A Vision of the Future Zion: The Ascension of Abraham
Chapter 7, part 1 of The Blessings of Abraham: Becoming a Zion People
By E. Douglas Clark
I, the Lord, am merciful and gracious unto those who fear me, and delight to honor those who serve me in righteousness and in truth unto the end.
Great shall be their reward and eternal shall be their glory.
And to them will I reveal all mysteries, yea, all the hidden mysteries of my kingdom from days of old, and for ages to come, will I make known unto them the good pleasure of my will concerning all things pertaining to my kingdom.
Yea, even the wonders of eternity shall they know, and things to come will I show them, even the things of many generations.
And their wisdom shall be great, and their understanding reach to heaven (Doctrine and Covenants 76:5-9).
Crisis in a Covenant Ceremony
According to John Taylor, the Melchizedek Priesthood conferred upon Abraham “would be the means of introducing him into the presence of God” and “some of the greatest and most sublime truths that ever were made known to man.” [1] On another occasion John Taylor declared that Abraham “gazed upon his posterity as they should exist through the various ages of time” [2] – a statement remarkable for the fact that when made, no known source described any such thing in the life of Abraham.
Since John Taylor’s day, a number of ancient sources have emerged that describe in striking detail an occasion when Abraham was indeed introduced into the presence of God in heaven, who taught him and showed him his posterity as they would exist through the ages. The event is not recorded in Genesis, but corresponds to the occasion that Genesis does describe immediately following Abraham’s encounter with Melchizedek.
“After these things,” says Genesis, “the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision” (Gen. 15:1). A rabbinic commentary notes that “the word of the Lord came to Abraham after he had returned all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah.” [3]
In other words, says a modern rabbi, Abraham qualified for his special relationship with God because of his exemplary relationship with his fellow beings. [4]
More immediately, however, according to another rabbinic source, the revelation came only after Abraham “had occupied himself in studying the words” of scripture [5] with “deep meditation and reflection.” [6] This phenomenon of revelation following scripture study and meditation would be repeated over and over among Abraham’s righteous posterity, as with, for example, his descendants Joseph Smith, after reading and reflecting on the promise of James (JS – H 1:11-17), and Joseph F. Smith, after perusing and pondering the epistle of Peter (D&C 138:1-11).
What God told Abraham, according to Genesis, was: “Fear not, Abram, I am a shield to you; your reward shall be very great.” (JPST Gen. 15:1). To which Abraham responds: “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” (NRSV Gen. 15:2). Once again, Abraham exemplifies what is possible for all, for as the rabbis commented, God “is a shield to all them that take refuge in him.” [7]
Jewish sources further point out that, ironically, God’s instruction to Abraham to “fear not” is addressed “only to a person who truly fears God,” showing that “only one who truly fears God can be without fear of man. The courage and strength of character needed to face the trials and tribulations of our world can come only from a deep and abiding faith in God and his goodness.” [8]
A similar paradox governs the law of rewards, as seen in what God told Abraham: “Your reward shall be very great” means, “Because you spurned the reward of mortal man, a great reward is in store for you from Me.” The lesson is clear, says a modern rabbi. “He who looks to man for his rewards in life denies himself the far greater rewards, spiritual and material, that can come only from God and that are bestowed only upon those who are not consumed with the desire for reward from their fellowman.” [9]
Or, in the parlance of latter-day revelation, one can receive the fulness of the Lord’s blessings only by serving with “an eye single to the glory of God” (D&C 4:5).
Coming as it does immediately following Abraham’s reception of the Melchizedek priesthood and temple ordinances, the timing of the Lord’s statement that he would be Abraham’s shield and reward appears particularly significant for Latter-day Saints. President Boyd K. Packer has explained, “Our labors in the temple cover us with a shield and a protection.” [10]
In addition, Abraham was about to be taught firsthand precisely how the Lord could act as his protection and shield. In latter-day revelation, when the Lord would give the same counsel to Abraham’s latter-day seed, “Fear not” – repeated three times! (D&C 6:33-34, 36) – the Lord would indicate why they need not fear: “Behold the wounds which pierced my side, and also the prints of the nails in my hands and feet” (D&C 6:37). Abraham was about to see for himself the great event that would inflict those wounds and win victory for the Son of God and all those who follow Him.
