Timeline

Abraham, Friend of God

Although the book of Genesis never calls Abraham the friend of God, two later passages in the Hebrew Bible describe him as such, and from this the title grew into a tradition about Abraham throughout Second Temple Judaism, and into Christian and Rabbinic traditions. Jewish writers used it to describe his closeness to God and the faithfulness he showed under testing, and many connected this to his willingness to offer Isaac.

Timeline

1. 740–350 BCE
  
  Isaiah 41:8
  
  Hebrew Bible
  
  6 They help one another; one says to the other, ‘Be strong!’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’, 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.10 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you! Don’t be frightened, for I am your God! I strengthen you—yes, I help you—yes, I uphold you with my victorious right hand!
1. 375–325 BCE
  
  2 Chronicles 20:7
  
  Hebrew Bible
  
  5 Jehoshaphat stood before the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem at the Lord’s temple, in front of the new courtyard. 6 He prayed: “O Lord God of our ancestors, you are the God who lives in heaven and rules over all the kingdoms of the nations. You possess strength and power; no one can stand against you. 7 Our God, you drove out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and gave it as a permanent possession to the descendants of your friend Abraham. 8 They settled down in it and built in it a temple to honor you, saying, 9 ‘If disaster comes on us in the form of military attack, judgment, plague, or famine, we will stand in front of this temple before you, for you are present in this temple. We will cry out to you for help in our distress, so that you will hear and deliver us.’
1. 170–125 BCE
  
  Jubilees 19:9
  
  Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
  
  8 This is the tenth test through which Abraham was tested, and he was found faithful, patient in spirit. 9 And he did not say a single word regarding the promise of the land that God had said He would give to him and to his descendants after him, and he begged a place there to bury his dead, for he was found faithful, and was recorded on the heavenly tablets as the friend of God.10 And in the fourth year of it he took a wife for his son Isaac and her name was Rebekah the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Nahor, the brother of Abraham, the sister of Laban and daughter of Bethuel, and Bethuel was the son of Milcah, who was the wife of Nahor, the brother of Abraham.
1. 20–50 CE
  
  Philo, On Abraham 273
  
  Classical
  
  272 In truth the wise man is the first man in the human race; he is what a pilot is in a ship, a governor in a city, a general in war, the soul in the body, or the mind in the soul; or again, what the heaven is in the world, and what God is in the heaven. 273 And God, admiring this man for his faith (pistis) in him, gave him a pledge (pistis) in return, namely, an oath confirming the gifts he had promised him, and no longer spoke with him as God might with man, but as one friend with another. For he says, “By myself I have sworn,” that is, by him whose word is an oath, so that Abraham’s mind may be established still more firmly and immovably than before. 274 The virtuous man is and should be called the elder and the first; the foolish man is the younger and the last, since he pursues only objects that belong to rebellious youth and that are placed in the lowest rank.
1. 50–120 CE
  
  James 2:23
  
  New Testament
  
  21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22 You see that his faith was working together with his works and his faith was perfected by works. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Now Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And similarly, was not Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by another way?
1. 70–150 CE
  
  Apocalypse of Abraham 10:5
  
  Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
  
  4 And the angel He had sent to me came in the form of a man, and took my right hand, and stood me on my feet, 5 and said to me, “Stand up, Abraham, Friend of God who loves you. Do not let human fear make you tremble! 6 For look, I have been sent to you to strengthen you and bless you in the name of God, who loves you, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.
1. 90–100 CE
  
  Clement of Rome, 1 Clement 10:1
  
  Early Christian
  
  1 Abraham, who was called the “friend,” was found faithful because he obeyed the words of God. 2 Through obedience, he left his land, his family, and his father’s house, so that by leaving a small land, a weak family, and a modest home, he might inherit the promises of God.3 For He said to him, “Go out from your land, from your family, and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be blessed. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you, and through you, all the tribes of the earth shall be blessed.” 4 And again, when he was separated from Lot, God said to him, “Look up from where you are toward the north, the south, the sunrise, and the sea, because all the land that you see, I will give to you and your descendants forever.
1. 90–100 CE
  
