They walked together for forty days and forty nights. Abraham ate no bread and drank no water. His food was the sight of the angel beside him. His drink was Iaoel's speech.
This was no metaphor. For forty days Abraham sustained himself on nothing but the presence of a heavenly being, a detail that echoes Moses on Sinai (Exodus 24:18) and Elijah's journey to this same mountain (1 Kings 19:8). The body could survive on divine proximity alone.
They arrived at the Mount of God, the glorious Horeb.
Abraham looked around and saw a problem. "Singer of the Eternal One! I have no sacrifice with me, and I see no altar on this mountain. How can I bring a sacrifice?"
Iaoel told him to look behind them. Abraham turned, and there they were: all the prescribed sacrificial animals following them as if they had been there the entire journey. The young heifer. The she-goat. The ram. The turtledove. The pigeon. Everything God had commanded in the vision (Genesis 15:9).
"Slaughter all of these," Iaoel commanded. "Divide the animals into halves, one against the other, but do not sever the birds. Give the animal halves to the men I will show you standing beside you, for they are the living altar upon the Mountain. But the turtledove and the pigeon, give to me."
The reason was breathtaking. "I will ascend upon the wings of the bird, in order to show you in heaven and on earth, in the sea and in the abyss, in the underworld and in the Garden of Eden, in its rivers and in the fullness of the whole world and its circle. You shall gaze upon it all."
The sacrifice was the key. The birds were the vehicle. Abraham was about to ride on wings into the cosmos.
And we went, the two of us together, forty days and nights, 1 0 and I ate no bread, and
drank no water, because my food11 was to see the angel who was with me, and his
In the Rabbinical form of th e legend (see Appendix) A braham is rescued fro m th e fiery oven into
which he had been cast by Nimrod by Michael, according to the opinion of Eliezer b. Jacob (Genesis rabba
xliv. 16). Michael, according to the Rabbis, was the defender o f t h e P atriarchs. Strictly it is Gabriel who
is the prince of fire.
i.e. the land of Palestine. In Mohammedan tradition Mich ael is the good angel who brings peace
and plenty.
It was Michael who, according to Rabbinic tradition, at various times appeared t o Abraham, e. g.
h e to ld A br ah am that Lot had escaped, protected Sarah from being defiled by Abimelech (Pirke de R.
Eliezer xxvi.), announced to Sarah that she should have a son (Gen. xviii. 10), rescued Lot from Sodom
(T.B. Baba mesia, 86b), and prevented Isaac from being sacrificed by substituting a ram. In The Tes t. o f
Abraham (i.) it is Michael who comes down and visits Abraham in order to take his soul.
Here Michael is associated with the speaker, the archangel Jaoel. This rather s uggests that the
latter is really fulfilling the rôl e of Met atron (Michael and Metatron are companions, Zohar i. 149b). But
Jaoel really combines the functions of both. The writer wishes to make it clear that Ja o el i s closely
associated with Michael.
K, + his feet (a gloss? suggested by Rev. i. 15).
Cf. Rev. xix. 12 (“upon his head many diadems”).
Cf. Rev. i. 16 (“and he had in his right hand seven star s ” ). T here is a general resemblance here to
the description of the exalt ed C h rist in Rev. i. 14-16, but the details are different except that both have
the characteristic descriptive phrase, derived from Dan. vii. 9 (“the hair of his head like pure wool,” here
“like snow,” cf. Rev. i. 14); cf. also 2 Enoch i. 5 (the description of th e two angels who visit Enoch). The
figure desc r i b ed i s r egal (notice the purple garments and the sceptre), and is invested with the divine
glory; cf. Ezek. 26 f.
Or “troubled”; cf. 2 Enoch i. 8, and often in apocalyptic writings.
K, + I will be. The angel appears in visible form for the time being. So Michael ap pear s t o A br ah am
“like a very comely warrior” (Test. Abrah. i.).
Cf. 1 Kings xix. 8.
S, + and my drink.
speech—that was my drink.1 And we came to the Mount of God, the glorious Horeb. And I
said to the angel: “Singer of the Eternal O ne! Lo! I have no sacrifice with me,2 nor am I aware
of a place of an altar on the mountain: how can I bring a sacrifice?” And he said to me: “Look
round!”3 4And I looked round, 4 and lo! there were following us all the prescribed sacrificial
(animals)—the young heifer, and the she-goat, and the ram, and the turtle-dove, and the
pigeon.5 And the angel said to me: “Abraham!” I said: “Here am I.” And he said to me: “All
these slaughter, and divide the animals into halves, one against the other, but the birds do not
sever;6 and (“but”) give to the men, whom I will shew thee, standing by thee, for these are the
altar7 upon the Mountain, to offer a sacrifice to the Eternal; but the turtledove and the pigeon
give to me, for I will ascend upon the wings of the bird,8 in order to shew thee in heaven, and
on the earth, and in the sea, and in the abyss, and in the under-world, and in the Garden of
Eden, and in its rivers and in the fulness of the who le w orld and its circle—thou shalt gaze in
(them) all.”9
Abraham accomplishes the Sacrifice, under the Guidance of the Angel,
and refuses to be diverted from his Purpose by Azazel
(Chapters XIII.-XIV.).
