Books

During the ensuing years, fulfillment of the divine promises to Abraham seemed to crescendo. Isaac married the wife that Abraham selected (see Gen. 24), while Abraham himself, knowing that he was yet to have more offspring, married a woman named Keturah, who according to an early Christian source was the daughter of a powerful desert monarch. ¹

With Keturah, Abraham fathered six sons (see Gen. 25:1-4). That he took yet a fourth wife is asserted by early Muslim tradition repeated by both al-Tabari and al-Thalabi, ² a tradition that seems to be substantiated in the Lord’s statement in latter-day revelation that Abraham received “concubines, and they bore him children; and it was accounted unto him for righteousness” (D&C 132:37).

Keturah would not be a concubine – a secondary wife – for Sarah was no longer alive. So the only way Abraham would end up with more than one concubine is if he married yet a fourth wife while Keturah, the primary wife, was still alive. By this fourth wife, according to Islamic tradition, Abraham fathered five additional sons.³

Both Jewish ⁴ and Islamic ⁵ tradition mention that Abraham also had at least one daughter. Little is said of her except that “Abraham loved her dearly, and taught her all that he had learned, and she was the center of Abraham’s household.” Later after his passing, she is said to have carried his teachings far and wide. ⁶

But Abraham was a father in more than a biological sense. From a variety of ancient sources we know, for example, that he taught his children to love God and keep his commandments; ⁷ he taught them to love their fellow men and to serve them by acts of loving-kindness; ⁸ he counseled his family on important matters; ⁹ he exercised his priesthood in giving blessings to his family; ¹⁰ he instructed family members in their individual roles and missions; ¹¹ he transmitted to his family the wisdom he had attained; ¹² and he carefully administered to his family the ordinances, ¹³ including the “signs” and “oaths” encompassing “the mystery of the Redemption,” ¹⁴ or temple ordinances.

One nineteenth-century rabbi suggested that the secret societies that transmitted the mysteries in the Mediterranean world a millennium after Abraham were transmitting forms of knowledge whose origin had flowed from Abraham. ¹⁵ With the latter-day restoration of the gospel through the Prophet Joseph Smith came the restoration of the Abrahamic temple truths and ordinances in their purity.

Abraham also transmitted to his posterity the written records he had made, as he says in the Book of Abraham, “for the benefit of my posterity that shall come after me” (Abr. 1:31). Abraham’s writings are not mentioned in the Bible, but are referred to in numerous ancient sources, ¹⁶ which indicate that these writings were handed down through the generations and highly prized.

As mentioned in the Qur’an, for example, the descendants of Ishmael had “the books . . . of Abraham” ¹⁷ or “the scriptures of Abraham.” ¹⁸

More evidence of the extent and content of those records is found among Isaac’s descendants. “There is a tradition,” reports the Talmud, “that the [tractate on idolatry] of our father Abraham contained four hundred chapters.” ¹⁹ The Talmud further mentions a book of Jasher as being a book of Abraham, ²⁰ and asserts that Abraham is the author of Psalm 89, or at least part of it. ²¹

Jewish tradition further attributes the Sefer Yetzirah, a text on Creation, to Abraham, ²² and specifically tells that it was one of the books that Abraham’s grandson Jacob possessed. ²³

Among Alexandrian scholars in the third century B.C., Abraham was acknowledged as an authoritative author on the subject of astronomy, and scholars in the early centuries A.D. even claimed to quote from his astronomical writings. ²⁴ An early Christian sect had a book they called the Revelation of Abraham, and the Zoroastrians purportedly had books written by Abraham. ²⁵

The Qumran community on the shores of the Dead Sea had what scholars now call the Genesis Apocryphon, most of which is an account of Abraham, and most of that written in first person. ²⁶ And the Apocalypse of Abraham is entirely written in first person,²⁷ as is the Book of Abraham.

Such records guided Abraham’s posterity and strengthened them in times of trial and temptation, as dramatically seen with Joseph in Egypt, who when tempted by Potiphar’s wife, received strength to resist when he “remembered the Lord and what his father Jacob would read to him from the words of Abraham – that no one is to commit adultery.” ²⁸

And for Latter-day Saints, the Book of Abraham is the crown jewel of Abrahamic texts, a remarkably concise text that, as Nibley comments, “answers with astonishing economy the most fundamental and baffling questions of our existence,” including questions like “Where did I come from?” “Why am I here?” “How did it all begin and how will it all end?” ²⁹

No wonder Wilford Woodruff referred to it as one of our “rich treasures.” ³⁰ The Book of Abraham provides both exhilarating perspective and a proven pattern for Latter-Day Saints.

