Page:A critical and exegetical commentary on Genesis (1910).djvu/92



fact, neither is in the least degree probable; and, as we shall see presently, Noah's sacrifice is an incident which P would certainly have suppressed if he had known of it.—In the history of Abraham there is again no reason to suspect any omission. Here is a literal translation of the disjecta membra of P's epitome of the biography of Abraham, with no connexions supplied, and only one verse transposed (19$29$): 12$4b$ "Now Abram was 75 years old when he went out from Ḥarran. $5$ And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions which they had acquired, and all the souls whom they had procured; and they went out to go to the land of Canaan, and they came to the land of Canaan. 13$6$ And the land could not bear them so that they might dwell together, for their possessions were great, and they were not able to dwell together. 11$b$ So they separated from one another: 12$ab$ Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the Oval. 19$29$ And when God destroyed the cities of the Oval, God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot away from the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt.—16$1$ Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. $3$ So Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to Abram her husband for a wife to him. $15$ And Hagar bore to Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son whom Hagar bore to him Ishmael. $16$ And Abram was 86 years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.—17$1$ And when Abram was 99 years old, Yahwe appeared to Abram, and said to him," etc. Here follows the account of the covenant with Abraham, the change of his name and that of Sarai, the institution of circumcision, and the announcement of the birth of Isaac to Sarah (ch. 17).—The narrative is resumed in 21$1b$ "And Yahwe did to Sarah as he had spoken, $2b$ at the appointed time which God had mentioned. $3$ And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. $4$ And Abraham circumcised Isaac his son when he was 8 days old, as God had commanded him. $5$ And Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac his son was born to him.—23$1$ And the life of Sarah was 127 years; $2$ and Sarah died in Kiryath Arba, that is Hebron, in the land of Canaan." This introduces the story of the purchase of Machpelah as a burying-place (ch. 23), and this brings us to—25$7$ "And these are the days of the years of the life of Abraham which he lived: 175 years; $8$ and he expired. And Abraham died in a good old age, an old man and full [of years], and was gathered to his father's kin. $9$ And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar, the Hittite, which is opposite Mamre: $10$ the field which Abraham bought from the sons of Heth: there was Abraham buried, and Sarah his wife.—$11$ And after the death of Abraham, God blessed Isaac his son." The reader can judge for himself whether a narrative so continuous as this, every isolated sentence of which has been detached from its context by unmistakable criteria of the style of P, is likely to have been produced by the casual additions of a mere supplementer of an older work. And if he objects to the transposition of 19$29$, let him