Texts in Conversation
Isaiah 41:8 calls Abraham God's friend. Rabbinic tradition in Sifre Deuteronomy draws on this to describe Abraham as the model of the command to love God with all your heart, interpreting this verse to show the love Abraham gave God.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Isaiah 41:8
Hebrew Bible
7 The craftsman encourages the metalsmith, the one who wields the hammer encourages the one who pounds on the anvil. He says of the welding, ‘It is good’18, and nails it down so it won’t fall over. 8 “You, my servant Israel, Jacob, whom I have chosen, offspring of Abraham my friend, 9 you whom I am bringing back from the earth’s extremities and have summoned from the remote regions—I told you, ‘You are my servant.’I have chosen you and not rejected you.
Sifre Deuteronomy 32
Halakhic Midrash
Rabbinic
R. Meir says: It is written: "And you shall love the L-rd your G-d with all your heart." Love him with all your heart, as did Abraham our father, as it is written (Isaiah 41:2) "Avraham, My lover," and (Nechemiah 9:8) "and You found his heart faithful before You."
Date: 200 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... In Sifrei Devarim (32.19), in the context of an explication of the Shema, ‘R. Meir says, “It is written: And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart.” Love Him with all your heart, as did Abraham our father, as it is written, “Abraham, my lover” (compare Isaiah 41.8) and – “and you found his heart faithful before you” (Nehemiah 9.8).’ The Mishnah likewise refers to the ‘seed of Abraham’ by way of the Isaian diction depicting Abraham as loved by/lover of God (Isaiah 41.8). ..."
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