The Beloved Son Teaches the Beloved Abraham
Chapter 7, part 3 of The Blessings of Abraham: Becoming a Zion People
By E. Douglas Clark
Having introduced Abraham at the throne of God, Enoch apparently steps away. According to the Sefer Yetzirah – a temple text, according to Nibley 1 – Abraham “raised his hand” and the Lord “filled [it] to overflowing,” 2 a scene which may possibly be depicted in figure 7 of Facsimile 2 in the Book of Abraham.
Apparently Abraham was then handed a crystalline object allowing him to read the secrets of the universe and of creation, 3 and handed a heavenly book. 4 The Lord identified himself to Abraham as “the one whom you have searched for or who has loved you.” 5 Rising from his throne, the Lord “revealed Himself to him, and took him in His bosom” 6 and “kissed him on his head, and He called him, ‘Abraham my beloved.'” 7
It is the title for which Abraham is remembered, the title appearing in the Lord’s mention of Abraham as recorded in the writings of Isaiah: “Abraham my beloved friend.” 8 Nephi would similarly remember that God “loved … Abraham” (1 Ne. 17:40), and to this day among many of Abraham’s Muslim descendants he is still spoken of as Abraham the Beloved Friend.
The Sefer Yetzirah further tells that Abraham’s experience came after he had “looked … probed, … and thought,” 9 or “searched, discerned, delved,” 10 or, as described in the Recognitions of Clement, “was desirous to learn the causes of things, and was intently pondering upon what had been told him.” It was then that God “appeared to him … and disclosed all things which he desired.” 11
Abraham’s experience foreshadows that of his admiring descendant Nephi, who similarly pondered prior to his revelatory experience when he also was shown the things that he desired (1 Ne. 10:17; 11:1-3, 10). So also the youthful Joseph Smith reported that prior to his glorious first vision, “I pondered many things in my heart.” 12
What Abraham first learned, says the Recognitions of Clement, concerned “the knowledge of the Divinity,” 13 the importance of which can be judged by Joseph Smith’s statement that “It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the Character of God, and to know that we may converse with him as one man converses with another.” 14
Abraham was not unacquainted with God, having conversed with him face to face in times past. This occasion was further divine disclosure along that path to eternal life, which is, as Joseph Smith taught, to know the only wise and true God. 15
And is it a coincidence that the one mortal man who had most frequently visited the Savior on earth in caring for the least of his brethren, now had been brought to greet the Savior and learn yet more about him at His celestial throne? We also know from Joseph Smith’s writings that Abraham ended up with such knowledge of the Godhead that he wrote about each of them and their individual functions and relationship. 16 We might even surmise that the Savior introduced Abraham to the Father and the Holy Ghost.
The Savior showed Abraham “the heavens and all that they contain,” 17 including “the kingdom of the heavens” 18 and the very “streets of heaven” 19 (even as would be seen later by Joseph Smith when he saw Abraham in that kingdom 20). An Islamic source says that “our Lord removed the veils from the seven spheres of heaven and earth for him,” so that “Abraham saw everything from the dust on earth to the high Throne of heaven.” 21
Also included in Abraham’s view was the panorama of the stars that he had once been shown from the earth. Now from this vantage point he heard the Lord tell him: “Look from on high at the stars which are beneath you and count them for me and tell me their number!” 22 To which Abraham replied, “How can I, for I am but a man.” 23 Said the Lord, “So shall be your seed.” 24 As Abraham saw the number of stars multiply beyond human capacity to count, “his heart was filled with joy and gladness.” 25
But it was to the earth 26 and to its future that God now pointed as he began to unfold to Abraham “the secrets of the ages.” 27 Years earlier, he had seen the early history of the world, beginning with the creation of the world and the events in the Garden of Eden. 28 Now he was shown the rest of history, from his day forward.29 ”
From the fire of the divine throne God speaks to Abraham, revealing to him the future of his descendants,” 30 even “the course of Israel’s history and the history of the whole world.” 31 In the words of John Taylor, Abraham “gazed upon his posterity as they should exist through the various ages of time.” 32 He saw, for example, that his posterity would sojourn in Egypt and come out with great possessions (Gen. 15:13-14), and would inherit Abraham’s land and build the temple on Mount Zion in Jerusalem. 33
In the Genesis account, which says nothing of Abraham being in heaven or seeing a vision on this occasion, he is merely told that his posterity will come out of Egypt, and then hears God suddenly change the subject and say: “And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age” (Gen. 15:15).
