It is evident that the writings of abraham while he was in egypt, of which our printed book of abraham is a copy, must of necessity be older than. Abraham, isaac, and jacobthe bible is a book that contains knowledge about the salvation of gods people. Much later, rabbi akiba assembled the correct reading of abraham s composition. Remarkably, the entire compilation is only a few pages long, a mere few. Here are the teachings of the divine force, sent to all her children on earth. He made a covenant with abraham between the ten toes of his feet the covenant of circumcision, and between the ten fingers of his hand the covenant of the tongue. Then why does the book which is concerned about the salvation of souls narrate the family history of abraham in so much detail.
Luckily for you, this year is already seeing fantastic. The story of abraham is contained in the book of genesis, 11. The earliest documented kabbalistic writing is called the sepher yetzirah, or the book of formation. There is, however, a key difference between the inspired book of moses creation account and the book of abraham creation account. Sefer yetsira contains only a few pages and it is written as a riddle. The elders enoch, noah, abraham, moses, elijah, marie who bore christ, and christ.
How scripture, spirit, community, and mission shape our souls show all authors. Abraham anita is the author of formation and management of ngos 0. Sepher yirah, book of formation, or book of creation is the title of the earliest extant book on jewish mysticism, although some early commentators treated it as a treatise on mathematical and linguistic theory as opposed to kabbalah. As for the formation of a golem or meditation, the reader will understand how it works fundamentally, yet i think the book does not necessary explain all the nuts and bolts of it. Sometimes the best place to visit as a reader is the past. One tradition is that abraham wrote the book, placed it in a cave, and it was discovered later and published as the sepher yetzirah. Book of creation abraham kabbalah library bnei baruch. Its origin is attributed to biblical ancestors like abraham and moses.
Isaac, in the old testament genesis, second of the patriarchs of israel, the only son of abraham and sarah, and father of esau and jacob. This was rendered necessary by the fact that the book is made accessible. He bound the twentytwo letters to abrahams tongue and revealed his secret to him. The wct edition contained the entire text in the socalled ezra hebrew alphabet, as well as, in a more ancient hebrew alphabetthe sinatic or gezer hebrew. Smith said the papyri described abrahams early life, his travels to canaan and egypt, and his vision of the cosmos and its creation. He drew them in water, burned them in fire, and agitated them with wind. And the living creatures ran and returned, 19 and upon this word a. The book of formation translated from the hebrew by wm. Wonderful book for individual reading or your small adult study group. The ten numbers formed from nothing are the decad assembly point. Abrahams book of creation the entertainment magazine.
The talmud states that abraham, isaac, and jacob all studied in the academies of shem and eber. The book of genesis describes the story of abraham and his father, terah, as traveling along one of the northward routes along the euphrates. Probably, it is also he who authored a mishnah which speaks about abraham. He is supposed to be one of the greatest kabbalists of all. Help us bring the book of formation into your language and make it available and free for everyone around the world. The kabbalah is such a spiritual book dealing with the hidden elements. Explores the joseph smith papyrus and demonstrates that joseph smiths claim that he had translated the book of abraham from it was a fabrication. Although sarah was past the age of childbearing, god promised abraham and sarah that they would have a son, and isaac was born. That is from long after the supposed time of abraham. The book is broken up into a well written explanation of abraham s significance and importance to three of the worlds major religions and though different, explains how much they have in common in abraham.
This section on the book of formation provides the basic information on this ancient. Also included are advice sent by the elders of the human edifice. It was abrahamour fatherblessed be hewho wrote this book. The book of formation or the sepher yetzirah, is a deep book pertaining to the kabbalah. Because hebrew has 22 letters, there are 462 or 231 front and back, possibilities for combining two different letters. Later, to test abraham s obedience, god commanded abraham to sacrifice the boy. Hos 10 sees the traits of jacob in the behavior of the israel of his own day. The book of moses refers to god as a singular personage while the book of abraham refers to gods, plural. According to some authorities abraham authored sefer yetzirah the book of formation, one of the fundamental works of kabbalah. Another tradition says that the rabbi akiva wrote it. The sepher yetzirah although this name means the book of formation,is not in any sense a narrative of creation, or a substitute genesis, but it is a very ancient and instructive philosophicaltreatise upon one aspect of the origin of the. The book of abraham is a book of lds scripture that joseph smith translated from a collection of ancient egyptian papyri the church purchased. Here is the content of the book which was announced to you through daniel daniel 12, scriptures.
