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Abraham 150 Sophic and Kabbalistic Ideas 149 Abraham 150 sophic and kabbalistic ideas. In a remarkable aside, In contrast to Wellhausen, Hermann Gunkel he relates part of a disquisition on the tabernacle (1910: XIX–XXVI, XXXIX–LIII), an exponent of the cherubs that he allegedly delivered “in the palace research on Saga-History, was confident that the of the pope.” Elsewhere, he tells of a conversation literary tradition could be used to reconstruct the with a Christian cleric regarding a midrash about figures of the oral tradition, which purportedly the “Suffering Servant poems” in Isaiah. contains many reminiscences from pre-Israelite Bibliography: ■ E. Lawee, “Graven Images, Astromagical times. Gunkel’s approach was continued by Al- Cherubs, and Mosaic Miracles,” Spec. 81 (2006) 754–95. brecht Alt (1966a and 1966b), Gerhard von Rad Eric Lawee (1966) and Martin Noth (1972), who argued that tradition history could establish a semi-nomadic milieu of the patriarchs and a “religion of the fa- Abrabanel, Isaac ben Judah thers” practiced by them. Such research into the /Abarbanel, Isaac ben Judah oral precursors of the presumed earliest source, the Yahwist, understood the oral traditions surround- ing Abraham to be later than the traditions sur- Abraham rounding Isaac and Jacob. I. Hebrew Bible/Old Testament These attempts to trace the patriarchal tradi- II. New Testament tions far back into the early history of Israel fuelled III. Judaism the concern to accumulate more historical informa- IV. Christianity tion. With this aim in view, scholars sought ancient V. Islam Near Eastern analogies to corroborate elements of VI. Ecumenical Discussion the Abraham and other ancestral stories. Some VII. Other Religions found such corroboration in West-Semitic personal VIII. Literature names in the Mari texts from Old Babylonian pe- IX. Visual Arts X. Music riod (Huffmon) and evidence in Nuzi for the juridi- XI. Film cal institution that a female slave could bear chil- dren for her mistress (cf. ANET 220; Gen 16 : 1–4; I. Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Gen 30 : 1–13; see Speiser). Using such analogies, 1. Etymology. The name Abraham (MT Abra¯ ha¯ m some argued for a dating of the patriarchs in the and Abra¯ m; LXX Α ρααμ and Α ραμ; Arab. Ibra¯ - first half of the 2nd millennium BCE, rather than hı¯ m; etymologically identical with A¯ bira¯ m) is most the second (Albright 1946; Cross; de Vaux). probably West-Semitic in origin and represents a Disappointments followed soon thereafter. name-clause with the meaning, “the (clan) father/ Thomas L. Thompson and John Van Seters (1975) ancestor is exalted/eminent” (formed from b[y] “fa- voiced penetrating criticisms with regard to the ther/ancestor” and rw/ym “to be exalted,” cf. Grön- search for analogies, which was becoming ever dahl: 315, 360; Huffmon: 154, 261–62). Accord- more careless. Moreover, they called for a more in- ingly, the original form is Abram. The etymology tensive analysis of the texts in Genesis. Although suggests the existence of the same ancestor cult in the approach of illuminating the Abraham tradi- early Israel that was widespread throughout the an- tions with external evidence from the ancient Near cient Near East (Schmidt), though suppressed in East is still practiced (Kitchen; Millard/Wiseman the wake of the Deuteronomistic movement (cf. 1983), the literary analysis of the text of Genesis Deut 18 : 9–14). The longer form of the name, Abra- has long since occupied the focus of attention ham, seems to be, as Gen 17 : 5 presents, a name (Blum 1984; Carr; Köckert 1988; Levin; Van Seters change for theological reasons without a philologi- 1992). In the course of this research, Abraham has cal (onomastic) basis (see below). become thus 500 years – if not a whole millen- 2. Past Research. The scholarly study of the figure nium – younger. His status as chief patriarch ap- of Abraham is closely aligned with that of the other pears to be a later development still. Even the se- patriarchs. Therefore, the following review treats quence of the periods of the patriarchs and the only the most essential points of interest. Exodus – and the conception of a unified salvation Since the inception of source criticism, scholars history – is difficult to conceive as a pre-exilic de- have increasingly recognized that the traditions in velopment (Schmid). the Pentateuch do not provide a reliable basis for a 3. Biblical Evidence. The Abraham story is found critical reconstruction of Israel’s origins. Summa- in Gen 12 : 1–25 : 18. After this literary unit, the rizing the critical work on the Pentateuch in the Hebrew Bible contains no more stories about Abra- 19th century, Julius