Some False Clues in the Study of Genesis Xiv

Abstract

Any light that can be shed on the obscure fourteenth chapter of Genesis is welcome. From time to time, two types of theory have been advanced, either of which, if it could be proved, would be very significant for the study of the passage and of the events recorded in it. The first type of theory is that the chapter is in verse, or at least shows signs of being based on a poetic original. The proof of such a theory would be of importance for the historian, for it would help him to understand the form in which the tradition was transmitted, and might strengthen the case for believing that reliable material was handed down over a period of some centuries. A comparison might be made with the Homeric poems, which preserved by means of their poetic form many historical reminiscences through several hundred years of oral transmission, although they also contain much that is later 2). The second type ot theory is that the chapter betrays evidence of being based on an Accadian original written in the cuneiform script, and there can be no doubt that the demonstration of this view would be very important; it might even be possible to maintain that the chapter is based on a document dating from the time or Abraham himself. Since these two kinds of theory have far-reaching consequences, it is necessary to study them carefully, and the purpose of the present paper is to subject them to a critical examination.