Hebrews and the

Faith of Abraham
Mary Ann Beavis

An Unlikely Hero of Faith

Abraham is a prominent figure in the three Western religions of Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam, who claim him as a common ancestor in faith.
The oldest stories about Abraham (Gen 12:1–25:1), however, highlight not
the faith of Abraham, but his obedience. This reflects Torah’s emphasis on
obeying the divine command, the Law of Moses. In fact, Genesis some-
times portrays Abraham as being rather skeptical of God’s promises.
For example, he is overcome with laughter when God affirms that Sarah,
at ninety, will bear him a son (Gen 17:17). From a modern feminist perspec-
tive he is also a rather flawed character who passes his wife off to two
­foreign kings as his sister in order to save his own skin (Gen 12:10-20;
­20:1-18), allows his concubine Hagar and their son, Ishmael, to be mis-
treated without protest (Gen 16:1-14; 21:1-20), and is willing to sacrifice his
beloved son Isaac (Gen 22:1-19).
While Abraham’s shortcomings can be explained as the struggles of an
imperfect human being attempting to cope with the mysterious demands
of God, the OT does not highlight his intellectual belief in God or even his
trust that divine promises will be honored, although he is usually compliant
and obedient. He is an ancestor in obedience, but not in faith in the Chris-
tian sense of belief and trust. Indeed, it would be anachronistic to expect a
Christian theological virtue in the story of an Ancient Near Eastern figure.

Abraham and Moses in Hebrews

Hebrews contains the classic Christian description of faith as “the realiza-
tion of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen” (Heb 11:1), and
it is largely due to Hebrews that Abraham is known as a model of faith.
­Although known as an epistle or letter, Hebrews is actually a homily, a

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“message of encouragement” (13:22), written by an anonymous author to a
community that had suffered persecution (10:32-34; 12:4; 13:30; 2:6). In this
context the men and women of the Jewish Scriptures become significant as
examples of stalwart faith in the divine promises (11:1-40). In the catalogue
of heroes of faith in Hebrews 11, Abraham is cited prominently (11:8-12,
­17-19). Most of these heroes are named only briefly in Hebrews (Abel,
Noah, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, Samuel, David, the
prophets), but Abraham is mentioned ten times (2:16; 6:13; 7:1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 9;
11:8, 17). The only other OT figure cited about as often is Moses (3:1, 2, 3, 5,
16; 7:14; 8:5; 9:19; 10:28; 11:23, 24; 12:21). It is instructive to compare
­Hebrews’ treatment of the two OT heroes.
For Jews, Moses is the most important biblical figure, the leader of Israel
out of slavery in Egypt and the great lawgiver: “the man who would win
the favor of all the living: dear to
God and human beings, Moses,
whose memory is a blessing”
(Sir 45:1). Hebrews respects Moses For Hebrews, Abraham
as a faithful ­ancestor who “chose to is the model of faith in
be ill-treated along with the people
of God rather than enjoy the fleet- God’s promises.
ing pleasures of sin” (11:25; see also
11:23-28; 3:2). ­However, one of the
main arguments of Hebrews is that Christ is superior to Moses in every
way. Hebrews argues that Moses was a servant of God, but Christ is a son
(3:1-6); Moses was unable to lead Israel into the land of promise (3:16-19),
but Christ opens the way to the heavenly promised land (12:22-24); Christ
is the mediator of a better covenant than the covenant of Moses, and the
priesthood and sacrifice of Christ are better than the priesthood and sacri-
fices stipulated in the Law of Moses (Heb 8:1–10:18).
In contrast, Hebrews consistently portrays Abraham positively, as
­revered ancestor (2:16), as recipient of divine promise (6:13), and as one
who acknowledged the superior priesthood of Christ in his encounter with
the priest-king Melchizedek (7:1-10). For Hebrews, Abraham is the pre-­
eminent model of faith in God’s promises of land and descendants (11:8-12),
who anticipated the resurrection by his willingness to sacrifice his son
(11:17-19).
For an early Jewish reader, Hebrews’ preference for Abraham over Moses
would have been jarring, but for the author of the epistle, Abraham served
well as the foremost model of ancestral faith. Whereas Moses, through his
association with the Exodus, Law, and Covenant, is a founding figure in
the history of Israel, Abraham is the “father of many nations” (Gen 17:1;

Abraham meets Melchisedech, 13th-century mosaic. Basilica de San Marco, Venice.

