GENESIS

CRITICALLY AND EXEGETICALLY EXPOUNDED

 PRINTED BY

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T. & T. CLARK, EDINBURGH

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 GENESIS
CRITICALLY AND EXEGETICALLY
EXPOUNDED

DR.
LATE PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY IX BERLIN

3Eranslateti from tjje last IStiitfon

BY

WM. B. STEVENSON, B.D.

ASSISTANT TO THE PROFESSOR OF HEBREW, ETC.
EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY

IN TWO VOLUMES
VOL. II.

EDINBUEGH
T. & T. CLARK, 38 GEOEGE STEEET
1897
 CONTENTS.

III. THE HISTORY OF ABRAHAM, XII.-XXV. 18.

A. THE INTRODUCTORY NARRATIVES.

PAGE
1. The Call of Abram and his Migration into Canaan, xii. 1-9
according to C (and A) . . . . .8
;

2. The Migration to Egypt and Sarai's Preservation there, xii.

10-20 ; according to C . . . . .16

3. Ab ram's Separation from Lot, ch. xiii. ;
from R, following C
and A 22
4. Abram's unselfish Expedition to save Lot, and Melchisedek's
Benediction of him, ch. xiv. ;
from R, following B (?) . 29

B. THE TRIALS OF FAITH, THE COVENANT, AND THE PROOF.

1. The Promise of a Son as Heir, and its Confirmation by the Con-

clusion of a Solemn Covenant, ch. xv. by R, following B ;

and . . . . . . . .53
2. The Birth following C and A
of Ishmael, ch. xvi. ;
. .67
3. God's Covenant with Abram, the Institution of Circumcision,
and the Promise of Isaac, ch. xvii. following A ;
.75
4. Abraham and Sodom visited by Celestial Beings, the Destruction
of Sodom and Gomorrah, xviii. 1-xix. 28 from C .89 ;

5. Double Appendix, xix. 29, from A ;

xix. 30-38 (the Origin of
Moab-Ammon), from C . , . . .112
6. Sarah's Danger at the Court of Gerar, and her Preservation, ch.
xx.; fromB . . . . . . .116
7. and the Expulsion of Ishmael, xxi. 1-21 following
Isaac's Birth ;

A, C, and B 126
8. Abraham's Covenant with Abimelucli, and his Claim to Beer-
sheba', xxi. 22-34 according to B the conclusion from R
; ;

following C . . . . . .133
9. The Sacrifice of Isaac, xxii. 1-19 ; following B and 11 . . 138
vi CONTENTS

C. OLOSOra I'A-A ,i;s OF ABRAHAM'S HISTORY, xxn. 20-xxv. 18.

PAGE

1.

2.
K.-^unlim; the Family of Nahor,
and
The Death
B .
xxii. 20-24; according to

Sarah and the Acquisition of the Field of Makh-

of
.... C
.147

ch. xxiii.; from A .151

jirlah by Abraham,
. .

-jiac's Marriage with Rebecca, ch. xxiv. from C .157 ;

.

raham's Descendants by Keturah, his Death, xxv. 1-11 from ;

7,', following A, C,
and B (?) 173
f. The Descendants of Ishmael, xxv. 12-18 ; following A . .180

IV. THE HISTORY OF ISAAC, XXV. 19-XXXVII. 1.

A. THE HISTORY OF ISAAC AND OF JACOB'S YOUTH,

xxv. 19-xxvm. 9.

1. liirth and early Youth of the Twin Brothers, and Preludes of

their future Contests, xxv. 19-34 according to A and ;
C
(and 7/) 191
2. Isaac moves from Place to Place his Troubles God's Blessings ; ;

and Promises to him, xxvi. 1-33 chiefly according to C ;

(andJS) 200
3. The Cause of Jacob's Departure to Mesopotamia ;
he is blessed
by Isaac, xxvi. 34-xxviii. 9 from A and .B, C ;
. .210

B. JACOB AWAY FROM HOME, AND THE FOUNDING OF HIS HOUSE,

xxvin. 10-xxxn. 3.

1. Jacob's Dream at Bethel, xxviii. 10-22 from ;

B and C . . 223
i. Jacob in IIarran with Laban, ch. xxix.f. from ;
B and C . . 230
iv turn from Harran, xxxi. 1-xxxii. 3 ; mostly from Z>

'from C and A) . . . . . .252

C. JACOB FROM HIS RETURN TO CANAAN TILL THE DEATH

OF ISAAC, xxxir. 4-xxxvn. 1.

I- -la',,1, ,
, ..,,! \vivsth-s with (loo!, \\xii. t-xxxiii. 17;
H"i" ''.-mil Ji . . . . . . .271
2. Jacol* at Slin-liiMM, and the Dishonouring <>!' Dinah, \x\iii. 18-
.i\. :'.! ; from /,', I'ollowintr /;, ,|, ; , n ,| I' . . . 287
Journej to [nao i>\ \\a\ of r.rthd, and tin- rnl of Isaac's
.; from /,', .!, ainl r (/,') . . .301
in an-l tin- Kdoniitt-s, ch. \\.\vi. (\\.\vii. 1); mainly follow-
l . 312
 CONTENTS vii

V. THE HISTORY OF JACOB, XXXVII.-L.

A. FROM Tin: TI.MK WIIKN JOSKI-H WAS SOLD INTO K<;vrr rvrn. HIS
PR KF KU.MM NT THKKK, ('us. xxxvn. xu.
PAGE
1.
Joseph sold into Kgypl, xxxvii. 2-36;
is
by #, from /; and (' . :>,:>,]

2. Judah and Tamar, ch. xxxviii. ; from G . . . .342

3. Joseph in Prison, ch. xxxix. mostly from G ; . . :}'><>

4. Joseph interprets the Dreams of the two Royal Servants, ch. xl. ;

from J! . . . . . . . . 350
5. Pharaoh's Dreams and Joseph's Elevation, ch. xli.; mostly
according to B . . . . . . . 3G5

B. THE WANDERINGS AND HUMILIATIONS OF JOSEPH'S BRETHREN,

UNTIL THEIR RECONCILIATION, CHS. XLII.-XLV.

1. The Humiliation and Punishment of Joseph's ten Brethren, ch.

xlii.mostly according to B
;
. . . . . 379
2. The Brothers' Second Visit to Joseph, and how he tests them, ch.
xliii.f.; from C. . . . . . .389
3. Joseph reveals himself, and invites Migration to Egypt, ch. xlv. ;

following B and C . . . . .401

C. FROM THE MIGRATION INTO EGYPT TO THE END OF JACOB'S

HISTORY, CHS. XLVI.-L.

1. The Migration of Israel, xlvi. 1-27 according to B (G) and A 410

....
.
;

2. Arrival, Meeting with Joseph, Assignment of Gosh en, xlvi. 28-

xlvii. 1 1 ; according to G and A 418
3. Joseph's Support of Israel, and the Political Changes he makes in
Egypt, xlvii. 12-27 from G (in ver. 12 B, in ver. 27 (7, A)
; . 424
4. Jacob's last Instructions and Arrangements, and his Death, xlvii.
28-xlix. 33 . . . . . .431
Jacob's Burial and Joseph's Death, ch. from A, B, and C 483

.......
5. 1.; .

GENERAL INDEX 493

LEXICAL INDEXES 502
 CORRIGENDA.

Page 91, line 5, /or D^CTI read t

23, for xxxi. read

xxxiii
273,

viii
 III. THE HISTOKY OF ABKAHAM, XII.-XXV. 18.

1. ALTHOUGH
the Israelites did not dispute the fact that
it was only at a much later period that they became a
nation, they derived the beginnings of their distinctive

nationality and of their spiritual religion from ancestors who

were immigrants from Mesopotamia long resident in Canaan.
They regarded themselves as the last to emerge of a number
of petty peoples who sprang from these immigrants, and, in
fact, as what remained of the common stock after the others

had branched off. They were also the purest of these peoples,

that which contained least admixture of foreign blood, and

preserved most faithfully the moral and religious charac-

teristics of the common ancestry. The gradual separation
of these genuine descendants of the original stock was

completed in three stages, which connect themselves with

the three names Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Everything
contained in the Israelite legends of the patriarchs circles

round these three names.

It is self-evident to us moderns that all these stories

regarding the patriarchs belong to the realm of legend, not

to that of strict history. To begin with, there is no nation
on earth whose descent from an individual ancestor is capable
of historical proof. A people does not grow as a family
does, it arises from a combination of the most diverse

elements, and in the case of Israel there is even yet historical

proof that it, also, originated in this way. Again, according
to the Book of Genesis, both Israel and the other Hebrew
peoples are divided into twelve tribes. But the very fact
that the division is not confined to Israel, is a plain indica-
DILLMANN. II. I
2 GENESIS XII.-XXV. 18 [218

tion that it is not to be explained by actual descent from

nvdve brethren. The division is artificial, and is an

expression of geographical, political,

and religious relation-

ships. Equally, it is to be assumed that the personification of

peoples, tribes, districts, and historical periods, universally

acknowledged to exist in the narratives of Genesis as far as

ch. xi., will not all at once cease to be found in chs. xii. ff.,

but will recur in the further course of the narrative. Again,

it is undeniable that we frequently find mirrored in these

patriarchal legends the events and circumstances of the

later national history, and the likes and dislikes of the

period of their authors. Lastly, now that we are able to

survey the poetic legends of the most widely differing

peoples, it no longer requires to
be proved that the vivid-
ness of these narratives is not in itself any proof of their

historicity, but is, on the contrary, a characteristic peculiarity

of all legend.
But it may still be asked whether this criticism requires
us to deny all historical foundation to the patriarchal

legends of the Israelites. It has been even doubted or

denied that the ancestors of Israel were ever in Canaan, 1

and the stories about them have been explained as fictitious

tendency-writings belonging to the period of the Israelite

2
monarchy. But when we acknowledge the presence of a
>ul (stratum of historical fact in the epics of other peoples,

why should we pronounce a less favourable judgment on the

tribal legends of the very people which passed earliest out
of its mythological period ? It is true that the reflected

image of later persons, times, and circumstances

is thrown

back on the legendary figures of early times, so that the

latter became types of the former but there must surely be ;

a background to begin with, on to which the reflection may

IH- cast. The least concession we can make is, it may be

I'U-kr, 1m neuen Reich, 1871, i. 497-511; Stade, Geschichte, i.

127f.
2 A. Bernstein, Ursprung der Sagen von Air. Is. und Jac., Berlin, 1871.
IMS, 219] CKNKSI.S XII.-XXV. 18 3

maintained, that the background of fact in the family histories

of the patriarchal legend consists of dim memories regarding

certain movements of peoples which started from Meso-

potamia, made their way through Canaan and the desert to
Egypt, and led to the formation in these regions of new,

Hebrew, national and tribal units. The temporary residence

of the patriarchs in Canaan cannot be explained as a baseless

fabrication, meant to justify the later occupation of the land

or the incorporation of Canaanite sanctuaries in the religion

of Israel. Such objects were capable of attainment in other
and more effective ways, and, besides, in the legend as a whole
and in its separate parts, we still find much of a historical
character which stands in no relation to the supposed objects
of the narrative.

The acknowledgment that there exists in the patriarchal

legends a background of historical fact, at once determines

how we are to conceive of the leading characters in the

legend. The bounds of possibility in the way of confound-

ing things totally dissimilar, were reached by those few

l
who
had the boldness to transform the patriarchs into powers of
nature and their history into nature myths. But neither is
there sufficient reason for conjecturing that they were
2
originally tribal gods, or the spirits of ancestors worshipped
as divine. 3 may perhaps be true that tribal communities
It

were accustomed to name themselves from the god whose

worship was their bond of unity. But the names of the

patriarchal legends are in general not those of gods, but of

earthly personages and peoples, and in the whole legend
there is not even the slightest trace that these personages
were once venerated as gods. Isaac and Jacob are quite
usual designations for the people of Israel in later times. As
1
E.y. Goldziher, Mythos bei den Hebraern, 1876, pp. 109 f., 154
[Mythology among the Hebrews, London, 1877]; J. Popper, Urspru/nj f/t.<
JMonotJieismus, 1879, p. 147 ff.
2
Dozy, Israeliten zu MeKka, 1864, p. 21 ff. ; Noldeke, Im tieuen Jt> /VA,
p. 508 ff. ; ZDMG. xlii. 484.
3 1
Stade, Geschichte, i. 406 ff.
4 GENESIS XII.-XXV. 18 [219

f..r names such as those of Lot, Ishmael, Esau, and their

is sufficient to regard them as those of ideal persons

ii fmm the names applicable to groups within the limits

nf the nation, or to the whole at various stages in its

Recently, in the list of 118 names of towns

development.
and tribes conquered by Thutmosis III. during his campaign
No. 102, Y'kb'ar, and No. 78,
against the Upper Eutena,
1
Ysp'r, have been rendered Yakobel and Yosefel. If this

conjecture be supposed correct,

we are supplied with an
external proof that the name Jacob, centuries before the
time of Moses, was that of a tribe or locality in Canaan.
It is otherwise with the case of Abraham. The name was
never that of a tribe or people. But neither was it originally
the name of a deity,
2
and it is not the case that Abraham is

the latest figure to appear on the patriarchal scene, being a

mere duplication of Isaac, a saint of Hebron and of Galebite
3
origin who only by degrees advanced to be the principal
character. The silence of the older prophets regarding him
proves nothing whatsoever against the agreement of all the
Pentateuch writers. In B as much as in A, C, and D, Abraham,
whether ccaisidered as a national or as a religious hero, is the
most important personage in the whole patriarchal history.
He is the head and leader of the Hebrews in their
migration
from the land by the Euphrates, and in the mental and
spiritual sphere also has left a special impress upon them.
When Israel became a nation it was upon him that they
4
rested their divine election. It is undeniably possible that
in Abraham there may be preserved the memory of some
imp.. taut personage
i who took part in the Hebrew migration. 5

K. M.-V.T in ZAT1V. vi. Iff., viii. 42 ff. contemporaneously W.

;

<
irol!' in the l!,;-u,:
I'l'iiiptologique, iv. 95 ff. See also JA. viii. 12, p. 104 f.
1
See notes on eh. xvii. 4f .

\\
VlllKiu.sen, Geschichte, p. 338 [Prolegomena, 1885, p. 320] ;
E. Meyer,
.UK! ..

\viii. is f., xx vi. 5, 24, xii. 2 f., xv. 6; Josli. xxiv. -2 f.

lid, Kiit.-l, <;.-*-h-hte derHcbraer, i. ir,f> I)',

[ll^tonjnf the Hebrews,
v..l. i.
p. 172 ff.].
219,220]
CKNESIS XII. XXV. 18

Hut there is, of course, no proof of this, especially if (li

ch. xiv. IH- regarded as fiction, for the statements regarding

1
Abraham as king of Damascus
have no historical value, not
2
any more than the alleged witness of Berosus. But even if
he also is only an ideal personage, a personification of the
yet undivided body of Hebrew emigrants, it is certain that
allthe narrators trace to him the origin or foundation of the

development of the people of Israel and of its religious

peculiarity. The picture which they draw of him corresponds
to this special significance of his.

'2. To particularise, Abraham in the biblical narratives

may indeed be recognised as leader of a Hebrew migra-

still

tion which started from Harran, and as the meeting-point of

a number of peoples who branched off from him. Here and

there also, especially in B, we have glimpses of the attitude

of these Hebrew immigrants in their relations with the

inhabitants of the land. We
read something of alliances and
contracts, and even of deeds of war. But, in general, Abraham

appears as an individual nomad chief, possessing great wealth

in cattlemany and dependants, who
by occupation or
purchase consecrates or acquires a few isolated spots in the

country, and in religious matters goes his own way. In

particular, he is represented to us as the head of a family

who, through his children, becomes the ancestor of new
peoples, and also as a highly favoured man of God and friend
of God, who is the beginner of a new life of faith among
men. What is related of him are chiefly domestic and
personal incidents, in which he establishes his worth more
and more securely, and on his part makes possible the

providential growth of Israel in its beginnings, and therewith

the salvation of the world. Undoubtedly the legend had
already tended to take this direction in the popular mouth.
But the ideal elaboration of the picture and the collection

1
Josephus, Antiquities, i. 7. 2 ; Justin, xxxvi. 2. 3.
-
Josephus, Antiquities i- 7 ; Ewald, Getchichte? i. 481 [History of
Israel, vol. i.
p. 335],
 GENESIS XII.-XXV. 18 [220

and arrangement of those materials in the legend which had

reference to Abraham, can be due only to those who com-
mitted it to writing. The three principal sources of the

I'.-iok of Genesis have all taken a share in this work.

To A
belongs the external, in the main chronological,
framework, the brief account of the Ishmaelite Arabs de-
scended from Abraham, and in especial the principal narrative

regarding the divine covenant, together with the law of

circumcision which belongs to it (ch. xvii.), and the narrative
of the purchase of a family burying-place (ch. xxiii.). In

general he has briefly and drily narrated the chief incidents

in Abraham's life. Only where he came to speak of things

so important for the Israel of later times as w^ere the

covenant, the birth of the son who was to inherit the

promises, and the first acquisition of soil in the country,

did he work out more detailed descriptions. Abraham is
represented by him as a man of noble character, profoundly

God fearing, and of exemplary life. But God's special

revelation to the patriarch does not take place till he is

well advanced in middle and the divine promises to him

life,

refer to a numerous posterity and the future possession of

the land. His residence is in Mamre, or in the district

round about Hebron.

From B there are still preserved some passages which
relate incidents in Abraham's life. They depict him in his
intercourse with native chiefs, or as he ruled in his own
They make prominent his dignity as a man of
1
household.
God and a prophet (xx. 7), his obedience to God and his
virtues, the divine protection and blessing, also, which he

everywhere enjoyed, and the esteem with which men regarded

him. Frequently the account contains relatively precise
statements of place, time, and circumstance, also names
wanting elsewhere, and remarkable particulars of a geo-
graphical and historical character, as well as very ancient
linguistic expressions. The passages are valuable contribu-
1
As in dis. xx., xxi. (5
11'., xxii. 1-13.
L'L'i), L'L'l]
GENESIS XII.-XXV. is 7

tions to a completed picture of the man, and <!' i:

ancient times. In them Gerar and Beersheba are his usual
p laces of residence.
The passages taken from C are not characterised by such
fulness of historical detail, but, we may say, by their didactic
clearness of style which remains consistent with the

picturesque vividness of the narrative. They present us, on

the one hand, with charmingly artistic pictures of particular
1
events which are quite ideal, and, on the other, with a full
record of the agency which calls,
never resting divine

educates, and blesses Abraham, and thereby moulds him into

the perfect man of faith, who trustfully holds fast the word
of promise, and becomes thereby worthy also to be a source
2
of blessing to those about him and to future generations.
It is, then, just those thoughts of C's which R has taken
and made his ruling ideas. Guided by them, he has taken the
narratives of the three narrators and united them or worked
them over with the following result. (1) Abraham's call

and his migration to Canaan are taken as the starting-point,

and the first division of the history consists of certain
narratives which, while describing how various of the most
ancient spots sacred the country were
in the centre of

consecrated by him, make clear more especially the character

of the man and the divine
protection and blessing which
followed him (chs. xii. xiv.). (2) He is next described in
the prime of his life, when by many tests and trials he is

made worthy to be the first recipient of the covenant, and

the subject of the most exalted promises (chs. xv. xxii. 19).

(3) This is followed by the narratives regarding himself, Ins

house, and Isaac's marriage, which belong to the last period
of his life (chs. xxii. 20-xxv. 18). A's distinction between
Abram and Sarai as they were before the covenant, and
Abraham and Sarah as they were after (ch. xvii. 5 and 15),
has been at the same time consistently introduced by 72 into
allthe narratives.
1
Chs. xviii. 2
f., xxiv. Chs. xii., xiii., xv.
 GENESIS XII [221

A. THE INTRODUCTORY NARRATIVES.

1. THE CALL OF ABRAM AND HIS MIGRATION INTO CANAAN,

CH. XII. 1-9 ACCORDING TO C (AND A). ;

The absence of a heading in the form D"OK rrtan r6x is

1
surprising. There are headings to the histories of Isaac
and of Jacob, and the history of Abram in
2
must have A
been similarly introduced. We cannot say that it was 3

omitted by A either because Terah was still alive at the

time of Abram's immigration, for Abram also, for example,
was still alive at the time fixed in ch. xxv. 20 or because ;

the history not begin straightway with an account

could

regarding the birth of his sons, for the history of Jacob

commences in ch. xxxvii. 2 after the time has passed for
recording the birth of his sons at all. Still less can we
4
imagine that the author regarded Abram's history as part
of that of Terah. The latter has received its formal con-
clusion in ch. xi. 32, and how can we suppose that Abram,
the chief personage in the patriarchal history, is to be

disposed of in a section of the history of Terah ? The only

correct view is that R omitted the heading,
5
because he
wished to replace the whole of As introduction to the history
1'V another taken from C. The real cause of the migration
accordingly, as A
no longer apparent. 6
stated In the it, is

whole passage we recognise with certainty only vv. 4& and

is from A. 7 The proof in their case is the mention of
A 1 .ram's age, the
repetition in 5a as compared with 4a, and
ions trri and unai, cfca, ]y:z ps, and also np'i. 8

lrl '- T. ID. 2

C h. xxxvii. 2.
'

Hu|.!.-M. 4
D eiit ZS ch, Keil.
i, Kn..l,.], Wellhausen, Bruston, and others.
N given in Ewald, Geschichte, 3 i. 463 [History of Israel
'

Kn.,1,,.1, lluj.f,.],!,
NY.l.k-ke, Schroder, Kayser, Welllmusen, and others.
Cf. chs. .\i.
:u, mnri <;, x i v i. c.
221, 22L>] GENESIS XII. 1 9

It cannot be proved that vv. G, 8, as far as the HI-CM mil

Dnpio, and 9 belong to A and ;

l
it is improbable, for the ivjisnn
that A nowhere shows any interest in proving that tin-
patriarclis consecrated all the places in the country which
were afterwards sacred. It is more likely that H is the

and 8a, 2 but 06 and 8b cannot be separated

original of vv. 6 a
from them and show that C had adopted these local names
from B. The evidence for 6"s authorship of this section is

found both in its contents (the divine call, the practice of

divine worship) and in its use of the expressions mrv, -^3
noiKn ninac'b, a ^33, ^>P.

Vv. 1-3. The Call. According to A (xi. 31) even

Terah when he set out with Abram had Canaan in view as
the goal of the migration. Here the migration is represented
as one willed by God and made known by Him to Abram.
It was part of the divine plan of salvation to use more
active remedies in face of the growing deterioration of
mankind, and
8
in Abram to choose and prepare a man who
should be the foundation-stone of a kingdom of God which
was to be set up among men.
Ver. 1. God summons Abram to go forth from his home.

1p again in the Pentateuch in Gen. xxii. 2 (cf.

Ex. xviii. 27) ;

see Ewald, 315a.
From your country, and your kin, and your home the

expressions are accumulated in order to point out that God

made no small demand of him when He required him to sever
his family ties and wander forth as a stranger into a land as
yet unknown to him. 4 rnbto* H and rrtto ps are used
almost synonymously, 5 so it was not unnatural to suppose
that Ur Kasdim was here intended 7 it follows, however, ;

from xxiv. 4 and 7 that C meant Harran, and against this

i
Knobel.
-
Sehvader, Kittel, Geschicltte, i. 123 [History of the Hebrews, i.
p. 13G].
4
:i
Ch. xi. 1-9. Tuch.
5 6
E.g. xxiv. 4 and 7, xxxi. 3 and 13. Ch. xi. 28.
7
Acts vii. 2 ; Mercerus, Bonfrere, Rosenmiiller ; Hupfeld, who
appeals to xv. 7.
10 GKNESIS XII. 2, 3 [222,223

xv. 7 possesses no weight. See, further, the notes on ch. xi.

28. It is not Mesopotamia in general, to which both Harran

and Ur Kasdim belonged, that is referred to. 1

Which I shall show you definite information regarding
the goal of the journey is reserved to a later time. 2 This
makes God's demand appear all the harder. It was therefore,
the more necessary to intimate the purpose and object of the
demand in the form of a promise, and this follows in ver. 2 f.
3 "
Ver. 2 f. bnj *vb "]vyxi the promise of numerous
4
descendants is frequent in the history of the patriarchs."
5
Bless you i.e.
prosper you.
Make your name great glorify it, make it honoured and
praised ;
see ver. 3b.
And be a blessing i.e.
you shall be a blessing, an object
6
of blessing, ev\oyr)jj,evo<; (Sept.), a bearer of blessing, as it
were blessing incarnated, on whom not only God has poured
out His full blessing, but whom men also bless in that they
use his name in their formulas of blessing 7 one also who ;

even becomes to others a source of blessing. 8

Ver. 3. A continuation of ver. 26, as \ shows, not an
explanatory clause.
And I will bless those that bless you extend Abram's
blessing to those who adopt
a friendly attitude to him.
also
On the other hand, he will " lay on his enemies a curse which
will evidence itself in their misfortunes. The curse calls
9
oilier passages to mind." As compared with the Septua-
gint, Samaritan, Peshitta, and Vulgate, which render T^po*
xxvil 29), the Massoretic
(cf. reading is finer; God will not
anticipate that many will so far forget themselves as to revile
him.

1
KM..M. See ver. 7. 3
Ex. xxxii. 10 ;
Num. xiv. 12.
MM. 1C, xv. xvii. 2, 6, 16,
f>, xviii. 18, xxi. 13, xxii. 17, xxvi.
4,24, nonr, n, .\i\-i. :*. Kn,,u-i.
Cha. xxx. 17, xxxix. :,. e
C f. p s . xxi. 7 [6] and Isa. xix. 24.
:' .-iiitl Xi-.-h. viii. 13.
la Ukd MUM like xix. 29 and xxvi. 5.
11, 17, iv. 1
1, v 29, ix. 25, xxvii. 29.
.
Knobel.
223] CKNKSIS XII. 3 11

"p 1D"i3:i the Septuagint rendering, /cal evev\oyr)6ijcrovTat,

1
lv (rot, is representative of others. It is the interpretation
of all the ecclesiastical expositors, who have generally
followed the lead of the New Testament,
2
and referred the
words to the communication to the peoples of the salvation

coming from Abram's seed. Now it is true that such a

reference to the final goal of the old covenant would not in
itselfbe surprising in the case of a prophetic writer like C,
3
although there are nowhere else in Genesis intimations of
such a far-reaching character. The context is also well fitted
to receive it as an intensification of what is said in ver. 3a.
Even the possibility of construing the Niphal as a passive
both here and in xviii. 18 and xxviii. 14, is to be acknow-

ledged. But in chs. xxii. 18 and xxvi. 4 the equivalent

reading is "u pn ^
linn i^an?], which cannot be under-
stood passively 4 but only reflexively, " all people will bless
themselves with your seed," i.e. 5 desire for themselves good
fortune like that of Israel, and in so doing use its name
as a formula of blessing. There seems no good reason why
less should be said of the seed of Abram than of Abram

himself, especially as the formula in ch. xxviii. 14 is used,

not merely of Abram, but also of his seed. Even were it

true that chs. xxii. 18 and xxvi. 4 are from another hand
than chs. xii. 3, xviii. 18, and xxviii. 14, 6
namely, from R, it
does not on that account follow that there is a difference in
7
the meaning of the formula. Hence most modern expositors
have decided for the reflexive force of the Niphal Tuch ;

"
gives both Hithpael and Niphal the meaning count one's self

fortunate, feel one's self blessed in (a) another," a meaning

1
(Ecclus. xliv. 21 ; Acts iii. 25 ; Gal. iii. 8) Targums, Vulgate, ;

Kinichi, Ibn Ezra.

2
Cf. besides the passages in the preceding note, Rom. iv. 13 and 16 also.
3 4
Ch. ix. 26 included. Sept., Targums.
5
In accordance with Gen. xlviii. 20 ; Jer. xxix. 22 ;
Isa. Ixv. 15 f.
6
G. Baur.
7
After Rashi's example, e.g. Clericus, Vogel, De \Vette, Gesenius,
Ewald, 133a ; Knobel, Delitzsch.
1 -j GENESIS XII. 4, 5 [223,
224

which appears in itself possible in view of passages like Ps.

xlix. 19, but as a matter of fact can be proved from no

other passage. Those who still hold by the passive sense l

iv|uire to answer why, the meaning "be blessed" were if

intended, the Pual, which is certainly passive, was not used

in any one of the five In passages also like Jer.
passages.
iv. 2 and Ps. Ixxii. 17, which return to and repeat these

promises to the patriarchs, only the Hithpael is found; in

Ps. Ixxii. 17 13 o-Grp is even explained by * fT
J?^l It is

2
incomprehensible why in chs. xviii. 18, xxii. 18, and xxi. 4
" "
the Jehovist's Hithpael should be intended to express
a passive sense, while in chs. xii. 3 and xxviii. 14 the
" "
Jahvist's Niphal should be intended to express a reflexive
sense. Accordingly we have to abide by the translation, all
the families of the earth will bless themselves in (or with) you.

nsixn nviDEfe-fa so in chs. xxviii. 14; in xviii. 18, xxii.

J
18, and xxvi. 4, pn "U ?3. The intensification of expression,
as compared with the parallel clause, lies in the statement
that all families of the earth bless themselves with him, and

indirectly, therefore, also bless and praise him in person, and

acknowledge his greatness and importance. It is rather in
vv. 25 and 3a that
expression is given to the thought that
3
-ing also really flows out from him on them.
Ver. 4. Abram follows God's direction, and his very
setting out is therefore in itself an act of faith in the
promise, and of believing obedience to God. The statement
of Al mini's due to A.
age is
According to it, he set out
while his father was still cf. ch. xi. 26 and 32. alive;
Ver. r,
"In all prob-
repeats ver. 4a, but in A's words.
Al.nun jnunu'ved by
ability way of Damascus; see ch. xv. 2." 4
A H.n-M.l.ci- Hofmann, G. Baur, Keil, Kautzscli-Socin, Die
';,,,-'.
-
\\Mlli.-uiM. n, JllhTh. cd. 421, 413.
tin- win,],,
r
passage see Hengstenberg, Ckristoloyie
.
<!r.; Britatyp BUT
Retake, '
/;//,-/<//
m/ chs A.T. iv. Ill if.;
'

1
KM..IH-I.
224]
GENESIS XII. 13

movable property, in Assyrian rnktixit, like fan, is

" "
said to mean riding animal jumentum
1
the word is ;
common
in A ;
2
B^, a denominative from it, is only found in A?
"
And the souls that they had made the persons they
had acquired, viz. male and female slaves. 4 For ntry in this

sense comp. ch. xxxi. 1 and Deut. viii. 17. ;

C BJ, like Bnai, is
5
a favourite word of A's."

Land of Canaan see ch. xi. 31.

Ver. 6. Abram passes through the country to the place

Shechem. mp not merely district, but a

is place where
6
worship is offered, the seat of a cultus.
Shechem one of the best known towns of Central
Canaan, situated on the hills of Ephraim between Mounts
Ebal and Gerizim. After its destruction in the wars of

Vespasian it was rebuilt under the name Flavia NTeapolis.

Its modern name is Nablus.
As far as the terebinth of the soothsayer (giver of guidance)

"according to Deut. xi. 30 this was a terebinth grove,

and it seems to be identical with the enchanters' terebinth of
Judg. ix. 37." The giving of guidance "was the business of
"
priests and seers, who were also named teachers or instructors
7

8 "
(givers of guidance). Plainly we must here think of a sacred

grove where soothsaying priests sat in ancient times and

imparted information and instruction. The religious import-
ance of the place is also evidenced by the fact that there
Jacob buried the images and amulets 9 he brought with him,

1
P. Haupt, Hebraica, iii. 1887, p. 110. [Streitthier of German text
corrected into Keitthier.]
2
Chs. xiii. 6, xxxi. 18, xxxvi. 7, xlvi. 6 ; Num. xvi. 32, xxxv. 3 ;
it is

also used in Gen. xiv. 11 f., 16, 21, and in xv. 14.
3
Chs. xxxi. 18, xxxvi. 6, xlvi. 6.
4
Lev. xxii. 11 Ezek. xxvii. 18; cf. Q-JX in Num. xvi. 32.
;

*
Chs. xvii. 14, xxxvi. 6, xlvi. 15, 18, 22, 25 ff. etc. ; but also in xiv. 21
and elsewhere. Knobel.
6
Chs. xxii. 3f., xxviii. 11 ;
1 Sam. vii. 16 in Sept.; Jer. vii. 12, and
frequently.
7
2 Kings xvii. 28 ;
2 Chron. xv. 3 ;
Isa. ix. 14 Hab. ; ii. 19.
8 9
Isa. xxx. 20. Ch. xxxv. 4.
 1 4 GENESIS XII. (>
[224, 225

ami there Joshua erected a stone after he had enjoined Israel

observe the law.
1
The latter incident perhaps explains

monument terebinth of Judg. ix. 6 beside which Abime-

Icch was made king. The grove was variously named accord-
;
.
its various aspects."
''

According to the usual

is the name of a man, like ^P^ in ch.
nito
Tpretation,
xiii. 18. The Septuagint and Vulgate even made it nfcpB
(inJrTjXo?, illustris).
The Septuagint and Peshitta translate oak.
pi>x But
3 4
oak certainly i^,
is and rto and |vS are parallels to n
^,
6
which is distinguished from ifetf, and means terebinth.
Further, it is certain that terebinths, even in ancient times,

\\t-re less common than oaks, and better suited to designate

6
localities, besides being readily esteemed more sacred because
of the greater age they attain. It is therefore more probable 7

that P?N means terebinth in spite of the fact that the

Septuagint always renders SpO?, and that also the Massoretes

8
vacillate in their punctuation. At the same time, ^N and
pta (cf. Aram. JT
1

^) may perhaps designate other large trees

also.
9
When we take into consideration the Aramaic word,
and such passages as Amos ii. 9, Isa. vi. 13, Zech. xi. 2, and
K/'-k. xxvii. 6, there is, after all, little probability that nta
and pi>x originally denoted sacred trees, and that the one is

a nomen unitatis and the other an adjective from i>N, God. 10

The Targums (and Jerome) have ao^o, plain, for pta, as in
xiv. G and elsewhere.
rh.
By this they show that they
undurstoood the idolatrous signification of p^s, for
they often
translate ^Va in tliis same way. 11
. xxiv. 26.

except that terebinth has been put

i'i-1, where lie had oak.
:;
D'.ubtless also nta, Josh. xxiv. 26.

Cf. Cm. xxxv. I with -hid- ix. (5.

3
Hos> iy> 13; I sa<vi< 13>

Raguding tin-
present day, see 'ADPV. xiii. 220 ff.
T Delii Kwal.l.
/>.!.,
'
/;./. .I'-h. xix. :{;{ ; ,lul:. \\. 1 1.

See note on ch. xiv. 6, an- 1 <

le.-enius, Thesaurus, 51a.

11
8e- M q !$>. l.y Dillinaiin in M HAW. 1881, p. 619.
225] GENESIS XII. 7, 8 15

The remark that the Canaanite, not to be taken in tin-

narrower sense 1
of Num. xiii. 29 and xiv. 25, but in its

widest signification as in ch.x. 18, was then in the land?

apparently unnecessary, has in view the promise of ver. 7 ;

the land whose possession God promises to Abram's posterity

was not at the time ownerless on the contrary, those very
;

Canaanites were already settled in it who, according to God's

3
plan, were afterwards to give place, and did give place, to
Abram's seed. Comp. ch. xiii. 7, also xxiv. 3 and 37.
Ver. At Shechem, in a theophany, Abram
7. is given the
assurance that God will bestow the possession of this land on

his descendants. He
thus given the information, withheld
is

in ver. 1 regarding what land is to be the goal of his wander-

,

ings, and the series of promises contained in ver. 2 f. is com-

pleted. The assurance is several times afterwards repeated

in A 4
and the other writers. 5 The Septuagint, Samaritan,
Peshitta, and Vulgate add ib to 1D&01.

According to the belief of antiquity, the place where

there has been a theophany is a sacred spot. So Abram
erects an altar at Shechem, as Jacob 6 also did (a ras). The

building of a sanctuary was a less simple form of the same

"
practice. In later times there was a sacred spot just beside
7
Shechem ;
it was
necessarily consecrated as such by the
patriarchs themselves, for they were regarded as patterns for
a later time, and the author's opinion regarding the antiquity
of the worship of Jahve allowed of it." 8 For other places of
this kind see ver. 8, xiii. 18, xxi. 33, xxii. 1 ff., xxvi. 25.

rtH n&ron as in ch. xxxv. 1.

Ver. 8. From Shechem, Abram moved on, southward, to
9
the hill country east of Bethel, and encamped in a place
where Bethel lay from the sea, i.e. west of him, while Ai
1
Knobel.
2
Of Canaan, not Shechem, Halevy, Eecherches Bibliques, x. 261.
3 4
Ch. xv. 16 f. Chs. xvii. 8, xxxv. 12.
5
Chs. xiii. 15 ff., xv. 18 ff., xxvi. 3, xxviii. 13.
6 7 Josh.
Ch. xxxiii. 20. xxiv. 1, 26.
8 9
Ch. iv. 6. Knobel. Chs. ii. 8, iii. 24, xi. 2.
1 (j GENESIS XII. 9 [225, 226

to the east. Eegarding the situations of Bethel and Ai,

see commentary
l
on Josh. vii. 2 and the Bible dictionaries.
P'nyn move on a journey ;
in this sense again only in

xxvi. 22.

n t) n ^ again in chs. xxvi. 25, xxxiii. 19, xxxv. 21.

Abram consecrated this place also by an altar and the
celebration of divine service? Bethel was an Israelite place
3
of public worship, and a very ancient holy place. In the
4
of the ten tribes it was the seat of a royal sanctuary.
kingdom
Its consecration for Israel is ascribed to Jacob ;
5
to Abram
no more is attributed than the consecration of a place be-
tween Bethel and Ai. Eegarding the relation of Bethel to
Luz, see note on ch. xxviii. 19.
Ver. 9. Abram gradually, i.e. in nomadic stages, journeyed
farther and farther south. The verse is not from B or R?
but was originally C's introduction to ver. 1 ff. For J?D^, see

xi. 2 ;
and for yiwi "j&n, ch. viii. 3, 5, 7.
3M properly dryness, barren land, with the article is the
"
name of themost southerly part of the land of the Hebrews,
and borders in the north on the lowlands, the hill country,
and the desert of Judah. It is pasture land, only in parts

capable of cultivation, and is the transition from the cultivated

land to the desert. To the south of it, as far as Sinai, there
7
is only unmitigated desert." The use of the word in the
sense of south is a purely Palestinian usage, like that of D" 1

for west.

2. THE MIGRATION TO EGYPT, AND SARAI'S PRESERVATION

THERE, CH. XII. 10-20; ACCORDING TO C.

This section is in general ascribed to C. The expressions

rnrr, h TB\-I, *o and w run, nojja an d Was, rriry nxrno, exclude
1

Dill 2
g ce no t e on c h. i v 26.
(
Miami's.] .

.Iii.l-. xx. 18, 26 ff. ;

1 Sam. x. 3.
1

I K ingH xii. 2G ff.; Amos vii. 10 ff. 5

Clis. xxviii. 22, xxxv. 7 ff.
1

Kittrl, Gtatato, i.
pp. 123, 135 [History of the Hebrews, vol. i. pp.
7 See Josh. xv. 21 ff.
'

-10]- Knobel.
22(i]
GENESIS XII. 10-20 1 7

A and betray the hand of C. According to Wellhauscn,

1

the whole, with the inclusion of ver. 9, is from />, and

only afterwards inserted into C. He deduces this from t In-

artificial bringing back of the narrative in ch. xiii. 14 to

the point reached in ch. xii. 8, and from the absence of Lot in
vv. 9-20, whereas he appears along with Abrain in ch. xiii.

The observations are correct, but not the conclusions. For vv.
10-20, at least, B is excluded by ch. xx., and the language
is that of C. The that
journeys alone may be
fact Abram
explained by not C's
having had the narrative till after the

separation from Lot, perhaps in the same situation as It's

ch. xx. E placed the passage in an earlier context, partly
because he wished to separate it as far as possible from its

analogue in ch. xx., and partly because he thereby somewhat

lessened its incompatibility with the chronological statements
which were to be taken from A. But, on the other hand, it

was an established part of the tradition, that the neighbour-

hood of Bethel was the scene of the separation of Abram and
Lot. Accordingly, E has taken the narrative back to that

point by means of ch. xiii. 1, 3 f. No conclusion can be

2
deduced from ch. xxvi. 1 f.

Sarai is carried off by the Egyptian king, but has to be

restored to Abram as a result of God's interposition and

punishment. The patriarch issues from the danger only

the richer. The aspect of the story kept in view, in the
present setting of it by E, is not so much that it is a trial
of faith. viewed rather as a proof of how God, who
It is

has chosen Abram and given him the promises, now also
watches over him and his wife, to the extent even of rescuing
him from dangers which he has brought on himself by short-
sighted policy, and thus gives him an actual proof of the
Divine Providence, in which he will yet learn to believe more
and more firmly. The actual contents of the narrative, i.e.
the danger which met or threatened the patriarch's wife at
the hands of a foreign prince, and her preservation by God's
2
1
JBDTh. xxi. 413 f., 419. See note there.
DILLMANN. If. 2
1 8 GENESIS XII. 10-12 [220, 227

iiiU-rpnsitinii,
was a favourite subject in the legend. What
here in Egypt is related to have befallen Abram
"
happened
and Sai-iii (eh. xx.), and Isaac and Rebecca (ch. xxviii.) at the
1
irt of Abimelekh in Gerar." It has been rightly long

assumed that these three narratives are variants of the same

original story, and a special confirmation of this is that in all

three the husband gives out that his wife is his sister.

Ver. 10. Famine is a cause of nomadic migration in ch.

xxvi. 1 and xli. 54 f. also. Egypt, the granary of Canaan in
times of famine, 2 was the point to which the nomad naturally

gravitated in such a case. The stereotyped expression for a

journey from the hilly land of Canaan to the Nile valley is
3
TP, and for the journey from Egypt to Canaan rfe.
Ver. 11. Kiai Zfnpn, he approached. ^ n&OE r\&
of beautiful
1

5 "
appearance. wnjn, elsewhere only in purely Jehovistic
6
passages, i.e. in C."
"
According to another writer, Abram had made the
7

agreement with Sarai here mentioned before this time." It

is to be observed that the statement about Sarai's beauty

proves that this narrative was not originally written out in

connection with the passages from A, inasmuch as, according
to these,8 Sarai was at the time sixty-five years old.
"
Ver. 1 2 f. Abram requests Sarai to pass as his sister
in Egypt, so that he may not be murdered. If she were
supposed to be his wife, an Egyptian could only have her by
accomplishing her husband's death if she passed as his sister, ;

there was a prospect of obtaining her from her brother in an

honourable way.
nx Tins* i.e.
you are my sister. *3
may be omitted in
oratio obliqua, as in ch. xli. 15. 9 The statement, at least

1
Kuobel.
-
Cli. llil 1
II'.; Josq.hus, Antiquities, xv. 9. 2.
. !.. xliv. 23 f., xlvi. 4. Knobel.
5 25
ininuttik,** 120. 1. Gesenius, 128. 3.
Chn. AM. L', xviii. 27, 31, xix.
2, 8, 196, xxvii. 2.
8
:

Chs. xii. 4, xvii. 17.

* 8*
GeseniuB, 157.
JL'7]
GENKS1S XII. 14-10 19

account, was not untrue, but also not the

1
according to 's

whole truth.
In order that may yo well with me on your account in
it

order that people may show a friendly interest in the brother

for the sake of his beautiful sister, and I may prosper. 2
3
??J3 in chs. xxx. 27, xxxix. 5, and in Deuteronomy."
Ver. 14 f. Sarai's beauty is praised to the king by the
royal officials, and she is brought to the palace to be there-
after one of the women of the royal household. Similar
stories are told by modern travellers of Oriental kings who
c^uite at their own pleasure introduce the beauties of their
land into their harem. 4 An old Egyptian story of the same
5
kind given by Ebers.
is

njns'px they praised her towards Pharaoh, spoke in

6
praise of her to him; cf. Judg. xi. 36. Pharaoh, according
to Josephus, king} The hieroglyphic prototype
means the

has been shown by Stern to be p-ur-d, i.e. great prince, 8 most

mighty of princes. From the time of Shishak it became a

usual designation of the Pharaohs, and passed into Koptic
in the form JT-OYpO, n-eppo, the king. 9 10
Others, basing
on a statement of Horapollo, prefer the derivation from pcro
(per-aa per-ao), great house, which was in use as a circum-
"
location for the sovereign, somewhat as we use Sublime
Porte."
n
liim, see note on ch. ii. 23. JV3, accusative of place ;

in the Samaritan nrro.

Yer. 16. "For the sake of his supposed sister Abrain

receives from the king presents in men and cattle. The
I 2 s
Ch. xx. 12. Ch. xl. 14. Knobel.
4
Olearius, Reisebeschreiluny, p. 664 ; Kiimpfer, Amoenitatuui Exotic-
<irinn, p. 203 Jaubert, [Voyaye, 301], Germ.
;
tr. p. 220 f.
5 c
Aegypten, 262 f. Tuch.
7
Antiquities, viii. 6. 2. See Gesenius, Thesaurus, p. 1129.
8 9
Clrostfiirst. Peyron, Lexicon Kopticum, 150, 181.
10
Lauth, de Rouge, Brugsch, Ebers, Aegypten, p. 263 ff. ; Ermau,
Afjupten, p. 92.
II
As in rlis. xviii. 1, xxiv. 23, xxxviii. 11 ; Gesenius, GraiumatiL;-
5

118. i>.
20 GENESIS XII. 1G [227, 228

aiiinuils lu-iv named appear elsewhere also, along with slaves,

1
as the chief wealth of the nomadic patriarchs, as also in

the case of Job;

2
horses are never included. According
to Burckhardt 3
and Robinson, 4 it not every Beduin band
is

time, makes the same

5
which possesses horses. Strabo, in his
6
ivmark regarding the Nabateans." Against the objections
of von Bohlen, that sheep and asses were not among the
see the note on ch. xlvi. 34. 7
,

ptian domestic animals,

T.iit unknown to the ancient Egyptians, and
the horse was
does not appear on the monuments till the time of the New
8
Empire, from the 18th dynasty onwards. Nor is there any
trace of the camel in inscriptions or pictures dating earlier
9
tlian Ex. ix. 3 also presupposes that it
the Greek period.
was found in Egypt the rearing of it was never indigenous
;

to Egypt proper on the contrary, the ass was always the

;

animal used by the Egyptians as a means of transport

through the desert.

