6.1 Introduction

The Abraham stories show strikingly frequent redundancies. Thus, the  Abrahamic blessing Gen. 12, the covenant with God Gen. 15 and the  detailed covenant conclusion Gen. 17 are closely related. In Gen. 12 the  accent is strongly on the Exodus character, in Gen. 15 on the faith of  Abraham, and in Gen. 17 on the covenant sign of circumcision. This too  is a sign of the richness of Scripture and should not be smoothed over.  Three times covenant, blessing and promise are addressed. This is how  important it is in the overall context of the Pentateuch. The narrator who  collected them was thus obviously able to draw from a multitude of fathers’  traditions. 

The atl. science divides these pieces in small and smallest morsels  neatly to the Jahvist, the priestly writing and a deuteronomistic redaction.  An informative tabular overview is given in Westermann, Bibelkunde, p.  34ff. Whether this puzzle method makes sense and does justice to the  biblical text may be left open. In any case, it opens one’s eyes to details  that would otherwise have been easily overlooked.