Abr 2:16-20
From Feast upon the Word (http://feastupontheword.org). Copyright, Feast upon the Word.
The Pearl of Great Price > The Book of Abraham > Chapter 2
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Contents |
Questions
Verse 17
- Abraham's father spared? Do we know if Abraham's father perished in the famine or not? Notice Gen 11:32 says that "Terah died in Haran." It seems his death is not mentioned anywhere else. Are there any surviving legends about Terah's death?
Lexical notes
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Exegesis
Verse 16
The suddenly exalted language of this verses suggests that something more than mere beauty of words is at play. It should be noted that "eternity" is characterized three times, each in a radically different manner. First, it is a covering, something above. Second, it is a rock, something below. Third, it is salvation, which is apparently not to be understood in any spatio-temporal sense. Putting the first two characterizations of "eternity," one might understand "eternity" to be the tent Abraham travels in: both the support ("rock") and the protection ("covering"). This might be born out by Hugh Nibley's studies of Lehi's tent (to be found at length in Lehi in the Desert. It might moreover be significant that Abraham calls this tent "eternity" because of the meaning of the Hebrew word: two words were pronounced identically in Hebrew (though they had different vowells), one meaning eternity and the other meaning the area stretched opened between two pillars (as in the porch of Solomon's temple). It may be that there is some connection intended between these two terms: eternity is that space stretched out between the poles, the place of the threshold, the place where man meets God (salvation?). Whatever the details of these possibilities come down to, there is certainly here the hint of Abraham traveling in a cosmic tent, marking the stars as he goes and cutting out a template of the world thereby. It is significant that Facsimile no. 3 pictures Abraham inside a tent, the ceiling of which is marked with stars, while he reasons upon "the principles of astronomy."
Verse 18
Sequence compared to Genesis. Notice that here Abraham offers sacrifice before the Lord appears to him, a seeming reversal of the sequence in Gen 12:7.
Related links
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