Haran, the eldest son of Terah, made his living selling his father's idols to the Chaldeans. His younger brother Abraham refused to worship them. When the Chaldeans came to test both brothers by dipping them in fire, as some nations dip their sons in water. Abraham, who had rejected the idols, walked out unburned. But Haran, who feared the idols and profited from them, was consumed by the flames and died.
When Terah saw that God had delivered Abraham, he abandoned his former religion and followed his son out of Ur. He gave Sarai, also called Yiskah, Haran's daughter whom Terah had raised after her father's death, to Abraham as a wife, and Lot, Haran's orphaned son, as an adopted child. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle compiled from ancient sources and translated by Moses Gaster in 1899, Jerahmeel himself discovered in the writings of Nicolaos of Damascus that an entire neighborhood there was still called "the dwelling-place of Abraham."
When Nimrod had cast Abraham into the fiery furnace, the angel Gabriel volunteered to cool the flames. But God replied: "I am One in My world, and he is one in his, it is fitting for the One to save the one." Yet God promised Gabriel his reward: he would later rescue three of Abraham's descendants. When Nebuchadnezzar threw Hananya, Mishael, and Azariah into his own furnace, Gabriel, the angel who rules over fire, descended to cool the inside while heating the outside, performing a double miracle.
The chronicle also preserves vivid details about the destruction of Sodom and the Dead Sea that formed in its place. Neither fish nor birds can survive there. Its waters are thick as pitch, nothing sinks, and a burning torch floats on its surface until it goes out. Josephus himself reportedly saw Vespasian hurl a man into that sea with great force, only for the water to push him right back up again.
XXXV. (1) These are the generations of Terah, etc.:
Haran, the firstborn, begat Lot and Yiskah, i.e., Sarai, and
Milkah. And Haran died in the presence of his father
Terah in Ur of the Chaldees. On account of the idols of
Terah he died in the fire of the Chaldeans, for the Chaldeans
worshipped the fire. Terah used to make the idols of their
gods, and Haran, his eldest son, used to sell them. But
Abram did not worship them. The Chaldeans came to dip
both Haran and Abram in the fire, for they were accustomed
to dip them in the fire, just as some nations dip their sons
in the water. Abram, who did not worship, and who did
not bow down to the idol, was saved from the fire of the
Chaldeans and was not burnt; but Haran, who feared the
idols, who honoured them and sold them for worship, was
burnt in the fire of the Chaldeans and died. When Terah
saw that God delivered Abram, he deserted his former faith,
and went forth with him (Abram) to dwell in a foreign
country; and he gave Milkah, the daughter of Haran, to
Nahor, his son, to wife, and Yiskah, that is Sarai, he gave to
Abram, his youngest son, after he had weaned her and
brought her up in his own house on the death of her father
Haran. And he gave Lot, the son of Haran, to Abram as
an adopted son, for Sarai was barren. And they went forth
towards the land of Canaan. (2) Now, it came to pass,
when Abram came from Babylon — i.e., Ur of the Chaldees —
he betook himself to Damascus, he and his household, and
was made king over that city; for Eliezer was then the
ruler of Damascus; but when he saw that the Lord was
with Abram he presented him with the kingdom and
surrendered himself to his service. And I, Jerahmeel,
have discovered in the Book of Nicolaos of Damascus that
there existed a certain neighbourhood in Damascus called
the dwelling-place of Abram. This they honoured ex-
ceedingly.
(3} And the Lord said to him (Abram), ' I am the Lord,
who brought thee forth from the fire of the Chaldeans.'
The sages say that when Nimrod the Wicked cast Abram into
the fiery furnace, Gabriel said to God, ' I shall go down and
cool the furnace, and deliver this righteous man.' But God
replied, 'lam One in My world, and he is one in this world;
it is therefore proper for the One to deliver the other one.'
But since God does not withhold reward from any creature,
He added to Gabriel, * Thou shalt deliver three of his
posterity.' For when Nebuchadnezzar cast Hananya,
78 [XXXV. 3
Mishael, ancrAzaria,mto the burning farnace Laqmi (vopi<'?),
the angel who rules over hail, spake to God, and said,
' I shall go down and cool the furnace, and thus deliver the
righteous men.' But Gabriel interposed, and said, ' The
greatness of God would not be shown in this manner, for
thou art the ruler over hail, and all people know that water
quenches fire; but I who am the ruler over fire shall go
clown and cool the inside while I am at the same time heat-
ing the outside of the furnace. Thus I shall perform a
double miracle.' Then spake God to Gabriel, ' Descend.'
