Birth and Wanderings.
Biblical Data:
According to the Bible, Abraham (or
Abram) was the father of the Hebrews.
The Biblical account of the life of
Abram is found in Gen. xi. 26 to xxv.
10. According to this narrative, he was
the son of Terah and was born at Ur of
the Chaldees. Terah, with Abram, Sarai
(Abram's wife), and Lot (Abram's
nephew), left Ur to go to the land of
Canaan; but they tarried at Haran, where
Terah died (Gen. xi. 26-32). There the
Lord appeared to Abram in the first of a
series of visions, and bade him leave
the country with his family, promising
to make of him a great nation (ib. xii.
1-3), a promise that was renewed on
several occasions. Accordingly, Abram
with Sarai and Lot started for Canaan;
and at the site of Sichem (or Shechem)
the Lord promised the land as an
inheritance to the patriarch's seed.
After so-journing for a while between
Beth-el and Hai (or Ai), Abram, on
account of a famine, went to Egypt.
Here, to guard against Pharaoh's
jealousy, he passed Sarai off as his
sister. Pharaoh took her into the royal
household, but, discovering the
deception, released her and sent Abram
and his family away (ib. xii. 9-20).
Abram returned northward to his former
place of sojourn between Beth-el and Hai.
There his shepherds quarreled with those
of Lot, and the uncle and nephew
separated, Lot going east to Sodom,
while Abram remained in Canaan (ib.
xiii. 1-12). Again the Lord appeared to
the patriarch, and promised him an
abundant progeny which should inherit
the land of Canaan (ib. xiii. 14-17).
Abram now removed to Mamre (ib. xiii.
18) in Hebron, whence he made a
successful expedition against
Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, and his
confederate kings, from whom he rescued
Lot, whom Chedorlaomer had captured in
the course of an attack upon Sodom and
Gomorrah. On his return from this
expedition, Abram was blessed by
Melchizedek, king of Salem, and refused
to retain the recaptured booty offered
him by the king of Sodom (ib. xiv.).
Birth of Ishmael
Once more the Lord appeared to Abram
with a promise of abundant offspring, at
the same time foretelling their
captivity for four hundred years in a
strange land and their subsequent
inheritance of the land between "the
river of Egypt" and the Euphrates. "And
he believed in the Lord; and he counted
it to him for righteousness" (ib. xv.
6). Sarai had hitherto been barren. She
now gave Abram her handmaid Hagar, an
Egyptian, as wife; and the latter bore a
son, Ishmael, Abram being at the time
eighty-six years old (ib. xvi.). Again
the Lord appeared to the patriarch with
the promise of a numerous posterity. At
the same time, in token of the promise,
Abram's name was changed to Abraham
("Father of Many Nations"), and that of
Sarai to Sarah ("Princess"). The Lord
also instituted the "covenant of
circumcision," and promised that Sarah
should bear a son, Isaac, with whom he
would establish it. Abraham thereupon
circumcised himself and Ishmael (ib.
xvii. 1-21). Soon after, three angels in
human guise were hospitably entertained
by Abraham in Mamre, where the Lord
again foretold Isaac's birth, and when
Sarah doubted the promise, the Lord
himself appeared and renewed it (ib.
xviii. 1-15).
In recognition of Abraham's piety the
Lord now acquainted him with His
intention to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah
on account of their wickedness; but,
after several appeals from Abraham, He
promised that Sodom should be spared if
ten righteous men could be found therein
(ib. xviii. 17-32). The cities were
destroyed; but Lot and his family, who
had been warned, fled from Sodom before
its destruction. Abraham now journeyed
to Gerar, between Kadesh and Shur, and
for the second time passed Sarah off as
his sister. Abimelech, king of Gerar,
took her into his house; but, on being
rebuked by God, released her precisely
as Pharaoh had done (ib. xx.).
(see image) Traditional House of
Abraham. (From a photograph reproduced
by permission of the Palestine
Exploration Fund.)
Birth and Sacrifice of Isaac.
 At
the appointed time Isaac was born,
Abraham being a hundred years old. Soon
after, Ishmael, Hagar's son, was seen
"mocking" by Sarah, and at her
solicitation he and his mother were
banished. Hagar was comforted in the
wilderness by an angel of God (ib. xxi.
1-12). Abraham was now a powerful man;
and at the solicitation of Abimelech,
king of Gerar, he made a covenant with
that monarch at Beer-sheba in the land
of the Philistines. At Beer-sheba
Abraham sojourned many days (ib. xxi.
22-34).
The greatest trial of the patriarch's
life came when God bade him offer up his
only son as a burnt offering. Without a
moment's hesitation Abraham took Isaac
and proceeded to the land of Moriah,
where he was just about to sacrifice
him, when an angel of the Lord
restrained him, once more delivering the
prophecy that the patriarch's seed
should be "as the stars of the heaven,
and as the sand which is upon the
seashore," and that in them all the
nations of the earth should be blessed.
Instead of Isaac a ram caught in a
thicket was sacrificed (ib. xxii. 1-18).
Abraham returned to Beer-sheba, and was
sojourning there when Sarah died at
Kirjatharba (also called Hebron and
Mamre), at the age of one hundred and
twenty-seven (ib. xxiii. 1, 2). Abraham
went to Mamre and bought the cave of
Machpelah as a burial-place; and there
he buried Sarah (ib. xxiii. 3-20).
Isaac was now thirty-six years old, and
Abraham sent Eliezer, his servant, to
bring a wife for him from among
Abraham's own people. Eliezer journeyed
to Nahor, and returned with Rebekah,
Abraham's grandniece, whom Isaac married
(ib. xxiv.). Abraham now married again,
taking as his wife Keturah, by whom he
had several children. Before his death
he "gave all that he had" to Isaac, and
sent the sons of his concubines away
after bestowing some gifts upon them (ib.
xxv. 1-6). Abraham died at the age of
one hundred and seventy-five years; and
Isaac and Ishmael buried him beside
Sarah in the cave of Machpelah (ib. xxv.