  Clement of Rome, 1 Clement 17:2
  
  Early Christian
  
  1 Let us also imitate those who went about in goatskins and sheepskins, preaching the coming of Christ. We mean Elijah and Elisha and likewise Ezekiel, the prophets, and the other men who were well spoken of.2 Abraham was very well spoken of and was called the friend of God, and gazing at the glory of God, he says in humility, “But I am dust and ashes.” 3 And about Job it is also written: “And Job was righteous and blameless, one who was true and honored God and kept away from all evil.”
1. 100 CE
  
  Testament of Abraham 1:3
  
  Pseudepigrapha, Testaments
  
  2 Yet even he faced the common, unavoidable, bitter fate of death and the uncertain end of life. So the Lord God summoned his archangel Michael and said to him, “Go down, commander Michael, to Abraham and speak to him about his death, so that he may set his affairs in order. I have blessed him like the stars of heaven and like the sand on the seashore, and he has an abundance of long life and many possessions, and he is becoming extremely rich. 3 More than anyone else he is righteous in every kind of goodness, hospitable and loving to the end of his life. So go, archangel Michael, to Abraham, my beloved friend, and announce his death to him, and assure him with these words, ‘At this time you will depart from this empty world, you will leave the body, and you will go to your own Lord among the good.’”
1. 135 CE
  
  Mekhilta d'Rabbi Ishmael 22:20
  
  Rabbinic
  
  Now who is greater? One who loves the King or one whom the King loves? Certainly, one whom the King loves. Beloved are the strangers, for by every epithet that Israel is called, the strangers are called. Israelites are called “servants,” as it is written (Leviticus 25:55) “For unto Me the children of Israel are servants.” And the strangers are called “servants,” as it is written (Isaiah 56:6) “... to love the name of the Lord and to be servants unto Him.” Israelites are called “ministers,” as it is written (Ibid. 6:6) “And you, ‘priests of the Lord’ shall you be called; ‘ministers of our God’ will it be said of you.” And the strangers are called “ministers,” as it is written (Ibid. 56:6) “... and the strangers who join the Lord to minister unto Him.” Israelites are called “lovers,” as it is written (Ibid. 41:8) “the seed of Abraham, My lover.” And the strangers are called “lovers” (i.e., beloved), as it is written (Devarim 10:18) “And He loves the stranger.” “Covenant” is written of Israel, viz. (Genesis 17:13) “And My covenant (i.e., circumcision) shall be in your flesh.” And it is also written of strangers, viz. (Isaiah 56:4) “and they hold fast to My covenant.”
1. 175–190 CE
  
  Irenaeus, Against Heresies 4.13
  
  Early Christian
  
  4 Inasmuch, then, as all natural precepts are common to us and to them (the Jews), they had in them indeed the beginning and origin; but in us they have received growth and completion. For to yield assent to God, and to follow His Word, and to love Him above all, and one’s neighbour as one’s self (now man is neighbour to man), and to abstain from every evil deed, and all other things of a like nature which are common to both [covenants], do reveal one and the same God. But this is our Lord, the Word of God, who in the first instance certainly drew slaves to God, but afterwards He set those free who were subject to Him, as He does Himself declare to His disciples: I will not now call you servants, for the servant knows not what his lord does; but I have called you friends, for all things which I have heard from My Father I have made known. For in that which He says, I will not now call you servants, He indicates in the most marked manner that it was Himself who did originally appoint for men that bondage with respect to God through the law, and then afterwards conferred upon them freedom. And in that He says, For the servant knows not what his lord does, He points out, by means of His own advent, the ignorance of a people in a servile condition. But when He terms His disciples the friends of God, He plainly declares Himself to be the Word of God, whom Abraham also followed voluntarily and under no compulsion (sine vinculis), because of the noble nature of his faith, and so became the friend of God. But the Word of God did not accept of the friendship of Abraham, as though He stood in need of it, for He was perfect from the beginning (Before Abraham was, He says, I am), but that He in His goodness might bestow eternal life upon Abraham himself, inasmuch as the friendship of God imparts immortality to those who embrace it.
1. 175–190 CE
  
