For a period of two years Abraham could devote himself undisturbed to
his chosen task of turning the hearts of men to God and His
teachings.[41] In his pious undertaking he was aided by his wife Sarah,
whom he had married in the meantime. While he exhorted the men and
sought to convert them, Sarah addressed herself to the women.[42] She
was a helpmeet worthy of Abraham. Indeed, in prophetical powers she
ranked higher than her husband.[43] She was sometimes called Iscah,
"the seer," on that account.[44]
At the expiration of two years it happened that Nimrod dreamed a dream.
In his dream he found himself with his army near the fiery furnace in
the valley into which Abraham had been cast. A man resembling Abraham
stepped out of the furnace, and he ran after the king with drawn sword,
the king fleeing before him in terror. While running, the pursuer threw
an egg at Nimrod's head, and a mighty stream issued therefrom, wherein
the king's whole host was drowned. The king alone survived, with three
men. When Nimrod examined his companions, he observed that they wore
royal attire, and in form and stature they resembled himself. The
stream changed back into an egg again, and a little chick broke forth
from it, and it flew up, settled upon the head of the king, and put out
one of his eyes.
The king was confounded in his sleep, and when he awoke, his heart beat
like a trip-hammer, and his fear was exceeding great. In the morning,
when he arose, he sent and called for his wise men and his magicians,
and told them his dream. One of his wise men, Anoko by name, stood up,
and said: "Know, O king, this dream points to the misfortune which
Abraham and his descendants will bring upon thee. A time will come when
he and his followers will make war upon thy army, and they will
annihilate it. Thou and the three kings, thy allies, will be the only
ones to escape death. But later thou wilt lose thy life at the hands of
one of the descendants of Abraham. Consider, O king, that thy wise men
read this fate of thine in the stars, fifty-two years ago, at the birth
of Abraham. As long as Abraham liveth upon the ground, thou shalt not
be stablished, nor thy kingdom." Nimrod took Anoko's words to heart,
and dispatched some of his servants to seize Abraham and kill him. It
happened that Eliezer, the slave whom Abraham had received as a present
from Nimrod, was at that time at the royal court. With great haste he
sped to Abraham to induce him to flee before the king's bailiffs. His
master accepted his advice, and took refuge in the house of Noah and
Shem, where he lay in hiding a whole month. The king's officers
reported that despite zealous efforts Abraham was nowhere to be found.
Thenceforth the king did not concern himself about Abraham.
When Terah visited his son in his hiding-place, Abraham proposed that
they leave the land and take up their abode in Canaan, in order to
escape the pursuit of Nimrod. He said: "Consider that it was not for
thy sake that Nimrod overloaded thee with honors, but for his own
profit. Though he continue to confer the greatest of benefactions upon
thee, what are they but earthly vanity? for riches and possessions
profit not in the day of wrath and fury. Hearken unto my voice, O my
father, let us depart for the land of Canaan, and serve the God that
hath created thee, that it may be well with thee."
Noah and Shem aided and abetted the efforts of Abraham to persuade
Terah, whereupon Terah consented to leave his country, and he, and
Abraham, and Lot, the son of Haran, departed for Haran with their
households. They found the land pleasant, and also the inhabitants
thereof, who readily yielded to the influence of Abraham's humane
spirit and his piety. Many of them obeyed his precepts and became
God-fearing and good.[45]
Terah's resolve to quit his native land for the sake of Abraham and
take up his abode in strange parts, and his impulse to do it before
even the Divine call visited Abraham himself—this the Lord accounted a
great merit unto Terah, and he was permitted to see his son Abraham
rule as king over the whole world. For when the miracle happened, and
Isaac was born unto his aged parents, the whole world repaired to
Abraham and Sarah, and demanded to know what they had done that so
great a thing should be accomplished for them. Abraham told them all
that had happened between Nimrod and himself, how he had been ready to
be burnt for the glory of God, and how the Lord had rescued him from
the flames. In token of their admiration for Abraham and his teachings,
they appointed him to be their king, and in commemoration of Isaac's
wondrous birth, the money coined by Abraham bore the figures of an aged
husband and wife on the obverse side, and of a young man and his wife
on the reverse side, for Abraham and Sarah both were rejuvenated at the
birth of Isaac, Abraham's white hair turned black, and the lines in
Sarah's face were smoothed out.
For many years Terah continued to live a witness of his son's glory,
for his death did not occur until Isaac was a youth of thirty-five.[46]
And a still greater reward waited upon his good deed. God accepted his
repentance, and when he departed this life, he entered into Paradise,
and not into hell, though he had passed the larger number of his days
in sin. Indeed, it had been his fault that Abraham came near losing his
life at the hands of Nimrod.[47]