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Apocalypse of Abraham

About this book

Abraham Challenges Terah

Chapter 4

1 And while I was thinking about this, I reached my father's house; and after watering the donkey and setting out hay for it, I brought the silver and put it in the hand of my father Terah. 2 When he saw it, he was happy, [and] he said: "You are blessed by my gods, Abraham, because you have brought the money for the gods, so that my work was not wasted." 3 And I answered and said to him: "Listen, my father Terah! Your gods are blessed, for you are their god, since you have made them; for their blessing is destruction, and their power is useless; 4 how can they help you or bless me when they could not help themselves? 5 I have been kind to you in this matter because, by (using) my intelligence, I have brought you the money for the broken gods." 6 And when he heard what I said, he became furious with me, because I had spoken harsh words against his gods.⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Jubilees 12:6 and Apocalypse of Abraham 4:6

Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

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Summary

In Jubilees, Terah agrees with Abraham that idols are useless but fears the people who worship them. In the Apocalypse of Abraham, the same father-and-son dispute is harsher, and Terah is furious when Abraham credits his own skill, not the gods.

Passages

Jubilees 12:6

Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
5 Why do you worship things that have no spirit in them? For they are the work of (men's) hands, And you carry them on your shoulders, And you have no help from them, But they are a great cause of shame to those who make them, And a deception of the heart to those who worship them: Do not worship them.' 6 And his father said to him, I also know it, my son, but what shall I do with a people who have made me serve before them? 7 And if I tell them the truth, they will kill me; for they cling to their idols to worship them and honor them. 8 Keep silent, my son, so that they do not kill you.' And he spoke these words to his two brothers, and they were angry with him and he kept silent.
170–125 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Jubilees

Apocalypse of Abraham 4:6

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
2 When he saw it, he was happy, [and] he said: "You are blessed by my gods, Abraham, because you have brought the money for the gods, so that my work was not wasted." 3 And I answered and said to him: "Listen, my father Terah! Your gods are blessed, for you are their god, since you have made them; for their blessing is destruction, and their power is useless; 4 how can they help you or bless me when they could not help themselves? 5 I have been kind to you in this matter because, by (using) my intelligence, I have brought you the money for the broken gods." 6 And when he heard what I said, he became furious with me, because I had spoken harsh words against his gods.
70–150 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Apocalypse of Abraham

References

“... An- other narrative feature is several conversations with Terah about the folly of idolatry (chaps. 4, 6-7). The interaction is stronger and more argumentative than in Jubilees 12, but both narratives feature a difference of opinion between the son and father ...”
George W. E. Nickelsburg, “Abraham the Convert: A Jewish Tradition and Its Use by the Apostle Paul,” in Biblical Figures Outside the Bible, ed. Michael E. Stone and Theodore A. Bergren (Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 1998), 164.

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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Jubilees 12:6 and Apocalypse of Abraham 4:6

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