7-9).
(see
image) Abraham and Isaac. (From the
Sarajevo Haggadah) C. J. M.
Prototype of the Jewish Race.
In Apocryphal and Rabbinical
Literature:
In the Torah Abraham presents
the type of a simple Bedouin sheik who
wanders from place to place in search of
pasture for his herds, a kindhearted,
righteous, and God-fearing man whom God
chose on account of his faithful and
righteous character to be the father of
a nation peculiarly favored by Him in
the possession of the coveted land of
Canaan. Once he is spoken of as a
"prophet" (Gen. xx. 7). Incidentally we
learn that his father, Terah, was an
idolater, like the rest of the Chaldeans
(Josh. xxiv. 2); but how Abraham became
a worshiper of the Lord, or why God
singled him out and led him forth to
Canaan, is left to surmise. No sooner,
however, did the Jewish people come into
closer contact with nations of higher
culture, especially with the Greeks in
Alexandria, than the figure of Abraham
became the prototype of a nation sent
forth to proclaim the monotheistic faith
to the world while wandering from land
to land. Accordingly, the divine promise
(Gen. xii. 3, xxii. 18) is understood to
mean: " . . . in thee [instead of "with
thee"] shall all the families of the
earth be blessed" (see LXX. ad loc.).
Propagator of the Knowledge of God.
In the third and second centuries B.C.,
Alexandrine Jews, writing under the name
of Hecatæus and Berosus, and Samaritans,
like Eupolemus, composed works on Jewish
history, from which Josephus ("Ant." i.
7, § 8) gives the following: Abraham,
endowed with great sagacity, with a
higher knowledge of God and greater
virtues than all the rest, was
determined to change the erroneous
opinions of men. He was the first who
had the courage to proclaim God as the
sole Creator of the universe, to whose
will all the heavenly bodies are
subject, for they by their motions show
their dependence on Him. His opposition
to astrology provoked the wrath of the
Chaldeans, and he had to leave their
country and go to Canaan. Afterward,
when he came to Egypt, he entered into
disputes with all the priests and the
wise men, and won their admiration and,
in many cases, their assent to his
higher views. He imparted to them the
knowledge of arithmetic and astronomy,
which sciences came to Egypt from
Chaldea only in the days of Abraham.
Abraham's revolt from Chaldean astrology
is spoken of in Philo ("On Abraham,"
xvii.), in connection with Gen. xv. 5
(compare Gen. R. xliv.).
Opposes Idolatry.
Concerning his religious awakening in
his father's house, the Book of
Jubilees, written probably in the time
of John Hyrcanus, relates (xi.) that, in
order not to participate in the idolatry
practised in connection with astrology
by the whole house of Nahor, Abraham,
when he was fourteen years of age, left
his father, and prayed to God to save
him from the errors of men. Abraham
became an inventor of better modes of
agriculture, showing the people how to
save the seeds in the field from the
ravens that devoured them. He then tried
to persuade his father to renounce
idol-worship, but Terah was afraid of
the people and told him to keep silent.
Finally, when Abraham met with the
opposition of his brothers also, he
arose one night and set fire to the
house in which the idols were kept. In
an attempt to save these, his brother
Haran was burned to death.
When, in the night of the new moon of
Tishri (the New-year), Abraham was
watching the stars to forecast the
year's fertility, the revelation came to
him that, in view of God's omnipotent
will, all astrological predictions were
valueless, and, after fervent prayer, he
received word from God to leave the
Chaldeans and set out on his mission to
bless the nations by teaching them the
higher truths. An angel of God taught
him Hebrew, the language of revelation,
by which he was enabled to decipher all
the secrets of the ancient books (see
Gen. R. xlii). Leaving his brother Nahor
with his father, Abraham went to the
Holy Land and observed there all the
festivals and new moons (afterward
prescribed to the Israelites, but
already written on the heavenly tablets
revealed to Enoch), besides many other
customs observed by the priesthood of
the second century B.C.
(see image) Abraham and Isaac. (From a
tombstone in the graveyard of the
Amsterdam Portuguese Congregation.)
According to one opinion, Abraham
attained the true knowledge of God when
he was three years old; according to
others, at ten; and again a more sober
opinion claims that he was forty-eight
years old (Gen. R. xxx).
In his warfare against the hosts of
Amraphel and other kings, Abraham cast
dust upon them, and it turned into
swords and lances, and the stubble
turned into bows and arrows (according
to Isa. xli. 2). Og, the giant king of
Bashan, was the one "that escaped" (ha-pali?),
and brought him the news of the capture
of Lot. Og was of the remnant of the
giants that lived before the Flood
(Deut. iii. 11). He cast a lustful eye
upon Sarah, and hoped to see Abraham
killed in the war in order that he might
take her to wife.
His Birth.
