The End of the Tale

June 9, 2009, 6:39 am by dc-agape.

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Tales of the Patriarchs (Part 9)

Today I have reached the end of the Tales of the Patriarchs and also the end of the Genesis material in the Dead Sea Scrolls.  Two last stories exist in this Tractate.  The first is the battle between Sodom and Kedorlaomer.  This begins by setting the scene, of how the king of Elam was attacking every city that did not pay tithe to him.  It ends just as in the Book of Genesis (Gen 14), with Abram rescuing Lot and freeing all of Sodom’s property and people from Kedorlaomer.  The second story is about how YHWH promises Abram that he will have a son and that YHWH will protect Abram against his enemies.

Now the story starts with how the King of Elam had 14 years earlier conquered all the surrounding nations.  But now Kedorlaomer is on the war path again, due to the King of Sodom rebelling he has ransacked all the way from the Euphrates to the Rephaim, the people of Amman, the Emim, the Horites, and all the way to El Paran.  Then they attacked En-mishpat and Hazazon Tamar.  All these places (nations?) must be between the Euphrates and Sodom.  At this point Kedorlaomer must have been getting close to Sodom and Gomorrah because these kings went out to battle the King of Elam.  Now you would think that an army that had been on the attack all the way from the Euphrates and fought at least seven nations already would be weakened, but they destroy the Kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela.  Unfortunately, in the process Lot and all his livestock and slaves have been kidnapped.  Abram feels horrible about this and gathers 318 of his best warriors???? He also brings along three friends: Armen, Eschol, and Mamreh.  The King of Elam continues his battles up to Damascus where Abram confronts him at night.  Then another Tall Tale is told.  These 322 men (where did Abram get his warriors from?) route this entire army that has ransacked multiple other kingdoms.   In the process Abram frees Lot and returns to Melchizedek.  Odd how Melchizedek is at Salem (Jerusalem) right in the path of this brutal warlord and does not get attacked…I guess this great King of Salem, this priest of the Most High, had paid his tithes to Kedorlaomer!  But the King of Salem does not help Abram; Abram destroys this warlord with 321 men.  Now it must be obvious to you, as it is to me that by the time Abram reaches Kedorlaomer, his army is pretty much spent all its power.  Of course, attacking at night is also not the most heroic actions. 

More is told about this Tall Tale, why does Abram go to Melchizedek when it is the King of Sodom that has lost his men, livestock, and other property to Kedorlaomer?  How is Melchizedek related to YHWH?  Is he a descendent of Shem?  He is living in Canaan which would indicate that he is actually a descendent of the cursed Ham.  How is he the priest of the Most High?  And isn’t interesting that he is the King of Salem, which will be the location of Jerusalem after the invasion of the Israelites.  At this point the King of Sodom, that most wicked and vile city comes to Abram at Salem and begs Abram to return the men of Sodom.  The king is not worried about the cities livestock or other property, for he offers it to Abram for a reward.  Abram turns down the offer and frees all the captives and property claiming that he does not want it to be told that his wealth comes from the King of Sodom.  Obviously he is already running into trouble with the fact that all his wealth actually came from lying to the Pharaoh of Egypt! 

In the final story of the Tractate, Abram and YHWH have a little one on one.  YHWH promises to protect Abram from his enemies.  Yet by the time YHWH gets around to telling Abram the man is 85 years old.  Talk about waiting for YHWH to do things in his own time!  Abram basically tells YHWH so what and he is close to death and has no heir, protection who cares.  The last sentence to the Tractate is a promise from YHWH that Abram will have a child.  Thankfully Abram still has 90 years to live, he doesn’t die until he is 175 years old.  Whatever happened to YHWH dictating man’s life to be 120 years (Gen 6:3)?   There has got to be an error somewhere in this, YHWH saying one thing and yet the complete opposite happens.  How can this be?  Could the Word of God be in error?  With the Tall Tales told in the Book of Genesis and this glaring error about human lifespan, how can anyone take the Bible as infallible? 

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