Abraham
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Abraham, Apocalypse of
me to Thyself. " The old mun, who was
no
ot her
than
away Abnihanrssoiil.
the Anjrel of Death, then took
jianillclsean easily be found most of the lei;ends referred to almve: a large number are given in GrUnbsium ("Neue Bcitrttge zur 8emitisehen (Sagenkunde "). It is of interest to observe that these ^loliannnedan additions have also, in some cases, found their way into .Jewish litcmture. They are met with in works that liave been written tinder Araliie iiilliience in one form or Abraham's visit to Isliinael is found in the anollier. Pirke R. Ei. x.x. and in the "Sefer ha-Yasliar." In the "Shebet .Mus!ir"of Elijah ha-Koheii there is an appendix entitled "Tale of That AVhich Happened to Our Father Abraham in Conneelioii with Is'imrod." Elijah lived in Smyrna at the beginning of |{nl)l)iniciil iiiiiirashie
to
the eighteentli century,
which
fact will explain the
Arabic inlbienee. BlIil.iocRArnv
ivmnii.surasll. 111. iv.vl.xl. xxix. xxxvll. ll.lx. above are from Haliner's tnnislation in llie Sit-
(tin- citjitidiis
JiiMihs iif the KfUtt^ vols. vi. ix.), and the ronimeiitJitors ntt'iitioneil In the article; Taliari, Aniuths, i,'J.'Att .•**(/.; Ilm
artl
Ibn Kutail>ali, ( JirojnV'oH, eti. Tomtiem. 1.07(7 s(<i, Handhufli ill r fri-irhwhtr, ed. Wiisit-nreld. pp. 1(» £f'.s(g.; MaLis ;'r.nri..v fyor, ed. Barl)iir d.- M.-ynanl, tx. lir>. Insndl. dex : Psi'iidii.^ia.suill, Alin'tie ilii Mi rvi illis. Ir. by C'arra de Vaux. pp. 1;M. ;ii.'; Wii.-ileiifeld, Dir Chruniken ilcr Sladt al-.tlilr.
Mi'khn, . diie
text,
i.
-1 rt
(ierriian
.•<"/,.
tr.
iv.
7 ct seq.;
I'll, Hont.sma, I. 2] it sn/.i Yaljut's '»tY>Wi'irtirlnHh, ed. Wjistenfeld. vl. AK, Index. For" special liisioiies of the prophets m-c I'.ri'eki-lniann, (ictcch. (Iir AriiliLicJint Lit. i. •V'lti. The Inidjiicns in the Koran and later works are colleeied in .l-.avavi. Itiufiruphical Diet, of IViLstriou.t Men. I'll. Wiisteiifeld. jip. VS't it svq.; and .bn al-Fida, ftistnrin Anii isliiniirn. ed. Kleisrher, pp. l:i') cf .sc*;. AI>nthani's iM(sition iti the history of reli^rion from the .Mi»tiamTiiedaii siaiiHpoim is considered Ity .l-stiahnislani, Kitali aU Miliil iiid-ynhiil. eil. cureton, pp. 244, 247, 2111 ((ierman Modern works on the transl. by Haafbriicker. index, s.v.i. subject: (ieit.'er, U'o-w Hut Miiliunnnid tiusili iii JtuteuthMmc
Al-Yakul)l. IIist'iriii
(/riiiih'i.<i}iis
A ufuiniii'iiiii
II
i
pp. 121 it
siii.x
llirschfeld. liiilriliif
zur Kr-
klitntnu dru Kitmufi, pp.
4^.1, -V.t; (inmiiic. Miiliiiiumid, 1. (iO Panlz, Miilntiiiiiii d's Lilur run drr Offetihanmii, pp. lot, 22S; siiiiili. Tin Hihli mnl Ishim. pp, BH et scq.; Bate. S'dofics in /.-/o;//, iip. ij(i f m </. Korilie later legends see Weil, liihlisiiu I.iiinnlni dir MuKdiniiiinir.pp. 68 ct scq.x (iriinbauii). Xiiii liiitriini ziir Si niiti.-iiliin Siwrnkundr, pp. -Sii et fteq.; Bacher, ItUiit unit ]lilili.-*che Gisihiilili- in Mulianimrdaniiichen Litiratur. in Kohak's Jisrhurun. vill. 1-29; (;. A. Kohut, Himnitdie E(<1111 nts in Araliic Liw mis. in Independent. New York, Islis. .laii.S (7 siq.; Lidzl>arski, De Prufctiein.qtieBdicuntur, Lmi-ndi.'i Ariiljici», Leipsic, ISiW.
et
.S(Y/., ii. "*),
H2 ct
acq.',
i
mr
G.