Far more explicit is the story of
Abraham's life in his Chaldean home as
told by the Palestinian rabbis of the
second century, and afterward further
developed under the influence of
Babylonian folk-lore. He was born in
Kuta, another name for Ur of the
Chaldees (B. B. 91a). On the night when
he was born, Terah's friends, among whom
were councilors and soothsayers of
Nimrod, were feasting in his house, and
on leaving late at night they observed a
star which swallowed up four other stars
from the four sides of the heavens. They
forthwith hastened to Nimrod and said:
"Of a certainty a lad has been born who
is destined to conquer this world and
the next; now, then, give to his parents
as large a sum of money as they wish for
the child, and then kill him." But Terah,
who was present, said: "Your advice
reminds me of the mule to whom a man
said, 'I will give thee a house full of
barley if thou wilt allow me to cut off
thy head,' whereupon the mule replied:
'Fool that thou art, of what use will
the barley be to me if thou cuttest off
my head?' Thus I say to you: if you slay
the son, who will inherit the money you
give to the parents?" Then the rest of
the councilors said: "From thy words we
perceive that a son has been born to
thee." "Yes," said Terah, "a son has
been born to me, but he is dead." Terah
then went home and hid his son in a cave
for three years. When, on coming out of
the cave, Abraham saw the sun rising in
all his glory in the east, he said to
himself: "Surely this is the Lord of the
universe, and Him I will worship." But
the evening came, and lo! the sun set
and night befell him, and seeing the
moon with her silver radiance, he said,
"This, then, is the Lord of the world,
and all the stars are His servants; to
Him I will kneel." The following
morning, when moon and stars had
disappeared and the sun had risen anew,
Abraham said: "Now I know that neither
the one nor the other is the Lord of the
world, but He who controls both as His
servants is the Creator and Ruler of the
whole world." Forthwith Abraham asked
his father: "Who created heaven and
earth?" Terah, pointing to one of his
idols, replied: "This great image is our
god." "Then let me bring a sacrifice to
him!" said Abraham, and he ordered a
cake of fine flour to be baked, and
offered it to the idol, and when the
idol did not eat it, he ordered a still
finer meal-offering to be prepared, and
offered it to the idol. But the idol did
neither eat nor answer when addressed by
him, and so Abraham grew angry and,
kindling a fire, burned them all. When
Terah, on coming home, found his idols
burnt, he went to Abraham and said: "Who
has burned my gods?" Abraham replied:
"The large one quarreled with the little
ones and burned them in his anger."
"Fool that thou art, how canst thou say
that he who can not see nor hear nor
walk should have done this?" Then
Abraham said: "How then canst thou
forsake the living God and serve gods
that neither see nor hear?"
Breaks Idols.
According to Gen. R. xxxviii. and Tanna
debe Eliyahu, ii. 25 (probably a portion
of Pir?e R. El.), Terah was a
manufacturer of idols and had them for
sale. One day when Terah was absent and
Abraham was left to take charge of the
shop, an old, yet vigorous, man came in
to buy an idol. Abraham handed him the
one on top, and he gave him the price
asked. "How old art thou?" Abraham
asked. "Seventy years," was the answer.
"Thou fool," continued Abraham, "how
canst thou adore a god so much younger
than thou? Thou wert born seventy years
ago and this god was made yesterday."
The buyer threw away his idol and
received his money back. The other sons
of Terah complained to their father that
Abraham did not know how to sell the
idols, and so Abraham was told to attend
to the idols as priest. One day a woman
brought a meal-offering for the idols,
and, as they would not eat, he
exclaimed: "A mouth have they but speak
not, eyes but see not, ears but hear
not, hands but handle not. May their
makers be like them, and all who trust
in them" (Ps. cxv. 5-8, Heb.), and he
broke them to pieces and burned them.
Abraham was brought before Nimrod, who
said: "Knowest thou not that I am god
and ruler of the world? Why hast thou
destroyed my images?" Then Abraham said:
"If thou art god and ruler of the world,
why dost thou not cause the sun to rise
in the west and set in the east? If thou
art god and ruler of the world, tell me
all that I have now at heart, and what I
shall do in the future." Nimrod was
dumfounded, and Abraham continued: "Thou
art the son of Cush, a mortal like him.
Thou couldst not save thy father from
death, nor wilt thou thyself escape it."
According to Gen. R. xxxviii, Nimrod
said: "Worship the fire!" "Why not water
that quenches the fire?" asked Abraham.
"Very well, worship the water!" "Why not
the clouds which swallow the water?" "So
be it; worship the clouds!" Then Abraham
said: "Rather let me adore the wind
which blows the clouds about!" "So be
it; pray to the wind!" "But," said
Abraham, "man can stand up against the
wind or shield himself behind the walls
of his house." "Then adore me!" said
Nimrod. Thereupon Nimrod (Amraphel; see
Pesi?. R. § 33, 'Er. 53a) ordered
Abraham to be cast into a furnace. He
had a pile of wood five yards in
circumference set on fire, and Abraham
was cast into it. But God Himself went
down from heaven to rescue him.
Wherefore the Lord appeared to him
later, saying: "I am the Lord who
brought thee out of the fire of the
Chaldeans" (Ur Kasdim, Gen. xv. 7). The
legend betrays Persian influence
(compare the Zoroaster legend in
Windischmann, "Zoroastrische Studien,"
pp. 307-313). Regarding the cave in
which Abraham dwelt, see ib. p. 113;
compare also B. B. 10a. The dialogue
with Nimrod, pointing from fire, water,
the cloud, wind, and man to God, has its
parallel in Hindu legend (see Benfey, "Pantschatantra,"
i. 376).
Abraham is thereupon commissioned by God
to propagate His truth throughout the
world, and he wins many souls for Him:
while he wins the men, Sarah, his wife,
converts the women. In this manner "they
made souls in Haran" (Gen. xii. 5,
Heb.). He awakens the heathen from
slumber and brings them under the wings
of God. He is the father of the
proselytes (Gen. R. xliii; Mek,
Mishpa?im, § 18).
As a Philanthropist.
Henceforth he was to become "like a
stream of blessing to purify and
regenerate the pagan world." Of the
manner in which he converted the heathen
it is related that he had a palatial
mansion built near the oaktree of Mamre
or at Beer-sheba on the crossing of the
roads, wherein all kinds of victuals and
wine were spread on the table for the
passersby, who came through the doors
kept open on all sides; and when they,
after having partaken of the meal, were
about to offer their thanks to him
beforegoing on their way, he pointed to
God above, whose steward he was and to
whom alone they owed thanks. Thus, by
his love for man, he taught people how
to worship God. Abraham's Oak, in
connection with which the Midrash (to
Gen. xxi. 33) relates these things, is
mentioned also by Jerome (quoted in
Uhlman's "Liebesthätigkeit," p. 321).
This philanthropic virtue of Abraham is
specifically dwelt upon in the Testament
of Abraham.
Prophetic Vision.
His prophetic vision (Gen. xv.)
furnished especially grateful material
to apocalyptic writers, who beheld
foreshadowed in the four different
animals used for the covenant sacrifice
the "four kingdoms" of the Book of
Daniel (see also the Midrashim and
Targums and Pir?e R. El. xxviii; compare
Apocalypse of Abraham, ix.).
