From the Encyclopaedia Judaica 2:165
Designation in the New Testament (Luke 16:22-31) of the abode of the blessed souls of pious and poor in the other world (compare IV Macc. 13:17 ; Matt. 8:11, where all three patriarchs Abrahamאַבְרָהָם
/ˈeɪbrəhæm, -həm/; , Modern: ʾAvraham, As recounted in the Torah, his name was originally Avram which means “High Father” – “av” (אב) “father”, “ram” (רם) “high” – with the “ha” (ה) added in mark of his covenant with God. For more info click here, Isaacיִצְחָק
(Yīṣḥāq) meaning “he will laugh”, reflecting the laughter, in disbelief, of Abraham and Sarah, when told by God that they would have a child., and Jacobיַעֲקֹב
(/ˈdʒeɪkəb/; Modern: Yaʿaqōv (help·info), Tiberian: Yaʿăqōḇ; Arabic: يَعْقُوب, romanized: Yaʿqūb; Greek: Ἰακώβ, romanized: Iakṓb) the name Yaʿaqōv יעקב is derived from ʿaqev עָקֵב “heel”, as Jacob (later called Israel) was born grasping the heel of his twin brother Esau. for more info click here are enumerated as those in whose company the pious souls stay).
The Hebrew expression be-heiko shel Avraham (“in Abraham’s Bosom”) is mention in aggadic literature (e.g., PR. 43:180b) (Gittin 57b:14) dealing with martydom of Miriam (Hannah) and her seven sons. She urges her youngest child to die for the sanctification of God’s name, saying : “O my son, do you wish that all your brothers sit in Abraham’s bosom, except you?” Abraham’s bosom is mentioned also in the Midrash haGadol to Genesis (ed. Margulies (19447), 206) and in the Talmud (Kid. 72b) where it probably refers to the covenant of Abrahamאַבְרָהָם
/ˈeɪbrəhæm, -həm/; , Modern: ʾAvraham, As recounted in the Torah, his name was originally Avram which means “High Father” – “av” (אב) “father”, “ram” (רם) “high” – with the “ha” (ה) added in mark of his covenant with God. For more info click here (see also Pd RK(1868) , 25b S. Buber’s emendation).
In Christian mythology, Abraham’s bosom stands for the abode in the netherworld of the unbaptized children and for purgatory, from where, after punishment, Abrahamאַבְרָהָם
/ˈeɪbrəhæm, -həm/; , Modern: ʾAvraham, As recounted in the Torah, his name was originally Avram which means “High Father” – “av” (אב) “father”, “ram” (רם) “high” – with the “ha” (ה) added in mark of his covenant with God. For more info click here conducts the purified souls into paradise. This notion is hinted at in the talmudic passage (Er. 19a) which describes Abrahamאַבְרָהָם
/ˈeɪbrəhæm, -həm/; , Modern: ʾAvraham, As recounted in the Torah, his name was originally Avram which means “High Father” – “av” (אב) “father”, “ram” (רם) “high” – with the “ha” (ה) added in mark of his covenant with God. For more info click here as shielding from punishment in hell all those who have not effaced the sign of circumcision (compare also, Gen. R 48:8).
Whether Abraham’s bosom is the abode of bliss, or, on the contrary, a place in Gehenna, it expresses the popular Jewish belief about Abrahamאַבְרָהָם
/ˈeɪbrəhæm, -həm/; , Modern: ʾAvraham, As recounted in the Torah, his name was originally Avram which means “High Father” – “av” (אב) “father”, “ram” (רם) “high” – with the “ha” (ה) added in mark of his covenant with God. For more info click here as the warden in paradise and the protector of the meritorious souls in the other world.