The dialogue recorded in Genesis between God and Abraham on this occasion is merely an abridgement, as stated by the Midrash Rabbah. [11] One lost piece of the original is restored by the Joseph Smith Translation, which adds that after God promised to be a shield, he said, “And according to the blessings of my servant, I will give unto thee” (JST Gen. 15:2). [12]
In context, this servant must be Melchizedek, who had just blessed Abraham. Similarly, the Combat of Adam expressly names Melchizedek in its more detailed account of what God now told Abraham:
Fear not, great is thy reward with Me; and in like manner as Melchizedek My high priest blessed thee, and made thee partaker with himself of Holy Mysteries, so will I make thee partaker with him of heavenly grace. [13]
Although this statement could refer in the long run to the final celestial inheritance that both Abraham and Melchizedek would ultimately attain, in a more immediate sense, it seems, and might well have been interpreted by Abraham, to indicate that he might ascend with Melchizedek to the translated city.
But there may have been even more to the opening portion of the dialogue between the Lord and Abraham, which was introduced, according to most rabbinic sources, when Abraham was worrying about something, probably over whether he had shed innocent blood, or that the kings would return with revenge. [14] Pursuant to Abraham’s pattern, he would have prayed fervently over such concerns, and as such prayers sometimes brought personal appearances of the Lord, as seen in the Book of Abraham (see Abr. 1:15; 2:18-19), so Jewish sources tell that God appeared to Abraham on this occasion. [15] This seems to be the setting for God telling Abraham to not fear.
The Midrash insists that Abraham’s question to God (“What will you give me?”) presupposes that God had instructed Abraham to ask for whatever he desired. [16] If such a thing appears to be merely the stuff of legend, in the case of God’s most faithful servants it does happen, as seen in the Book of Mormon when the Savior appeared to his Nephite Twelve in answer to fervent prayer over a pressing problem, and then invited each of them to ask whatever they wished of Him. What three of the Nephite disciples desired and received was to be translated (3 Ne. 27-28).
If the Jewish tradition is correct in telling that Abraham also was offered whatever he desired, it presented him with the opportunity of his lifetime, the chance to attain what he had so long sought – translation to the city of Enoch’s Zion. Finally it was his just for the asking.
But something else, associated with the future of Zion below, was paramount in his thoughts. For despite the great blessings of “riches, and honor, and lands for an everlasting possession” that Abraham had been promised (JST Gen. 14:40), yet one thing weighed so heavily on him that, according to one source, he “wept, and supplicated before the Holy One.” [17] “Lord GOD,” Abraham asks in Genesis, “what will [or ‘can’ [18] ] thou give me, seeing I go childless [or, ‘I am going to my end childless’ [19] ] … Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is [or ‘expects to be’ [20] ] mine heir” (Gen. 15:3).
Above the riches and popularity of the world, and even above Abraham’s long quest for the city of Zion, was his desire for fatherhood, his desire for the posterity that would bless the world. But how is it that Abraham, paragon of faith, queried God about what he already repeatedly promised? Was Abraham perhaps simply reminding God that despite all his gifts, the one not yet given was the one long promised, the gift of posterity? Or was Abraham saying something like, “What good will your gifts be, if I keep on being childless?” [21] Or, “to what purpose are your gifts, when I continue childless?” [22]
Yet even this was no lack of faith in God’s prior promises, for as the rabbis explain, Abraham was wondering if he had misunderstood, thinking perhaps those promises of posterity might have “meant to his family, or to his household, but not to his own son who would come out of himself.” [23] And so, according to Jubilees, Abraham pled with the Lord: “Give me descendants.” [24] It was a poignant plea for what had already been long promised but never fulfilled, a direct and childlike petition by the great and humble man whose heart longed for posterity.
The Lord answered by specifying that one born from his own body would be his heir, and that Abraham’s seed would indeed inherit the land.
“How,” Abraham asked, “wilt thou give me this land for an everlasting inheritance?”
