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Abraham Walked Out of the Furnace at Kasdim

Nimrod had nine hundred thousand witnesses, three days of burning, and a verdict from every sage in his court. None of it was enough to kill Abraham.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. The Furnace at Kasdim
  2. Smashing the Idols and the Sentence
  3. What Happened Inside the Flames
  4. After the Furnace

The Furnace at Kasdim

The whole city came to watch him die. Nine hundred thousand men, the sources say, and beyond them the women and children, crowded onto rooftops, pressed against each other in the streets, waiting. Nimrod had built the furnace at Kasdim and kept it burning for three days and three nights before the execution. He wanted witnesses. He wanted the name of Abraham to become a lesson in what happened to men who mocked kings and smashed the gods of an empire.

It had come to this through a series of deliberate choices on Abraham's part. He had lived in hiding for thirty-nine years, raised in a cave by Noah and his son Shem while Nimrod's men believed him dead. Then he came out.

Smashing the Idols and the Sentence

The first thing he did when he emerged was walk into his father's house and smash twelve idols. He left the largest one standing and placed the hammer in its hand. When Terah came home and demanded to know who had done this, Abraham pointed to the large idol and said: he killed the others. They fought over the food offering. Terah brought his son before the king.

Nimrod's court assembled and debated the sentence. The consensus was fire. The law in Kasdim for reviling the king and mocking the gods was death, and fire was the appropriate form. The furnace was prepared. Abraham was stripped to his undergarments and bound with linen cords. The crowd assembled.

Then something the court had not anticipated: Haran, Abraham's older brother, was watching. He had made a private calculation before the execution: if Abraham comes out alive, I will say I was on his side all along; if he burns, I will say I always opposed him. He had positioned himself for safety, the same way Nimrod's advisors had positioned themselves when they reported the birth-star. The calculation failed him. Abraham walked out of the furnace. Haran stepped forward to claim his alliance with the survivor. Nimrod threw him into the fire. He burned.

What Happened Inside the Flames

Abraham survived because the fire did not touch him. The sources describe the furnace as suddenly cool, a garden walking through it and an angel beside Abraham in the heat. The king's conjurors recognized, watching from the outside, that something beyond the natural order was happening. Men who had been thrown into the furnace to stoke it had died instantly. Abraham walked through it for three days and came out unharmed.

Nimrod ordered him released. He gave him gifts. He was afraid.

After the Furnace

Terah took his household and left Kasdim. He had hidden Abraham as a baby. He had, under pressure, exposed him as an adult. He had watched his elder son burn. He had seen his younger son survive what should have been impossible. The family traveled north toward Haran. Terah, the idol-seller who had worked both sides of every calculation, carried all of this with him.

The Ginzberg tradition preserves a detail about what happened to Nimrod himself in the aftermath: he had a dream that night about Abraham coming out of the fire with a sword, advancing on him, and he woke in terror. His advisors told him the dream meant Abraham would destroy his descendants. Nimrod spent years trying to kill the man the fire had refused to take.

AbrahamNimrodFireFaithMiraclesBabylon
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From the tradition

Sources

2 sources

The texts this telling draws on, in full. Open a card to read inline, or expand it for a wider, quieter read.

Jasher 12Book of Jasher

After Abram's bold declaration against idol worship (in the previous chapter), King Nimrod isn't too pleased. According to the Book of Jasher, Nimrod had Abram thrown into prison for ten days to think it over. But Abram doesn't back down.

So, Nimrod gathers his advisors – kings, princes, governors, sages – for a consultation. "What should we do with this guy, Abram, who's bad-mouthing me and disrespecting our gods?" he asks. The consensus? Burning him alive seems like a reasonable response.

So, a giant furnace is prepared in Casdim. Imagine the scene: nine hundred thousand people gathering to watch Abram burn. The women and children are on rooftops, craning their necks for a better view. It's a spectacle of fear and power.

Then, something unexpected happens. The king's conjurors recognize Abram. "Wait a minute!" they cry. "Isn't this the kid whose birth fifty years ago was marked by a star swallowing four other stars? We warned you about him then!"

This revelation throws Nimrod into a rage, and he turns on Terah, Abram’s father. Nimrod accuses Terah of deceiving him years ago by swapping out the infant Abram with another baby to avoid the decree to kill children thought to be a threat to the throne. Terrified, Terah implicates his eldest son, Haran, claiming he was the one who advised the switch.