View The
original and proper form of this name seems to be either " Abraiu" or " Abiram" (I King.s, xvi. 34; Dent. xi. 6), with Etjrmology. the meaning, " my Father [or God) is exalted." The form "Ahraham " yields no sense in Hebrew, and is probably only a graphic variation of "Abram," the A lieing simply a letter, indicating a preceding vowel, a; but popular tradition explains it "father of a multitude" {ab /lamon), given as a new name on the occasion of a tvirning lioint in the patriarch's career (Gen. x vii. 5). The name is personal, not tribal it appears as a personal name in Babylonia in the time of Apil-Sin (about 2320 n.c. Mcissner, "Heitriigc
Critical
my
and exclusion is here cxeniplitied, the result of which is to identify Abndiam with Canaan; such was the liopular conception of him as liite as the tion
time of E/.ekiel (Ezek. xxxiii. 24). In the narrative which the critics regard as postexilian. or the Priestly Code. Abraham further represents the formal covenant of God (El Shaddai) with the nation, sealed by the rite of cireumeision (Covenwxt). He stands, in a word, for the premosiuc religious constitution of the people.
Abmham's
singularly majestic and attractive perappears in Genesis, is in this view the outcome of generations of thought. Character. Each age contributed to the iiortrait of what it held to lie purest ami nolilest and worthiest of the first forefather. The result is a ligure. solitary, calm, strong, resting im-
sonality, as
xUtbabylonischen Privatrecht."
I^o. Ill),
and
is
not employed in the Old Testament in an ethnical sense (for example, it is not so employed in Micah, vii. 20, nor in Isa. xli. 8). In the earlier so-called Jahvistic narrative, Abraham embodies particularly the conception of Israel's title to the land of Canaan. He comes National from the East to Canaan, receives the Signiflpromise of the hind, separates from cance. Lot (>[oab and Amnion), from Ishmael (Arabitm tribes), and from the sons of Keturah (other Ambian tribes), thus eliminating any possible future contention as to the title to the country. A continuous process of selec-
it
swervingly on God, anil moving unscathed among men. Later he wtis lli()iii;ht of as "the friend of God " (I.sji. xli. S). Paul calls him the fsither of all who believe (Rom. iv). .Mohammed takes him as the representative of the absolute primitive religion, from which .ludiiismand Christianity have diverged, and to which Islam has returned. The character shows, however, a commingling of high and low. There are genero.sity (Gen. xiii.), bravery (Gen. xiv.), a fine sense of justice (Gen. xviii.). But tradition, in Older to bring out God's special care of the hero, twice makes him guilty of falsehood (Gen. xii., xx.); tills last fact throws light on the ethical ideas of the eighth century. Is there any historical kernel embedded in the narrative? Obviously it contains much legendary mtittir. The stories of Lot, Ilagar, Relation to and Ketiinih are ethnological myths; the theoplianies and the story of the History, destruction of the cities are legends; circumcision was not adopted by the Israelites in the way here represented imd the story of the attempted sjicrifice of Isaac is a product of the regal Abniham's kinsfolk (Gen. xxii. 20-'24) are period. personifications of tribes, and his iiredeccssors and successors, from Noah to .Jacob, are mytliical or legendary. What is to be said of the much debateil fourteenth chapter'/ First, it must be divided into two parts: the history of the Elamite invasion, and Abraham's connection with it. The first part may be historiciil, but it no more follows that the second part is historical than tJie reality of the miraculous role assigned to Moses follows from the reality of the Exodus. On the contrary, the mention of Salem anil of tithes points to a iiostexilian origin forthe iiiinignipb. The invasion iiiny be histoiTcal (Arioeli) are "IDV7113 (Cliedorlaonier) and Elamite, and a march from Baliylouia to Cansuin is conceivable but no mention of it has been found in inscriptions, ami it is not easy to reconcile it with
—
imN
—
known
fiicts.
If
Abraham's date
The
zum
90
PSIDX (Amraphel)be Hammurabi, is
about 2300
liiograpby of
Abniham
n.c. in Genesis is
probably
to be regiirded as legendary it has grown up around sjicred iiliices. ideas, and institutions. Yet there can
little doubt that the name involves some historfact, and that this fact has to do with tribal migration: the name, though personal, not tribal, may reiiresent a migration. By reason of the paucity of information the whole question is oliscure, and any conclusions must be largely conjectural. The text represents Abrahiim as coming to Canaan from the Tigris-Euphrates valley. A migration of Hebrew ancestors from that region is not necessary for the explanation of what we know of Hebrew history. But weight must be attached to the wellformed and persistent tradition, and a migration of
be
ical