The statement is generally interpreted to be a soothing assurance to Abraham of a peaceful death in the contentment of old age. 34 But in the larger context of the Apocalypse, with Abraham now basking in the glorious divine presence at the very throne of God, to hear that his mortal life will be prolonged is surely no comfort (see Alma 36:22; 3 Ne. 28:1-2). But according to the Joseph Smith translation, the Lord not only mentioned the peaceable nature of Abraham’s future death, but specifically informed Abraham about his future death: “thou shalt die …” (JST Gen. 15:18). Death is the common lot of mankind, so why would the Lord bother mentioning this to Abraham?
Abraham had long sought the translated city of Enoch and the order of priesthood giving access to that city. Having finally received that priesthood from Melchizedek, another mortal seeking Enoch’s city, Abraham had then been told that he would be a partaker with Melchizedek of heavenly grace. Then Enoch himself had led Abraham into heavenly realms, perhaps leading him to expect that he was to finally receive what he had so long sought: translation to Enoch’s city of Zion.
In fact, it appears that Abraham could have asked for and received this gift, but chose otherwise: he chose to remain on earth to receive fulfillment of the blessing of a posterity that would bless the earth, bless all nations and build Zion. Abraham would remain on the earth to instruct and train his offspring for the great mission that lay ahead of them and their descendants.
No sooner did God tell His friend Abraham that he would die, than God also showed him how the Savior would overcome death. As related in the Joseph Smith Translation, Abraham “looked forth and saw the days of the coming of the Son of Man” (JST Gen. 15:11-12) – who, as Abraham was told, would be his own descendant. 35 As Abraham beheld the mortal ministry of the Savior, he saw, according to the Apocalypse of Abraham, “a great crowd, and they worshiped him,” but “others insulted this man, and some struck him.” 36
From the unique vantage point of standing at the very throne of the premortal Christ – He who would be Abraham’s descendant in the flesh and He whose life Abraham was foreshadowing in his own – Abraham saw the amazing depth to which the King of Heaven would descend to minister to mankind and atone for their sins. Abraham saw for himself what his descendant King Benjamin would only hear an angel declare:
The time cometh … that with power, the Lord Omnipotent who reigneth, who was, and is from all eternity to all eternity, shall come down from heaven among the children of men, and shall dwell in a tabernacle of clay, and shall go forth amongst men, working mighty miracles …
And lo, he shall suffer temptation and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death; for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people. And he shall be called Jesus Christ, the Son of God (Mosiah 3:5, 7-8).
As Abraham viewed these events, he also heard the Savior explain, as recorded in the Joseph Smith Translation, that “the day cometh, that the Son of Man shall live; but how can he live if he be not dead? he must first be quickened” (JST Gen. 15:11). Thus Abraham saw not only the Savior’s crucifixion and death but also His Resurrection; and, as had happened with Enoch (Moses 7:47, 56), Abraham “was glad, and his soul found rest, and he believed in the Lord; and the Lord counted it unto him for righteousness” (JST Gen. 15:12).
The early church father Ambrose similarly explained of Abraham on this occasion that “he believed that Christ through the incarnation would become his heir.” 37 Thus did Abraham see and believe in Jesus Christ and his atoning sacrifice that would bring resurrection to all and celestial victory to the righteous. It was because of that victory and the Victor that Abraham need not fear.
The abbreviated version that survived in the Genesis text says nothing about the Savior, but says simply that Abraham “believed in the LORD,” who “counted it to him for righteousness” (Gen. 15:6). Commenting on this verse, a rabbinic source states that “great is belief, since the Lord counted it to Abraham for righteousness.” 38 One thinks immediately of the words of the angel to Abraham’s descendant Nephi:
Blessed art thou, Nephi, because thou believest in the Son of the most high God (1 Ne. 11:6).
