ABSTRACT
This statement by Wright expresses the consensus of a large and vocal element in Old Testament scholarship. One of the most important infl uences in creating this opinion was the discovery and publication of the cuneiform texts from ancient Nuzi and Arrapkha near Kirkuk in Iraq, which began in 1925.2 Two scholars who have made great use of these documents to explain
patriarchal customs are C. H. Gordon3 and the late E. A. Speiser.4 The latter’s recent commentary on Genesis abounds with references to the Nuzi texts. A great many scholars, particularly in America, have followed their suggestions almost entirely.5 The result of the present consensus has been to reject the suggestion of the older critical scholars that the narratives of Genesis refl ect the social and religious conditions of the historical periods of the written documents. The question of a possible late date for the social customs of these stories has been closed for so long that there has scarcely been any consideration of the comparative material from the fi rst millennium BCE. A close examination of the texts from both the second and fi rst millennia, however, will indicate that this has been a rather questionable development in Old Testament study.
