'i'he facts that A. came from Haran, that ho won his victory at Ilobah, near Damascus (Gn H"), and that his servant Wiis a native of Damascus (Gn lo-), seem to have given rise to the legend that A. conipiered Damascus. So Joseplms relates that ' Nicolaus of l)ama.scus,' in the 4th book of his history, says thus : ' A. reigned at Damascus, being a foreigner, who came with an army out of the land of Babylon. . . . Now the name of A. is even still famous in the country of Damascus ; and they show a village named after him, The habitation of A.' (Ant. I. vii. 2). A.'s native countr)- having been CliakUea, he was credited by the .lews with a know- ledge of secret arts and magic (cf. Philo, <le prwrn. et pcen.; Jo.s. Ant. i. vii.) ; and Joseplms records the tradition that A. first introduced into Kgj-pt the knowledge of aritlunetic and astrologj- whicli he had broiiglit with him from Clialda;a (_Ant. i. viii.).
For tlio preHorvfttlon of these nnd other Icfrends, boo Cod.
£neudfpiifr. Vet. Tfnt., J. A. Fnbrlc. torn. 1 (1722), and Boer, etien .Ib.anttO). Tlie 7>«^l;neH^«/.^.(flrs[o(l.b.v.Inines, 'Texts and 3tudie.H,' C'uiiit). IHtl'J) deserves especial inentlun as an apocr.
vol.. I. — 2
(opparently of Kg^-p. origin) of apocalyptic choracter, first men- tioned by Origen, Le(iimua . . .jiintit'ia et iniqtiUati» ariffetoa itupev Abrabarni mitttte et interitu tlihceptantea. etc. (/n Lc. Horn. 9f>). and recently bronpht before the notice of students in a uiost Interesting form by the learned editor.
vi. The Na.me ' Aui:aiiam.'— The attempts to discover the etymologj' of this name can hardly as yet be said to have been successful. According to one very prob. explanation, Abram represents a contracted form of Abiram or Aburam, just as 'Abner' probably stands for ' Abiner' or ' Abuner' ; while Abraham may have been a local, or an Aramaic, dialectical variety of pronunciation. Abiram was a fairly common name (cf. Xu l(i'-i'^ 20', 1 K \6^*) in Heb,; audit is said to be a recognised proper name in the Assyr. Inscriptions, under the form of Abu-ramu (so Schrader and Sayce). The analogy of other proper names, like Abi-meiek, Abiel, Abi-jah, makes it exceedingly doubtful whether the name Abram can rightly bear the meanings traditionally assigned to it, ' Lofty father,' or 'the father of the lofty one.' For (1) it stands to reason that no child, however lofty its descent, would have been called 'father,' or 'the father of a god, whether Melecli, or Jah, or Ham ; (2) the feminine names Abi-gail, Abi-tal, show the impossibility of this explanation. Probal)ly, there- fore, the right meaning of the name is ' Kam (the lofty one) is father,' as Hiram would mean ' Ram is brother,' of the owner of the name. F.ven so, the origin of the longer name Abraham remains still unexplained. The derivation of the name in Gn 17^ is only a popular word-play, connecting the termination -raham with the Heb. p~-\ 'multitude.' Hal^vy {Itev. Et. Juiv. 1887, p. 177) ventured to propose that Abraham represents o? "''?!? ' the chief of a multitude,' the fir.st part of the name being derived, not from aft, ' father,' but from aliir, ' chief,' and the second part from ham (root hamah), 'multitude.' For this theory there does not ajijiear to be much probability. The deriv. of the longer name must be left uncertain, although the most likely explanation of it is to be found in the variant jn'on. of proper luimes in different localities or in different clans of the same people. Thus om may be a dialectical form of en ; and Abraham the same in meaning as Abram, just as Abiram is the .same in meaning iis Abram (cf. OxJ'. Heb. Lex. p. 4, and Baethgen, Beitriige zur Sem. liel. Oesch.).
LiTERATL'BK.— Besides the works mentioned above, the reader Is referred to tbel'omin. on Genesis by Delttzsch, and Dlllniann ; to the Histories of Israel by Ewald.'Keuss. and Klttel ; to the works on OT Theology by Oehler, Schultz, and Dlllinann. For illustration from Assvr. sources, see Savoe. PiUrinrehat Put. (l-'.i.'.); Tomklns, Ti'mei ({!' Abi-aliam (ls■^): Schrader, COT' (1»n''1. H. E. Kyi.e.
ABRAHAM, BOOK OF.— A work, consisting of SOO ittIxoi,, bearing this name, is found in a list of Jewish apocryjilial writings, preserved from a much earlier period, in an api>endix to the Chronuyraphia Compendiarid of Nicephorus (c. 800 A.n.). This list is printed in Credner's (iexch. des Kanons, 1847, as well as in Scliiirer's H,/P II. iii. 12(5. The so- called Synop.iis Athanaaii presents the same list, omitting, however, the number of ffrlxot, which is attached to each book in the Stichometry of Nicephorus. It is likely that this is the book from which Origen quotes as to a contest between the angels of righteou.sness and iniquity with reganl to the salvation of Abraham (In Lite. Hom. ;;5); and .lames is prob. correct in identifying this Book with the Testament of A. {Texts and Studies, ii. 2, p. 27 ff.). An Apoc. of A. is mentioned by Epi- phaiiius as used by the ()philes.
J. T. MAIteiHAI.L.
ABRAHAM'S BOSOM.— A term used of the abode of the riglileiius dead, defining it as a position of blessedness in huimate association with the father of the faithful, 'the friend of God.' In Scripture
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ALRECH
ABSALOM