The genius of the Book of Abraham is that interwoven through the description of … momentous events is a panorama of mankind’s divine origin and potential. As literal spirit offspring of God, we are sent into mortality to be “prove[n] . to see if [we] will do all things whatsoever the Lord [our] God shall command [us]” so that we can “have glory added upon [our] heads for ever and ever.”

Parley Pratt noted that in Abraham’s record “we see … unfolded our eternal being – our existence before the world was – our high and responsible station in the councils of the Holy One, and our eternal destiny.”

The Book of Abraham even describes the road to that highest destiny: strictly obeying all God’s commandments; diligently seeking righteousness and peace; making and keeping sacred covenants; receiving the priesthood and sacred ordinances; building a family unit; searching the scriptures; keeping journals and records; sharing the gospel; and proving faithful in the face of opposition – all works of Abraham, who is as much a model for Latter-day Saints as he was in ages past for those aspiring to be the people of God. ³¹

All this from the tiny Book of Abraham, even though we currently have only the first part of the book! ³² How did it end? Judging from the Apocalypse of Abraham, the primary focus of Abraham’s writings was to bear testimony of the Son of God and His marvelous works, including His creations, His future mortal ministry, and His Second Coming in glory. ³³

Abraham further transmitted all priesthood authority necessary for his descendants to establish Zion. Abraham undoubtedly ordained Isaac to the patriarchal priesthood authority, ³⁴ and then saw that his grandson Jacob would be Isaac’s successor.

Abraham explained to his daughter-in-law Rebekah that “all the blessings that the Lord has promised me and my descendants shall be Jacob’s and his descendants always. And by his descendants shall my name be blessed, and the name of my fathers, Shem, and Noah, and Enoch, and Mahalalel, and Enosh, and Seth, and Adam.” ³⁵

Furthermore, said Abraham, those descendants “shall serve to lay the foundations of heaven.” ³⁶

The language seems to recall the city of foundations, even the latter-day Zion, to which Abraham was looking ahead. Then summoning Jacob, Abraham proceeded to ordain him to the patriarchal order of the priesthood, pronouncing upon him “all the blessings” of “Adam and Enoch and Noah and Shem.” ³⁷

No wonder that President Spencer W. Kimball recommended Abraham as “a model that will lift and elevate any father in this Church who wishes to become a true patriarch to his family.” ³⁸

¹See Budge, Cave of Treasures, 154. Rabbinic sources are divided over whether Keturah was Hagar, with one tradition insisting that Keturah was not Hagar, so that Abraham in his life married three women. See, for example, Kasher, Encyclopedia of Biblical Interpretation, 3:225-27; Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, 5:264-65; and Harris, Hebraic Literature, 241. That Keturah was not Hagar seems certain from a latter-day revelation stating that “Abraham received concubines [note the plural], and they bore him children.” Doctrine and Covenants 132:37. Rabbinic sources assert that Keturah was descended from Noah’s son Japeth, and that Abraham, who would father children by Keturah, would thus have descendants among all three branches of Noah’s posterity, for Sarah was descended from Shem, and Hagar from Ham. Graves and Patai, Hebrew Myths, 179.

²See Brinner, History of al-Tabari, 129; and Brinner, Lives of the Prophets, (al-Thalabi) 164.

³See Brinner, History of al-Tabari , 129; and Brinner, Lives of the Prophets, (al-Thalabi) 164.

⁴Sanhedrin 57b, in Epstein, Babylonian Talmud .

⁵Al-Rabghuzi , Stories of the Prophets, 2:92.

⁶Schwartz, Tree of Souls, 345, citing various Talumdic and midrashic passages.

⁷See Testament of Isaac 2:27-28, in Charlesworth, Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 1:906; and Testament of Benjamin 10:2-7, in Charlesworth, Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 1:828.

⁸See Warren Zev Harvey, “Grace or Loving-Kindness,” in Cohen and Mendes-Flohr, Contemporary Jewish Religious Thought, 302.

⁹As he did with his daughter-in-law Rebekah and the destiny of her sons: Jubilees 19:16-25, in VanderKam, Book of Jubilees, 113-14.

