Abraham was seven
years old when he began to seek God. So one day he said to his father:
"Father, what made man?"
........ .The
foolish father answered: "Man; for I made thee, and my father made
me. "
..........Abraham answered: " Father,
it is not so; for I have heard an old man weeping and saying: O my God,
wherefore hast thou not given me children? "
.......... His father replied: "It
is true, my son, that God helpeth man to make man, but he putteth not
his hands thereto: it is only necessary that man come to pray to his
God and to give him lambs and sheep, and his God will help him."
..........Abraham answered: "How many
gods are there, father? "
..........The old man replied: " They
are infinite in number, my son. "
..........Then said Abraham: " O father,
what shall I do if I shall serve one god and another shall wish me evil
because I serve him not? In any wise there will come discord between
them, and so war will arise among the gods. But if perchance the god
that willeth me evil shall slay my own god, what shall I do? It is certain,
that he will slay me also."
..........The old man, laughing, answered:
" O son, have no fear, for no god maketh war upon another god;
nay, in the great temple there are a thousand gods with the great god
Baal; and I am now nigh seventy years old, and yet never have I seen
that one god hath smitten another god. And assuredly all men do not
serve one god, but one man one, and another, another."
..........Abraham answered: " So,
then, they have peace among themselves ? "
..........Said his father: " They
have. "
..........Then said Abraham: " O father,
what be the gods like? "
..........The
old man answered: "Fool, every day I make a god, which I sell to
others to buy bread, and thou knowest not what the gods are like!"
And at that moment he was making an idol. "This, said he, "is
of palm wood that one is of olive that little one is of ivory: see how
fine it is! Does it not seem as though it were alive? Assuredly, it
lacks but breath! "
..........Abraham answered: " And
so, father, the gods are with out breath? Then how do they give breath?
And being with out life, how give they life? It is certain, father,
that these are not God."
..........The old man was wroth
at these words, saying: "If thou were of age to understand, I would
break thy head with this axe: But hold thy peace, because thou hast
not understanding!"
..........Abraham answered: " Father,
if the gods help to make man, how can it be that man should make the
gods? And if the gods are made of wood, it is a great sin to burn wood.
But tell me, father, how is it that, when thou hast made so many gods,
the gods have not helped thee to make so many other children that thou
shouldest become the most powerful man in the world?
..........The father was beside himself,
hearing his son speak so ; the son went on : "Father, was the world
for some time with out men ?"
.........."Yes," answered the
old man, "and why?"
.........."Because," said Abraham,
"I should like to know who made the first God."
.........."Now go out of my house!"
said the old man, "and leave me to make this god quickly, and speak
no words to me; for, when thou art hungry thou desirest bread and not
words. "
..........Said Abraham: " A fine god,
truly, that thou cutest him as thou wilt, and he defendeth not himself!
" Then the old man was angry and said: " All the world saith
that it is a god, and thou, mad fellow, sayest that it is not. By my
gods, if thou were a man I could kill thee!" And having said this,
he gave blows and kicks to Abraham, and chased him from the house.
..........One day, Abraham having come
to the age of twelve years, his father said to him: " Tomorrow
is the festival of all the gods; therefore we shall go to the great
temple and bear A present to my god, great Baal. And thou shalt choose
for thyself a god, for thou art of age to have a god,"
..........Abraham answered with guile:
" Willingly, O my father." And so betimes in the morning they
went before everyone else to the temple. But Abraham bear beneath his
tunic and axe hidden. Whereupon, having entered into the temple, as
the crowd increased Abraham hid himself behind an idol in a dark part
of the temple. His father, when he departed, believed that Abraham had
gone home before him, wherefore he did not stay to seek him. When everyone
had departed from the temple, the priests closed the temple and went
away. Then Abraham took the axe and cut off the feet of all the idols,
except the great god Baal. At it's feet he placed the axe, amid the
ruins which the statues made, for they, through being old and composed
of pieces, fell in pieces.