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Apocalypse of Abraham

About this book

Adam, Eve, and Azazel

Chapter 23

1 "Now look again at the picture to see who seduced Eve and what the fruit of the tree is, 2 [and] you will know what will happen, and how it will happen to your descendants among the people in the last days of the age, 3 and I will explain to you whatever you cannot understand, for you are pleasing to me, and I will tell you what is kept in my heart." 4 And I looked into the picture, and my eyes turned toward the side of the Garden of Eden. 5 And I saw there a man very tall and frighteningly broad, unmatched in appearance, embracing a woman, who was similar to the man in appearance and shape. 6 And they were standing under a tree of (the Garden of) Eden, and the fruit of this tree was like the appearance of a bunch of grapes on a vine, 7 and behind the tree stood what looked like a serpent, having hands and feet like a man's, and wings on its shoulders, six on the right side and six on the left,⁠ 8 and he was holding the grapes of the tree in his hands, feeding the two whom I had seen embracing. 9 And I said: "Who are these two embracing each other, or who is this between them, or what is the fruit which they are eating, Mighty Eternal One?" 10 And He said: "This is the human world, this is Adam, and this is their desire on the earth, this is Eve; 11 but he who is between them represents godlessness,⁠ their beginning (on the way) to destruction, Azazel himself." 12 And I said: "Eternal, Mighty One! Why have You given him such power to destroy the human race through its deeds on the earth?" 13 And He said to me: "I gave him power over those who choose (to do) evil, and allowed him to be loved by them. How much I hated (it) in those who do it!"

Abraham Questions the Desire for Evil

14 And I answered and said: "Eternal, Mighty One! Why have You chosen to make people desire evil in their hearts, since You are angry about what You chose, at the one who does what is useless in Your plan?"

Texts in conversation

Compare Apocalypse of Abraham 23:7 and Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 13:2

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Rabbinic

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Summary

Rabbinic tradition in Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer describes Sammael with twelve wings, riding the serpent in Eden. In the Apocalypse of Abraham, the twelve wings belong to a figure shaped like a serpent, whom God identifies as Azazel.

Passages

Apocalypse of Abraham 23:7

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
4 And I looked into the picture, and my eyes turned toward the side of the Garden of Eden. 5 And I saw there a man very tall and frighteningly broad, unmatched in appearance, embracing a woman, who was similar to the man in appearance and shape. 6 And they were standing under a tree of (the Garden of) Eden, and the fruit of this tree was like the appearance of a bunch of grapes on a vine, 7 and behind the tree stood what looked like a serpent, having hands and feet like a man's, and wings on its shoulders, six on the right side and six on the left, 8 and he was holding the grapes of the tree in his hands, feeding the two whom I had seen embracing.
70–150 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Apocalypse of Abraham

Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 13:2

Rabbinic
Sammael was the great prince in heaven; the Chajjôth had four wings and the Seraphim had six wings, and Sammael had twelve wings. What did Sammael do? He took his band and descended and saw all the creatures which the Holy One, blessed be He, had created in His world and he found among them none so skilled to do evil as the serpent, as it is said, "Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field" (Gen. 3:1). Its appearance was something like that of the camel, and he mounted and rode upon it. The Torah began to cry aloud, saying, Why, O Sammael! now that the world is created, is it the time to rebel against the Omnipresent?
630–1030 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer

References

“... 23:7. a serpent in form, but having . . . wings on its shoulders: six on the right side and six on the left Sammael (Satan), often identified with a serpent, had 12 wings according to Pirke R. El. 13. ...”
Alexander Kulik, “Apocalypse of Abraham,” in Outside the Bible: Ancient Jewish Writings Related to Scripture, ed. James L. Kugel Louis H. Feldman and Lawrence H. Schiffman (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2013), 1471.

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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Apocalypse of Abraham 23:7 and Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 13:2

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