Now, Haran finds himself in a precarious position. That Haran was conflicted, saying in his heart, "If Abram prevails, I'll follow him. If the king prevails, I'll go after the king." Talk about hedging your bets!

So, both Abram and Haran are thrown into the blazing furnace. But here's where the miraculous happens. The Book of Jasher tells us that God loved Abram and delivered him from the fire. The cords binding him burn away, and Abram walks unharmed amidst the flames.

Haran, however, doesn't fare so well. Because "his heart was not perfect with the Lord," he's consumed by the fire. The men who threw them in also get a taste of the flames – twelve of them perish.

For three days and three nights, Abram wanders in the fire, untouched. The king's servants are astonished. Nimrod himself is bewildered. He orders Abram to come out of the fire, and Abram emerges unscathed.

"How is it that you weren't burned?" Nimrod asks.

Abram replies, "The God of heaven and earth, in whom I trust, delivered me."

Witnessing this miracle, the people, including Nimrod, bow down to Abram. But Abram quickly redirects their worship. "Don't bow down to me," he says. "Bow down to the God of the world who made you!"

Nimrod, astounded, showers Abram with gifts, including two head servants, Oni and Eliezer. And many of Nimrod's servants join Abram's growing following.

Abram returns home, continuing to serve God and teaching others to do the same. That Nahor and Abram marry their nieces. Nahor marries Milca, and Abram marries Sarai, who is barren.

Two years later, Nimrod has a disturbing dream. He sees Abram emerging from the furnace with a sword, attacking him. An egg falls on his head, turning into a river that drowns his troops. Then, the river turns back into an egg, and a bird emerges, plucking out Nimrod's eye.

The king's wise servant, Anuki, interprets the dream as a prophecy of Abram's future conflict with Nimrod and his eventual downfall. Anuki urges Nimrod to kill Abram to prevent this prophecy from coming true.

Nimrod, convinced, sends servants to assassinate Abram. But Eliezer, now Abram's loyal servant, overhears the plot and warns Abram, who flees to the house of Noah and his son Shem for safety.

Hidden away, Abram convinces his father, Terah, to leave Nimrod's kingdom and journey to the land of Canaan, away from Nimrod's reach. Terah listens to Abram's words, marking a turning point in their relationship.

What a story. It's a tale of faith, defiance, and divine intervention. But it also raises some interesting questions. How much of our lives is predetermined? Do we have the power to change our destiny, or are we simply playing out a script written long ago? And what does it mean to have "a perfect heart" with God, as the text says of Haran? It’s worth pondering, isn't it?

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Legends of the Jews 5:83Legends of the Jews

It's human, unfortunately, and as we explore the story of Abraham, we find his father, Terah, doing just that.

Terah, was in a bit of a pickle. He had, shall we say, misled the king. And the king, understandably, was not pleased. Terah was afraid of the king's wrath, and so in his terror, he confessed to deceiving the king. The king pressed him: "Tell me who advised thee to do this. Hide naught, and thou shalt not die."

In Ginzberg's retelling in, Legends of the Jews, Terah, in an act of self-preservation, falsely accused his own son, Haran, of being the mastermind behind the deception. Haran,

The king, enraged, ordered both Abraham and Haran to be thrown into a fiery furnace. Stripped bare, save for their hosen – their undergarments – and bound with linen cords, they faced a terrifying fate.

Now, here’s where the narrative diverges into faith and divine intervention. Haran, the story tells us, perished in the flames because "his heart was not perfect with the Lord." And tragically, the very men who cast Abraham and Haran into the furnace were also consumed by the leaping flames. It makes you wonder about the indiscriminate nature of such events, doesn't it?

But what about Abraham? Here's where the story takes a turn toward the miraculous. Abraham, the text emphasizes, was saved by the Lord. He remained unharmed, the cords that bound him turned to ash. Imagine the scene: for three days and three nights, Abraham walked unharmed within the inferno.

The king's servants, witnessing this impossible sight, rushed to their ruler, exclaiming, "Behold, we have seen Abraham walking about in the midst of the fire." Think about the power of that image.

This passage highlights not only the perilous times Abraham faced early in his life, but also the unwavering faith and divine protection that would come to define his journey. It’s a story of betrayal, sacrifice, and ultimately, salvation. What does it say about the choices we make when facing difficult situations? And how much do our inner convictions shape our destinies?

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