Regarding Abraham's relation to
Melchizedek, who taught him new lessons
in philanthropy, see Melchizedek.
Whereas the Bible speaks of only one
trial that Abraham had to undergo to
give proof of his faith in and fear of
God (the offering of his son Isaac, Gen.
xxii.), the rabbis (Ab. v. 4; Ab. R. N.
xxxiii. [B. xxxvi.]; and Pir?e R. El.
xxvi. et seq.; compare also Book of
Jubilees, xvii. 17, and xix. 5) mention
ten trials of his faith, the offering of
his son forming the culmination. Yet
this was sufficient reason for Satan, or
Mas?emah, as the Book of Jubilees calls
him, to put all possible obstacles in
his way.
Supreme Test of Faith.
When Abraham finally held the knife over
his beloved son, Isaac seemed doomed,
and the angels of heaven shed tears
which fell upon Isaac's eyes, causing
him blindness in later life. But their
prayer was heard. The Lord sent Michael
the archangel to tell Abraham not to
sacrifice his son, and the dew of life
was poured on Isaac to revive him. The
ram to be offered in his place had stood
there ready, prepared from the beginning
of creation (Ab. v. 6). Abraham had
given proof that he served God not only
from fear, but also out of love, and the
promise was given that, whenever the 'A?edah
chapter was read on the New-year's day,
on which occasion the ram's horn is
always blown, the descendants of Abraham
should be redeemed from the power of
Satan, of sin, and of oppression, owing
to the merit of him whose ashes lay
before God as though he had been
sacrificed and consumed (Pesi?. R. § 40
and elsewhere).
According to the Book of Jubilees
(xx.-xxii.), Abraham appointed Jacob, in
the presence of Rebekah, heir of his
divine blessings. Jacob remained with
him to the very last, receiving his
instructions and his blessings. But
while the same source informs us that he
ordered all his children and
grand-children to avoid magic, idolatry,
and all kinds of impurity, and to walk
in the path of righteousness, Jeremiah
bar Abba (in Sanh. 91a) tells us that he
bequeathed the knowledge of magic to the
sons of his wife, Keturah.
Abraham's Death.
About his death rabbinical tradition has
preserved only one statement—that the
Angel of Death had no power over him (B.
B. 17a). There is nevertheless a
beautiful description of his glorious
end in the Testament of Abraham (see
Abraham, Testament of). The same work
gives a touching picture of his love for
man, while Ab. R. N. (xxxiii.) offers
illustrations of his spirit of
righteousness and equity. Abba Arika (Rab)
even professed to know how the men of
Abraham's time expressed their grief at
his bier: "Alas for the ship that hath
lost its captain! Alas for humanity that
hath lost its leader!" (B. B. 91a, b.)
Besides the discovery of astronomy, we
find ascribed to Abraham the invention
of the alphabet, the knowledge of magic,
and of all secret lore ('Ab. Zarah, 14b;
Eusebius, "Præp. Ev."; D'Herbelot, "Bibliothèque
Orientale," s.v. "Abraham"; "Sefer
Ye?irah," toward the end). All this is
based on Gen. R. to Gen. xv. 5: "God
lifted him above the vault of heaven to
cause him to see all the mysteries of
life." It is related (Tosef., ?id., at
end) that he wore a pearl or precious
stone of magic power on his neck,
wherewith he healed the sick; and that
all the secrets of the Law were
disclosed to him, while he observed even
the most minute provisions of the rabbis
(Mishnah ?id., at end; Gen. R. lxiv.).
Even in physical size he towered above
the rest of men, according to Gen. R.
xlix. and Soferim, xxi. 9.
True Type of Humanity
There is a deep undercurrent of his true
humanity in all the legends about
Abraham. "Until Abraham's time the Lord
was known only as the God of heaven.
When He appeared to Abraham, He became
the God of the earth as well as of
heaven, for He brought Him nigh to man"
(Midr. R. to Gen. xxiv. 3). Abraham,
called "the One" (Isa. li. 2, Heb., and
Ezek. xxxiii.), rendered the whole human
family one (Gen. R. xxxix) Whosoever has
a benign eye, a simple heart, and a
humble spirit, or who is humble and
pious, is a disciple of Abraham (Ab. v.
29, and Ber. 6b), and he who lacks
kindness of heart is no true son of
Abraham (Be?ah, 32a). But it is
particularly Abraham, the man of faith,
the "friend of God" (Isa. xli. 8), upon
whom are founded alike the Synagogue
(see Pes. 117b; Mek, Beshalla?, § 3; I
Macc. ii. 52; Philo, "Who is the Heir?"
xviii.-xix.), the Church (see Rom. iv.
1; Gal. iii. 6; James, ii. 23), and the
Mosque (Koran, sura iii. 58-60).
"Abraham was not a Jew nor a Christian,
but a believer in one God [a Moslem], a
hater of idolatry, a man of perfect
faith" (ib. suras ii. 118, iv. 124, vi.
162, xvi. 121). When God said, "Let
there be light!" He had Abraham in view
(Gen. R. ii.).
Many Arabic legends concerning Abraham
based on the Koran found their way back
to Jewish works (see Jellinek, "B. H." i.
25, and introduction, xv.)
Bibliography: Weil, Bibl. Legenden der
Muselmänner, p. 68;
Grünbaum, Neue Beiträge zur Semitischen
Sagenkunde, pp. 91-93;
B. Beer, Leben Abrahams, nach Auffassung
der Jüdischen Sage, especially pp.
95-210, Leipsic, 1859 this book contains
a very full account, with valuable
references, of the rabbinic traditions
concerning Abraham);
Hughes, Dictionary of Islam, s.v.K.
