Amram | |
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עַמְרָם | |
| Born | 14th–13th century BCE |
| Other names | عمران (Arabic:Islam) عمرام (Arabic:Christianity) |
| Known for | Father ofAaron,Moses, andMiriam in the Book of Exodus |
| Spouse | Jochebed |
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In theBook of Exodus,Amram (/ˈæmræm/;Hebrew:עַמְרָם,Modern: ‘Amram,Tiberian: ʻAmrām, "Exalted people" / "The people are exalted") is the husband ofJochebed and father ofAaron,Moses andMiriam.[1]
In addition to being married to Jochebed, Amram is also described in the Bible as having been related to Jochebed prior to the marriage, although the exact relationship is uncertain; some Greek and Latin manuscripts of theSeptuagint state that Jochebed was Amram's father's cousin, and others state that Amram was Jochebed's cousin, but theMasoretic Text states that she was his father's sister.[2] He is praised for his faith in theEpistle to the Hebrews.[3]
Textual scholars attribute the biblical genealogy to theBook of Generations, a hypothetically reconstructed document theorized to originate from a similarreligiopolitical group and date to thepriestly source.[4] According tocritical scholars, the Torah's genealogy for Levi's descendants, is actually anaetiologicalmyth reflecting the fact that there were four different groups among theLevites – theGershonites,Kohathites,Merarites, andAaronids;[5] Aaron – the eponymous ancestor of the Aaronids – could not be portrayed as a brother toGershon,Kohath, andMerari, as the narrative about the birth of Moses (brother of Aaron), which textual scholars attribute to the earlierElohist source, mentions only thatboth his parents were Levites (without identifying their names).[6] Critical scholars suspect that the Elohist account offers bothmatrilineal andpatrilineal descent from Levites in order to magnify the religious credentials of Moses.[5]
| Levi | Adinah[a] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gershon | Kehath | Merari | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Libni | Shimei | Izhar | Hebron | Uzziel | Mahli | Mushi | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jochebed[b] | Amram | Mishael | Elzaphan | Zithri | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Miriam | Aaron | Moses | Zipporah | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gershom | Eliezer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In theApocryphalTestament of Levi, it is stated that Amram was born as a grandson ofLevi when Levi was 64 years old.[7] TheExodus Rabbah argues that when the Pharaoh instructed midwives to throw male children into the Nile, Amram divorced Jochebed, who was three months pregnant with Moses at the time, arguing that there was no justification for the Israelite men to father children if they were just to be killed;[8] however, the text goes on to state that Miriam, his daughter, chided him for his lack of care for his wife's feelings, persuading him to recant and marry Jochebed again.[8] According to theTalmud, Amram promulgated the laws of marriage and divorce amongst the Jews in Egypt;[citation needed] the Talmud also argues that Amram had extreme longevity, which he used to ensure that doctrines were preserved through several generations.[9]
Despite the legend of his divorce and remarriage, Amram was also held to have been entirely sinless throughout his life and was rewarded for this by his corpse remaining without any signs of decay.[10] The other three ancient Israelites who died without sin, beingBenjamin,Jesse andChileab.
According to theBook of Jubilees, Amram was among the Israelites who took the bones of Jacob's sons (excluding those ofJoseph) toCanaan for burial in thecave of Machpelah.[11] Most of the Israelites then returned to Egypt but some remained in Canaan. Those who remained included Amram, who only returned somewhere up to forty years later.
One of theDead Sea Scrolls (4Q544, Manuscript B) is written from Amram's point of view, and hence has been dubbed theVisions of Amram. The document is dated to the 2nd century BC and, in the form of a vision, briefly discusses dualism and theWatchers:
I saw Watchers in my vision, the dream-vision. Two men were fighting over me...holding a great contest over me. I asked them, 'Who are you, that you are thus empowered over me?' They answered, 'We have been empowered and rule over all mankind.' They said to me, 'Which of us do you choose to rule you?' I raised my eyes and looked. One of them was terrifying in his appearance, like a serpent, his cloak, many-colored yet very dark....And I looked again, and in his appearance, his visage like aviper....I replied to him, 'This Watcher, who is he?' He answered, 'This Watcher...his three names areBelial and Prince of Darkness and King of Evil.' I said (to the other Watcher), 'My lord, what dominion (have you?)' He answered, 'You saw (the viper), and he is empowered over all Darkness, while I (am empowered over all Light.)...My three names areMichael, Prince of Light and King of Righteousness.[12]
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