10
i^~'m and there became to him, he received.
The mention of the male and female slaves between the
mention of the he-asses and the she-asses is inexplicable ;
in

chs. xxiv. 35 and xxx. 43 there is less difficulty. The words

are either an ancient gloss, or have been misplaced by a
11
transcriber; yet perhaps D^DJl runtfl have been tacked on to
"
the list. The author represents Abram in an unfavourable
light, inasmuch as so far from making him protest against
rharaoh's action in ver. 15, he allows him to accept presents
from the king. In the light of the high opinion he held of
the piety of the patriarch, as elsewhere expressed, 12 he doubt-

1 2
Chs. xxiv. 35, xxxii. 15 f. Job i. 3, xlii. 12.
3
[Notes on the Bedouins and Wahdbys, 1831, vol. ii.
p. 50 ff.], Germ,
tr. 343, 347.
4 5
1'alestine, i. 343. xvi. 4. 26.
n 7
Kuobel. Ebers, Aeyypten, p. 2G5 if.
M
Hi man, Aeyypten, p. 649 ;
E. Meyer, Geschichte, 211.
''
Klit-rs in Riehm's
Handw&rterbuch, p. 314; Erman, Acgypten, p.
652.
10
Gesenius, (Jrammatik 145. 7. n Olslmuson.
"Cl.,. xv. 0, xxii. 12.
228] <;KNKSIS xn. 17-20 21

less assumed that Abram expected direct divine protection

for Sarai if matters came to an l
extremity."
Ver. 17. "This was actually what happened. In order
to punish the infringement of Abram's right of property, to

secure Sarai's honour, and bring about her restoration to her

husband, God caused heavy blows to fall on Pharaoh and his house,
i.e. inflicted diseases upon them. 2 Derivatives from yn and
similar expressions are frequently used of disease, e.g. of leprosy
3
and pestilence, and such diseases are elsewhere recorded as
4
the punishment for profanation of what was sacrosanct."
irvaviKl in spite of its position need not be an addition
5
to the text; see note ch. ii. 9.
"
Ver. 18 f. The king summons Abram before him,
reproves his conduct, and bids depart. The plagues him
led to the conclusion that God was angry, and that sin had
been committed interrogation of Sarai, the recent arrival in
;

the royal household, might lead to an explanation. 6 This is

doubtless ,the course of events implied by the narrator." 7
8
Josephus represents the king as learning the cause of his
9
afflictions from the priests.
And I took her to me to wife included her among my
wives. Connection with Sarai was prevented by the illness
of Pharaoh ;
see ch. xx. 4, 6. 10
After -jnt?s run the Septuagint adds Ivav-rl aou, T.???.
Ver. 20. Pharaoh summoned over him, i.e. on his account
or for his protection, men to escort his journey home. 11 For
*W comp. chs. xxxi. 27 and xviii. 16, also irpoTrepTrew.
12

At the end of the verse the Samaritan and some MSS. of the
Septuagint add \oy Bih ;
see ch. xiii. 1.

1
Knobel. -'
Cf. ch. xx. 17.
3
Ex. xi. 1 ;
1 Sain. vi. 9 Kings xv. [5], 9 Job xix. 21.
;
2 ;

4
Num. xii. 10 ;
1 Sam. v. 12 2 Chron. xxvi. 19. Knobel following
;

Tuch.
5
As Kautzsch-Socin 2 make it. 6
Cf. Jonah i. 7 ff.
7 8
Knobel. Antiquities, i. 8. 1.
9 10
Tuch. Knobel.
11 12
Cf. Ezra viii. 22. Acts xv. 3, xxi. 5. Knobel.
 GENESIS XIII [228, 229

3. ABRAM'S SEPARATION FROM LOT, OH. XIII. ;

FROM R,
FOLLOWING C AND A.

returned from Egypt to the neighbourhood

Abram having
of Bethel (along with Lot), disposes of the disputes which

had arisen between his herdsmen and those of Lot by pro-

posing that Lot should leave him. Unselfishly enough he
leaves to Lot the well-watered valley of the Jordan which he

chose, and himself now remains alone in Canaan proper.

Immediately after, the future possession of the land is anew

promised to him.
By thus voluntarily quitting Canaan, Lot resigned his
claim to it, and the later territorial relations of Moab Ammon
and Israel are determined in prototype. 1 At the same time,
by the separation of this branch of the migration, Abram
becomes the one central figure of the succeeding narrative.
This historically important event is, further, narrated in such
a way that new proof is given of Abram's spiritual greatness
in his self-denying and peace-loving disposition, and at the
same time of God's providential care for him.

Ch. xix. 29 is evidence that A also contained an account

of Lot's separation from Abram. On examination vv. 6, 11&,
and 12 are proved to be from A
by the analogy of xxxvi.
7 f., by the expressions Bhan, KBO, 2B*, jy:D, px, isan ny, and

by the divergences which they reveal from other statements

2
in the passage. Knobel felt himself obliged to assume,
because of VVDD!>, that ver. 3a, and in that case also ver. 1 and
xn. 9 f., was from A. If so, we should have so much the
better an explanation of
why R inserted the episode xii.

11-20 just in this place. At the same time, except for

WDG9 "one of the special marks of A's
presence are found in
these and
verses, this solitary
exception may have been
;uloj,t.Ml l,y /,' from j' s vocabulary. It is therefore safer to

(p. 17) that R in ver. 1 (but without TO D&) has

1
Cf. oh, xxxvi. G. 2
Hupfeld, Die Quellen der Genesis, p. 21 11'.
22!)]
CKNKSIS XIII. 1-3 23

retained C's original conclusion of xii. 11-20, but in order

to lead the narrative back to the point reached in xii. 8
has inserted ver. 3 f. and the words ray B& in ver. 1. Vv. 2
and 5 may then have been the original continuation of ch.
xii. 8. They and ver. 7 ff. (with the omission of lib and
12) form a well-connected sequence, and contain sufficient
evidence of their derivation from 0, viz. the reference (ver.

10) to ch. ii. f., the anticipation (ver. 13) of ch. xix., the
commands and promises of God in vv. 14-17 (cf. xxviii. 14),

the expressions of ver. and the frequent M. 1 There are

9,

no valid reasons for assigning to B some isolated verses in

the chapter. Just as little need we regard vv. 1417 as a
2
later addition.

Ver. 1. Abram went up 3

from Egypt back 4 to the

Negeb. The statement that Lot was with him is not

contained in ch. xii. 1020, and may be taken to be a
redactional addition.
Ver. 2. Now he was very heavy ly reason of, rich in,
cattle? silver, and gold. Silver and gold are mentioned again
as patriarchal possessions only in chs. xxiv. 35 and xxii. 53
Q
(from C)', but comp. ch. xx. 16. Eegarding the generic
article see Gesenius, 7 but the Massoretes may here have

intended a reference to the possessions acquired in Egypt.

Ver. 3 f. rpooi does not mean keeping to the stages by
which he had previously journeyed,8 but, in accordance with
his departures or marches, by stages, and so by degrees,
marching in stages such as suited a nomad and his cattle. 9

Abram now journeyed vyooi from the Negeb on to Bethel,

to the place he had formerly 10 occupied, and again celebrated
divine service there. This rendering follows the present text,

1
Vv. 8, 9, 14.
2
Wellhausen, JBDTh. xxi. 414.
3 4
Cf. xii. 10. Cf. xii. 9.
5 6
See note ch. iv. 20. Knobel.
7 8
Grammatik** 126. 36. Sept., Vulg.
9
Cf. Ex. xvii. 1, xl. 31 !,
38 ; Num. x. 2, 6, 12, 28, xxxiii. 1 f., all in
A ; Knobel.
10
Ch. xii. 8.
'2 \ GENESIS XIII. 5-10 [229, 230

Imt perhaps D-QK a later interpolation, and ver. 4& was

is

meant originally as a continuation of the relative sentence.

Ver. 5. Lot also, who went with him, accompanied him on
his journeyings, like Abram (ver. 2), was rich in herds and in
tents,
1
i.e. slaves and household goods as well.
Ver. 6. From A and the land did not bear them
;
so that

they dwelt together, was incapable of sustaining them, seeing it

had not sufficient pasture for so many cattle, and so did not

permit of their remaining together. Comp. chs. xxxvi. 7 and

2
xii. 5, both from A. iw, too, is a favourite word of his,
though it is found in B (xx. 1) and in C (xviii. 18). Kfc'J,

3
masculine, see Gesenius.
"
Ycr. 7. For this reason there was strife between their
4
herdsmen, regarding the pasture grounds and the wells,
i.e.

which were all the less sufficient for their requirements, see-
ing that Abram and Lot were not the only occupants of this
5
part of the country." Regarding pa see note on x. 1 7.
It and "oyja together describe the ancient population of the
country in ch. xxxiv. 30 also; in ch. xii. 6 ^ywn is named
alone.

Ver. 8 f. Abram feels it to be unseemly that there should

be disputes between men who are brothers, i.e. relatives,
6

and so proposes a separation. He leaves Lot the choice of

locality, though he himself is the older of the two and the

leader ;
the land is before you, lies open to you. 7

p'n ^HDtrn, locatives, "nan

be supplied with them.
is to

iT? and bwfa are denominatives from them. To take the

ri.ulit side or the left means to go right or left; for the
phrase comj). ch. xxiv. 49 (in C).
Ver. 10. Lot turns his eyes to the well- watered plain of
the Jordan.
25
riK, Oesenius, 23. 3A, 2.

2
Hupfeld, Quellen, p. 22. Comp. ver. 12, xxxvi. 7 f., and xxxvii. 1.
8 Gram,
until;,-* 145. 7.
4
ihs, \\i. xx vi. 5
<
i':., i>0ff.; cf. xxix. 3, 8. Knobel.
f
-

(< lis.
xiv. 10, xxix. 15, xxiv. 27.
7
Sin.ilarlx ehl, xx.
15, xxxiv. 10, xlvii. G.
2.?0]
GENESIS XIII. 10

2
i"rrn ~i33
l
more frequently simply "^s?, the Jordan
is the land on both sides of the Jordan from Lnk<-
4
Tiberias to the Dead Sea, the modern
Ghor, in Josephusel

called TO /j,eya TreSiov. Elsewhere in the Old Testament it is

commonly named n ?"W?, but that name also includes tin-
5
'Araba between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Akaba. The
6
valley of Siddim, i.e. the region at the south of the Dead Sea,
was also included in the 133, and it is it which the author
lias here specially in mind. It was all, he tells us, npC'D

rf'/tium, regio rigua}

The restrictive note of time, before God destroyed Sodom
and Gomorrah* is referred by the accents to the comparison
with the garden of God, but is perhaps 9 an explanatory in-

terpolation, although we do find once in (7, in ch. xix. 13,

nnc> instead of rpnirn.
lQ
The inverted climax, garden of Gfod, like the land
like the

of Egypt, may be tolerated because the first comparison was

pitched too high. It is not permissible to get rid of it by a

a garden of n
linguistically impossible translation, like 6fod,
which besides leaves the difficulty largely untouched, seeing
12
that a garden planted by God Himself would still be
superior to Egypt. It is improbable that Dn^D p&O is due
to a later hand. 13

In the direction of u So'ar, on the south-east shore of the

Dead Sea. 15
This determines the southern extremity of the

region so resplendent in the beauty and wealth of its plant

life, and therefore belongs to the whole sentence and not to

1
Also in 1 Kings vii. 4G (of. Matt. iii. 5).
2
Ch. xix. 17, 25, 28 Deut. xxxiv. 3 2 Sam.
; ;
xviii. 23.
3 4
Lit. circle or circuit, Kreis. ll'ars of the Jeics, iv. 8. 2.
5 c
Deut. i. 1, ii. 8. Ch. xiv. 3.
~

Regarding the abundance of water due to the brooks which flow

down from the hills, see Burckhardt, [Travels in Syria, p. 390], Germ.
tr. p. 658 f.; Seetzen, Reiten, i.
p. 417.
8 9
Ch. xix. 24 ff. Olshausen.
10
Ch. ii. 8ff. " Schumann, Delitzsch 4 .

1-J
Num. xxiv. 6. 1S
Olshausen, Ksuitzsch-Socin
2
.

14 15
Ch. x. 19, 30. See ch. xix. 22.
26 GENESIS XIII. 11-13 [230, 231

anv alone. The Peshitta renders the latter view, and

pxn
correction of into at
helps itself out with the ijra Itff, Egypt
!
the entering in of Soar. Ebers actually adopts the reading
of the Peshitta, and Trumbull wishes to make So'ar the name
2
of the borderland of the north-east of Egypt.
The assumption that from vsh to nj,T-p is a redactional

addition, and that the remainder of the verse is from A, 3 is

untenable, for A does not write pTTi 133 (see ver. 12).
Ver. 11 f. Lot chose this Jordan district and journeyed
4
therefore eastwards.
^n msn
coming after the first part of the verse
these words are unnecessary, but they are the necessary pre-

supposition of ver. 12. They and ver. 12 as far as -13311 are

therefore to be assigned to A, who is pointed out by the
expressions fjttD pK,
5
"O3n ny, 6 and 3tr. 7 Similar reasoning
8
proves that ono-ny irwi is no longer his, but originally
followed onpo D*6 yo'l in ver. 11. It in turn is presupposed
by the following verse, which is not from A.
?n? only here and in ver. 18, to dwell in tents, lead the

life of a tent-dweller, doubtless not synonymous with yD3 =

break up camp, but in the sense lead a wandering nomadic life.
In chs. xiv. 21 (IS) and xix. 1 (0), Lot is resident in Sodom.
"The narrators all point out with interest how those only
remain in Canaan from whom the Israelites were descended,
while the other relatives of the patriarchs depart." 9
Ver. 13. mrri not against Jahve, 10 but rather, as the
M.-issoretes take it, to Jahve, i.e. in His eyes; h as the *i of
eli. vii. 1.

The author remarks that the inhabitants of Sodom were

wicked and sinful in the eyes
of Jahve, not merely in order to
prepare us thus early for the judgment which comes upon

pfeft, p. -27-2 f. See ZDPV. viii. 325. 2

K "" 1 "' 1
4
See ch. xii. 5.
Ulis. xi. 2, 5
8, xii. 8.
-
ii.

\i\. -J: contrasted with

p-pn 133 in ver. 10 f. Knobel.
Ill
'

See ver. 6. Knobel.

Cf. xxi. IF., x.xv. 6, 18, xxxvi. 6.
1 I
Knobel.
'"
Ch, xx. ;.
Drlit/sch, Kautxsch-Socin
2
.
231] GENESIS XIII. 11, 15 '27

them but also in order to indicate the guiding hand

(ch. xix.),
of providence which by Lot's choice preserved Abrain from

association with such people.

Vv. 14-17. The form of expression -ION* mm for ic&n
mn N
is occasioned by the preceding circumstantial clause in
ver. 13, which does not belong to ver. 14. There is no
sulHcient reason for denying the verse to C. 1 The assertion
that in C God speaks to Abram only in theophanies is

refuted by ch. xii. 1 ff. ;

there is no obscurity in regard to the
2
locality, which is the district of Bethel ;
and it is a mere

assumption brings that C

[from Mesopotamia] by Abram
the direct road Hebron, over Shechem and Bethel, and
to

leaves him there permanently. 3 There is a good connection

between ver. 18 and ver. 17, whereas if it were directly
attached to ver. 12 f . the word ^ns'i would be badly
chosen.
Abram by his magnanimous conduct has made himself

worthy of new favour from God. Now that he is in the

land by himself God's plans regarding him may develop
themselves further. So God on His side repeats to Abram in
a new revelation the assurance that he will one day possess
the land 4
and grow and He encourages
to be a great people, 5

him to move freely about in the land where he will.

"
Ver. 1 4. Abram is to look about him. Bethel lay
pretty much in the centre of the country, and at the same
time high up on the hills. 6 From its heights there appears
to have been a wide outlook over the various parts of the
7
country." The four points of the compass are mentioned as
in ch. xxviii. 14, which certainly belongs to C. The slight
difference in the order of enumeration here 8 is no sufficient

evidence against C.
Ver. 15. obijny, for ever, as a lasting possession, expresses
1 2
Wellhausen. Ver. 4.
3
See, on the contrary, ver. 18, D"DX ^"tsOl.
4 5
Of. ch. xii. 7. Of. ch. xii. 2.
(!
Chs. xii. 8, xxxv. 1, 3 ; Judg. i. 22, iv. 5 ;
1 Sain. xiii. 2.
7
Knobel. Wellhausen, JBDTh. xxi. 421.
 GENESIS XIII. 16-18 [231, 232

something new as compared with what was contained

in ch.

xii. 7.

Ver. 16. God will also make his seed innumerable. The
hyperbolical expression dust of the earth is also found in
ch. xxviii. 14, which belongs to 0. Other examples of the
1
ii-ure are "as the stars of the sky," and "as the sand of the
2
seashore." This promise is the third. It comprehends a

part of the first (ch. xii. 2 f.) and of the second (ch. xii. 7).
3
DS "IP'S so that if anyone. This translation is preferable
to quern si, which, instead of the mere pronominal suffix after
nfapb, would have the full object pn iBjrntf repeated. 4

Ver. 17. Abram is to traverse the length and breadth of

the land freely, and take his use of it in hope and as a sign
5
of his future possession of it. The Septuagint at the end
of the verse has the additional words DbiJTiy "Jjn^l, as in
ver. 15.

Ver. 18. Abram now moved about the country 6

till he
reached the Hebron district, where he fixed his per-
finally
manent abode. There he erected an altar, 7 and thus Hebron,
"where in later times there was a place of sacrifice,"
8

acquired its sanctity.

The verse as it stands is from C. A must somewhere,

indeed, have related Abram's settlement in the neighbourhood
of Hebron, the patriarch's place of residence in his narrative
>. But A names the place ^PP,9 and not the " terebinths
10
of Mumre." According to ch. xiv. 13, 24, the grove had
inic from the Amorite Mamre. 11

1
(
Ihf, xv. 5, xxii. 17, xxvi. 4
(Dent. i.
10, x. 22, xxviii. 62).
xxii. 17, x.xxii. 13.

D His. xi. 7, xxii. xxiv. 3 (Gesenius, 25 166. 2).

14,
1. i:- ; -I'-i. xxxi. 32 (Tuch,
Ewald, 331c).
\iii.lO. Knobul. c
See ver. 12.
'

S*6 11()tt> r1 '- * 7. s 2 Sam. xv. 7. Knobel.

(
'li~. \\iii. 17, 1!, xxv. xxxv. 27, xlix. 30,
9, 1. 13.
" ii.inMiivcs xiv. 13 and xviii. 1.
I'urtlMT, tlir notes on xxiii. 2, 20.
232]
CKXKSLS XIV 29

4. AIUIAM'S UNSELFISH EXPEDITION TO SAVK LOT, AND

MELCHISEDEK'S BENEDICTION OF HIM, Cii. XIV. ;
FKOM
7?, FOLLOWING B (?).

In a war conducted by the four allied kings of Eluiu,

1.

Shinar, Ellasar, and Goyim, against the peoples of the Jordan

valley and the southern desert, Lot also was captured in Sodom
and carried off along with his property and other plunder
taken from Sodom and Gomorrah. Abram received news of
the event, and boldly started after the army of the victors,
now on their way home. He had with him 318 of his own
people and those of his confederates Eshkol and Aner. He
defeated the enemy near Dan, and rescued from them Lot,
the other captives, and the booty. He was met on his way
back by the king of Sodom and by Melchisedek, king of
Salem, in the valley of Shaweh. By the latter he was
solemnly blessed for the deed he had performed, and he gave
him a tenth of the spoil. Yet he proudly and generously
refused the reward proffered him by the king of Sodom.
In this chapter Abram appears in a new light. We
hear regarding his relations with the native princelings. He
is in league with them for offensive and defensive purposes,
and when combined with them is strong enough on an
occasion to contend with success on behalf of the weaker
party against warlike and conquering foreign princes. So
far, however, as his character is concerned, he shows himself

in these circumstances the same high-minded man. Bold

and self-sacrificing, he does not hesitate a moment in the
hour of need to enter the lists against a superior force on
behalf of his relative Lot. He refuses to make external

profit from his noble deed, but he obtains a higher reward in

the shape of help from his God and esteem from the people
of the country. This section, like the one immediately pre-

ceding, thus contributes to the complete picture of the man,

and of the divine care exercised on his behalf.
 30 GENESIS XIV [233

lint we have to observe that otherwise the account is

strikingly peculiar. Otherwise than in the other narratives,

Abram's deed is given a setting in a frame of international
history. Almost the whole of the first half is a bit of

secular history which describes the incidents of a war, and

gives the date, the scene, and the names of the personages

engaged in it. When Abram comes to be spoken of in ver.

"
1 3 he is introduced as the Hebrew," and portrayed as a
chief in alliance with other chiefs in the country. He is at
the head of a not inconsiderable force, and can on occasion

wage war also. Nor is this all. Melchisedek and his higher

religious faith makes a singular impression. The name and

l
description of the valley of Siddim are quite without
parallel elsewhere. From a linguistic point of view, there
are idioms and expressions either not found at all elsewhere
in the Old Testament, 2 or at least not in the Pentateuch. 3
These facts taken together force us, in the first place, to the

supposition that the narrative comes from an independent

and ancient source. But seeing it mentions Dan, 4 and con-
5
tains numerous explanatory glosses, it must have passed
through the hands of a later redactor. There is nothing to
lead us to the conclusion that C was this redactor,
6
for in
ver. 22 mrp an interpolation, and the words
is doubtless
Q1D3 2E* Kim (ver. 12) and &o (ver. 13) only prove ^M
that the present text presupposes ch. xiii., not that it comes
from the same source. There is, on the contrary, definite
evidence against him in the use of the name D^trn pEy 7

8
instead of pvn 13D, and in the fact that ch. xviii. f. takes no
account of the narrative. A, in turn,
9
is indeed suggested
1
Vv. 3 and 10.
*
AH pw rot? n:p (xix. 22), ma hn (is), ^n (14), p-nn with a
personal object (14).
3
AH p i,* (18-20, 22), f^ (20), vtfpn (22).

r-
14. 5
yv 2 7f. 14 17
Huj.tr], 1, l)c-lit/.sch 5
K;i\,,-r, [New Comment, on Genesis' vol. i.'
p.
'<!.'{
|.

\v. 3, K, 10. Th. xiii. 10 f.

Ilgen.
233, 234] (IKNESIS XIV 31

l 2
by the words c*o~i and tr's:, but the former is found also
in ch. xv. 14, from E t
and traj as a word for individuals <f

both sexes, free and slave, could hardly be avoided. As for

1JT3 H^, it appears to be merely an explanatory gloss, and

the use of &ODD *&$ is evidence against him. 3 Besides, it is

not characteristic of A to enter into such fulness of detail
unless the subject has a ceremonial or legal interest, and the

literary very different from his writing.

style is On the
other hand, much may be said for It's authorship. 4
Else-

where, also, his narratives are marked by the distinctive

character of their contents and expressions. In ch. xxi. he
tells of with native princes, and in ch. xlviii. 22
alliances

mentions a warlike exploit of Jacob's against Shechem. It

is not impossible that he had other incidents of this char-

acter which have been omitted by as not serviceable for R
5 6
his purposes. In particular, while B^B and Yin are no
7
evidence for him, the rare word H$* doubtless is, and
certainly notfn,
8
which B g
writes for the usual ^JE3. The
mention also of Adma and 10
compared with ch. xix.,
Seboyim,
where speaks only of Sodom and Gomorrah, is most easily
11
explained on the supposition of I>'s authorship. The
enumeration peoples, contained in ver. 8 f., re-
of primitive

minds us forcibly of Deut. ii. 1012, 20, and these verses,

we may suppose, were from one of Z>'s sources. It is no
objection to It's authorship that he elsewhere pictures Abram
" "
as a Moslem and a prophet ; 12 did not Mohammed, too, on

occasion wage war ? But it must be acknowledged that the

passage in its present form cannot be attributed even to B,
partly in view of the many explanatory additions, partly
1 2
Vv. 11 f., 16, 21. See ch> xiii> 18 Ver. 21.
4
Ewald, Bohmer, Schrader, Kittel, Geschichte, vol. i. p. 124 [History
of the Hebrews, vol. i.
p. 137J.
5 c
Ver. 13. Knobcl, Schrader.
7
Ver. 24 ; cf. ch. xli. 16.
8
Vv. 7, 13 (Num. xxi. 21 ;
Josh. xxiv. 8, 12).
9
And D following him.
10
See vol. i.
p. 313, note 5, regarding ch. x. 19. " Cf. Hos. xi. 8.
12
Wellhauseu, JBDTh. xxi. 414.
;\-2 GENESIS XIV [234

because of vv. 17-20, which can only have been written by

a .Jiulu'jin. Nor is it anywhere apparent that knew of B
Al mini's residence in Mamre. So the narrative must have
been given present shape by a later hand, by
its or perhaps E
But, unless the narrative is fiction from beginning to
1

Ji" .

end, there no occasion for declaring it to be one of the

is

latest parts of the Old Testament, and a product of recent

Midrash writing. 1
2. The narrative, because assigned its place in the
wider movement of international history, makes on the
reader the impression that it is historical in a stricter sense

than the other narratives regarding Abram. We have

to ask whether and how far this impression remains on a
more careful examination. The question has been very
2
decidedly answered in the negative by many, and the nar-
rative declared to be an invention for the sake of Abram's
glorification. We are told 3
that contests with the in-

habitants of the land were not thought sufficiently imposing

for a picture of Abram in the character of a
mighty warrior,
so the most far-fetched names were sought out and intro-
duced into it. In every other particular, also, the endeavour-
was made to preserve the appearance of antiquity. As a
matter of fact, it is true that the narrative contains far too

many definite names and statements to be an unsophisticated

popular legend. If not based on actual fact, it must be the
artificial construction of a writer of romance who has made
4
use of material of an antiquarian character. E. Meyer, 5 who

adopts this view, believes that the Jew who wrote the piece
got detailed information about the ancient history of Canaan
in
Babylon. But it has not yet been proved that we have
1
2
Kucn.-n, Onderzoek, vol. i. p. 314; Wellliausen,
Composition des
<"7<,-, 1>. 312 ; Vatke, ZPTIi. xxviii. 157.
2
Not only l>y von Bohlen, but by Hitxig, f,W/m7ite, 44 f. and 20, by
N..ld('kr in .-special, lf>(> Zll'Th. 1870, p. 213 ff. also
Unterguchiunjen, II*., ;

by Kucn.-n, 77/7'. v. 262 f., and Wellhausen,

Composition, p. 310 ff.
4
MflddM, So also Stade, ZA Til', vi. :j:>:j, and H. Meyer.
'"/,/,- (ti'g 136.
Alterthums, i.
j:;i, L'35]
GENESIS XIV 33

here an account which is actually impossible. In the first

place, the four kings from the east, nowhere else mentioned
either separately or together, and their campaign against the
wi'st must have an historical foundation. Several of the
royal names have recently been brought into the light of

history by the cuneiform inscriptions. It was already to be

conjectured from ch. x. 22 that Elam was once a sovereign

power, in part before Babel, and this is now confirmed by
the monuments. 1 We need no longer doubt that the Elamitic-
Baby Ionian sphere of empire extended to Syria and as far as
2
Egypt even already the conjecture
;
is
gaining ground that
the Hyksos invasion of Egypt had its origin in the same
3
quarter. Equally, in later times, every power of any conse-

quence in the district of the Euphrates-Tigris basin sought to

extend itself to the west. It is clear from the narrative itself
that the campaign of Gen. xiv., also, was not a mere plundering
expedition, but was undertaken to maintain an overlordship

previously established in the west. This makes it all the

more credible that the memory of what occurred should be
preserved in the west for a length of time. As late as
about the year 1400 B.C. there were still, we know, 4 people
in Canaan masters of the Babylonian language and its

written character. In Num. xiii. 22, also, another fragment

of ancient political history has been preserved (comp. also

Judg. iii.
8). The exclusively religious purpose of the biblical
writings explains why more of a similar character has not
been preserved.
But although the setting of the narrative cannot be

seriously called in question, when these facts are considered,

it is not itself thereby guarded from all objection. Because
of Abram's being introduced in ver. 13 as ^-oyn, Ewald
1
Kegarding the Elamite invasion and dynasty in Babylon, see
135 tf.
Miirdter-Delitzsch, Babyl.-Assyr. Geschichte* p. 82 f.
;

2
Regarding Kudur-Mabug, ruler of the west, see note on T
ver. 1.
3
Naville, Buba&tis, London, 1891, pp. 16-29 ; Meyer, 109, 137.
4
From the Tell-Amarna letters.
DILLMANN. II. 3
34 GENESIS XIV [235

i riled the whole narrative as taken from an ancient

and believed himself entitled to find in it a

foreign source,
Abram's actual historical existence.
of
1
But now it is
j.r.Kif

i use of this very mention of Abram and of the kings of

the Pentapolis that the impugners of the narrative regard

the whole as a romance. In truth, it must be admitted to

be possible that the original account spoke only of the
successful part played by the Hebrews of the country in the
contest with the eastern kings, and that everything else is
due to an interweaving of new materials and amplification of
the old on the part of the Israelite narrator or narrators.
Proof one way or another is impossible. At the same time,
the objections which have been advanced are little to the

point. The course of the campaign as described in vv. 5-9

is not out of harmony with its intention, nor in itself absurd.

There no attempt to represent the battle in the valley of

is

Siddim as a great international contest. 2 It is in no way

surprising that the author is silent regarding operations

against the Canaanites proper, for it was not part of his

purpose to enter on their relations with the eastern kings.

Xor is it even in itself incredible that Abram, having com-
bined his forces and those of his allies, rescued a part of the

captives and of the booty from the victorious army on its

way home. It is nowhere said that he overcame in open

battle the united army of the four kings, still less does the

narrative display the intention of glorifying him as a great

hero in war; in ver. 15f. the successful exploit is recorded
without single word of ostentatious parade.
a On the
contrary, the narrative has its whole point in Abram's self-

sacrificing friendship for Lot and in the restoration of the

captives, and not in an empty boast of warlike fame. The

whole campaign is narrated, not for its own sake, but only

1
Ewald, Geschichte* i.
pp. 80, 431 f ., 440 if. [History of Israel, vol. i.
pp. 52, 301, 307 ff.] ; similarly Kittel, Geschichte, i. 153 ff.
[History of the
flttflMM, vol. i.
p. 175].
2 "
Viilkenchlacht" Noldeke.
L>:;:>, L':M]
<;KN*ESIS xiv. i 35

in so -far as it contributes to an understanding of Abram's

deed of rescue, and tliere is no pivtfnsiun of complK'-.
about the story. Even if the four names of the kings of the
cities in the plain of Sicldim are an addition supplied by the

fancy of later writers, the tradition of war between the

eastern kings and those of the Pentapolis may yet be well
based assuming that we do not regard the existence of the
cities themselves as also a fiction. Nor is it of importance
1
if Mamre, Eshkol, and 'Aner were originally place names,
for it makes no difference whether Mamre or the lord of

Mamre assisted Abram. The account regarding Melchisedek

we may suppose have been introduced only by the latest
to

redactor, but, even then, only with the justification of tradi-

" "
tion for this new figure nothing compels us to assume ;

that he an independent invention of the redactor's own.

is

Literature on ch. xiv. Krahmer in Illgen's Zeitschrifl :

fiir historische TJieoloyie, vii. 4, pp. 87-106 ;

Tuch in ZDMG.
i.
161-194; Noldeke, Untersuchungen zur Kritilc dcs Alien
Testaments (Grotefend in ZDMG. viii. 800 ff.) ;
Bosch in

St. Kr. 1885, p. 32 Iff.; Halevy, Eecherchcs fiibliques, x.

247-263 (REJ. xv. 161 ff.).

Vv. 112. The war which resulted in Lot's captivity.
Ver. belong together, inasmuch as the principal sen-
1 f.

tence to which the temporal clause of ver. 1 is subordinate,

comes only in ver. 2. *p'3 is not to be emended into ^o*3
2
D~ax, nor are the first and second names alone, 3 for instance,
to be subordinated to the construct, but the whole four.

Still the subject of iiry is only to be found in the names of

these four kings ;
com p. in ch. ix. 6 the subject of nb'y. 4

iy3tr see notes on x. 10 and xi. 2. For all the names

of ver. 1 conip. also Schrader. 5

1
Noldeke.
2
Clericus, Ewald, Composition der Genesis, p. 220, Olsliausen ; against
this Hitzig, Ikgriff der Kritik, p. 149.
3 4
Sept. ; see,on the other hand, vv. 5 and 9. Ewald, Syntax, 3036.
5
SB AW. 1887, pp. 600-605, in which he corrects KAT* 135 ff.
[Cuneiform Inscriptions, vol. i.
p. 120 ff.].
36 GENESIS XIV. 1 [236

K Sept. *AfjLctp<f>d\,
now identified by Schrader
l
with
the great Babylonian king Hammurabi, circa 2100 B.C., it

being assumed that the text is corrupted from an original

"B-os. Hammurabi reigned fifty-five years, put an end to
the dominant power of Elam and of the various princedoms
in Babylonia itself, and created the united kingdom with
2
Babel as its capital, though at first for a time obliged to
tolerate the rival existence of Eriaku of Larsaw and others.
nc& 3
is not the ife^n of Isa. xxxvii. 12, still less
4
Pontus ;
nor is it Artemita, which was also called Xa\daap?
6
and was situated in the south of Assyria to the north of
7 8
Babylonia, for in Syriac that is written no^n ; just as
little can it be the old imperial capital of Assyria, Asshur =
f
9
Kal ah Shirgat. With more probability it is now identified 10

with the old Babylonian city of Larsam or Larsaw, south-

east of Uruk, the ruins of which are found in the modern

Senkereh. 11 The easing of pronunciation in the Hebrew

12 1S
combination of sounds, -ID$> from D*6, is explicable ; Halevy
believes, besides, that he has discovered that the original
form of La-arsa was Ella-arsa.

^"]N known from Dan. ii. 14 as a personal name. It is

now believed that the name Ariokh, and indeed the actual
14
individual, has been found in the inscriptions in the person
1
Op. p. 603 ff. (Halevy, x. 254 f.).
cit.
2
Tiele, Geschichte, p. 124 ff. Miirdter-Delitzsch, Gesch. Babylon, u*
;

Assyr. p. 85 ff.
3 4
Jerusalem Targum. Symmachus, Vulgate.
5
According to Isidorus Characenus (in Geographi minores, ed. Miiller,.
p. 251).
'
Ptolemy, vi. 1. 6 ; Strabo, xvi. 1. 17. Knobel.
8
Noldeke, op. cit. p. 160. Sayce, SB AT. ii. 1873, p. 244.
10
H. Rawlinson, Norris, Lenormant, Schrader in Riehm's Hand-
worterbuch, p. 1495, and in KAT. p. 135 f. [Cuneiform Inscriptions, L
2

p. 121] ; Delitzsch, Paradies, p. 224.

11
Loftus, Travels, p. 244 ff.
12
Lenormant, La langue primitive de la Chalde'e, p. 377 ff.
13
Op. cit.
p. 253.
'<
Lenormant, op. cit.
p. 377 ff. ; Oppert, JA. vii. 5, p. 277 f. ; Schrader,
KAT.* 135 [Cuneiform Inscriptions, vol. i.
p. 120f.] ; Delitzsch, Paradies^
p. 224.
23(5, 237] GENESIS XIV. 1 37

of Eri-aku or I'iw-aku, i.e. servant of the moon god, va

1

kinu r
"t Larsam under his father Kudur-Mabug, king of
Elain, and himself the last king of Larsa. The objections
1
of Tiele and others accuracy of the reading Eiw-aku,
to the
2
have been met by the help of fresh discoveries.
D^y see note on ch. x. 22.

"ipy?~n2 Sept. Xo$o\\oyofjLop. From the cuneiform in-

scriptions now acquainted with several compound

we are
names Elamite kings in which Kudur is one element,
of early
3
and also with an Elamite deity Lagamar. It is also related

in the inscriptions of Asshurbanipal that he brought back

from Susa to Babylon the statue of a god which had been
carried off by the Elamite king Kudur-Nahundi 1635 years
before his time and in Mugheir, bricks have been found due
;

to a king Kudur-Mabug who calls himself adda-martu, ruler

of the west country, Canaan. 4

yy @apyd\, as yet unknown.

Sept.
D^ia Idvwv, meaningless as a nomen appelativum with-
out further qualification, and not to be identified with
5
Galilee nor Pamphylia, 6 nor D?ian ""K of Gen. x. 5 ;
7
it must
be a proper name though the reading may be corrupt. It

has been conjectured 8 that we here find the Gutt or Kuti,

a powerful people often mentioned in the inscriptions. 9 They
inhabited the country between the Zab and the Diyfila

(Gyndes), were the northern neighbours of the Kossaeans,

10
and are perhaps the W\> of Ezek. xxiii. 23.
The principle followed in the arrangement of the names
is not obvious, in ver. 9 it is different ;
Delitzsch supposes it

1
Geschichte, p. 124.
2
By Schrader, op. cit. p. 601 f. ;
Fried. Delitzsch in excursus to
Delitzsch,
5
p. 539 ff.
[not translated in New Commentary],
3
A goddess according to Jensen, WZKM. vi. p. 64.
4
Schrader Handworterbuch, p. 819; KAT.- p. 136 f.
in Riehm's
[Cuneiform Inscriptions, vol. i. p. 121 f.].
5
Josh. xii. 23 Matt. iv. 15 (Clericus, Rosenmiiller).
;

6 8
Symmaclms.
7
Gesenius, Noldeke. H. Rawlinson.
9
Schrader, KGF. pp. 258, 271, 294, 451, 473.
10
Delitzsch, Paradies, p. 223 ff.
38 GENESIS XIV. 2 [237

to be alphabetical. From what follows it is clear that

Kedorlaomer was the leader in the group of kings. Comp.
1
also passages like Josh. x. 3, 5, 23.
2
Ver. 2. These kings waged war with the kings of the
five cities. The expedition, as we learn from ver. 5 ff.,

was not directed against them alone, but the war with
them was to be the chief theme of the narrative, in
" 3
accordance with the author's aims. The five cities seem
4
to have formed a confederation. The first four afterwards
f
5
perished, but not so Bela i.e. So'ar. Those in the first rank ,

were Sodom and Gomorrah, which are elsewhere always

mentioned by themselves, as they are here in ver. 10 f. To
6 7
judge from the situation of So'ar and of Sodom, the cities

occupied the position of what is now the southern part of

Dead 8
the Sea. For further particulars see ch. xix. 22."
It may be noted that the inhabitants are nowhere called

Canaanites, and that their territory is not reckoned part of

the land of Canaan. 9 The position of affairs, in which each
of those towns had its own king, is precisely as it is found
later, in ^he time of Joshua.
De 10
imagined that he had discovered ruins of the
Saulcy
by the Dead Sea others wish to recognise in
five cities still ;

the names DID and musy a description of their fate, 11 and thus
12
prove the names fictitious. Jewish humour caught the
sound of the words Jn and tf?n i n the names of the first two
kings ;
and seeing that a is not elsewhere used in the
formation of personal names, Tuch has
conjectured a contrac-
tion from jrrta, yen-}? (similarly Halevy
13
from sn '?, 'ax
1 2
Knobel. Josh. xi. 18. 3
Pentapolis, Wisd. x. 6.
4
(
x. 19. 5
'li.
Deut. xxix. 22, cf. Hos. xi. 8.
1
See ch. xix. 22. 1
See ch> xiii> 12 .

Knobel. 9
10
According to ch. xiii. 12.
Revue Archtfologique, nouv. serie, xxx. 295 ff.
11
(Jest-urns, Thesaurus', Hitzig, Geschichte, p. 25, in all four, submerged,
overwhelmed, destroyed, swallowed by the earth, with Arabic as the alleged
an I

liority.
'-
.Irni.s-ilem T.-irgum, IJi-rushitli Kabba.
HEJ. x. 1885, p. 3.
237,238] GENESIS XIV. 3-5 IT. 39

Hitzig gave his help to the cause by the discovery of

" "
the meanings serpent- tootli and "scorpion-venom" in the
other two. But the Septuagint has BaXXa (BaXa/c) fur jrc
and 2evaap (Samaritan "IWB>) for axrj', and pronounces
"insor, 2v/jLoj3op (Peshitta j-]ki-). When the tradition is so
uncertain an interpretation of the names from Hebrew roots

is,to say the least, a doubtful proceeding. Conversely, the

Samaritan reading -DHCP for UKOG? is evidence that the thirst
for interpretation made early attempts on the names. See
further regarding the first two names, e.g. Gesenius, Thesaurus.
jfe only here. The name of its king is entirely
wanting, it can hardly have merely fallen out of the
text.

Yer. 3. All these, four, allied themselves, i.e. marched in

l
confederacy against the valley of Siddim, i.e. the valley of the
2
level fields, which is the Salt Sea, i.e.
against the district
where the enemies' towns lay, and where afterwards, it is
3
supposed, the Dead Sea (its southern part) came to be.

Speaking generally, the valley of Siddim is here used to

describe the same tract of country as that named 133 or 133

PTPI in ch. xiii.

"
Ver. 4. The cause of hostilities was that the kings of

Siddim, who had paid tribute for twelve years, refused in the
thirteenth year to do so any longer. This is the meaning
4
given by the Hebrew."
"
"no only found elsewhere in the Hexateuch in Num.
xiv. 9; Josh. xxii. 16, 18 f., 29." 5
6
'Jl vhvh see note on ch. xv. 1 6 ;
the Samaritan, more
7
correctly, has c^Bbl.
Ver. 5 ff. At once, in year following, Kedorlaomer
the

appeared with the other kings. They subdued, one after

1
Ewald, Syntax, 282c.
2
Aquila, Onkelos, Samaritan, Saadia ; but the Septuagint lias r>jy

x^vxyv, and Hitzig parallels DHt? with Arabic Sadhdm, salt.

3
See note under ch. xix. 28.
4
As in 2 Kings xviii. 7, xxiv. 1, 20, etc.
6
Knobel.
6
287k, 300.
7
Ewald, Syntax, Olshauseii, Xuklcke.
40 GENESIS XIV. 5FF. [238

another, the people dwelling in the country east of Jordan,

in Se'ir, and in the desert, which fact makes it clear that the

campaign was not directed against the Pentapolis alone.

"
They came, without doubt, by the usual road, up through
1
the countries bordering on the Euphrates, till they reached

Syria. From this point, which was that to which they

afterwards directed their backward march (ver. 14f.), they
moved southwards, and attacked the rebels as they came to
them, first the Kephaim in Bashan, the north of the Trans-

jordan country, and then the Zuzim and the Emim, who
lived farther south." 2 These peoples, all three, belong to
the primitive inhabitants of the country. Kephaim, or sons
of Eapha, i.e.
giants, men of the heroic age, was both the

general name of the primitive giant population which

3 4
occupied the land west and east of the Jordan, and the

special name for the giants of Bashan. 5

D^-jj? rhnpy only here. The Vatican Septuagint, how-

ever, has 'AcrTapcoO /cal Kapvatv, which is perhaps the
6
original. In that case, 'Ashtaroth was one of the principal
Bashan, Og's royal residence, and only six Koman
cities of 7

8
miles, over two hours, distant from Edrei. 9 The spot has
been found, once more, in Tell 'Ashtere, two and a half hours
from Nawa, and almost between Naw& and M'zarib it lies ;

on a hill in the midst of a

plain rich in pasture ground, is
well supplied with water, and has extensive ruins. 10 Con-
to this usual 11 12
tmry assumption, Wetzstein looked for it in
li'isra, the capital of the Haurari, 13 but the view has been

I
2
Strain, xvi. 1. 27. Knobel.
:

>>].. xvii. 15 2 Sam. xxi. 16

.1
; ; Gen. xv. 20 ; Isa. xvii. 5.
'

l)( llt 5
-
11, 20. Deut. iii. 11, 13 ;
Josli. xiii. 12.
Ku.-in-n, JUilil in ZDPV. xiii. 42 f., and Kasteren, ibid. 213.
Ih-ut. i. 4; Josh. ix. 10, xii. 4, xiii. 31.
12,
8
9
Orwrnasticon. See Com> Num< xxi 33 [Dillin.].
Kin,-,, hlnlkunde, xv. 819 ff.
(Knobel).
II
Baed.-kcr, rHMina* p. 303.
'-
.
.

A rii. ,1.1 in xiv. 728 and

Hcr/og, Jl&il-Encijclopttdie, f.,
Mulil.iu in Kirhm, Hamlivorterbuch, p. 115.
 L'3] GENESIS XIV. 5 FF. 41

already refuted by Noldeke.

1
Rabbath 'Amiiion 2 has no
claim it all. Karnaim by itself is not mentioned in tin-

Old Testament, but, no doubt, in 1 Mace. v. 43 f.

3
We may
think of it as being in the neighbourhood of 'Ashteroth, in
such a way that 'Ashteroth Karnaim might be conceived of
as a double city, or as 'Ashteroth beside Karnaim.