Abrahams work contains all the spiritual equations concerning our world of time, space, and motion. Abraham abulafia, gan naul1 the book of creation sefer yesira is a unique, isolated work that belongs to no school of thought daphne hadas freedman2 sefer yetzirah book of formation, hereafter sy is the oldest known speculative treatise in hebrew. Alpine bible church sugarcreek, oh see all articles by this author. Definitions and pronunciation abraham the patriarch abraham is the author of the first recension of the book of formation.
There are ten intangible sefiroth, shut your mouth from speaking and your heart from thinking. The book of formation by aristide van aartsengel unsealed account of the origin of life, order, patterns, structure, organization, and the absolute frame of reference the frame of reference of the creation the ultimate origin of space, time and matter, and all the entities into existence in that which is called the universe. And with the advent of the patriarch abraham of blessed memory, who looked, saw, investigated, understood. Sefer yetsira does not look like a religious book and it deals with cosmology, the structure of the read more about the book of formation sefer yetsira. It is called sefer yetzirah or the book of formation, and it holds the secrets of our universe. Kabbalists relate the book to abraham the patriarch. The book of abraham has been a continuous problem for the veracity of joseph smiths claims which led to the formation of the mormon church. The book is traditionally ascribed to the patriarch abraham, although. Many years ago i heard of the existence of this manuscript from a celebrated. Abraham was the first man to realize that there is only one god, and that the entire universe is interconnected as one unified whole on a deeper level of reality. The historical and prophetic books constantly refer to the covenant with the ancestors abraham, isaac, and jacob. Yetzirah is more literally translated as formation. The book of abraham is a work produced between 1835 and 1842 by joseph smith based, he said, on egyptian papyri purchased from a traveling mummy exhibition. Originally called abram, or exalted father, the lord changed his name to abraham as a symbol of the covenant promise to multiply his descendants into a great nation that god would call his own.
As soon as i saw the letters of the older alphabet, something resounded very deeply within me. Disproves lds claims that joseph smith received the book of abraham through revelation and proves that joseph smiths source for his translation was a pagan egyptian text, the book of breathings. An edition of the apocalypse of abraham is included in the present volume. What evidence is there that abraham wrote the book of. The great patriarch was the first man to transcribe a book on kabbalah.
No copy of abrahams original book had been preserved, although some parts. Westcotts translation of the sepher yetzirah was a primary source for the rituals and knowledge lectures of the golden dawn. There is evidence that the mystical tradition was taught to abraham by shem. Sefer yetizrah the book of formation, the very first kabbalistic text. Because the creation story in book of abraham 45 reflects these two stories together, then the book of abraham text must postdate the time when the biblical texts were brought together. Captivated by the intricacies of the interpretive movement from scripture to sermon, dr. Astronomy and the creation in the book of abraham book. Remarkably, the entire compilation is only a few pages long, a mere few hundred words. Abraham was not a settled man, nor was he a wanderer. Mormon handbook the book of abraham since abraham lived before moses, who authored the torah the first five books of the old testament, it would make the papyrus older than the book of genesis. The book of abraham is unique among the books of scripture now in our possession in that it contains a description not only of this earth but also of some of the other planets and. Before joining the seminary fulltime he was an adjunct professor in. Abraham, the founding father of the jewish nation of israel, was a man of great faith and obedience to the will of god. Wynn westcott the sepher yetzirah is one of the most famous of the ancient qabbalistic texts.
According to smith, the book was a translation of some ancient records purporting to be the writings of abraham, while he was in egypt, called the book of abraham, written by his own hand, upon papyrus. Among the latter is this book of the sacred magic of abramelin, as delivered by abraham the jew unto his son lamech. God created the world with the holy language, hebrew. According to jewish tradition, one of the most important books of kabbalah is sefer yetsira. Sefer yetizrah the book of formation, the very first kabbalistic text, describes this process and mentions that gatestwo letter combinations of hebrew lettersare a central ingredient in the construction of the universe. When we try to discover the age of the formation of the patriarchal legends, we are confronted with a question of great complexity. We shall first give a brief outline of the patriarchs life. Abraham anita author of formation and management of ngos. The book opens with a description of abrahams activities as a maker and seller of idols, his father terah being a manufacturer of idols.