The ideological and canonical positions of Judaism and Christianity teach that Abraham and his family date from approximately 2000 BCE. These traditions also teach that Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible (Torah or Pentateuch) at the direct instruction of God…an early example of a secretary taking dictation. Moses, traditionally, dates from around 1300 BCE…just to get on the same page.

So, in Genesis 20, and as well in Genesis 26 (with Isaac), there are these two stories of Abraham and Isaac heading off to visit King Abimelech of the Philistines. The narrative about how compassionate these two patriarchs are is for another time…

Nevertheless, the notion that Moses is writing God’s words…and that God is telling Moses a century or so prior to the presence of the Philistines in Canaan…as well as seven or eight centuries prior to Abraham and Isaac must be severely challenged. As well, the historical accuracy, the historicity, of these stories is non-existent.

If we take a traditional position, then we need to explain why God would quote something totally inaccurate to Moses. The reasonable conclusion would be that we are dealing with authorship that is not at all involved with Moses. It comes from a later date, and indicates that the Mosiac authorship of the Torah/Pentateuch text is doubtful, at best.

And yes, there are tangential issues that fly off of just this simple presentation. They are, however, for a later posting.