The Lord answered, “Though thou wast dead, yet am I not able to give it to thee?” (JST Gen. 15:9-10). Abraham, ever the seeker after further light and knowledge, inquired: “My Lord, show me how Thou givest life to the dead.” [25]
In the Genesis version of the story in chapter 15, Abraham is then told to offer sacrifice, and in doing so, hears God tell him about the Egyptian sojourn of his descendants (see Gen. 15:9-16). But as one biblical scholar explains, the account as we have it appears to have been “composed of various fragments” that “have been brought or have grown together.” [26]
That the original account in fact included much more is indicated by the Joseph Smith Translation, which adds that Abraham saw in vision the days of Christ (JST Gen. 15:12), and by rabbinic tradition relating that Abraham ascended to heaven on this occasion. [27] Similarly, the Samaritan Asatir asserts, “Great was this event: there was none like it.” [28]
Since Joseph Smith’s day, there has emerged a text that not only affirms Abraham’s vision of Christ, but also tells that Abraham was not on earth when he saw the vision. The text is the Apocalypse of Abraham, which appeared for the first time in English in the Improvement Era.
At the present time, except for the Book of Abraham and Genesis, the Apocalypse of Abraham is undoubtedly our most important ancient Abrahamic text. [29] Besides its parallels with the Book of Abraham, the Apocalypse describes in detail a heavenly ascent by Abraham in a story that connects snippets of the experience alluded to in a number of other texts from ancient Judaism, Islam, and Christianity.
The story of that ascent begins when the Lord instructs Abraham to prepare himself and everything necessary [30] to make a solemn sacrifice of several kinds of animals and birds – the sacrificial creatures of the future Jerusalem Temple. [31] “And in that sacrifice,” the Lord promised, “I will set out for you the secrets of the ages, and tell you hidden things; and you shall see great things, which you have not seen; for you have loved me to seek me out, and I have called you my friend [or ‘my beloved’ [32] ].” [33]
The sacrifice was to be performed strictly according to the Lord’s instructions, while Abraham was fasting, and, “in the place which I will show you on a high mountain.” [34] After all the preparation, as Abraham stood in the appointed place, he took the sacrificial beasts and “cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half” (NIV Gen. 15:10).
As explained by scholars, what to the modern mind may seem a mysterious ceremony actually was a standard “ritual of covenant-making, which, in a similar form, was well known to many ancient peoples . When the animals are halved and laid opposite each other, and when the partners to the covenant stride through the lane that has been thus formed, they express thereby a curse upon themselves in the event the covenant is broken,” [35] saying, “May the deity chop the covenant-breaker into pieces like these animals!” [36]
But “the surprising fact [in the Abraham story], which is also unique in the history of religions, is that God himself enters a communal relationship with Abraham under the forms which among men guarantee the greatest contractual security.” [37]
As Abraham arranged the carcasses, the ceremony was unexpectedly interrupted, as Genesis recounts: “Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away” (NIV Gen. 15:10-11). Gerhard von Rad comments that “the swooping down of birds of prey could be understood as an evil omen. Or are they perhaps evil powers who intend at the last moment to thwart the conclusion of the covenant?” [38]
In fact, in the Apocalypse of Abraham, the “unclean bird” that swoops down on the carcass is Satan, [39] who attempted to intimidate Abraham. [40] The Genesis report that Abraham drove the birds away, in addition to a literal event, may carry a deeper meaning: he drove them away through repentance [41] – that is to say, Abraham’s constancy in keeping the commandments meant that, as Jesus would later say, “the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me” (John 14:30).
As darkness fell, according to Genesis, “a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch” passed between the pieces (NRSV Gen. 15:17) – perhaps signifying, as an early church father said, the end of the world and the burning that will take place. [42] It was apparently then, as told in Genesis, that “a trance fell upon Abram” [43] and “a thick and dreadful darkness [44] came over him” (NIV Gen. 15:10-12) – not unlike the “thick darkness” that would surround young Joseph Smith before his momentous revelatory experience (JS – H 1:15). As Abraham tells in the Apocalypse, “I looked this way and that; and behold, there was no sign of anyone,” [45] and “my spirit was amazed, and … I became like a stone, and fell face down upon the earth, for there was no longer strength in me to stand up on the earth.” [46] This appears to be the occasion reported by Origen, apparently quoting an Abrahamic text, telling that “the angels of righteousness and of iniquity disput[ed] over … Abraham, each band wishing to claim him for its own company.” [47]
14.See, for example, Kasher, Encyclopedia of Biblical Interpretation, 2:175-77; Scherman and Zlotowitz, Bereishis: Genesis, 1(a):503-506; and see the Targums.
16.Kasher, Encyclopedia of Biblical Interpretation, 2:174-75.
17.Genesis Rabbah 44:8, in Freedman, Midrash Rabbah, Genesis, 1:366.