Without Abraham, a Bridge Too Far

Moses' writing style is a bit weak (which is to say, fallible) for a man who said, "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you [Deuteronomy 4:2]." Truth be told, Moses' writing is so caveman- like that, if read from the documents utilized by the king's translators, the mind will silently fill in the myriad obvious gaps; adding to Moses' words. It can't be helped. The mind will make sense of the text (subconsciously, if necessary), even if the mouth won't.

What's more: according to the text of all the scribes who contributed to the canon, the LORD speaks even more disdainfully and craftily than Moses writes. He and Moses are both 'crazy like a wolf' in this way. They speak 'simply' with the subtlety of serpents. In the Army, this is referred to as "the dumb- private act." As unbecoming as it is for enlisted personnel to feign such simplicity, it is even less becoming of 'officers and gentlemen' such as Moses and his LORD God. Lying to the troops is no way to earn their trust.

Moses exhibits his fallibility (or is it craftiness?) many times in the five books he wrote; though Jewry considers telling such truths about him blasphemy. After all, according to Moses and Jew alike, "Moses gave [them] that bread from heaven [John 6:31 & 32; Exodus 16:32]." Nonetheless, Moses is 'fallible'. We encounter one such misleading 'error (if it is such)' in the next- to- last verse of Genesis 21.

The text of Genesis 21:33 (with the help of the translators) reads: "And Abraham planted a grove in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of the LORD, the everlasting God [Genesis 21:33]." Notice: the translators found it necessary to add a proper name, "Abraham", to the text in order to make sense of it. If Moses were word- perfect- infallible, this would not be the case.

However, without the addition of "Abraham," the text would be a stretch to believe, inasmuch as Abraham abode at Beer-sheba; yet without the addition of "Abraham," the text would seem to imply Abimelech, the Philistine king of Gerar, and Phicol, his captain of the army, as the ones who "called there on the name of the LORD, the everlasting God."

Look at the text, again, in situ, with the preceding verse, minus the translators' help: "32 Thus they made a covenant at Beer-sheba: then Abimelech rose up, and Phichol the chief captain of his host, and they returned into the land of the Philistines. 33 And planted a grove in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of the LORD, the everlasting God [Genesis 21:33]."

The first word of verse 33, "And," indicates a sentence– compounded with the preceding verse– which, in this case, has been made to stand alone, grammatically, by the intervening period (also added by the translators) at the end of verse 32. But the syntax remains the same.

What this means is that Moses, technically (as per the accepted conventions of grammar), told a lie: which the translators had to correct, in order not to join him in the telling of. Otherwise, we would have to believe Abimelech and Phicol planted a grove– which they would then have to maintain– in Abe's backyard (some distance from their own) for to there call upon a God other than their own. That would be 'a bridge too far', wouldn't it?