D\MT presumably the same as the giants in the land of

4
'Arnmon of later date, named by the Ammonites D'isjpT.
"
The name is recalled by Z/a, 5 a place which held a Eoman
6
garrison, Middle Ages Ziza, between Bosra and Lejiin, 7
in the

one stage distant from 'Amman, 8 and still 9 in existence." 10

B?2 by the versions for the most part vocalised Dpa,
" "
among or with them better in Ham, a place otherwise
;

unknown. It was perhaps the ancient name of the

Ammonite capital, Rabbath 'Ammon. 11
"
properly the terrible ones," though it is to be
^P'*?
remembered that the Septuagint here and in Deuteronomy
has 'Op/jLa2oi,, 'Ofiplv. They were farther south, and their name
is that of the original inhabitants of the land of Moab, 12 who
before Moses' time extended also north of the Arnon. 13 It is
there we have to look for the plain (nip
;
u
, only again in ver. 17)
of Kiryathaim. The town, at one time Eeubenite, 15 at another
16
Moabite, according to the Onomasticon (KapiaOaefa,
lay,

KapidOa), 10 Roman miles (south) west of Medaba. The

modern name of the ruins is Kareyat n they lie somewhat ;

'
south-west of Makaur (Machoerus) and south of Jebel Attarus.
1
ZDMG. xxix. 431. 2
Schenkel, Bibellexicon, i. 279.
3
Carnea in Lagarde, Onomastica Sacra, 1 108.
Cf. 18, and Carneas in
Sylvia peregrinatio, ed. Gamurrini, p. 57.
4
Dent. ii. 20. Ptolemy, v. 17. 6.
6
Notitia dignitatum, i. 81 f.
7
Ibn Batfita, i. 255 ; Mardxid, Lex. geog. (ed. Juynboll), i. 526.
8
Abulfida, Tabula Syria, ed. Kohler, p. 91.
10
Robinson, Palastina, iii. 923. [In Eng. map.] Knobel.
^uch. 12
Deut. ii. 10 f.
13
Num. xxi. 26.
4
Not pyramid, Hitzig, Geschichte, p. 36.
15
Num. xxxii. 37 ; Josh. xiii. 19. 1C Jer. xlviii. 23
;
Ezek. xxv. 9.
17
Seetzen, Burckhardt, Baedeker.
4 '2 GENESIS XIV. 6, 7 [239

Against Kuobel's identification of the city with et-Teim or

1
et-Tuaime, half an hour west of Medaba, see Dietrich.
Ver. 6.Advancing farther through the country south of

An ion they came on the Horim, the primitive inhabitants of

Edomitis,
2
the hill country between the Dead Sea and the
Eliinitic gulf, and defeated them upon this their mountain
3
land Seir as far as El Paran, which is at (the entrance to)
the desert, i.e. as far as Elath or Aila on the east side of the

desert of Paran, 4 at which point anyone approaching from the

east reached that desert.
not plain, 5 but, like n?K, a large tree or large trees
?'tf

(? palms, see ch. xii. 6). The word became the name of the
well-known harbour situated on the Elanitic gulf. It is
8
known in the Old Testament as n^e n^K/ an(j nfrtf ;
the

Septuagint in Deut. has further Al\a>v, which points to

a form Jv'N ;
in the classical authors it is called Ai\ava,
"E\ava, Aelana, names which follow the Aramaic IT'S, HJ^i
tree. These shortened designations are, doubtless, later
9
forms of the fuller name rjKJ"^. Istachri mentions palms
in the
neighbourhood of Aila, and the modern 'Akaba is
surrounded by extensive woods of date palm. 10 At every
period of history the place was counted of great importance,
and the possession of it was much contested from the earliest
times. 11

Ver. 7. Here the march

kings ceased their south, turning
first to the west and then to the north. They thus reached
'A in Mishpfit, or Kadesh, which is the Kadesh mentioned in

1
In Merx' Archiv, i. 337 f.
s
<'li. xxxvi. 20
ff.; Deut. ii. 12, 22.
3
Kwahl, 2256 but Samar. and Sept. have ; mrQ.
Num. x. 12.
1
Talcums, .Jrn.mc, Samaritan, Luther, also in eh. xii. 6.
I
<'h. \.\\vi. 41.
7
n.-ut. ii. H ;
2 Kings xiv. 22, xvi. 6.
1 Kin-s ix. 26 2 Kings xvi. 6. Edit.
;
Mordtmann, p. 19.
Burckhirdt |%r/", \>. ">).)], Germ. tr. p. 828; Riippell, Nubien,
p. 2-ls ; M
K.,l,ii,-,,
[/',,^tne,a i. 171 f.l, Germ. tr. i. 268 f.
II
Turl,, Knnl,,.].
L'M, 2 to] GENESIS XIV. 7 43

chs. xvi. 14 and xx. 1, mid frequently in the history of

Moses, where it is also called Kadesh Balnea'. It is here

given the name Well of decision, so that it was a place with a

spring of water, where decisions were given to those who
sought advice or were at variance. It was, without doubt,
the seat of an ancient oracle or sanctuary, of which the
name Kadesh is also a confirmation, as well as being the

point of important commercial highways.

meeting of Its

situation was long undetermined. Kobinson's opinion, that it

was to be looked for in 'Ain el Weibeh, near the 'Araba,

about 30 42' north latitude, regarded as now
may be

disposed of. Kadus also, about eleven kilometres north of

the hill of Madara, in the neighbourhood of the Wadi el

Yemen, a day's journey from Hebron,

1
is too far north, and
suits neither Gen. xvi. 14 nor the passages in the history of
Moses. It is best looked for 2 on the western slope of the

plateau of 'Azazimeh (Machra), and identified with the

f
modern Ain Kudes, the source of the Wadi Kudos, which,
after a course of four hours, joins the Wadi esh-Shertiif.
3
Trumbull, after personal inspection, has given a full descrip-
tion of the spot. 4 Regarding DjTi, the name given in the
5
Targums, see Tuch.
All the open country of'Amalek the meaning is not the
6
land of Amalek later so called, as if the ancient people of the
Arnalekites was not then in existence, 7 but the Amalekites in
8
the whole extent of the settlements then occupied by them,
9
in the Negeb and as far as Egypt.
Hasason-Tamar according to 2 Chron. xx. 2, 'Aingedi
1 4
Wetzstein in Delitzscli, after el Mukaddasi (ed. Goeje, p. 192), Keil.
2
Rawlinson, E. H. Palmer, The Desert of the Exodus, 1871, p. f>17
(Germ. tr. p. 269); Palestine Explor. Fund, 1871, Jan., p. 20 ff Knobel .
;

on Josh. xv. 3.
3
Kadesh Barnea, New York, 1884.
4
SeeZDPV. viii. 184 ff., 210 f., 326.
5
ZDMG. 179 also Comm. on Num.
i. ; xxxiv. 4 [Dillmann].
r>

Hengstenberg, Beitriiye, ii. 305 ;

Keil.
7
See Gen. xxxvi. 12. s
Num. xiii. 29, xiv. 43, 45.
9
1 Sam. xxvii. 8 (cf. Ex. xvii. 8ff.; Deut. xxv. 17 ff.).
44 GENESIS XIV. 8-10 [240

on the west side of the Dead Sea, a place abounding in

palms.
1
Knobel, on the other hand, on the ground that
Aingedi lies too far north, would understand Dnnn TV
f 2
or
3
ion on the south-eastern border of the Holy Land, identical
4
with Oapapw, some distance south-west of the Dead Sea,
on the road from Hebron to Alia, and occupied by troops
in Eoman times,
5
the modern Kurnub. 6 He is correct in say-
7
ing that the Amorites were found as far south as this place.
Ver. 8 f. The kings of the Pentapolis now advanced to
meet and engage the enemy. Four kings with the five, an
incomplete sentence in which the subject is changed. The
author intends to suggest that here the conquerors were met
by a force which at least fairly matched their own. But it

may originally have been merely a marginal note.

Ver. 10. The valley of Siddim, where the battle took
place, was wells t wells of bitumen, i.e. full of them, and
these proved the ruin of the fugitives, for they fell into
them. For the construct repeated to denote distribution,
see Ewald 8 and Gesenius. 9 According to the statement
here, the mineral pitch still welled up from the ground
in many parts of the valley, and that from cavities of
"
considerable depth. The account is confirmed by the
quantity of bitumen found in the Dead Sea. According to
the reports of the Arabs, it issues in especial from a steep
wall of rock on the east side of the sea almost opposite to

'Aingedi, falls into the sea in a solidified state, and is thrown

on 10
up by it its western shore. But there must also be
considerable deposits at the bottom of the lake, which detach
1 2
Pliny, v. 73. j udg> if 16>
3
Ezek. xlvii. 19, xlviii. 29.
4
v. 16. 8 ; Tabula
Ptolemy, Peutinger, ix.

6
5
Onomasticon, sub civ Gctpdp.
'

Aw
*
Robinson, Palestine* vol. ii. p. 202 ; see also Wetzstein in Delitzscli
p. 581 f.
7
>.-ut. 44 36. 8 9
I i.
; Judg. i.
Syntax, 313a, 289c. 130. 5.
"'
I'.urrkl.urdt [Syria, p.
394], Germ. tr. p. 664 ; Seetzen, Reisen, ii. 218,
227 Robinson
;
[Palestine, i.
517], Germ. tr. ii. 463 ; Russegger, Reisen,
iii. 253.
240,241] GENESIS XIV. 11 F. 45

1
themselves when an earthquake occurs, and then lioat in
2
lumps on the surface of the waves. Ancient writers also
3
report that the lake casts out quantities of bitumen. It is

found at different points on the shores, especially on its

southern bank. 4 Masses of large size are found only after
violent earthquakes, and then only in the southern portion of
the lake, 5 and so in the situation which was occupied by the

valley of Siddim. Headers may also be reminded of the

expanse of black slime or salty morass at the south end of

the lake, into which one may sink deeply, 6 and where at
times many beasts of burden and cattle are lost. 7 See
8
further on ch. xix. 28."
Both the leading kings took to flight, but must have
saved themselves by so doing, at least the king of Sodom did
so, as we see from ver. 17. Consequently, we have to
understand as subject to riES? ^a s
l, rather their people than
themselves. mttjtt is to be read moy ital, as by the
Septuagint and Samaritan.
10
n~)n to the mountains? doubtless those of Moab, seeing
the enemy made their attack from the west.
"
Ver. 1 1 f. The enemy plundered the conquered towns,
carried off with them the provisions and property they con-
tained, and, aswe see from vv. 16 and 21, prisoners also,

amongst them Lot from Sodom." 11

12
C&?N Halevy wishes to emend into &1&. It is true,
we miss any mention of the captives such as is found in
vv. 16 and 21, but in vv. 10, 12, and 14 (cf. ver. 24), also,

the narrative is not very precise in its statements.

1
Kobinson, vol. iii. p. 191 (Germ. iii. 168) Russegger, p. 254. ;

2
Josephus, Jewish Wars, iv. 8. 4.
3
Strabo, xvi. 2. 42 Diodorus Siculus, ii. 48, xix. 98 Pliny, vii.
; ; 65.
4
Seetzen, Reisen, Lynch, Expedition to the Dead Sea and the
i. 417 ;

Jordan, 1850, pp. 303, 306, 309, 319 (Germ. 183, 187, 191, 201).
5
Robinson, Palestine,vol. i. p. 518, vol. ii. p. 189 (Germ, ii.464 f.,iii. 164).
6
Robinson, op. cit. ii. pp. 112, 115 (Germ. iii. 30) Lynch, op. cit. p. 309 f. ;

7
Roth in Petermann, Geoyraphische Mittheilungen, 1858, p. 258.
8 9 10
Knobel. Ewald, 216c. Ch. xix. 20.
11
Vv. 12, 13, ch. xix. 1. Knobel. -
Uecherches Bibliques, x. 248. 1
40 GENESIS XIV. 13, 14 [241

D~QS TiK'p we expect these words rather after &f?, as

in the Septuagint, but a consideration of ver. 13 shows that

1
they are merely a gloss.
"
:1 j.i lT) is also an awkward and halting addition.
Vv. 1324. Abram's deed of rescue, and the acknow-

ledgment made to him.

Ver. 13. Abram, in the grove of Mamre, 2 received news

of the disaster.

The escaped who always appears in such a case,3 B^fi

one,

also in Josh. viii. 22 and Num. xxi. 29.

s-Qyn epithet applied to Abram, who is here mentioned

for the first time in the chapter (see note on ver. 12). Else-

where the Israelites are named Hebrews only by foreigners,

4
or in antithesis to them. For the conjectured reason of its

use here, see p. 33f. ^Regarding the word nay, see ch.

xi. 16.

tnpp in A the old name of Hebron, or of a part of it,

5

appears here as a chief or prince. ^^?, too, occurs as the

name of a place near Hebron in Num. xiii. 23. tna
proper
"
^ars, the brook of the vine clusters." See further on ch.
6
xxiii. 20. "The Amorites of this district were possessors
7
of
Abram's covenant, i.e. allied with him, and so bound to stand

by him in case of need, as they actually did (ver. 24). The

8
patriarchs had similar treaties with others."
"I?? Septuagint Avvav, Samaritan D*oy, both here and in
ver. 24. See Kosenmiiller 9 regarding a mountain summit,
Xe'ir, beside Hebron.
Ver. 14. Abram involved himself in the contest for the
10
sake of his brother, i.e. and he emptied out
relative, cousin,
his men, as arrows from the quiver or a sword from its

1 2
Olshausen. Ch. xiii. 18.
8 25
2 Sain. xv. 13 ;
Ezek. xxiv. 26 f.; Ewald, Syntax, 277a ; Gesenius,
126. 4.
4 5
A'-/. 1 S.ini. xiii. 3, 7, xiv. 21. See ch. xxiii. 2.
Cf. ver. 7. *
chs. xxxvii. 19, xlix. 23.
\ i. 22 ff., xxvi. 28 ff., xxxviii. 12. Knobel.
9 10
ZI'Mi;. xii. 47!'. Cf. ver. 16 and ch. xiii. 8.
1M1, LM2] -KSIS XIV. 15 F.-17 47

scabbard,
1
i.c. marched them out in haste and in fmvr. Tin-

Samaritan, liowever, has P", and the Septuagint

mustered.'2
va^n his proved or tried men, comp. Arabic
"
others render less well, his trained warriors." The word is
3
explained by those lorn in his house, i.e. the slaves born
and brought up in his household, contrasted with those who
had been purchased; as such they were regarded as specially
attached and trustworthy. The fact that 318 fighting men
were immediately at his disposal, is proof that Abram was a
chieftain of consequence ;
ver. 24, however, shows that he
was assisted by his allies. Warlike exploits of the patriarchs

are also recorded in chs. xxxiv. 25, xlix. 5 f., xlviii. 22.
"
To Dan to Laish on the north-eastern border of

Canaan ;
it received the name Dan in the time of the Judges, 4
5
and is here so named proleptically."
"
Ver. 1 5 f. Abram divided himself against them by night,
i.e. divided his men into
bands, which fell on the enemy by

night from different directions. The same manoeuvre occurs

in Job i. 17; 1 Sam. xi. 11. The captured men and pro-
perty he recovered from the enemy and brought back.
nnin to the left, i.e. north of Damascus. Eusebius and
6
Jerome mention a Hoba as a place where in their day
Ebionites lived, and von Troilo 7
names a village of Hoba about
8
a mile north of Damascus." But this is unsuitable, because
9
too near Damascus ;
and Wetzstein points to a more likely
place, a Hoba twenty hours north of Damascus, west of
10
Karyetain.
Yer. 17. "The king of Sodom advanced to the valley of

Shaweh, or the king's valley, to meet Abram on his return from

1
Ex. xv. 9 ; Lev. xxvi. 33 ; Ps. xxxv. 3.
2
See Gesenius, Thesaurus, 330.
3
So chs. xvii. 12 f., xxiii. 27 ; Lev. xxii. 11, from A.
4 5
Josh. xix. 47 Judg. xviii. 29.
; Knobel.
6 7 8
In the Onomasticon. Reisebeschreibung, p. 584. Knobel.
9
In Delitzsch, Genesis* p. 561 ff.
10
For this place see Sachau, Reiseu, p. 28 ff.
48 GENESIS XIV. 18 [242

the encounter, to congratulate him and to receive from him

the rescued captives. This valley of the king is mentioned

again in 2 Sam. xviii.

18 as the place where the childless
Absalom erected a monument."
1
It follows that nip PEJ> is

not identical with the DVTnp mw of ver. 5, partly from the

2

appended explanation, which implies that it is not already

known from what precedes, and partly from ver. 18, which
shows that Salem must have lain in its neighbourhood. The
king's valley (poy), accordingly, being mentioned nowhere
else, is usually assigned to the neighbourhood of Jerusalem,
3
because of a statement of Josephus that Absalom's monu-
ment stood about two stadia from Jerusalem. We cannot,
4
however, straightway take it to be the valley of the Kidron,
which was a ^m it remains a matter of surprise that,
;

if so near Jerusalem, it should be nowhere else mentioned,

and we do not know on what authority Josephus made his
statement. At the same time, there is little probability in
the assertion that because Absalom's personal estate was
5
situated in Ba'al Hasor, we should look for it there on his
6
own property.
Ver. 18. To this place Melchiseclek, king of Salem, and
at the same time priest of the Most High God, brought out
provisions for Abram and his men.
most ancient and modern expositors, beginning with
D^
7 "
Josephus, understand this of Jerusalem others, however, ;

of Sa\eifi, in t
the neighbourhood of which, according to John
8
iii. 23, John baptized, and which, according to Eusebius
and Jerome,9 lay eight Roman miles south of Skythopolis ;
10

1 2
Knobel. Rodiger in Gesenius, Thesaurus ; Hitzig.
3
Antiquities, vii. 10. 3.
4
Knobel, Thenius (on 2 Sam. xviii.), Delitzsch, Rielim, Handworter-
///"//, p. 844.
5
2 Sam. xiii. 23. Tuch, Winer, Ewald.
7
Annuities, i. 10. 2. They include Knobel, Delitzsch, Keil ;
also the
Turguras (Jerome, Qucestiones), Ibn Ezra, Kimchi, etc.
8
But see Riehm, Handworterbuch, p. 32 f.
[Dillmann].
1

In the
Onomasticon, sub hivav.
10
Jerome, Epistolce Ixxxiii. 7, ad Evangel presbyt. ; Reland, Robinson,
242, 243] 'IKXESIS XIV. 49

see now also the pilgrimage of Silvia. 1

No decisi--.ii can be
cuiiio to by the help of nvj ;

psy, which is itself unknown, nor in

view of the words inv." "nnx, which can only mean after lie h>i<i
turned lack, and not after he had returned to Mamre, which
WRIpP nsv quite
;

translation would leave the words (nvj PD2T7N)

out of place. Jerome says, Salem non, ut Josephus et nostri

omnes arbitrantur, est Jerusalem, sed oppidum juxta Scythopolim,

(//'it; usque hodie appclatnr Salem et ostenditur ibi palatium
Melehizedech. This Salem, with the situation of which the
av\a)v HaXijfji of Judith iv. 4 would agree very well, need not
be thought too far north, seeing that the king of Sodom

could, after all, cover the much greater extent of ground in-

volved, while Abrarn was leisurely returning laden with the

booty. Nor would it be out of the natural line of march,

seeing that the 'Araba had to be traversed, we must suppose,

in the neighbourhood of Beth Shean (Skythopolis). On the
other side, no special recommendation in favour of
it is

Jerusalem that it is called Salem only in a (late) poem, Ps.

Ixxvi. 3, while elsewhere in the Old Testament, the passages

being in prose, Yebusi (Yebus) always appears as the older

name of Jerusalem. Still, as early as about 1400 B.C., the
name Urusalim is attested by the Tell Amarna letters as
the name of the city, 2 and other considerations tell in its
favour. In Josh. x. 1 a king of Jerusalem has the name
F$P^, which is a compound similar to Pl-P We are 3 ?^-

not,however, to lay any special stress on this fact, seeing it is

now maintained that pis ':tx is due to a late alteration of the
3
Septuagint reading pn Tix (cf. Judg. i.
5). But the com-
parison between David and Melchisedek in Ps. ex. 4 appears
to have more force if the latter were king in the same city

as the former, and vv. 18-20 have surely quite clearly their

Bleek, Tuch, Ewald, Geschichte, i.

441, 470 [History of Israel, vol. i.
pp.
307,332]. Knobel.
1 1
Gamurrini, p. 58 ff.
2
ZDPV. xiii. 138 f.
3
Wellhausen, Budde, Bncher Richter u. Samuel, 1890, p. 63 ff.; on the
other side, see Kittel, Geschichte, i. 277 f. [History of the Hebrews, vol. i.
p. 307].

DILLMANN. IT. 4
50 GENESIS XIV. 19 F. [243

whole in the effort to represent Jerusalem as a

point
primitive seat pure religion, and as a place to which
of

Abram also paid tithes (as Jacob did to Bethel ). So we

:

have, after all, to decide in favour of Jerusalem, with the

assumption that the rare name has been purposely chosen D^

to secure a covert allusion, just as the name Moriah in ch.

xxii. 2.
" 2
p-tt-^D perhapsking is Sidik (name of a deity)."
my
He is designated priest of El 'Elyon, whom Abram, as we see
from ver. 22, could in a general way acknowledge as his

god. This agrees very well with the findings of the history
of religions. There is abundant evidence for the name El
or II as the oldest proper name of deity among the Baby-
lonians, Assyrians, Phoenicians, and Sabeans. Seeing, how-
ever, that among foreign peoples he was early pushed into
the background by younger gods who only expressed
particular aspects of his being, it was necessary to declare

more explicitly by means of descriptive epithets the con-

ception which one associated with his name. As the

patriarchs had their

W btf,
3
Dtfy i?N,
4 kx~ib \ii>K ^, 5 tarvs ^x, 6

so the Canaanite here has his ftvP bx. 7 The subordinate

deities, inferior in might indeed be already
position or rank,
differentiated from him, but Melchisedek in his worship still
held fast to him as the old sovereign god, the ruler of the
universe (ver. 19). It is to be observed that fl^tf
stands
without the article, in accordance with the oldest idiom of
the language, and that as an epithet of Jahve in the Old
Testament 8
it is still
always so used.
Ver. 19 f. This Melchisedek desires for Abram salvation
and blessing from God because of his deed, and praises God

1
Chs. xxviii. 22, xxxv. 1.
Baudissin, Studien zur Semit. Religionsgeschichte, i. 15.
:J
Ch. xvii. 1. 4
Ch xxi< 33
3
Ch. xxxiii. 20. e
Ch> xxxv 7. .

7
Of. the Phoenician Eliun in Eusebius, Prceparatio Evangelica, i. 10.
1 1 11.

8
E.g. Pe. vii. 18 [17], Ivii. 3 [2],
243, 244] GENESIS XIV. 21, 22 F. 51

for its success. According to usage, the words of blessing are

uttered in a more elevated rhythmical style.

bxb Deo =a Deo. 1 naj?, see ch. iv. 1 ;
it means both
creator (Sept. Vulg.) and possessor or lord (Targuin). Jap,

found besides only in Hos. xi. 8 ;

Prov. iv. 9.

Abram by
accepting the gift and the blessing acknow-
ledged as God's priest, and now on his part
Melchisedek
gave to the priest, and in his person to God, as a thanksgiving,
the tenth of all, i.e. not of all he possessed," but of all he
with him when the meeting took
h;id place, i.e. of the booty. 3

He thus became a pattern to the Israelites,

4
both in his

receiving the blessing from the priest and in his payment

of tithe to him (so Jacob in ch. xxviii. 22). There is little

difficulty in seeing that this tithing of the spoil presents no

5
insoluble contradiction to ver. 23 f.

Eegarding the conception of Melchisedek as a type of

Christ, which is found in the Epistle to the Hebrews, and
has been elicited by a combination with Ps. ex., see the
commentaries on the Epistle. For the extraordinary ideas
entertained regarding his person by the later Jews and Chris-

tians, see Winer and the other biblical encyclopedias.

Ver. 21. "The king Sodom, encouraged by Abram's

of

generosity, proposes to him that he should restore the souls,

i.e.
persons, that is, the rescued captives, while retaining the
other rescued property."
" 6
Ver. 2 2 f But Abram raises his
. hand to God, and
thus swears that he will keep nothing of the king's property,

although he has no obligations to the people of Sodom, and

might keep the spoil he had taken in battle. The king of
Sodom is not to have the opportunity of saying that he made
Abram rich. Abram shows himself sensitive to the want
1 25
Of. chs. xxv. 21, xxxi. 15 ;
Ex. xii. 16 ; Gesenius, 121. 3.
2 3
Wellhausen, Composition, p. 311. Heb. vii. 4.
4
Of. Lev. xxvii. 30 ff. Num. xxxi. 31 ;
ff. ;
2 Sain. viii. 11 f. ;
1 Chron.
xxvi. 27 Num. vi. 23 ff. Lev. ix. 22 ff.
; ;

5
Bohmer.
fi
Deut. xxxii. 40 ;
Dan. xii. 7 ;
also Ex. xvii. 16 [Dillmann].
52 GENESIS XIV. 24, 25 [244

of confidence that he will voluntarily restore the property

which belonged to others."
" ]
DN used in oaths in which a negation is expressed."
"
From a thread to a shoe-latchet i.e.
nothing of his most
worthless possessions, much less any of value, njn with a pre-
*

ceding jo used to express the total sum of things of a kind."

Abram swears by the God whom Melchisedek worships ;

in this way ver. 21 ff. is linked to ver. 18 ff. The word

mrp wanting in the Septuagint, Codex Alexandrinus, and in
is

the Lucian text, also in the Peshitta. The Samaritan has

DTitan. It accordingly appears to be a later insertion. 3
4
In any case, whether original or an insertion, it is intended
to suggest that the god of Abram is not quite identical with
the god of Melchisedek.
Ver. 24. Abram asks something only for his companions
in the fight.
"
*Tj6a not so far as me, i.e. that be far from me," or
" 5 "
nothing for me." The words which follow are in the
absolute case (nominativus pendens), and the concluding words
their necessary complement they may take their share, i.e.
;

my servants may have what they consumed of the recaptured

provisions (vv. 11, 16), and my confederates may receive the
6
customary share of the spoil."
Ver. 14 neglected to state that Abram's allies marched
with him ;
for a similar instance of clumsy stylism, conip.
ch. xx. 17 with ver. 3.

7
B. THE TRIALS OF FAITH, THE COVENANT,
AND THE PEOOF.
In what has gone before, Abram has shown himself to be
H man conspicuous for piety and virtue in various forms, and

1
As chs. xxi. 23, xxvi. 29, xlii. 15
; Gesenius,
25
149.
3 ( 'f. Deut. xxix. 10 ;
Judg. xv. 5 ; Isa. xxii. 24. Knobel.
3
5
lltfen. Delitzsch, Halevy. Of. ch. xli. 16..
<:
Num. xxxi. 26 ff. 1 Sam. xxx. 26. Knobel. 7
;
[See p. 8.]
L'M, 245] GENESIS XV 53

fir lias experienced at God's hands so much favour in the

shape of special providences, promises, and blessings, that

every preparation required for the moment in which he could
be installed as the head of a new divine covenant and receive
the promised seed, the foundation of the covenant race,
seems to have been made. But at this very point, before
such eminence is attained, delays, hindrances, and dis-

appointments set in like a storm. Their purpose was to

allow Abram's faith to manifest its strength in overcoming
them, and also to give visible evidence of the controlling

power of divine grace. Even after the summit has been

attained,Abram, in the midst of new dangers, must give yet
higher proof of himself, until at last the perfected man of
God and hero of faith, who is to serve as a pattern to all
Doming generations, stands fully developed before us. Viewed
thus, the separate narratives in this section, in themselves
of very dissimilar character, unite to present the continuous
development of the central figure. The external subject,
however, round which most of these trials and tests centre,
isAbram's attainment and possession of a son of his own,
who should be the first of the covenant race. The very first
section introduces the theme.

1. THE PROMISE OF A SON AS HEIR, AND ITS CONFIRMA-

TION BY THE CONCLUSION OF A SOLEMN COVENANT,
ClI. XV.; BY R, FOLLOWING B AND C.

A gloom comes over Abram at the thought

feeling of
that, being childless, he must bequeath to strangers all
the divine blessings. Upon this, God in a vision promises
him a son, and that this seed of his will greatly multiply
(vv. 1-5). Then, seeing Abram accepts the promise in faith
(ver. 6), the future possession
of the land by his posterity
is assured to him by the solemn conclusion of a covenant
(vv. 7-21), and at the same time a glimpse is given him of
the fortunes of his descendants
up to that time (vv. 12-16).
54 GENESIS XV [245, 246

In this way the hero is shown in outline the progress and

provisional end of the whole development in order that he

may hold fast to it in faith, and thus successfully pass through
the trials that are to follow.
This section, which is ascribed by Ilgen and Bohmer to B
1
in the main, but generally to C, is not a self-consistent unity.
In ver. 5 Abram is told to look at the stars, while in ver. 12

the sun is and only in

just setting, ver. 17 actually set.

There is nowhere any remark to the effect that the events

of ver. 10 ff. belong to another day. It is also surprising
that in ver. 6 Abram simply believes the promise, and then
immediately after in ver. 8 asks confirmation of a further

promise. The formula, too, with which God introduces

Himself in ver. 7 is such as we expect at the beginning
of a the.ophany, not in its middle. 2 It naturally suggests
itself, in view of these facts, to analyse the chapter into
two parts, vv. 1-6 and vv. 7-2 1. 3 Where this is done the
first section
explained is
belong to E, but to have under- to
4
gone a Jehovistic redaction, or it is said to be a compilation
from J and E? Vv. 7-21 are represented as an un-
adulterated J section, but transferred by R from another

context,
6
or as a J section expanded by later hands in
vv. 7 f., 13-16, and 19-2 1. 7 But if so, it is incomprehensible
how E could simply attach the alien section ver. 7 ff. to that
'

preceding it by the words \hx -iaoi, not even writing epn

v> typ. As little can we understand what occasioned the
numerous interpolations in vv. 7-21. Moreover, it is

incredible that vv. 2 a, 3Z>, 4, and 6 originally stood in J

after ver. 1 8 8
;
for if so, the promise of a son would stand
post festum. In disagreement with the writers quoted,
1

A'.*/, by Hupfeld, Kayser, Schrader ; nirp is the divine name used.

Cf. che. xlvi. 3, xvii. xxviii. 13.
1,
3
Wellhausen ;
Kautzsch-Socin, Kittel, Geschichte, i. 136 [History of
Ml HttfWM, vol. i. B. Bacon, Hebraica, vii. 1, p. 75 f.
,,i5o] ;
4
Wellhaus,.,,. 5
Kautzsch-Socin, Kittel, Bacon.
7
*
Wellhausen, Kautzsch-Socin, Bacon.
Bacon
24G]
GENESIS XV 55

Budde,
1
after subtracting vv. 12-16 and 19-21, would
assign the whole chapter to J (C), and only vv. 2b, 3 a, 5 to

E (B). Similarly Delitzsch

5
,
who is of opinion that elements

from E are still discernible in vv. 2 and 16. But this

assumption does not take any account or give any ex-

planation of the above distinguished discrepancies between
vv. 16 and 721.
Everything considered, a different
vv.

judgment must be passed on the chapter.

We may conclude as follows. As introducing ch. xvi.,
the promise of an heir, can hardly be dispensed i.e. ver. 4,

with in C'a narrative, whereas the solemn pledge regarding

the possession of the land, vv. 8-18, following ch. xiL 7 and
2
xiii. 14 ff., is less necessary, although in view of ch. xxiv. 7
not impossibly his. In the next place, ver. 2 is certainly
B's, seeing that C in ch. xxiv. 2 ff. is not acquainted with

any Eliezer. 3 Again, the writer of ver. 9 If. cannot also be

the author of ver. 5, i.e. ver. 9 ff. will belong to C, and ver. 5

to B. Finally, it is clear from DHbo nix (ver. 7), Eton (ver.

14), and mitD m^BO(ver. acquainted 15), that a redactor,

with A, has made independent alterations in the chapter.
It accordingly appears that vv. 16 are a compilation from
B and C, in such a way that vv. 2 and 5 are from the text
of B, ver. 3 from that of C, while ver. 1 , originally It's* has

undergone linguistic alteration (ni^, "T^j?) which assimilates

it to C ;
ver. 4 in its essentials is common to the two
narrators. But while B reached his conclusion in the con-
firmation of the promise of an heir given in ver. 5, in C the

promise (ver. 4) seems to have been ratified by the formal

conclusion of a covenant. R, however, instead of simply
attaching the covenant narrative to B's account, transformed
it, with A's parallel (ch. xvii.) in mind, into a solemnly
assured promise of the future possession of the land (vv.

1
Biblische U'rgeschichte, pp. 416 f., 439.
2 3 Wellhausen.
If the words *b J,3E 3
J
1EW
are there original.
4
Visions by night are frequently introduced in his narrative, chs. xxi.
12, xxii. 1 xlvi. 2, etc.
56 GENESIS XV. 1
[246, 247

7-18). The same redactor is doubtless also responsible, not

only for (ver. 6 and)

? ver. 7 f., but for the difference between
cnn in ver. 17 and "1^2 in ver. 10, as well as for the
actual definition of boundaries in ver. 185. At anyrate, he
availed himself of the opportunity to insert, from himself, a
forecast of coining events (vv. 13-15 (16)). It is uncertain

whether 16 and vv. 19-21 were inserted by him or by

ver.

a still later hand. These two additions do not even properly

harmonise with one another. 1
Ver. I. After these things the words make a loose
2
connection with what goes before they contain no hint of ;

any special sequence of events, such as that Abram was

granted Canaan because of his bold encounter with the

enemies of the land. 3
The word of Jahve came to him a divine utterance, 4
such as has been recorded several times before. The ex-
pression is the usual one for prophetic revelation, but occurs
in Genesis only here and in ver. 4. Its use is surprising,
but perhaps least in the case of ,
who goes so far as to call
Abram 5033 in ch. xx. 7.

In a vision comp. C in Num. xxiv. 4, 16, and B

nW>n ro&ODn in Gen. xlvi. requires a vision by
2. Ver. 5
5
night, but ver. 8 ff. a revelation by day the view at least ;

that all the occurrences related in ver. 10 and the

following
verses happened merely in a vision, can
hardly be that of the
author.
The promise connects itself with an anxious mood in which
Abram was; do not fear, "in the midst of this
strange and
sinful 7
people. Shield, protection or protector."
pat?
8
not a second predicate to
thy very great ^,
for God is not Himself his
;ird, reward, and we should
DMT,
A in ohi. xxii. xxxix.
i, 20, 7, xl. 1, xlviii. 1.
Kii..l.,-l, Bulnm'r, Halcvy, Recherches Bibliques, x. 251.
r- 4 - 5
Vv. 12 and 17.
7
As Ps. iii. 4, xviii. 3, etc. Knobel.
"
Lutli.-r, Knobel, Keil. Delitzsch.
247] GENESIS XV. 2 57

expect a connecting \ We must translate, your reward (will

be) very great, the implication of the present text being
" "
something like, because you remain obedient to rny call ;

in his answer in ver. 2 Abram presupposes, even, that God

will give him something. For N?"]n as predicate, see Ewald. 1

2
The Samaritan has the lighter form ao*iN.
Ver. 2. Now that Abram has received this promise, the

thought that he is childless presses on him with special

force.

mrr 'JIB a combination found also in ver. 8, and else-

where in the Pentateuch in Deut. iii. 24, ix. 26. In It,

when God is addressed, ^itf is used by itself (ch. xx. 4).

What wilt Thou give to me, what gain to me are rewards

and possessions, seeing I depart, i.e. will die, 3 naked, i.e. deserted,
childless* and the son of possession 5 of my house, he who will
c
one day take my house in possession, inherit it, is Damask
of Eliezer}
"Ur. $?
1

P?'!?" !
there can be no hesitation in rejecting the

rendering Eliezer of Damask ;

8
but it is also unallowable to

regard the words as in apposition, Damask which is Eliezer, 9

for no one would put a personal name after that of a city
in explanation of it, and a double personal name (Damask
Eliezer) is against usage. It is not impossible to call a city

or population pE'~|?, with the meaning son of inheritance,

its

heir. The rejection of the words pb'DT Kin as being a gloss 10

seems to have the merit of simplicity but although ver. 3 ;

betrays no knowledge of their presence, it does not profess

lo be a complete explanation of ver. 2, and the selection of
the rare word Pt? n is only comprehensible if a play on the

1 2
Syntax, 296<i Ilgen.
3
Ch. xxv. 32 Ps. xxxix. 14 [13].
;

4
Lev. xx. 20 f Jer. xxii. 30.
.
;

5 25
Gesenius, 128. 2A. 2c.
fi
Ch. xxxix. 4f. Ex. xx. 17. 7
; Ewald, Syntax, 286c.
8 9
Gesenius, Knobel. Delitzsch, Keil.
10
Hitzig, Tuch, Olshausen, Kautzsch-Socin.
11
Cf. ppoo, Zeph. ii. 9.
58 GENESIS XV. 3 [247, 248

word P^l were intended. Apart from linguistic considera-

tions, the sentence receives a satisfactory meaning if Eliezer

both held a
prominent position in Abram's house and also

had some connection with Damascus, so that it was to be

expected that in time, in the absence of another heir,

Abram's property would fall to him, and in the case of his
return to Damascus would be removed to that city, which
would thus become Abram's ultimate heir. It is true that
we read nothing elsewhere of such a family connection with
Damascus on Eliezer's part ;
but the contents of these old
1
legends are only imperfectly preserved to us, and this is the

only passage regarding Eliezer which has survived. As late

as the Greek period the Damascenes boasted a connection

with Abram himself,

2
and even later, under Moslem rule. 3

Ver. 3 repeats the contents of ver. 2, but in a simpler

manner ;
it may be an explanation of ver. 2 by R, more
probably it is from C, and corresponded in his account to
ver. 2 in B. The obscure expressions of ver. 2 are quite
sufficiently ill-treated and torn to fragments by Budde

(Kautzsch-Socin) he assigns 2a and 3b to J, and makes

;

26 and 3a an insertion from E by E. The less difficult

language of this verse also makes it clear that TP1 pE>'~p is
"
not intended to mean " son of Masek my household slave
"
(Sept.),nor yet " son of my steward 4
the principal thought ;

contained in the words must be that of 'nfc &n\

For n:m ;n see chs. xxix. 2, xxxvii. 7 ;
2 Sam. i. 6 ;

Isa. 1. 9. 'rvn-p, unlike JV3 Tp^ means O ne of my house-

hold" 6
comp. jvn \?JN and similar expressions.
;
7

Lot is viewed as no longer of Abram's kin ;

and the
natural legal heir, in the absence of other relatives, without

/:./. rh. xi. 29.

2
Nicolaus Damascenus in 7. 2
Josephus, Antiquities, i. ; Justin,
J, regarding a kingdom of Abram's in Damascus.
!

D'Herbelot, Bibliotheqne Orientate, sub Abraham, ZDMG. xvi. 701 f.,

xxii. 105 Ewald, Geschichte* i. 446
;
[History of Israel, vol. i. p. 312].
4
Theodotion, Jerome. Ch. xiv. 14.
6
Che. xvii. 27, xxxix. 14. Knobel. *
Job xix. xxxi. 31. Knobel. 15,
248]
GENESIS XV. 4-6 59

any supposition of a definite choice on Abram's part,

the foremost member of his household, whom we have to find
1
in the person of Eliezer.

Ver. 4. In response to this complaint God promises

Abram an heir of his own seed, a lineal heir. In the similar

phrases A,
2
in DW is not used as here of the man. In C,
in ch. xxv. 23 it is used of the woman, but in 2 Sam. vii. 12
and xvi. 1 1 of the man. The Septuagint has l^p for 710?.

Ver. 5. "In order to remind Abram of the divine power,

and visibly represent to him the multitude of his descend-

ants, and to awaken in him faith in the promise, God leads
3
him out and points him to the sky and its countless stars."

rwnn, chs. xix. 17, xxiv. 29, xxxix. 12 f., 15, 18, from C.
4
The simile of the stars occurs elsewhere in C's contexts and
in Deuteronomy.
Ver. 6. The author now breaks the course of his

narrative to remark, and he trusted in Jahve, and He reckoned

it,
5
i.e. the trust, to Mm as righteousness, and thereby gives
prominent expression to the point of view he desires us
mainly to occupy in our judgment of the history of Abram.
In the case of Abram, to whom the law had not as yet been

given, was not his fulfilment of the law, as evidenced by his

it
6
works, which made him appear righteous in God's sight, but
his firm adherence to God, his reliance on Him, his believing
"
and trustful surrender of himself to Him. 7 This right
" 9
attitude of mind 8
towards God, God reckoned to him as

righteousness. He evidenced this faith by his trustful

acceptance of what was presented to him in promise, in spite
of the doubts which appearances and circumstances so

naturally suggested, and he steadfastly maintained this

1
See ch. xxiv. 2.
2 3
Chs. xxxv. 11, xlvi. 26 Ex. i. 5. ; Knobel.
Chs. xxii. 17, xxvi. 4 Ex. xxxii. 13. ;

For the fern, see xxiv. 14, xlvii. 26 ;

Ex. x. 11 ; Isa. xxx. 8, etc.
Deut. vi. 25, xxiv. 13.
Ex. xiv. 31 Num. xiv. 11, xx. 12
; ; Deut. i. 32.
9
Knobel. Ps. cvi. 31.
60 GENESIS XV. 710 [248, 249

attitude, both then and throughout his future life. The

clearest expression is hereby given to the nature of the way
of salvation as it was open to the patriarchs.
Ver. 7. Abram's request for an assurance of the further-

promise and his receiving of it, do not agree well with the
simple faith which has just preceded. It would be different

if God were now to conclude a covenant with him as the

reward of his faith. This was perhaps once the sequence of
events in C, but for the reason given on p. 55 the formal
conclusion of a covenant was altered by the redactor to a

promise of the possession of the land, confirmed by a solemn

pledge on God's part ver. 7 f. is to be attributed to the ;

author of this alteration, and not to C himself. 1

We find confirmation of this in the facts that C2 speaks
only of God's leading Abram out from Harran, not from
Ur Kasdim ;
3
that ver. 7 f., where Abram himself is the ^T,
does not quite agree with ver. 18, where D12S jnr is the heir;
and that the whole phrase, nNTn pNrrriN i? nr6, is
nn^^
Deuteronomistic.
Ver. 8. mrv 'n see ver. 2. nea* n as in ch. xxiv. 14,
"
xlii. 33 ;
Ex. vii. 17, and frequently. Gideon and Hezekiah
5
similarly ask for a sign."
9. In order that God
Ver. him the asked for
may give
pledge that the promise will be fulfilled, Abram must take,
i.e.
bring for God (cf. in ver. 10), a heifer, a she-goat, and
a rarn, each of them three
years old, also a turtle dove and a
young dove. B&Bte in this sense only here and in the
Septuagint of 1 Sam. i. 24. Onkelos renders wrongly three-
three of each. only found Deut.
fold, i.e. besides in
^Jia

xxxii. 11, of the of the eagle.

young
Ver. 10. He brought them accordingly. does not at
all mean on the day after the vision 6
by night, but either in
7

2
liu.ldf, Kittel, Delitzscli. ch. x ii. If.
1 (<i vol. i. 407. 4
2436.
Ewalcl,
I
':!,'. vi. 17 ff. ;
2 Kings xx. 8 ff. Knobel.
!'l, IMit/sch*. 7
Hupfeld, Keil.
Ill)]
GENESIS XV. 10 Gl

or, better, to the theophany, which accordingly in C was not

by night. He divided the three larger animals in the

middle,
1
i.e. each in two equal halves, and laid each one's
2
half opposite the other half, but did not divide the birds.
inn and Piel only here ;
"ina in Jer. xxxiv. 18 f. IB>',

collective, as in Ps. viii. 9 and elsewhere ;

the Samaritan ha
mem
"
God wishes, then, to conclude a covenant with Abram. 3
The covenant ceremony consisted in the passage of the
contracting parties between the slain animals, and the curse
involved was to the effect that he who broke faith would
fare as they had done. Hence the expressions rp"Q rro, opicia
*
T/jLvew, and fcedus icere, percutere, ferire, cf. Jer. xxxiv. 1 8 f ."

The covenants of ch. xxi. 31 and Ex. xxiv. 8 are of a

different character.
"
In analogy with the sacrifice of Lev. i. 17, the dove and
the turtle dove were not divided. Only the five species of
animals here named were lawful under the levitical sacrificial
" 5
system ;
and not only so, the choice of animals is intended
to be a type for the people of Israel in their sacrifices. It is

true that the ceremony here is not strictly a sacrifice, for the
animals were not placed on the altar but ;
it was nevertheless
a sacred rite, inasmuch as the name of God was solemnly
invoked in an n^N. Perhaps, where human beings were
also,

alone parties to the compact, a sacrifice was offered in

addition to the ceremony described. Though nothing is said

of this in the passage, the mention of the birds may be

intended as a substitute suggestive of it ;
there is at
least no mention of their being placed opposite to one
another. 7

2
1
Samaritan has uro for "prD- See ch. ix. 5.
3
Ver. 17 f.

4
Dougtsei, Analecta sacra, ad lot: ; Winer, Rtalworterbuch (Knobel) ;

Schenkel, Bibellexicon, sub Bund.

5
Knobel.
Ewald, Alterthiimer, p. 92 note
(i
/.-r.f
[^bi'i'/M/'.'t* of
l ',
p. GO, 1].
7
Delitzsch.
62 GENESIS XV. 11, 12 FF. [249,250

We have still to ask why the animals were to be three

years old. The answer is not that the legend increases all
1
the ages given for those remote times, and scarcely that the
reference is to the three generations of the Egyptian bond-
2
age, for that lasted longer (vv. 13, 16). The fact is that the
3
number three, like the number seven, was customary in
asseverations, oaths, curses, and blessings, and was a sacred
number. 4 The divided animals are also, after all, only three,
and the two birds a separate addition made for other

reasons.
Ver. was now prepared, but before the actual
11. All

passage between the divided bodies and the actual giving of

the guarantee commenced, birds of prey 5 flew down to
devour the bodies of the dead animals 6 but Abram, watchful ;

and resolute, frightens them away. The Septuagint trans-

lates DDK 3^1, less appropriately, teal crvveicdOiaev avrols. It
was an omen of evil, as when the harpies sought to carry off
the sacrifices, 7 and it foreshadowed the obstacles in the way
of the taking possession of the land which was about to be
assured io Abram. Unclean and violence-loving peoples, in
especial the Egyptians, will seek to defeat God's purpose, but

they will not succeed.

Yer. 12 ff. For the reasons given on p. 55 f., and because
ver. 18&, more particularly the expression "jjntX is
already in
8
strictnesspresupposed in vv. 1316, vv. 13(125) 16 9
are not from C, but have been introduced
by E as an
iftress interpretation of the evil omens, and to introduce the

panorama of future events which follows. Towards evening,

as ho watches by the divided bodies, Abram falls into a trance

1
Ewald, Geschichte* i. 466 [History of Israel, vol. i.
p. 325, note 1].
4 3
litzsch, Keil. Ch> X xi. 28ff.
on cli. ix. 25 ; Hermann, Gott. Alterthumer der Griechen* 21 A 9
| ISA. 18.
'

KM- Hi.'
article, seech, xiv. 13.
(;

"OB, l^v. xxvi. 30; Num. xiv. 29, xxxii. 33.

V /;,/, iii. 225 Ewald.

irjrji, <
/,/, ff., Wellhauseii.
'
At least \-2h-\r, ver. 10 be
;
may still later.
250]
GENESIS XV. 12-15 63

01- vision-slumber,
1
the direct purpose of which is to reveal
to him what he ought to know of the future.
2
Ver. 1 2. The sun was about to set, and a deep sleep
s

had fallen on Abram ; in this state he received a revelation.

n:m introduces the revelation, and no way a doublet 4
is in

to ';! rumrn. It is not a kindly light which Abram sees

in his sleep, but a terror, a great darkness, i.e.
something
terrifying, which consisted of a great darkness, falls on him.
The reason of this is that the opening scene of the future
which is to be revealed is and n is
joyless terrifying. ?^n
only found here in the Pentateuch.
Ver. 13. Thus filled with horror Abram receives in his

sleep the disclosures which follow. The subject to -ICK'I is

self-evident.

