Abraham’s Trials in Ancient and Medieval Jewish Writings

Abstract

The article presents a brief overview of the Jewish rabbinical resources with regard to the Patriarch Abraham and his life, viewed as a series of trials. From the second century BCE, the Jewish authors were recognizing numerous events in Abraham’s life as ordeals, gradually more and more difficult and challenging. Through them God put Abraham and his faith to the test in order to assure that his election of Abraham was right. On the basis of The Book of Jubilees and several rabbinical works, including Pirqe Abot, Pirqe Rabbi Eliezer and Abot de Rabbi Nathan as well as the writings of Jewish medieval commentators (esp. Maimonides and Rashi), the paper in detail analyzes the concept of these trials and the differences that can be identified in the sources concerning their identification and order. Firstly, the reasons of the rabbinical commentators’ particular interest paid to Abraham have been given. Subsequently, the concept of his numerous trials, identified by the rabbis and Jewish scholars, have been discussed, followed by a thorough presentation of selected rabbinic works and discussions whether the experiences of Abraham’s life should and/or should not be regarded as trials.