a philosophical treatise on the creation of the world, in which he argues against the assumption of an eter- nity of the world (Venice, 1592, 4to). Several works of Abrabanel have not been printed yet. The pro- posal of Bashuj'sen to issue a complete edition of all the works of Abrabanel lias never been executed. All his works were in Hebrew, but many of his Disserta- tions have been translated into Latin by Buxtorf (4tO, Basil, 1660) and others. Although he spent many years at royal courts, Abrabanel, in one of Lis works, expressed very decided republican 0] inions. He left two sons, one of whom distinguished himself as a phy- sician and as the author of an Italian poem, Dialogi d'Amore; the other embraced the Christian religion. The son of the latter published at Venice, in 1552, a collection of Hebrew letters. — Winer, Theol. Lit. vol. i ; Fi'irst, Bib. Jud. i, 11 sq. ; Jost, Gesch. d. Judt nthums, iii, 104 ; Wolf, Biblioth. Hebraica, iii, 544 ; Mai, Disser- tatio de origine, vita et scriptis Abrabanklis (Altdorf. 1708); Hoefer, Biographic Generate, i, 31; Ersch and Gruber, Encycl. s. v.
Abracadabra, a magical word of factitious origin, like most alliterative incantations. It is found on one of the amulets under which the Basilidian heretics were supposed to conceal the name of God. It was derived from the Syrian worship, and was recommend- ed as a magical charm against ague and fever. It is described by Serenus Sammonicus (the elder), who is usually classed, apparently without reason, among the followers of Basilides (q. v.). The word was written in a kind of inverted cone, omitting the last letter every time it is repeated. The lines of Serenus (De Medi- cina) which describe it are as follows :
"Mortiferum magi* est, quod Grse :ia licmitrittcum Vulgatur verbis hue nostra dicere lingua Non potuere ulli, nee voluere parentes. Inseribis Charts?, quod dicitur Abracadabra, Sirpius et subter repetis, sed detrahe eummnm, Kt magis atque magis desint elementa figuria Singula, qua; semper r pies, et csetera figes, Donee, in angustum redigatur litera eoiium. His lino nexis collum redimere memento," etc. Thus,
ABRACADABRA A 15 R A C A D A B R A B R A C A D A B A B R A C A D A A B R ACAD A B R A C A A B R A C A B R A A B R A B A Different opinions have been advanced as to the origin and meaning of the word. Basnage ascribed it to an Egyptian, Beausobre a Greek, others a Hebrew origin, but Grotefend (in Ersch and Gruber, Encycl. s. v.) tries to prove that it is of Persian (or rather Pehlevi) origin. As Greek amulets are inscribed with ABPACADABPA, he considers it certain that the word ought to be pronounced Abrasadabra. He de- rives it from the Persian A brasax (the name of the Su- preme Being) and the Chaldee word SOSQ'n (///' utter- ance), so that the meaning of it is "a divine oracle." This explanation, Grotefend thinks, throws some light on other magical words which the Rasilidians used in nearly the same manner as the Thibetans and Mongo- lians their Hommani Peme-ffum ; as the Palendrones Ablanathanalba and Amoroma. — Lardner, Works, viii, 683; C. F. Ducange, Glossarium, s. v. See Abraxas. A'braham (Heb. Abraham', bJTnaX, father of a multitude; Sept. and N. T. 'Afipaaft, Josephus, "Afipafioe), the founder of the. Hebrew nation. Dp to Gen. xvii, 4, 5 (also in 1 Ohron. i, 27; Neh. ix, 7), he is uniformly called ABRAM (Heb. Abram', "=>?, father of elevation, or hgh father; Sept. " lf3pctfi) : but the extended form there given to it is significant of
ABRAHAM
28
ABRAHAM
the promise of a numerous posterity which was at the same time made to him. See infra.
I. History. — Abraham was a native of Chahhea, and descended, through Heber, in the ninth generation, from Shem the son of Noah (see F. Lee, Disserta- tions, ii, 78 sq.). His father was Terah, who had two other sons, Nahor and Haran. Ilaran died pre- maturely " before his father," leaving a son, Lot, and two daughters, Milcah and Iscah. Lot attach- ed himself to his uncle Abraham ; Milcah became the wife of her uncle Nahor; and Iscah, who was also called Sarai, became the wife of Abraham (Gen. xi, 26-29; comp. Josephus, Ant. i, G, 5). See Iscah. Abraham was born A.M. 2009, B.C. 21G4, in " Ur of the Chaldees" (Gen. xi, 28). The concise history in Genesis states nothing concerning the portion of his life prior to the age of about 70. There are indeed traditions, but they are too manifestly built tip on the foundation of a few obscure intimations in Scripture to be entitled to any credit (see Weil's Biblical Legends'). Thus it is intimated in Josh, xxiv, 2, that Terah and his family " served other gods" beyond the Euphrates ; and on this has been found the romance that Terah was not only a worshipper, but a maker of idols ; that the youthful Abraham, discovering the futility of such gods, destroyed all those his father had made, and jus- tified the act in various conversations and arguments with Terah, which we find repeated at length. Again, " Ur of the Chaldees" was the name of the place where Abraham was born, and from which he went forth to go, he knew not whither, at the call of God. Now Ur (I^X) means fire; and we may therefore read that he came forth from the fire of the Chaldees, on which has been built the story that Abraham was, for his disbelief in the established idols, cast by king Nimrod into a burning furnace, from which he was by special miracle delivered. And to this the premature death of Haran has suggested the addition that he, by way of punishment for his disbelief of the truths for which Abraham suffered, was marvellously destroyed by the same fire from which his brother was still more mar- vellously preserved. Again, the fact that Chaldsea was the region in which astronomy wras reputed to have been first cultivated, suggested that Abraham brought astronomy westward, and that he even taught that science to the Egyptians (Josephus, Ant. i, 8). It is just to Josephus to state that most of these stories are rejected by him, although the tone of some of his remarks is in agreement with them. Abraham is, by way of eminence, named first, but it appears that he was not the oldest (nor probably the youngest, but rather the second) of Terah's sons, born (perhaps by a second wife) when his father was 130 years old (see N. Alexander, Hist. Eccles. i, 287 sq.). Terah was seventy years old when the eldest son was born (Gen. xi, 32; xii, 4; xx, 12; comp. Hales, ii, 107); and that eldest son appears to have been Haran, from the fact that his brothers married his daugh- ters, and that his daughter Sarai was only ten years younger than his brother Abraham (Gen. xvii, 17). Abraham must have been about 70 years old when the family quitted their native city of Ur, and went and abode in Charran (for he was 75 years old when he left Ilaran, and his stay there could not well have been longer than five years at most). The reason for this movement does not appear in the Old Testament. Josephus alleges that Terah could not hear to remain in the place where Haran had died (Ant. i, 0, 5); while the apocryphal book of Judith, in conformity with the traditions still current among the Jews and Moslems, affirms that they were cast forth because they would no longer worship the gods of the land (Judith v, G-8). The real cause transpires in Acts vii, 2-4: "The God of -lory appeared to our father Abraham while he was (at Ur of the Chaldees) in Mesopotamia, before h< da-ilt in Charran, and said unto him, Depart from thy land, and from thy kin-