Forgiveness and its first references
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Several possible answers are tenable.
Job. Some traditions hold that Job was the first Bible book written (or composed orally). Then Moses or Joshua wrote it down. In Job 42, God commands Job's friends to offer a sacrifice in the presence of Job and commands Job to forgive them for their sins against him and against God by their presumptuous speech. Thus Job is the first person officially delegated by God with the authority to forgive sins.
Joseph, son of Jacob. Joseph forgives his brothers, who sold him into slavery. This occurs near the end of Genesis, in chapter 50. Chronologically, this likely precedes Job by as much as one to two centuries. Genesis was written by Moses.
In both cases, Moses is likely the one to set down the first account of forgiveness in the Bible.
Of course, Jacob sought the forgiveness of his brother, Esau, for the theft of birthright and blessing, which occurred in Genesis before Joseph, but it is ambiguous as to whether Esau really forgave his brother.
God promised Eve a savior among her descendants. That was the promise of forgiveness yet to come.
Upvote:1
If we are talking about God's forgiveness, the first incident chronologically is probably Ex. 10:16-18. Pharaoh says:
I have sinned against the Lord your God, and against you. 17 Now therefore, forgive my sin, I pray you, only this once, and entreat the Lord your God only to remove this death from me.
But there is a chicken-and-egg issue here. Critical scholars believe that Exodus was written much later than the time of Moses. So perhaps we need to ask first: which books or passages were written the earliest? I'd look to the Psalms, some of which are thought to be very early. Forgiveness is a common theme, especially if we consider requests for God's mercy as asking forgiveness.
Psalm 25:18
Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins.
Psalm 32:1
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
Psalm 65:3
When our transgressions prevail over us, thou dost forgive them.
Psalm 79:9
Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name; deliver us, and forgive our sins, for thy name’s sake!
Let me add that other cultures also had a concept of legal forgiveness that predates the biblical idea. Hammurabi's code [18th c. BCE] states
- If a man wish to put his son out of his house, and declare before the judge... 169. If he be guilty of a grave fault, which should rightfully deprive him of the filial relationship, the father shall forgive him the first time; but if he be guilty of a grave fault a second time the father may deprive his son of all filial relation.
This is long before the time of Moses, let alone the time when Genesis or Exodus were written.
Upvote:2
The first use of the word "forgive" or related ones in the Bible is in Genesis chapter 50, where Joseph's family ask for forgiveness for selling him into slavery. However the concept is certainly earlier than that, for example in Genesis chapter 18 where Abraham asks God to spare the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah if ten righteous people are found there.
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