When the Torah describes various events that appear to be rooted in a concrete time and place, its account is more a retelling than a reconstruction. Abraham had three wives: Sarah, Hagar, and Keturah (by date when This grieved Abraham, whilst his father wanted his son to believe and worship as he himself did; but Abraham knew better than to do such a thing. How Modern Prophets Contextualized This Account, [Abraham] understood that there was a God in heaven, a living and true God, and that no man should worship any other God but Him. When President Nelson shared the story of his breaking the bottles of alcohol his father owned, I kept thinking about another prophet who also broke things. Shouldnt we expect from God a more coherent story, one that is free of the subtle and even blatant contradictions that can be found within it? Another participant argued that he still couldnt see, despite my explanation, why the Torah chose to speak to us in historical language. Completely erase the names of their gods! 57 I thought thou wouldst teach thy servants the upright way, but thou hast not done this, but hast filled the whole earth with thy sins and the sins of thy people who have followed thy ways. If he had possessed the spirit which his son had, he would have said there is no power with these gods; but he did not, and Abraham had to flee from his fathers house, confiding in the Lord, who gave many promises to him and concerning his posterity. And Abram answered the king, saying, And if there be no power in them why dost thou serve them and cause the sons of men to err through thy follies? This Midrash can be interpreted as an example of persecution against those of monotheistic beliefs during a time when polytheism dominated.[8]. The Miraculous Quran - The Story Of Abraham And Idols In The Qur'an And 12-26 [Hebrew] and afterwards in his book.Pirkei Moadot(Jerusalem, 5746), p. 22 [Hebrew]. Deepen your knowledge of Scripture for less than $5/mo. why dost thou worship . One time a woman came carrying a dish of fine flour. Something went wrong while submitting the form. If the religious value of events comes from their being included in the word of God, let us allow God to speak to us in Gods own language, and to tell us the divine story with its entire force. I am not surprised, therefore, at the literary prowessvery much like human literary prowessdemonstrated in Torah by its author. The story has been used as a way to discuss monotheism and faith in general. Although the Bible says Terah "worshiped other gods" For another angle on the problem of ahistorical interpretation, made in modern times, see words of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe (Iggerot Kodesh7:996): [9]We will leave, for now, the difficult questions engendered by the issue of the slippery slope and return to them indirectly when we deal with the other basis for challenging the ahistorical interpretation, namely the problem of truth. Additionally, the slippery slope problem is discussed more fully in chapter 4 of my book, which deals with the historicity of a different biblical story, namely the revelation at Mount Sinai.
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