Mary Ann Beavis 255

 Sir 44:19). That is to say that, like Paul, Hebrews regards Abraham as a
common ancestor of both Jews and Gentiles (Rom 4:16; Gal 3:7-9), since
Abraham had three wives and eight sons: Ishmael (Hagar), Isaac (Sarah),
and the six sons of Keturah (Gen 25:1-4). As Hebrews puts it, Jesus “did
not help angels but rather the descendants of Abraham” (2:17).

The Promise to Abraham

Later, Hebrews elaborates on the promise to Abraham: “When God made
the promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear,
‘he swore by himself,’ and said, ‘I will indeed bless you and multiply
you’ ” (Heb 6:13-14). The promise of descendants, “as countless as the stars
of the sky and the sands of
the seashore” (Gen 22:17),
expresses the covenant
The priest Melchizedek plays with Abraham, God’s
­unconditional promise to
a major role in Hebrews. make Abraham the ances-
tor of many nations and
innumerable descendants.
For Hebrews, this Abrahamic covenant precedes the covenant with Moses
because it was sworn in the name of God himself, thus eternal and un-
breakable (Gen 22:16). Unlike the Mosaic covenant, which requires Torah
obedience, the Abrahamic covenant requires no action on the part of
­Abraham or his ­descendants except to rely on its fulfillment.
The next reference to Abraham portrays his encounter with a mysterious
and ancient figure who, for Hebrews, foreshadows Christ himself,
“Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most High” (7:1). In
Genesis, Abraham meets with Melchizedek (“Righteous King”) after a
battle. Melchizedek offers Abraham bread and wine, and blesses him in the
name of God (Gen 14:18-20). In turn, Abraham gives Melchizedek a tenth
of the spoils of the battle. For Hebrews, Abraham’s tithe points to the great-
ness of the priest-king, as does the patriarch’s acceptance of the blessing,
since it illustrates Melchizedek’s superiority to Abraham: “Unquestionably,
a lesser person is blessed by a greater” (7:7). Further, Hebrews argues,
Melchizedek was not only greater than Abraham but prefigured Christ
himself: “His name first means righteous king, and he was also ‘king of
Salem,’ that is, king of peace. Without father, mother, or ancestry, without
beginning of days or end of life, thus made to resemble the Son of God,
he remains a priest forever” (7:2b-3).
For Hebrews, Melchizedek points to the reality of a priesthood greater
than that of the Israelite priesthood: “For it is testified: ‘You are a priest for-
ever according to the order of Melchizedek’ ” (7:17; 5:6; quoting Ps 110:4).
Abraham’s humility before Melchizedek illustrates that the levitical priest-

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hood is inferior to the eternal priesthood, since Abraham is the ancestor of
Levi and the priests are descended from Aaron (7:9-10). A greater priest,
Christ, must arise according to the everlasting order of Melchizedek, since
the temporal and human levitical priesthood cannot impart perfection to
worshipers; this is only achievable by “the power of a life that cannot be
destroyed” (7:16). The priesthood of Christ foreshadowed by Melchizedek
is part and parcel of a “new and better covenant” (7:22) prophesied by
­Jeremiah (31:31-34; Heb 8-12), that annuls the covenant of Moses, which
regulated the levitical priesthood: “When he speaks of a “new” covenant,
he declares the first one obsolete” (Heb 8:13). For Hebrews, Abraham’s
rightful acknowledgment of Melchizedek prefigures the priestly and royal
authority of Christ over Abraham’s many descendants.

