Shannon's SuperScrip: The Date of Abraham (Essay)

Preface: This was written for my Advanced Bible - Old Testament class when I was a student of Bible & Ministry and submitted May 11, 2001.

The Date of Abraham

Both biblical and extra-biblical data bear on the date of Abraham. There is a huge difference in the evaluation of materials among scholars. Here I will present the views of the liberal and conservative scholars along with my own opinion of the dating of Abraham. The dating depends on mainly three sets of dates. Those three being, the date of Israel’s Exodus, or flight, from Egypt; the duration of Israel’s stay in Egypt; and the length of time between Abraham’s birth date and Jacob’s descent into Egypt with his family. All three of the dates cause a full debate within themselves, but I will only present a brief example of the two sides.

Liberal scholars’ dating conclusions vary from the latter half of the fifteenth century to the twentieth. I found a view that puts the birth at 2166 based off of the information as follows:

“Abram born in Ur of the Chaldeas, marries Sarai and migrates to Haran with his cousin Lot and Father Terah. Terah dies in Haran (Gen. 11)… Scripture is silent about the details of Abraham’s life before he entered Canaan. Genesis 11:28 states that he was born in Ur of the Chaldeans, an important Sumerian city. The reference to “Chaldeans” is probably anachronistic as the Chaldeans did not arrive in Assyria until about 1 000 BC (Wenhan, 1987: 272). From Ur Terah led his family North to Haran (11:31) were they settled for a time. Although only Terah, Abram, Sarai and Lot are mentioned in the text it appears that Nahor and Milcah also moved North, probably at the same time (cf. 22:20-24; 24:10). Haran was an important caravan center for the Amorite migrations. There is no evidence in the biblical text to tell us whether Terah and his family settled inside either of these cities in houses or outside in tents, but it seems that the former is the more probable. Elsewhere in Genesis Rebekah’s family are said to reside in a city (24:10) and live in houses (24:23) as opposed to the tents in which Abraham’s family now lived (24:67). The journey from Haran to Canaan no doubt involved a great change in lifestyle for Abram and his family.”

As you can see, the dating argument is based on the reference to “Chaldeans”, not much sustenance here.

“Conservative scholars generally favor an earlier date, usually placing the actual birth of Abraham during the middle of the twenty-second century.” I have come across someone who believes that the birth date of Abraham is between 2310 and 2305 B.C., a very early model of time. His views are as follows:

“I will claim that the reason why nothing has ever been found, is that the Patriarchs are wrongly placed in time. By moving them nearly 150 years backwards in time, the incidents of the Bible fit extraordinarily well into the frame of history. Except from this necessary "adjustment", no extreme artifice is needed to make the Patriarch stories fit into history…

"Now these are the descendants of Terah. Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran was the father of Lot. Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chalde'ans."

In the Bible it is nowhere said that Abraham was contemporary to king Nimrod. But it certainly leaves this possibility open. Neither from the Koran does this emerge. But both the Jewish and the Islamic tradition leave no doubt. They moreover see Abraham and Nimrod as enemies towards each other. Traditions and legends however should be taken very carefully. They use to exalt the main people to a hero-status with an almost divine appearance. Exactly as heroic legends from other cultures … besides these obvious extremes, it is possible that there are historical realities behind at least some of the legends. In Ginzberg's: The Legends of the Jews, is told that Nimrod is elevating himself to be a god. According to the historical sources, Sargon never did that. Neither did his two sons. But his grandchild Naram-Sin and his son did. As will be seen later, the legends did obviously mix all five important kings of the Akkadian dynasty.

So I assume that Abraham was born during the first part of Sargons reign.” To be honest, I do not see much a debate here with reference to biblical verses and data, but I think it proved my point.

My opinion will always be biblically based, therefore not really my opinion, but rather a reiteration of God’s word. On this topic, however, I have not come to a conclusion on a date. I rather have come to conclude that of what importance is it to base debates and create division among the body of Christ all on the issue of dating the Bible? I think that if the dates were really that vital, God would have made it clearer to us. Also, should we follow the Word more or less because it was written 200 years earlier than what you thought? I would only hope not. Let’s not also forget that the calendar as we know it was created for man’s purposes to measure time, not God’s, so does God really care about the date? God is here with us now and he wants to enjoy it with us now, not see us arguing over the dates of the past, I believe. So, “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15)

As you can see in the opinions stated, especially the early model seems very far out with no “real” biblical support. The verses seem to be added to or read to be more than they are. The dating of the Bible and its events are important, but not nearly as important as the words contained in it. As it says in 2 Timothy 2:15, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

3 - See Note 1, pg 18-19

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Friday, September 03, 2010

The Date of Abraham (Essay)