You should
knoiv, of a truth, it is of some importance
that you should know. 5 The first fact is that his descend-
ants have to dwell as strangers in a land which does not
6
belong to them, i.e. Egypt, and will serve them (the Egyptians) ;

and they (the Egyptians) will oppress them 1 for 400 years.

According to Ex. xii. 40, from A, the time is more

exactly 430 years, but in the prophecy the round number
8
is more appropriate. This is a sufficiently joyless
prospect.
Ver. 14. But affairs turn for the better. On this people
whom they have to serve, misfortune such as has been
hitherto their lot will also come. bring God will judge it, i.e.
9
plagues upon it as its punishment, and they will leave its
land with great possessions 10 (KW, see note on ch. xii. 5).
Ver. 15. Such will be the fortunes of his descendants.
"
But Abram be untouched by any misfortune.
will You
xhall enter into your fathers, i.e. reach the lower world to

1
Ewald, Alterthiimer* 344 [Antiquities of Israel, p. 259 f.].
2 25
Josh.ii. 5 Gesenius,; 114. 2A. 2.
4
;i
Ch. ii. 21. Kautzsch-Socin.
r> 6
Josh, xxiii. 13. Hab. i. 6 Gesenius, 25 155. 2a.
;

7 8
Ex. i. and v. Knobel.
11
Ex. vii. ff.
>
Ex. xii. 32, 38. Knobel.
64 GENESIS XV. 16 [250, 251

which they have gone before, 1 in peace, i.e. unmolested and

2
undisturbed, amid peaceful surroundings."
naiB nyb'3 in xxv. 8, from A.
Ver. 16 adds the reason why all these things must be
just as they are to be. As the fourth generation? or in the
fourth generation* not sooner, they will return here, for until
5
now the guilt of the Amorite is not complete, the measure of
his sins is not full, so as to allow of his being earlier driven
out and extirpated.
nosn as in ch. xiv. 7, 13, whereas C uses "ov^n to
6 "
designate the inhabitants of the country. The same
unfavourable view of the moral character of these inhabitants
7
is expressed in chs. xiii. 13, xviii. 20 ff., xix. 1 ff., xx. II."

As to their moral corruption being the ground of their

extirpation, comp. Lev. xviii. 241, xx. 22 ff.

in
according to Ex. vi. 20 it was the fourth genera-
tion which returned from Egypt. Accordingly, if this verse
is from the same author as ver. 13, nh, generation, must here
"
extend to a century or somewhat over. The Arabic dahr is
also used for a hundred years and over, but at the same time

for a generation of forty-four 8

years. Similarly, sceculum is

sometimes humance longissimum partu et

a spatium vitce

morte definitum? sometimes a spatium centum annorum or

11
a period of 30, or 110, or 1000 years. Aetas, too, is
generally generation, but also century, e.g. in Ovid, Meta-
morphoses xii. 188, where Nestor says, vixi annos Us centum,
nunc tertia vivitur cetas; Homer 12 made Nestor's age three
13
yeveai."

1
See ch. xxv. 8.
2
Cf. 2 Sain. iii. 21 ff., xv. 9, 27. Knobel.
25
Gesenius, 118. 5c.
4
cf. the Massoretic
Sept. ;
reading in xiv. 4.
x] iv. 28. c 7
ch. xii. 6, xiii. 7. Knobel.
8
Burckhardt [Arabic Proverbs, p. 88], Germ. tr. 101.
'' '

<
ii.sorinua, De die natali, xvii. 2.
10
Vurru, It,- //,,,/, Latina, vi. 11.
11
S.TMM , ad ./;/-
.(/(//j, viii. ,508.
250. is
Iliad, i. Knol)el<
LT.l]
GENESIS XV. 17, 18 G5

Ver. 17. The sign proper in which the covenant promise

is actually given is now at length reached. The form of the

sentence is as in ver. 12.

The sun had meantime set, and it had become *

thick

darkness, ntp^ is only found besides in Ezek. xii. 6 ff.

Suddenly appears an earthen stove of smoke, i.e. a

there
2
smoking earthen stove, and a flaming torch. What is
described is, doubtless, an apparition like a fireplace from
which gleaming flames darted out. It passed between the
pieces of the divided animals, and in the apparition, which
was appropriate to the darkness of the night, God was
present.
3
"\ta is a rare word. Even if vv. 1216 were not
an insertion of Jft's, we should still not be entitled to assume
that Abram saw the transit simply in his sleep. He
required to see it when awake, for a mere internal perception

would be exposed to the danger of deception, and it is just

because the sign is of fire and apprehensible by sense-
perception that it had first to become dark. God alone
passed between the pieces, because He alone had something
to promise by the sign He condescended to give Abram
;

such an assurance of the promise as he had desired in ver. 8.

But nowhere else in the Old Testament is there a similar
instance of God's accommodating Himself to the practices
current among men in protesting their truthfulness. The
covenant in ch. xvii., -4's, is of quite a different character.

Ver. 18 remarks expressly that God, by what had taken

place, as narrated in ver. 9 onwards, had concluded a cove-

nant with Abram regarding the future possession of the land,
and it defines more closely the extent of the land thus promised.
Ch. xxvi. o refers back to it. Tin:, as in chs. i. 29, ix. 2, 3.
"
The boundary kept in view as the limit of Israelite

conquests, according to Ex. xxiii. 31 ;

Deut. i. 7, xi. 24 ;

1
Gesenius, 145. 7 A. 3.
2
]wy need not be taken to be a form of f^y. [Stove, i.e.
Backtopf,
see Riehm.]
3
See on Ex. iii. 2, xiii. 21, xix. 9.
DILLMANN. II.
5
66 GENESIS XV. 19 FF. [252

Josh. i. 4, was the river Euphrates." The southern boundary

f

is elsewhere the nnvo $>n:, the modern Wadi el Arish ;

l
hence

Knobel, Delitzsch, and others are of opinion that this river

is by nnx in:.
intended But although it is true that
-in: might be used of smaller rivers and channels, 2 D'nro in:

can scarcely be anything other than the Nile or its most

easterly branch. That being so, the expression is a manifest
3 4
hyperbole. If ^n: were the original reading, it could only
be intentionally corrupted to in:. The power of Israel in its
palmiest days extended to the Egyptian frontier and to the
5
Euphrates.
Ver. 19 ff. Enumeration of the peoples whom God
destined to subjugation by the Hebrews. Such enumerations
of the Canaanite peoples are in great favour with C, D, and
6
It. Ex. xxiii. 2 8 contains the simplest of them ; generally
the number
given at five or six, sometimes at seven.
is

Here and only here a collection of ten has been made, for
the boundaries of the promised land in the south and east are
stretched far beyond those of Canaan. The Keni 7 and the
8
Kenizzi seem intended to represent the tribes of the Negeb
and of the southern desert, as 'Amalek does in ch. xiv. 1, and
the Kadmoni 9 the inhabitants of the Syro-Arabian desert.
10
By the Eephaim and the Emori will be intended, for the most
part, the tribes in the land east of Jordan. Eegarding the
others, see on ch. x. 15 ff. ;
for the T!?, see also ch. xiii. 7.

The ^n are wanting in the list, but are inserted by the Sept.
and Samaritan after
1
Num. xxxiv. 5 ; Josh. xv. 4 ; Isa. xxvii. 12.
2
2 Kings v. 12 ; Job xxviii. 11 ;
Ex. viii. 1 ;
Ezek. i. 3, and else-
where.
3
See further, Josh. xiii. 3 ;
1 Chron. xiii. 5 ; Delitzsch, Paradies,
p. 311.
4 5
Lagarde, Bildung der Nomina, p. 140. 1 Kings v. 1, viii. G5.
r>
Kx. iii. 8, 17, xiii. 5, xxiii. 23, xxxiii. 2, xxxiv. 11 ;
Deut. vii. 1,
xx. 17 ; Josh. iii. 10, ix. 1, xxiv. 11, and frequently.
7
See Num. xxiv. 21. s
g ee
10
^ xxxv i. n.
here, but see ch. xxv. 15.
<J

Only Ch. xiv. 5.

_T,L>, L>53]
GENESIS XVI 67

2. THE BIRTH OF ISHMAEL, CH. XVI. ;

FOLLOWING
C AND A

Sarai, seeing herself barren, induces Abram to cohabit

with her maid Hagar in order that she may have children by
her. Hagar becomes pregnant, behaves insolently towards
is humiliated by her, and flees to Egypt.
her mistress, An
angel meets her in the desert, bids her return, and makes
disclosures to her regarding the future of her descendants.
After her return she bears Ishmael. 1
In ch. xvii. 1 8 if. A presupposes Ishmael's existence, so
that he must before that have recorded his birth. On
examination we find that vv. chapter 1, 3, and 15 ff. of this

belong to A
because of the exact notes of time they contain,
and in part because of their language (ver. 3). He only
Abram her Egyptian
related that Sarai, because barren, gave
maid Hagar to be his wife, and that she bore him a son,
whom he named Ishrnael. When these verses are taken
away, what remains an independent narrative, in which the
is

original conclusion, regarding Ishmael's birth and his receiv-

ing a name, is alone wanting, it having been replaced in

ver. 1 5 f
by material from A.
. The contents of the passage,
"
such as the angelic apparition (ver. 7 ff.), the conception of
ver. 13, the unfavourable character given to Hagar and
Ishmael, the etymologies (vv. 11, 13f.), and the discrepancy
2
between vv. 11 and furnish evidence against -4's
15,"

authorship. At the same time, seeing that the same material

is found in part in B in a similar narrative (ch. xxi. 821),
it is also testimony for C, who is further indicated by the
3
linguistic data. It is true that the thrice repeated introduc-

tion the consecutive words of the angel in vv.

to is 911
4
surprising, and for this reason it is a natural conjecture

1 2
Knobel. Knobel.
3
mrp, &o-run, ^N, h\\h yotr (2), nrin ninn, and a'lp -JBGP ^ (10).
4
Bohmer, Das erste Buck der Tlwra, p. 203 Wellhausen, JBDTh. ;

xxi. 410 Kuenen, Onderzoek, 2 i. 247 Kautzscli-Socin.

; ;
08 GENESIS XVI. 1 [253

that vv. 8-10, or at least ver. 9 f., are a harmonistic inser-

tion made with reference to B (ch. xxi. 9 ff.) and A

(ver. In that case Hagar, according to C, did not
15 f.).
1
return to Abram's house after her flight. But would the
mrp "jsta appear in C Hagar that she
only in order to tell

was pregnant, as she

already knew, and will bear an
"
Ishmael," and then leave her helpless and without further
direction ? And could Ishmael be counted a son of Abram
if he were not born in his house The language of the
?

verses is identical with that of C, and they show no trace of

the hand of a harmonist. The division of the angel's words
into three parts may also be intentional, and we cannot say
that ver. 10 unsuited to precede ver. II. 2
is It is accord-

ingly not certain that we must refuse the verses to C.

No express reference is made in the passage to the
preceding chapter, and yet E had quite a definite intention
in assigning to it its present position. According to the
agreement of Abram and his wife, Hagar, in view of Sarai's
continued barrenness, was to help in obtaining the offspring

promised to Abram in ch. xv. But scarcely had the hope

been cherished when it was disappointed by the quarrel of
the women, and Hagar's flight. It is true that by divine

interposition everything turns out well, the son is born to

Abram and he thus obtains a lineal heir yet
in his house, ;

the words of the angel to Hagar indicate thus early that this
is not the son of In the passage, therefore, the
promise.
promise of ch. xv. begins to approach fulfilment, though it is
not yet fulfilled, and the way is, at the same time, prepared
for ch. xvii.

Ver. 1.
Introductory descriptive sentence. If we cannot
ascribe the whole verse 3
to A, at least the first part is his, 4

seeing that he has yet to mention Sarai's barrenness, whereas

C has already done so in ch. xi. 30 notes (see there).

1
See notes on ch. xxv. 6 for the how far that verse
question
I'licts this.

M notes there. 3
Knobel. 4
Schrader.
253, 254] GENESIS XVI. 2, 3 69

"
Sarai had an Egyptian slave
1
who stood in closer
relationship to her than did the other slaves." I'x-ing the
5

property of the wife, she was not at the free disposal of the
husband, as purchased slaves were a regular concubinaitu ;

could only be contracted with consent of the wife. 3 Hagar's

Egyptian origin an invariable feature in the legend, 4 and,
is

taken in connection with ch. xxi. 21, has an easily under-

stood historical meaning. The name "Un, interpreted in the

light of Arabic hajara, means discessus a suis, and the

narrative here, as well as that in ch. xxi. 8 ff., attaches itself
to this meaning proved to be also an
of the name. But it is

historical name in the light of that of the Arab nomadic

5
people of the D^n.
Ver. 2. Sarai proposes that Abram should cohabit with

Hagar. He has closed me up, Q i.e. closed my womb, away

from 7 bearing, i.e. so that I do not bear. God opens the
womb of her who is fruitful.
8
This way of speaking, as also
the following expression, njaa, is foreign to A?
K2 ch. vi. 4.

Perhaps I shall be built up ~by her, i.e. obtain children

from her. 10 Sarai, that is, intends to take Hagar's child as
her own. and Hagar's descendants will be reckoned hers;
11
similarly in the case of Kachel in ch. xxx. 3 ff.
V_in (7
12
and # 13

Ver. 3, which would be superfluous in C, is from A ;

the note of time is characteristic of the latter, and the

14 15
expressions jyjD pK, 2", and also new.
"
The practice of concubinage is customary among the
1 2 Knobel.
Of. ch. xii. 16. Cf. xxix. 24, 29.
5
Tuch. 4
A in ver. 3, B
in ch. xxi. 9.
5
See on ch. xxv. 15. c
Ch. xx. 18.
7 s
Ch. xviii. 25, xxiii. G, xxvii. 1. Ch. xxix. 31, xxx. 22.
9
Knobel.
10
Ch. xxx. 3 cf. Ruth iv. 11
; Ex. ;
i. 21 ;
Deut. xxv. 9 ;
2 Sain. vii.

11, 27 ;
1
Kings xi. 38.
11
Knobel.
12
Chs. xviii. 24, 28, xxiv. 5, 39 (xxxii. 21), xliii. 12.
13
Ch. xxvii. 12. " Ch. xii. 5.
15
Ch. xiii. 12.
70 GENESIS XVI. 4-0 [254

1
patriarchs, and is also frequently mentioned in the case of
2
their descendants." But the mention of the fact that the

principal wife, in the cases of Abram and Jacob, desired the

additional connection, is not without meaning ;
it is like an
excuse for the want of adherence to monogamy.
ppB iv. 3, viii. 6. ratt6, for p see ch. vii. 11.
"
Ver. 4. Originally the continuation of ver. 2. When
Hagar sees that she is pregnant she despises her unfruitful
mistress and behaves unbecomingly towards her. Hannah
had a similar experience at the hands of her fellow wife. 3
It is still the same in the East. 4 In the Old Testament
5
barrenness is a great evil and a divine punishment ;
fruitful-
6
ness, good fortune and a divine blessing. It is held to be
7
so even yet in the East."

te Gesenius,
25
6 7 A. 3.
Ver. 5. Sarai complains to Abram that he endures this

unseemly conduct on the part of the slave girl ;

his reason
was his hope of offspring.
T$>y ''Don misunderstood by the Septuagint and Vulgate.
8
It is an exclamation, the wrong done me, may it come upon thee,

may consequences fall upon thee. The pronominal suffix is

its

an objective genitive, as in ch. ix. 2, Judg. ix. 24; Joel iv. 19.
"IPTO on
thy breast, comp. 1 Kings i. 2.
to

Judge between me and thee, decide our dispute, and that in

such a way that he will punish your ingratitude, and will
aid me to obtain
my due. 9 The supralinear point directs
the omission of the second ' in
i^-m because the form is
elsewhere always *|3>a, in pause
^"? (ch. xvii. 2, 7, etc.).
Ver. 6. Abram, however, does not wish to
punish Hagar
1
Ch. xxii. 24, xxx. 3 if., xxxvi. 12. 2
See on Ex> xxi> 7< Knobel.
3 1
Sam. i. 6 f.
Manners and Customs, 5 1871, i. 232
5
*,
pop. ed. p. 167. ;

Ch. xix. 31, xxx. 1, 23 Lev. xx. 20 f. ;

6
Che. xxi. 6, xxiv. 60 Ex. xxiii. 26 Deut. vii. 14.
; ;
7
Volney, [Voyage en Syrie et en Egypte, 3 ii. 326] Germ. tr. ii. 359 f. ;

OliYier, Voyage, i. 183 f. [8; 4, i. 103]; Winer, Realworterbuch* i. 656.

Kliul.cl.
"
< 'h. xxvii. 13. o
x Sam> xxiv- 16> Knobel.
 L'54, L>55]
GENESIS XVI. 7 71

himself, he leaves it to Sarai. As her slave, Hagar is in her

1
hand, i.e.
power, so that she may treat her as she pleases.
Sarai humbles the
presumptuous maid, e.g. by her harsh
manner and the imposition of hard work,- with the result
that she runs away. 3 Incidentally this is a contribution to
a picture of the evils which arise from polygamy.
Ver. 7. Providence now intervenes, and turns all to the
best. Hagar flees southward to Egypt in the direction of the

desert, a woman, and alone. 4

We are not told from where
she set out. It is questionable Mamre 5 were originally
if

intended. In the desert the angel whom God sent to her

found her by the spring, i.e. the spring known to all as figur-

ing in this legend, further described in ver. 14, the spring

on the to Shur. n as in ch. xxxvii.
way FiNVO'n, 33,
1 Chron. xx. 2 ;
2 Chron. xx. 7.
6
Shur before, i.e. east of Egypt, bounds the country
7
inhabited by the Israelites and Amalekites, and gave its
name to the desert of Shur or Etham. 8 It must have been
a locality on the north-eastern border of Egypt ;
but it is not
9
Pelusium, which was Pp. The word signifies wall, as also
doubtless does K'jjin, its Targumic substitute. It was, no
doubt, the Semitic name for one of the Egyptian border
fortresses at the north-eastern entrance to the delta. 10 Saadia
replaces "W by Jifar. The Arabic geographers apply the
name desert of Jifar, in contradistinction to the desert of
the children of Israel or Paran, to the strip of land five or
six days'journey long, and bounded on the east by the desert
of Paran, extending from Eafia in Philistia to Lake Tennis
11
(Menzaleh), and from there to Kulzum. In a word, they
1 2 3
Ch. ix. 2. Ch. xv. 13, xxxi. 50. Knobel.
4
Cf. Burckhardt, Syria, p. 448, Germ. tr. p. 740.
5
Ch. xiii. 18, xiv. 13. fi
Ch. xx. 1.
7
Ch. xxv. 18 1 Sam. xv. 7, xxvii.
; 8.
8
Ex. xv. 22, comp. Num. xxxiii. 2. Josephus.
9

10
Brugsch, Geschichte, 119, 195; E. Meyer, Geschichte, 237, 240;
comp. ch. xx. 1.
11
Kazwini, Kosmographia, ii. 120 ; Istachri (ed. Mordtmann), p. 31 f. ;

ii. 90.
72 GENESIS XVI. 8-12 [255

apply it to designate the western slope of the desert of

1
Paran in the direction of Egypt
Ver. 8. The question of the angel serves simply to
commence the conversation. 2 nrro, as in ver. 6, doubtless a

play on the meaning of the word "On.

3
Ver. 9. Three several divine messages are addressed by
the angel to Hagar 912, and in them the angel
in vv.
4
speaks as God's representative. The purpose of the first
is to help her out of her evil case it bids her return and ;

humble herself under the hands of her mistress. The second,

ver. 10. encourages her to this by the promise of a numerous
5
progeny which will then be hers.
runs nmn iii. 16, xxii. 17. TID ico 11
vh xxxii. 13.
In this assurance there already appears a partial fulfilment
of ch. xv. 5.

Yer. 11 f. The third informs her regarding the name of

the expected son, his character, and his future. She is to
"
name him btfi'&P', God heareth, because God listened to her

distress, gave heed to it.Elsewhere the expression used is

'2
'3y(a)-r,s nsy The mother gives the child its name; 7
in A the father names the children." 8

fi"!? fern, partic., but with a punctuation approaching

that of the 2 9
s. f.
perf.
Ver. 12. This son will be a wild ass of a man, or among

men, i.e. a man like a wild ass, 10 which, free and wild, roams
about in lonely deserts, untamable. 11
Its hand against all, and the hand of all against it ;
it

XDMG.i. 173 if. 2

Knobel.
'

'"in]), xvii. 3, 9, 15, xxxv. 10 f.

1

See note on Ex. iii. 2 [Dillmann,

Com.].
r>

Comp. ch. xii. 2 ff. in relation to xii. 1.

6
Chs. xxxi. 42, xxix. 32.
7
As in iv. 1, 25, xix. 37 f., xxix. 32 ff., xxx. 6 ff., xxxviii. 3ff.
E.g. v. 3, xvi. 15, xvii. 19, xxi. 3 ; comp. xxxv. 18. Knobel.
ill, Syntax, 1886; Konig, Lehryebaude, i. 404 f. otherwise
;

<
iesenius,** 80. 26.
111
25
Kwald, 287$r ; Gesenius, 128. 2.
11
Comp. Job xxxix. 5 if. Winer, Realw&rterbuch*
; ii. 674.
 GENESIS XVI. 13 F. 73

attacks everyone and is attacked by all, it lives in constant

1
feud with all.

"n ^D~!?y in the very face of his brethren, right bef<>n-

" "
them. The meaning is scarcely simply east of."
2
As
in the case of all the patriarchs, the author delineates
Islimael also in accordance with the character of his reputed

descendants, in this case the Beduin Arabs. These sons of

the desert, who have never lost their freedom, are constantly

engaged in war, pillage, and freebooting. 3 In the other nar-

ratives the promise is more attractive but much more general." 4
Ver. 13 f.
Interpretation of the name of the place where
the incident occurred. Hagar recognises that God Himself
has come to her in
comforting revelation, so she called
this

the name of Jahve who spoke to her, she named Jahve, Thou

art a God of seeing. In view of the explanation which

follows, W ?K is not to be taken passively, "
God who is

seen," but actively, who sees, looks everywhere, an all-seeing

God. She said, Have I here also, in the desert, which is not
a dwelling-place of Deity, where I could not expect such a
thing, looked after Him 5 who saw me. 6 This translation
7
makes unnecessary Lagarde's conjecture, is due to that Bpn
a dittography of wn. God saw her and espoused her cause.
She did not see Him, but as He departed she observed that
the all-seeing God was present here, in the person of His
angel, and she looked after Him. 8
9
Because of this the well is named, well of the living one

who sees me. So we must translate the Massoretic text.

The interpretation, u-ell of living seeing, with 'sh as pausal of

*&n, i.e. where a man sees God and remains alive, 10 pre-
1 -
Knobel. Coinp. xxv. 18.
3
See Niebuhr, Arabien, 381 f Arvieux, [Menwires, 1735, iii. 149 ff.]
.
;

Merkwurdige Nachrichten, ii. 220 ff. Denon, [Voyaye en Egypte, i. 61 f.]

;

Germ. tr. 55 Burckhardt, [Bedouins, vol. i. pp. 133 ff., 157 ff., 323 ff.]
;

Germ. tr. 107 ff., 127 ff., 261 if.

4 5
Ch. xvii. 20, xxi. 20. Knobel. Ewald, 2826.
Job vii. 8.
fi
7
Onomastica sacra, 1 ii. 95.
8 9
Comp. Ex. xxxiii. 23. Ch. xi. 9.
10
Tuch, Knobel, Hengstenberg, Keil.
74 GENESIS XVI. 13 F. [256

supposes a combination of words impossible in Hebrew, and

it is just to prevent this interpretation that in ver. 13 also

N\ not N\
S
the Massoretes accentuate equally im-
<I

It is

possible that ver. 13 can mean, "Thou art a God who is

seen, do I still really see (i.e. live) here after the seeing (i.e.
" l
after I have seen God) ?
especially for the reason that
"
run is not used in the sense of live," and that ""Ni without
article and suffix would be too indefinite. Seeing that a
given name has to be explained, it is not in the circumstances
a matter of importance that Tin is never found in the Old
Testament as a name for God, and that Ti ta itself is not
2
found in the Pentateuch. If there is to be emendation of
3
the text, the proposal of Wellhausen has most to recommend
it. He reads, Vi nn Onto) TP&a D(n^K) oan, have I seen

(God) (and remain alive) after (my) seeing, therefore the well
"
is called well of he lives who sees me." But the meaning
" 4
jawbone of the antelope," given by Wellhausen as the

original signification of 'jo T6, is purely imaginative. Gesenius

a similar conjecture. 5 6
offers Halevy wishes to render by
puits de la saillie (!)
de vision.
7
again mentioned in the history of Isaac.
Beerlahairoi is

It was probably at one time held sacred by the Israelites

8
(and Beduins ). It lay between Kadesh to the east and

Bered (Sept. BapdS) to the west. Bered does not occur

elsewhere Onkelos gives Niin, as for i^ in ver. 7, while the
;

Jerusalem 9
Targum has Elusa. Gildemeister wishes to
10
refer us to a place Wellhausen
if
j^, south of Ghazza ;
to
11 12
BrjpSdv, KwfAr) ev TTJ TepapiriKrj. In Jerome's time a Hagar
1
As in xxxii. 31, in accordance with the well-known idea (chs. xix.
17, xxxii. 27, 31 ; Ex. iii. 6, xix. 21, xxxiii. 20) that the sight of what is

holy has injurious consequences for man. Knobel, Tuch, Keil.

..-il.
;

<;,.<,-hidite, i. 329 [Prolegomena, 1885, p. 326].

4
Op. cit. and Prolegomena, p. 344.
5
Thesaurus, 175.
c
Revue critique, 1883, p. 287. 7
xxiv. 62, xxv. 11.
8
Stade in ZA TW. i. 347 ff. ZDPV. xiv. 82.
10
p. 213.
" 1
Samuel, Lagarde, Onomastica sacra, 299. 74, 145. 3.
13
Onomasticon, sub Barad.
250, 257] GENESIS XVII

well was still shown. The Beduins even yet associate

with Hagar's name a well a considerable distance south
of Beersheba', inMuweilih, one of the principal stations on
1
the caravan road, and also a rock dwelling, Bait Hagar, in
the neighbourhood. 2
Ver. 15 f. Ishmael is born in his father's house, Abram
3
being then eighty-six years old. Ishmael was therefore
thirteen years old when circumcision was instituted (xvii.
1 ff.).
These verses are from A, as, e.g., the contrast of

'n fcO|Ti with ver. 11 shows.

3. GOD'S COVENANT WITH

ABRAM, THE INSTITUTION OF
CIRCUMCISION, AND THE PROMISE OF ISAAC, CH. XVII. ;

FOLLOWING A.

Thirteen years after Ishmael's birth God appears to

Abram, promises him a numerous posterity, changes his

name in accordance with this promise, assures Canaan to

him and his descendants, and concludes a covenant with him

for all time, according to which He will be his God and the
God of his descendants (vv. 1-8). He institutes circum-
cision as the sign of the covenant (vv. 914). But the
covenant is only to include within its scope the descendants
of the son whom Sarai will bear to him ;
she is to be the

ancestress of the covenant people, and she, like her husband,

receives another name (vv. 15-22). After the divine appari-
tion Abram at once proceeds to circumcise his household

(vv. 23-2T). In this manner the development commenced

4

in ch. xv. progresses towards its proper goal yet at the ;

same time a new patience, and obedience is

test of faith,
laid on Abraham, who believed that in Ishmael he already

had the son who was to be his heir.

1
Russegger, Reisen in Europa, Asien, u. Afrika, iii. 66, 246 ; Robinson,
[Palestine, 190] Germ. tr. i. 315.
i.

2
Rowlands in Hitter, Erdkunde, xiv. 1086 ZDMG. i. 175 ;
f.

3 4
Conip. xii. 4 and xvi. 3. Knobel.
76 GENESIS XVII [257

The significance of the passage is seen to be more com-

prehensive when viewed in its original connection apart

from the position assigned it by R. It is easy to see that
the covenant, introduced inver. 2 ff. as something quite new,

must be described by a writer other than the author who

described the covenant of ch. xv., and it is equally apparent
that afterwards the promise of Isaac in ch. xviii. 9 n. is

expressed as had not preceded it at all.

if ch. xvii. 15 ff.

Ch. xvii. is a passage from A which has been preserved

unchanged, and is presupposed in the later portions of his

narrative. 1 It bears on it the unmistakable marks of its
"
origin as seen in the character of its contents, in its

breadth of style, and in its language." Among the peculiarities

"
of its contents are its promise of peoples? and of kings and.
3 4
princes, its notes of time," and the resemblance of the
"
covenant with that described in ch. Linguistic ix. 9 ff.

peculiarities are its use of Elohim, El Shaddai (ver. 1) mns

and D'-os (8), n:ptt (12 f., 23, 27), T^n and ^tra (20), narp
(12, 27), ma; (23, 26), narb (10, 12, 23), nan ma (20),
nna |na and D'pn (2, 7, 19, 21), compounds with ctay (7, 8,

13, 19), thou and thy seed after thee (7-10, 19), Dnv6 (7, 9,
nrro:n
12), ':i
(14), also of ]m pK (8), IKO nxs (2, 6, 20),
5
and other expressions." It shows a trace of R's hand only
in the mrp of ver. 1.

Up to this point A has narrated only external incidents

in the 6
life of Abram, he has told us nothing regarding his
relation to God. All that he has to say on this point is

compressed into ch. xvii., where Abram receives the first

livine manifestation granted to him, and with it all the

promises at once. What A here records is of unique
impnrUiice in his narrative. It was now that God, with
10 and Israel in view, entered into that
definitely

1
Chs. xxi. 2, 4, xxviii. 4, xxxv. 1:2 ;
Ex. ii. 24, vi. 3 f.; Lev. xii. 3.
8 a
Vv.4f., 16. Vv. 6, 16,20.
4
Vv. 1, 17, 24 f. *
See on vv 20 and 23. Knobel.
xii. 4f., xiii. 6, llf.,xvi. 15 f
3,
257, 258] GENESIS XVII 77

special relationship with Abram on which depends every-

thing that follows, not excluding the whole Mosaic covenant.
From the time of the Noahic covenant with mankind, t<>

which this attaches itself as a further stage in the develop-

ment of the divine purpose, A has had nothing of similar

importance to recount. His mode of statement is permeated

by a consciousness of the importance of the occasion. It is

to be observed that, as elsewhere in A, the covenant is not

simply a solemn pledge on God's part, as it was in ch. xv.,

but the establishment of a reciprocal relationship in which
both parties undertake obligations.
In the details of his account A, as usual, commits
himself to the guidance of well-founded traditions regarding
the past. Among the particulars thus derived is not only
the divine name El Shaddai, but in a certain sense the
1
ascription to the patriarchs of the practice of circumcision.
It is true that circumcision was not normally established
2
among the Israelites even in Egypt, and not till they
reached Canaan,3 and that to this extent A anticipates a later
period. But, on the other hand, the existence of the

practice among all the peoples who come into connection

with the
migration Terah and among the Canaanites,
of

though not among the Babylonians and Assyrians, nor among

the Philistines, points to its pre-Mosaic dissemination, and in
so far A has an historical point of departure for his representa-
tion. It has been asserted that it became possible to regard

circumcision as the sign of a covenant only from the time

of the Babylonian exile. 4 This might be maintained with
some appearance of truth if only it were proved that among
the Canaanites circumcision was practised as a religious
observance on children eight days old, and with as much

regularity as among the Israelites. But this cannot be

1
Comp. also xxi. 4 and xxxiv. 13 ft'.

2 3
Ex. iv. 25 f. Josh. v. 2 f., 8 f.

4
Lagarde, Symmicta, 117; i. GGN. 1889, p. 821; Wellhausen,
2
Geschichte, i. 365 [cf. Prolegomena, 1885, p. 341 f.] ; Stade, Geschichte, i.
2
Ill Kuenen, Onderzoek, i. 206.
;
78 GENESIS XVII [258

l
proved and, on the contrary, there are passages which show
;

that even comparatively early circumcision was regarded as

the external mark of thosewho belonged to the people of
Jahve. The practice was in use among the Arabs before the
2
advent of Islam ;
"it is attributed, in particular, to the
4
Ishmaelites,
3
the Saracens, the Sabeans, 5 and to all of them
6
together, along with the Samaritans and Idurneans. The
Old Testament suggests that it existed among the descend-
7
ants of Lot, and also among the Edomites," although the
"
later (Nabatean) Idumeans were introduced to the practice
8 9
only by Hyrcanus, and the Itureans by Aristobulus." Its

original home appears to have been in Africa among the

Ethiopians and the Egyptians, from whom it is said to have

10

been adopted by the Kolchians as well as by the Phoenicians

and Syrians of Palestine. 11 It may with certainty be
maintained that there was an historical connection between
circumcision as practised by Asiatic peoples and its existence
in Egypt. The Hyksos may have been the connecting link.
It has not, however, been shown 12 that in Egypt all males,
and not merely the priests, were circumcised. In any case
circumcision in Egypt, and, indeed, doubtless in all cases

except that of Israel, was not performed until the child was
between his sixth and his fourteenth year. 13 The national
contempt for the uncircumcised Philistines, 14 and the figurative
1
As Jer. iv. 4, ix. 241; Dent, x.
16, xxx. 6 Ezek. xliv. 7, 9. ;

2
Sharastani (ed. Haarbriicker), ii. 354 see also ZDMG. xli. 718. ;
;

"sephus, Antiquities, i. 12. 2 Origen, ad Genesin, i. 14 ; Eusebius,

.1
;

Prceparatio Evangel, vi. 11.

5
Sozomen, Hist. Eccles. vi. 38.
^ Philostorgius, Hist. Ecdes. iii. 4.
6
Epiphanius, Adversus Hasreseos, i. 33.
7
Jer. ix. 25. Knobel. a
xiii. 9. 1.
9
Josephus, Antiquities,
cit. xiii. 11.
Op. 3; Vita, 23. Knobel.
10
Jer. ix. -2r>.

Herodotus, ii. 104 ;

comp. Diodorus Siculus, iii. 31.
I
!
In spite of fibers,
Aegyptian, 278 Lagarde, and others.
ff.,
(
furtli,
lomp, i-, Winer, Realw&rterbuch, i. 156 ff. Ewald, AltertMmer*
;

F.
[Antiquities, pp. 89-97]; Kiehm, Handworterbuch, 168 ff.; regard-
bfl i.iriiili.-aiHv of the rite, see on Lev. xii. 3.

MV. 3, xv. 18; Sam.

1 xiv. 6, xvii. 26, 36; 2 Sam. i. 20.
25'J]
GENESIS XVII. 1 79

1
use of the words ^V, and nri are p roo fg O f how general
and deep - rooted the custom early became among the
Israelites.

It is to be observed that A uses this opportunity to

state the complete law of circumcision as it was to be valid

among the Israelites. He does not repeat it afterwards, but

assumes a knowledge of it (in Lev. xii. 3).

The date was determined partly by ch.

Ver. 1. xxi. 5,

partly by a comparison of chs. xvii. 25 and xvi. 16.

rnrv for Elohim, is due to R? who wished to indicate
the identity of the rn,T of the preceding sections with the
D\"6x of the following narrative.
4
On the other hand, the

originality of
'in
?.! is defended by the 5>yi of v. 32, 5 and the
statement of age, although repeated in ver. 24, has a

meaning of its own as an antithesis to xvi. 16.

"HP ?K "
A y also, records apparitions of deity,
6
but they
are rare, and always of a simple character. This is the first
in his narrative." 7
God announces Himself as *np btf, and
thereby inaugurates it as the divine name of the patriarchal
covenant. It recurs in A 8
and elsewhere. 9 There is no
certain tradition regarding the meaning of the name. The
Targum does not by anything. The Septuagint replace it

renders in Genesis and Exodus by o eo? pov, o-ov, avrwv,

in Num. xxiv. 4, 16 and Isa. xiii. 6 by @eo?, in Ps. Ixviii. 15,

xci. 1 by 6 eirovpdvios (0eo? rov ovpavov), in Ezek. x. 5 by

2aSai, in Job 9 or 10 times by Kvpios, and 14 or 15 times
by TravTOKpdrcop. Similarly the Peshitta, where it does not
retain HP 5>S (in Genesis and Exodus), replaces it by 1oiX|,
10

or ]
*
V\ u or ]i
. m ...
12
From the time of Aquila,who,however,
1
Ex. vi. 12, 30 ;
Jer. vi. 10 ; Lev. xxvi. 41.
2
Lev. xix. 23 ;
Deut. x. 16, and other passages.
3
Comp. ch. xxi. 16.
4 6
Comp. note on ii. 46. Knobel. Comp. xxxv. 9ff.
6 *
Chs. xxxv. 9, xlviii. 3 ; Ex. vi. 3. Knobel.
8
Chs. xxviii. xxxv. 11, xlviii. 3 Ex. vi. 3.
3, ;

Gen. 25 coinp. note on Ex. vi.

xliii. 14, xlix. ; 3.
10
Numbers, Psalms, Job 12 times.
11 12
Joel i. 15 Isa. xiii. 6
;
Job vi. 14. ; In Job 12 times.
 80 GENESIS XVII. 1 [259, 260

according to Jerome, also had aX/a/io?, IK.CLVQS

1
is the render-
2
ing given. The Vulgate has omnipotent and ; so, doubtless,
Theodotion occasionally tV%ty>o9. 3 In the circumstances we

might doubt whether the Massoretic pronunciation rests W

4
on an old tradition, or whether it has been concocted only
on the assumption of the interpretation ifcavos, i.e. w and
*\_
= avrdpicrjs. 5 But the pronunciation **}& or ^y', proposed

by Noldeke, and his interpretation my lord (1$, Arabic

sayyid)? cannot be accepted in view of Gen. xvii. 1 and

xxxv. 11, where HI? is used by God Himself, and also

because the word is never used in addressing God. The

interpretation exalted one, from Assyrian ladd? supposes a

signification of m^, be high, which is not only unknown in

Hebrew but unproved in Assyrian. 8 Derivations from the
Aramaic ], resulting in renderings like (Lightning-) hurler*
or (rain-) pourer, 10 carry us completely away from the analogy
of other Hebrew divine names. They are of no more
assistance than the meaning Deus promissionum, divined by
the Syrians with the help of the Aramaic word ^jo^, 11 and
used by Lagarde 12 in supporting his conception of mrr as
Deus stator promissorum.
We can hardly avoid connecting the word HB> with the
13
root "nip. But we are not on that account to interpret

1
Epist. 136.
2
Syinmachus, Theodotion, in the hexaplar interpolations of the
Scptuagint, e.g. Kuth i. 20 f Job xxi. 15, xxxi. 2, etc.
.
;

3
See Field's Genesis, xliii. 14, xlviii. 3 Ex. vi. 3. ;

4
A. Geiger; Noldeke in MB
AW. 1880, p. 775; ZDMG. xl. 736,
xlii. 481.
5
Also in Saadia, Rashi, and other Rabbinical writers still approved ;

by Valeton in ZATW. xii. 11 f.

But comp. also Assyr. sidu in Schrader, KAT. 2 160 [Cun. Inscript.
vol. i.
p. 148] ; Delitzsch, Paradies, p. 153.
Pried Delitwch, Prolegomena, 96 ZKSF. ii. 291 ff. ;
H
Hal.'vy in ZKXF. ii. 405 ff. Jensen in ZA.i. 251. ;

9 3
S.Schmid, Deyling. Cheyne, Isaiah, on ch. xiii. 6.
11
Pay in Smith, Iliesaurus, i. 151.
12
Minin-ilinni, n. iii. 71 ; Bilduny der Nomina- t p. 138, and Register, p. 68.
18
Joel i. 15.
L>i;o]
GENESIS XVII. 1 81

1
it ilesolator, for this among other reasons, that Tic* (comp.
does not originally mean destroy or desolate, but overpower.
We are led, on the contrary, to the meaning, the wielder of

povjer, the all-powerful (Sept., Vulg.). The ", or the '

,
of T^
was the original pronunciation, is either an adjectival ending,-
3
though not to be pronounced an Aramaism, or serves
to form an abstract noun, All-power.* It would also be

appropriate to regard it an intensive adjectival form from

as
5
me?, if we might assume a root rnt?=Tir. The more
precise definition of
?K by means of mir is similar to that in
chs. xiv. 18 (xxi. 33, xxxiii. 20, xxxv. 7). Ch. xlix. 25 is

evidence that it is an ancient divine name. Compound per-

sonal names, in which it is one of the elements, are found in
Num. i. 6, ii. 25, i. 5, ii. 10. God's announcement of Himself
6
as the one who has power over
is especially appropriate all,

here, where performHe

such promises to
great things.
7

After His announcement of Himself God declares what

is required of Abram under the covenant. 8 It is not
obedience to a series of laws as under the Mosaic covenant,
it one fundamental demand, as is appropriate to a com-
is

mencement, and to the fact that one individual only is dealt

with walk before Me, i.e. in My sight, as contrasted with the
:

man who withdraws himself from God, and in the conscious-

ness of My presence, looking up to Me 9 (there is a perceptible
" "
difference of meaning between this and walk with God 10
),

and be perfect, i.e. here not merely upright and at one with
11
God, but morally blameless, irreproachable. The covenant
duty which he is to undertake is that of a pious upright
life ; another, special, obligation follows in ver. 1 ff.

1
Duhm, Theol. der Propheten, 303 ; Wellhausen, Geschichte, i. 359.
2
Ewald, 164 ; Olshausen, 216d.
3
Baethgen, Beitracje, 294.
4
Stade, Lehrbuch, 301.
5 6
Ewald, 155c. Comp. xviii. 14.
7
Vv. 2, 5-8, 16. 8
Comp. ix. 8.
10
Ch. xxiv. 40, xlviii. 15 ;
Isa. xxxviii. 3. Ch. v. 22, vi. 9.
11
Ch. vi. 9.
DILLMANN. II. 6
82 < H.\KSIS XVII. 2-4 FF. [260,201

Ycr. 2. Upon this condition God grants

1
His covenant, 2
and promises on His part, at first quite generally, that He
3 4
will greatly multiply Abram's posterity.
Ver. 3. Abrarn falls on his face to express his reverential
5
thanks for the divine graciousness ;
he afterwards, as ver.
17 shows, stood up again. 6
Ver. 4 ff. God now further addresses Abram, and unfolds
more particularly the nature and contents of the covenant.
First comes, as far as ver. 8, what God will perform, the

promise. is put at the^ commencement of the sentence in

antithesis to nns in ver. 9.

now onwards
In virtue of the relationship which from
will existbetween him and God, Abram is to become the father
"
of a multitude of peoples. Other peoples than Israel were
also reckoned among the descendants of Abram, 7 and a

numerous posterity was regarded as a divine blessing granted

to thosewho enjoyed God's favour. 8 3N for ^s is chosen
because of the name Abraham ;
it occurs elsewhere in proper
names, as "unx tfbyiti and others." 9
For the word comp. w
xxxv. 11, also in A, though in xlviii. 4 he has D'BJJ. The
rare word (ion, properly tumult, for ?Hj3, is chosen with
reference to the interpretation of the name Abraham in
ver. 5.
Dl the name Abram is
73?^ changed to Abraham, because
in the latter form we hear the on of the word lion.
may
This is a mere play on the sounds of the words in order to
connect the thought contained in |in with the name DrrON 10
;

it is not There is no instance of a word Drh

etymology.
with the meaning multitude; the author could not have
had in mind the word ruhdm = numerus copiosus, found in the
Kamus. In this passage, in it is
particular, quite improbable
1
Ch. ix. 12 ; Num. xxv. 12. 2
cf. i x . 9ff.
'Oh.viiO. *Cf.'xii.2.'
Until ii. 10 Lev. ix. 24. o
; Knobel.
7
rii. xxv. ac.
<
'lis. xxiv. 60, xlviii. 1G,
19; Ps. cxxviii. ; Eccles. vi. 3.
"
Kno1 "'l- 10
cf. xxix. 32.
201 ]
GENKSIS XVJI. -} 1 T. 83

lliat there has been mutilation of the text (Halt-vy 1

wishes
to restore "i3Kp for asf), "chef dune multitude"). It i

2
question whether Drrux is the original and D~ox the con-
tracted Hebrew form, or whether crroN is only an expansion
=
of D"ox. Seeing that no instance of Drn Dvi can be found
either in Hebrew or elsewhere, the former is the more
probable. But orratf is not susceptible of interpretation,
or could be explained at best only by the Arabic kunya?
Abu Kuhm, 4 whereas D13N has the meaning great father, or,
" "
if the pronunciation were DT'DK, 5 father of Earn," or the
" G
exaltedis father comp. the Assyrian man's name Abu-ra-
;

mu. 7 Drrax and DISK allow of being simply classed with

the many other personal names compounded with 3N as the
8
first element ;
D~QN as a divine name would be without any
Semitic analogy.
From now onwards, accordingly, Abraham, as the higher
or covenant name, isbe the one in legitimate use. 9
to The
change of name was the more appropriate because at this
"
same time circumcision was introduced, and the Hebrews
named their children when they were circumcised,
10
as the
Persians also did." n

IB>TIX see ch. iv. 18. rrm, see ch. xlii. 10.

Only in A is the promise always of a number of peoples ;

12

13
the others use the singular. The special mention of kings

1
"Recherches Bibliques," xi. in REJ. xv. 177 f.
-
Ewald, Geschichte* i. 465 [History, i. 324, note] ;
Stade in ZATW. i.

349.

,
a compound surname of which alu is the first component.]
4
Noldeke in ZDMG. xlii. 484.
5
Num. xvi. 1 ff. ;
Deut. xi. 6 ;
1 Kings xvi. 34.
(<>

Baethgen, Beitrcige, p. 155 if.

7
Schrader, KAT.~ p. 200 [Cuneif. Tnscrip. i.
190].
8
Noldeke.
9
As Israel for Jacob in xxxv. 10.
10 Luke
Ch. xxi. 3 f. ;
i. 59, ii. 21.
11 Germ.
According to Tavernier [Voyage, 1724, vol. ii.
p. 349], tr. i.