In Mohammedan Legend:
Of all the Biblical personages mentioned
in the Koran, Abraham is undoubtedly the
most important. As is the case with all
the Biblical material contained in the
Koran, its source must be looked for not
in any written documents, but in the
stories, more or less tinged by
midrashic additions, which Mohammed
heard from his Jewish or Christian
teachers and friends. Care must also be
taken to distinguish the various periods
in the preaching of the Arabian prophet;
for in these matters Mohammed lived from
hand to mouth, and his views as to the
importance of Biblical personages varied
with changing circumstances and changing
needs. In his early preachings Mohammed
shows very little knowledge of the
patriarch. The only mention of him
during the early Meccan period is found
in sura lxxxvii. 19 (compare sura liii.
37), where Mohammed makes a passing
reference to the "Su?uf Ibrahim" (the
Rolls of Abraham); these can not have
reference, as Sprenger thinks ("Leben u.
Lehre Mohammeds," ii. 348, 363 et seq.),
to any real apocryphal books, but merely
to a reminiscenceof what Mohammed had
heard about the mention of Abraham in
the sacred books of the Jews and
Christians (Kuenen, "National and
Universal Religions," p. 297, note 1,
and pp. 317-323, New York, 1882).
Similarly in sura liii. 37—a passage
certainly not older than the end of the
first Meccan period (Nöldeke, "Gesch.
des Korans," p. 79)—he speaks of Abraham
as of one that had fulfilled his word,
giving as his reference the same Rolls
of Abraham (Hirschfeld, "Beiträge zur
Erklärung des Korans," p. 12; compare
Gen. xxii. 16). To this later Meccan
period may also belong what Mohammed has
to say of Abraham as one who was
oppressed for preaching the true
religion and for championing his God.
This part of Abraham's career appealed
very strongly to Mohammed; for he saw in
it a certain prototype of his own early
and severe struggles with the patricians
of his native city. As Mohammed is the
last of the prophets, so Abraham is
among the first. Abraham is
evidently—though this is not directly
stated—one of the seven bearers of
Ma?ani, the messages repeated from out
of the heavenly book (sura xv. 87;
compare xxxix. 24). The other six are
the prophets of Ad, Thamud, and Midian,
and Noah, Lot, and Moses. Abraham is a
righteous man () and prophet (sura xix.
42).
"Great, Greater, Greatest"
In the later suras Mohammed seems to
have learned more about Abraham. In sura
vi. 75 he relates how the prophet came
to worship God by watching physical
phenomena: "Thus did we show Abraham the
kingdom of heaven and of the earth, that
he should be of those who are sure. And
when the night overshadowed him he saw a
star and said, 'This is my Lord'; but
when it set he said, 'I love not those
that set.' And when he saw the moon
beginning to rise he said, 'This is my
Lord'; but when it set he said, 'If my
Lord guides me not I shall surely be of
the people who err.' And when he saw the
sun beginning to rise he said, 'This is
my Lord, this is the greatest of all';
but when it set he said, 'O my people,
verily, I am clear of what ye associate
with God; verily, I have turned my face
to Him who created the heaven and the
earth.'"
The name of Abraham's father is said to
have been Azar, though some of the later
Arab writers give the name correctly as
Tera?. Others claim that Azar was his
real name, while Tera? was his surname (Nawawi,
"Biographical Dict. of Illustrious Men,"
p. 128; but see Jawali?i, "Al-Mu'arrab,"
ed. Sachau, p. 21; "Z. D. M. G." xxxiii.
214). Still a third class of authorities
say that Azar means either "the old man"
or "the perverse one." Modern scholars
have suggested that the word is a
mistake for (B. B. 15a; see Pautz,
"Mohammed's Lehre von der Offenbarung,"
p. 242). This Azar was a great worshiper
of idols, and Abraham had hard work in
dissuading him from worshiping them. The
story is told in sura xxi. 53 et seq.:
"And we gave Abraham a right direction
before; for about him we knew. When he
said to his father and to his people,
'What are these images to which ye pay
devotion?' said they, 'We found our
fathers serving them.' Said he, 'Both ye
and your fathers have been in obvious
error.' They said, 'Dost thou come to us
with the truth, or art thou of those
that sport?' He said, 'Nay, but your
Lord is Lord of the heavens and of the
earth, which He created; and I am of
those who testify to this, and, by God,
I will plot against your idols after ye
have turned and shown me your backs.' So
he brake them all in pieces, except a
large one that haply they might refer it
to [lay the blame upon] him. Said they,
'Who has done this with our gods?
Verily, he is of the wrong-doers.' They
said, 'We heard a youth speak of them,
who is called Abraham.' Said they, 'Then
bring him before the eyes of men; haply
they will bear witness.' Said they, 'Was
it thou who did this to our gods, O
Abraham?' Said he, 'Nay, it was this
largest of them; but ask them if they
can speak . . .' Said they, 'Burn him
and help your gods if ye are going to do
so.' We said, 'O fire! be thou cool and
a safety for Abraham.'" In suras xxvii.
and xxxix. Mohammed returns to this
story, and adds the account of the
messengers that came to Abraham, of the
promise of a son named Isaac, and of the
coming destruction of Sodom and
Gomorrah. "We turned these cities upside
down and rained on them stones of baked
clay" (compare sura li. 34). The
destruction of the two cities served
Mohammed as a warning, taken from
history, which he desired to impress
upon his opponents in Mecca.
The 'Akedah, or sacrifice of Isaac, is
mentioned in several places in the
Koran. The following account is found in
sura xxxvii. 100 et seq.: "And when he
reached the age to work with him he
said: 'O my boy ! verily I have seen in
a dream that I should sacrifice thee;
look, then, that thou seest right.' Said
he, 'O my sire! do what thou art bidden;
thou wilt find me, if it please God, one
of the patient.' And when they were
resigned and Abraham had thrown him down
upon his forehead, we called to him, 'O
Abraham! thou hast verified the vision;
verily, thus do we reward those who do
good. This is surely an obvious trial.'
And we rewarded him with a mighty
victim."