¹⁰As when he repeatedly blessed his grandson Jacob: Jubilees 19:26-29; 22:27-30, in VanderKam, Book of Jubilees, 115, 133-35. And as he did with Jacob’s son Judah: “And Abraham my father’s father blessed me to be king over Israel.” Testament of Judah 17:5, in Hollander and de Jonge, Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, 215.

¹¹As when he instructed Isaac: Jubilees 21:1-26, in VanderKam, Book of Jubilees, 120-27. And as later with Jacob: Jubilees 22:10-25, in VanderKam, Book of Jubilees, 129-33.

¹²As he did with his sons by Keturah: “The ancient children of the East were possessed of a wisdom which they inherited from Abraham, who transmitted it to the sons of the concubines.” Zohar Vayera 100b, in Sperling and Simon, Zohar, 1:325.

¹³As he did with Isaac and the laws of sacrifice: Jubilees 21:5-20, in VanderKam, Book of Jubilees, 121-26. According to some sources, Abraham also taught his great-grandson Levi, who, speaking of the laws of sacrifice, attested that: “I saw my father Abraham acting with care,” and “he told me [what] to offer up on the altar.” Aramaic Testament of Levi, Bodleian c, lines 12-13, in Hollander and de Jonge, Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs 463. “For thus my father Abraham commanded me.” Aramaic Testament of Levi, verse 57 (extant only in Greek), in Hollander and de Jonge, Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, 465. “Abraham taught me.” Testament of Levi 9:12, in Hollander and de Jonge, Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, 155.

¹⁴Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer 48, in Friedlander , Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer, 383-85, including note 8 on page 325.

¹⁵Klinghoffer, Discovery of God, 296-97, citing Rabbi Elijah Benmozegh.

¹⁶See, for example, the sources mentioned in James E. Bowley, “The Compositions of Abraham,” in Reeves, Tracing the Threads, 215-38.

¹⁷Qur’an 53:36-37, in A. Y. Ali , Qur’an, 1449.

¹⁸Qur’an 53:36-37, in M. M. Ali, Qur’an, 1005.

¹⁹Abodah Zarah 14b, in Epstein, Babylonian Talmud .

²⁰Abodah Zarah 25a, in Epstein , Babylonian Talmud . Jasher is “the book of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”

²¹Baba Bathra 15a, in Epstein , Babylonian Talmud .

²²See Kaplan, Sefer Yetzirah.

²³Schwartz, Tree of Souls, 363-364, citing Zohar Hadash, Yitro 37b.

²⁴James E. Bowley, “The Compositions of Abraham,” in Reeves, Tracing the Threads, 228-33.

²⁵See Calmet, An Historical . . . Dictionary, 1:25-26; and Haug, Essays on . . . the Parsis, 16.

²⁶1QapGen, in Martinez and Tigchelaar, Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition, 1:28-49.

²⁷Apocalypse of Abraham, in Charlesworth, Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 1:681-711.

²⁸The passage is from Jubilees, and reads further that “there is a death penalty which has been ordained for him in heaven before the most high Lord. The sin will be entered regarding him in the eternal books forever before the Lord. Joseph remembered what he had said and refused to lie with her.” Jubilees 39:5-7, in VanderKam, Book of Jubilees, 256-57.

²⁹Nibley, Abraham’s Creation Drama, 10-13.

³⁰Kenney, Wilford Woodruff’s Journal, 2:155.

³¹E. Douglas Clark, in Nibley, Abraham in Egypt, xxi (foreword).

³²See H. Donl Peterson, “Translation and Publication of the Book of Abraham,” in Ludlow, Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 1:134.

³³See Apocalypse of Abraham 19-31, in Charlesworth, Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 1:698-705.

³⁴We have no record of this ordination, but following the ancient pattern, it must have taken place. See Doctrine and Covenants 107:40-53.

³⁵Jubilees 19:23-24, in Sparks, Apocryphal Old Testament, 65.

³⁶Ibid. In this translation, it might seem that Abraham’s forefathers are the ones who will lay the foundations of heaven and make firm the earth, but see VanderKam’s translation in VanderKam, Book of Jubilees, 114.

³⁷Jubilees 19:27, in Sparks, Apocryphal Old Testament, 65. Although Jacob was not the first-born, yet Abraham expressly blessed him that he would be “first-born son” (verse 28), clearly referring to the “right of the firstborn” mentioned in Abraham 1:3.

³⁸Spencer W. Kimball, “The Example of Abraham,” Ensign, June 1975, 4.