270 Chardin, Voyage, x. 76. Knobel.

;

12
Vv. 16, 20, xxxv. 11, xlviii. 4, xxviii. 3.
13
Chs. xii. 2, xviii. 18, xlvi. 3.
84 GENESIS XVII. 7-10 [261, 262

and princes among Abraham's descendants is also peculiar

1
to him.
"
Yer. 7. The covenant is to include these promised
descendants, who are more closely defined in vv. 19 and 22,
and it is to be a covenant of eternity, valid for all time to
come."
Drrnp "according to their generations as they follow
one after another. 2
A is fond of formulae of this kind." 3

"
To be God to you the covenant consists in this, that I,

El Shaddai, am God to you and to your descendants, and so

am the object of your religious veneration, 4 as well as your

lord, guide, protector, and benefactor. 5 Abraham's descend-

ants are to be God's people, i.e. to belong to Him as His
6
worshippers, servants, and dependants. The relationship
between them is to be of the closest." 7
Ver. 8. In addition to this, the land of Canaan is
8
promised as a possession, for the first time in A. The
land of thy nomad life, " in which thou dwellest as "13,
9
stranger!'
Vv. 9-14. Circumcision as the sign of the covenant.
"
Ver. 9. Abraham also, besides the performance of the

general obligation of ver. 1, has to satisfy a particular ritual

10
covenant obligation introduced by a special
;
it is "ift&n."

nntf is the antithesis to the ^N of ver. 4.

Ver. 10. Let all thatmale among you is le circumcised? 1 i.e.

let every male among you be circumcised. The covenant in

its external aspect is to consist in this. Circumcision is to
be the external sign of the covenant. 12 Olshausen con-

1
Ver. 20, xxv. 16, xxxv. 11, xxxvi. 31. Knobel.
2
See note on Ex. xii. 14 [Dillmann's Com.].
3 4
Chs. viii. 19, x. 5, xx. 31 f. Ch. xxviii. 21.
'
Kx. xxix. 45 ; Lev. xi. 45, xxii. 33, xxv.
38, xxvi. 45, and frequently.
Ex. vi. 7 Lev. xxvi. 12 ; Deut. xxvi. 17 ff., xxix. 12, and frequently.
;

7
Knobel.
s
Oh, xv. sir., xiii. 15, xii. 7.
I

"
Cf. xxviii. 4, xxxvi. 7, xxxvii. xlvii. 9 Ex. vi. 4. Knobel.
1, ;
"'
Kii-.U-l. 11
Ewald, 328r.
13
Ver. 11 (of. xxxi. 44, Knobel).
262] GENESIS XVII. 11-14 85

jectures that ""JV"}? nix nxr was the original reading. Tin;

Srptuagint lias "ictrn for riotrn ;

this logically should involve

13*31 for D3'3'3i. If the words 'n "jjnr p3l are not sup-r-

fluous,
1
the ?/0w in 03^3 must denote Abraham and the

living members of his household. 2

Yer. 11. And, speaking more precisely, ye shall be

circumcised in respect of the flesh of your foreskin. For the

accus. ic'3 see ch. Hi. 15. ^^PP?, Niph. pf. of ?p=7io, with
waw consecutive for nri?3. 3

"
Yer. 1 2 f. Two further particulars. Every male child
is to be circumcised when eight days old. This was the age
4
prescribed to the by law, and conscientiously
Israelites

observed. 5 The Arab custom was different, see ver. 25." G

Secondly, circumcision is also to be obligatory on all slaves,

whether these are born in the household 7

or bought for money. 8
-or p occurs elsewhere in the Pentateuch in ver. 2 7 ;
Ex.
xii. 43, and Lev. xxii. 25. Nin as in ch. vii. 2. It is

probably better to join ver. 125 with ver. 13 than witli

what precedes.
Yer. 14. Finally, extermination is made the penalty for

neglect of the ordinance. For such neglect breach is of the

9
covenant and also a slighting of God. Those subject to the

penalty are thus the descendants of Abraham that are under

the covenant, the Israelites, and not his other descendants,
such as the Ishmaelites. The formula, that soul shall be cut

of from among his people, often occurs in the law. 10 It is not

a command that those in authority shall exact a death

11
penalty, for where that is the intention the usual expression
1 -
Kautzscli-Socin. Ver. 23 if.

3 25
Ewald, 234a ; Gesenius, 67A. 11 ; Konig, Lehrgebaude, i. 344.
4
Lev. xii. 3.
5
Ch. xxiv. 4 ;
Luke i.
59, ii. 21 ;
Phil. iii. 25 ; Josephus, Antiquiti'''*,
i. 12. 2.
t;
'
Knobel. Ch. xiv. 14.
8
Ex. xii. 44. ''
Num. xv. 31.
10
Ex. xii. 15, 19; Lev. vii. 20 ff., xxiii. 29 ;
Num. ix. 13, xv. 30, ;md
frequently.
11
Knobel.
86 GENESIS XVII. 15 [262, 263

for theextreme penalty, nnv nlo, is added to this formula, 1

and the formula also occurs in many cases where there can
be no idea of punishment by the community. It enjoins the

man's expulsion from the society of his kith and kin, 2 and,
as is clear from the variants in Lev. xvii. 9 f. and xx. 3,6,
it menaces divine interposition for the carrying off of the
3
evil-doer.

D'tpy a man's D'cy may be the different parts of his

Dy ;
and another antique phrase (ch. xxv. 8) it denotes
in this

his fellow tribesmen and kinsmen, his blood relations. 4 The

expression belongs to a period in which the division of the
people into tribes, kindreds, and families was still in actual
5
existence. There is as little to support the contention that
in these phrases the plural is a late correction for the
6
singular, as there is for regarding ver. 14 as an interpola-
tion. 7 On the other hand, it is conceivable that ^Birri DV3,
which the Sept. and the Samaritan have after ininy, was only
omitted by the later Soferim.
8
"i? [? pausal for "i|?[}.

Vv. 1521. Change of Sarai's name, promise of Isaac,

disclosures regarding Ishmael and Isaac.

Ver. 15 f .
jnB'K nb placed at the beginning for

emphasis, and resumed by the n of no/. Sarai is to have

the covenant name rnfe> (Sept. Sdppa), princess? from "iB>.
We cannot now decide whether *~w is only an obsolete form
of the same word with ,
as in Arabic, for n _ }
10
or whether
the Hebrews felt the presence in the word of the root mb', 11

1
Kx. xxxi. 14 f.
-
<
'Irricus, J. D. Micliaelis, Ilgen, Stade, Geschichte, 1 p. 421 f.
3
Rashi, Ibn Ezra, Kimchi, Rosenmiiller, Saalschiitz, Das Mosaische
Rftftt, p. 476 Diestel, "Die relig. Delikte," in JBTh. v. 297 ff.
;

'! n p. Lev. xix. 16, 18.

1
<

'
K wal.l, Alterthiimer* 419 ZATW.
[Antiquities, p. 241]; Krenkel,
viii. 284.
"
Against this contention, which is DiesteFs (op. cit.\ see note on
K.\. xxx. 33.
"
-s
hirst,-!, p. :!>:, f.
Kwald, 14U. ''

Judg. v. 29.
1(1
NnMrk,- in ZDMd. x l. 183, xlii. 484. " Ch. xxxii. 29.
 GENESIS XVII. 11 87

sis the Sept. in 2dpa, and conceived of it as meaning

1
contentious, eager for combat. In the latter case the absence
of any indication of the feminine would be surprising though
possible, but not if '- were merely an adjective cndin^.-
The interpretation of *i\y as joyous, and of mj? as delightful*

following Arabic sarra, is against the laws of phonology and

word - formation. The remark that mir and h$r\w are
4
essentially the same name, is one which does not carry us
5
far, but it is worthy of more attention than the conceit, that
the Nabatean god Dusares, i.e. &n&* n, j, worshipped
$jtA\
6
in Petra, Bostra, and other places, is the husband of joir, i.e.

Abraham, and that mi? was originally the name of a

"
locality, more exactly, of the barren and stony hills." 7

rrrrDT) vrroai, the reading of Sept., Samaritan, Book of

Jubilees, Peshitta, and Jerusalem Targum, is a correction 8 ;

the Septuagint and Peshitta continue it throughout the

verse.

Ver. IT. Abraham falls down for the same reason as in

ver. 3. He laughed, not from joy, but in astonishment, as is

shown by his words which follow. As in xviii. 1 2 (0) and

xxi. 6 (B), it is intended to explain the name Isaac. For pin,
see Gesenius, 25 100. 4; and for n DK1, Ewald, 3246-.

Seeing that A makes the length of Abraham's life

9
175 years, there is
nothing so very surprising in the mere
fact of his begetting a son in his 99th year. The question
may therefore be put whether the words from piw onwards
are an interpolation. 10 But if we compare in chs. v. and xi.

1
Comp. Hfe> and other words.
2 4 3
Delitzscli, Keil. Pfeiffer in St. Kr. 1871, p. 145 ff.
4
Robertson Smith, Kinship and Marriage in Knrly Arabia, p. 30.
Lagarde, Armenische Studien, p. 162
"'
GGN. 1886, p. 565 ; ;

il-r
Nmnina, 92 ff. E. Meyer in ZATW. vi. 16.
;

Regarding him see J. H. Mordtmaim, ZDMG. xxix. 99

"
It'. ;

hausi'ii, Ski-en, iii. 46 ff. Xoldeke, ZDMG. xli. 711 f.

; Baethgen, ;

J! fit
rage, 92 ff.
7
Lagarde, Bildung der Nomina, p. 94.
8 ''

Geiger, Urschrift, p. 458. ( 'li. xxv. 5.

10
Ewald, Geschichte* i. 468 [History, \. 326, note 5].
88 GENESIS XVII. 18-24 [263, 264

the ratios of the ages attained when children were born and
when death took place, the expression of surprise may be
justified. Apart from this, we cannot readily do without
l
the statement of Sarah's age, and 9 years made her really
old to have children. Besides, nxo for HND 2
is found in A 3

in ch. xxiii. 1 also, at least in the Massoretic text.

Ver. 18. Immediately on this there rises in Abraham's

mind a feeling of solicitude regarding Ishmael, whom he does
not wish to lose. He tells God this concern of his.

7:26- under thy protection and care. 3

Ver. 19. Thereupon God expresses Himself still more

distinctly, and dwells first on what had been said in regard
to Sarah's son. His covenant with Abraham will be
continued in the line which begins with Isaac. K, certainly,
4'
notwithstanding. Isaac, see ch. xxi. 3. D^iy, the Septuagint
adds elvat, avraj Oeo? fcal.

Ver. 20. But God also declares that he is heard with

regard to
5
Ishmael, and promises that He will make him a

great people with twelve tribal princes.

6
For ^ ;nj comp.
ch. xlviii. 4 in A.
Ver. 21. But his successor in the covenant is and
remains Sarah's son, whom he is to expect next year at this
7
time ; comp. xxi. 2.

Ver. 22. The subject to fe'i is God: ch. xviii. 23

contains the same expression. God ascends again to the

eky, from which He came, as in ch. xxxv. 13.

Vv. 23-27. Abraham carries out the divine injunctions.
Ver. 23. He circumcises, with punctilious obedience, on
8
the same day all the males of his house. All that is male
9 10
among the people of his house, i.e. the slaves (ch. xv. 3).
YT. 24. ftto^a, it is not clear whether reflexive or

1
-ive.
1

'"in]), xxiii. 1.
'

[
Not Baer's text, but see p. 126, and cf. v. 6, vii. 24, xxv. 7, etc.]
him. xviii. 19 Isa. liii. 2 Hos. vi. 2. Knobel.
; ;
1
*
Kwal.l, Jj 8540, Chs. xix. 21, xlii. 9.
(!
Ch. xxv. 12 ff.
1 "'
( Mi. iii. 8. (,'h. vii. 13. Ch. vii. 21. Knobel.
204] GENESIS XVIII 89

"
Ver. 25. Ishmael was circumcised at the age of 13.
Mohammedan peoples still circumcise their children much
1 2
later than the Jews. Lane remarks the 6th to the 7th

year as the usual age, among the country people the 12th to
the 14th year. Others give from the 6th to the 10th year, 3
the 7th, 4 the 8th to the 10th, 5 the 12th to the 14th, 6 the
13th to the 15th, 7 among the Persians the 5th or Gth. 8 The
9 10
age observed by the Arabs is given by Josephus and Origen
11
as the 13th year, by Burckhardt as the 6th or 7th. Accord-
12
ing to Dobel, the Arabs in Egypt in general do not circumcise

their sons till the 13th year. The Koran prescribes nothing
regarding circumcision ;
it is practised as an ancient and sacred

custom without any particular age being held binding." 13

Ver. 26 7to3 used as the Niphal of ^D, but formed from

Ver. 27. ri^ ? 1

joined to napo ; comp. Lev. xxvii. 24.

4. ABRAHAM AND SODOM VISITED BY CELESTIAL BEINGS ;

THE DESTRUCTION SODOM AND OF GOMORRAH, CH.

XVIII. 1-XIX. 28; FROM C.

Jahve, accompanied by two angels, presents Himself on a

day about noon at Abraham's tent in the grove of Mamre,
accepts the patriarch's friendly hospitality, and promises him
a son by Sarah, who laughs at the promise (ch. xviii. 1-15).
On the way to Sodom and Gomorrah, where He purposes to
investigate the conduct of the profligate inhabitants, Jahve

1
Arvieux [Me'moires, iii. 172], Germ. tr. iii. 146.
-
Manners and Customs, 5 i. 71; pop. ed. p. 47 [5th to 6th].
:;
Russell [Aleppo, 2 1794, i. 202], trans. 282.
1
M. d'Olisson [L'Empire Othoman, ii. 285], trans, i. 385.
5
Rauwoltf, Reisen, i. 85.
Tournefort [Relation d'un voyage, 1717, ii. 59], trans, ii. 431.
7
Liidecke, Das turkische Reich, i. 241.
8
Cliardin, Voyages, x. 75 ;
comp. von Schubert, ii. 48.
9
Antiquities, i. 12. 2. 10 Ad Genesin, i. 14.
11 12 173.
Bedouins [i. 87], trans, p. 70. /r<fw/i'n<w/f, ii.

13 14
Knobel. Ewald, 140(7.
90 GENESIS XVIII [264, 265

is accompanied by Abraham, and informs the patriarch of

his intention. He listens to Abraham's intercession, and
promises that He will not destroy Sodom if there are even
so many as ten righteous men among its wicked inhabitants.

After this agreement Jahve and Abraham part from one

another (xviii. 1633). Meanwhile the two angels had gone
on before they reach Sodom in the evening and are hospitably
;

received by Lot, but are threatened with shameful ill-treat-

ment by the inhabitants of the town (xix. 111). Convinced

by this of the terrible depravity of the inhabitants, they

proceed to execute the punishment.
however, they First,

bring Lot, his wife, and his two daughters out of the city,

and, at his request, assign him So'ar as his place of refuge.

Then Jahve rains down brimstone and fire on the sinful
cities and totally destroys them 1226). When, in the
(xix.

morning, Abraham looks down on Sodom from the heights

above, he sees thick clouds of smoke rising up (xix. 27 f.).
The story thus outlined has an independent unity of its
own, and is a product of highly developed epic art. It starts
from Abraham, and in its conclusion returns to him ;
the

catastrophe in the plain has also a relation to him. Abraham,

God's friend, radiant in moral beauty, the cities of the plain
sunk in utter moral corruption God in Abraham's tent, ;

visiting him as one friend does another, lavishing on him

His promises and revealing His purposes, and at the same
time descending to judgment against the cities of the
plain
with fire from heaven these are the contrasts:
by which the
worth and significance of the man of God are manifested the
more clearly, and the light they cast on the justice and
compassion of the divine dealings with friends and foes is
jiven for the sake of Abraham and his descendants. 1 The
author is, without question, the one to whom we owe, for
mple, chs. ii. 4-iii.
xi. 1-9. 24 and
There is the same
beauty and transparency of description, the same vividness
I

d.-lin.'Miion, the same depth and fulness of thought, and

1
Ch. xviii. 1!).
 GENESIS XVIII 91

ihc saints naive anthropomorpliisiii HO suited for popular

runviicy. The reference of xviii. 18 to xii. '2
f., as well as
the mode of expression both in general and in particular, al^>
"
identify the writer. Examples of his vocabulary an; Jahve
1 2 4 5
and Adonai, t^n; D'p'j-'n^ npys, n^n, oyan^ xrnanj

18
N*J ;
of special grammatical forms, those in p,
1!)
and the use
of ^ for Pl^ ;
20
of phraseology,
22
% servant,-
1
used for
'

I/ a^
peoples of the earth, to rise up early in the morning?* to
2i 25
prostrate ones self on the ground ,
to find grace magnify
kindness 26
mn without ?]X,
27
the disjunctive question of xviii.
28
21, D'D S 3 N13. The relation of the narrative to A's account
in xix. 29, and the difference between xviii. 12 and xvii. 17,
29
is also to be remarked."

Wellhausen 3:>
wishes to separate xviii. 17-19 and 225
31
33a as later insertions, and to assign the latter paragraph to
the time of Jeremiah and Ezekiel. But there is no linguistic
support for this (on the contrary, note 1313: in ver. 18 and
not the Hithpael), and the material reasons are insufficient.
It is only natural that in vv. 18, 23 ff. Abraham should

address God otherwise than in ver. 2 ff.

(see notes on vv. 2

1
Ch. xviii. 27, 30 ff., xix. 18.
2
Ch. xix. 17, 26. ;;
Ch. xviii. 16, xix. 28.
4 5
Ch. xviii. 21, xix. 13. Ch. xviii. 25.
(:
Ch. xviii. 32. 7
Ch. xviii. 27, 31, xix. 2, 8, 19 f.

8 9
Ch. xviii. 26, 29, 31 f. Ch. xix. 3, 9.
10 11
Ch. xix. 4. Ch. xix. 21.
12 13
Ch. xviii. 24, 28 ff. Ch. xviii. 2, xix. 1.
14 15
Ch. xviii. 13. Ch. xviii. 5, xix. 18.
10 17
Ch. xviii. 13, 23 f. Ch. xix. 8.
18
Ch. xviii. 31, 21, 30, 32, xix. 2, 7, 18, 20, etc.
19 20
Ch. xviii. 28-32. Ch. xix. 8, 25.
21 22
Ch. xviii. 3, 5, xix. 2, 19. Ch. xviii. 18.
11 Ch. xix. 2, 27. 24 Ch. xviii. 2, xix. 1.
25 26
Ch. xviii. :). Ch. xix. 19.
2r 28
Ch. xviii. 30, 32. Ch. xviii. 11.
-"'
KnJ>e1.
"
.IHDU. xxi. 415 ff.
(Kuenen, Omlvzock* i. 141 ; Fripp in ZATll'.
xii. 23 if.).
31
Kautzsch-Socin at least ch. xviii. 17-19.
92 GENESIS XVIII. 1, 2 [265, 206

and 13); the renewed presence of God in the persons of

the two angels of ch. xix. is in perfect agreement with ch.

xvi. 11 ff. ; people had reflected regarding God's justice and

1
compassion before the time of Jeremiah ; regarding the

possibility of intercession for the guilty, see, e.g., oh. xx. 7, 17

and Ex. xxxii. 11 ff. On the other hand, God's revelation
to Abraham in ch. xviii. 20 f. is quite aimless and completely
disconnected without vv. 17-19 and 23 ff.

R, for his part, has inserted the passage in the only

possible place as regards suitability. The promise of a son

to Sarah is a repetition in the face of the doubt expressed in

ch. xvii. 17, and is confirmed by the repetition. The history
of Abraham's testing and education is continued. He is
given the opportunity of proving practically his hospitable
nature and his love of his fellow-men, and thus of making
himself worthy anew of the divine blessing. The punish-
ment executed before his eyes on the cities of the plain will
leave on him, and through him upon his posterity, only the
most wholesome impressions.
Vv. 115. Abraham; the promise
Celestial beings visit
"
of Isaac. Comparisons have been made from the classical
mythology with the wanderings of the gods among men that
2
they might learn their pride and their piety; and with the
hospitable reception once found by Jupiter and Mercury in
the house of the aged and childless couple Philemon and
3
Baucis; and on another occasion, when Neptune was with
them, in the house of the aged Hyrieus, who received a son
4
as his reward."
Ver. 1. Jahve appeared to Abraham in the grove of
5
Mamre, as he was sitting at* the entrance of the tent, i.e.

outside in front of his tent, at the heat 7

of the day, at midday.
Ver. 2. Abraham looked and saw three men up standing
1

Ccn. xx. 2
4.
Odyssey, xvii. 486
/:.</.
"
Homer, f.

Ovid, M'ttimorphoscs, viii. G26ff.

4

'
I';il;i-].hatii8, Incretlibilia, v. ; Ovid, Fasti, v. 494 ff. Knobd.
< 'li. xiii. is, xiv. 13.
c
ye r. 10 ;
E \vald, 204a.
7
1 Sain. li. 11; 8 Sam. iv.fi.
INK;
I
GENESIS XVIII. 3 93

over him, as he sat, above, and so in front of him, 1 yet at the

same time at some distance. This standing still of theirs
2
was to see if they should be invited. Abraham hastens to
them, and by his obeisance pays them the usual mark of
courtesy. In these three, of whom one has a more dis-
3 4
tinguished appearance than the others, Jahve is present, as

again in the two of ch. xix. It is purely arbitrary to strike

out the three here and the two in ch. xix., and to substitute
5
in both cases one, namely, Jahve.
pn used with nsip^ as in xxiv. 17, xxix. 13, xxxiii. 4.

Ver. 3. He hospitably invites them to enter. He

addresses one only, but afterwards, in ver. 4, the three

together. We are given the explanation if one of them

was externally recognisable as the principal personage, so
that the reading of the Samaritan, which uses throughout
the 2nd pers. plur., is not to be preferred. But, on the
other hand, the Massoretic already given by the Targum,
"Jltf,

is incorrect, and we should read "^N. 6 Dalman 7 maintains

without effect that " the narrator introduces Jahve as known
to Abraham from the beginning." If Abraham had from the
beginning recognised the divinity of the strangers, his action
would have displayed no great merit, for what man would
refuse honour to God when He reveals Himself. His very
offer and drink would have been meaningless, and
of food

there could have been no question of any test or trial of

him. As a matter of fact, the revelation begins only in
the course of conversation (ver. 13), and the case is exactly
as in ch. 19, where the angels make themselves known as
such (ver. 1 2 f.) only after they have put their host to the

test.

&o~DX does not mean would that 8

ok, ; ao imparts a delicate
1
1 Sain. xxii. 6.
2
Delitzsch, following Daumas, Chevaux du Sahara,* p. 423 (Ger. tr.

195).
8
Ver. 3IT.
4
Ver. 1. 5
Fripp, ZA TW. xii. 24 IT.

fi 7
Against Tuch, Knobel, Delitzsch, Keil. Adonai, p. 16.
8
Knobel.
 94 GENESIS XVIII. 4, 5 [266, 267

1
shade of meaning to the condition ;
Gesenius rightly renders,
si quod opto magis quam sumere audeo gratiam inveni ;

2
similarly elsewhere, and even in Gen. xxx. 27, although
there the apodosis is omitted.
Ver. 4. He desires to entertain them.
"
nip
11

let there be brought." is Itunnecessary for

Abraham to name those who bring the water. "Nothing
was worn on the but sandals, so that it was necessary feet

for travellers to have their feet washed on their arrival it ;

was especially usual before meal-time." 3

"
Recline yourselves under the tree sit down under it,

resting on your arms. Meals were taken in a reclining

4 5
posture, but sitting is not infrequently mentioned."
17? the singular is quite to be expected, for three

persons would not dismount for a meal under several trees.

It follows, therefore, that we cannot conclude from the use of

the singular that

'

TW in ver. 1, and chs. xiii. 18, xiv. 13, is a

late correction for o P>&?,

6
all the less seeing that the reading
would then have been, not 'b3, but '5>K 7
%
or 'S>&TD3>. 8 The
Septuagint singular Spvs (similarly the Peshitta), everywhere
given, had reference to the great tree, which still survived on
the spot in the time of the translators. 9
Ver. 5. A morsel of bread modest expression for the
ample meal he intends to set before them. Support your
heart, refresh yourselves with food. 10 Each of the different
kinds of food is a staff or support of vital n so Pliny, 12
energy ;

corporis fulturcc quibus animus sustinetur. 1 *

1
Thesaurus.
-
xx iv. 42, xxxiii. 10, xlvii.
Mi.
29, 1. 4 ; Ex. xxxiii. 13, xxxiv. 9.
(

xix. a, xx iv. 32, xliii. 24

;
<
'ii.
; Judg. xix. 21 ; 2 Sain. xi. 8.
4
Allin- vi. 1.
<],. xxvii. 19; Judg. xix. 6; see Winer, Realwurterluch, ii. 48.
Knobel
1

\\V]ll. ; iu.si.ii in Bleek, 643

'
Einlettung,* p. ; Baudissin, Studien, ii. 224.
1)lMlt - xi -30- 8
Judg. ix. 6.
9
JoHi-pliu-, .1, with Wars, iv. 9. 7.
10
Ps. civ. 16 Ju.lg. xix. 5. 8. 11 i s
a . iii. i
-

;
; Lev. xxvi. 26.
b
i- ; - " Knobel.
2G7] GENESIS XVIII. C-9F.

for for t/nx reason = now

you havr. Lluit
1

Vv. 6-8. "The meal is quickly prepared, for one camm;.

allow quests of quality to wait long. It consists of cakes of

bread, meat, and curdled and sweet milk, and is a genuine

2
IJeduiii repast, but exceptionally bountiful in honour of the
3
guests."
"Hasten three scim
of meal, fine meal, brin^ quickly three
4
setm," or, perhaps, hasten three setm of meal! ripb as in

Lev. ii. 1. Cakes, small round ember-cakes, which were

5
prepared on hot stones.
He, the servant, hastened to make, to prepare, it (the young
heifer), and he set (gave) in front of them, served up the
6
food and set it before them, while he himself remained
"
standing before
7
them, i.e. waited on them. 8 It remains so
in the East. The Arab sheikhs when they have guests of

quality do not sit down to eat with them, but remain

9 10
standing, in order to serve their guests. Strabo gives a
similar account of the Nabatean kings."
"
And they ate, which celestial beings on other occasions
12
refuse to do. 11 Ancient commentators suppose that they
13
only appeared to partake of the food."
Ver. 9 f. In the conversation which the strangers begin,

they make Sarah the subject, because God wishes to announce

that she will have a son. For no&oi the Septuagint has here
already, incorrectly, the singular, eZ-Tre Se. It is not till
14
ver. 10 that the leading personage takes up the conver-
sation.

1
Gesenius, Thesaurus, 682 ; Ewald, 353 (comp. xix. 8, xxxiii. 10,
xxxviii. 26 ;
Num. x. 31, xiv. 43).
2
Lane, Manners and Customs, 1871, i. 364, pop. ed. p. 268.
8 4
See ch. xliii. 34. Is;i. v. 19 1 Kings xxii. 9.
;

5 6
Winer, Realworterbuchf i. 95. Comp. xxiv. 33 Ex. xxv. 30. ;

7 8
Ver. 2. Jer. Hi. 12; 1 Kings x. 8.
9
Shaw, Travels, 1738, p. 301 f. ; Buckingham, Mesopotamia, 1827, p. 18
(Germ. tr. 23) Seetzen, i. 400.;

10 11
xvi. 4. 26. Judg. xiii. 16.
12
Josephus, Antiquities, i. 11. 2 ; Targ. of Jonathan, ii, Kimclii.
13 14
Knobel. Ver. 3.
96 GENESIS XVIII. 11-13 [267, 268

^ points above the K and

t } ie of this word
l
doubtless

indicate a reading ii>.

2
n;n nya at this time, it being alive

i.e. when this time revives, 3 i.e. a year from now* In

again,
ver. 14 the words njni>are added, and in 2 Kings iv. 16 f. nyi^
"
a year from now at this
njn, and the
translation becomes,

time." Ch. xvii. 21 also makes the meaning clear.

inriK Kim and it, the door, was behind Him, Jahve, as He
did not see Him, nor He
spoke, so that Sarah, on the threshold,
her. This is the Massoretic interpretation the Septuagint ;

refers sin (ton) to Sarah.

Ver. 11. A circumstantial clause explaining the action

in ver. 12 ; inn is therefore pluperfect.
Abraham and Sarah had entered into the days, far in, i.e.

5
were of an advanced age ;
there had ceased to be to Sarah a
6
way, habitude, women, like have, namely, i.e. such as women
ra yvvcuKela, the monthly course, and therewith the capacity
for conceiving and bearing children. In the natural course
7
of thingsthey could expect children no longer.
Ver. 12. This was the cause of Sarah's laughter; but it

was only inwardly, and not aloud, that she laughed. This is

an explanation of the name Isaac somewhat different from

that in ch. xvii. 17.
nTO nnN after I am withered, decayed ;
8
cf. ver. 13.
9
nrvn question expressing amazement, without n ; comp.
ch. xxi. 7. Has there become to me, shall there become
to me, shall I again have, sexual pleasure ? The Septuagint
text, in which "nriK is wanting, and which reads nanjj ^rfa, has
no claim to be considered.
lord 10
.I/// my husband; cf. ch. iii. 16.
Ver. 13 f. God reproves Sarah's laughter, because it

l.i-trayed doubt of His power. Now that by the promise of

. xvi.f,. 2
Hypeden.
Th&awrui, 47n
4
; Kwald, 337c. 1 Sam. i. 20.
5
Also in \.\iv. 1
; .loh. xiii. l, xxiii. l;f. ; comp. Luke i. 7.
8
Ch. :
chs. xvii. 17, xxi. 6 f.
8
PB. xxxii. a ;
.l..l> xiii. 28. Ewald 3246
10
I 'a. xlv. 12.
268]
GENESIS XVIII. 1">, 97

ver. 10, and more by the knowledge shown of Sai

still

laughter, God has lifted the veil, and allowed Himself to be

recognised in His true nature, the author for the first tinn-
designates the speaker as Jahve. Ver. 1 is only an apparent

exception, it contains a comprehensive summary of all that is

to follow. Is there anything eminent before Jahve, anything

too great, too. wonderful for Him ?
1
Comp. the use and meaning
of nt? ta in ch. xvii. 1.

The visit of God to Abraham, which

is here announced,

can be put only after the birth of Isaac, in view of the words
p mb6i, when Sarah has a son. But nothing is said of it in
the sequel, for ch. xxi. la cannot refer to it.
Ver. "Sarah, in fear of punishment, denies her
15.
2
laughter, which had been only internal but God sets her ;

3
aside with a curt &6, no."

agreement between God

Vv. 16-33. Conversation and
and Abraham regarding the punishment which awaits Sodom
and Gomorrah. God has appeared, not merely to pay
Abraham a visit, but also to investigate the terrible moral
4
corruption of these cities. It is accordingly a conspicuous

token of the divine regard, that God should give Abraham a

hint of the judgment awaiting so many. The patriarch has
an opportunity of manifesting that admirable disposition of

clemency and kindliness which makes no distinction between

friends and strangers. At
the same time, God's own nature
is
clearly set forth who would always pardon rather
as one
than destroy, but who, when He does punish, punishes always

only in strict accord with justice.

Ver. 16. The strangers proceed on their way escorted by
Abraham. From one of the heights of the Judean hill country,
which offered the view, 5 they looked down 6 upon the plain of
"
Sodom, which was the goal of their journey. For nk? see ch.
xii. 20, and for \jQ-^y, xiv. 3, xix. 28 Num. xxi. 20." 7 ;

1 2
Deut. xvii. 8, xxx. 11. Ver. 12.
3 4
Ch. xix. 2, xlii. 12. Knobel. Ver. 21.
5 6
See ch. xix. 27 f. Ch. xix. Knobel.
DILLMANN. - II.
<)8 GENESIS XVIII. 17-19 [268, 269

Vv. 1719 break the sequence of the narrative in order

to furnish an explanation of what follows in ver. 20 ff. God
1
Abraham, but top'b^ i.e. reflects, ought I indeed
says, not to
to concealMy intention from Abraham, seeing that after all
Abraham will become a great people, 2 and all peoples will
"bless themselves with him,3 so that he is of sufficient import-

ance, and worthy of being initiated into God's plans. For /

have recognised him, i.e. entered with him into a more than
4
usually close relationship, with the intention that he should
command his posterity, and that they should keep the way of
Jahve, so that they will practise justice and righteousness, in
order that God, on His part, may fulfil to Abraham all His

promises to him. C here distinctly declares that the purpose

of the whole relationship entered into with Abraham is the

founding of a house, later it will be a people and a kingdom,

in which the life of true piety and morality, true religion,
shall have its abode. 5 It is Abraham's task to implant this
disposition and way of life in his house ;
this is the condition
of the fulfilment of the promise. 6 For a man with this task
before him, it is beyond doubt of importance that he should
reach a clear understanding of the justice of God's rule in
the world. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is in-
tended as a memorial to Abraham's house of the stern
punitive justice of God which shall wholesomely affect its
7
piety.
8
]yd? wrongly impugned by Lagarde, is, in view of the

foregoing explanation, quite in place. The Septuagint

(Vulgate, Peshitta), like the Targum, has simply failed to
understand the words \yd?
jy^ was not wanting in its WW ;

text. the addition by the Sept. and Pesh. of ^?y

Kegarding
1
Ch. viii. 21. 2
Ch> xii> 2 .

3
<h xii 4
( - - : *-
Amos iii. 2 ; Hos. xiii. 5.
li- iv. 20, and in 4, xvii. 1.
6
Coinp. xvii. 1 in A.
II'.
'
A, MM IT. 11; Hos. xi. 8; Isa. i. 9f., iii. 9; Dent. xxix. 33; Jer.
*
u" , ii. 05 ; Olshausen also.
269] GENESIS XVIII. 20-22 99

1
after DrroKD in Ewald, and compare xxvi. 24.
ver. 17, see

It is incorrect to say that niiT "pn net? and toswi npnv rnl"j

are Deuteronomistic phrases. 2

Ver. 20. God accordingly makes His disclosure.
If TWEE' has not fallen out at the beginning of the
"
sentence,
3
^ must be taken as meaning, it is the case that,"
" 4 5
or truly." The cry regarding (genit. of obj.) Sodom, which
ascends to heaven and demands vengeance, 6 has in truth become

large, great mi is perf. of the verb. The interpretation,7

;

"
there is a report regarding Sodom and Gomorrah that
their sin is great, that it is very grave," which omits the ]

8
before Dnxttn, fails because npyv does not signify report.
Ver. 21. But He desires to investigate before judging, so

He will go down 9 and

whether they have done entirely
see
in accordance with the cry against it (them) which has come

before Him. The Sept. has onpyvan the fi of the Mas- ;

soretic text is Sodom.

nP3 omnino, as in Ex. xi. 1, and not as in Nah. i. 8 ;

10
Zeph. 18; i. 27, etc.; Jer. iv. hence the paseq after i^y.

Olshausen conjectures D?3 and Wellhausen TO.

nxnn wrongly punctuated by the Massoretes as perf.,
11

similarly in xxi. 3, xlvi. 27.

probably rather the second
OKI member of a disjunctive

question than a conditional particle.

12
Ver. 22. The men, i.e. two of them, now go on to

Sodom, while Abraham detains the third, Jahve, 13 by con-

tinuing to stand in front of Him ;

he has something on his
mind, and wishes to make intercession.
1
Geschichte* i. 480 [History of Israel, vol. i. p. 335].

Fripp, ZATW. xii. p. 23

2
see, on the contrary, Ps. xviii. 22 [21]
; ;

Prov. xxi. 3 2 Sam. viii. 15 ; and comp. Amos v. 24 ; Isa. xxxiii. 5.

;

3
Lagarde, Olshausen.
4
9 Ps. cxviii. 10
Isa. vii. ;
ff. ; Ewald, 3306.
5 c
Ch. ix. 2, xvi. 5. Ch. iv. 10.
8
Wellhausen, JBDTh. xxi. 416.
7
Comp. xix. 13.
9 10
Ch. xi. 5, 7. Delitzsch, following Luzzatto.
11 12
Ewald, 3316. Ch. xix. 1.
13
Ver. 33.
 100 GENESIS XVIII. 23-25 [209, 270

The versions and ch. xix. 27 confirm the Massoretic text.

The so-called DnaiD flpn is to the effect that an original mm

DrraN *:b loy uiy was altered to the present text because of
"
the double sense of "OsA nioy, which also means to stand at

the service of." But

not evidence of another reading,
it is

but only of the offence which the Kabbinical writers took at

the representation of a man detaining God instead of God

detaining the man.

Eegarding Kaphar Berukha, where, according to Jerome,
1
the interview took place, see Kobinson.
Yv. 23-32. "Abraham approaches Jahve to make inter-
cession. He reminds Him that in Sodom also there are,
doubtless, righteous persons, e.g. Lot, and that it is reasonable
to show mercy for their sake. He assumes at first that
there may be 50 such righteous persons, then he comes down
to 45, to 40, 30, 20, and in the end to 10; he does not

venture to go below this last number." 2

He speaks with
great humility and deference, and Jahve listens to him
indulgently, and with constant readiness to forgive. The
destruction of the cities afterwards shows that there were not
10 righteous persons in the valley of Siddim. The author's
opinion of the cities is, therefore, most unfavourable, as in
chs. xiii. 13 and xv. 16.
^ Kbo supply |iy or yt"a ;
take away from him his

transgression
= pardon or forgive. 3
"
Yer. 25. rttn profanum, nefas till sit, ita ut non
facias', for }D with the infin., see ch. xvi. 2.

pNrrio DBB> thejudge of the whole earth, as the superior

judge, must also be the most perfect, and therefore more
than any other exercise the highest justice. 4 The words are
6
supposed to express a conception of God alien to the rest
of the narrative. But in what capacity then does God

1 2
Palestine, i. 490 f., trans, ii. 415. Knobel. Comp. Jer. v. 1.
8 See Num. xiv. 19 ; Isa. ii. 9 ; Hos. i. 6.
4
Coin].. ,lii)> xxxiv. 57.
8 2
Kautz.sch-Socin, Die Genesis .
270] GENESIS XVIII. 27-XIX. IF. 101

punish Sodom ?
Surely, after all, as the judge of all tin;

sins of the earth. See also ch. xxiv. 3, 7.

Ver. 27. tOTijn as in ver. 31 ;

see ch. xii. 11.

IDSJ "lay earthly and transitory being ;

see note on
1
ch. ii. 7. Alliteration, as in i. 2, iv. 14, etc.

Ver. 28. priorr the fuller forms in fi

are to be observed
from now onwards ;
for the accusative ntron see Gesenius. 2

The 3 here in nuiora plainly means because of.

Ver. 30. Let it not become inflamed to the Lord let Him
not become angry see ch. iv. ;
5.

Ver. 32. Dyan, ch. ii. 23. In what is here related as

passing between God and Abraham, God's compassionate

justice as well as the nature of prayer and intercession, an
intercession which is humble, yet bold in faith, unwearied
and inspired by the purest love for men, are depicted in a

way which leaves nothing to be desired.

Ver. 33. Abraham returns home and God "goes," not,
however, to Sodom, for there are only two there,
3
He
"
vanishes." God's intention of going to Sodom, expressed
in ver. 21, isnot thereby departed from, for He is present in
the two 4
as in the three. 5 Seeing that in itself might ^
quite as well signify He
went to where the others had gone
before, the *w of ch. xix. 1 is certainly not an interpolation

caused by xviii. 22& 33a. 6 The author's intention rather

was to distinguish Abraham by making God manifest Himself
to him in fuller glory than in Sodom.
Ch. xix. 111. Visit of the two angels in Lot's house,
and the moral corruption of Sodom.
Ver. 1 perhaps a substitution for definiteness'
f. D'3&6o
sake, for an original D^JK the Samaritan has it also in ;

ver. 12, the Septuagint in ver. 16.

As the two approached Sodom in the evening Lot
was sitting in the gate of the city, to enjoy the talk of

1 2
Knobel. Qrammatik*' 117. 4A. 4.
3
Ch. xix. 1. *Ch. xix.!8ff., 24.
6 6
Ch. xviii. 1, 'y\ nirp Wellhausen.
102 GENESIS XIX. 3, 4 F. [270, 271

those purposes of business.

assembled there No or for
1

sooner did he catch sight of the strangers than he hastened

to fulfil to them the duties of hospitality.
2
"The Arabs
count it an honour to be able to entertain a stranger who
has arrived among them, and often contend vehemently for
3
the honour."
4
N3 nan only here with the e thus shortened ;
for jo see

note on xviii. 3, allow me to hope, sirs. For wrni see xviii. 4,

and for &6, xviii. 15.

The angels at first refuse the invitation, because they

have come to Sodom for the purpose of a judicial investiga-
5
tion, doubtless, also, because they wish to put Lot to the
"
test. The climate being warm, it was possible to pass the
6
night in the open street."

Ver. 3. On his pressing them, however, they accept his

invitation, and he prepares them a nnsrb, beverage, carousal,

and then entertainment in general, so called from one of its
7
principal elements, but always a decorous meal.
1VD in the Pentateuch only besides in ver. 9 and in
8
xxxiii. II.
9
Ver. 4 f.
They had not as yet lain down when 10 the
11
citizens, old and young, surround the house, and demanded
of Lot that he should bring out his visitors in order that
12 "
they might know them, i.e. commit impurity with them.
They were therefore given the vice of psederasty, which
to
seems to have been prevalent among the pre - Hebraic
inhabitants of 13
Canaan, and was also known among the

1
Winer, Realwvrterbuch* ii. 616.
-
iomp, .lob xxxi. 32, and the contrast in Judg. xix. 15.
<

:!

T;iv.-rmcr, Voyage, Germ. tr. i. 125; Burckhardt, Bedouins and

Wc&tiw (1831), i. 348; Travels in Syria, 375ft'.; Buckingham, Syria,
<;.TJ.I. tr. L'sr, i.
S.-L'tzen, Reisen, i. 400. Knobel
;

Kwnl.l,91rf. 5
Tuclu
6
Comp. Judg. xix. 15. Knobel.
/:.</. xxi. H, xxvi. 30, xxix. 22 ; Judg. xiv. 12.
K "'"-l.
Ch. ii.5; Josh. ii. 8.
"'
Kwal.l, 341cJ. n Ver. 11.
'" '

( h - iv - L 13
Lev. xviii. 22 IF., xx. 13, 23.
 271] GENESIS XIX. 6-9

Hebrews. 1 The author, no doubt, assumed that the angels-

appeared in the form of young men in their flower."

2

cno ^K
superfluous, perhaps a gloss
3
see ver. ;
9.

All the people from (to) end (of them),

the i.e. to the last
4
n 5
man, all together; a fuller form is ^[pjtt
?i??. They
were therefore all thus corrupt, and besides so bold and shame-
less, that they did not feel it necessary to hide their desire.
Vv. 6-8. " Lot goes out, tries to dissuade them from their
scandalous proceeding, and offers them his two daughters. My

brothers, friends a friendly manner of address. 7

;
Who have
not known a man, have not yet had to do with a man. 8
'N for n?^, elsewhere only in ver. 25, ch. xxvi. 3 f .
;

Lev. xviii. 27 ;
Deut. iv. 42, vii. 22, xix. 11 ;
1 Chron. xx. 8.

Now they haw entered the shade of my [roof-tree], beam>

have entrusted themselves to the protection of my house.
Lot seeks, at enormous sacrifice, to protect his guests from
shameful ill-treatment. The Arab holds sacred and in-
who has entered his
violable the guest house, and in case of
need guards him with his own life." 9
10
Ver. 9. They do not listen, but call to him move off,

make room, away, back. At the same time they complain

that this n individual came to live among them as a stranger
and (after that) now judges in judgment, plays the judged
The infin. absol. is intended to emphasise the idea in DSIT,
13
perhaps also to express repetition.

Now we will do you evil more than to them, treat you

1
Juclg. xix. 22.
-
Mark xvi. 5, Knobel ; comp. also 1 Sam. xxix. 9 ;
Job v. 5ff.
3 4
Olshausen. Isa. Ivi. 11 ;
Jer. li. 31.
5
Gen. xlvii. 21 ; Jer. xii. 12, and elsewhere.
(;
Isa. iii. 9.
7
As in xxix. 4 ; Juclg. xix. 23 ;
Job vi. 15.
8
Num. xxxi. 17 ; Judg. xi. 39.
9
Russell, Natural Hist, of Aleppo (1794), i. 232 ; Volney, Voyage en
5
Syrie et en Eyypte, i. p. 395 ; Seetzen, ii. 67, 346. remarkable instance A
is related
by Sieber, Eeise von Kairo nacli Jerusalem, p. 29 f. Knobel.
10
Isa. xlix. 20.
11
n is the article, not the interrog. partic. n.
12
Comp. xxxii. 31 ; Ewald, 2316.
13 25
Gesenius, 113. 36.
104 GENESIS XIX. 10-14 [271, 272

worse than them. Having said this they press on him and
proceed to break open the door. The words B&3 give the
1
impression of being a gloss see ver. 4. ;

Ver. 1 f. The angels come to the rescue by drawing

Lot into the house. They smite the people with bedazzlement
(Blendung, eblouissement, dazzling by lightning), so that they
cannot find the door. D 1 T!?? (as 2 Kings vi. 18) is different

from |ii;V, blindness. The inquiry is finished, the wickedness

of the people is proved.

Vv. 1226. Destruction of the cities and rescue of Lot.

Ver. 12. The angels, being about to execute judgment

on the city, wish to rescue the hospitable Lot and his house,
for the weal and woe of a house depends on its head.
"
Have yon still whom here ? Have you anyone belong-
ing to you in Sodom other than those in your house ? " 2 He
will do well to take them all away from the town.
3
jnn sing, and without suffix is surprising, it could be

explained as a question, a son-in-law perhaps 1 but as follow-

ing 7331 we rather expect "prim, as in the Peshitta ;

see ver.
14. May the letters :ai have been interpolated between
:nn and 7, for nowhere else is
anything said of sons whom
Lot had before the destruction of the cities ?
DipEn the Samaritan and Septuagint add ntn.
Ver. 13. We are on the point of destroying participle as
in ver. 14 and xviii. 17. The cry against them* has become
great in the sight of Jahve, in His presence. Olshausen con-
jectures nnjjjtt as in xviii. 21.
Ver. 14. Lot goes out into the
city to his sons-in-law,
the takers of his i.e. those who were to take his
daughters,
6 6
'laughters, their betrothed. The meaning can hardly be
r who had taken his 7
daughters, for that would be better
1
( )1 - ]i;i " "" 2
Knobel. 3
Olshausen.
4
Ch. xviii. 20 f. 5
335ft.
Ewalcl,
phot, Antn,n-Hie*, i. 11. J. D.
4; Vulgate, Piscator, Clericus,
von Unl.lrn, Tuch,
i.
li>, Keil.
7
Baumgarten,
Sept., Targ. of Jonathan, Ibn Ezra, Kimchi, Mercerus, Schumann,
Knobel, h.-iit/M-ii, Bdttcher,
272] GENESIS XIX. 15-17 105

1
expressed by a relative clause with the perfect, and been
Lot would certainly not leave his married daughters without

calling them not against the interpretation

to flight. It is

adopted that in his time of need (ver. 8) he offers these very

daughters to the people, for the betrothal would have been
nullifiedby whatever occurred. Nor is the absence of W ;

any objection, nor the nwxoan of ver. 15, nor the daughters'
omission to mention the loss of affianced husbands in ver. 31.
To these future sons-in-law of Sodom, Lot with his sum-
mons that they should leave the city appeared as one who jests.
They treated him with incredulous ridicule, and so perished.
2
Ver. 1 5. tos rare and poetical word for ip'ao.

niNVCon who found here, who are at hand. 3

are The
reference is not merely to "pnun, as if, e.g., they were dis-

tinguished from married daughters in the city. It is a

single expression for wife and daughters, those belonging

to him who were on the spot, in contradistinction to those
in the city, the D^nn.
Before ID the Septuagint has the further words, KOI

feX0e. PV as in ch. iv. 13.