Prominence Given to Abraham
Mohammed, however, went further than
this, and, in order to strengthen his
position against his Jewish opponents in
Medina, made out of Abraham the most
prominent figure in premohammedan
religious history. He alleges that
Abraham was the real founder of the
religion that he himself was preaching;
that Islam was merely a restatement of
the old religion of Abraham and not a
new faith now preached for the first
time. Abraham is the "friend of God" (sura
iv. 124), an appellation that the
followers of Islam now usually apply to
him, and on account of which to-day the
city of Hebron is called Al-Halil
(compare Isa. xli. 8; Ab. R. N. 61a). He
is also said to have been an imam, or
religious leader (compare suras ii. 118,
xvi. 121), and perhaps also a "?anif";
"he was not one of the idolaters. . . .
[God] chose him, and He guided him unto
the right way. . . . Then we inspired
thee, Follow the faith of Abraham, a ?anif,
for he was not of the idolaters." The
exact meaning of "?anif" is uncertain;
but it seems in general to designate a
man who searched after the truth and
despised idolatry (Kuenen, l.c. note 2,
pp. 323-326; Wellhausen, "Skizzen," iii.
207).
Characteristic is the following saying:
"Abraham was not a Jew nor yet a
Christian, but he was a ?anif resigned,
and not of the idolaters. Verily, the
people most worthy of Abraham are those
that follow him and his prophets, and
those that believe" (sura iii. 60). With
the same theological intent Mohammed
makes various references to the Millat
Ibrahim ("Religion of Abraham") as the
one he desires his people to follow (suras
xvi. 124, ii. 124, xxii. 77).
During the latest period of Mohammed's
activity in Medina he became still
bolder, and, in developing his theory in
regard to Abraham, left entirely the
beaten track of Jewish and Christian
Midrash. It had become necessary for him
to break entirely with the Jews, who
refused to acknowledge him as prophet.
The ?iblah, or direction of prayer, was
still toward Jerusalem. As the Jews had
refused to follow Mohammed it was
necessary to dissociatehis religion from
theirs, and to turn the faces and
thoughts of his followers from Jerusalem
to Mecca. In order that the change might
be effected with as little friction as
possible, Mohammed connected Mecca and
its holy house, the Kaaba, with the
history of Abraham, the real founder of
his Islam. It is here that Ishmael comes
for the first time prominently forward.
In one of the latest suras (ii. 118 et
seq.) a passage reads: "And when we made
the house a place of resort unto men,
and a sanctuary, and (said) take the
station of Abraham for a place of
prayer; and covenanted with Abraham and
Ishmael, saying, 'Do ye two cleanse my
house for those who make the circuit,
for those who pay devotions there, for
those who bow down, and for those, too,
who adore. . . .' And when Abraham
raised up the foundations of the house
with Ishmael, 'Lord, receive it from us.
Verily, Thou art hearing and Thou dost
know. Lord, and make us, too, resigned
unto Thee and of our seed also a nation
resigned unto Thee, and show us our
rites, and turn toward us; verily, Thou
art easy to be turned and merciful.
Lord, and send them an apostle from
amongst themselves, to read to them Thy
signs and teach them the Book and
wisdom, and to purify them; verily, Thou
art the mighty and the wise'" (compare
suras iii. 90-93, xxii. 27-31).
There is no local tradition connecting
Abraham with Mecca; and we are forced to
put this down as a pure invention on the
part of the prophet, based on political
as well as on theological reasons.
According to Shahrastani (Arabic text,
p. 430), this Kaaba was the reproduction
of the one in heaven. The "Makam Ibrahim,"
or Station of Abraham, is still pointed
out within the sacred enclosure at
Mecca; and the footsteps of the
patriarch are believed by the worshipers
still to be there (Snouck Hurgronje, "Het
Mekkaansche Feest," p. 40; Mekka, i.
11).
Mohammedan Midrash on Abraham.
The stories in regard to Abraham, told
in a few words in the Koran, naturally
form the basis for further midrashic
expansion among the Arabs. The likeness
of the history of Abraham to certain
features in the life of their own
prophet made him a favorite subject in
the hands of commentators and
historians. Mohammedan writers had two
sources from which they drew their
knowledge of the Bible and of its
midrashic interpretation: verbal
information from the akhbar ("rabbis"),
and a study of the text of the Bible
itself, and occasionally of comments
upon it. The former source was
undoubtedly the more prolific of the
two. The material is to be found in the
standard commentators on the Koran—Zamakhshari,
Baidawi, Tabari; but more have been
incorporated in the works of Arabic
historians, who commenced their
histories with the earliest accounts of
man, and were thus bound to have a more
or less close acquaintance with the
Taurat (Torah) and the Midrash upon it.
Some of the historians are quite exact,
as Ibn ?utaibah, and the first
philosopher of history, Ibn Khaldun;
others, however, are less critical, as
Tabari, Masudi, ?amza, Biruni, Ma?rizi,
Ibn al-Athir, Abu al-Fida (compare
Goldziher, "Über Mohammedanische Polemik
gegen die Ahl al-Kitab," in "Z.D.M.G."
xxxii. 357). They have much to say about
the trials that Abraham underwent in
fighting idolatry. They dilate upon the
great furnace that Nimrod had built in
Kutha for this purpose, and how the
furnace was changed into a garden. A
Kurd named Hayun, Haizar, or Haizan, is
said to have advised Nimrod to have
Abraham burnt. Abraham's father is said
to have been a carver of images; and
Abraham, in selling his father's wares,
attempted to convert the people by
crying out, "Who wishes to buy that
which neither hurts nor betters?" Large
midrashic additions are made in order to
bring Nimrod into connection with
Abraham. It is said that the stargazers
warned him that a boy would be born that
would in the future break all the idols;
that Nimrod gave orders to put to death
all children born; but that when Abraham
was born his mother hid him in a cave in
which, during a few days, he grew to
man's estate, and thus foiled the
purpose of the king.
