Abraham, the Nations, and the Hagarites Part 3
August 06, 2022
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Abraham, the Nations, and the Hagarites Part 3
ed noort
.The Beersheba scene repeats that
the promises to Isaac will be fulfilled because of Abraham (:). In
Gen the Isaac tradition is woven into the Abraham tradition, again
in clear (post)-Deuteronomistic formulations: “oath,” “to listen to Yhwh’s
voice,” Yhwh’s “commandments,” “statutes,” and “laws.” In the Jacob cycle
the notion of “the blessing of Abraham” ( ) is introduced as
a well-known formula, referring to offspring and possession of the land
(:). Genesis :– once again portrays Abraham’s son Ishmael, but
ultimately the formula “God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob/Israel” pre-
vails.16 Offspring, the sworn and given land,17 and the covenant18 are the
main themes connecting the deity and the three patriarchs. Abraham
appears, with or without his patriarchal colleagues, in prayers, blessings,
geographical notions, genealogies, and in the enigmatic presentation of
Josh :–.19
In the Latter Prophets—important for the problems of chronology—
Abraham is only mentioned seven times: Isa :; :–; :; :;
Jer :; Ezek :; Mic :.20 Here, Abraham figures in the prophetic
literature on the edge of exile or later.
The last verse of the book of Micah (:) presupposes the promise of
the land as an oath to the patriarchs:
16 God of Abraham, God of Isaac (Gen :); God of (our fathers) Abraham, Isaac,
and Israel (Kgs :; Chr :; Chr :); God of my father, God of Abraham, and
(“the fear of Isaac”) (Gen :); God of my father Abraham, God of my father
Isaac (Gen :); God of your father, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Exod :);
God of your/their fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Exod :, ; :); God
before whom Abraham and Isaac walked (Gen :); God of Abraham, God of Nachor
(Gen :); God who chose () Abram/renamed Abraham (Neh :); Yhwh appeared
to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as
(“El Shaddai”) (Exod :). 17 Land given to Abraham and Isaac, (now) to you (Jacob) and your descendants (Gen
:); land, I/he swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Gen :; Exod :; :; Num
: []; Deut :; :; :, ; :; :); land given to Abraham, your
(“friend”) (Chr :). 18 Covenant with Abraham (and Isaac, and Jacob) (Exod :; Lev :; Deut :;
Kgs :; Ps :; Chr :). 19 Cf. Gen : (Kiriat-Arba “where Abraham and Isaac as aliens lived”); Gen :
(“let my name [Jacob] be perpetuated and the name of Abraham and Isaac”); Gen :,
; : (Machpelah; Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah and Leah); Exod :
(“remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel”); Josh : (Abraham and Nahor);
Josh : (the taking of Abraham from beyond the river); Ps :, (offspring of
Abraham his servant); Chr :, , (the genealogy of Abraham). 20 C. Jeremias, “Die Erzväter in der Verkündigung der Propheten,” in Beiträge zur
alttestamentlichen Theologie: Festschrift für Walther Zimmerli zum . Geburtstag (ed.
H. Donner, R. Hanhart, and R. Smend; Göttingen ), –; Köckert, “Geschichte,”
abraham andthe nations
Grant faithfulness to Jacob
and steadfast love to Abraham,
as you have sworn to our fathers
in the days of old. (Mic :)
After Julius Wellhausen, scholars almost unanimously ascribe the hym-
nic fragments Mic :–, –, – to redactional hands.21 The
author hopes for Yhwh’s (“faithfulness”) and (“love”) a fulfilment
of the oath made to the fathers even in the present situation of Israel’s
guilt and sin.22 Both Jacob and Abraham are mentioned, not as individu-
als but as the descendants of the fathers, the present generation in exile.
In the past, Yhwh had sworn an oath to the fathers (patriarchs). Refer-
ring to that oath, the descendants of those patriarchs hope for a renewed
fulfilment in the present situation.
The oldest prophetic text in which Abraham plays a part is the divine
saying in Ezek :–.