Ver. 16. The angels are in haste, but Lot delays, 4 because
he finds it hard to leave home and So the angels havecity.
to take him and his household
by the hand and lead them
out before the city, because of God's clemency towards kirn,
because God purposed to spare him seeing he was a righteous
man. 5 The idea that Lot was spared for Abraham's sake is
only found in A, ver. 29.
Ver. 17. At the same time directions are given him for
his further flight. One of the angels is now spokesman as
in xviii. 1 ;
from all that has occurred it is clear enough
that God Himself is here present, and so Lot addresses Him
in ver.18 also as ''j'iK. Accordingly, God is present also in
the two as previously (ch. xviii.) in the three.

1
In spite of 2
ix. 18. Isa. xxvi. 18.
3
1 Sain. xxi. 4 ;
Isa. xxii. 3 ;
Ezra viii. 25.
4 5
Ch. xliii. 10. Ch. -xviii. 24 ff.
106 GENESIS XIX. 18-22 [272, 275

Save thyself, flee, for thy life, thy life is at stake.

iran surprising after 2N.
1
He must not look behind,
" not see the divine agency at work, which
that he may is

forbidden to the profane eye of mortal man see note on ;

xvi. 14. For similar reasons the ancients, during the per-
a
formance holy rites, did not look behind them
of certain ;

and Orpheus was forbidden to look back when he brought

3
Eurydice out of Orcus."
"
For "^an see note on ch. xiii. 1 ;
the hills (mnn) are
those of Moab." 4
"
Ver 18 f . Lot wishes the final direction given to him
to be revoked, because he will not be able to escape to the
distant hills before the work of destruction has commenced." 5
Otherwise the disaster may fasten on me, overtake me ;
for fa

see ch. iii. 22 ;

and for '? , Ewald, 249^. These continual
delays and objections of Lot's are certainly related as they
are with a definite purpose ;
Lot is inferior to Abraham in
faithful obedience.
"
Vv. 2022. He
wishes the angel to assign him So'ar
as his place of refuge, for it lay not far from Sodom and was

"^pj a trifle, so that he did not ask more than the preserva-
tion of an insignificantBeing small, also, So'ar
little town.
did not contain so much godlessness, and might, it wa&
allowable to think, be excepted from the overthrow. The-

angel grants the request, but urges haste, because he can

do nothing before Lot's arrival in So'ar. This history
explains why the name iVV, pettiness, or we may say, petty
6
town, was given to the place formerly called jta. The incident
rc];itc<l in vv. 19-22 restson the significance of the name." 7
The h of -aib as in xvii. 20 for vbJ? see iii. 11
;
for ;

tnp, xvi. 14.

1 25
Gesenius, 107. 4, note.
-
Theocritus, Idyll, xxiv. 93; Vergil, Ecloyues, viii. 102; Ovid, Fasti,.
v. 437 tf.

\Vi-il, Urnrijics, iv. 491 ; Ovid, Metamorphoses, x. 51.

rep. :*o, ch. xiv. 10. Knobel.
Ch. xiv. 2. 7
Knobel.
 273] GENESIS XIX. 23 F. 107

1
In recent times So'ar has been looked for in the beauti-

ful oasis of el-Mezra'a, on the tongue of land (el-lisfm) or

peninsula which projects into the Dead Sea from its eastern
shore. 2 But Knobel has rightly kept to the older view,.
3
which Wetzstein has further established, that So'ar lay
about an hour south-east of the Dead Sea in the part of the
'Araba now called Ghor es-Safia, at the point where Wadi
el-Ahsa leaves the border hills of Moab and enters the plain
under the name el-Kurahi. Its modern name is Chirbet
es-Safia, and it is buried under the alluvium of the water
which abounds. The region is well watered, but the climate

tropical. It was the most southern point of the Jordan

district, of the 133. 4 The Dead Sea, then 580 stadia or
29 hours long, once extended as far as this point, 5 but now,,
in consequence of the alluvial deposits, has retreated north-
6
wards; the sea we are told lay between Jericho and So'ar.
7
In the Roman period there was a castle to protect the city,
and traces of it still remain. Dates and balsam trees were
8
cultivated there. In the Middle Ages it was still of

importance. It was one of the six stages on the caravan

road from Aila to Jerusalem, and an important commercial
centre. 9 The name still existed in the time of the Crusades
in form Segor, and the Arabic geographers name it
the

Soghar or Zoghar, and the Dead Sea the Sea of Zoghar. It

and the palm trees which were there have now alike
vanished.
Ver. 23 f. The sun had risen over the earth, and Lot

1
Especially by Robinson, Ritter, Winer, Tucli, and others.
2
See Baedeker, Paliistina* p. 181 ZDPV. ii. 212 f. ;

3
In Delitxseli, Genesis* 564 f .
;
see also de Saulcy in lievue Arche'oL
xxxiii. 193 ff.
4 5
Ch. xiii. 10 ;
Deut. xxxiv. 3. Joseplius, Jewish Jl'ars, iv. 8. 4.
c
Unomasticon, sub aA**.
7
Notitia dignatatiim, i. 78 f. Stephanus Byzant., sub Zictpoc.
;

8
Onomofttcon, sub Bx Talmud, Y bamoth xvi. 7
;
f
Istachri (ed. ;

Mordtmaim), xxxix. 41 ; Edrisi, trans, by Jaubert, i. 338 William of ;

Tyre, xxii. 30, in Gesta Dei per Francos, i. 1041.

9
Mukaddasi in Wetzstein.
108 GENESIS XIX. 23 F. [273,274

had reached So'ar, when Jahve sent clown the rain. Taken
with ver. 15 this statement allows us to determine the
distance of So'ar from Sodom.
Jahve, who is present in the angels, according to ver.
17 ft'.,
caused it to rain down from Jahve, from the sky.
rnir nND seems, 1 like the Greek eV Jto?, to have been a

peculiar expression of the same meaning as D't?rr|D by

2
which it is explained. But the author lays stress on the
fact that it was really from the sky that the rain came
down.
By this rain of sulphur and fire from the sky God
turned upside dovm, completely destroyed, so that what had
been beneath lay on the top and the top lay below, these
3
cities and the whole district, with its inhabitants and all
that grew in it. The expression "jan, one little suited to the
4
sulphur rain, is used because it had long held its place in
"
the legend. It was supposed that the district, which
5
abounded in bitumen, after being kindled by a burning
sulphureous material which fell from the sky, burned itself
out,and thereafter was overspread by water which rose from
beneath. 6 The fire and sulphur were easily suggested by
7
the phenomena of thunderstorms. Josephus, too, thought
8
of lightning ;
and Tacitus tells that the district fulminum

jactu arsisse, and the cities igne ccelesti flagrasse. Fire and
brimstone are also the instruments of divine judgment in
Ps. xi. 6 and Ezek. xxxviii. 22." 9 The connection of the
with 10
<-atastrophe the bituminous character of the soil,
not 11
is amiss. The text offers no hint of volcanic
action.

. Micali v. 6.
-'

K\v.-il,l, (tochichte* ii. 223 [History, ii. 157, note 3].

:;
Vt ''-- 17. 4
''
Noldeke, Untersuchungen, p. 22.
( ''' xiv - 10 - 6
Job xviii. 15, xxii. 16.
'

Antiqwti*, i. 11. 4; Jewish Wars, iv. 8. 4.

'"'sv. 7. 9
Knobel.
-

973a.
utly defended anew by Dawson in the Expositor for 1886, Jan.
p. CO II.
274, 27')] GENESIS XIX. 20 109

Ver. 2G. "While this went on, his wife, behind him,
looked lack, she was walking to So'ar behind Lot, and took
i.e.

a look round, impelled by a woman's curiosity.

And she became a pillar of salt, was changed into a pillar
because she disobeyed the command of ver. 17.
of rock-salt,

The punishment harmonises with the locality, where things

are easily covered with a saline crust, due to the salty

evaporation of the Dead Sea, and where rock-salt abounds. 1

The legend originated in the existence of some pillar of
rock-salt. In Wisd. x. 7 a CTTT/XT; aXo? beside the Dead
Sea is mentioned as ^vri^lov aTnaTovarj^ i/rir^%, and it still

existed in the time of Josephus. 2 Something of the kind

may still be found. At the south-west end of the Dead Sea
there is a long narrow ridge of rock, about 100 to 150 ft.

high, which stretches from north to south or south-east, and is

about 2 1 hours in length. It is called Hill (rock, ridge) of

Usdum or Salt Hill, and consists entirely of mineral salt, 3 or at
least contains thick layers of mineral salt. It is quite bare,
decomposed, and friable, and full of caves, seams, fissures,
4
peaks, and indentations. Its distance from the sea is at

one point only 200 ft., and in the rainy season the ground
"
there is flooded. 5 The denuding action of the rain forms
on the ridge isolated peaks and knolls and pillars of various
forms. They doubtless pass away be replaced by others.
to

Thus there is standing at present on the east side of the

6
hill a high round pillar of crystalline salt about 40 ft. high.
We cannot say whether this be the same as that of which
7
Josephus and others speak.
1
Seetzen, ii. 240 ; Lynch, Exped. to Jordan and Dead Sea,- 269, 272,
274, 281, 287, 297 f., 306.
2
Antiquities, i. 11. 4.
3
Palestine, i. ii. 107 ff. (Germ. tr. ii. 435, iii. 22 f.).
502,
4
Seetzen, i. 428, ii. 227, 240.
5
Roth in Petermann, Geograph. Mittheilungen, 1858, p. 268 f. Knol>el.
6
Lynch, op. cit. p. 307.
7
Clement of Rome, 1 Cor. xi. [eel. Lightfoot, vol. ii. p. 46] Irenauis,
;

Adv. Hcereseos, iv. 31. 3 ;

Carmen de Sodoma in Tertullian (Opera, ed.
Oehler, ii.
773).
 110 GENESIS XIX. 27 F. [275

Regarding the various interpretations of the passage, see

Rosenmiiller, etc.
1
The rather unfavourable estimate of woman
in the legend is to be noted (comp. xviii. 12 and iii.
6).

Ver. 2 7 f .
Abraham, believing what God had said, and
full of interest in the fate of the cities of the plain, betakes

himself, while it is yet early, to the place on the height

where he had made intercession the day before. 2 Looking
down, he saw now only the thick smoke of the earth, a thick
3

;smoke rising from the earth, like that which rises from a
5
furnace. 4 Amongst others, Wisd. x. 7 and Philo speak
of a smoke which continued to rise from the ground. 6still
""
Modern travellers, on the other hand, report only a dense
7
vapour or a thin veil of mist/' which is explained by the
rapid evaporation of the water in the terrible heat. With this
return to Abraham the narrative concludes, and is rounded off.
"
There is no doubt that the account has a basis in actual
8
fact. Deut. xxix. 22
tells of the destruction of Sodom,
9
Gomorrah, Admah, and Seboim. Hos. xi. 8 names only the
last two elsewhere the first two, as the most important,
;

10
are but occasionally Sodom by itself. 11
generally named,
The statement in Wisd. x. 6 is inexact, seeing that So'ar
was spared. Sodom, which is always named first, and more
often than the others alone, was plainly the most important.
This is confirmed by Strabo, 12 who, however, puts the number
13
of the cities at thirteen." The usual supposition, that the
cities stood where the Dead Sea now is, rests on ch. xiv. 2 f.

1
Rosenmiiller, ad loc. ; Grimm on Wisd. x. 7 ; Winer, Eealworterbuch,
IL321
- 3
'h. xviii. 22. ch. xviii. 16. 4
(
Ex. xix. 18.
5
De Abrahamo, p. 21 ; Vita Mosis, ii. p. 143.
6
Coin p. Isa. xxxiv. 10.
'

i:.,l,iiis..n, Palestiw, i. 512 Lynch, op. cit. p. 311

; ; Ritter, Erdkunde,
xv. 7<12 fT. ; cf. Joseplms, Jewish Wars, iv. 8. 4. Knobel.
"
temp, .hide 9
Comp> Gen
(
7. xiy- %
10
Isa. i.
!)f., xiii. 19; Jer. xxhi. 14, xlix. 18, 1. 40; Amos iv. 11;
pli. ii. I) ; Matt. x. 15 ; 2 Pet. ii. 6.
11
Isa. iii. 9 ; Lam. iv. 6 ; Ezek. xvi. 48 ff. ; Matt. xi. 23 f.
xvi. 2. 44. 13
Knobel.
275, 270] GENESIS XIX. 27 F. Ill

J'.ut the older view, that the whole of the Dead Sea originate. 1

in this catastrophe, and that before then the course of tin-

'
Jordan was through the Araba to the Gulf of 'Akaba, is quite
untenable, for the level of the southern 'Araba at the lowest
point of the water- shed, somewhat north of Petra, is 240
metres above the surface of the Mediterranean, whereas the
surface of the Dead Sea is 394 metres beneath that level;
and has been proved geologically that the southern 'Araba
it

lias not been elevated since the formation of the present

basin. On the other hand, the view of Eussegger and

liobinson l
is confirmed, that the Dead Sea, in the greater

part of its extent, has existed from the earliest times, and
that only southern part can be of later origin.
its Accord-

ingly, most writers now localise the cities in the region of the
southern gulf of the Dead Sea. This section, as far as the

Lisari, is much shallower than the northern part. The latter

is on the average about 329 m. deep, whereas the former

is never more than 3*6 m., and is still less at its extreme
end, where it may be waded through. 2 The position thus
assigned finds support in the situation of Soar (ver. 22), and
of the pillar of salt (ver. 26), and also, if we approve of the

bitumen hypothesis, in the circumstance that the bitumen is

specially prevalent in the southern part of the sea. 3 The

latest hypotheses, e.g. that the cities lay on the east side of
the sea in the Wadi Zerka Ma'in, and were destroyed by
volcanic action,4 or that Gomorrah is to be found in the
modern 'Am Ghamr, near the 'Araba, almost half-way
between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of 'Akaba, 5 have against
them vv. 22 and 26.
1
ii. 187 ff.
Palestine, (trans, iii. 162 ff.).
2
Lynch, op. cit. 306 f ., 378 f. further, regarding the Dead Sea,
;

3
Winer, ii. 73 f. Furrer in Schenkel's Bibcllexicon, iv. 153 ff. 0. Fraas in
; ;

Riehm, Handworterbuch, 972 ff. C. Hull in Ausland, 1883, p. 375 f.

;

3 ch. xiv. 10.

Comp.
4
F. Notling in the MontayMatt of the Berliner Tagblatt, August
1886, Nos. 27, 31, 33.
5
Clermont Ganneau in Quarterly Statement of Pal. Explor. Fund,
Jan. 1886, p. 19 ff.
1 1 i> GENESIS XIX. 29 [276

Xi>ldeke lias discussed the uuhistorical character of the

1
of the and Cheyne
legend of the overthrow cities, its probable
2
origin.

5. DOUBLE APPENDIX, CH. XIX. 29, FROM A\ XIX. 30-38

(THE ORIGIN OF MOAB-AMMON), FROM C.

Ver. 29 is taken from A. Without any close connection

with what precedes, it shortly reports to us the information

3
already just given, that when EloJiim destroyed the cities of
5
the Kikkdr? EloJiim in kindness remembered Abraham, with
whom he had entered into a covenant relation, 6 and, for his
sake, sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, i.e. allowed
him to escape or depart 7 when He overthrew the cities in
which 8
Lot had been settled? There are here five characteristic
w
A, and
expressions of there is this agreement with his story
as to matter of fact that Lot does not dwell in Sodom
11
alone, but in the cities of the Kikkar. The reason assigned
for Lot's deliverance also is not that of C, at least it is

unmentioned in the preceding section. As for the word "jan,

it and its derivatives had long become standing expressions

for this peculiar destruction of the ground, and are found in

Deuteronomy, Lamentations, Amos, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and
even in the Koran. 12
We are no longer able to determine the further point
whether A, in connection with this narrative, or elsewhere in
his narrative, gave his readers information regarding Moab-
Ammon and their relationships, as he has done in the case of
Ishmael and Edom. The narrative of vv. 30-38, regarding
1
Im neuen" Reich, 1871, ii. 41-48.
2
New World, June 1892, p. 236 ff. 3 T\r\V as vi. 17, ix. 11, 15.

xiii. 12. .
s
AS viii L
'"'
i
( '1- xvii. 1 Sam. xxiv.
8
jm is not " in one of which," with a construction like that of ch.
viii. 1 or .hid-,', xii. 7.
9
As xiii. 12. 10
[The words in italics.]
11
Ch. xiii. 12. 12
See Gesenius, TJiesaurus.
 276, 277] GENESIS XIX. 29 113

the incest of Lot's two daughters with their father, and tin-

origin of Moab-Ammon, is in any case not from A. It \>,<

back over ver. 29, and connects itself with the preceding

passage (vv. 23, 17), which it presupposes. In so far, also,

l
there is reason for the current view that it is from the same
author, C, as was the preceding section. The expressions ^33
and nTjra in vv. 31, 33 f., and 37, 2 and jnj n;n hi V er. 32,*

may be used as special proofs of this, though ?V W3, ver.

4
3 1, is not found elsewhere in C. In ch. xix. 1 ff. (7 portrays
Lot, not, indeed, as one of the heroes of faith, but yet us a

righteous man, who detested the dissolute character of the

inhabitants of Sodom, and as one whom God Himself honoured
with a visit and a miraculous deliverance ; so, of course, he did
not himself compose this odious story about him, but only

adopted it, thereby giving expression to the abhorrence which

Israel felt for the dissolute character of the people of Moab-
Ammon. The narrative itself, unlike C's delineations, which
are artistically true to life, is marred by internal improb-
abilities. The irritation against Moab-Animon, which grew
more bitter as time went on, especially from the date of the
Syrian wars waged under the house of Jehu, and which has
received legislative expression in Deut. xxiii. 4 ff., makes itself

plainly and directly felt in the story. It was the coarse

humour of the people which put into words its hatred of
Moab-Ammon by means of this narrative. Although, with
the exception of Num. xxv. 1 ff., we have no definite informa-
tion regarding unchaste practices prevalent among them, we
must still conclude that this story about them would not
have taken the shape it did among the Israelites if con-

sanguineous marriages, such as were proscribed in Israel, had

not been customary among them. 5 It is not probable that the

1
Knobel, Hupfeld, Schrader, Kayser, Wellhausen.
2
As in xxix. 26 comp. xxv. 23, xliii. 33, xlviii. 14.
;

3 4
Comp. vii. 3. Comp. Deut. xxv. 5.
5
Comp. Deut. xxiii. 4 with w. 1-3 and regarding Reuben, ch. xxxv.
;

22. See Smend, Moses apud Prophetas, p. 73 Bertheau in SckenkeVs;

Bibellexicon, iv. 230.

DILLMANN. II. 8
114 GENESIS XIX. 30-32 [277

legend made Lot's wife, the mother of his daughters, a native

1
of Sodom ;
in ch. xii. f., before his migration to Sodom, Lot

appears in possession of a house, just as Abraham does. But

the daughters are doubtless regarded as having been influenced

by the morals of Sodom. The conjectures that was the first R

2 3
to insert the passage, or that it is derived from I>, have
no sufficient reason in their favour. The episode stands in no
connection with the history of the trials of Abraham's faith.
Ver. 30. "The author, continuing the narrative from the

point reached in ver. 23, relates that Lot left Soar and

proceeded to the hills, because he feared that this city also

might be destroyed. At the same time, the angel (ver. 21)
had assured him of its permanent safety." 4
He dwelt in the cave, was a cave-dweller ;
the article is
5 6
generic. Still some particular cave, with which legend
"
associated the events related, may be intended. 7 Even yet
8
the people of those regions inhabit caves and grottoes."
Compare also the name Lotan mentioned among the Horites
9
(cave-dwellers) in Gen. xxxvi. 20, 22, 29. But it is to be
remarked that 'y\ 'yea n^i after *im 3B*1 is surprising, and the
words may be a later addition.
Ver. 31. The elder daughter makes a proposal to the
10
younger.
Our father is old, and so will not be able to look out
another place of residence, and there is no one in the land to
come upon us, to cohabit with us. There is no alternative for
us but to have connection with our father. For *]-n, way,
procedure, or manner in general, comp. ch. vi. 12.
"
Ver. 32. But since Lot, the opponent of the immorality
11
of Sodom, would
not, so long as sober, agree to such an
immoral connection, he must be intoxicated."

und others. 2
Ewald, Bohmer, Kautzscli-Socin.
4 6
ii. Knobel. Chs. xiv. 13, xv. 11. Knobel.
8 7
Comp. xvi. 7. Delitzsch.
s
liiK-kiugham, Syria, Germ. tr. ii. 53 f., 61, 81 ; Lynch, op. cit. p. 355
Gtam. L'ui).
''

l.'i-liin, If'tndwvrterbuch, 26. 10

Ch. xxix. 2G. n Ch. xix. 9.
277, 27s] CKNESIS XIX. 33-37 1 1 ."

And u'c will call to life seed from our ft]t> /, tlimu^li him
propagate our race; the expression as in ch. vii. .">. F <r rch
the Samaritan has *J?.
Vv. 33-36. "The plan is executed. Lot is so intoxi-

cated that he does not observe when his daughter lies beside

him and rises again. At the same time he is capable,

though an old man too, of begetting children. It is most
2
improbable."
]
According to Jerome, it was this very incredi-
bility of the statement which accounts for the Jews having

placed the supralinear point over nc^p in ver. 33 ;

but in view
of the nppa of ver. 35 it seems rather to indicate an ortho-

graphical variant.
naatrn the Sept. strangely renders ev ru> KOifMfjdrjvat,

avrov.
25 3
TfpBrn also in ver. 3 5 comp. Gesenius
;
.

4
Kin nWu as in xxx. 16, xxxii. 23 (1 Sam. xix. 10);
otherwise in ver. 35.
Yer. 36. |iT2X the D for i? is intentional, because of
the etymology in ver. 37.
"
Ver. 3 7 f . The author takes the name Moab either in
the sense 2NE, from the father, which accounts for the ex-
5
pression ^"Qsp in vv. 32, 34, or as compounded from to for
*, water, corresponding to Aramaic s
to, and from 2S, so that
G '
it something like seed of the father.'
signifies In any
case he connects it with the fact that the ancestress of the

Moabites became pregnant by her father. The name |toy he

explains by W|3, son of my people it is thus taken to express ;

the fact that the ancestor of the Ammonites was entirely the
son of his people, inasmuch as his mother's father was also
7
father of her child. Both interpretations are very forced."
We are compelled to add, in imagination, the very point it is
" "
desired to find in the names, for seed of the father or

1 - 3 4
Knobel. Quasstiones. 47A. 3. See Ewald, 293.
5
So Sept. by its insertion "hkywaa, pov [Dillmann].
tx.
Trot-rpo;
6
Comp. Isa. xlviii. 1, and Gesenius, Thesaurus, 774 [Dillinann].
7
Knobel.
 116 GENESIS XX [278

" "
son of my people might be the name of any male child
whatsoever.

Ill-warding the word Dy, see note on ch. xvii. 14. Its

collective meaning, according to which it denotes the sum of

those connected by blood, suffices here. The phrase 'oyp

does not require us to assume that Dy was originally patruus

pater, for the word Moab also is interpreted only

1
and then
in a general way, 2K Derenbourg wishes to
to, not ^ to.
2

infer the name of an Ammonite god ^V from the Ammonite

royal name s^ay which occurs in the cuneiform inscriptions,

and may be paralleled by the Moabite 3T3K^D3.8
4
Until to-day as in ch. xxxv. 20, elsewhere mn Dl'n iy.

The phrase is here, perhaps, added to indicate that the

characteristic feature of their origin still manifests itself in
the nature of the people.

6. SARAH'S DANGER AT THE COURT OF GERAR, AND HER

PRESERVATION, CH. XX. FROM B. ;

Abraham moves towards the south country, and takes up

his residence in Gerar. He there givesit out that Sarah is

his sister, and for a time loses her to

King Abimelech ;
but
receives her back, and is after
compensated by presents
God has brought on the unlawful possessor and his
illness
wives. 5 In this way, even after the reiterated
promise
of a son by Sarah, and before her 6
pregnancy, Abraham's
hope, though not without fault on his part, is once more
in
appearance dashed, and his faith and patience are once
more put to the proof. It is,
however, the occasion, more-
over, of his receiving anew proof of God's graciousness and
almighty protection.
1

Crake!, /. i iw. viii. 282 ff.

M dtudes juives, 1881,

p. 123f.
Similarly HaK'vy iu JA. vii. 19, p. 4801, regarding Amnion and

vvi. xxxii.
:*:>,, :tt, xlvii. :>(>, xlviii. 15, and frequently.
(5
Ch. xxi. >.
278, 270] GENESIS XX 117

Such is tho significance of the passage in its ]>r-MMit

position. 15 at at one time it stood in another context before

lu-ing transferred here by It.

According to ch. xvii. 17 (A),
Sarah is
ninety years old; according to xviii. 1 1 f (0)
.
aged,
and naturally incapable of bearing children ;
she cannot,

therefore, have been an object of desire to strangers. 1

still

I5ut there are other reasons which completely exclude the

possibility of the passage being from A or 0. A is excluded,

notwithstanding the use throughout of the word DTita, be-
cause "in his history Abraham dwells in Mamre-Hebron, 2
and there is no trace elsewhere in his narrative that he was
ever resident in Gerar or Beersheba'. The passage is also
in other respects alien to A } e.g. Abraham is represented as a
prophet (ver. 7) God appears in visions by night (vv. 3, 6)
; ;

the moral character of the people of Gerar is represented

unfavourably (ver. 11), and expressions A does not use are

found, e.g. TJK (ver. 4), the land is before you (ver. 15), rise up
early in the morning (ver. 8), do kindness (ver. 13), \>~\ (ver. 11),
and n^in (ver. 16)."
3
As little can C be its author, above all
because the parallel narrative xii. 1020 belongs to him,
and because ver. 13 is not in harmony with it. Another
proof is the use of the divine name Elohim ;
for in view of

ch. xxvi. 28 f. it cannot be assumed that C here intentionally

avoids the use of the name Jahve because the events related
took place at a heathen court. Further, C expresses himself
4
otherwise than in ver. l'3a regarding Abraham's removal
from his original home, the style is less smooth and flow-
5
ing than C"s, being even awkward, and the words 337* for
37, and HEN ?
nnBB^ are unused by him."
f or
8
Modern critics
are therefore rightly of opinion that another source, namely
9
B, has here been used, one which writes D^nta, not miT, and
for nnntr. Here, as elsewhere, he uses all sorts of rare
1 2
Ch. xx. 2, 4, 11. Ch. xxiii. 1 ff., xxv. 9 ;
cf. xiii. 8.
3 4 5
See ver.
Knobel. Ch. xii. 1 if. 17.
6 7 8
Ver. 5 f. Ver. 17. Knobel.
Bbhmer, Knobel, Ewalcl, Schrader, Kayser, Weil-
9
Ilgen, Hupfeld,
hausen, Kuenen.
118 GENESIS XX. 1 [270, 280

1 with C, and
expressions, in this respect contrasting considerably
ver. 1 6 offers an example of his many ancient forms of speech.

In his narrative Abraham dwells in the Negeb he speaks ;

much of revelations from God in dreams (here vv. 3, 6), re-

presents Abraham as a prophet (ver. 7),

and construes DTfot
with a plural verb. 2 Regarding 3J:n ps and fenn, see vv. 1, 7.
But ver. 18 3
from R\ see also notes on vv. 1 and 14.
is

Ver. 1. Abraham goes from there to the land of the south. 4

5 6
He settled, took up his residence, between Shur and Kadesh,
and led a nomadic life for a time in the region of Gerar.
riA-ix the construct state with the locative termination
n as in xi. 3 1. 7

:n:n px for 3Jjn, as in ch. xxiv. 62 ;

Num. xiii. 29 ;

Josh. xv. 19 ; Judg. i. 15, and nowhere else.

DB>b in the present context refers to the grove of

8
Mamre, quite possibly an insertion
and is of jB's. If it

stood in E's text, we can no longer discover its reference. 9

10
There is no reason for attributing it to (7.

Gerdr According to the Onomasticon, 25 Roman miles

south of Eleutheropolis ;
in recent times n generally supposed
to be the ruins of Umm el-Jerar,
12
three hours S.S.E. of Gaza,
situated on a broad, deep torrent which comes from the south-
east, the -Turf el-Jerar, Wadi Gazzeh the upper portion of the ;

the Wadi Gazzeh receives in it, some distance above Jerar,

the Wadi esh-Sheri'a, which comes from the north-west. 1 *
But unless TUQ iri implies a complete change of locality, as
compared with w ac^i, this situation is
"
too far north. If
\\e take our starting-point between Shur and Kadesh,"
1
ver. 5; H3OX, ver. 12 or SK -)px, vv. 2, 13.
*>
ji'|D3, ;

2
Ver. 30 (ch. xxxv. 7).
s
s ee notes.
4
( '!' ni i>.
5
Ch. xvi. 7. 6
ch. xiv. 7, xvi. 14.
90. 2a. s
: '

ius,-' ch. xviii. 1.

''

Kittel, Geschichte, i.
125, conjectures xiv. 13 [History of the Hebrews,
v..l. i.
l.'iC, n..t.
].. 4].
1

1
lupiVld, (),<dlen der Genesis, p. 172 f.
n Since Rowlands.
12
KimU-l, 2
Rol.in--.Mi, K.-il, Kiepert, Baedeker, 207 ; Riehm, Hand-
,
a,,.l others.
I'M',', i. I7:> ;
Kilter, xiv. 1084 f.
/;,,//.-,<,/</,:,
28u]
(JKNKSIS XX. 2, 3 11 \)

Gerar must be placed farther south, not, indeed, in el-'Arl

2
but in all likelihood south-west of Kadesh in or be
Wadi Jerur,
3
a side valley of the Wadi esh-Sherait' whieh
opens into the Wadi el-'Arish. 4 It must, however, be ad-
mitted that this locality not compatible with 6"s statement is

in oh. xxvi. that a Philistine king ruled in Gerar. Elusa

for Gerar, given by Saadia and Abusaid, seems to be only a

conjecture.
6 "
Ver. 2. /It, like ?, following "IDS', means in reference to,"
"
regarding." Abraham
gives out that his wife is his sister,
and Abimelech takes her away from him. Both statements
are very curtly made. The first does not find its explana-
tion until ver. 1 1 if. in the Massoretic text, and the second
leavesit unexplained why the king took Sarah away, whether

because of her beauty, as in ch. xii. 1 1 or for the sake of a ,

marriage connection with the stranger chief, or because it

was his habit.
" r
Elsewhere Abimelech is called king of the Philistines ;

8
his land, land of the Philistines ;
and his people, Philis-
9
tines. Our author does not use the name so early as for the
10
patriarchal period."
Ver. 3. But God
on Abraham's behalf, appears interferes
to Abimelech in a dream, and announces to him that he will

die because he has taken a married woman, 11 and has thus in-

fringed a sacred right. In this author God frequently comes

12
and speaks in a dream.
1
Kneucker in Schenkel's Bibellexicon, i. 385.
Thomson, Trumbull, GutLe in ZDPV. viii. 215.
2

8
Described in Robinson [Palestine, i. 188 f.], Germ. tr. i. 311 if., 438,
442 ; Palmer, Desert of the Exodus, 1871, p. 34911'.
4 5
See, further, ch. xxvi. 1, G, 17, 23. Ver. 13, xxi. 7.
6
The Septuagint supplies here already an explanation from ver. lift'.,

6<poftv]0Yi '/dp si-Tre'tv, or; */vv/) pov sari, pi) KOTS OCTOZTSIVUVIV U-JTOV ol oi-^p?; TV,;

irotea; Bi' a.\jTf,v.

7 8
Ch. xxvi. 1, 8. Ch. xxi. 32, 34.
9 10
Ch. xxvi. 14 f., 18. Knobel.
11
Deut. xxii. 22.
12 xxxvii. 5,
Yer. 6, xxi. 12, 14, xxii. 1 ff., xxviii. 12, xxxi. 11, 24,
xlvi. 2.
120 GENESIS XX. 4-7 [280,281

np ^3n thou art a dead man ; you must die ; comp.

Deut. xviii. 20; Isa. xxxviii. 1.

h? in ver. 11 (comp. xix. 17) "^T^; the Samaritan has

nn py (comp. xxi. 11, 25).

Ver. 4 f. turns back the course of the narrative when it

remarks, but Abimelech had not yet approached her, had not
1
yet had connection with her and it is not till vv. 6 and ;

17 that we learn that he was restrained from this by ill-

ness sent on him by God. After the parenthesis Abimelech

pleads his innocence.

2
^'"is;
U sed in addressing Jahve; here put in the mouth
of a heathen.

A righteous people also ? i.e.

righteous people
3
also ;

4
comp. the use of Dy in Ps. xviii. 28, xxii. 7, Ixii. 9 ; Geiger
regards ^ as a later interpolation.
"
Abimelech is righteous, because he acted in innocency of
heart and cleanness of hands, i.e. in the belief that he was
taking Abraham's sister, an act which cannot have been
5
regarded as unjust by the morality of the time."
23? used for 37, elsewhere also in R Q

Ver. God acknowledges that he acted in good faith.

6.

Therefore I also, on My part, restrained you from sinning

7 ton for
against Me, i.e.
by illness which I sent upon you.
Nbn.s For this reason, i.e. in order that you might not sin
against Myself by violating the rights of My chosen, I allowed
you not, put not in your power, 9 to touch her.
it

Ver. 7. But Abimelech must now forthwith restore Sarah,

because Abraham is a prophet. This title is applied to
Abraham here only, comp. Ps. cv. 15, though in effect he is

represented as such in ch. xviii. 17 ff. It designates one

\\lin is God's intimate, whose
possessions dare not be touched
1
Isa viii. - 3. 2
ch. xv. 2.
;i

[
Ltut* Knglish word people has the double meaning.]
;
tin-

Urschrift, p. 365. 5
Se e xii. 14. Knobel.
/-'</. v,-r. <;, xxxi. 20; Josh. xiv. xxiv. 23.
7,
7
Vrr 17 - 8 5
Gesenius,* 75A. 21.
-

''
< 'Ii. xxxi. 7 ; Num. xx. 21, xxi. 23 in R
281] GENESIS XX. 8-11 F. 121

with impunity, and on the other side as one al.-<> who lias

influence with God, who, in virtue of his prayers,

may he
an intercessor between God and man. As such, Abraham
will pray for Abirnelech, i.e. make intercession for him in
the matter of his illness. See Knobel 1 regarding intercession
as part of the
prophetic calling. G. Baur 2 and Konig 3

give a wider meaning to the word prophet.

iT.n]
a consecutive imperative; 4 thus thou shalt not die,
of the illness, but become well again.
fenn strictly prove one's self an arbiter or mediator,
5
is the word for intercede, and differs from iny, ch. xxv. 21.
Ver. 8. Abimelech obeys the nocturnal warning as from
God; his servants also, the officials, whom he informs of
what has occurred, are affected by a like wholesome fear,
and agree that he should act as he has been directed.
Ver. 9 f. Abraham is summoned, but in the first place

upbraided by the king for his conduct. You have done

deeds wliicli are not done, i.e. acted in a
way contrary to the
6
practice (morality) of men everywhere. What have you seen,
had in view, intended, by your false statement. In Arabic
HNI is also thus used.

Ver. 11 f. Abraham justifies himself. 'JVC'S; must be

supplied before mDN ^7
s

P! the signification certainly* is not proved even by

Num. xx. 1 9 and Ps. xxxii. 6 ; only, in the sense of at least,
suits everywhere.

Owing to the general absence of piety among the

9
population, he was apprehensive
of being murdered if he
10
acknowledged himself to be Sarah's husband. Besides, Sarah
was really his sister, though her mother was not his. The
latter statement is not made in xi. 29, and is not necessarily
"
implied in xii. 13. Marriages of the kind thus implied are
1
Prophetisnius, i. 213. 2
On Amos iii.
n 4
Ojfcnbarmuj, i. 69. Ewald, 23:>.
5
Ver. 17 ; Num. xi. 2, xxi. 7 ;
Deut. ix. 20, 26.
6 7
Comp. xxxiv. 7.
Comp. xxvii. 20, xxxi. 31.
8 9 10
Knobel, Delitxsch. See xv. 16. Comp. xii. 12.
122 GENESIS XX. 13, 14 F. [281

forbidden in the law, 1 but occurred among Canaanites, Arabs,

2
Egyptians, Assyrians, and Persians, and according to this
" a
passage also among the Hebrews of pre-Mosaic times ;

4
they are, of course, however, to be judged in accordance with

their original ethnological significance ;

it was intended to

represent the blood of the race as pure and unmixed.

see ch. xii. 17.

N as in Josh. vii. 20 ;
the Samaritan has EJr 5
?, as in

xviii. 13.

Ver. 13. The matter had been arranged between him

and Sarah so long ago as when they migrated from their
ancestral home.
The account of xii. 11 is different. It is also to be
remarked that nothing is here said of a call, as in ch. xii.

1 ii'., but that God nynn, led him away from known
astray, or

paths, to foreign parts, i.e. sent him forth to wander without

a definite goal. Comp. nyh in xxxvii. 15, and how Jacob is.

called *nx in Deut. xxvi. 5.

5
lynn, plural, because heathen are addressed ;
ver. 6 is,

of course, no proof against this explanation. The same

construction occurs again in B in ch. xxxv. 7, but for a
different reason.

Dlpcrrb-ta i?K for 2 is due to the attraction of the

relative clause.

'V'HCN see note on ver. 2.

Ver. 14 f. Abimelech is satisfied with Abraham's ex-
planation, accompanies Sarah's restoration with gifts (as in
xii.
10), and allows Abraham to reside undisturbed in the
territory of Genir.
T:B{> see xiii. 9. The establishment of a prospective
claim to this 6
can be intended the
territory hardly by
7
:
-i-ssion.

ii. 1), 11, xx. 17 ; Deut. xxvii. 22.

riitSff. s
Knol>el.
'. -J: .-.lid xxix. :M5 B
if.
Ewald, 318a.
" '

169. 7
.

Comp< xiii> 9> xxxiv gOf.

281, L'NL']
GENESIS XX. 16 123

xv the Samaritan and Si'ptu.-igint add i

from ver. 16; nins^ is surprising in B

(vnncx in ver. 17);
it is either a late alteration, or along with 1 DHnjn due
to 7?.

Ver. 16. Formal acknowledgment is made that Sarah's

honour is untouched, it is confirmed by a special gift. The
*
thousand shekels of silver are not the value of the presents
mentioned in ver. 14,
2
for we see no reason for such a
calculation of their value ;
and these were, besides, out of
consideration for Abraham himself, to propitiate and honour
him, whereas the silver is a special and very handsome gift
to Abraham, the object of which is explained by Abimelech
to Sarah in the following sentence.
It is for you a covering of the eyes to all who are with you
it is given for Sarah and on her account, and is intended
to veil the eyes of all those about her, so that they may
become blind to what has occurred, and may no longer see
3
the dishonour she has met. -jriK ~ic N hih
cannot signify in ;

reference to all that has occurred to you* nor can 5o^*-fesh f

which indeed the reading of the Samaritan and Septuagint.
is

Consequently, W> must express those whose eyes are to be

covered, and ^
must be dativus corn-modi "H? cannot be the ;

one who is
"
to be made blind,
6
for 'ji W would then have no
meaning. For many reasons we cannot suppose that the
thousand shekels were to procure a veil which Sarah was
afterwards to wear." 7 Nor can son be intended for Abraham
8
himself, then the purpose of the thousand shekels would
for

not be stated at all. The present may be rightly taken to

be a covering of the eyes, inasmuch as Abimelech by it, as
9
if
by a witness, confirms his confession of the wrong he had
1 25 2
Gesenius, 134. 3A. 3. Knobel, Keil.
3
Conip. xxxii. 21 So Hofmann, Mu'ifthcv:eis, 2
;
Job ix. 24. ii. 1, 233.
4
Schumann, Gesenius, Thi^mrun Tuch, Knobel. ;

5
Delitzsch 4 .
(:
Delitzsch 5 .

7
J. D. Micliaelis, Dathe, Rosenmuller, von Bolilen, Baumgarten,
Knobel.
8
Urn Ezra, Ewald, 1236. <J
Cli. xxi. 30.
124 GENESIS XX. 17 [282,283

done Sarah; and this witness in the hand of her brother,

accepted and acknowledged by him, prevents any dishonour
to Sarah being afterwards seen.

fevifcn not co-ordinate with ^N,

1
so that we translate
" "
what has happened to you and to all for nx does not allow
;

of this sense at all, and nothing had taken place affecting

"
all." Nor is it co-ordinate with DW niDD "J^,
2
it is to be

taken with nroai as the Massoretes direct, and before all,

thou, etc.
3
nro:i for the construction with i, thus, see Ewald ;

4
nnaa meaning attainted or convicted of wrong, is linguistic-

ally possible, but unsuitable seeing that Abimelech cannot

here be reproving Sarah. Taken as passive of irain, cum
accusative reif we may translate evidenced, demonstrated, sc.

6
as one to whom wrong has been done, or as passive of h rroin

it will mean in the right, justified. In this case it is best

to point J?^, 7
for after waw consecutive a perfect, 2 f. s., is

alone place, not a participle feminine, as if that could

in

stand for ws n naiads or even signify, and as for everything it

9
is arranged, decided.It is syntactically impossible also to
take the word as a feminine substantive, decision. Olshausen
doubts the correctness of the reading.
"
Ver. 17. After this reconciliation, Abraham makes inter-
cession for Abimelech, 10 and God removes his illness and that
of his wives. As in ch. xii. 17, our author does not indicate
precisely the nature of the illness ; according to ver. 6 it
was at all events one which prevented sexual intercourse.
11
Compare the plague sent on the Philistines, and Herodotus'
12
account 13
of certain diseases among the Scythian women."

1
Tuch, Knobel. 2
Gesenius.
K46. 4
Gesenius.
'

Job xix. 5. Job

E.g. Isa. xi. 4
/:.</. xiii. 15, xvi. 21.
;
7 < 8
Kwal.l, ;
lit:,/,. Delitzsch 5 .

''

Il'.fmaiin, I'.imsiMi ; Bottcher partially.

" ver. 7. 11
1 Sam. v. 6, 9, 12, vi. 4 f.
12
i. lor,, iv. (57.
" Al,o WiiM.r, 3 ii.254f. Knobel.
283] GENESIS XX. 18 125

It is to be noted that we were not toM up to this point

that Abimelech and his wives were unwell ;

the style is

awkward. 1
2
n^l and they bore children, or better, and they had
children? so that Abimelech is included in the subject ;

corap. n^ in Hos. ix. 16 and Zech. xiii. 3. The reading

4
H^l would introduce an alien element.
nes common in this writer for nnsr, 5 although strictly

there is a distinction between the two words.

Ver. 18 explains what has just been said by the state-
ment that Jahve had on Sarah's account closed every womb
in the household of Abimelech. The expression is used
elsewhere of incapacity to conceive, 7 possibly 8 also of in-

capacity on the part of a pregnant woman to bring forth.

The explanation therefore, so far as it refers to the wives of
Abimelech's household, is general enough to be appropriate,

but it overlooks the fact that according to ver. 17 Abimelech

himself was prevented by illness from sexual intercourse, 9
and it leaves the impression that the cause of children not
being born lay only in the women. For this reason, and
because of the use of the word mrp, the verse is to be
10
regarded as an addition by .ft. In consequence of the
position given to the passage by R, Sarah could not have
been long at the royal court, 11 and the incapacity of the
women to conceive could not have been so quickly noticeable.
Accordingly, R desired to lay stress on their incapacity to
12
bear children, and has therefore taken nny in this latter
sense.
1 2
See on xiv. 24. Ewald, 1916.
3
Knobel.
Bredenkarnp, ZKW. 1882, p. 671 f.
4

5
Ch. xxi. 10-13, xxx. 3, xxxi. 33 ;
Ex. ii. 5, and frequently ;
see
ver. 14.
"
G
1 Sam. xxv. 41. See on xvi. 2.
8
Isa. Ixvi. 9, xxxvii. 3. 9
Ver. 6.
10
Tuch, Knobel, Hupfeld, Delitzsch, Schrader, Wellhausen, Kuenen.
11 12
See xxi. 2. Tuch, Knobel.
126 GENESIS XXI [283,284

7. ISAAC'S BIRTH AND THE EXPULSION OF ISHMAEL,

CH. XXI. 1-21 FOLLOWING A, C, AND B.
;

Sarah's long-promised son comes at last, is circumcised

when eight days old in accordance with the covenant, and is

named Isaac (vv. 17). After Isaac is weaned, Abraham, on
Sarah's demand, is obliged to send from the house Ishmael
and his mother, in order that the former may not inherit

along with Isaac. In the wilderness, Hagar, thus cast out,

has experience of God's care. Her son grows up under
God's protection and settles in the desert of Paran, where he
takes an Egyptian to be his wife (vv. 821). Thus Abraham,
after God's great central promise has been fulfilled to him,
must yet soon resign another possession which had become
dear to him, and by this obedience testify his faith in the
realisation of the divine covenant in Isaac.
In the passage, vv. 15 and 2& 5 are to be assigned to A
"
because of the reference of vv. 2& and 4 to ch. xvii.,
because of the statement of age in ver. 4, the expanded
l
style of ver. 3, and the form J"isp in ver. 5." The account
was his continuation of ch. xvii. and ch. xix. 2 9 ;
but R, as in
ch. xvii. 1, must have altered the original DTI^N of ver. 1&
into miT. (7, of course, also wrote an account of the birth
of Isaac, but R has
taken nothing from it except vv. la, 2a, 7.
At least, la would be incomprehensible as an unconstrained
addition of R's not found in C, but nevertheless put alongside
of ver. 11 in vv. 25 and 7 np6 is evidence for C, and in
;

ver. 7 the duplication of ver. II. Vv. 6 and 8-21, are on the
oilier hand, in spite of their use of D'nta, not from A. The
apparition of the ^D
(ver. 17), the explanation of the name
KJ (ver.
G), the whole story of the expulsion of Hagar
;ind Islmmcl, and, in particular, the age of Ishmael at the
linn- ni' tin- expulsion (see ver. 15), conflict with A's author-
"
ship. Kxpn-ssions also like God was with him (ver. 20),
yotf (ver. 12), np:n o^n (ver. 14), ma jm (ver. 11 f.),
1

Knobel. [For riND see note on xvii. 17.]

