01_Biblica_Hong_Layout 1 08/07/13 12:54 Pagina 337 01_B 337 ABRAHAM, GENESIS 20–22, AND THE NORTHERN ELOHIST The trace of this gradual change in the memory of the ancestral history is embedded in biblical literature. The memory of Abraham as the father of Israel is sparse in early biblical tradition outside the Pentateuch. Even when his name appears, Abraham is remembered seldom alone but mostly as the head of the triad Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That is, within the Pentateuch, Abraham is mentioned always within the triad 67. Outside the Pentateuch, Abraham occurs only twenty-five times, among which only four times (Isa 51,2; 63,16; Ezek 33,24; Neh 9,7-8) is Abraham remembered independently of Jacob. The formation of the triad, as several scholars have pointed out, has a late origin 68. In contrast, Jacob is remembered as an ances- tral figure much more frequently. The majority of these instances occur outside the Pentateuch (134 times), more than five times the occurrences of the name of Abraham. Among them, only twice (2 Kgs 13,23; Jer 33,26) is Jacob remembered as a part of the triad. That is, unlike Abraham, Jacob is mostly remembered independently as the father of Israel outside the Pentateuch. Particularly noteworthy is the status of these patriarchs in prophetic literature, especially in eighth- century prophecy, which channels early witnesses. The wealth of memory of Jacob as the father of Israel in Isaiah, Hosea, Amos, Micah, and Jeremiah is starkly contrasted with the dearth of memory of Abraham as the father in those books. This probably means that Jacob’s status as the founding father of Israel is independent of and precedes the later formation of the ancestral triad. It is only later in the history of Israelite thought that Abraham began to be remembered independently as the founding figure of the people of YHWH. How to reconstruct the development of Abraham’s status in Is- raelites’ memory constitutes a subject of its own. But at least one can say that the absence of Abraham, as well as Jacob’s indepen- dence from him in early biblical tradition, supports our conclusion that northern Israelites did not remember Abraham as their father. * * * Exod 2,24; 3,6.15.16; 4,5; 6,3.8; 32,13; 33,1; Lev 26,42; Num 32,11; 67 Deut 1,8; 6,10; 9,5.27; 29,13; 30,20; 34,4. E.g. R.J. TOURNAY, “Genèse de la triade ‘Abraham-Isaac-Jacob’”, RB 68 103 (1996) 321-336; M. KÖCKERT, Vätergott und Väterverheißungen. Eine Auseinandersetzung mit Albrecht Alt und seinen Erben (FRLANT 148; Göt- tingen 1988). © Gregorian Biblical Press 2013 - Tutti i diritti riservati