15/23 "Modern research, you know, quite wipes him out of existence as an individual. The word 'Abram' is merely an eponym--it means 'exalted father.' Practically all the names in the Genesis chronologies are what we call eponymous. Abram is not a person at all: he is a tribe, a sept, a clan. In the same way, Shem is not intended for a man; it is the name of a great division of the human race. Heber is simply the throwing back into allegorical substance, so to speak, of the Hebrews; Heth of the Hittites; Asshur of Assyria." "But this is something very new, this theory, isn't it ?" queried Theron. |