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In Jubilees 12, Abraham burns the house of idols and Haran dies trying to save them. The Apocalypse of Abraham reshapes this family disaster into divine punishment, with fire from heaven destroying Terah and his house after Abraham leaves.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Jubilees 12:14
Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
12 And in the sixtieth year of the life of Abram, that is, in the fourth week, in the fourth year of it, [1936] Abram arose by night, and burned the house of the idols, and he burned all that was in the house and no man knew it. 13 And they arose in the night and sought to save their gods from the midst of the fire. 14 And Haran hastened to save them, but the fire flamed over him, and he was burnt in the fire, and he died in Ur of the Chaldees before Terah his father, and they buried him in Ur of the Chaldees.
Apocalypse of Abraham 8:6
Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
1 And it came to pass while I spoke thus to my father Terah in the court of my house, there comes down the voice of a Mighty One from heaven in a fiery cloud-burst, saying and crying: "Abraham, Abraham!" 2 And I said: "Here I am." 3 And He said: "You are seeking in the understanding of your heart the God of Gods and the Creator; I am He: 4 Go out from your father Terah, and get out from the house, that you also not be slain in the sins of your father's house." 5 And I went out. And it came to pass when I went out, that before I succeeded in getting out in front of the door of the court, 6 there came a sound of a [great] thunder and burnt him and his house, and everything whatever in his house, down to the ground, forty cubits.
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Notes and References
“... Here we meet with a feature which provided a motif for various forms of the legend—viz.
the fire which burnt the idols and their house. This is really derived from the etymological
meaning of Ur = “fire;” thus “Ur of the Chaldees” is taken to mean “fire of the Chaldees.”
In our Book the fire descends from heaven and burns the house and all in it (including Terah),
Abraham alone escaping. ...”
Box, G. H., with J. I. Landsman
The Apocalypse of Abraham
(p. PDF 57) Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1918
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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