In his book on the Book of Abraham, Dan Vogel wrote the following:
Genesis 12:4 states
that Abraham is seventy-five when he leaves Haran. The Book of Abraham changes
this to sixty two (Abr. 2:14). Tvedtnes et al. stress
the change as important, but it is surprisingly unremarkable as Smith also
changed the ages of the patriarchs in his Bible revision without any reason.
None of the sources Tvedtnes et al. cite say Abraham was sixty-two when he left
Haran, but rather gives ages that vary from thirty-seven to eighty. Summarizing
the work of Tvedtnes et al., the recent Gospel Topics essay at the LDS Church’s
website incorrectly asserts that the Book of Abraham is supported by “ancient traditions
located across the Near East,” including “Abraham’s being 62 years old when he
left Haran, not 75 as the biblical accounts states.” (Dan Vogel, Book of
Abraham Apologetics: A Review and Critique [Salt Lake City: Signature Books,
2021], 225-26)
In a footnote to the above addressing the Gospel
Topics essay, “Translation
and Historicity of the Book of Abraham,” Vogel notes that:
One of the sources
cited in the footnote is probably the source for their statement about Abraham’s
age: E.
Douglas Clark, review of Michael E. Stone, Armenian Apocrypha Relating to
Abraham (2012), in BYU Studies Quarterly 53/2 (2014):176, which
gives an often misleading summary of the parallels between the Book of Abraham
and non-biblical Abrahamic traditions. Clark mentions that in a footnote that
Stone commented that a difficult reading in one of the texts “may be construed
to mean Abraham went forth [from Haran] in his sixtieth year.” To use this to
make it seem as if the Book of Abraham’s 62 was confirmed in ancient sources is
disingenuous. (Ibid., 226 n. 20)
The only one being disingenuous is Vogel.
On p. 176 of his review, Clark note that:
Abraham’s age when he
left Haran: Referring to a line in one of the texts about Abraham’s departure
from Haran, Stone notes, “The sentence may be construed to mean that Abraham
went forth in his sixtieth year” (81, n. 13). Genesis says Abraham was seventyfive
when he left Haran (Gen. 12:4)
Had Vogel read Stone’s book, he would have
realized that Clark underplayed, not overplayed his hand.
In his translation of Genealogy of
Abraham 1, Stone provides this translation:
Terah begot Nahor,
Achan and Abraham. In his 18th year, Abraham recognized God. In his 60th year,
God said, “Go forth from your land and family, who lived in Haran.” In his 75th
year he went forth from Haran to Palestine, where he encountered 10 trials. (Michael
E. Stone, Armenian Apocrypha Relating to Abraham [Early Judaism and Its
Literature 37; Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2012], 81)
The footnote (partially quoted by Clark)
reads:
Gen 12:4. The
sentence may be construed to mean that Abraham went forth in his sixtieth year.
The dates are odd, for God’s command was given in Abraham’s sixtieth year
(which has no biblical basis), but his execution of the command is set in his
seventy-fifth year. It seems that two events are combined, his going forth from
Ur to Haran, traditionally put in his sixtieth year (see text no. 14.5) and in
his seventy-fifth year he went forth from Haran to Canaan. Michael the Syrian
put this after fourteen years in Haran
Text 14 in Stone’s collection is a work
called Synaxarium. Stone provides a translation of v. 5 thusly:
And when Abraham became
60 years old, God hearkened to his long-standing and indefatigable
prayer and his undoubting faith and said, “Go forth from your land and family
and come to the land which I will show you.” And, Abraham not being opposed,
went forth from Babylon and went to Haran. (Ibid., 210, emphasis added)
So, from the Armenian Apocrypha, we do have
better evidence supporting the age of Abraham than Vogel (or even Douglas)
presents. Further, the only one who is disingenuous on this matter is not Douglas, but Dan Vogel.
