.
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
05
The name of the very significant— Dolviel (comjmre Isa. xl. 15, 31, '"by the dust [pT] in the balance"; see Jerome on this passage), while the angel who probes the soul is called I'uriel, from the Greek word for lire. ^vi>. This apocrypha contains an utterance of God which is peculiar to it- "I shall not judge man [see Gen. vi, :i|; thercf(ire shall Aliel, the lirst man born of woman, be judge." Abraham is then represented in a touching way as pitying a soul that is just bein.g weighed, and that lacks Imt one meritorious act to outbalance its He intercedes on its behalf: the evil doings. angels join in; and the soul is at last admitted The merit of the pious helping the into paradise. sinner is often mentioned in rabbinical and apocryphal literatiue (compare Slavonic liook of Knoch, vii. Al)raham now 4, and Apoc. Mosis, ;i;); Sotah. U)li). reproaches himself for having previously cau.sed the(leatli of tli<' male fact ois l]y Ids e.ces.sive zeal, but is assured by (iod thai "an uncianmon mode of death works pardon for all sins," and that, consequently,
many good
two kinds of death, timely and untimely, that men
actions (R. H. 17«).
weighing angel
may
is
fully recover from the shock and God (according to recension /i, which is here more consistent tlian A) removes his soul "as in a dream" for which the more poetic expression of the ralibis is "by a kiss" (B. B. ii) Then Jlichael. the heavenly caretaker God Takes of soids (Apoc. Mosis. ed. TiscliAbraham's endorf, '2()f. and " Pe^irat Jlosheh"). Soul. with a host of angels, comes and wraps .bndiani in heaven-spun linen and anoints him with paradisiacal incense (comp. Ai).M, Book oi-) and :ifti-r the lapse of three days they bui-y him under the tree of Mamre (compare Gen. H. e.). Then, andd hyimis and praises of the saints, they cairy his soul up to heaven, and having prostrated himself before God the Father. Abraham, the friend of God, is brought into paradise to tin- pavilions of the righteous (compai-e B. B. 7")//: "The Lord shall build pavilions for the righteous ones, for each according to his me)-it." "where there is neither trouble nor grief nor anything but peace and rejoicing and life unending " Ber. 17rt). The above description of the contents of the apocrypha, with the numerous parallels given from rabbinical literature, which extend to the smallest detail, leaves not the least room for doubt as to its Jewish origin. In fact, ajiart from .some late Christological additions made in a few manuscripts liy copyists, thei-e is not a single Christian interpolation found in the whole book. In claiming a Christian origin for the Testament of Abraham, James eironeously ]ioints (p. .'"id) to Luke, i. 1!), where the position of chief angel that stands "in the presence of God " is intentionally a.ssigned to Gabriel; while ancient Jewish angelology ascribes it to Michael, the heavenly chieftain of Israel. Neither is the idea of the "tw-o w-ays" and the "two gates" taken fiom Matt. vii. i;i." Aside from the fact that the "Two Ways" is originally a Jewish work (see I)ii).rni;), the conception is known to Johanan b. Zakkai (Ber. 2W') and is found also in the Greek alJe-wisli legorical work. "Tabula Cebetis," by Origin of the Theban philoso|)her Cebes, a puthe Book. i>il of .Socrates. Dr. James has failed toob.servc that Luke, .x.xii. 