Abram believed* the LORD.....This WEQATAL verb form is indeed somewhat unusual in a narrative context. It is commoner in instructions and predictions, with a future force, where it might be translated "he will believe" or "he should believe". But in this context it should probably be understood as imperfective or continuous, and so translated more like "he was believing". So no suggestion that Abraham started to believe at this point, more that he was continuing to believe. So I guess your friend is partly right, but is reading too much into the situation in trying to pinpoint the time when Abraham started to believe. So "had believed" would be a poor translation, not least because of the implication that by this point he had stopped believing.
The NET Bible offers this for believed:
The non-consecutive vav is on a perfect verbal form.
If the composer of the narrative had wanted to show
simple sequence, he would have used the vav
consecutive with the preterite.
Is one way of understanding this perfect Hiphil verb,
partly due to its "non-consecutive vav" in narrative,
as an English PluPerfect, something like:
Abram HAD BELIEVED the LORD.....
A friend of mine argues that this is the only possible
passage in all of Scripture (both OT and NT) where
Abram's initial faith in YHWH is alluded to. He
contends that no other passage references Abram's
initial faith that must have occured while Abram was
in Ur.
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