Abraham’s Prayer for Protection and Good Counsel
About This Entry
Jubilees narrates that after leaving Ur of the Chaldeans, Abraham stayed up at night observing the stars to predict the rainfall for the coming year. He then realized that the heavenly bodies and rains were under God’s control. This is the earliest account of Abraham’s recognition through heavenly meditation of the one true God and declaration of his devotion to God. This episode also reflects the Greco-Roman tradition that, having come from the land of the Chaldeans, who were known for their astrological knowledge, Abraham was a skilled astrologer. (See also “A Hellenized Abraham.”)
19That night he prayed and said:
21Then he said, “Shall I return to Ur of the Chaldeans who are looking for me to return to them? Or am I to remain here in this place? Make the path that is straight before you prosper through your servant so that he may do [it]. May I not proceed in the error of my mind, my God.”
Notes
Words in brackets appear in the original translation.
Credits
Jubilees 12:19–21, trans. James C. VanderKam, in James C. VanderKam, Jubilees: A Commentary in Two Volumes, vol. 1, ed. Sidnie White Crawford, Hermeneia: A Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2018), p. 441. Used with permission of 1517 Media.
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.
