Exegesis and Apocalypticism in the APOCALYPSE OF ABRAHAM and Rabbinic Midrash

• In Event: Inner-biblical Relationships and Interpretation

Abstract

The APOCALYPSE OF ABRAHAM is an understudied Jewish text from late antiquity that was unknown in modern times until its rediscovery in the late nineteenth-century. The text contains many parallels with rabbinic midrash, both in content and in exegetical technique, but is markedly different in the space it gives to elements of apocalypticism and mysticism. This paper will analyze how both the APOCALYPSE OF ABRAHAM and rabbinic midrash exegete Gen 15, paying special attention to areas of continuity and discontinuity and concluding that both are present. For example, both address unanswered questions that arise from a close reading of the text, such as, “Why are all the animals in Gen 15 cut in two except the birds?” Their answers to this question might be different, but they are reading the text in such a way as to ask the same question. The largest area of discontinuity between the two is the role of apocalypticism, which is severely reduced in rabbinic midrash. The unique blend of rabbinic-style exegesis and apocalypticism in the APOCALYPSE OF ABRAHAM, however, hints that these two strands of thought may have not always been mutually exclusive. I have already completed separate analyses of how Gen 15 is treated on both sides, but for this paper, I will look at the data afresh through the lens of the scholarly discussion on inner-biblical exegesis.
To study the APOCALYPSE OF ABRAHAM seriously requires knowledge of Russian, Bulgarian, and Old Church Slavonic, which has been a deterrent for many Jewish Studies scholars. Past scholars of this text, such as Alexander Kulik, have focused on linguistic retroversion, proving that the text was originally written in a Semitic language. Because of their pioneering work, I am able to focus on larger questions of content and bring this work into conversation with classic Jewish texts. As a scholar whose primary fields are Hebrew Bible and Jewish Studies, I hope to bring this lost text of Judaism closer to the mainstream in the conversation regarding Jewish biblical interpretation in the Second Temple period and late antiquity.

Author

• Amy E Paulsen-Reed, Hendrickson Publishers