Genesis Vol 3.pdf - College Press

THE GENERATIONS OF TERAH 11 :27-32
posed to be set forth by this type of life is hardly charac-
keristic of the patriarchs, for already men like Abram are
in possession of much goods aiid great wealth aiid are in a
position to give rich gifts such as jewels to close friends
or prospective wives.
“In reading hdw Gunkel, an ardent advocate of the
purely legendary or mythical theory, manipulates his
theory, one is tempted to speak of still another theory,
namely the theory which glorifies the clever pranks of the
patriarchs. For in writing particularly of the devices
employed by Jacob in taking advantage of Esau or of
Laban, he writes as if the readers of these tales gloated
over them as a humorous glorification of a crafty ancestor.
On other occasions he writes with pitying disdain of the
very crude and elementary conceptions of the deity held
by these early writers. Again the effort to deflate the
conception of the Scriptures is manifest, and a Biblical book
is reduced to the level of a collection of amusing anecdotes.”
(See iizy Geiiesis, Vol. I, pp. 57-62, for a more detailed
accouizt of this acadewic nit-picking indulged by the
“aiialytical ci*itics” iii their treatiizeiit of all ancient writ-
iizgs. As a matter of fact, archeology already has exploded
these fabulous creations-iizy fhs, if yozt please-of the
senzinariaii we ii t ality .)
Leupold goes on to discuss briefly erroneous conceptions
of the patriarchal religion. He writes: “Parallel with
these faulty theories runs the erroneous conception of the
patriarchal religion. Here again we may refer to prevalent
theories. We shall do no more, however, than to list briefly
the erroneous conceptions we are referring to. Prominent
among these is the attitude which describes the early religion
of Israel as totenzisiiz. This endeavors to prove that
certain types of creatures were deemed sacred and were
worshiped by certain tribes. Proof for this view is deduced,
for example, in the case of Terah from the fact that his
name may signify a type of mountain goat. This proof
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