Ezekiel
aα Son of man, the inhabitants of these ruins in the land of Israel
) say:
a “Abraham was only one,
aγ and he gained possession of the land;
bα but we are many:
b the land is surely given to us to possess.” (Ezek :)
Yhwh himself quotes the complaint of the people in his word to the
prophet. The people addressed are the non-exiled inhabitants of Jerusa-
lem after the fall of the city ( bce). They are still many, so they claim
the land with a reference to Abraham, who was only one. If, according
to the tradition, this one man was entitled to the land, then surely his
offspring, who had a narrow escape from death and deportation, were
also entitled. This claim is refuted by Yhwh because “a right is derived
from the fact of their having been spared.”23Therefore a judgement oracle
21 A.S. van der Woude, Micha (POT; Nijkerk ), , sees here his Deutero-Micah
at work. He offers two useful corrections for the translation. (“you will give”) should
be handled as a iussive and with reference to :,
should not be translated as
“since the days of old,” but as “in the days of old.” 22 “Die Sammlung liturgischer Stücke in ,– . . . ist aber in ihrer Fülle und in ihrem
Gehalt insgesamt ein völliges Novum am Ende des Michabuches. Kein Gerichtswort ist
mehr zu hören, weder Anklagen noch Urteilsansagen . . .” (H.W. Wolff, Micha [BKAT
.; Neukirchen-Vluyn ], ). 23 W. Zimmerli, Ezekiel (Hermeneia; Philadelphia
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ed noort
follows: “Those who are among the ruins, shall fall by the sword . . .”
(Ezek :–).
Whether, as Köckert proposes, Ezek :–, presuppose the
existence of the temple, cannot be proven. Nor can the supposition that
Ezek : was intended as a word of encouragement.24 The text fits the
chaos after the actual fall of Jerusalem. A discussion that started in Ezek
with a similar claim concerning the first deportations of bce, was
prolonged after bce. In Ezek the statement of the Jerusalemites
was: “They [the exiles] are far from Yhwh, to us [Jerusalemites] has the
land been given for a possession” (:). This claim was also denied.
The question behind this denial—Are the exiles cut off from Yhwh?—is
answered with the assurance of Yhwh’s presence among the exiles. Hence,
the vision ends with the chariot and the
(“the glory of Yhwh”),
which ascends from the city to the Mount of Olives and retreat to the
east (:–). Although used within a negatively judged quotation, the
image of Abraham is clear. Abraham is the one lone man for whom the
promise of the land was fulfilled. The tradition of Gen must lie in the
background.
Second and Third Isaiah reveal other details:
Isaiah
aα But you, Israel, my servant,
a Jacob, whom I have chosen,
b offspring of Abraham, who loved me,
aα you, whom I took from the ends of the earth,
a called from its farthest corners,
bα saying to you: “You are my servant,
b I have chosen you and not cast you off.” (Isa :–)
Through the adversative (“but you”), Isa :– address the triplet
Israel/Jacob/seed of Abraham. In this way, the exiled Israel is placed
within the Abrahamitic tradition. The terminology is familiar:
(“ser-
vant”) and (“to choose”) (:, ; :; :; :, ; :; :, ),
(“to call”) and the servant Israel (:; :), and (“to be strong”)
(pi#el :; :; hip#il :; : + [“to call”]; :). The usual trans-
lation of the apposition
(“my friend”) establishes the relationship
between Abraham and Yhwh within the framework of (“to choose”).
The stress is on Yhwh’s love for Abraham, as the versions and James
demonstrate: lxx σπρμα Αρααμ
ν γ
πησα (“the seed of Abraham,
24 Köckert, “Geschichte,”
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abraham andthe nations
whom I loved”), Aquila σπρμα Αρααμ γ
πητυ μυ (“the seed of
Abraham, my beloved”), Symmachus τυ ιλυ μυ (“my friend”), Vg.
Abraham amici mei (“Abraham, my friend”), and Jas : (λς ε
“the friend of God”).25 Within the wider context of the Hebrew Bible this
position is mainly supported by Deuteronomistic literature. It is, how-
ever, contrary to the active participle of the mt (
“he who loves me”).
Therefore, it is no coincidence that the BHS proposes to vocalize the
active form as a passive participle
(“he who was loved by me”) in
order to harmonize the classic meaning with the mt. However, both Neh
: and Ezek :26 proclaim an active translation: Abraham, who loves
Yhwh.
At this stage of the reception history, Isa :b demonstrates how
Abraham is on the one hand, involved in part of the identification of
Jacob/Israel, while on the other hand his position is a higher one because
of his love for God. Therefore, Abraham has a special status. He is an
exemplary believer who loves Yhwh, who has called him from the ends
of the world, not far from where the exiles were now situated (a), and
Abraham followed this calling. “From the ends of the earth” (
) refers to the promised land, and the land is the focus of both
the Abraham tradition and the encouragement of Jacob/Israel. Yhwh
has even dedicated the servant’s title
(“my servant”) to Abraham.27
Through
(“the offspring of Abraham”), the promise once
made to Abraham is now also applicable to the exiles.28 Chosenness and
covenant include Jacob/Israel. Therefore, there is hope for the future.