And Gabriel at once exclaimed, * The truth of God is ever-
lasting.' (4) And Abram was rich in cattle, silver, gold, and
in all the wisdom of ' hermetica ' and astrology which he had
acquired in Egypt from Pharaoh's magicians, so that there
was none so wise as he. From Egypt these sciences spread
over Greece. And Abram was able to foretell the future by
the observance of the stars, and was very wise in astrology.
He taught his magic science to Zoroastres, the philosopher,
and he saw from the planets that the order of the world
was not as before, for the order of creation was changed on
account of the flood and the dispersion. Rabbi ETazar, of
Modiin, asserted that Abraham was exceedingly great in
magic, so much so that all the kings of the East and
West waited upon him.
(5) And the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of
Mamre. Josippon relates that Abram used to sit in an oak-
tree, and that that oak lasted until the reign of Theodosius
in Eome, when it withered, and despite the fact that it had
dried up, yet its wood was excellent for medicinal purposes,
for whoever took of its wood, whether animal or man, did
not experience any illness to the day of his death.
(6) Then supervened the destruction of the cities of the
plain. And Lot said, ' I am not able to flee to the
mountain, for I am an old man, and the cold will kill me,
and my soul is also weary. Behold there is a little city near
to flee to; I pray thee let me escape thither, for the way is
short, and my soul shall live.' And the name of the city
had formerly been ' Bela'.' Now, there was a great earth-
quake; and Lot went and dwelt in a cave, for he feared the
earthquake. And the Lord rained brimstone and fire from
heaven upon Sodom, so that on the third day all the plain
was filled with water. This they now call the Salt Sea, or
' Leber Meer ' (i^p ii'h). Neither fish nor fowl are found
there. It separates the land of Israel from Arabia. During
the whole of the forty years the Israelites were in the wilder-
ness they travelled round this sea. No ships are able to
travel thereon, because the sea is like pitch, so that nothing-
can sink in it, but remains on the surface on account of the
pitch; and if one places a burning torch upon the pitch, all
the while it floats it burns, but as soon as it is extinguished
it sinks to the bottom. And the sea vomits a kind of black
pitch with which the things are joined together, for it is
good for sticking. Josippon relates that he saw Vespasian
cast a man into that sea, and that he hurled him with great
force into it so that he should sink, but the sea brought
him up again. The sand on the shores of the sea is salty,
and one finds there the ' salty stones of Sodom ' looking like
pieces of marble.
(7) When Jacob was born Inachus was then the first
King of Argos, and reigned for fifty years, and in the third
year of his reign a daughter was born to Inachus whose
name was lo, and the Egyptians gave her a surname and
called her Izides (C^H'T^n), and worshipped her as a God.
(8) And in the nineteenth year of Jacob's life the Egyptians
made Apis King of Egypt; they made him a god and called
his name Sarapis. And Apis made for himself a calf by
means of the magic of his magicians. On the right eye of
the calf there was a white mark in the likeness of the moon,
and once every day at the fourth hour it used to rise up
from the river and fly in the air. And the Egyptians used
to worship and pray and sing praises to it with all kinds
of instruments, and prostrate themselves before it. And
in a moment the calf vanished and was no more, and it was
hidden and concealed as before in the river, so that the
Egyptians could not see it until the morrow at the fourth
hour. This the calf repeated every day. The Egyptians
80 [XXXV. 8
called it Sarapis, and for this idol-worship the Egyptians
were punished by water when they perished in the Eed Sea.
(9) In the ninety-second year of Jacob's life Joseph was
born, and at that time there was a flood in the land of
Achaya («:?^), which was a very large kingdom. There
reigned in it a king whose name was Ogiges (t^*3;y^5^). This
king built anew the city Akta (i^^?^), and called its name
Eliozin (rTVs'''?^N*, Eleusis). At that time there arose a
virgin, whose name was Titonide (n^JiD^p). She was versed
in all the seven sciences. They called her Pallas, because
she killed a giant called Palante O^jSq). At that place the
city of Palini {'T^P) was built.
