life of the righteous and the destruction of the unclean may be made certain. 11 Listen, counselor, leave me in shame. For you have not been allowed to tempt all the righteous. 12 Leave this man! 13 You cannot deceive him, because he is an enemy of you and of those who follow you and love what you want. 14 For look, the garment that was once yours in heaven has been set aside for him, and the mortality that was his has been transferred to you."
70–150 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Apocalypse of Abraham

References

"... On the other hypothesis, the wedding garment stands for meeting the criteria, whatever these might be, for being allowed to enter and stay in the Kingdom/Church. Rubinkiewicz proposes to interpret the garment, which he thinks on the pre-Matthean level was not yet a wedding dress, from the Asael/Azazel tradition as found in Apocalypse of Abraham 13:12–14. There, it is said that the angel who acts as guide and discussion partner of Abraham explains to him that Azazel stands for ungodliness (13:10) and goes on contrasting his fate to that of Azazel. Azazel is told that the garment that once was his property in heaven has been taken from him. Instead, as the scapegoat with whom he is identifi ed, he will be clothed with the sins of Abraham. Their fates will be reversed, 'for Abraham’s portion is in heaven, and yours is on earth' (13:7) ..."
Joseph Verhyden, "Evidence of 1 Enoch 10:4 in Matthew 22:13?" in Hilhorst, A., et al. Flores Florentino: Dead Sea Scrolls and Other Early Jewish Studies in Honour of Florentino Garcia Martinez (Leiden: Brill, 2007), 449–466.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Matthew 22:12 and Apocalypse of Abraham 13:12

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