Abraham’s belief is a pattern, according to Chrysostom:
Let us learn, I beseech you, a lesson for ourselves as well as from the patriarch: Let us believe in the words of God and trust in his promise. Let us not apply the yardstick of our own reasoning but give evidence of deep gratitude. 39
But another translation of the Genesis verse telling that Abraham “believed” in the Lord points to what it means to believe: because Abraham “put his trust in the LORD, He reckoned it to his merit” (JPST Gen. 15:6). Abraham’s lifelong trust in the Almighty was the key determinant of his life, insisted the ancient rabbis: “You find that Abraham inherited both this world and the World to Come only because he put his trust in the Lord,” 40 a trust that impelled him to come before God with “clean hands, and a pure heart.” 41
Trust in the Lord figures prominently also in the record of Abraham’s Nephite descendants, whose first author, Nephi – an ardent admirer of Abraham – wrote:
O Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever. I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh; for I know that cursed is he that putteth his trust in the arm of flesh (2 Ne. 4:34).
And it was Nephi’s successor King Benjamin who emphasized that the Atonement was prepared “that thereby salvation might come to him that should put his trust in the Lord” (Mosiah 4:6). In Abraham’s case, he is privileged to be shown the future atoning sacrifice by Him who would make it – a supreme illustration showing in whom mankind must put their trust.
God then told Abraham, according to a Samaritan source, that “he was one of those who will in the future inhabit the Garden of Eden.” 42 Paradise would indeed be his, not the temporary terrestrial paradise of the city of Enoch, but the eternal celestial paradise of God – which Enoch’s city would also eventually enjoy.
Abraham’s eternal paradise would eventually be on the very land where he was living, the land that God now covenanted to give to him and his posterity forever (Gen. 15:18). Abraham received the promise as recorded in Mandean texts, that after returning to the world as God’s special messenger or apostle, he would eventually “be allowed to return to heaven” and be “given his crown, his garment and his throne.” 43
1Nibley, Approaching Zion, 265.
2Sefer Yetzirah 6:4, in Suars, Qabala Trilogy, 495.
3Widengren, Ascension of the Apostle, 77-80. The tradition quoted, which appears in several sources, does not purport to be the experience of Abraham, but the connections are unusually striking. The protagonist of the Hermetic-Gnostic story meets an old man sitting on a throne of gold, with a crystalline tablet in his hand, and then sees a book called the Secret of Creation and the Knowledge of the First Causes of Things. Similarly, Abraham’s experience at the throne, including his being handed something, is recorded in the Sefer Yetzirah, the kabbalistic Book of Creation purporting to contain the secrets of creation, a book said to be authored by Abraham.
4The medieval Muslim scholar Ibn ‘Abd Allah wrote that Abraham was one of five prophets (including Adam, Seth, Enoch, and Moses) to whom God revealed heavenly books. Adang, Muslim Writers on Judaism, 21. This obviously refers to more than just the handing down of the patriarchal records, which came into the hands of far more than five patriarchs. Ibn ‘Abd Allah does not mention when Abraham received the heavenly book(s), but according to the ancient pattern, the heavenly book is presented to the prophet in heaven. Widengren, Ascension of the Apostle, 8-21.
5Apocalypse of Abraham 19:3, in Charlesworth, Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 1:698.
6Sefer Yetzirah [the Short Version] 6:4, in Kaplan, Sefer Yetzirah, 267.
7Sefer Yetzirah 6:7, in Kaplan, Sefer Yetzirah, 255. See also Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, 5:210 n. 13.
8Isaiah 41:8 in Gileadi, Literary Message of Isaiah, 351. The King James has “Abraham my friend,” but the Hebrew word derives from the verb ahav, “to love” (see Brown, Driver, and Briggs, Hebrew and English Lexicon, 12-13; and Botterweck and Ringgren, Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, 1:99-118), and “implies a more intimate relationship than . . . the usual word for ‘my friend/companion,'” so that God literally calls Abraham “him whom I loved” (North, The Second Isaiah, 97) or “my beloved” or “my beloved friend,” as the passage is in fact translated in some versions both ancient and modern. The Septuagint has the Greek equivalent of “whom I have loved,” while Aquila has the Greek equivalent of “my beloved.” Watts, Isaiah 34-66, 99; Westermann reads “whom I loved,” in Westermann, Isaiah 40-66, 67; The Emphasized Bible reads “my loving one,” in Vaughan, Twenty-Six Translations 2:2478. Jewish tradition remembers Abraham as “more beloved of [God] than any man.” Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, 1:320.
9Sefer Yetzirah [Long Version] 6:8, in Kaplan, Sefer Yetzirah, 281. Of course, this language later came to be interpreted as terms of art in kabbalistic circles.
