01_Biblica_Hong_Layout 1 08/07/13 12:54 Pagina 329 01_B 329 ABRAHAM, GENESIS 20–22, AND THE NORTHERN ELOHIST Israel and the J stories by someone concerned with Judah” 28. Yet I do not see his “consistent series of clues” to be critically supported, as I discuss below. In no way have historians discovered evidence that northern Israelites were more reluctant to use YHWH while Judeans had no qualms employing it 29. Second, the notion of ‘fear of God’, another well-established Elo- histic motif, is certainly better represented in Genesis 20 compared to its earlier parallel in Gen 12,10-20. Scholars such as H.W. Wolff supposed this theme central to the northern theology 30. Wolff was confident enough to pinpoint the Elohist to the time of Elijah when Israel faced some of its greatest cultic, political, and social tempta- tions, prompting the Elohist to attempt to bring Israel back to obedi- ence to God by focusing on the fear of God. Surprisingly, however, Wolff provides no basis for the alleged northern interest in the fear of God; he simply presumes it, apparently based on his source-critical framework. One may, again, agree that this notion is Elohistic 31, but, in order to say it is northern, one must first establish that the entire Elohistic document originated from northern Israel, a thesis I am cur- rently scrutinizing. That the Joseph story evinces the idea of the fear of God was frequently employed as a justification for its northern orientation. However, the Joseph story, according to source critics, also includes J layers. If so, unless one critically demonstrates how its E layer more prominently betrays the notion of fear of God, this argument is largely ineffective. Admittedly, the notion of fear of God may tentatively point to the influence of a wisdom or prophetic tra- dition. But, for that matter, Judah is as well represented as its northern neighbor. It is therefore not incidental that Zimmer, who highlights the wisdom and prophetic dimensions of Genesis 20–22, concludes that E belonged to exilic Judah 32. Third, it is commonly held that E has a more developed moral and theological perspective than J33 and thus it prefers revelation in a dream FRIEDMAN, Who Wrote, 61. 28 Cf. SKINNER, Genesis, xlix. 29 See esp. WOLFF, “Elohistic Fragments”, 67-82. 30 For a different view, see G.W. COATS, “Abraham’s Sacrifice of Faith”, 31 Int 27 (1973) 396 n. 7; J.F. CRAGHAN, “Elohist in Recent Literature”, BTB 7 (1977) 27. ZIMMER, Der Elohist, 286-293. 32 Contra ALEXANDER, Abraham, 47. 33 © Gregorian Biblical Press 2013 - Tutti i diritti riservati