Umberto Cassuto's Listing of Abraham's 10 Trials

Umberto Cassuto was an fascinating Italian Bible scholar of the 20th century. His innovative approaches to Bible study paved the way for legitimate responses to the already almost universally accepted theory of Documentary Hypothesis, or Higher Criticism. He wrote several responses to this, including a dedicated essay, and he has a few books on direct interpretation of the Bible which bear out his method. They were published in Israel in Hebrew and were soon translated into English. I consider myself lucky that my grandparents allowed me to pick through their library before they moved, and I found these somewhat rare editions of the English edition of Cassuto's "From Adam To Noah" and "From Noah to Abraham." Luckily, on my last trip to Israel, I went to a used book store I frequent in Jerusalem and found an English copy of his notes on Exodus for a cheap price!

Cassuto thinks that the number 10, which the rabbis of the Talmud already picked up on, is a significant motif throughout the story of Noah, the genealogies, and especially regarding Abraham's 10 tests, or trials. The rabbis did not explicate what the 10 trials were, and there are a great many theories as to exactly how to count them. Cassuto (pages 295-296) thinks that there is a pattern for each one that we can use to determine which ones were considered the trials of Abraham:

• The first trial is preceded by a general divine promise
• After each trial, he is given some kind of consolation in the form of a renewed divine assurance
• The last trial, that of the sacrifice of Isaac, receives afterwards a most sublime divine promise

He proceeds to list the trials:

1. After his communion with God and God's promises in Charan, he is immediately asked to leave his homeland to a new land unknown to him (Lech Lecha). He passes the test (12:1-4) and is thus promised that the land he is in will become his (12:7)
2. After having, as it were, taken possession of Canaan by walking through it, and building altars to God, he is forced to leave it and go to Egypt. Instead of being protected, they are vulnerable and Sarai is taken. God protects them and she is saved, he leaves with much wealth and Abram calls out in the name of God (13:4)
3. He was compelled to give up land to Lot for the sake of peace. God promises afterwards that he will have large offspring to replace his nephew (13:5-18)
4. He had to rescue Lot in a hard fight against kings. God promises him much abundance and many descendants (15)
5. His pregnant maidservant and the only hope for offspring is forced to run away, but she comes back (16). God promises that he will have another son, Isaac, and that Sarah would have him, and the covenant would be fulfilled through him (17)
6. He submits to circumcision (17), and he is privileged to be visited by three "men" where the promises of a son are confirmed (18:1-15)
7. Lot is again in jeopardy in Sodom, and Lot is saved for Abraham's sake (18:17-19:28)
8. Sarah is taken by Abimelech the king of Gerar at a time that she is very pregnant with Isaac. This is perilous and she could lose the baby. She is saved and Abraham is solaced when Isaac is born (20:1-21:7)
9. He is forced by Sarah to exile Hagar and Ishmael, his first born son, but he is solaced by a successful covenant with his neighbors for peace and a new sanctuary at Beer-Sheba and proclaiming God's name (21:8-34)
10. Lastly, the sacrifice of Isaac. God presents him with the most comprehensive promises of his future and all the previous promises are recounted.

He notes that this progresses from easier to harder, and for the most part the blessings correspond to the difficulty.

He also notes that there is a definite parallel between his listing of the trials. The first is a trial to leave his father's house, and the last is a bid farewell to his son. They are said in a similar way (Go for yourself from your country, vs., Go for yourself to the land of Moriah). And the blessings are similarly phrased. The second and the third trials also parallel the eight and the ninth, respectively; the second and eight are when Sarah is taken, that's pretty obvious parallel. The third and ninth are parallel in that the third he is spearated from his nephew Lot, and in the ninth he is separated from Hagar and Ishmael. I would add that according to this, the third is where he gives up land for peace and that was a trial, while in the ninth the successful treaty was a solace. In both sets a new sanctuary is built. The fourth and the seventh are pretty obvious, both times Lot is in peril and is saved. And lastly, the fifth and sixth line up (not so well in my opinion), as he writes as "both appertain to Ishmael and Isaac". The only real parallel is the reassurance, not the trial, specifically regarding Isaac's birth, which are parallel in both, which may be what he means.

He goes on to describe the reassurances as very carefully progressing. Thus, he goes on, the stories are therefore obviously of a cohesive whole out of the raw material of Abraham's life. To Cassuto, this parallelism is obvious proof that Abraham's story was written as "an integrated and harmonious" narrative, "arranged in all its parts and details."

I think its significant that Cassuto sees one of the tests as giving up land for peace. It was difficult then as it is now.

This is a somewhat unique approach and is worth the read.