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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 Deuteronomy 12:14 and Apocalypse of Abraham 9:8

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

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Summary

In Deuteronomy, Moses restricts Israel's sacrifices to the place God will choose. In the Apocalypse of Abraham, Abraham already follows this rule when God tells him to sacrifice on a mountain God will show him.

Passages

Deuteronomy 12:14

Hebrew Bible
11 Then you must come to the place the Lord your God chooses for his name to reside, bringing everything I am commanding you—your burnt offerings, sacrifices, tithes, the personal offerings you have prepared, and all your choice votive offerings that you devote to him. 12 You shall rejoice in the presence of the Lord your God, along with your sons, daughters, male and female servants, and the Levites in your villages (since they have no allotment or inheritance with you). 13 Make sure you do not offer burnt offerings in any place you wish, 14 for you may do so only in the place the Lord chooses in one of your tribal areas—there you may do everything I am commanding you.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Deuteronomy

Apocalypse of Abraham 9:8

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
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.
70–150 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Apocalypse of Abraham

References

“... Although Gen 15 says nothing about where Abraham lays the cut animal pieces, the author of the Apocalypse of Abraham is careful to note its location – at Horeb. What we see in the Apocalypse of Abraham is a correction on this point according to Deuteronomistic sensibilities: first, Abraham is commanded to sacrifice in the place where God will show him, which is reminiscent of the oft-repeated phrase in Deuteronomy that the Israelites should sacrifice in “the place that God shall choose” (e.g., Deut 12:14). And when the location is specified, it is at Horeb, the name for Mt. Sinai in Deuteronomy. ...”
Amy Elizabeth Paulsen-Reed, “The Origins of the Apocalypse of Abraham” (diss., Harvard Divinity School, 2016), 179.

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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Deuteronomy 12:14 and Apocalypse of Abraham 9:8

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