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Apocalypse of Abraham

About this book

The Burning of Barisat

Chapter 5

1 I thought about my father's anger and went out; [and after I had gone out] my father called out: "Abraham!" 2 And I said: "Here I am." 3 And he said: "Gather up the splinters of the wood from which I made gods of pine wood before you came; and prepare my midday meal." 4 And when I gathered the splinters of wood, I found under them a small god which had been lying among the brushwood on my left, 5 and his forehead was inscribed with: God Barisat. 6 And I did not tell my father that I had found the wooden god Barisat under the chips. And when I had put the splinters in the fire to prepare food for my father, as I was going out to ask about the food, I placed Barisat in front of the burning fire, and threatened him by saying: 7 "Pay careful attention, Barisat, [that] the fire does not go out until I return; but if it goes out, blow on it so that it burns again." 8 And I went out and did what I had planned. 9 And when I returned I found Barisat fallen backward, and his feet surrounded by fire and horribly burned.⁠ 10 I burst out laughing, and I said to myself: "Truly, Barisat, you can light the fire and cook food!" 11 And while I spoke (thus) as I laughed he (i.e. Barisat) was gradually burned up by the fire and reduced to ashes.⁠ 12 And I brought the food to my father, and he ate. 13 And I gave him wine and milk, and he was pleased and blessed his god Merumath. 14 And I said to him: "Father Terah, do not bless your god Merumath, and do not praise him, but praise your god Barisat because he loves you more and has thrown himself into the fire to cook your food!"⁠ 15 And he said to me: "And where is he now?" 16 [And I said:] "He is burned to ashes in the fierce fire and is reduced to dust." 17 And he said: "Barisat is very powerful! I (will) make another today, and tomorrow he will prepare my food."

Texts in conversation

Compare Daniel 3:25 and Apocalypse of Abraham 5:9

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

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Summary

In Daniel, a fourth figure appears in the furnace and the three men come out unharmed. In the Apocalypse of Abraham, the wooden god Barisat fails the same test of fire and burns to ashes.

Passages

Daniel 3:25

Hebrew Bible
24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was startled and quickly got up. He said to his ministers, “Wasn’t it three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?” They replied to the king, “For sure, O king.” 25 He answered, “But I see four men, untied and walking around in the midst of the fire! No harm has come to them! And the appearance of the fourth is like that of a god!” 26 Then Nebuchadnezzar approached the door of the furnace of blazing fire. He called out, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the most high God, come out! Come here!” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego emerged from the fire.
200–101 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Daniel

Apocalypse of Abraham 5:9

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
9 And when I returned I found Barisat fallen backward, and his feet surrounded by fire and horribly burned. 10 I burst out laughing, and I said to myself: "Truly, Barisat, you can light the fire and cook food!" 11 And while I spoke (thus) as I laughed he (i.e. Barisat) was gradually burned up by the fire and reduced to ashes. 12 And I brought the food to my father, and he ate. 13 And I gave him wine and milk, and he was pleased and blessed his god Merumath. 14 And I said to him: "Father Terah, do not bless your god Merumath, and do not praise him, but praise your god Barisat because he loves you more and has thrown himself into the fire to cook your food!"
70–150 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Apocalypse of Abraham

References

“... It is also intriguing that in some Second Temple apocalyptic materials the divine corporealities endure a test of the blazing furnace very similar to the one that destroys the wooden ‘body’ of Bar-Eshath in the Apocalypse of Abraham. One of the distinctive specimens of such a tradition can be found in Daniel 3, a composition well known for its promulgation of anthropomorphic ideologies. There one can find an elaborate account depicting the appearance of the divine corporeal manifestation in the blazing furnace. In Daniel, the story of the fiery test finds its place, as it does in the Apocalypse of Abraham, in the midst of debates about the essence of true and false (idolatrous) representations of the deity. There, Nebuchadnezzar orders to put into the furnace of the blazing fire three Israelite youths—Shadrach, Mashach, and Abednego—who refused to worship the golden idol of the king. In the course of the fiery test these three men are rescued by the divine manifestation which miraculously appears in the midst of fire. Commentators of this tradition have noted that the Aramaic text preserves the mystery of the divine presence in the furnace and does not reveal the identity of the divine manifestation. However, the authors of the Greek version of Daniel 3 fill the exegetical lacunae by recounting the story of the angel of the Lord descending into the furnace in order to rescue the three faithful Jews. It is clear that this divine corporeality unharmed by the fiery test is polemically juxtaposed in the text with the idolatrous ‘image’ of the king and appears to be understood as a ‘statue’ superior to the idol created by Nebuchadnezzar. ...”
Andrei A. Orlov, “‘The Gods of My Father Terah’: Abraham the Iconoclast and the Polemics with the Divine Body Traditions in the Apocalypse of Abraham,” JSP 18.1 (2008): 44–45.

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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Daniel 3:25 and Apocalypse of Abraham 5:9

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