Hebraic Literature; Translations from the Talmud, Midrashim and Kabbala Part 10

xxi.), that Abraham's guests went not away until "he had made them proselytes, and had taught them the way everlasting." His son Isaac, says the Targ. of Ben Uzziel, went to school at the "Beth Medrasha de Shem Rabba."

Though Abraham kept all the commandments, he was not perfect till he was circ.u.mcised.

_Nedarim_, fol. 31, col. 2.

In whatever sense this may have been written, and whatever the interpretation that may be put upon it, there is one sense in which it is absolutely and eternally true, and that is, that, in order to be perfect, a man's life must be as p.r.o.nounced on the negative side as the positive, in its denials as in its affirmations, and that it is futile to attempt to obey G.o.d unless one at the same time renounce all co-partnery with the devil. Circ.u.mcision is the symbol of this renunciation, and it is only as such it has any radical spiritual significance. Till he was circ.u.mcised, it is said, G.o.d did not speak to Abraham in Hebrew. Not till then is sacredness of speech, any more than sacredness of life, possible. Doubtless among the Jews circ.u.mcision was the symbol of their separation from the ethnic religions; and hence the jealousy with which their prophets looked upon any compromise with idolatry. Hatred of that, utter and intense, was the one essential negative pole of genuine Judaism, and circ.u.mcision was its sign and seal.

Abraham was the first of the proselytes.

_Succah_, fol. 49, col. 2.

Abraham it was that ordained the form of prayer for morning wors.h.i.+p, which is extant to this very day.

_Berachoth_, fol. 26, col. 2.

As he himself was pious, so were his very camels, for they would not enter into a place where there were idols; as it is written (Gen. xxiv.

31), "I have prepared," i.e., removed the idols from, "the house and room for the camels."

_Avoth d' Rabbi Nathan_, chap. 8.

Abraham had a daughter, and her name was Bakol.

Ibid., fol. 16, col. 2.

Abraham was free from evil pa.s.sion.

_Bava Bathra_ fol. 17, col. 1.

He was also free from the Angel of Death.

Ibid., fol. 17, col. 1.

He delivered to the children he had by Keturah a secret name, with which they learned to practice witchcraft and do the works of the devil.

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 91, col. 1.

Though great, he personally waited on his guests, who had the appearance of Arabs and not of angels.

_Kiddus.h.i.+n_, fol. 32, col. 2.

Rabbi Yehudah says Abraham planted an ornamental garden with all kinds of choice fruits in it, and Rabbi Nehemiah says he erected an inn for travelers in order to make known the name of G.o.d to all who sojourned in it.

_Soteh_, fol. 10, col. 1.

Both the Targum of Ben Uzziel and the Yerushalmi say that Abraham planted a paradise at Beersheba for the entertainment and delectation of his guests; and in Jasher (chap, xxvii. verse 37) it is said that "Abraham formed a grove and planted a vineyard there, and had always ready in his tent meat and drink for those that pa.s.sed through the land, so that they might satisfy themselves in his house."

He ranked as one of the seven shepherds of Israel (Micah v. 5). In this group David was the central figure, with Adam, Seth, and Methusaleh on his right hand, and Abraham, Jacob, and Moses on his left.

_Succah_, fol. 52, col. 2.

The coin of Jerusalem had the impress of David and Solomon on the one side, and the holy city of Jerusalem on the other. But the impress on the coin of our father Abraham was an old man and an old woman on one side, and a young man and a damsel on the other.

_Bava Kama_, fol. 37, col. 2.

This, it is to be presumed, must be taken in some symbolical sense, for coins cannot be traced back to a date so early as this; and when Abraham purchased the cave to bury Sarah in from the sons of Heth, we read that he weighed to Ephron the silver.

Abraham pleaded with G.o.d on the behalf of Israel and said, "While there is a Temple they will get their sins atoned for, but when there shall be no Temple, what will become of them?" G.o.d, in answer to his prayer, a.s.sured him that He had prepared a prayer for them, by which, as often as they read it, He would be propitiated and would pardon all their sins.

_Meggillah_, fol. 31, col. 2.

He was punished by his posterity being compelled to serve the Egyptians two hundred and ten years, because he had pressed the Rabbis under his tuition into military service in the expedition he had undertaken to recover Lot from those who had carried him off captive; for it is written (Gen. xiv. 14), "He armed his instructed." Samuel says Abraham was punished because he perversely distrusted the a.s.surance of G.o.d; as it is written (Gen. xv. 8), "Whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?"

_Nedarim_, fol. 31, col. 2.

Abraham was thrown into a fiery furnace by Nimrod, and G.o.d would not permit Gabriel to rescue him, but did so Himself; because G.o.d is One and Abraham was one, therefore it behooved the One to rescue the one.

_P'sachim_, fol. 118, col. 1.

The fire from which Abraham is here said to be delivered may simply refer to his deliverance by the hand of G.o.d from Ur of the Chaldees; Ur meaning "fire," and being the name of a place celebrated for fire wors.h.i.+p. The Midrash (p. 20) says, "When the wicked Nimrod cast Abraham into the furnace, Gabriel said, 'Lord of the universe! permit me to deliver this holy one from the fire!' But the Lord made answer, 'I am the One Supreme in my world, and he is supreme in his; it is fitting therefore that the Supreme should rescue the supreme.'"

Abraham was a giant of giants; his height was as that of seventy-four men put together. His food, his drink, and his strength were in the proportion of seventy-four men's to one man's. He built an iron city for the abode of his seventeen children by Keturah, the walls of which were so lofty that the sun never penetrated them: he gave them a bowl full of precious stones, the brilliancy of which supplied them with light in the absence of the sun.

_Sophrim_, chap. 21.

Abraham our father had a precious stone suspended from his neck, and every sick person that gazed upon it was immediately healed of his disease. But when Abraham died, G.o.d hung up the stone on the sphere of the sun.

_Bava Bathra_, fol. 16, col. 2.

Till 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 G.o.d 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 a.s.sertion. 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 s.h.i.+p 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 G.o.d "My Servant" (Mal. iv. 4), the former is called "My Friend" (Isa. xli. 8), we devote a little more s.p.a.ce 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 j.a.pheth even studied the law in his school, until Abraham came and also learned the law in the school of Shem, where G.o.d Himself instructed Abraham, so that all else he had learned from the lips of man was forgotten. Then came Abraham and prayed to G.o.d 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.