  Irenaeus, Against Heresies 4.16
  
  Early Christian
  
  2 And that man was not justified by these things, but that they were given as a sign to the people, this fact shows — that Abraham himself, without circumcision and without observance of Sabbaths, believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness; and he was called the friend of God. Then, again, Lot, without circumcision, was brought out from Sodom, receiving salvation from God. So also did Noah, pleasing God, although he was uncircumcised, receive the dimensions [of the ark], of the world of the second race [of men]. Enoch, too, pleasing God, without circumcision, discharged the office of God’s legate to the angels although he was a man, and was translated, and is preserved until now as a witness of the just judgment of God, because the angels when they had transgressed fell to the earth for judgment, but the man who pleased [God] was translated for salvation. Moreover, all the rest of the multitude of those righteous men who lived before Abraham, and of those patriarchs who preceded Moses, were justified independently of the things above mentioned, and without the law of Moses. As also Moses himself says to the people in Deuteronomy: The Lord your God formed a covenant in Horeb. The Lord formed not this covenant with your fathers, but for you.
1. 195 CE
  
  Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 2.5
  
  Early Christian
  
  Accordingly all those above-mentioned dogmas appear to have been transmitted from Moses the great to the Greeks. That all things belong to the wise man, is taught in these words: “And because God hath showed me mercy, I have all things.” And that he is beloved of God, God intimates when He says, “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.” For the first is found to have been expressly called “friend;” and the second is shown to have received a new name, signifying “he that sees God;” while Isaac, God in a figure selected for Himself as a consecrated sacrifice, to be a type to us of the economy of salvation. Now among the Greeks, Minos the king of nine years’ reign, and familiar friend of Zeus, is celebrated in song; they having heard how once God conversed with Moses, “as one speaking with his friend.” Moses, then, was a sage, king, legislator.
1. 195 CE
  
  Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 4.17
  
  Early Christian
  
  Then more clearly: “Let us fix our eyes on those who have yielded perfect service to His magnificent glory. Let us take Enoch, who, being by his obedience found righteous, was translated; and Noah, who, having believed, was saved; and Abraham, who for his faith and hospitality was called the friend of God, and was the father of Isaac.” “For hospitality and piety, Lot was saved from Sodom.” “For faith and hospitality, Rahab the harlot was saved.” “From patience and faith they walked about in goat-skins, and sheep-skins, and folds of camels’ hair, proclaiming the kingdom of Christ. We name His prophets Elias, and Eliseus, and Ezekiel, and John.” “For Abraham, who for his free faith was called ‘ the friend of God,’ was not elated by glory, but modestly said, ‘I am dust and ashes.’ And of Job it is thus written: ‘ Job was just and blameless, true and pious, abstaining from all evil.’” He it was who overcame the tempter by patience, and at once testified and was testified to by God; who keeps hold of humility, and says, “No one is pure from defilement, not even if his life were but for one day.” “Moses, ‘the servant who was faithful in all his house,’ said to Him who uttered the oracles from the bush,’ Who am I, that Thou sendest me? I am slow of speech, and of a stammering tongue,’ to minister the voice of God in human speech. And again: ‘ I am smoke from a pot.’” “For God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.” “David too, of whom the Lord, testifying, says, ‘I found a man after my own heart, David the son of Jesse.
1. 200 CE
  
  Sifre Deuteronomy 32
  
  Rabbinic
  
  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 (Isaiah 41:2) ‘Avraham, My lover,’ and (Nechemiah 9:8) ‘and You found his heart faithful before You.’
1. 450–550 CE
  
  Sotah 31a
  
  Rabbinic
  
  It is taught in a baraita (Tosefta 6:1) that Rabbi Meir says: It is stated with regard to Job that he was “God-fearing” (Job 1:1), and it is stated with regard to Abraham that he was “God-fearing” (Genesis 22:12). Just as the description “God-fearing,” which is stated with regard to Abraham, is referring to Abraham’s fearing God out of love, so too, the description “God-fearing” that is stated with regard to Job indicates that Job feared God out of love. The Gemara asks: And with regard to Abraham himself, from where do we derive that he acted out of a sense of love? As it is written: “The offspring of Abraham who loved Me” (Isaiah 41:8). The Gemara asks: What difference is there between one who performs mitzvot out of love and one who performs mitzvot out of fear? The Gemara answers: There is that which is taught in a baraita that Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar says: Greater is the one who performs mitzvot out of love than the one who performs mitzvot out of fear, as with regard to this one who acts out of fear, his merits endure for one thousand generations, and with regard to that one who serves God out of love, his merits endure for two thousand generations.