The Patriarchs: History or Legend?

The Patriarchs: History or Legend?• “Near the end of chapter 11, Genesis narrows

its focus to a single family, that of Abraham and Sarah. The stories of this family and their descendants take up the rest of Genesis. The narratives that make up this part of Genesis belong to the genre of legend, the kinds of stories ancient peoples told about their ancestors. Such stories may contain very ancient remembrances of ancestral tradition, but they are not what we call history.” (Sumney, 67)

The Patriarchs: History or Legend?The Theory• Written during the Babylonian captivity• 1500 years after the alleged events occur• Authored by priests to inspire the people• Mythology, folktales, and legendsQuestion: Is the Genesis record of the patriarchs reliable as history?

Types of Ancient StoriesWhich does Genesis sound like?• Mythology: Stories about the gods• Folktales: Anonymous people; vague setting• Legends: Other worldly, “… a world peopled

by golden mountains, lapis lazuli rocks, animals that come alive when their severed heads are rejoined, and so on.” (Kitchen)

• History: Specific people in specific places doing specific, “ordinary” things

The Details of Abraham• Terah has three sons (Haran, Abraham,

Nahor) and a nephew (Lot) (Gn 11).• They live in Ur of the Chaldees.• Abraham takes his family southwest,

travelling as far as Egypt (Gn 12-13).• Abraham fights invaders (Gn 14), enters a

covenant with his God (Gn 15), fathers children (Gn 16-18), and sees his son marry before his death (Gn 24-25).

Abraham Meets Pharaoh

Genesis 12:18• How could Abraham,

from the East, actually meet Pharaoh, who lived in the South of Egypt?

Abraham Meets Pharaoh

From 1975-1540 BC, Egyptian kings kept an East Delta palace near Avaris.

Abraham Meets PharaohGenesis 12:10-20• Did travelers from the East visit Egypt?• Tomb of Khnumhotep II (1870 BC), governor

on the Nile’s east bank.

Abraham Meets Pharaoh• How do we know they are from the East?• His name is Ab-sharru, a middle Eastern

name meaning “the father is king.”• Ab-ram: “the father is exalted”

Popular Baby NamesAre these authentic names?• Notice that Patriarchal names often begin

with a “ya/yi” sound (or in English “i” or “j”).• Isaac, Ishmael, Jacob, Joseph … etc.• This type of name is common in ancient

history at certain times.• A study of names in all known ancient

historical records in this region reveals the following …

Popular Baby Names

approx. 2000 BC approx. 1500 BC approx. 1000 BC0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Percentage of “ya/yi” Names

The Price of a SlaveGenesis 37:28• Joseph sold as a slave for 20 Shekels• 1800 BC: 20 Shekels– Code of Hammurabi– From transactions at Mari and Old Babylon

• 1500 BC: 30 Shekels (See Ex 21:32)• 1000 BC: 50-60 Shekels (Assyria)• 500 BC: 90-120 Shekels (Persian)

CONCLUSIONS• From K.A. Kitchen: “The oft-stated claim of

a ‘consensus’ that the patriarchs never existed is itself a case of self delusion on the data presented here, and (if one may be forgiven for saying so) in fact a ‘con-nonsense-us’!”

• Read Hebrews 11:8-22