By Faith, Abraham
Hebrews’ final references to Abraham appear in the list of heroes of faith in
chapter 11. Here Abraham is mentioned with reference to the covenant
promises. Abraham’s faith enabled him to obey God’s command to “go to
a place that he was to receive as an inheritance” (11:8a). Because Sarah
­believed that she would conceive, Abraham was able to claim the promise
of many descendants (11:11-12). Finally, “By faith Abraham, when put to
the test, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was ready
to offer his only son” (11:17). For Hebrews, the promise of land refers not

Abraham and Melchizedek by Moriz Schlachter (1852–1931).

 to earthly territory but to “a better homeland, a heavenly one” (11:16a).
Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac evidences his faith in resurrection:
“He reasoned that God was able to raise even from the dead, and he re-
ceived Isaac back as a symbol” (11:19). Here the near-sacrifice of Isaac is
seen as a parabol∑, a parable, of the resurrection to come.
The common thread running through Hebrews’ references to Abraham is
the covenant promises of land and offspring. In Hebrews’ view there is
continuity between the promises to Abraham and the “new covenant”
­inaugurated by Christ, which is unconditional and eternal, contrasted with
the conditional, temporary
Mosaic covenant. The new
covenant will “not be like
Is Hebrews supersessionist? the covenant I made with
their fathers the day I took
them by the hand to lead
them forth from the land of Egypt” (Heb 8:9, quoting Jer 31:32). Abraham,
the ancestor of many nations, was faithful to the promise of a heavenly
homeland; he met the priestly Christ in the guise of the priest-king
Melchizedek; he showed his resurrection faith in the binding of Isaac, his
ultimate act of covenant faithfulness. For Hebrews, the Mosaic covenant is
preceded by the Abrahamic, which is fulfilled in the “new covenant”
wrought by the messianic priesthood of Jesus.

Interfaith Implications
Considering the status of Moses and the Law in Judaism, it could be argued
that Hebrews is supersessionist, teaching that the new covenant has re-
placed the Mosaic covenant and that the church has superseded Israel as
the people of God. This was far from the intent of the author of Hebrews,
who believed that he was living in the end-times and that the “unshake-
able kingdom” would shortly be established (Heb 12:28). Hebrews never
contrasts Jews and Gentiles, focuses on laws only concerning the priest-
hood, never criticizes Jewish leaders, and does not claim that a new people
of God has replaced Israel. Hebrews honors the Jewish God, upholds the
­Jewish Scriptures, and engages with Jewish end-time and messianic doc-
trines. In fact, Hebrews can be characterized as a brilliant piece of messi-
anic Jewish biblical interpretation in the tradition of the Alexandrian school
represented by the book of Wisdom and the writings of Philo.
On reflection, some of Hebrews’ arguments are forced. For example,
­Jeremiah’s “new covenant” is an internalization of Torah, not, as Hebrews
argues, a decisive break from the Mosaic covenant: “I will place my law
within them, and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they
shall be my people” (Jer 31:33; Heb 8:10). Hebrews’ strategy of playing the
covenant traditions off against each other is not the last word. Rather,

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­ ebrews represents an early and important attempt to grapple with the
H
­issues arising from a sacred tradition revered by more than one religion.
In the 1960s an important statement of the heritage shared by Jews,
Christians, and Muslims was made at Vatican II, where Abraham was
cited as an ancestor shared by the three traditions (Nostra Aetate, 1965).
­Beginning with Pope John Paul II (Mainz, November 17, 1980), recent
popes have affirmed that the “old covenant”—the Mosaic—has never been
revoked (see Evangelii Gaudium [2013], 247–49; on Islam see 252). With
­Hebrews, members of all three traditions can benefit from the example of
the faith of Abraham, who “obeyed when he was called to go out to a place
that he was to receive as an inheritance; he went out, not knowing where
he was to go” (Heb 11:8).

Mary Ann Beavis is associate professor of Religious Studies at St. Thomas

More College, University of Saskatchewan. She is the coauthor of the
­recently published commentary on Hebrews in the new Wisdom series
from Liturgical Press.

Mary Ann Beavis 259

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