284] GENESIS XXI. 1-3 F. 127

cna (ver. 10), and ^ (vv. 8, 14 ff.), are alien to him." 1

Against C's authorship there is, besides the diviim name

used, the difference of his explanation of the name Isaac 2

from that in ver. 6, and, above all, the fact that vv. 9-21
are a variant of the legend regarding Hagar and Ishmael
which has already been narrated by C in ch. xvi. Accord-
ingly, only B can be the author. Evidence for him, apart
from the use of the word DTita, is found in the locality of
the incident, the Negeb, 3 and in the use of the rare words

npn (vv. 14 f., 19), nnp ( ve r. 1C), ntfp nan ( ve r. 20), and of
expressions such as HDN (vv. 10, 12 f.), ^ Dib' (vv. 13, 18),
prnn (ver. 16), and rm&rij; (ver. 11). Only in ver. 14 the
hand of R or of a later editor has interfered, and after ver.

17 something has been omitted. Beyond all doubt in A and

C Isaac was born in Mamre.
y

Vv. 1-7. The birth of Isaac.

Ver. \a is certainly not from A, who writes lit, 4 not
npD ;
it refers back to xviii. 1 ff. and is from C, who, like B,
uses Ips. Ver. 16 is from A, and the reference is to xvii. 16
and 21. But R has put rnrv for DTita, as in xvii. 1, because
two divine names in sentences otherwise
of the same meaning

would have produced erroneous impressions. The Sept. has

Kvpios in vv. 2 and 6 also. A similar tautology between

two parts of the same verse is found in Num. xxii. 3.

Ver. 26 is certainly from A. Comp. *\yxh in xvii. 21,
found, however, in xviii. 14 also. The first part of the verse,
because of PJpA, in his old age, 5 must be from C. Only if
V3pti has been introduced by R from ver. 7 could it belong
to A.

Ver. 3 f. The naming and circumcision of Isaac as

required by xvii. 12, 19.

Anfrtin the perf. with an article instead of a relative ;

but see ch. xviii. 21.

1 2
Knobel. Ch. xviii. 12.
3 4
Comp. xx. 1. Ch. viii. 1, xix. 29.
5
Cf. ver. 7, xxxvii. 3, xliv. 20.
 128 GENESIS XXI. 5-8 [284, 285

\Vr. 5. Comp. ch. xvii. 1, 24. The accus. with the pass.

as in ver. 8, iv. 18, xvii. 5.

Ver. 6 is from ,
who explains Isaac's name, otherwise
than A l
or C, 2 by the joyful utterance of the mother on the
birth of her son. God, she says, has prepared laughter for
her, everyone who hears of her son will laugh at her 3 in
wonder. So understood, the two parts of the verse do not
exclude one another. What God has done to her is a

subject for laughter to herself and to others. It is therefore

unnecessary to assign Qb to and to put it after ver. 7. 4

PW, see ch. ii. 12, 23.

Ver. 7. Another saying of Sarah's, introduced by a second
ISNJTI, is reported; it gives expression to her joyful surprise,
and is in poetical form ;
hence the use of 29D, not found else-
where in the Pentateuch.
M>D ''ID who ever said, 5 i.e. who would ever have said, 6
have thought might say. So
that he the Vulgate ; the
7
Septuagint has wrongly T/<? dvayyeXei.
8
D^l- generic plural.
Wp6 the Sept. has iv ra> yrjpa fj,ov, but comparison with
ver. 2 and the repetition of -lEsm make it probable that the
verse is from C.
Vv. 8-21. Expulsion of Hagar and her son. It is from
-#, and parallel to the narrative of xvi. 4 ff. in
nothing is ;
A
found regarding an expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael. 9
Ver. 8. Isaac is weaned after he has grown big. 10
"
Children were often late in being weaned, sometimes after
the age of three n or four 12 years. The occasion was cele-
1
Ch. xvii. 17. 2
ch xv jij
e 12
8
Job v. 22, xxxix. 7, xviii. 22 ; Ps. lix. 9, etc.
4
Budde, Urgeschichte, p. 224 ; Kittel, Geschichte, p. 137 [History of the
ll>
'trews, vol. i.
p. 152].
6
Comp. Num. xxiii. 10 Prov. xxx. 3f.; Job ; xli. 5.
8
Gen. xviii. 12 Gesenius, 25 106. 4.
;
7
g Tucli.
8
As Ex. xxi. 22 1 Sam. xvii. 43 Song ii. 9.
; ;
"
s '-'' xxv. 9. 10
! Sam. i. 23 f.
11
2 Mace. vii. 27 ; Mungo
Park, Travels (1799), p. 265 (Germ. tr. 237).
11, Aleppo (1794), i. p. 303 (Germ. tr. i. 427).
285] GENESIS XXL 0-1 L' 129

brated by Abraham a.s a family festival, as it still is in tin-

l
East."
2
tn^i, a.s in ver. 20; ^J'l, see Gesenius; nn^b, see
ch. xix. 3.
"
Ver. 9 f. On this occasion Sarah sees Hagar's son pnvo,
4
making fun? i.e. playing as lively children do, skipping about
and dancing; 5 her maternal jealousy is aroused, and she
demands his expulsion and that of Hagar, that he may not
mlit-riialong with her sou. pnv cannot be explained as
7
implying that Ishmael mocked, for the word without a

preposition is not so used. Still less can we suppose that

Isaac was persecuted,8 or that there was a quarrel about the
9 10
inheritance, or that idol worship is implied," the less seeing
that, according to ver. 14ff., Ishmael was still very young.
pnxp is the pausal pronunciation. 11
It is to be observed that neither here nor in the con-
tinuation of the narrative is
Hagar's son named by his name
Ishmael ; see, further, the note on ver. 17.
Abraham is displeased with the demand, not so
Ver. 11.
much on account of Hagar, though see ver. 12, as on
account of the son whom he now loved as his own.
miK ^y on account of the turnings or circumstances =
1Z
because of, a rare expression, elsewhere found in .

Ver. 12. But what a woman's jealousy impels Sarah to

1
Morier, Second Journey through Persia, etc., p. 107 ; von Schubert,
Reisen, ii. 48. Knobel.
2 3
51A. 2. Ch. xix. 14.
4
Zech. 5 (Dillmann) ; Sept. and Graecus Venetus,
viii. veci^vra. ;

the Sept. adds psra, 'I<7a rov viov oivTYi? ; Vulgate, ludentem.
5
Ex. xxxii. 6 Judg. xvi. 29 ; 2 Sam. vi. 5.
;

6
So, rightly, Ilgen, Gesenius, Tuch.
7
As Kimchi, Vatablus, Piscator, Grotius, J. D. Michaelis, Schumann,
von Bohlen, Baumgarten, Keil.
8
Gal. iv. 29, Rosenmiiller, Delit/.sch.
9
Ancient Jewish expositors, Fagius.
10
Jonathan, Rashi, Knobel.
11
As Ex. xxxii. 6 ;
Deut. xxxii. 11 ;
see Gesenius, 25 52. 2A. 2.
12
Ver. 25 (xxvi. 32), Ex. xviii. 8 ;
Num. xii. 1, xiii. 24 ; Josh. xiv. 6 ;

also in the Samaritan of Gen. xx. 3.

DILLMANN. II.
130 GENESIS XXI. 13, 14 [285, 286

wish is for other reasons in accordance with God's will.

A In a ham is instructed by God to deny his paternal feelings

and to obey his wife in all.

yT"^ impersonal, let it not make you sorry; whatever

she says to you, listen to her voice.
For in or through Isaac will seed "be named to you, i.e. " in
the line of Isaac those will be descended from you who will

bear your name, the Abrahamites proper, who as such are

the heirs of the divine promise, namely, the Israelites, who
were the descendants of Abraham chosen by God." :
Ch.
xvii. 19 and 21 are explanatory of this in A.
Ver. 13. "Ishmael, however, as Abraham's offspring, will
also become a great people comp. xvii. 1 9 f. in A. This ;

promise makes it easier for the father to send away his son."

^ D'P "as in ver. 18 and xlvi. 3 from the same

2
author"; comp. Josh. vi. 18.
ti5) nstfn the Samaritan and Septuagint have nTn nEKn
^nj ^; see ver. 18.

Ver. 14. "Directly on the morning after this revelation,

3
which, therefore, took place in the night, Abraham carries
out the divine command. He takes bread and a skin of
water both, along with the boy, he hands over 4 to Hagar,
;

who, being thus driven out, wanders about in the desert of

5
BeershebaV The last statement makes it probable that
in j5's account Abraham was then in Beersheba' ;
see
ver. 22ff.

non for non, because of the

following tone syllable,
6
construct from ripn the word only occurs in this passage. 7
;
L O
D^ in 8
perfect, explanatory apposition to fn?!.

1
Knobel. Comp. Isa. xli. 8 ; Rom. ix. 7 ; Heb. xi. 18.
2
Knobel.
3
ChB. xv. 1, xx. 3, 6, xxii. 1, xxvi. 24, xxxi. 11, 24, xlvi. 2.
4 *
Ch. xviii. 7. See ver. 31. Knobel.
6
Vv. 15,19; Ewald, 2116.
7
See, further, Wellsted [Travels in Arabia. 1838, vol. i. p 89 fl
h
* tr. i. 66 if.

Kwald, 346a.
m\] GENESIS XXL 15, 16 131

i^rrnxi a second object to the verb ;m, imi to nr2U'-^ r:v

at least not in the present text. There is n<> ivasmi for

explaining the words RO3B^P Db to be a gloss by R~ but

may well be a harmoiiistic correction for o^l

,
which the reading of the Septuagint.
is The
transposition of liwrnw to a place after nrfe'l 3 is un-
called for.

Ver. 15. The water in the skin having been exhausted,

Hagar throws the boy down in the shade under a bush.

Regarding DT (ch. ii.

5), the desert shrub, see on Job
4
xxx. 4.
The expositors make vain endeavours to transmute the
casting down of the child into a quickly dispose of, in order to

get rid of the representation that Hagar had before carried

her son. According A, Ishmael would be at least sixteen
to
5
years old at the time. But the very fact that he is tired
out before his mother, apart from the iw of ver. 20, shows
that B regards him as younger, 6 as a yet tender boy who
must be carried or helped along by his mother.

Ver. 16. She herself sat down opposite him, e conspectu?

8
making a distance like bowmen, i.e. a bowshot away. ly, as in
ch. xii. 1.

^riDp const, plur. partic, Pilel from nnD, 9 not a sub-

10
stantive, bowshot ;
it is found only here.
3 n&o as in ch. xliv. 34 she acts thus that she
; may
not have to witness the death of her child.
The second part of the verse, according to Knobel, is an
insertion of the Jehovist, who alone writes blp Nbo,
11
and has
been added by him because he missed a mention of the

Schumann, von Bohlen, Tuch.

1
Raslii, Ilgen,
- 3
Knobel. Olshausen.
4 5
[Dillmann's Commentary.] Clis. xvi. 16, xvii. 25, xxi. f>.

6
Tuch.
7
Num. ii. 2 ;
2 Kings ii. 7 Obad. 11.
;

8
Ewald, 280a ; comp. Ex. xxxiii. 7 in B, and Josh. iii. 16.
9 25 10
Gesenius, 75 A. 18. Bottcher.
11
Chs. xxvii. 3tf, xxix. 11.
132 GENESIS XXI. 17-20 [286, 287

mother's weeping, which would be natural in the circum-

stances. The Septuagint gives -j:n rfap-ntf N'^I ;
and this
1
may have been the original reading, which was corrected
2
because of the (supposed) age of the IP" ; comp. ver. 14.
In that case the words IMD Ettrn, which are in the Septuagint
"
text also, mean so that she then sat, and while she so sat

the boy began to cry loudly." the Sept. reading be not

If

adopted we must, in explaining ver. 17 a, help ourselves out

by recourse to the fact of U's awkward stylism remarked in
ch. xx. 17.

Ver. 17. God hears the voice of the weeping boy, and
the angel of God 3 calls from the sky 4
and speaks words of

encouragement to Hagar, telling her that God has heard the

"
boy where he is, i.e. the answer to the cry is on
voice of the
5
the spot where he is lying."
Taken along with what has been remarked on ver. 10,
the conjecture forces itself upon us that an explanation of
the name Ishmael was here given by B, but that omitted R
the sentence or sentences in which he did so in consequence
of the insertion of the passage in its present context.
"
D s r6N* fipD found in the Pentateuch only in the work
of this author." 6

Ver. 18. He instructs her to take up the

boy and
make her hand fast on him, take him by the hand, for
he is not to perish, but to become a great people
(comp.
ver. 13).

Ver. 19. God opened her eyes, caused her to what

perceive
she had not seen before The
(comp. ch. iii. 5, 7). spring
which she now saw is the answer to the boy's cry, spoken of
in ver. 17.
Ver. 20. God VMS with the loy, "was his attendant and
pr-aector, so that he grew up prosperously. The phrase i&

* I"- 2
Kautzsch-Socin.
1

:;<1
""M>. xvi. 7H .
<Ch. xxi. 11.
*
Ver. 19. Knoljel.
CliH. xxviii. U, xxxi. 11, xxxii. 2 Ex. xiv.
; 19. KnobeL
287] GENESIS XXI. 21 133

never found in A, but frequently in the <;ther writer

For H^i, see ver. 8.
He dwelt in the desert south of Cana in,- and lecame, as
he grew up? an archer. This is the interpretation of the
"
Massoretes and of Jerome also. But the fact of growth
already been stated in the word in^i, and it is better to read
ni p rah = archer." 4 nun is then taken as = 3m and not
>: 5 (;
:

so the Septuagint and Onkelos. Kimchi, Delitzsch, and

others declare for the same sense, but with the retention of
the Massoretic punctuation ;
a marksman, a boivman (comp.
"
ch. xiii. 8). Several of the Ishmaelite tribes, e.g. the Kedar-
7
enes and the Itureans, distinguished themselves in the
use of this weapon ;
their ancestor is delineated accordingly ;

8
comp. xvi. 12."

Ver. 21. He settled in the desert of Paran, west of

10
Edom, 9 and his mother, who was herself an Egyptian, took
for him 11 an Egyptian wife (see note on ch. xvi. 1).

8. ABRAHAM'S COVENANT WITH ABDIELECH, AND HIS CLAIM

TO BEERSHEBA, CH. XXL 22-34 ;
ACCORDING TO B, THE
CONCLUSION FROM E FOLLOWING C.

At this time Abimelech, influenced by Abraham's good

fortune, made a covenant of friendship with the patriarch,
and on the occasion Abraham recovered a well which
Abimelech's people had taken from him. Hence the name
of the place Beersheba' (vv. 2231). Abraham dwelt a
long time in the land of the Philistines, and worshipped
Jahve at Beersheba' (vv. 32-34).
This narrative stands in no very close connection with
the history of how Abraham was proved by God. It bears

1
Ver. 22, ch. xxvi. 3, 24, 28, xxviii. 15, xxxi. 3, xxxv. 3, xxxix.
2 f., 21, 23, xlviii. 21
; Ex. iii. 12, 18, 19, and frequently. Knobel.
2 3 job xxx i x 4. *
Ver. 14. . Knobel.
5 c
See Gen. xlix. 23. Comp. Jer. iv. 29; Ps. Ixxviii. 9.
T
See ch. xxv. 13, 15. 8
Knobel. 9
See Num. x. 12.
10
Ver. 9, xvi. 1.
n Cf. xxxiv. 4, xxxviii. 6 ; Judg. xiv. 2.
134 GENESIS XXT. 22, 23 [287,288

witness to the consideration enjoyed among the natives of

the country by the man of God, and

1
to the prudent wisdom
with which he lived among them, and at the same time
establishes Abraham's right to the possession of Beersheba.
It has been placed in its present position because it already
followed the preceding incident in It's own writing. It
2
cannot come from A's hand. The proofs of U's authorship
3
are found in the vocabulary, and in the coincidences of its

scene and personages with those of ch. xx., as well as in the

highly peculiar description of the conclusion of the covenant.

In view of ch. xxvi. 27 ff. the narrative cannot belong to C.

Only ver. 8 2 f may be taken to be an insertion from C, and

.

ver. 34 to be added by R as a preparation for ch. xxii.

"
Ver. 22. Abimelech 4 has a special leader for his
fighting men, and is thus more powerful than Abraham

(ch. xiv. 14), who is never called *]ta. But he thinks a

treaty with the patriarch advisable, seeing that God is with
Abraham in all his undertakings, 5
and makes him continually
" 6
stronger (comp. ch. xiv. 13).

fash the name only occurs again in ch. xxvi. 26.

Abimelech and Phikhol, 7 i.e. along ivith, or in the presence of,
Phikhol. Phikhol is present as witness, because the intention
is to make a treaty. Here and in ver. 32, according to the

Septuagint, injno nrnx was also present, as in ch. xxvi. 26.

Ver. 23. Abraham is asked to take an oath.
n here, strictly hither,
8
with a reference to Beersheba,
?i?

the name of which the author means to explain,

9
and the
scene of the occurrence (comp. ver. 14).
DK see ch. xiv. 23 ;
that you will not lie to me nor to

1
Comp. cli. xiv.
2 <ln
Comp. kinflnesa (ver. 23) JV"D ITO (w. 27,
e.fj.
32), injn (ver. 30),
Vfra (ver. 26), njn (ver. 23).
3
Elohim (ver. 22), God is with him (ver. 22), especially rftiK ^ (ver.
and the rare
2~t),
73^ p (ver. 23).
4 *
( 'l'- xx. 2. Ver. 20. c
Knobel.
7
[Dill., con-i-t.-iitly, writes Abimelekh.]
b, xv. 16. ''

Knobel.
288] GENESIS XXI. 24-2!) I.",."

my sons and scions, will not be false to me or my descendants,

who expect kindness from you. Their relationship
already friendly, it was only to be formally secured for tin-
1
future. For the kindness already rendered, see xx. 15.
n alliteration, as in xviii.
?.?J P? 27; the phrase is also
found in Job xviii. 19 ;
Isa. xiv. 22.

Ver. 24 "The
peace-loving and upright patriarch is at
f.

once ready to accede to the proposal, but wishes first that

they should be agreed regarding a well which he had <lu^-,

and which Abimelech's servants had taken from him, 2 so that
afterwards there should be no disturbance of their compact
3
of friendship by any strife."
jotrK '3JK not " I swear herewith/' but, "
I (on iny part)

will swear."

naini not navi, because this calling of Abimelech to

account conies before the actual oath ;
for the verb, see
xx. 16.

1X3 for the article, comp. xvi. 7.

i>y see note, ver. 11.

Ver. 26. Abimelech excuses himself on the score of

ignorance. What follows implies that he gives back the

well.

Ver. 27. "Abraham gives presents, as was customary

when treaties were made, in order that he may dwell in 4

Gerar undisturbed, and be under the protection of Abimelech."

Ver. 28. But, besides, he placed apart separately the seven

lambs, i.e. those used when the oath was taken, jntr nN
" 5
|KSn rtaa, not seven lambs of the flock," for ns marks
determination. Nor need we assume that there is a refer-
ence to something omitted in the working together of two
accounts. 6 See on o^on isn in ver. 25.
Ver. 29. Abraham is asked what these are, i.e. what
their meaning is.

1 2 3
Knobel. See clis. xiii. 7, xxvi. 15 ff. Knobel.
4 5
Isa. xxx. 6, xxxix. 1 ;
1
Kings xv. 19. Delitzscli.
Kautzsch-Socin.
136 GENESIS XXI. 30, 31 [288, 289

nan as in xxv. 16, Zech. i. 9, iv. 5, and not meaning

here.
1
ntraa without article, but the Samaritan has nboan here
and in ver. 30.

Ver. 30. He explains, in order that it may be a witness to

"
me that I have dug this well By his acceptance of the gift,

Abimelech will declare that Abraham is its rightful possessor."

J

3
The feminine irnn hardly refers to nbOD, but to the whole
4
act.

irn3i> and Wjdi see Gesenius, 25 91. 1, and comp. ch.

xlii. 36.
Ver. 31. From this occurrence the place received its

name well of the seven, because there both pledged themselves, or

swore, ~by seven things. We here obtain a glimpse of one of

the oldest ways of solemnly affirming the sincerity of one's
5
pledge, and at the same time a glimpse into the origin of the
word 2320.
"
A parallel is found in Herodotus,
6
where we
are told that the Arabs took as their witnesses seven stones,
which lay between the contracting parties, and were smeared
with their blood." There is a similar ceremony in the Iliad 7 ;

" 8
according to Pausanias, Tyndareus made Helen's wooers
swear to protect her over the divided body of a horse slain in

sacrifice ;
seven pillars were erected on the spot in memory
9
of the act."
The government of a numeral by a construct was probably
once usual in Canaanite but not in Hebrew. 10 This explains
all the more naturally why, as is shown by 'y\ ^D, the
;

Hebrews found in the word yzv "i3 not so much the numeral
7 as the idea of oath, and that
although yntr does not occur
1 25
Gesenius, 126. 5 A. la; comp. Num. xi. 25.
2
Knobel. Comp. xx. 16, and Ewald, Alterthtimer, 8 24 [Antiquities,
p, 18].
8
On tin-
principle explained in Gesenius,
25
145. 4.
4
Comp. Job iv. 5 Micah i. 9, etc. ;
5
>n the same
subject, see notes on ch. xv.
<
9.
'Oh. iii. 8. 7
xiXi2 4 3ff> 8iii> 20.9.
Knolml. See, further, Ewald, Alterthiimer,* 24 [Antiquities, p. 18].
10
Ewald, 2936 ; Geschichte,* i. 488, 494 [History, vol. i. pp. 340, 344].
L'.viiJ
GENESIS XXI. 32-34 137

in the Old Testament in the sense It is by no

of '~WTJ .

ni'-ans clear that the text contains a double derivation of the

name, from yap and yntw

1
and 0, to whom alone the doublet
J

might be due, is excluded by ch. xxvi. 33 from being the

"
author of an explanation here. Ch. xxvi. 33 contains
another view as to the origin of the name."
"
Beersheba', according to the Onomasticon,la,y 20 Roman
2
miles south of Hebron. According to Eobinson, the modern
f
the lion well,' 3 is twelve hours
'
Bir es-Seba , interpreted as
from Hebron. There are still ruins there, in the neighbour-
4
hood of which are two wells (cisterns) with excellent water."
Vv. 32-34. See general remarks above. Ver. 32a is not
5
the original continuation of 31&, and still dependent on '?.

The words jn" iton prevent our supposing

;
so. It appears

rather to have been inserted from by R, as ver. 33

certainly was. 6', in that case, also recounted a stay of

Abraham's in Beersheba' and a covenant with Abimelech, but

without here, thus early, explaining the origin of the name of
the place (comp. ch.xii. 8 with xxviii. 19). It is in any case

certain that ver. o2b does not belong to B, for he does not

anywhere speak Abimelech's coming to where Abraham

of
6 7
was, and Abimelech is king of Gerar in his narrative, and

not king of the Philistines, as in C. 8 Ver. 3 3 is from C, as is

9
indicated by the words mrp Dsrn tr^l. At most, the first
clause of the verse may have stood in R 10

"Near Beersheba' a famous tamarisk tree seems to have

stood. According to the legend, it was planted by Abraham,
who had lived there. In later times there existed a sanc-
tuary and a priesthood in Beersheba'. 11 Legend, therefore
made it a place consecrated by the patriarchs as a place of

1 2 5
Kautzsch-Socin. Palestine, ii. 568.
3
But see ZDMG. xxii. 177 [refer, by Dillmann].
4
See Robinson, Palestine, 3 i. 204 ; Russegger, Reisen, iii. 71 ; Seetzen,
iii. 31 f.
5 6 7
Wellhausen. Ver. 22. Ch. xx.
8 9
Ch. xxvi. 8 ff. See ch. iv. 26.
10
Wellhausen, JBDTh. xxi. 408. " Amos v. 5, viii. 14.
138 GENESIS XXI. 34-XX1I [289, 290

worship."
l
The identity of this Beersheba with that men-
2
tioned by Amos has been disputed.
7w'tf tamarisk. 5 The renderings apovpa (Sept. 4 ), Sev&pwv
(Aquila), and fyvreia (Sym. Onkelos, Pesh.) seem due to the
same intentional avoidance of the mention of a sacred tree,

as in the translation sotrc for f6x (see ch. xii. 6).

DTiy 75$ see notes on chs. xvii. 1 and xiv. 18. The
name is quite appropriate here, where the context concerns
an oath and contract but it also vividly reminds one, like
;

P7V in ch. xiv. 18, of the Canaanite Kpovos, 5 Xpovos ayrfparos.6

Yer. 34. Abraham dwells for a long time in the land of
the Philistines. This is remarked because in ch. xxii. 6

Isaac is already fairly grown up.

7
Vv. 33 and 34 are hardly to be transposed, for

although arras would be more in place at the beginning

than in the following verse, ver. 33 attaches itself to ver.
32 in its mention of locality, and not to ver. 34. The
Septuagint, Samaritan, Peshitta, and Vulgate have an
after yen (as also in ver. 30 after

9. THE SACRIFICE OF ISAAC, CH. XXII. 1-19;

FOLLOWING B AND R.

Isaac had now grown to be a lad when Abraham receives

from God a command regarding him. The boy is his only
son, yet he is told to offer him to God in sacrifice. Obedient
and devoted, he makes the necessary preparations, and betakes
himself to the appointed place of sacrifice, resolved to satisfy
even this extreme demand. His hand is even raised to slay

1
Comp. xxvi. 25, xlvi. 1 see on ch. xii. 7. Knobel.
;

2
E.g.by Halevy, REJ. 1885, No. xxi. p. 75 ff.
3
Low, Aramaische Pflanzennamen, p. 65 f. ; Mordtmann-Miiller,
iiische Denkmaler, p. 65.
4
Also 1 Sam. xxii. 6, xxxi. 13.
'

Kiis.-liiu>, /Yrry/r. Knunji'lim, i. 10. 13 ff.

'

I'.iiuax'ius, De Princi-piis, 123 (p. 381 f. ed. Kopp).

7
HupiVM, nunllen der Genesis, p. 148.
L'IMi]
(1KNKSIS XXII 139

his sonwhen he hears the divine voice, clear and distinct,

saying that God does not desire the completion of tin-
sacrifice, with the proved willingness of the
but is satisfied

patriarch to surrender even his dearest to Him. The animal

which is to be substituted in his son's place stands there
ready by Divine Providence, and is sacrificed for him. The
reward of his perfected obedience and faith is a solemn
renewal of all the divine promises hitherto given him. The
spot where this all took place was Moriah. By it (1)
Abraham's faith is triumphantly established in the face of the
most severe test of all; (2) his son is a second time granted
to his faith, and preserved as the foundation-stone in the build-
ing of the Church of God; (3) above all, in contradistinction

to Canaanite practice, the knowledge that God does not desire

human sacrifices is acquired and secured for all time to corne.
The memory that, in the matter of child sacrifice, the
Hebrews once stood on a level with the other Semites
and Canaanites, distinctly shines through the narrative. But
it is equally clear that a higher faith must long have been

common property in the Jsraelitish community, before it

could reflect itself in such a story in the legends regarding
Abraham. Human sacrifice, and especially child sacrifice,
" 2
was widely spread among the Canaanites, 1 Phoenicians,
Carthaginians, and Egyptians, 4 and among the Moabites 5
3

and Ammonites, who were akin to Israel and by these

sacrifices honoured Moloch 6 it was also practised among ;

Aramean and Arabian peoples."

7
The legal enactments

1 "2
Kings xvi. 3Ps. cvi. 37 f ." ;

2
Porphyry, De Abstinentia, ii. 56 Eusebius, Prceparatio Evangelica, ;

i.
10, and De Laudibus Constantini, xiii. 4.
3
Diodorus, xx. 14 Plutarch, De Superstitione, 12 Pliny, Hist. Xnt-
; ;

xxxvi. 39 ; Silius Italicus, iv. 767 ff. ; Justin, xviii. 6, xix. 1 ; Lactantius,
Institt. i. 21.
4
Diodorus, i. 88 ; Plutarch, De hide, 73.
5 c
2 Kings iii. 27. Lev. xviii. 21, xx. 2 ff.

31; Lucian, De dea Syria, 58; Porphyry, loc. cit.;

7 2 Kings xvii.

Eusebius, Prcepar. Evany, iv. 16. Knobel. See also Wellhausen,

,
iii. 37, 39, 112f.
140 GENESIS XXII [290, 291

against Judges, ch. xi., show that the

the practice, 1 and
Israelites of even post-Mosaic times had not entirely shaken

off such practices. Child sacrifice continually threatened to

re-establish itself, being aided in especial by the recognised
2
sanctity attaching to a firstborn and it again gained ;

wider currency from the time of Ahaz. 3 It was, without

doubt, of the highest importance in the struggle with this

error which it was so difficult to eradicate, that the writers of
the earliest history of Israel clearly taught in Abraham's life,

and by his example, in what sense it is that God desires the

sacrifice even of one's dearest child, and in what sense He
does not ;
and also that they proved that the full truth on
the matter in dispute had long ago been attained.
The narrative was originally composed by B^ and not
5
by C, although much in the language reminds us of the
latter. The proofs are the prevailing use of DT&K or
6
DTOtcn, the revelation in a nocturnal vision (ver. I), the
calls and replies (vv. 1, II),
7
in particular, the angel's calling
from the sky (ver. II), 8 the use of nb in a local sense (ver. 5),
and the result of a comparison of ver. 13 with ch. xxi. 19.
But vv. 1518, to begin with, are not from B, seeing that the
second angelic revelation which
they contain is appended in
the manner of an
afterthought, instead of continuing ver.
9
12, and connects itself in expression and thought with

C"s writing.
Similarly also n^fcn, in ver. 2, the related ver.
14, and the name njrp i n ver. 11. It is certain, therefore,
that the text of B
has undergone revision, partly that Moriah
might be introduced as the scene of the sacrifice (vv. 2, 14),
partly that this greatest act of faith on Abraham's part might

1
Lev. xviii. 21, xx. 2 ff. Deut. xii. 31. ;

Comp. Ezek. xx. 26 with Ex. xxii. 28, xiii. 12, and Micah vi. 7.
2 Kings xvi. 3, xvii. xxi. xxiii. 10
17, Ps. cvi. 37 f.
6, Jer. ; ;
vii. 31,
xix. f>, xxxii. 3f> E/.ck. xvi. 20f.
;

4
Hiipfc-ld, Schrader, Kayser, Wellhausen, Kuenen, Onderzoek* i.

141, 247 ; Kittel, Delitzsch,

5
Kautzscli-Socin.
K nnlM-1, Bbhmer. Comp. xx. 3, xxi. 12. Ch. xlvi. 2.
'

Hitzig, Begriff der Kritik, p. 167 f.

1U] GENESIS XXII. I, .3 141

be crowned by a ceremonious repetition of all tin- promises

(vv. 15-18). himself cannot have carried out this revision,

partly because vv. 1518 are added in too external a fashion,

partly because he would not have left the divine name

DT.i'S unchanged. We must rather recognise the hand of 7/,

to whom the expressions *T\y2V} u, niir ex:, -ii*

;
x \y\ T-\S apy,

"pnnn, are most easily attributed. It is indeed in itself

possible that C should

have contained a similar narrative, and
that R should have inserted from it the parts in question. 1
But we cannot why, in that case, he should not rather
see

have adopted the whole of C'a narrative in place of that of

//, and so return to the conclusion that these are additions of

the redactor himself.

For the various views of earlier scholars regarding the
narrative, see Schumann in Winer's Bealworterbuch* and
3 4
Ewald and Baudissin
regarding the remarkable and much-
quoted account of Sanchuniathon, which relates how Kronos
Israel sacrificed his only son Yeud, whom the nymph
Anobret had borne him. 5
Ver. 1. After these things see note on ch. xv. 1.

nD3 irnta"
1

! circumstantial clause introductory to "icari,

6 "
when God tempted Abraham, He said, no:, put to the test
in order to see (ver. 12) whether he would obey Him to the
" 7
uttermost ;
it is a word never found in A.

The vision is by night (ver. 3), as in xxi. 1 2 ff. In the Sept-

uagint God calls 'A/Bpadfj, 'Afipadfj,, as in the Hebrew of ver. 11.

Ver. 2. The severity of the demand is indicated by the

emphatic accumulation of the three accusatives. Thine only

one, who still remains to you after the dismissal of Ishniael,
8

and has the whole of your paternal love. 9

see ch. xii. 1.

1 6
Delitzsch, [New Commentary, ii.
p. 84] ; Kittel, Geschichte, p. 138-
[History, vol. i.
p. 152].
2 3
I. 13 f. Geschichte* i. 517 f.
[History, i.
p. 361].
4 154 5
Studien, ii. f.
Eusebius, Prwpar. Evangel, i. 10. 29 f.
6 7
Ex. xv. 25, xvi. 4, xx. 20. Kuobel.
8
Ch. xxi. 14 ff. Knobel.
142 GENESIS XXII. 2 [291, 292

Land of Moriali i.e.

neighbourhood of Moriah. 1
2
with article, is the name of the temple hill in Jerusalem,
from the time of Solomon the most important place of

worship in the In spite of the objections raised, 3

country.
this is the place we must suppose to be intended here, for no
other place of the name is found, and Abraham's greatest
deed of faith was best localised in a sacred spot of import-
ance. Besides, the indications of ver. 14 point to it at least
4
not less plainly than the play on the word in 2 Chron. iii. I.

5
Moreh, beside Shechein, mentioned in ch. xii. 6, is too un-

known in Israelitish history, and is too far from Beersheba'

6
to be reached from it so soon as by the third day (ver. 4).

There are, indeed, difficulties in the identification. Moriah,

as a name for the temple hill, even though it be not an
invention of the Chronicler suggested by this passage, 7 was
never in common use. It was all the less allowable, then, to
name the whole district after it, and speak of rmiDn pK, and
then by inversion from this to designate Moriah itself as
"
one of the hills of that region." But no other place of the
name is known, and the translations of the word as a common
noun by the Septuagint, 8 Aquila, 9 and Symmachus, 10 give no
tolerable sense even if the consonants of the text permitted
of them. We may therefore assume that some other word
stood in jB's original text, though, if so, certainly not pK
i.e. Shechem n for although the Samaritans
, (xxxiii. 19) ;

Comp. Num.
1
xxxii. 1 ; Josh. viii. 1, x. 41.
2
2 Chron. iii. 1 (Josephus, Antiquities, i. 13. 1 f.) ;
for the name see
Bertheau on 2 Chron. iii.
3
J. D. Michaelis, Supplementa ad Lexica
Hebraica, 1551 ff. ;
Janisch
trans. of Harnelsveld, Bibl. Geog. ii. 40 f.
4
Knobel, Delitzsch, Ewald, Geschichte* i. 476, iii. 313 [History of
Israel, i.
p. 332, iii. p. 230, note 4].
5
Preferred by Bleek, St. Kr. 1831, p. 520 ff., and Tuch.
According to Robinson (Itineraries, in Palestine 3
), about thirty-five
hours.
7
Wellhausen, JBDTh. xxi. 409 Baudissin, Studien, ii. 252.
;
H
K/V ryv yjji/ TW IA^AJJJ* comp. its translation of miD in ch. xii. 6, and
;

of tlin Samaritan.
*etT*$*i. 10
7% oirroMias. " Wellhausen.
2i)li]
GENESIS XXII. 3-(> 143

1
take Gerizim to be Moriah, it is doubtless only by
having brought ch. xii. 6 into consideration. noKn p, the
2
reading of the Peshitta, is more likely.

T^N ION T.TK as in xxvi. 2 ; comp. xii. 1.

Ver. 3. Abraham forthwith obeys straightway in the ;

"
morning he sets off with Isaac and two servants. He takes
the ass to carry the wood (ver. 6) and other sacrificial

requirements and provisions. The author does not say that

Abraham was repelled by the terrible character of the
sacrifice as such. Human sacrifices were usual among the

people in the midst of whom Abraham lived." 3

It is to be remarked that the words 'y\ IDX "i&TK do not

very well harmonise with 'N IDN *ICN in ver. 2, probably

because the text has been altered there.
Ver. 4. By the third day he sees the spot from a
" "
distance. The Septuagint wrongly takes on the third day
with the ^""i of ver. 3. For Dips see ch. xii. 6. According
to theOnomasticon? the distance from Beersheba' by Hebron
to Jerusalem amounted to 42 Eoman miles, about seventeen

hours' journey, according to Kobinson somewhat more. 5

Ver. 5. Some distance from the place he leaves the
servants and the he and the boy
ass behind, saying that

wish to pray there alone and undisturbed, and would come

"
back again. An untrue statement, as in xii. 3 and xx.
6
12." But there may lie in it the unexpressed hope that
the heavy task may still somehow be remitted to him ;

comp. ver. 7.
7
nD~iy so far, i.e., in antithesis to na, to that spot.
"
Ver. 6. The two continue their way alone. Isaac,
8
already a fairly grown boy, carries the wood, Abraham, a
knife and the fire, i.e. a glowing ember which will kindle
the fire."

1
ZDPV. vi. 198, and vii. 133, 2
But see Geiger, Urschrift, p. 278.
3 4
Knobel. See Bersabee and Arboch.
5 6
See ch. xxi. 31. Knobel. Knobel.
7
Comp. xxxi. 37 ; Ex. ii. 12 ;
Num. xxiii. 15 (in B\
8
Ch. xxi. 34.
 144 GENESIS XXII. 7-13 [292, 293

"
Ver. 7 f. Isaac has seen his father offer sacrifice before

now, so he asks about the animal to be offered."

" 2
nsrp look out, provide^ or see to." See, further, ver. 14.
In this word also 3
there lies a quiet hope that God may yet
"
determine otherwise. The author beautifully pictures the
patriarch maintaining himself unshaken by the talk of the
innocent boy, his only and much loved son. His obedience
to God triumphs over the paternal feeling of his heart.
' '
The expressions my father,' my son,' bring this into

prominence."
" 4
The second -IEJOI in ver. 7 only repeats the first."

Vv. 911. Having reached the place he makes the

necessary preparations. The deed is practically accomplished
when Abraham stretches out his hand to slay his son. In
spirit he has severed himself even from his dearest for the
love of God. God does not wish more. The angel calls
5
down from the sky, and stays him. The repetition of the
word Abraham, 6 expresses urgency, as in ch. xlvi. 2 and
Ex. iii. 4, from the same author; so in 1 Sam. iii. 10. It
is R who names the angel mrp ^D for DTita 1*60, because
he wishes to prepare for ver. 14 f.

Ver. The angel speaks in God's name. 7 God is

12.
satisfied with Abraham's readiness to obey, with the dis-
8
position he has manifested; his perfect piety is demonstrated.
God does not require human sacrifice.

Ver. 13 is attributed to C by Kittel, 9 because of the

expression nam NTi ;
but it is a common phrase, and is found
in B in ch. xl. 6 and Ex. iii. 2 as well as here.
An animal victim is found for the sacrifice instead of
the human being. Abraham sees it behind him on looking
up. Behold a ram was held 10 ly its horns in the thicket
1
Ch. xli. 33 ; 1 Sam. xvi. 1, 17. 2
Ch. xxxix. 23.
3 *
Comp. ver. 5. Knobel.
6
AH xxi. 17. c
Comp. ver. 1, Sept.
.
i.
10, xxi. 18 ;
cf. note on Ex. iii. 2 [Dillmaim, Com.].
s
9
(
temp. v.-r. 1-
Geschichte, p. 138 [History, vol. i.
p. 152].
10
Another reading is jn&O, held.
L
1

'.):;]
GENESIS XXII. 14 M ~,

^ i.e. there was found, by Clod's arranging, a rain which

had caught by its crooked horns in the bushes at
itself

Abraham's back. For similar divine aid comp. ch. xxi. 19.
"
In like manner by divine providence a stag was substituted as
victim in the place of Iphigenia, whom her father Agamemnon
2
wished to sacrifice in Aulis." The reading /jx,proposed for
3
this passage also, would not harmonise with Israelitish
sacrificial customs.
-inN not temporal, whether in the sense of postea taken
4
with Kfen. or in the sense of postquamf but local. The
6 intf ? 8
reading is preferred by some, as supported by better
authority. adds nothing to the sense, and is, we may
But it

hold, a secondary reading from

">n -ins itself, at the same ;

time, may be an ancient gloss to explain why Abraham only

now noticed the ram. The reading "ins, another, 9 was
certainly never intended.
Ver. 14. Abraham names the spot Jahve sees. nan* is

used in the sense it bears in ver. 8, and is punctuated as

it is with reference to that verse. So also the Septuagint,
but in view of what follows we should rather expect HNT rnir.

The passage continues, so that 10 it is said to-day, the expression

is a current one,11 on the hill where 12
Jahve is seen. Other
13
translations are incorrect. Both this and the first part of
the verse are allusions to nnon in ver. 2, but they do not

1
Ps. Ixviii. 26.
2
Euripides, Iphigenia in Aulis, 1591 ff. Knobel.
3
Ganneau in JA. vii. 11, 510.
4
Saadia, Rashi, Abarbanel, Rosenmiiller.
5
Ibn Ezra, Kimchi, Schumann.
Samarit. Sept. Book of Jubilees, Targg. Pesh. Graecus Venetus,
and a number of Hebrew MSS. In most of the Firko witsch MSS. which
have it, it is forged see Harkavy-Strack, Catalogue, p. iii.
;

7
Ex. xxix. 3 1 Sam. i. 1, and elsewhere.
;

8
J. D. Michaelis, Olshausen, Ewald, Kautzsch-Socin.
9 10
Geiger, Urschrift, p. 244. Ch. xiii. 16.
11 12
See on ch. x. 9. Ewald, 332d.
13
On Jahve he appears (Massoretes), \u TU 6'pti Kvpto; affa
the hill of

(Sept.; quite impossible), on the hill of Jahve there is seeing, i.e. providence
is exercised
(Knobel, there is no instance of the Niph. in this sense).
DILLMANN. II. IO
146 GENESIS XXII. 15-18 [293, 294

harmonise unless we read nx'V in the second sentence, with

the Vulgate, or nv in the first. Two explanations of the
name are, in fact, they are not mutually
given, though
exclusive, as seeing may be coincident with appearing.
If ver. 14a, in its original form, was a continuation of
the preceding narrative of B, it had DTita for mrv, and the
allusion was at least not to Moriah but to some other place.
Even after the recasting of the passage by R, Moriah is no
more than alluded to. For good reasons it is not said that
thename rvron was given at this time. The article in the

name is worthy of notice (ver. 2) ;

the Massoretes have taken

great care to avoid it by the reading nnfo rtt"}N~i?N.

15-18. Regarding the authorship, see preliminary

Vv.
remarks above. Jahve, by His angel, calls from the sky a
second time,1 in order solemnly to repeat all the previous
2
promises to the patriarch now that he has been so

decisively approved. On this occasion they are confirmed

by an oath ~by Jahve Himself. Such an oath occurs again in
the Pentateuch only in Ex. xxxii. 17, which is from C or R,

though Num. xiv. 28 practically amounts to the same. Gen.

xv. 9 ff. is also an oath, but of a different kind ; C, D, and
R often attribute to God the simple taking of an oath. 3
Here even the prophetic njiT-DK:) is ventured on as in Num.
xiv. 28.

^ used to introduce the actual words of the oath,

resumed in ver. 17 after the causal clause.
-iBte jjp in the Hexateuch only in Deut. i.
36; Josh. xiv.

14, besides this passage.

IPS npy in xxv. 6 also. This and -IB>K fjp, as well as
the infinitives absolute ^a and nsnn,* are for the sake of

solemnity and emphasis.

Multiply thy seed, as xii. 2, xvi. 10 ;
as the stars, xv. 5 ;

05 the sand, xxxii. 1 3 ;

Josh. xi. 4.

1
2
niy in ch. xxxv.
<
'<>!ii|. 9. Cf. especially xii. 2 f.
8
E.g. xxiv. 7, xxvi. 3, 1. 24; Ex. xiii. 5, 11, xxxiii. 1, and frequently.
di. iii. 16.
L".l]
GENESIS XXII. 18, 19 147

Mall take possession of the door of his enemies conquer

and occupy their cities; found elsewhere in the Pentateuch
only in r.h. xxiv. 60, from C.

Ver. 18. Comp. ch. xii. 3. The Hithpael "pann is to be

noted ;
it also occurs in xxvi. 4, which has been recast by li.
Ver. 19 due to B. They return together to Beersheba',

whore Abraham remains; comp. ch. xxi. 33.

C. CLOSING PASSAGES OF ABRAHAM'S HISTORY,

CHS. XXII. 20-XXV. 18.

1. KEGARDING THE FAMILY OF NAHOR, CH. XXII. 20-24;

ACCORDING TO C AND R.

The series of sections still remaining are concerned with

the domestic affairs of the patriarch, and various incidents of
his family history. They are opened by a statement regard-
ing the family of Nahor. It is loosely connected with what

precedes, and is introduced as news brought to Abraham

1

from Nahor's house regarding twelve sons borne to him by

two wives. The manner of introduction is not that of A,
who is in the habit of writing rr6in r6tf. It is true that
" "
the formally drawn out genealogies of the Book of Genesis
are, as a rule, from A? and that the mention of Bethuel later
in A* s narrative, xxv. 20, might lead us to conjecture a
previous preparatory notice. But these reasons are not
sufficient to appropriate this list here to A? It cannot be

established that A in Genesis derived from Terah exactly

4
seventy Hebrew peoples, so that we can draw no conclusion
as to the authorship of this passage from such a contention.