The incongruity of Mohammed's connecting
Abraham with the building of the Kaaba
was evidently clearly felt, and it is
therefore added that his going to Mecca
was due to the rupture between Sarah and
Hagar. God told Abraham to take the
bondmaid and her child, Ishmael, into
Arabia; and it was at the Zemzem well
within the sacred enclosure that the
water rose up which slaked the thirst of
the boy. On two occasions Abraham is
said to have paid a visit to Ishmael's
house in his absence; and, by the
answers which each wife gave to her
father-in-law, Abraham advises his son,
in the one case, to send his first wife
away, and in the other to keep his
second wife. In the building of the
Kaaba, Abraham was assisted by the
Shekinah (); others say by a cloud or by
the angel Gabriel. Abraham acted as
muezzin, delivered all the necessary
prayers, and made the various circuits
demanded by the later ritual. It was he
also who first threw stones at Iblis
(the devil) in the valley of Mina, a
procedure which still forms part of the
ceremonies connected with the ?ajj. It
is natural that in these later
accretions Ishmael should take the place
of Isaac. Some authors even state that
it was Ishmael who was to have been
offered up; and that he therefore bears
the name Al-Dhabi? ("Slaughtered One").
The place of the 'A?edah is also
transferred to Mina, near Mecca. The ram
offered up in lieu of the son is said to
have been the same as the one offered by
Abel. The slaughtering of Isaac is dwelt
upon at length, as well as the firmness
of Abraham in resisting the enticement
of Iblis, who placed himself directly in
his path. This is said to have been one
of the trials (sura ii. 118) which
Abraham underwent. Arabic commentators,
however, speak of three trials only, and
not of ten, as does the Jewish Haggadah.
Many of the religious observances that
are now found in Islam are referred to
Abraham; parallels to which, as far as
the institution of certain prayers is
concerned, can be found in rabbinical
literature.
Abraham is often called by Arabic
authors the "father of hospitality"; and
long accounts are given of the visit of
the angels. He is also said to have been
the first whose hair grew white. Of his
death an Arabic Midrash has the
following: When God wished to take the
soul of Abraham He sent the Angel of
Death to him in the form of a decrepit
old man. Abraham was at table with some
guests, when he saw an old man walking
in the heat of the sun. He sent an ass
to carry the man to his tent. The old
man, however, had hardly sufficient
strength to put the food set before him
to his mouth; and even then he had the
greatest difficulty in swallowing it.
Now, a long time before this, Abraham
had asked God not to take away his soul
until he (Abraham) should make the
request. When he saw the actions of this
old man he asked him what ailed him. "It
is the result of old age, O Abraham!" he
answered. "How old are you, then?" asked
Abraham. The old man gave his age as two
years more than that of Abraham, upon
which the patriarch exclaimed, "In two
years' time I shall be like him! O God!
takeme to Thyself." The old man, who was
no other than the Angel of Death, then
took away Abraham's soul.
Rabbinical midrashic parallels can
easily be found to most of the legends
referred to above: a large number are
given in Grünbaum ("Neue Beiträge zur
Semitischen Sagenkunde"). It is of
interest to observe that these
Mohammedan additions have also, in some
cases, found their way into Jewish
literature. They are met with in works
that have been written under Arabic
influence in one form or another.
Abraham's visit to Ishmael is found in
the Pir?e R. El. xxx. and in the "Sefer
ha-Yashar." In the "Shebe? Musar" of
Elijah ha-Kohen there is an appendix
entitled "Tale of That Which Happened to
Our Father Abraham in Connection with
Nimrod." Elijah lived in Smyrna at the
beginning of the eighteenth century,
which fact will explain the Arabic
influence.
Bibliography: Koran, suras ii. iii.
iv.vi. xi. xxix. xxxvii. li. lx. (the
citations above are from Palmer's
translation in the Sacred Books of the
East, vols. vi. ix.), and the
commentators mentioned in the article;
Tabari, Annales, i. 254 et seq.;
Ibn al-Athir, Chronicon, ed. Tornberg, i.
67 et seq.;
Ibn ?utaibah, Handbuch der Geschichte,
ed. Wüstenfeld, pp. 16 et seq.;
Masudi, Les Prairies d'Or, ed. Barbier
de Meynard, ix. 105, index;
Pseudo-Masudi, Abrégé des Merveilles,
tr. by Carra de Vaux, pp. 131, 322;
Wüstenfeld, Die Chroniken der Stadt
Mekka, Arabic text, i. 21 et seq.,
German tr. iv. 7 et seq.;
Al-Ya?ubi, Historiœ, ed. Houtsma, i. 21
et seq.;
Ya?ut's Geographisches Wörterbuch, ed.
Wüstenfeld, vi. 266, index.
For special histories of the prophets
see Brockelmann, Gesch. der Arabischen
Lit. i. 350. The traditions in the Koran
and later works are collected in Al-Nawawi,
Biographical Dict. of Illustrious Men,
ed. Wüstenfeld, pp. 125 et seq.;
and Abu al-Fida, Historia Anteislamica,
ed. Fleischer, pp. 125 et seq.
Abraham's position in the history of
religion from the Mohammedan standpoint
is considered by Al-Shahrastani, Kitab
al-Milal wal-Na?al, ed. Cureton, pp.
244, 247, 261 (German transl. by
Haarbrücker, index, s.v.). Modern works
on the subject: Geiger, Was Hat Mohammed
aus dem Judenthume Aufgenommen? pp. 121
et seq.;
Hirschfeld, Beiträge zur Erklärung des
Korans, pp. 43, 59;
Grimme, Mohammed, i. 60 et seq., ii. 76,
82 et seq.;
Pautz, Mohammed's Lehre von der
Offenbarung, pp. 173, 228;
Smith, The Bible and Islam, pp. 68 et
seq.;
Bate, Studies in Islam, pp. 60 et seq.
For the later legends see Weil,
Biblische Legenden der Muselmänner, pp.
