For one thing, Jesus’s assertion that “Abraham”
had a vision of the future in which he “saw” all the way up to Jesus’s own “day”
(John 8:56) fits very well into an early Jewish context. For in the Second
Temple period, there was a widespread tradition that Abraham had experienced visions
in which he “foresaw the days of the Messiah.” Consider the following early
Jewish texts:
We [angels] came to Abraham. . . . We
blessed and told him everything that had been commanded for him: that . . .
one of Isaac’s sons would become a holy progeny. . . . Then we went on our way
and told Sarah all that we had reported to him. The two of them were
extremely happy. . . . He celebrated a joyful festival in this month—for seven
days. . . . He was the first to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles on
the earth. (Jubilees 16:15-17, 19-21)
Then a voice came speaking to me
twice, “Abraham, Abraham!” And I said, “Here I am.” And he said, “Behold, it
is I. Fear not, for I am Before-the-World and Mighty, the God who created previously,
before the light of the age. . . . you shall set out for me the sacrifice which
I have commanded you, in the place which I will show you on a high mountain. And
there I will show you the things which were made by the ages and by my word,
and affirmed, created, and renewed. (Apocalypse of Abraham 9:1-4, 8-9)
To him [Abraham]
only you [God] revealed the end of times, secretly
by night. (4 Ezra 3:14)
There are striking parallels with
Jesus’s statements about Abraham. Just as the book of Jubilees says that angels
revealed the future to Abraham so that he was “extremely happy” and celebrated
the “feast of Tabernacles” (Jubilees 16:17, 21), so too Jesus—apparently during
the Feast of Tabernacles—says that Abraham “rejoiced” to see Jesus’s day and “was
glad” (John 8;57; cf. 7:2, 37-44). Likewise, just as the Apocalypse of Abraham
says that God “showed” Abraham a vision of the future “ages” when the world
would be renewed (Apocalypse of Abraham 9:10; cf. Gen 15:17-20), so too Jesus
describes Abraham’s knowledge of the future as a vision in which he “saw” the
future “day” of salvation (John 8:56-57). According to early Jewish tradition,
Abraham was not just a patriarch; he was an apocalyptic prophet who
experienced heavenly visions of “the end of times” (4 Ezra 3:14).
Even Jesus’s startling declaration “Before
Abraham was, I am” (John 8:5[8]) is contextually credible in an early Jewish
context. For one thing, if Jesus claimed to be the Danielic son of man (cf. Dan
7:13-14), then it is quite credible that he also claimed to be a preexistent,
divine being. For we have already seen, the “son of man” figure in the book of
Daniel is described in some early Jewish apocalypses as a preexistent, heavenly
messiah:
For from the
beginning the Son of Man was hidden,
and the Most High preserved him in the presence of his might,
and he revealed him to the chosen. (1 Enoch 62:8)
As for your seeing a man come up
from the heart of the sea, this is he whom the Might High has been keeping for
many ages. . . . When these things come to pass. . . , then my son will
be revealed, whom you saw as a man coming up from the sea. (4 Ezra
13:25-26)
In light of such evidence, experts in
early Judaism concluded that some apocalyptic Jews did indeed expect “the
messiah” to be a “preexistent” and “heavenly being.” If this is true, then
there is no reason Jesus could not make a similar claim for himself. Moreover,
if Jesus did claim preexistence, then it is contextually plausible that he
would do so by using the divine epithet, “I am.” For, in an early Jewish
context, the divine “I am” that was revealed to Moses on Sinai (Exod 3:14-15;
cf. Isa 43:10) had come to be connected with the name of the eternal God:
Moses . . . also besought him not to
deny him knowledge of his name. . . . Then God revealed to him his
name, which before then had not come to men’s ears, and of which I am
forbidden to speak. (Josephus, Antiquities 2.275-276)
Then a voice came speaking to me twice,
“Abraham, Abraham!” And I said, “Here I am.” And he said, “Behold, it is I.
Fear not, for I am Before-the-World and Mighty, before the light of the
age.” (Apoc. Ab. 9:1)
In light of such evidence, it seems
reasonable to conclude that when Jesus says “Before Abraham was, I am” (John
8:58), he is not just claiming to be any kind of divine being. Rather, he is
claiming to be the same God who appeared to Moses and the other patriarchs
in Jewish Scripture and tradition. (Brant Pitre, Jesus and Divine
Christology [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2024], 263-65)
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