MANY NATIONS AND ONE GOD: ABRAHAM IN HEBREW HYMNS
Wout van Bekkum
. Abraham in Midrashic Traditions
One of the main features in the collection of midrashic traditions about Abraham is the fact that his life is depicted as full of trials and tests. It is through his success of withstanding trial (Hebrew: nissayon)that Abraham acquired his greatness and status as the first patriarch who would become “the companion (or friend) of God,” an appellation that was to play a crucial role in rabbinic Judaism and later Islam.1 Future generations had to comply with Abraham’s example of passing the try- outs that were staged for him and implicitly for his offspring. Midrash has it that there was a fixed number of ten tribulations in order to put Abraham to the test, but in the construction of the Abraham figure the tales of his birth and youth attest to his suitability to overcome them. When Abraham was born, he miraculously survived the slaying ofthemalenewbornsorderedbythekingNimrodsonofCanaan,a parallel and prelude to the story of Moses. Because of the danger of slaughter, his mother left him in a cave without care, where he began to cry. Thereupon God sent the archangel Gabriel to give him milk to drink, and Gabriel made it to flow from the little finger of the baby’s right hand, and Abraham sucked it until he was ten days old. Then he arose and walked about, and he left the cave, and went along the edge of the valley, as simple as that. When the sun sank, and the stars came forth, he said,“Thesearethegods.”Butdawncame,andthestarscouldbeseen nolonger,andthenhesaid,“Iwillnotpayworshiptothese,fortheyare no gods.” Thereupon the sun came forth, and he spoke, “This is my god, him will I extol.” But again the sun set, and he said, “He is no god,” and
1 Chr :: “Did you not, O our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before yourpeopleIsrael,andgiveitforevertothedescendantsofAbraham,yourbeloved friend?”; Surat¯ al-Nisa¯ :: “God has chosen Abraham as a beloved friend (khal¯ıl).” wout van bekkum beholding the moon, he called him his god to whom he would pay divine homage. Then the moon was obscured, and he cried: “He too, is nogod.” There must be one who sets them all in motion.2 ThisishowtheadultbabyAbrahamasatinylittleAristotelianmet with the challenges of his life, proclaiming in Babylon and later in Haran the true living and immutable God, the only one who has none beside, incorporeal and ever-existing, the Creator of the world. He was to be- come the iconoclast who took a hatchet in his hand and broke all of his father Terah’s idols. He was punished by Nimrod who cast him into a fiery furnace in a Danielic manner, but Abraham walked in the midst of the fire,andsurvivedtheflames. However, despite all the divine help, Abraham was tempted by ten temptations or subjected to ten hardships by God himself. The first test to which he was subjected was the departure from his native land. The midrashic dialogue between God and Abraham in connection with this episode in Gen is characteristic. Abraham spoke to God, and said, “Will not the people talk about me, and say, ‘He is endeavouring to bring the nations under the wings of the Omnipresent, yet he leaves his old father Terah in Haran, and he goes away.’” But God replied, and said, “Dismiss all care concerning your father and your kinsmen from your thoughts. Though they speak words of kindness to you, yet are they all of one mind, to ruin you.”3
. Abraham in the Liturgical Compositions of Yose ben Yose
Such and other modes of biblical-expositional setting of the Abraham figure induced the early hymnists of the synagogue to be committed to add to his name and fame. The attitude of the cantor-poets, the hazzanim. or paytanim. , towards Abraham was clearly inspired by the biblical episodes and the numerous explanations and sermons about Abraham as a prototype of the monotheist and the true believer, the patriarch and the physical or spiritual father. A number of observations aretobemadewithregardtoJewishawarenessofAbraham’sprominence. Firstly, composers and their listeners in the synagogues or study- houses of Byzantine Palestine from the fourth century onwards to the
2 One of the earliest sources is Apoc. Ab.:.SeealsoGen. Rab. :. 3 B. Arak. a; Tanh., Wayera .