68 et seq.;
Grünbaum, Neue Beiträge zur Semitischen
Sagenkunde, pp. 89 et seq.;
Bacher, Bibel und Biblische Geschichte
in der Mohammedanischen Literatur, in
Kobak's Jeschurun, viii. 1-29;
G. A. Kohut, Haggadic Elements in Arabic
Legends, in Independent, New York, 1898,
Jan. 8 et seq.;
Lidzbarski, De Profeticis, quœ dicuntur,
Legendis Arabicis, Leipsic, 1893.G.
Etymology
Critical View
The original and proper form of this
name seems to be either "Abram" or "Abiram"
(I Kings, xvi. 34; Deut. xi. 6), with
the meaning, "my Father [or my God] is
exalted." The form "Abraham" yields no
sense in Hebrew, and is probably only a
graphic variation of "Abram," the h
being simply a letter, indicating a
preceding vowel, a; but popular
tradition explains it "father of a
multitude" (ab hamon), given as a new
name on the occasion of a turning-point
in the patriarch's career (Gen. xvii.
5). The name is personal, not tribal; it
appears as a personal name in Babylonia
in the time of Apil-Sin (about 2320
B.C.; Meissner, "Beiträge zum
Altbabylonischen Privatrecht," No. 111),
and is not employed in the Torah
in an ethnical sense (for example, it is
not so employed in Micah, vii. 20, nor
in Isa. xli. 8).
National Significance
In the earlier so-called Jahvistic
narrative, Abraham embodies particularly
the conception of Israel's title to the
land of Canaan. He comes from the East
to Canaan, receives the promise of the
land, separates from Lot (Moab and Ammon),
from Ishmael (Arabian tribes), and from
the sons of Keturah (other Arabian
tribes), thus eliminating any possible
future contention as to the title to the
country. A continuous process of
selection and exclusion is here
exemplified, the result of which is to
identify Abraham with Canaan; such was
the popular conception of him as late as
the time of Ezekiel (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
circumcision (Covenant). He stands, in a
word, for the premosaic religious
constitution of the people.
Character
Abraham's singularly majestic and
attractive personality, as it appears in
Genesis, is in this view the outcome of
generations of thought. Each age
contributed to the portrait of what it
held to be purest and noblest and
worthiest of the first forefather. The
result is a figure, solitary, calm,
strong, resting unswervingly on God, and
moving unscathed among men. Later he was
thought of as "the friend of God" (Isa.
xli. 8). Paul calls him the father of
all who believe (Rom. iv.). Mohammed
takes him as the representative of the
absolute primitive religion, from which
Judaism and Christianity have diverged,
and to which Islam has returned. The
character shows, however, a commingling
of high and low. There are generosity
(Gen. xiii.), bravery (Gen. xiv.), a
fine sense of justice (Gen. xviii.). But
tradition, in order to bring out God's
special care of the hero, twice makes
him guilty of falsehood (Gen. xii.,
xx.); this last fact throws light on the
ethical ideas of the eighth century.
Relation to History
Is there any historical kernel embedded
in the narrative? Obviously it contains
much legendary matter. The stories of
Lot, Hagar, and Keturah are ethnological
myths; the theophanies and the story of
the destruction of the cities are
legends; circumcision was not adopted by
the Israelites in the way here
represented; and the story of the
attempted sacrifice of Isaac is a
product of the regal period. Abraham's
kinsfolk (Gen. xxii. 20-24) are
personifications of tribes, and his
predecessors and successors, from Noah
to Jacob, are mythical or legendary.
What is to be said of the much debated
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 historical, but it no more follows
that the second part is historical than
the reality of the miraculous rôle
assigned to Moses follows from the
reality of the Exodus. On the contrary,
the mention of Salem and of tithes
points to a postexilian origin for the
paragraph. The invasion may be
historical— (Chedorlaomer) and (Arioch)
are Elamite, and a march from Babylonia
to Canaan is conceivable—but no mention
of it has been found in inscriptions,
and it is not easy to reconcile it with
known facts. If (Amraphel) be Hammurabi,
Abraham's date is about 2300 B.C.
The biography of Abraham in Genesis is
probably to be regarded as legendary; it
has grown up around sacred places,
ideas, and institutions. Yet there can
be little doubt that the name involves
some historical fact, and that this fact
has to do with tribal migration: the
name, though personal, not tribal, may
represent a migration. By reason of the
paucity of information the whole
question is obscure, and any conclusions
must be largely conjectural.
The text represents Abraham 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 well formed and persistent tradition,
and a migration ofthis sort, as the
Tell-el-Amarna inscriptions indicate,
must be regarded as possible. If a
motive for the movement be sought, it
may be found in the wars which were
constantly going on between the thickly
settled and feebly organized inhabitants
of the valley between the rivers.
Distinct indications of an Abrahamic
migration from Babylonia are found by
some scholars in the similarity between
Babylonian and Hebrew institutions (as
the Sabbath) and myths (Creation, Flood,
etc.); by others this similarity is
referred to Canaanite intermediation, or
to later borrowing from Assyria or
Babylonia.
The supposed relation of the names "Sin"
(the wilderness) and "Sinai" (the
mountain, and a Canaanite tribe) to the
Babylonian moon-god, Sin, is doubtful.
The migrating tribes would speak
Babylonian or Aramaic, but would
speedily become absorbed in their new
surroundings and adopt the language of
the region. If such a body settled in
northern Arabia, this might account for
the connection of Abraham with Hagar and
Keturah. The Hebrew tribes proper,
coming to dwell in that region, may have
found his name as that of a local hero,
and may gradually have adopted it. But
of the condition of things in Canaan
from 2300 to 2000 B.C. nothing is known,
and between Abraham and Moses there is
almost an absolute blank in the history.
Bibliography: Tomkins, Studies on the
Time of Abraham, 2d ed., 1897;
W. J. Deane, Abraham: His Life and
Times, New York ("Men of the Bible
Series");
Kittel, Hist. of the Hebrews, i. passim;
Robertson, Early Religion of Israel,
passim;
Hommel, Ancient Hebr. Tradition, v.T. |
