Abram to Abraham: A Literary Analysis of the Abraham Narrative

✍ Scribed by Jonathan Grossman

• Publisher: Peter Lang AG, Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften
• Year: 2016
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 574
• Series: Das Alte Testament im Dialog / An Outline of an Old Testament Dialogue
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Abram to Abraham explores the Abraham saga (11:27-22:24) through a literary lens, following the legendary figure of Abraham as he navigates the arduous odyssey to nationhood. Rather than overlook the textual discrepancies, repetitions and contradictions long noted by diachronic scholars, this study tackles them directly, demonstrating how many problems of the ancient text in fact hold the key to deeper understanding of the narrative and its objectives. Therefore, the book frequently notes the classic division of the text according to primary sources, but offers an alternative, more harmonious reading based on the assumption that the narrative forms a single, intentionally designed unit.
The narrative’s artistic design is especially evident in its arrangement of the two halves of the story around the protagonists’ change of name. The stories of Abram and Sarai in the first half of the cycle (11:27-16:16) are parallel to the stories of Abraham and Sarah in the second half (18:1-22:24). A close reading of this transformation in the biblical narrative illuminates the moral and theological values championed by the figure of Abraham as luminary, soldier, family man, and loyal subject of God.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Contents
Foreword
Introduction
“Abraham was but one man” (Eze 33:24)
The Historical Era of the Abraham Narrative
Sources, Redaction, and Cohesion
The Interchangeability of God’s Names in the Narrative
The Abraham Cycle as a Cohesive Unit
Redaction as Interpretation of the Text
The Narrative and Artistic Structure of the Abraham Cycle
The Context of the Narrative Cycle
Family and Nationality
The Abraham Cycle: Between “Nation” and “People”
Citizen Will and Divine Will
Nationalism and Morality
Moral Nationalism and Post-Modern Nationalism
Chapter 1: The Line of Terah (11:27–30)
Terah’s Journey to Canaan (11:31–32)
Plot Development
Literary Significance
Chapter 2: Abram’s Journey to Canaan (12:1–9)
The Omitted Introduction
Go Forth
Abram’s Journey
Abram’s Journey in Canaan and the Construction of Altars
Chapter 3: The Descent to Egypt (12:10–20)
Chapter 4: The Separation from Lot (Gen 13)
The Quarreling Herdsmen
Abram’s Proposal
Lot’s Choice: Sodom, like the Garden of Eden, like the land of Egypt
Chapter 5: War of the Four Kings – Lot’s Liberation (14)
Conquest of the Transjordan (1–7)
Lot’s Rescue (8–16)
Abram Takes Action
Abram Meets with the Kings (17–24)
Chapter 6: Looking to the Stars and the Covenant between the Pieces (15)
The Promise of Offspring
The Covenant between the Pieces (7–21)
Chapter 7: Hagar’s Flight (16)
“Her mistress was lowered in her esteem” – “Sarai treated her harshly” (1–7)
“Then Sarai treated her harshly, and she ran away from her”
The Meeting at the Spring (7–14)
Naming Names (13–14)
God Sees the Suffering of the Oppressed
Conclusion (15–16)
Chapter 8: The Covenant of Circumcision (17)
a-a1. “Abraham was ninety-nine years old”
b-b1. The Beginning and End of the Revelation
c-c1. Covenant and Fertility
d-d1: Abram Throws Himself on His Face
e-e1: The Name Change
F – The Covenant Sign (9–14)
Circumcision and the Rainbow as Covenant Signs
Chapter 9: Angels Eat and Sarah Laughs (18:1–16)
Abraham’s Guests (1–5)
Preparing the Feast (6–8)
Tidings of Isaac’s Birth (9–15)
Sarah’s Laughter
Chapter 10: The Debate over Sodom’s Destruction (18:16–33)
“Judge of all the Earth”
I Who Am but Dust and Ashes
Chapter 11: Sodom’s Destruction and Lot’s Rescue (19)
The Angels Arrive in Sodom (1–3)
The Townspeople (4–9)
The Verdict and Lot’s Escape (12–17)
Saving Zoar (18–22)
The Destruction of the Cities (23–26)
First Conclusion (27–28)
Second Conclusion (19:29)
Why was Lot Saved from Sodom?
Lot’s Liberation from Sodom and Israel’s Deliverance from Egypt
Lot’s Liberation from Sodom and Rahab’s Rescue from Jericho
Chapter 12: Lot and his Daughters in the Cave (19:30–38)
The Daughters
The Reasoning of the Elder Daughter
The Evaluation of Lot
Lot’s Daughters as an Epilogue to the Destruction of Sodom
Lot’s Daughters in the Context of the Abraham Cycle
Evaluation of the Characters
Chapter 13: Abraham and Sarah in Gerar (20)
Abraham’s Journey to Gerar (1)
Abimelech Takes Sarah (2)
The Dialogue between God and Abimelech (3–7)
Early Next Morning (8)
Abimelech and Abraham (9–13)
Reconciliation (14–18)
A Double Reading
Chapter 14: The Birth of Isaac and Ishmael’s Expulsion (21:1–21)
Reactions to the Birth (6–8)
The Expulsion of Ishmael (9–21)
Sarah’s Demand (9–10)
Ishmael is Sent to his Future (11–14)
Saving Ishmael (14–21)
How Old is Ishmael?
The Structure and Purpose of the Narrative
Hagar’s Flight (Gen 16) and Hagar’s Expulsion (21)
Chapter 15: The Treaty of Abraham and Abimelech (21:22–34)
Chapter 16: The Binding of Isaac (22)
Introduction I: Did Abraham Pass the Test?
Introduction II: The Binding Narrative in Context
Introduction III: The Land of Moriah
Exposition (1)
God’s Command (1–2)
Abraham’s Implementation (3)
First Dialogue: Abraham and the Servants (4–5)
Second Dialogue: Abraham and Isaac (6–8)
Abraham Binds Isaac and Picks up the Knife (9–10)
The Angel’s Revelation and the Sacrifice of the Ram (11–14)
Misleading Conclusion
God’s Promise (15–18)
Sacrifice of the Ram and the Structure of the Narrative
Conclusion (19)
Chapter 17: The Sons of Nahor (22:20–24)
Conclusion
Bibliography