The foregoing outline shows the truth of what has been remarked above, that the life of A. in the Bk of Gn is not so much a consecutive biograjiliy as a series of scenes derived from groups of lleb. tradition, and loosely strung together. How far the three main groups of patriarchal narrative — the J, E, and P — overlapped one another we cannot say, but the fact that the existing account is derived from different sources sufficiently explains some of the chief difficulties and dis- crepancies that strike the ordinary reader.
J.— The narrative of .1 opens with A. bein^ in Ilaran, and migrating with Lot to Can. at the command of J ",
It mention!! A.'s nomadic movements in Can., and the altars at Bethel and Shecliem. It records the separation of A. and Lot, and A.'s sojourn at Hebron.
It describes A.'s journey to Egypt, and his return to the S. of Can.
It contains the promises made to A., and the covenant In ch. 15. It records the marriage with Hagar, Hagar's flight, and the birth of Ishmael.
It gives ttie long epic narrative of the visit of the three men to A. ; A.'& intercession ; and the overthrow of the cities of tlie plain.
It narrates the birth of Isaac, and the mission of A.'s servant to Haran.
,1 =i\;i-<. 0-131- '•"•- 1"^'" l!>. 16'-» IS. 19 (e.xc. v.'O) 21. (partially) 24.
E. — The narrative of E opens with A.'s wandering to and fro, witli Lot, in Can. It reproduces, perhaps from souie se|>arate source, an account of the war between CIiedor-Laomcr and the rebel ' cities of the plain,' A.'s rescue of his nephew, and Mel- chizedek's blessing.
It describes the blessing pronounced upon the patriarch In ch. 15. It records .\.'s sojourn at Gerar, and the peril to which Sarah was exposed at the court of Abinu-U-ch (20). It contains an account of the birth of Isaac; and ihe mention of the banishment of Hagar and Ishmael implies that it als,) included an account of Ishmael's birth. It records the alliance of A. with Attimelech at lieershcba. And, so far as A. is concerned, con- chnles with the storv of the sacritlce of Isaac.
E = 14. (possibly) 15. (partially) 2(1. 21"" 22,
P.- The narrative of T isamere skeleton outline of fiwts. A. is Terah's son. Terah, with A. his son and Lot his nephew, leave ITr-Casdim, and set out for Can. ; they stay at Haran, where Terah dies, 205 years old. A., 75 years old, accompanied by Lot. journevs to Ca"n. A. settles near .Mamre ; Lot goes K. to the Jordan valley. A. marries Hagar ten years after enter- ing Can. ; Ishmael'ls born in .\.'s Siith vear. In his l»Oth year God makes a covenant with him, and ordains the rite of circum- cision, changing his name to Abraham, and Sarai's to Sarah. A. laughs at the idea of Sarah having a son ; and the son to be born to him is to be called Isaac. In his 1 (Kith year A_. has a s()n Isaac, who is circumcised. Sarah dies at Hebron 127 years old, and A. purchases the cave of Machpelah for a burylng-place. Ho blm.self dies at the age of 175, and is buried by Isaac and Ishmael in the cave.
l>_]Srt. lib. 12 101-3. 15. 10 171.S7 ]9:»21'*'-"*^23. 2.5'-".
The combination of the three strata of tradition has only in a few instances led to apparent inconsistencies. The J narrative, which makes Haran A. s native country (Gn 12. 24). contains no allusion to Ur-Casdim. .J's narrative contains tiie story of A.'s cowardice in Egypt; it Is E's narrative which contains the story of his cowardice at the court of Abimelech, The narratives of .1 and E, which sjieak of Sarah's beauty attracting the notice of Egvptlans and Phili.stines, do not mention the ages of A. ami Sarah, .\ccordlng to .1. A . very prob. had died before the return of the servant with Kebekah, since vaN should prob. bo read
ABRAHAM
ABRAHAM
15
fur 12N in 24*^ ; for wecaii bardly Mippuse that Isaac's uiournin^' for his utother would have lastetl for three years. The mention of A. '8 nmrria^'e with Keturah in the foil. ch. Is derived from a diQerent source.
The foil, are the chief difficulties arising from the Abraham narrative : —
1. Th-' HiDiie of A.^s People. — From the fact that Tcrah is said to have lived at Ur-Casdim, and that Ur lias been identified by Assyrinlogists with Uru, the modern Muj;lieir, in S. Bab., the con- clusion has very commonly been drawn that A. migrated first from Chaldiea. This, however, depends upon the correctness of the identification, of Ur-Casilim with Uru, which has been much dis- puted on the irrouiids, (1) that the genealogy of (in 11'' brings tiie Seiu. race as far as Jlesopolamia, from which the next movement in the direction of t^an. would be to Haran ; (2) that the name Ciisdira wa-s applied to an Armenian tribe ; and (.3) that it does not appear in connexion with S. Bab. until much later (upon the whole controversy see Kittel, Hist, of Uehrews, Kug. tr. i. 180 f.; Dillmann, (tVh(>s(.<, p. 214 f. As to the position of Ur-C:usdim, see art. t'lt ok the Ch.vi.i>kks). The common early Heb. tradition .seems to be expressed in Gn 24, according to which A.'s kindred were the dwellers in N. Mesopotamia ; and it is this belief which also is reiterated in the story of .Jacob. Cf.