Michael Lofton proposed to deal with it by an alternative reading of Exodus 6:3
Bible-Splaining: Did Abraham Know God's Name?
Reason & Theology | 9 Aug 2024
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yV0N7KWrCfI
Now, it would seem that the alternative reading "did I not make my name known to them?" is in conflict with LXX and Vulgate, two old translations.
καὶ ὤφθην πρὸς ῾Αβραὰμ καὶ ᾿Ισαὰκ καὶ ᾿Ιακώβ, Θεὸς ὢν αὐτῶν, καὶ τὸ ὄνομά μου Κύριος οὐκ ἐδήλωσα αὐτοῖς·
qui apparui Abraham, Isaac et Jacob in Deo omnipotente : et nomen meum Adonai non indicavi eis.
The translations to English are a modern one of the LXX, and Challoner's revision of Douay Rheims:
And I appeared to Abraam and Isaac and Jacob, being their God, but I did not manifest to them my name Lord.
That appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, by the name of God Almighty; and my name ADONAI I did not shew them.
So, can we reconcile "Abraham knew the name Adonai" and "God did not show Abraham the name Adonai"? Yes, we can.
But to Seth also was born a son, whom he called Enos; this man began to call upon the name of the Lord
[Genesis 4:26]
So, Abraham knew the name Adonai, not because Adonai revealed it to him, but because he knew it from tradition from earlier on. A tradition that Abraham trusted, even without direct confirmation by God revealing things from him.
Why is this important? Well, some have pretended "we cannot accept the idea that Genesis 3 and so on were facts known to Abraham by tradition, since Abraham was born in a pagan and idolatrous household, where every tradition was tainted" ...
This is particularly popular among some French people who refuse to take the traditional view of the Genesis portion 1 to 11 and most especially of its chronology.
I have at least once, probably twice, told some Novus Ordo Catholic in France the idea* of Father Haydock:
Concerning the transactions of these early times, parents would no doubt be careful to instruct their children, by word of mouth, before any of the Scriptures were written; and Moses might derive much information from the same source, as a very few persons formed the chain of tradition, when they lived so many hundred years. Adam would converse with Mathusalem, who knew Sem, as the latter lived in the days of Abram. Isaac, Joseph, and Amram, the father of Moses, were contemporaries: so that seven persons might keep up the memory of things which had happened 2500 years before. But to entitle these accounts to absolute authority, the inspiration of God intervenes; and thus we are convinced, that no word of sacred writers can be questioned. (Haydock)
And I have at least once, probably twice, been told "can't be, Abraham was born in a Pagan household" ...
The latter is obviously based on:
And he spoke thus to the people: Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: Your fathers dwelt of old on the other side of the river, Thare the father of Abraham, and Nachor: and they served strange gods
[Josue (Joshua) 24:2]
First, it does not say which Nachor did so, but suppose it were both, both the brother and the grandfather.
Second, it does not say when they started to do so.
But third, on a LXX chronology (with or without the second Cainan, but imperatively without the edition error** of putting Abraham's birth 1170 rather than 1070 after the Flood in case Cainan is retained, Sarug was alive for 50 years from Abraham's birth to his own death. And Sarug was not an idolater. Hence, Genesis 3 was known to Abraham by tradition. As confirmation: so was the name Adonai./HGL
Footnotes:
* GENESIS - Chapter 3
https://johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock/id329.html
** Looking up the exact nature of the error:
Some English versions mistakenly translate Nahor’s age at Terah’s birth as 179 years old, but the Greek manuscripts read 79.
The biblical minimum and maximum age of the earth
Chris Hardy and Robert Carter
https://creation.com/images/pdfs/tj/j28_2/j28_2_89-96.pdf
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