25 Apart from this first meaning, Beuken, Jesaja IIA, also leaves room for an active
translation of (“he who loves”), meaning loyalty on the part of Abraham: “because
Yhwh has chosen, Abraham was capable of loyalty.” To the active interpretation and trans-
lation of
as “who loved me,” see J.L. Koole, Jesaja II ( vols.; COT; Kampen ),
:–. Koole demonstrates that the archaic translation of the Dutch Statenvertal-
ing “My lover/devotee” correctly observed this. P. Höffken, “Abraham und Gott, oder:
wer liebt hier wen? Anmerkungen zu Jes ,,” BN (): –, pointed out that
in the Greek translations the emphasis is on God’s acting towards Abraham, because
they leave out the suffix -
(“I took you”), pointing towards Israel/Jacob. Abraham,
not Jacob/Israel, should be the addressee in this passage. He himself, like Koole, pro-
posed an active translation, mentioning eleven parallels for participles with suffixes. Pace
C. Jeremias, “Erzväter,” . 26 Koole, Jesaja II, : and Höffken, “Wer liebt hier wen,” . 27 The title
(“my servant”) is not used in the Abraham cycle itself, but appears
again in the promise to Isaac: Gen :. 28 Köckert, “Geschichte,” , believes he has enough proof to reconstruct the original
text: vv. a, –. He holds vv. b– to be a later reworking that sharpens the contours
of Abraham’s profile. However, his main argument is the exceptional use of the Abraham
analogy. There is no reason to deny this analogy to Second Isaiah.
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ednoort
Isaiah
aα Listen to me,
a you that pursue righteousness,
aγ you that seek Yhwh;
bα Look to the rock (from which) you were hewn
b and to the quarry29 (from which) you were dug;
aα Look to Abraham your father
a and to Sarah who gave you birth;30
bα Certainly,31 he was but one when I called him,
b for blessing him32 and making him many. (Isa :–)
Structured by the threefold call to listen (
aα, aα; hip#il aα),
the complex of Yhwh’s (“deliverance”) in Isa :– starts in vv. ,
with the proclamation of those who identify themselves with the ser-
vant in contrast to those “who are far from (‘deliverance’)” (Isa
:; :–).33 It is not the land, but Zion which is at the centre of
interest, the usual focus of Second Isaiah (Isa :). The addressees
are those who respond to the servant’s call to return to Zion. In Isa
:–, everything is focused on the rebirth of the people, exempli-
fied by the names of Abraham and Sarah. However, the connection
to Abraham and Sarah is controversial: (“rock”) is a usual meta-
phor for the deity34 (Isa :). In this context, the rock should refer
to Abraham, of which no proof can be found.35 Nevertheless, both
29 -
(“to pierce”) means here either the tool to drive in nails (hammer) or the
result (the hole). (“pit”) is probably a gloss, see Koole, Jesaja II, :. 30 Pol. Impf.
(“to give birth in pain”). 31 As in v. , the emphatic
is indicated. 32 QIsaa reads (“and I will make him fruitful”), from (“to be fruitful”),
which points to the blessing itself, but is also an elaborate interpretation. The lxx offers
its own interpretation of v. . After κα ε λ γησα α τ ν (“and I blessed him”) it adds κα
γ
πησα α τ ν (“and I loved him”), in which God’s love for Abraham is emphasized in
accordance with Gen : lxx. 33 W.A.M. Beuken, Jesaja deel IIB (POT; Nijkerk ), . 34 D. Eichhorn, Gott als Fels, Burg und Zuflucht: Eine Untersuchung zum Gebet des
Mittlers in den Psalmen (EHST ; Frankfurt ); P.A.H. de Boer, Second-Isaiah’s Message
(OTS ; Leiden ), – (“The Rock”). 35 In this case, the passive forms !"#$ (“you were hewn”) and !%#&' (“you were dug”)
are problematic. The versions solve the problem by using active forms such as the lxx
μλψατε ε"ς τ#ν στερε$ν πτραν %ν λατμ&σατε κα ε"ς τ ν υνν τ λ
κκυ
ν 'ρ()ατε (“Look to the solid rock, that you hew out and to the hole, the cistern, that
you dig”). De Boer, Second-Isaiah’s Message, , argued that in the mt active forms should
also be read: !"# (“you hew out”) and !%() (“you bore/dig”). The rock and the cistern
become metaphors for Yhwh himself. The God-seekers of v. are “people who hew out
the rock to find life-giving water and protecting qualities, who dig a cistern that can hold
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