'MK jtrcsents the Christiaid/ed view of the Jewish doetrine concerning "the future! judgment of the world by the twelve tribes of Israel," referied to in chap. .xiii. of the Testament of Abrithain, and also expressed in Yalk.. Dan. S; 1(105. thus: "In the time to come the Lord will sit in judgment, and the great of Israel will sit on thrones prepared by the angels and judge the heathen nations alongside of the Lord." Luke, as a Pauliiw wiiter. transfornu-d the twelve tribal representative judges of Isiael into the twelve tribes of Isiael being judged. The very spirit of this pas.sage It does not contain so is decidedly nonC'hristian. much as an allusion to the Messiah as the judge. The very belief in a personal Messiah .seems to lie unknown; nor is .Vdain's fall anywhere referred to in chap. xi. .1. or viii. />. wlieie theie was ample Death does not show o(-casion for mentioning it. any relation to Satan. .VU these facts, together w ith the view of the worlirscreation by one word instead of leu words (see Gin/.beig. "Die Ilaggiula bei den Kirchenvillern " in ".Moniits.schrift," 1!<00, p. 410),
—
,
—
was beneticial {compare Saidi. 4;Wy). Abraham, having seen the entire world above and lielow, is carried back to his own house by the archangel, who for the third time is comAbraham manded by God to take Abraham's Refuses to soul; but (as is the case with Moses in Yield His the legen<l) Abraham peisistiMitly refuses to surrender it to him. returns to the Lord, saying "
Michael I
care not
to lay hand upon Abraham, who was Thy friend from the begimiing and has none like him on earth, not even .loll, the marvelous man "; meaning that Abraham bad learned to worship the One God as a child of three (or thirteen) years (see Anit.vil.XM, where the dilTerent traditions of the rabbis are given), whereas Job became a worshiper of the Lord oidy
he was king (see Jon. Ti-.st..mi:nt of). Furthermore, Abraham worshiped God from love, while Jol) onlv feared the Lord (compare Jlishnah
when
Sotah,
v.
r,
meet.*
Abraham, however, does not
his act
Soul.
Abraham, Testament of
{•i1l>]).
.
for obtaining the soul of Abraham Death (Aza/.el), the angel of the is resorted to. dauntless countenance and of the pitiless look, who spares neither young nor old. is conunanded to appr;ir in the guise of a bright and beautiful angel iiefon^ Alu'aliam. This disguise is considered necessary lest Abndiani, as Moses did after him. might
Another plan
drive Death olT at once by using the jiower of the Holy Name (tniDDn DC'), hut when tin; angel tells him that he, " the bittercu)) «( (hath (Samael) has come to take his soul. Abraham refuses to go with him. The Angi'l of Death thereupon arouses Abra hum's curiosity by saying that the form in which he appears is not his real one; the vimt sight of which woidd, by its terrors, bring death to the sinner. Abraham naturally expresses the wi.sh to .see him in his true form, and the luigel then appears with his seven serpent-heads and fourteen faces; and the very sight kills seven thoiisand male anil fi-rnale slaves of Abraham's household, Abndiam himself liecoming sick unto death ((-ompare M. K 1!.%'. concerning the " (errors of the . gel of Dialh," and till' description in 'Ah. Zar:di, ".'ll/' of his face full of many terrible eyes anil of the bitter cu]) of ]mison which he carries with him to cast into the mouths of mortals as they open them at the ghastly sight, .so as to kill them; see also Jellinek, " IV II." I. l-'iO) Aliniham restores the lives of the seven thousiuiil slaves by his priiyer. and then causes the Angel of Death to explain to him all the teirible faces xvhich he has shown to him. .is will !is tin- seventv'
.
•Tills iiiiiiilii'r!«'Veiilv-lvoliiisnntliliiirii>ilinvlilillii's<'Vi'iily. Is Ilie MHiii- ii.« the si'venlv-lwo iiiitloiis (M. II. Jiiiiifs), lull wlileli vl.«li ilie In«Iv of .iIiimi III iiiiwi'.|iii'iii'>' "f liis sin iMiniillii' (Vila .il>i'i'l Kvie, :U>, iiml Ik ruiiinl In 1*11111111 iIi'Imi ill Kllvuliii 11. V. mill •irlirlniillv us a nil>l>lulout tmilltl"ii "t Aki>-
two
iituiriii'M
I
lilii
li.
.Meliiiliili'l
ISIfni,
Tiuh'n.
Si.
