ABRAHAM, THE
PATRIARCHAL LEADER
Introduction
 ABRAHAM, THE PATRIARCHAL LEADER

Did Abraham really live? Was there
actually a man in history, son of Terah, who
was known as Abram, then later Abraham?
Could his story have been a myth? Was
this a tradition passed down orally through
the generations about a supposed man of
history?
 Were the stories of Adam, Noah,
Methuselah, and Abraham simply the work
of a mixture of stories from early cultures
handed down from parents to children?
 One cannot deal properly with the topic of
Abraham without answering some of the
problems with the text of the book of
Genesis.
 Gensis yields some puzzling textual
problems that will help us understand topics
of the patriarchs like Abraham.
 So, take a look at some of the interesting
textual studies involved.
The Documentary Hypothesis
 Some 18th Century Bible scholars thought
the stories to be mythological. As a result of
the emergence of the Documentary
Hypothesis, the world has been subjected to
a maze of ideas about how our Bible came
to be. And, this hazy misinformation has
continued to be touted by all the postmodern
scholars of our day.
 The Documentary Hypothesis, and its stepchildren with all their variations, have tainted
the thinking of most of the modern scholars.
Hardly a current commentary, dictionary, or
encyclopedia is published today untainted
by this infidel assumption.
 Briefly, the DH began with challenges
offered by H. B. Witter, a protestant priest in
1711. Jean Astruc, a French physician,
enlarged on Witter’s queries about
supposed contradictions in Genesis in 1753.
 Later, J. G. Eichorn added more ideas in
1783, while Heinrich Eward in 1823
published another early work with the same
channel of thought. Karl Graf picked up on
these postulations in 1860, and Julius
Welhausen in 1876 gave some of the
crowning thoughts and is often thought of as
the father of the hypothesis.
 All of these men studied and wrote, one
building upon the other until today there is
the full-blown modernistic assault upon the
veracity of the Bible.
 Briefly, the theory assumes there were 4
major records in the Old Testament by a
series of authors that were later edited by a
Redactor to produce the five books of the
Pentateuch. The major documents are
called “J-E-D-P.”
 The “J” document is supposed to be the
account where the name Jehovah (YHWH)
is found in Genesis. The E”” document is
where Elohim is used in Genesis. Because
sections of Genesis switch back and forth in
the use of these words for God, the
assumption is that there were different
authors.
 The “D” document is supposedly written by
the man who gave the Deuteronomic codes
and laws, while the “P” document concerns
the priestly functions and laws,
 A “Redactor” is essential to this theory as he
must have been the one to take the four
major works and blend them together into
what is now known as the first five books of
the Bible.
 This theory is an attempt to give a human
reason behind the writing of the Bible. It
denies any idea of inspiration.
 The unity of the 66 books of the Bible is one
of the strongest arguments to defeat the
hypothesis.
 How could forty men over a period of 1600
years, all living in different countries,
separated by centuries, come up with such
a unified story of redemption accomplished
through the seed of Abraham?
 How does one account for such blended
history of the promise?
 There just were too many years, too much
distance from each other, for the oral
traditions of myths to produce the Bible.
 (See Josh McDowell, More Evidence That
Demands a Verdict, Campus Crusade for
Christ International, Arrowhead Springs, San
Bernadino, CA, 1975, pp. 25-178 for a
condensed look at the Documentary
Hypothesis and its refutation.)
 As for the actuality of Abraham and the
other men of the Old Testament, one has to
deny many other things to come to such a
conclusion.
 The prophets uniformly spoke of these early
patriarchs, as did Jesus and the writers of
the New Testament. If these men were only
mythological persons, then Jesus and host
of others were surely misinformed!
Genesis as a book
 Genesis (the LXX used “Ge/nejiß” or
generation) is simply the oldest book in the
world. It is the oldest history in the world.
There are scattered mss found that may be
earlier, but for any definitive composition
known as a history book, Genesis is it.
 The first part of the book is a history of the
world, the latter part contains the history of
the Hebrew race and the unfolding of the
promise of God.
 Genesis a “Book of Beginnings”
 Outline of the Genesis
 The Importance of Genesis
 The Voice of Jehovah at the Opening of
Great Eras
The Days of Creation
 Were they 24-hour days?
 Does it make any difference whether they
were 24-hour days or eons?
 Was there a gap between Genesis 1:1 and
1:2?
 Genesis and the Nature of God
 “the angel of the LORD”
 Abraham a Real Historical Person?
 Digest of Life
 Four Pericopes
 Significant Voices of Jehovah
 Inspired Outline of Abraham’s Life
 Successive Theophanies
 Highest Trials Highest Blessings
 Abraham’s Character
 “And there builded he an altar unto
Jehovah”
 Abraham’s Worship
 Role As a Leader
 Independence As a Leader
 Important Texts in the NT About Abraham