Wellhausen (1905: 316–26) re- ham. This agrees with the frequency with which marked that the Pentateuchal sources project vari- the forms Abram and Abraham appear: the former ous conceptions from later periods back to Israel’s occurs 61 times, while one encounters the latter beginnings; this applies equally to the Abraham 175 times. In Gen 17 : 5, Abram’s name is changed traditions. to Abraham. Aside from Gen 11 : 26, 27, 29, 31, Authenticated | [email protected] Download Date | 12/12/18 3:27 AM Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception 1 (© Walter de Gruyter, Berlin/New York 2009) 151 Abraham 152 1 Chr 1 : 27 and Neh 9 : 7, the form Abram is em- val History. Though the latter once existed as an ployed exclusively in Gen 12 : 1–17 : 5. The form independent account of primeval origins, it has Abraham appears 108 times in Gen 17 : 5–25 : 18 now been brought into a linear historical relation- and 25 times in Gen 25 : 19–36 : 43. ship with the Abraham narrative in Genesis, con- References to Abraham accumulate again only necting the history of the world’s beginnings (Gen in Exodus and Deuteronomy. In these books, Abra- 1–11) with that of Israel’s beginnings (Gen 12 : 1– ham is, however, mentioned solely in the stereotyp- 25 : 18). ical triad, “(God of) Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” (Is- 4. The Abraham Story in Gen 12 : 1–25 : 18. Al- rael instead of Jacob in Exod 32 : 13 and in 1 Chr though it is no longer possible to precisely recon- 1 : 34; 29 : 18; 2 Chr 30 : 6). This triad appears 16 struct the pre-exilic remains of the Abraham story, times (Exod 2 : 24; 3 : 6, 15, 16; 4 : 5; 6 : 3, 8; 32 : 12; they are most likely to be found in the non-Priestly 33 : 1; Deut 1 : 8; 6 : 10; 9 : 5, 27; 29 : 12; 30 : 20; portions of texts such as Gen *12 : 1–8; *13 : 7–18; 34 : 4; also Num 32 : 11; similarly Lev 26 : 42), while *16; 18 : 1–15; *19; *21 : 1–7; *25 : 8, 11. Initially, otherwise one finds only scattered references to the such earlier material probably served the sole pur- patriarchs. All of the mentioned references belong pose of imparting to the Jacob story a longer genea- to texts of advanced Deuteronomism, already influ- logical prehistory with familiar narrative features enced by the Priestly theology of promise in the (relatives in the Aramean region, wanderings, bar- patriarchal narratives. This is supported by the fact renness of the ancestress, the mistress giving birth that Abraham is only mentioned in late supple- to a son). At some point, the story of Abraham was ments to the Deuteronomistic History (Josh 24 : 2– augmented with narratives modeled on the older 3; 1 Kgs 18 : 36; 2 Kgs 13 : 23). The image of Abra- narratives concerning Isaac (cf. Gen 12 : 10–20; 20; ham in Josh 24 : 2–3 is already developing toward 21 : 22–34 with Gen 26). Yet what allowed the Pa- that found in Jub. 11–12, which depicts Abraham triarch to exercise theological influence was not the departing for Canaan in order to abandon the idol- coordination of his depiction with those of his atry practiced by his family. progeny, but the gradual expansion of the Abra- The prophetic writings mention Abraham ham story through ever increasing focus on God’s seven times (Isa 28 : 22; 41 : 8 [Abraham as a friend promise to (and eventual covenant with) him. of God, cf. also 2 Chr 20 : 7]; Isa 51 : 2; 63 : 16; Jer The introduction to the narrative in Gen 33 : 26; Ezek 33 : 24; Mic 7 : 20). All of these occur- *12 : 1–8 depicts Abraham coming from the space rences belong to exilic or later expansions of the and time of primeval history and wandering in a prophetical books. These texts present Abraham as strange land. Formerly, this text was thought to the recipient of the divine promise, according to be the Yahwist’s programmatic introduction to the which his progeny would become a great people. patriarchal story, yet it is increasingly difficult to Abraham, as with the other patriarchs, is a repre- ascribe the network of promises beginning here to sentative of the “days of old” (Mic 7 : 20). In gradu- a single source document. According to Gen 12 : 2– ally becoming a figure of mythical proportions that 3, Abraham will become a great “nation” (gôy, not established Israel, he provides the theological foun- am [“people”]), be given a “great name” (cf. Gen dation for all later periods. As the bearer of the 6 : 4; Gen 11 : 4), and be given superlative divine promise, he can be compared only to David (Jer protection and blessing. The promise concludes 33 : 26; Ps 47 : 10 [MT]; Ps 105 : 6, 9, 42). with an unclear statement regarding the “clans of Finally, the Septuagint contains several other the earth” (kol misˇpe˘høot ha¯ ada¯ mâ).
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