Abraham Believed Yahweh

1
Abraham Believed Yahweh

• He reckoned it to him as righteousness
• Yahweh reckoned it to Abraham as righteousness.
  his faithful response to the promise
• Abraham reckoned it to Yahweh as righteousness.
  Yahwehs faithful promise of descendants

2
The Faithfulness of Abraham

• Abram and Sarai leave Mesopotamia (124) let Lot
  choose land (129)
• Refuse plunder from war (chap 14)
• Believe in Yahweh (156)
• Kindness to strangers (chap 18)
• Pray for Sodom (1823-32)
• Send servant to get wife for Isaac (247)
• Gifts to Keturahs sons and Abraham sends them
  away (255-6)

3
Faithlessness of Abraham and Sarah

• Abram leaves land when famine strikes deceives
  Pharaoh to save himself (chap 12)
• Plans to make slave his heir (chap 15)
• Abraham and Sarah seek child by their own devices
  (Hagar chap 16)
• Sarah laughs about her pregnancy she lies.

4
The Covenant of Pieces

• A smoking fire pot and a flaming torch signs of
  Yahwehs presence
• Passing between cut up animals a ritually
  enacted curse. Cf. Jer 34 Sefire treaties 8c)
• May I, Yahweh, be cut in pieces if I ever violate
  this covenant to give Israels ancestors the land
• What an idea! A promise endorsed by a
  self-imposed divine curse

5
The Function of Gen 1513-16

• It explains why immediate promise to Abraham is
  only fulfilled 400 years later the iniquity of
  the Amorites is not yet complete. Cf. Lev
  1824-25
• Early adumbration of the Exodus from Egypt
• Two traditions combined 400 (430) years 4th
  generation

6
Interpretations of the Ancestral Covenant

• J Covenant reaches its fulfilment in the empire
  of David--from the river of Egypt to the
  Euphrates--and in covenant with David (2 Samuel 7
  and 23)
• D Covenant reaches its fulfilment in the
  covenant Yahweh made with Israel at Horeb/Sinai
• P Everlasting covenant is an end in itself

7
Covenantal Developments

• Covenant with David is basis for Israels
  messianic hope
• But in Isa 553 Benefits of the covenant with
  David are extended to all the people
• Sinai covenant could lead to blessings or curses
• Jeremiahnew Sinaitic covenant Ezekiel new,
  everlasting covenant
• No covenant for P at Sinai

8
Traits of the Priestly view of the Ancestors
(Genesis 17)

• Be blameless
• I will make you exceedingly fruitful also made
  to Sarah
• New name Abraham/Sarah to mark new status
• New name for deity El Shaddai (El the one of
  the cosmic mountain)
• Everlasting covenantalso with descendants

9
Priestly view (continued)

• land of sojournings as an everlasting possession
  (Genesis 23 281-4 359-12 483-7)
• God promise the land (cf. Exod 66-7 the
  Exodus 2943-44 God will meet with them)
• Circumcision as sign of the covenant
• Abraham carries through rite on the same day
• Circumcision extended also to foreigners

10
Circumcision

• Practiced by Egyptians, not practiced by
  Philistines, Babylonians
• Originally a puberty rite
• Cf. Exod 424-26
• Becomes an infancy rite in Israel

11
Ps Chronology of Abraham

• leaves Haran at 75 receives Hagar at 85--waited
  patiently 10 years for a child
• Isaac born when Abraham was 100 (Sarah 90)
• Abraham dies at 175--lived 100 years in the land
• Difficulties Sarah a ravishing beauty at 65
  (chap 12) and at 90 (chap 20)
• Ishmael 17 when Hagar carries him away and throws
  him under a bush

12
Ur of the Chaldeans

• Elsewhere ancestral traditions point to N.W.
  Mesopotamia
• Chaldeans do not antedate end of 2nd millennium
• Known to P 1131 and J 1128

13
The (near) sacrifice of Isaac

• Aspects of Hebrew narrative contrasted with the
  Odyssey
• What would have happened if
• Abraham had actually sacrificed Isaac
• Abraham had told Isaac what he was going to do
• Isaac had seen his father tremble as he raised
  the knife
• Abraham had found the substitute ram on the way
  up the mountain

14
The (near) sacrifice of Isaac (continued)

• typological connection with crucifixion
• popular motif in Christian art
• in Judaism--a meritorious act that reassures
  people that they are safe as Isaacs descendants
  God remembers Isaac and heeds prayer of Jewish
  people
• in Islam--Ishmael was the one almost sacrificed
  (one and only son)

15
The (near) sacrifice of Isaac (continued)

• Rejection of human sacrifice
• Mt. Moriah site of Solomons temple
• vv. 15-18 blessings are a reward for a particular
  act of Abraham

16
The Last Days of Abraham

• The Cave at Machpelah--the only real estate owned
  by the ancestors
• Abraham and Keturah have six sons--he gave them
  gifts and had them move out of the land.
• Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, and Leah
  all buried there.

17
The Problem of Eliezer

• The heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus.
  Speiser Two types of heirs in Hurrian (Nuzi)
  law aplu or direct heir ewuru or indirect
  heir, when normal inheritors lacking
• Nuzi texts do NOT deal with adoption of
  servants, such as Eliezer, and the adoptees at
  Nuzi could inherit alongside natural son (whereas
  Eliezer could not)