10Kasher, Encyclopedia of Biblical Interpretation, 2:186, translating Sefer Yetzirah 6:7.
11Recognitions of Clement 1.33, in Ante-Nicene Fathers, 8:86.
12History [1832], in Jessee, Papers of Joseph Smith, 5-6 (spelling corrected).
13Recognitions of Clement 1.33, in Ante-Nicene Fathers, 8:86. The totality of the event as here reported may well conflate revelations received by Abraham on different occasions.
14Galbraith and Smith, Scriptural Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 390.
15Ibid. , 391.
16Ibid. , 215.
17Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, 5:229 n. 114.
18Qur’an 6:76, in Cragg, Qur’an, 118; and see M. M. Ali, Qur’an, 293.
19Genesis Rabbah 44:12, in Freedman, Midrash Rabbah, Genesis, 1:367.
20“I beheld the celestial kingdom of God, and the glory thereof. . . . I saw the beautiful streets of that kingdom, which had the appearance of being paved with gold. I saw father Adam and Abraham.” Galbraith and Smith, Scriptural Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 126. See also Doctrine and Covenants 76:50-70.
21Al-Rabghuzi, Stories of the Prophets, 2:93.
22Apocalypse of Abraham 20:3, in Charlesworth, Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 1:699.
23Apocalypse of Abraham 20:4, in Sparks, Apocryphal Old Testament, 383.
24Genesis 15:5, in Alter, Genesis, 64. This incident is reported in Genesis at the first of the chapter (before the sacrifice), when God “took him outside” to see the stars. So most modern translations of Genesis 15:5 do also, including NIV; JPST; Alter, Genesis, 64; and Speiser, Genesis, 110. However, Jewish tradition insists that God actually “lifted him above the vault of heaven.” Genesis Rabbah 44:12, in Freedman, Midrash Rabbah, Genesis, 1:368. It appears that the Genesis account may be an abbreviated report of the larger incident recounted in the Apocalypse of Abraham.
25Kasher, Encyclopedia of Biblical Interpretation, 2:182.
26Abraham was shown, according to the Qur’an, “the kingdom of the . . . earth.” Qur’an 6:76, in Cragg, Qur’an, 118; and see M. M. Ali, Qur’an, 293.
27Apocalypse of Abraham 9:6, in Sparks, Apocryphal Old Testament, 375.
28As seen in our book of Abraham 3-5.
29One rabbinic tradition held that on this occasion the Lord “revealed to him [history] until that day,” while according to another tradition the Lord “revealed to him the future from that day.” Genesis Rabbah 44:22, in Freedman, Midrash Rabbah, Genesis, 1:376. In the Apocalypse of Abraham, he seems to see all of history from the premortal existence. However, if Abraham had earlier been shown history up to his day – which may be the case, judging from the portion of the book of Abraham that we have – then the Apocalypse might be combining the revelations from two different occasions into one. Certainly the Apocalypse seems to restate what Abraham states about seeing the host of premortal spirits.
30Himmelfarb, Ascent to Heaven, 65.
31Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, 1:235. As God had once shown Enoch. Moses 7:24.
32Journal of Discourses, 22:318.
33Genesis Rabbah 44:21, in Freedman, Midrash Rabbah, Genesis, 1:375.
34See, for example, Speiser, Genesis, 113; Westermann, Genesis 12-36, 227; and Vawter, On Genesis, 212. See also Sarna, Genesis, 116, holding that God’s statement was an assurance that the misfortunes on Abraham’s posterity would not be during his own lifetime.
35Apocalypse of Abraham 29:9, in Charlesworth, Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 1:703.
36Apocalypse of Abraham 29:4-6, in Charlesworth, Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 1:703.
37Oden, Ancient Christian Commentary, 2:32.
38Kasher, Encyclopedia of Biblical Interpretation, 2:186.
39Chrysostom, Homilies on Genesis 36:15, in Oden, Ancient Christian Commentary, 2:32.
40Miller , Abraham Friend of God, 53, quoting Melchiltah, B’shallach 6.
41Kasher, Encyclopedia of Biblical Interpretation, 2:185.
42Pitron 7:22, in Gaster, Asatir, 239. The Pitron is the Samaritan commentary on the Asatir.
43Widengren, Ascension of the Apostle, 67.