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Home THE BIBLE UNEARTHED: THE MAKING OF A RELIGION -- ILLUSTRATED SCREENPLAY & SCREENCAP GALLERY |
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[Thomas Romer, University of Lausanne] The history of the Patriarchs in the Bible is also a family history
Abraham was not only Isaac's father, he was also Ishmael's father who is at the origin of all Arab tribes. And Isaac is not only Jacob's father, he's also Esau's father. And then Abraham is also Lot's uncle. This means that all the different peoples, clans and tribes that live in Canaan, and in Cis in trans-Jordan, are linked by being descendants of Abraham. So all these people are presented as being part of one great family, with the problems faced by all families, but also the idea of a profound link between all these different peoples.
[Narrator] According to the Biblical texts, many of the peoples and neighboring kingdoms are related to Judah.
The long family SAGA of the Bible, as in any extended family tree, WEAVES the links that unites these peoples. But it also does more than that.
[Neil Asher Silberman, Center for Archaeological Research -- ENAME Belgium] What we see in the figure of Abraham is a SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATION of the birth of the nation. Because at the time of the writing of the Bible, the history of the people of Israel, was not considered to be history in the sense that we understand it, of years, of periods, of particular historical events. It was seen more as the history of the family, AND OF COURSE, THE FATHER of the family, the FOUNDER of the family is a person of GREAT significance. And throughout all the stories of Abraham, we see SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATIONS of the places of importance in Judah, of the kinds of relationships with other people that made Judean history [?].
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