Hebraic Literature; Translations from the Talmud, Midrashim and Kabbala. Various
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Abraham's time there was no such thing as a beard; but as many mistook Abraham for Isaac, and Isaac for Abraham, they looked so exactly alike, Abraham prayed to God for a beard to enable people to distinguish him from his son, Isaac, and it was granted him; as it is written (Gen. xxiv. 1), "And to Abraham a beard came when he was well stricken in age."
Sanhedrin, fol. 107, col. 2.
Here the word which the translators of the English version render "was old," is taken in another of its cognate meanings as a beard. The Midrash is a trifle more modest in this legendary assertion. There we read, "Before Abraham there was no special mark of old age," and that for distinction's sake "the beard was made to turn gray."
When he died, all the chiefs of the nations of the world stood in a line and exclaimed, "Alas for the world that has lost its leader! Alas for the ship that has lost its helmsman!"
Bava Bathra, fol. 91, col. 2.
As Rabbi Banna went about to measure and to mark off the outward and inward dimensions of the different caves, when he came to the cave of Machpelah he found Eliezar, Abraham's servant, at the entrance, and asked him, "What is Abraham doing?" The answer he received was, "He is asleep in the arms of Sarah."
Ibid., fol. 58, col. 1.
Abraham being greater than Moses, for while the latter is only called by God "My Servant" (Mal. iv. 4), the former is called "My Friend" (Isa. xli. 8), we devote a little more space for a few more extracts from other Jewish sources than the Talmud, in order to make the picture they supply of Abraham's character a little more complete.
Rabbi Yochanan ben Nuri says:—"The Holy One—blessed be He!—took Shem and separated him to be a priest to Himself, that he might serve before Him. He also caused His Shechinah to rest with him, and called his name Melchizedek, priest of the Most High and king of Salem. His brother Japheth even studied the law in his school, until Abraham came and also learned the law in the school of Shem, where God Himself instructed Abraham, so that all else he had learned from the lips of man was forgotten. Then came Abraham and prayed to God that His Shechinah might ever rest in the house of Shem, which also was promised to him; as it is said (Ps. ex. 4), 'Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.'"
Avodath Hakkodesh, part 3, chap. 20.
Wherever Jacob resided he studied the law as his fathers did. How is this, seeing the law had not yet been given, it is nevertheless written of Abraham (Gen. xxvi. 5), "And he kept my charge"? Whence then did Abraham learn the law? Rabbi Shimon says his reins (literally kidneys) were made like two water-jars, from which the law flowed forth. Where do we learn that it was so? From what is said in Ps. xvi. 7, "My reins also instruct me in the night season."
Bereshith Rabba, chap. 95.
The masters of the Kabbalah, of blessed memory, say that Abraham's Rabbi, i.e., teacher, was the angel Zadkiel.
Rabbi Menachem's comment on the Pent., Exod. iii. 5.
Adam's book, which contained celestial mysteries and holy wisdom, came down as an heirloom into the hands of Abraham, and he by means of it was able to see the glory of his Lord.
Zohar Parashah Bereshith.
Abraham was the author of a treatise on the subject of different kinds of witchcraft and its unholy workings and fruits, as also of the Book of Creation, through holy names (by means of which, namely, anything could be created).
Nishmath Chayim, chap. 29.
The whole world once believed that the souls of men were perishable, and that man had no pre-eminence above a beast, till Abraham came and preached the doctrine of immortality and transmigration.
Ibid., fol. 171, col. 1.
A good son delivers his father from the punishment of hell, for thus we find that Abraham our father delivered Terah, as it is said in Gen. xv. 15, "And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace." This implies that God had communicated to him the tidings that his father had a portion in the world to come and was now "in peace" there.
Pesikta Zotarta, fol. 3, col. 2.
Before Abraham was circumcised God spake to him in the Chaldee language, that the angels should not understand it. (This is proved from Gen. xv. 1.)
Yalkut Chadash, fol. 117.
Rabbi Levi said Abraham sits at the gate of hell and does not permit any circumcised Israelite to enter. But if any appear who happen to have sinned unduly, these he (by an indescribable contrivance) causes to become uncircumcised and lets pass without scruple into the region of torment; and this is what is said in Ps. lv. 20, "He hath put forth his hands against such as be at peace with him: he hath broken his covenant."
Yalkut Shimoni, fol. 33, col. 2, sec. 18.
Abraham was circumcised on the Day of Atonement, and God looks that day annually on the blood of the covenant of our father Abraham's circumcision as atoning for all our iniquities, as it is said in Lev. xvi. 30, "For on that day shall he make an atonement for you, to cleanse you from all your sins."
Yalkut Chadash, fol. 121, col. 1, sec. 3.
"And it came to pass that when Abram was come into Egypt" (Gen. xii. 14). And where was Sarah? He confined her in a chest, into which he locked her, lest any one should gaze on her beauty. When he came to the receipt of custom, he was summoned to open the chest, but declined, and offered payment of the duty. The officers said, "Thou carriest garments;" and he offered duty for garments. "Nay, it is gold thou carriest;" and he offered the impost laid on gold. Then they said, "It is costly silks, belike pearls, thou concealest;" and he offered the custom on such articles. At length the Egyptian officers insisted, and he opened the box. And when he did so, all the land of Egypt was illumined by her beauty.
Bereshith Rabba, chap. 40.
The question may naturally be asked why Abraham hid his wife from the gaze of others first then and not before. The reply is to be deduced from the following double rendering of Gen. xii. 11:—"Behold now I know that thou art a fair woman." As if to say, "Usually people lose their good looks on a long journey, but thou art as beautiful as ever." The second explanation is this:—Abraham was so piously modest that in all his life he never once looked a female in the face, his own wife not excepted. As he approached Egypt and was crossing some water, he saw in it the reflection of her face, and it was then that he exclaimed, "Behold now I know that thou art a fair woman." As the Egyptians are swarthy, Abraham at once perceived the magnitude of the danger, and hence his precaution to hide her beauty in a chest.
Zeenah Ureenah (1877 in Russia), fol. 28, col. 1.
When Abraham came to the cave of Machpelah to bury Sarah, Adam and Eve rose from their grave and protested against his committing her to the dust in that receptacle. "For," said they, "we are ever ashamed in the presence of the Holy One—blessed be He!—on account of the sin which we committed, and now comest thou to add to our shame by the contrast therewith of the good works which ye two have done." On Abraham's assurance that he would intercede with God on their behalf that they should not bear the shame any longer, Adam immediately retired to his sepulchre, but Eve being still unwilling to do so, Abraham took her by the hand and led her back to the side of Adam; and then he buried Sarah.
Yalkut Chadash, fol. 14, col. 3, sec. 68.
Abraham's father, Terah, was both an idolater, a manufacturer of idols, and a dealer in them. Once when Terah had some engagement elsewhere he left his son Abraham to attend to his business. When a customer came to purchase an idol, Abraham asked him, "How old art thou?" "Lo! so many years," was the ready reply. "What," exclaimed Abraham, "is it possible that a man of so many years should desire to worship a thing only a day old?" The customer, being ashamed of himself, went his way; and so did all other customers, who underwent a similar inquisition. Once an old woman brought a measure of fine flour and wished to present it as an offering to the gods. This so enraged Abraham that he took a staff and broke all the images, excepting the largest, into whose hands he fixed the staff. When his father came and questioned him about the