Go to Related Reading
About this book

Apocalypse of Abraham

About this book

The Revelation and the Command to Sacrifice

Chapter 9

1 Then a voice spoke to me twice: "Abraham, Abraham!"⁠ 2 And I said: "Here I am!" 3 And He said: "Look, it is I; do not be afraid, for I existed before the worlds, and I am a mighty God who has created the light of the world. 4 I am a shield over you, and I am your helper. 5 Go, bring me a young three-year-old heifer, and a three-year-old female goat, and a three-year-old ram, and a turtledove and a pigeon,⁠ and bring me a pure sacrifice. And in this sacrifice I will show you the ages (to come),⁠ 6 and tell you what has been kept in reserve, and you will see great things which you have not seen (until now); because you have loved searching for me, and I have named you my Friend. 7 But avoid every kind of food cooked over fire, and drinking wine, and rubbing (yourself) with oil for forty days,⁠ 8 and then offer me the sacrifice I have commanded you to make, in the place which I will show you, on a high mountain,⁠ 9 and there I will show you the ages which have been created and established, made and renewed, by my Word, 10 and I will tell you what will happen during them to those who have done evil and (practiced) righteousness among the human race.

Texts in conversation

Compare Apocalypse of Abraham 9:6 and Genesis Rabbah 44:21

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Rabbinic

Share:

Summary

Genesis Rabbah expands Abraham’s vision in Genesis 15 into a revelation of hidden history and final judgment. This follows other Jewish traditions seen in the Apocalypse of Abraham, where Abraham also receives secret knowledge.

Passages

Apocalypse of Abraham 9:6

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
1 Then a voice spoke to me twice: "Abraham, Abraham!" 2 And I said: "Here I am!" 3 And He said: "Look, it is I; do not be afraid, for I existed before the worlds, and I am a mighty God who has created the light of the world. 4 I am a shield over you, and I am your helper. 5 Go, bring me a young three-year-old heifer, and a three-year-old female goat, and a three-year-old ram, and a turtledove and a pigeon, and bring me a pure sacrifice. And in this sacrifice I will show you the ages (to come), 6 and tell you what has been kept in reserve, and you will see great things which you have not seen (until now); because you have loved searching for me, and I have named you my Friend.
70–150 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Apocalypse of Abraham

Genesis Rabbah 44:21

Rabbinic · Aggadah
“It happened when the sun had set, that there was extreme darkness, and, behold, there was a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch that passed between those pieces” (Genesis 15:17). “It was when the sun had set, that there was extreme darkness [alata]” – there was a thick mist. “Behold, there was a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch” – Shimon bar Abba said in the name of Rabbi Yoḥanan: He [thereby] showed him four things: Gehenna; [the Four] Kingdoms; the giving of the Torah; and the Temple [service]. He said to him: ‘As long as your descendants are engaged in two [of these], they will be saved from [the other] two. If they deviate from the two, they will be sentenced with [the other] two.’ He said to him: ‘Through which do you wish your descendants to be punished, through Gehenna or through the Kingdoms?’ Rabbi Ḥanina bar Pappa said: Abraham chose the Kingdoms. Rabbi Yudan, Rabbi Idi, and Rabbi Ḥama bar Ḥanina said: Abraham chose Gehenna, but the Holy One blessed be He [demurred and] chose the Kingdoms on his behalf.
500 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis Rabbah

References

"... interpreters came to a further conclusion: what was particularly trying about this incident was the fact that God had actually shown Abraham far more than the period of slavery in Egypt to be endured by his descendants. To begin with, if God had shown Abraham four hundred years of future history, it seemed logical to interpreters that He would have shown him the rest as well, including the punishment to be meted out to the later "nation[s] which they serve." Such a notion could only be supported by the text's mention of the "dread and great darkness falling" on Abraham (Genesis 15:12)—for certainly such dread ought not to have been caused merely by the sight of his descendants' sojourn in, and exodus from, Egypt. Interpreters therefore came to view this incident as a fully prophetic apocalypse in which Abraham was afforded a view of all of human history, of heaven and hell, and other things normally hidden from the sight of mere mortals ..."
James L. Kugel, The Bible as It Was (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998), 169.

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

Tags

Your feedback

Apocalypse of Abraham 9:6 and Genesis Rabbah 44:21

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library