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Apocalypse of Abraham

About this book

Abraham Leaves Terah’s House

Chapter 8

1 And while I was thinking this way about my father Terah in the courtyard of his house, the voice of a Mighty One came down from heaven in a fiery cloudburst, calling out: "Abraham, Abraham!" 2 And I said: "Here I am." 3 And He said: "You are searching in your heart for the God of Gods and the Creator; I am He: 4 Leave your father Terah, and leave the house, so that you too are not killed for the sins of your father's house."⁠ 5 And I went out. And as I went out, before I had managed to get past the courtyard door, 6 the sound of a [great] thunderclap came and burned him and his house, and everything in his house, down to the ground,⁠ forty cubits.

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Compare Genesis 12:1 and Apocalypse of Abraham 8:4

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

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Summary

In Genesis, God calls Abraham to leave his father's household and promises him a new land and descendants. In the Apocalypse of Abraham, God's call to leave is an urgent escape from Terah's idolatry, coming just before fire destroys the family home.

Passages

Genesis 12:1

Hebrew Bible
1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go out from your country, your relatives, and your father’s household to the land that I will show you. 2 Then I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great, so that you will exemplify divine blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, but the one who treats you lightly I must curse, so that all the families of the earth may receive blessing through you.” 4 So Abram left, just as the Lord had told him to do, and Lot went with him. (Now Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran.)
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

Apocalypse of Abraham 8:4

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
1 And while I was thinking this way about my father Terah in the courtyard of his house, the voice of a Mighty One came down from heaven in a fiery cloudburst, calling out: "Abraham, Abraham!" 2 And I said: "Here I am." 3 And He said: "You are searching in your heart for the God of Gods and the Creator; I am He: 4 Leave your father Terah, and leave the house, so that you too are not killed for the sins of your father's house." 5 And I went out. And as I went out, before I had managed to get past the courtyard door, 6 the sound of a [great] thunderclap came and burned him and his house, and everything in his house, down to the ground, forty cubits.
70–150 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Apocalypse of Abraham

References

“... God responds to Abraham’s desire to find the God of gods, the Cre- ator, by revealing himself and telling Abraham that he must leave his father’s house. Before Abraham has even made it out of the court- yard, he hears the sound of thunder and sees the house burned to the ground with Terah and all his possessions inside (8).5 Thus a motive is established for the otherwise inexplicable call of Abram in the biblical account: Abraham sought God. ...”
Kenneth R. Jones, Jewish Reactions to the Destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70: Apocalypses and Related Pseudepigrapha, JSJSup 151 (Leiden: Brill, 2011), 248.

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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Genesis 12:1 and Apocalypse of Abraham 8:4

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