We must reflect that A

speaks of Eebecca as the daughter
of Bethuel the Aramaean resident in Paddan Aram, 5 and

1 2
Cf. xv. 1, xxii. 1. Knobel.
3
Tuch, Knobel, Noldeke.
4
Noldeke, Untersitchungen, 16 f., 23.
5
Ch. xxv. 20 cf. xxii. 20 if.
;
 148 GENESIS XXII. 20, 21 [294, 295

similarly always only of a residence of Jacob in Paddan

Aram. If,
1
then, A
wrote anything regarding Bethuel's

relationship to Abraham it was elsewhere than here and

2
different in character. The further contents of the

genealogy also are not such as can be from A, for he has

py and
3 a different place in his
previously given nn*f quite

genealogies. On the other hand, the section is

indispensable
for C as an introduction toand seeing i^ in ver. ch. xxiv., 4

23 and Kin DJ in ver. 20 support the view that he is author,

we may attribute it to him. 5 There is nothing pointing to
B as the author ;
6
on the contrary, he names Laban simply
ver. 21 speaks of E1N ^x ^wop.
7
the Aramaean, whereas
But neither can the whole passage be from C, for in ch.
xxix. 5, which is C"s, Laban is called the son of Nahor and ;

though Bethuel is named in ch. xxiv. 15, 24, 47, and 50,
8
the text there suggests the conjecture that it is a later in-
sertion. In that case at least ver. 23a in this passage,
npnvriN n^ taimi, due to an adjustment with ch. xxv. 20,
is

which is A'a, and has replaced an original npm DK1 pi> nto.
I^^QI in ver. 24 9 also points to a remodelling of the passage

(by R), just as the bringing up of the number of Nahor's

sons to the round figure twelve betrays the influence of A. 10
We conclude accordingly that the section is from C, but
revised by E on the basis of other information.
Ver. 20. For n: see ch. xi. 29. Kin DJI, found in ver. 24,
chs. iv. 4, 22, 26, x. 21, xix. 38.

Ver. 21. The peoples mentioned can be identified only

in part.

py see ch. x. 23. The name is here perhaps taken in

1
Ch. xxxi. 18, xxxiii. 18, xxxv. 9, 26.
'-'

also vol. 404 3

S.-i; i.
p. f. Ch. x. 22 f.
4
Cf. especially xxiv. 4, 10, 24 ff.
5
Hupfeld, Genesis, p. 57 f. ; Bohmer, Schrader, Kayser, Budde, Urges-
chichte, p. 223 f.
Wellhausen, JBDTh. xxi. 417.
'

7
Ch. xxxi. 20, 24.
* y
Me/, Harran, p. 1!) If. See on xxv. 6.
1(1
Cf. Ishmael and Edoin.
205] GENESIS XXII. 22 149

a somewhat narrower sense than in that passage; comp.

also ch. xxxvi. 28. For ron see x. 15.
"
Septuagint Bav%, to be looked for in the neighbour-
T13

hood of Edom, because named along with Dedan and Tenia, 1

and because Elihu, the fourth of Job's opponents, belonged to
it."
2
A country of Bfizu occurs in Asarhaddon's inscrip-
3
tions as well as Hazu, itn.

DIN 'UN bfcflOp otherwise unknown. Kamula in north-

east 4
is out of the question.
Mesopotamia Aram can hardly
5
lie
simply another pronunciation for Earn (Job xxxii. 2); it

is the people of Aram, although it may be in a narrower

sense than in ch. x. 22 f. in A.

Ver. 22. 1^3 Sept. XadS, the assumed ancestor of the

D^b'3, Chaldeans, or at least of a branch of that people. See

further on ch. xi. 28.
6
itn
Sept.'Aav, has no connection with Xa&vrj in
7
Assyria between Calachene and Adiabene. Xatyvrj, a
8 9
satrapy on the Euphrates in Mesopotamia, is more likely.
The Arabic geographers mention, besides the Assyrian Hazza,
one in Mesopotamia between Nisibis and Kas 'Ain. 10 The
most probable identification is with the Chazu of Asar-
haddon n see under
;
tt3 in ver. 21.

^?3 Sept. $aXSe<?, unknown. It has no connection

(
with the Pi7rd\6a<s of Procopius. 12
A personal name icn^D

1
Jer. xxv. 23.
2
Job xxxii. 2. Knobel.
3
Delitzsch, Wo lag das Paradies? p. 307, and ZKSF. ii. 93 ff. ; Schrader,
KAT. Z 141, 221 [Cuneiform Inscriptions, vol. i. pp. 127, 212]; Tiele,
Geschichte, p. 337. [Below, in ver. 22, transliterated Cliaxu.]
4
Named in Assemani, Bibliotheca Orientalis, iii. 2, 731 f. proposed ;

by Knobel.
5
Knobel, who quotes 2 Chron. xxii. 5 in support ; Ewald, Geschichtef
i. 445
[History, vol. i. p. 310].
6
Strabo, xvi. 111.
7
Knobel, Volkertafel, p. 173.
8
According to Arrian in Steplianus Byzantinus, sub
y 10
Knobel. Yakut, ii. 263.
Schrader, KGF. p. 399
11
Delitzsch, Paradies, p. 306
;
f.

12
De cedificiis, ii. 4 proposed by Knobel.
;
150 GENESIS XXII. 23, 24 [295, 296

1
lias been read in Nabatean inscriptions, and HaleVy believes
2
that he has found it in the Safa inscriptions also.

P^T Sept. 'Ie\a(/>, unknown.

^Nina not identified as the name of a place. Bethallaha,
3
in Mesopotamia, is proposed by Knobel, but only doubtfully.
4
In A, Bethuel is an Aramaean, as Laban is in 5
R
Ver. 23. See preliminary remarks above.
Ver. 24. And as to his concubine Keumah (Sept. 'Pev/jia,
6

Samar. non), she also bare. 7

rnB Sept. TafieK to be read also in 2 Sam. viii. 8,8 in
;

accordance with the Septuagint, Peshitta, and 1 Chron.

xviii. 8, which have mo for nt)3. It is therefore probably

known to us as the name of one of the towns of the Syrian

king Hadadezer, and therefore cannot be connected with

9
Thsebata in north-west Mesopotamia, nor with SejBijdd,
south of Nisibis. 10
DH3
Sept. Tadfji, unknown. The mention of the Banu
11
Juhmd, a tribe between the Hieromax and the Yabbok, 12
gives no additional light.
trnn
Sept. To%o?, unknown.
n
?.W? in 1 Chron. xix. 6 Aram Ma'akha, a sufficiently
13 "
well-known place. The tribe must have been situated on
14 15 16
IJermon. The situation of Abel or Abel Mayim, which
is generally named Abel by Beth Ma'akha, to distinguish it

from other places of the name, and which is mentioned

1
ZDMG. xiv. 440.
2
JA. vii. 19, 467 ;
but in vii. 17, 194 vnby.
3
Notitia dignitatum, i. 93 (ed. Booking).
4
Chs. xxv. 20, xxviii. 5.
6
Ch. xxxi. 20, 24 ; comp. 47.
6
See xxv. 6. 7
Ewald, 3446.
8 3
Ewald, G'eschichte, iii. 207 [History, iii. p. 153].
9
Pliny, Hist. Nat. vi. 120.
10
Peutinger Table, xi.e ; Arrian in Steph. Byzant. Knobel.
11
Knobel.
1
'
I
luirkhardt [Travels in Syria, pp. 268, 287], Germ. tr. pp. 423 f., 449.
13
Dent. iii. 14 ; Josh. xii. 2 Sam. x. 6, 8.
5, xiii. 11, 13 ;
14 15
Onoinasticon, sub Met^uM. 2 Sam. xx. 14, 18.
1(1
2 Cliron. xvi. 4.
j%] GENESIS XXIII 151

along with lyyon, Dan, Kedc.sh, and Hasor,

1
suits this
'
2
situation."

"In ch. xx xi.

Uilead appears as the boundary between
f>U

the descendants of Abraham and Nahor." 3

2. THE DEATH OF SARAH AND THE ACQUISITION OF THE FIELD

OF MAKHPELAH BY ABRAHAM, CH. XXIII. FROM A. ;

On Sarah's death, Abraham, for her place of burial,

acquires from 'Ephron the Hittite, with all due legal

formality, the piece of land beside Hebron called Makhpelah

and the cave in it. There he buries his wife. The narrative
is A's, as we cannot fail to recognise from many indications,
from the chronological statement of ver. 1, from the whole

purpose of the narrative, the juristic exactness and formality

of statement, "the use of the names children of Heth* and
Makkpelakf and of the expressions 'a "n *W (ver. 1), nrriK

(vv. 4, 9, 20), strin

(ver. 4), tobo (ver. 6), Dip, to come to be

(vv. 17, 20), fe-ta yav (ver. 16), and njpp (ver. 18), as well
6
as from his later references to what is here recounted." 7
We learn afterwards, from these later references, that

Abraham, Isaac and Eebecca, Jacob and Leah, were also

buried in this cave. Later generations regarded it as their

forefathers' ancestral burial vault, and as such it was a
sacred and precious memorial to them. The actual cave is
"
the certain and stable element in the story ;
the details are
a free expansion by the hand of the narrator. He takes the
opportunity afforded him of showing how the Hittites met
Abraham in the most obliging and friendly fashion, but how
the patriarch would neither use their burial-places nor accept
from them the gift of a piece of land. The field was publicly
1
2 Sam. xx. 15 ;
1 Kings xv. 20 2 Kings xv. 29.
;

2
Of. Seetzen, i.
118, 338; Eobinson, Later Biblical Researches in
Palestine, p. 372.
3 4
Knobel. See ver. 3.
5 6
See ver. 20. E.g. xxv. 9 f., xlix. 29 ff., 1. 13.
7
Knobel.
152 GENESIS XXIII. IF, [296,297

handed over to Abraham in the presence of all the people,

who were onlookers and listeners to the transaction. The

price was duly paid, and so the field was legally and validly
l
Abraham as heritable property in Canaan." In
acquired by
#s narrative Jacob acts similarly in the neighbourhood of
Shechem. 2
On the textual criticism of this chapter see Egli in

xxiii.
Hilgenf eld's Zeitschrifl fur Wissenschaftliche Tkeologie,
344 ff.

Ver. 1 f. Sarah dies at the age of one hundred and

twenty-seven.
the Samaritan has nNE, as elsewhere in A?
"n W
wanting in the Septuagint, and almost too
redundant even for A.
f
Arba' -town said to be so called from Arba ,
the father
of 'Enak,
4
originally more probably four-town. 5 Here and
elsewhere A6 and Hd 7
explain it of
Hebron, which, according
8

to Josh. xiv. 15 and Judg. i. 10, was the later name. But
in the same author, A, we (ver. 19) also read fran Kin N-IIDID

and jron Nin ymKn mp

anoiD (ch. xxxv. 27), according to
which Mamre, if not another name for Hebron itself, must, it
9
seems, have been part of it or have belonged to it. A,
intentionally, we may be sure, nowhere speaks of the
" 10
terebinths of Mamre." The addition by the Septuagint of
% eo-Tiv eV TO) KoiKw/jLari, and of poy ^N by the Samaritan
between jniN (Samar. jmxn) and ton, is probably due to the
desire to define more closely, in accordance with ch.
xxxvi. 14, the relations of Mamre and Hebron.
jittD pN3 as in ver. 19, written with a definite purpose.
he went in, not he came from the field where he was

1 2
Knobel. Ch. xxxiii. 19. 3
See note, ch. xvii. 17.
1

Joflh, xv. 13, xxi. 11; cf. xiv. 15.

5
Kwald, Geschichtef i. 494 [History, i.
344] ;
Furrer in Sclienkel's
IM-llexicon, ii. 628.
6
Ch. xxxvii. 27 ; Josh. xx. 7, xxi. 11.
7
Josh. xv. 13. See on Num. xiii. 22.
xiii. 18. 10
See on xiii. 18.
L".7]
GENESIS XXIII. 3-5 F. 1T>3

2
with the flocks, 1 or from Beersheba' ;
if this last were
correct, R must have substituted NTT for some other verb
because of ch. xxii. 19.
Ver. 3. After having bewailed Sarah he sees to the

acquisition of a burial-place. He betakes himself 3 to the

gate of the city, where all business and legal transactions are
settled. 4
5
From before his dead from the dead body by which he
had mourned, np is used of both sexes. 6
nn *J3 found in the Old Testament only in A. 7 For
nn see ch. x. 15. In ch. xiv. 13 the inhabitants are called
Amorites, and in Judg. i. 10 Canaanites, which are both
8
general names for the people of the country. Stade,
9
Budde, E. Meyer, and others know without a trace of doubt
that A has made a very bad blunder in using the name
Hittite here. 10
Ver. 4. As a stranger residing among them he has no
property in land, so he desires to become possessor of a
burial property,
i.e. of land which he may use as a place of
burial for his family. Families of consequence all had their
11
hereditary burial vaults.
Ver. 5 f.
Obligingly and politely the sons of Heth offer

him their own family burial-places. The phrase b -ID&6 is

not in use, and at the best can only be justified by an appeal
to Lev. xi. 1, so that here and in ver. 14 12 1^ is to be read
K?t as in ver. 13, and to be taken with the verses which
follow. In each case construed with the imperative, and
^ is
not, as in xvii. 18 and xxx. 34, with the imperfect or
jussive. The text thus arrived at, pray hear us, suits the
1 2
Knobel, Keil. Raslii.
3 4 3
See ver. 10. Winer, i. 616.
5
2 Kings xiii. 14.
6
Lev. xxi. 11 ; Num. vi. 6 (Gesenius, 25
122. 2).
7
Vv. 5, 7, 10, 16, 18, 20, xxv. 10, xlix. 32. Knobel.
8 1
Geschichte, 143. Uryeschichte, 347 f.
10
34 f. and xxvii. 46 with xxviii. 1.
Cf. also xxvi.
11 3
Winer, i. 444 Bottcher, De inferis, i. p. 41.
;

12
Hitzig, Begri/der Kritik, 140 f. Tuch, Knobel, Delitzsch.
;
154 GENESIS XXIII. 7-10 [297, 298

polite tone carefully observed by both parties, whereas the

1
reading of the Septuagint and Samaritan, &6, not, requires
also the Septuagint transposition of 'JJW "^"IK, as in ver. 11.

A
prince of God
"
a prince belonging to God, protected
and blessed by Him, and therefore distinguished, glorious." 2
In the choice of our graves " in the choicest or best of
our burial vaults. 3 See ch. xvi. 2 for the use of p before

"tip. The offer is a token of esteem, for it was not a habit

to allow strangers to be interred in a family place of
4
burial."

Ver. 7. Abraham rises and prostrates himself in order to

express his thanks ;

but he does not accept the offer, for he
does not wish to mingle with them.
"
Ver. 8 f. He therefore asks them to use their influence
with their fellow-townsman 'Ephron, that he may make over
to him, at its full value, the cave of Makhpelah, which lay at

the end of his field, and might therefore be more readily

parted with than a place in the middle."
5
Caves were much
used as burial-places in Palestine, where they abound. 6
"
If it is in (apiui) your soul if
you are minded, if it is

7
your intention."
To bury my dead "The context shows that we must
8
supply among you."
6 WB approach him, solicit him, for me. Giesebrecht
scents out a late Aramaic expression in this too. 9

n?EpD see ver. 20.

Ver. 1 f .
'Ephron is present in the gathering, and
immediately offers the cave and field to Abraham as a gift.
<l

^? ^bp for see ch. ix. 10; in so as they entered

*?
far
the gate of his city, were in the habit of
entering, i.e. his
fellow-townsmen; the f> may be more distributive, like a in

.'li, op. cit. p. 348 ;

Schroring also in ZWTh. xxiii. p. 388 f.
1
i P \xxvi. 7, Ixviii. 16, Ixxx. 11. Knobel see also ch. xxi. 22.
;

"< 4
Knobel.
1
KnobeL 6
g ee j^i e Dictionaries.
Ot .)! x. 13, \xiii. 14. s
Knobel.
lu- n.ni
,<Wl 1-,-iry, Driver, Journal of Philology, vol. xi. 1882, p. 210.
L'!is]
GENESIS XXIII. 12-16 155

ver. 18, as many of them as. The nys?n 'jo (ver. 18) or

"ijJirn ^V (xxxiv. 24) are the citizens who have tin- right of
t-nl ranee to the communal assembly, and a voice in its

deliberations.

Tiro ver. 13 ;
see on ch. i. 29.
Ver. 12f. Abraham refuses the gift (comp. ch. xiv. 23),
and presses for leave to purchase. With a display of polite-
ness which outdoes that of 'Ephron, he says, good, only

(or but), if you will, pray hear me. The optative sentence
begun with DK is broken off, and the speaker continues with

the still more delicate construction with 6 and the imperative.

This, at least, is the not necessary

Massoretic text. It is
"
to suppose that some words have fallen out after ^^, 1 nor | 1

to take nriK DK as the perf. Kal of nw, if you agree? But

the Septuagint and Samaritan read ^ nns DK, eireiSrj vrpo?

/jLOv ei.

The money of the field its price.

Ver. 14f. See ver. 5. "'Ephron yields the point; a land

0/400 shekels of silver, what is that between you and me, a
piece of land worth so little cannot be a subject of much
bargaining between two rich men. In this way he politely
indicates the price." 3 The same forms of speech and
formulas of politeness are still in general use in the East
4
(Egypt, Syria, etc.) between buyer and seller.
"
Ver. 16. Without delay, Abraham weighs out to 'Ephron
the 400 shekels. At that time there were no coins minted

by the but the requirements of commerce had called

state,
into existence pieces of metal of definite weight, and,

doubtless, marked accordingly. These pieces were weighed

5
to the seller in order to afford security against cheating."

1
Olshausen.
2
Hitzig, Begriffder Kritik, p. 141 ;
see ch. xxxiv. 15.
Knobel.
4
Lane, Manners and Customs, 1871, ii. 13, pop. ol. p. 293; ZDMti.
xi. 505 Dieterici, Reisebild, ii. 168 f.
;

5
Knobel. See Winer and Rielim, sub " Geld " for an early example ;

of the practice, ZA. iii. 392.

 166 GENESIS XXIII. 17-20 [298, 299

" " "

Compare the expressions aere ad libra or per aes et
libram."
1
inbp -g'y -current with the merchant, passing from one
hand to another, accepted by business men, who take nothing
which is under weight.
Vv. 1719. "So Abraham acquired possession of the

piece of land in Makhpelah, which lies before Mamre, with

the cave in it and all the trees on it. For the use of Dip
2
comp. Lev. xxv. 30, xxvii. 14, 17, 19," from A.
For ^si? the Samaritan has W^JJ (comp. ver. 19). In
"Na i>D2 the 3 corresponds to the ? of ver. 10, and is distribu-
tive, as ch. ix. 10 and elsewhere.
Ver. 20. "The legal acquisition of landed property in
Canaan was important, hence the repetition.
n^Baon found in the Old Testament only in A? We
learn from him that it was the name of a locality in Hebron
in which lay 'Ephron's land with the cave in it. It and

'Ephron's field lay XIDD "osb or &no 'osrby, on the front side,
4
i.e. east of Mamre. Mamre was therefore west of it." For
Mamre as a part of Hebron, see note on ver. 2.
"
Sebron 5
eight hours south of Jerusalem, lies in a deep,
narrow valley which runs from KW. to S.E., and is built on
both sides of the valley, but
principally on the eastern side.
The mosque which encloses the cave, and is built on the
south-western slope of the eastern ridge, is in the south-
east end of the town." It was formerly inaccessible,

except to Moslems, but in April 1862 it was opened to

the Prince of Wales and his retinue. 6 This visit proved
11 in existence of a great natural (double) cave under the

1
'I xii. 5. 2
Kings Knobel.
3
Vv. 9, 17, 19 also chs. xxv. 9, xlix.
;
30, 1. 13.
<
'i x vi. lii, xxv. 18 ; Num. xxi. 11 1
; Kings xi. 7.
5
further, iv^-mling the situation, Robinson, Palestine, i. 213 f.,
".73 von Schubert, Iteisen, ii. 462 ff
ff.
Hitter, Erdkunde, xvi. 209 ff.
;
.
; ;

especially Rosen in ZDMG. xii. 477 ff.

6
In Nov. 1869 to the Crown Prince of
Prussia, and in the year 1882
also to the sons of the Prince of Wales.
L'.U>, :HMI]
GENESIS XXIV 157

Haram. 1
Eiant has published an account, which belongs to
the Middle Ages, 2 regarding the appearance of the cave in
1119. To all appearance this spot was regarded as the
patriarchal burying-place even at an early date. Joseph us
localises the fivrjpeta of the patriarchs in the little town itself,

but the great terebinth tree outside it. 3 There are no reasons
for our not accepting this. Mamre, which lay to the west, is
4
probably to be found on the eastern slope of Kumeidi, an
elevation to the west which extends as far as the west side
of Hebron, and contains a remarkable rock-spring. This
elevation is only a spur of the hill-top Ne'ir, the name of

which might be compared with "W. 5 The valley of Eshkol

lay somewhat farther north. 6 fcnoo may also, however, be
compared with Nimre, an elevation situated only a short
distance north of Hebron, with a spring of the same name. 7
In that case :B~fy would mean simply in front of, in sight of.
s

On the other hand, it may be held that the Wadi er-Eame or

liamet el-Chaltl, to the north, an hour away from the town,
istoo far distant to be spoken of as jnana, and to be regarded
as the biblical Mamre. But since patristic times it has been,
and is even now, generally assumed to have been Abraham's
residence. 8

3. ISAAC'S MARRIAGE WITH EEBECCA, CH. XXIV. ;

FROM C.

Abraham's steward is sent to Mesopotamia, and there in

Harran obtains, as bride for his master's son, Eebecca,
daughter of Abraham's nephew Bethuel. He brings her to
Canaan, and she becomes Isaac's wife. These incidents are

1
See Rosen in Zeitschrift fur allgemeine Erdkunde, 1863, p. 369 ff.

2
Archives de V Orient Latin, ii. 411-421 ;
see also ZDPV. vii. 252,
viii. 328.
3 4
Wars, iv. 9. 7 ; comp. Antiquities, i. 14. Rosen.
5
Ch. xiv. 13. 6
Num. xiii. 23.
7
Mentioned by Rosen, ZDMG. xii. 486, and Seetzen, ii. 51.
8
Von Schubert, Robinson, Seetzen, Ritter. Knobel. See also
2
Baedeker, Palastina, p. 173f.
158 GENESIS XXIV [300

described by the narrator in a beautiful idyllic story, in

which it is his special interest to trace God's guiding hand
in all that led up to the marriage. It was God who brought
itabout that Abraham's envoy at once found the right place
and the right maiden, that he forthwith recognised her as
the chosen bride, and that, in addition, her family and the
maiden herself willingly followed the indications of the divine
will. It was by God's guidance that Rebecca became Isaac's

wife, and an ancestress of the people of God.

Against .Z>'s authorship of the passage there is to be put

1
the absence of any name for Abraham's steward, and the
notice regarding Eebecca's nurse, which contradicts ch

xxxv. A's authorship is also out of the question.

8. From
ch. xxv. 20 we may conclude that he narrated the fact of

the marriage without much detail ;

we cannot say definitely
whether between chs. xxiii. and xxv. 19, 2 or between vv. 19
and 20 of ch. xxv. 3 The character and workmanship of the
idyll point us to the narrator of ch. xviii. f., and its exalted

conception of marriage to the author of ch. ii. 23 ff., that is,

to C. Other characteristics, especially linguistic, agree with

this.
4
Some unevenness in the style 5 may be attributed to
errors in the text rather than to the union of two accounts. 6
There reason for assigning vv. 6267 to
may seem more
7
another writer, to B, on the ground that the envoy was sent

by Abraham (vv. 19), but here returns to Isaac, and, besides,

8
calls Isaac his master (ver. 65), and not, as hitherto, Abraham.
1 2 3
Otherwise in ch. xv. 2. Knobel. Wellhausen.
4
E.g. the angel of Jahve (vv. 7, 40), Isaac the servant of Jahve
(ver. 14), nnru D1K (ver. 10), 'Jjttsn riVO (ver. 3), with suff. ^
(vv. 42, 49), &0 (vv. 2, 12, 14, 17, 23, 42 f., 45), pn (ver. 8), (vv. 5, 39), fyx
non nb>y (vv. 12, 14, 49), nto non (w. 27, 49), D^n &c (ver. i),

pi (ver. 17), n-lO TUB (ver. 16), j>T (ver. 16), rnpn (ver. 12),

(vv. 21, 40, 42, 56), in^K -01 (ver. 45), && for n\S (ver. 60),

vh* (ver. 60),

njnntfrn TII? (w. 28, 48), nnx mnnpn (ver. 52),
ami the, use of the name niiT
throughout
'Vv. ^2, 29 If. Knobel.
7
s
Thirteen times.
:;<iu, ;;oi]
GENESIS XXIV. 1, 2 159

The words ni (ver. 65) and n^n pN (ver. G2) are also
elsewhere found in B. Still what is surprising in these

concluding verses (62ff.), ceases to be so if we reflect that

in ver. 1 Abraham's death is approaching, that in ver. 36
Isaac appears already independent and in possession of his

patiTn;i.l inheritance, and that accordingly ch. xxv. 5 and 116

1
must have preceded ch. xxiv. in C. It is sufficient to

assume that R has made some changes of his own in these

verses, especially in vv. 62 and 67. Similarly, but for other

reasons, R seems to have made some harmonistic additions in
vv. 15, 24, 47, and 50.
Vv. 1-9. Abraham's commission to his steward to seek a
wife for Isaac among his relatives in Mesopotamia, and the
significance of the mission.
Ver. 1. A circumstantial clause preparatory to the principal
sentence in ver. 2. DV^a &Q in ch. xviii. 11 in C. God had
blessed him in all, hence the wish by his son's marriage to
have further heirs to inherit this blessing.
Ver. 2. He desires to commit this mission to his servant,

the oldest in his house, in standing, not in actual age, who

had the management 2
of all his property. In C he is un-
named, in B the steward is called Eliezer. 3 The matter is

one of great moment, for the object is in part to preserve

the son of promise from -an alien union with the daughters
of Canaan around him, 4 in part to prevent his return to the
land from which God brought Abraham out, 5 and if it is
unattained, the promises will thereby become of no effect.

Abraham, therefore, exacts from the servant an oath that he

will in every particular fulfil his mission.

Pray put thy hand under my thigh i.e. to take an oath.

The custom is mentioned again only in ch. xlvii. 29. The
organ of generation as such, because the mark of manly
vigour, had a certain sacredness attributed to it by the
1
Hupfeld, Quellen der Genesis, p. 145 f.

2 3
Ps. cv. 21. Ch. xv. 2 f.
4 *
Of. xxviii. 2 ff., xxxiv. 1 ff. Ch. xii. 1.
160 GENESIS XXIV. 3-5 [301

ancients, and in the worship of Phallus had every religious

veneration paid to it. But the immediate reference here is
neither to this nor to any special sacredness due to the

ceremony of circumcision,
1
nor to both together. 2 It is from

the thighs that one's descendants come, so that to take an

oath with one's hand upon the thighs could be equivalent to

callingupon these descendants to maintain an oath which

has been fulfilled and to revenge one which has been broken.
Here as in ch. xlvii. 29 it is a case of ensuring something,
the performance of which the exactor of the oath does not
live to see or is uncertain of living to see.
"
A modern
instance recorded of an Egyptian Beduin who in making a
is

solemn asseveration laid his hand upon the organ of genera-

tion." 3 Ewald refers to a Kaffir analogue. 4
"
Ver. 3 f. God
heavens and of the earth," whose
of the
5
knowledge and power nothing can escape. Similarly in
" "
ver. 7 God of the heavens comp. xviii. 2 5 (also xiv. ;

19, 22).

-i^N ch. xxii. 14, xi. 7.

ni33 "here and in ver. 37; A speaks of nun

In this passage Abraham plainly does not expect to live

long, and makes the steward the executor of his will, so to

say. The representation is independent of A's chronology,

according to which Abraham had still thirty-seven years to
7
live. For ver. 4 comp. xii. 1.

Ver. 5. The servant raises a difficulty ;

if no woman will
come from there, is he to take Isaac to the spot, n inter-
8
rogative.

1
Tin* Jews, on the authority of Jerome, Qucestiones ; Targ. Jonathan,
llashi, Schumann, Tuch, Delitzsch.
*
Von Bohlen, Gesenius, Knobel.
3
Sonnini, Voyage, Germ. tr. ii. 474; Eichhorn, Allgemeine BiUiothek,
x. 464. Knobel.
4
Kwald, Alterthumer* 26 [Antiquities, p. 19, note 0].
1
K ""'"'I- 6
Ch. xxviii. 1, 6, 8, xxxvi. 2. Knobel.
7 8
('h. xx i. 5, xxv. 7, 20. 26 100.
Gesenius, 4.
:ioi, :m] GENKSIS xxiv. 6-10 161

Ver. 6. Abraham answers the question with an emphatic

negative ;
Isaac would in that case surrender the land of

promise.
"
Ver. 7. The case put by the servant will, besides, not
occur. The God, who Abraham out from the land of his
led
2
birth,
1
who has promised him Canaan, and even confirmed
the promise by an oath, will also prosper the servant's
3
mission by sending His angel before him to protect him, to
bring him to the very place he desires, and to secure him
the wished-for reception. Abraham is confident that the

goodness and providence of God hitherto manifested will

4
continue."

^ yiwi new if not an insertion by R with a reference

5
to ch. xxii. 16, must refer to ch. xv. 17 f.

Ver. 8. Should, however, no woman be willing to come,

the servant is released from the obligation of ver. 4.

Abraham, therefore, does not regard his plan as willed by

God. 6
For rpj^ see Gesenius,25 75A. 7;
:
for nw, 126. 5A. 16;
and for 3B>n vh c h. iv. 12, and Ewald, t
320a.
Ver. 9. The servant takes the oath. For vnx see
25
Gesenius, 124. Ic.

Vv. 1027. He on his journey, and is granted

sets off

the experience of God's guidance and direction, as Abraham

had trusted.
Ver. 10. He takes camels with him for himself and his
escort,
7
for the maiden he is to bring, and for her com-
8
panions, for all sorts 9 of property, i.e. various articles which
he takes as presents, 10 and for the provisions necessary for
the journey. The Septuagint omission of the first ^in in the

verse is preferable to the Massoretic text.

Aram of the two streams Sept. Meo-oTrora/jbla.
11
In any
1
Ch. 2
xii. 1. Clis. xii. 7, xiii. 15.
3 4 5
Ver. 40. Knobel. Page 55 f.
c 7 8
Knobel. Vv. 32, f> 1. Vv. 59, 61.
9 10
Ch. ii. 9. Vv. 22, 30, 47, 53.
11
Deut. xxiii. 5 ; Judg. iii. 8 ;
Ps. Ix. 2.
DILLMANN. II. 1 1
 162 GENESIS XXIV. 11-14 [302

case country between the Euphrates and

this is not the

Tigris, Babylonia being excluded, though that has been the

general opinion.
1
As little is it the region between the
2
Euphrates and the Chrysorrhoas, the river of Damascus.
Most probably it is the country which lay between the
3 4
Euphrates and Chaboras, "^n, including also, perhaps,
what bordered nearest to it. It may be almost identical
with the land of Naharina, so often mentioned in the
5
accounts of the campaigns of the ancient Egyptian kings,
but it cannot be admitted that onna is a locative and not
6
a dual. It is more possibly a plural, inasmuch as the

Belih and the tributaries of all three rivers are included in

the district. Eegarding Paddan Aram, which A writes,
see ch. xxv. 20.

The city of Nahor is Harran ;

7
see note on ch. xi. 31.
Ver. 11. He makes his camels lie down in front of the

city, by the fountain usually found beside a town, and here

in Harran also.
"
Towards evening when the girls and women are
accustomed to fetch the water required for the household
wants. 8 In the east this is still part of their work, 9 as it
was in ancient times." 10

Vv. 12-14. He asks God to make known to him by a

given sign the maiden, among those who come out to draw
water, who is destined for Isaac. 11
n !}i?n let it come to pass, it about. So in ch. xxvii.
bring
1
Still found in Delitzsch 5 ; against it see Halevy, Melanges d'Epi-
yraphie, p. 72 ff.
2
Halevy's view, op. cit.
p. 81 ; comp. ZDPV. iii. 224.
1
See ch. xxxi. 21. *
Kiepert, Alte Geographic, p. 154.
5
Brugsch, Geschichte, 235 ff.; E. Meyer, Geschichte des Alterthums,
180 Erman, Aeyypten,
;
p. 680.
6
E. Meyer.
7
Chs. xxvii. 43, xxviii. 10 see also
; Budde, Urgeschichte, p. 445.
2
Shaw, 241
Burckhardt, Bedouins and Wakdbys, i.
Travels, p. ;
p. 351.
9
Von Schubert, Reisen, ii. 401, iii. 134 Robinson, Palestine, 3 ; i. 473,
549, ii. 33, Germ. tr. ii. 385, 519, 628 f.
"'
Sam. ix. 11. Knobel.
1

11
Cf. Juclg. v i. 36 ff. 1 Sam. xiv. 9. ;
302, :'.<:;]
GENESIS XXIV. IT. I. 163

20. "Let it be the one who at his request gives him a

drink of water, and then of her own accord waters his camels.
The sign is suitably chosen ;
it must be the most gracious
nuiidcn who is to be Isaac's."
1
tj;3 in the Pentateuch for myj also. Similarly sin is
2
used of both sexes.
rP3in see ch. xxi. 25. Here and in ver. 44 in the
sense of evidence, assign.
"
For thy servant," comp. ch. xxvi. 24. H3, ty this, see
notes on ch. xv. 6 and 8. The Samaritan and Septuagint
add D.TQK after "OIK.

Ver. 1 5 f. He had not finished speaking 3 when Rebecca

herself appeared. She carries her jar upon her shoulder.
"
This seems have been the usual Hebrew custom, 4 but
to

there is also mention of the jar being carried on the head." 5

'y\
FfTOJ
"IPK the use of the passive and the designation
"
of P>ethuel as son of Milkah," here and in ver. 24, is surpris-

ing, for elsewhere such an appellation is taken from the

6
father'sname, not from the mother's, and the intention to
distinguish Bethuel as the son of Milkah and not of Eeumah
(ch. xxii. 23 f.) is not a sufficient explanation. Seeing that,
" "
in addition, Laban is called son of Nahor in ch. xxix. 5, 7
and not son of Bethuel, it is at least probable that p tairai>

is a later interpolation, and that the original text was

8
i" 1
/? the perfect, objected to by Wellhausen and
9
Gesenius because of ver. 45, is effectually supported by
Prov. viii. 25.
n&ri raD see ch. xii. 11,

see Gesenius, 25
1
Vv. 16, 29, 55, 57, ch. xxxi. 3, 12 ;
Deut. xxii. 15-29 ;

2.5.
2 25
E.g.iii. 12 Gesenius, 32A. 66.
;

5
Samar. and Sept. add i^p ^tf, see ver. 45.
4
Ch. xxi. 14 Ex. xii. 34 Josh. iv. 5.
; ;

5
E.g. xl. 16. Knobel. Mez, Harran, p. 19.
'

7
Comp. ch. xxiv. 48 [where the same may be implied of Rebecca].
s 25
Biicher Samuelis, p. 159. Gesenius, 107. 1A. 1.
164 GENESIS XXIV. 1722 [303

yr see chs. iv. 1, xix. 5, 8.

Vv. 17-20. Seeing her appearance to be attractive, the

servant makes trial of her, and the sign he had settled on
"
surprises him by its exact fulfilment. The readiness to

case of Eebecca, is not

oblige a stranger, emphasised in the
however, uncommon on the "part of those who draw water. 1
Eegarding the water-troughs by the well, see chs. xxix. 3

and xxx. 38."

"
p-i w ith ntrip^, as in ch. xviii. 2."
2

Ver. 21. Meantime the man was sunk in contemplation

of her, or reflection about her, and was silent, put in no word
of his, in order to see whether the sign was fulfilled spon-
taneously and entirely, and so to recognise whether God had

prospered his journey and brought him the one he sought

for in the person of this maiden.

doubtless only a weakened pronunciation of

and hardly to be connected with nsB>', to le desert,

from which Delitzsch and Keil derive the meaning lost

in astonishment. The Septuagint has Kare/jidvOavev, the

Vulgate contemplabatur. For the construct before iy, see

25
Gesenius, 130. 1.
B^inD regarded by Kautzsch-Socin as a gloss, but
essential for ':i njnf>.

irk'n in vv. 40, 42, 56, ch. xxxix. 3, 23, in C.

Ver. 22. Now that the sign has been fulfilled, he pre-

pares the way for further progress by taking out for her,
from his baggage, a ring of gold and two golden bracelets.
The suffix in rPT scarcely indicates that he presents them to
4
her, or puts them on her so the original text will be that
;

of the Samaritan, which has after i^pt?D the words nsN *?$ Din-
We cannot conclude from ver. 47 that D^p^b rip*! originally
stood after ver. 24. 5 The things mentioned here were not
1

410 3
Nirlmlir, H.isebeschreibuny, ii. ; Robinson, Palestine, ii. 22, 250.
I
K.,,,1,,-1.

xli. 10, 23;

Gesenius, Thesaurus. Knobel.
4
Vv. 30, 47.
''

Igt-n, Die Urkunden des ersten Bucks des Moses, p. 147.

1
 GENESIS XXIV. 23-54 165

the bridal gift, which cornes in ver. 53, but a spontaneous

acknowledgment of Rebecca's readiness to oblige. The ring,
1
we learn from ver. 47, is a nose-ring.
ypa a half shekel. 2 After mfcy we must supply i>pK>,

as in ch. xx. 16.

Vv. 23-25.
Up to this point everything has gone as he
might have wished, and now, even more wonderful, he learns,
in answer to a question about her home, and whether he

could pass the night there, that she is one of Abraham's

nearest kin.

"p3N JV3 accusative of place, as ch. xii. 15.

tairava the original reading we may suppose (see ver.

15) to have been ^N 3

mta ra in place of <DJK iwro ra
rata p.
Ver. 26 f.
Having learned to whose family Rebecca be-

longs, he is certain that she is the chosen bride, 4 and thanks

God for having guided his journey to a prosperous issue.
s
DiS casus pendens, as in ch. iv. 15; it marks an
antithesis between himself and his master. He thankfully
acknowledges that God has led him on the way, i.e. without
mistakes or detours, straight 5 to the house of the brothers, i.e.

6
relatives of his master.
S
HN Sept. ""nK, as in ver. 48, and beyond doubt correct
if taira in vv. 15 and 24 is not original. Conversely, in
ver. 55, the Septuagint has ol ae\fyol avTrjs for the
Massoretic ^n.
Love and faithfulness as in ver. 49, chs. xxxii. 11,
xlvii. 29 Ex. xxxiv. 6, and Josh. ii. 14, none of which
;

passages, may be held, are from A.

it

Vv. 2854. The maiden, thus pointed out by manifest

divine guidance, is now won from her kinsmen to be Isaac's
bride by a simple recital of the events as they occurred.

1 3
Regarding it see Winer, ii. 137 f.
2
As Ex. xxxviii. 26 ;
see coniin. on Ex. xxx. 13 [Dillmann].
3 4
Of. ch. xxxiv. 1. Ver. 48.
5 c
Cf. ver. 48. Chs. xiii. 8, xiv. 11.
166 GENESIS XXIV. 28-33 [.304

Ver. 28. She hastens home with the presents, 1 and relates

the occurrence to the house of her mother, i.e. to the female

portion of Bethuel's household, with

whom she lived apart
from the men.
Ver. 29 f. Her brother Laban, the son of the house,
hastens out to the well. The presents entice him ;
he is

always portrayed in the legend as strongly selfish.

2
Ver. 296 anticipates ver. 30 unendurably, and can only
be supposed to have been transferred from its original
3
position after ver. 30&, before tfajl, by a copyist's error.

There is nothing else in the chapter to support the assump-

tion of a doublet due to different sources. 4

n$O3 Ewald, 304^; the Samaritan has inaro.

"TBy run as in ch. xxxviii. 24; Isa. xxviii. 8; Amos

vii. 1; Ewald, 306d.
Ver. 31. He presses him to come in, with the assurance
that he has prepared the house for his reception. He calls
"
him blessed of Jahve," for the servant had named the God
5
of his master in ver. 27, and Eebecca had told of it.

Ver. 32. The servant goes to the house.

N3J1 so punctuated, because no "TIN

follows, otherwise we
6
should expect N3J1, for Laban is, without doubt, subject to

For the washing of feet see ch. xviii. 4. The guest is

not asked who he is, or what is the purpose of his journey ;

courtesy forbids it.

Ver. 33. The servant will not partake of the food set
7
before him until he has discharged his mission; so im-
portant does he consider it. With epic circumstantiality the
author now puts in his mouth a second account of all that
has gone before. The facts are intended to speak for them-
selves, and to secure the wished-for result. 8
1
Ver. 30.
-
Ver. 10 supplies no means of justification.
;

4
I

Urkunden, p. 149.
Itfun, Knobel. ;'
Knobel.
<:

Vulgate, J. D. Micliaelis, Dathe, Olshausi-n. <

Ch. xviii. 8.
8
('f. ver. 50.
::nl, :;nr,]
GENESIS XXIV. 34-3G 167

C^m-i also found in ch.

1. 26, but
punctuated DK^'i here ;

the K e
reIn both passages we expect a passive,
is DBW.
and therefore, seeing there is no instance elsewhere of a Kal
2
Efc>;
for DV,
1
we must assume either a sharpening of the
3
passive } to ,
or an error in transcription, in all three

passages, by which
'
has been put for v 4
Ver. 34f. Comp. ch. xii. 16 and xiii. 2; and for <J1,

ch. xxvi. 13.

Ver. 36. After she had become old; comp. xviii. 11. It

is to be observed that the Septuagint read nhjipj.

'y\ 1^ in 111
) cannot be explained from ch. xxi. 10 ff., but

only as a reference to ch. xxv. 5, which must therefore have

stood in C before this chapter, or, according to Kautzsch-
Socin, between vv. 1 and 2.

Vv. 3741. As vv. 38. It need not be supposed that

5
something has dropped out after 41 ft.
tib ON literally, if not after the negative sentence its ;

meaning is, but, on the contrary; but this is the only instance
of such a use, unless, perhaps, Ps. cxxxi. 2, for in Ezek. iii. 6
the reading *& DK is preferable. The Samaritan has DK 'a.

The alternative to this explanation is to take DN as a particle

of asseveration, truly. G

To walk before Jahve see ch. xvii. 1.

WKp from the oath (Sept. apd) which you swore to

me. For the difference between nta and nym, opicos, see
Ewald, Antiquities?
Vv. 42-44. Compare vv. 12-14.
8
NJ IB* DN compare ver. 49 ;
for the &o of request in
a conditional sentence, see note on ch. xviii. 3, 'if thou wilt

prosper my way, as I ask of thee, it shall happen,' as

described in ver. 43 f.

Ver. 45 f.
Compare vv. 15-20.
1
In Judg. xii. 3 rwybW is the Mass, reading.
2
Ewald, 131d.
3
Chs. xxiv. 33,1. 24 also Ex. xxx. 32 (-|D V from ^ID).
; I

4 5 6
Konig, Lehrgebaude, p. 435 f. Kautzscli-Socin. Delit/sch 5 .

7 8
Alterthiimer* 25 f. [trans, p. 18 f.]. Ewald, 3556.
168 GENESIS XXIV. 45-52 F. [305

see ch. viii. 21; the prayer in ver. 12f. was

accordingly silent prayer.

Ver. 47 f.
Compare vv. 22-27.
p tains to be regarded as an addition to the original :

see vv. 15 and 24.

Ewald, 232#.
"p"Q in a true, i.e. right road', cf. ver. 27.

"nx used of
according to the present text of ch. xxiv.
brother's son as in xiv. 16, xxix. 12.
Ver. 49. Having stated the facts, he asks whether or

not, in view of them, they are willing to show his master love
and faithfulness as kinsmen should. In the latter case, he
l
will turn right or left to search in other families for the

woman he desires.

Ver. 50 f.
They recognise from his account that God
wills the matter, and they answer in the affirmative. This
settles everything ;
the daughter is not consulted, she is

given in marriage as was customary.

In this case, however,
as ver. 57 ff. shows, the arrangement was concluded with her
free consent.
2
Evil or good nothing at all not a word. ;

tainni must be an interpolation, for in vv. 5 3 and 5 5 ff.

Bethuel is completely ignored. It is doubtless from the

hand which added Bethuel's name elsewhere in the chapter.
There is no difficulty in the representation that Laban, as
3
brother, has a voice in the decision, the circumstances of a

polygamous household would furnish the explanation, but so

complete an obliteration of the father cannot be original.
T:Q^> lefore you, at your disposal ;
see ch. xiii. 9.

"131 by what took place.

"
Ver. 5 2 f. The pious servant first thanks God, and gives
Rebecca gold and silver ornaments and articles of dress in
Isaac's name, and in accordance with the custom by which

the bridegroom sent presents to the bride before the wedding,

1 2
Ch. xiii. 9. As xxxi. 24, 29 ; Num. xxiv. 13 ;
2 Sain. xiii. 22.
8
So xxxiv. 5, 11, 25 ; Judg. xxi. 22 ;
2 Scam. xiii. 22. Knobel.
906, :'>"(;]
GENESIS XXIV. 54-59 1G9

ami thus made (lie engagement binding."

1
But the precious

things which he gives to Rebecca's brother and mother are

2
the bride's purchase price.
Ver. 54. Only after that does he partake of food and

drink, and he wishes to start next morning, even, in order to

reach Abraham again as soon as possible.
Vv. 55-61. The bride herself, with most ready acquies-
cence, hastens the preparations for her departure.
Ver. 55. The brother and mother ask that the departure
should be postponed for some days, 3 or a decade of days, 4 i.e.
as we say, indefinitely, ten days. 5 The reading is, however,
uncertain. The Samaritan has cnn is &W, the Septuagint
rjpepas &>cret Seica, the Peshitta ^r>n
^-^ it is not im-
^ ;

possible that a
^ih c
has fallen out before D^ 7 11
.

Ver. 56. The servant does not wish to be delayed, since,

),
8
God has prospered his journey.

Ver. 57 f. Rebecca herself, when asked, decides for an

immediate departure. Ask her mouth, ask herself, so that
she may say what she thinks on the subject.
Ver. 59. They let her go. The expression, their sister,
9
is used because Laban everywhere appears as the principal
personage.
"
And her nurse there were nurses in families of conse-
10
quence ; they preserved their attachment to their foster

children, remained by them, and were held by them in turn

in high esteem." n Like Abraham's servant, the nurse here is

1
See xxxiv. 12, della Valle, Viaggi, Germ. tr. ii. 225 Tavernier, ;

Voyages [Eng. tr. 1678, pp. 172, 243], Germ. tr. i. 282 Jaubert [Voyage,
;

1821, p. 301], Germ. tr. 220 f. ; Burckliardt, Bedouins, i. 109.

2 3
See Winer/ under Ehe. 5
See note on iv. 3.
4
Ex. xii. 3 Lev. xvi. 29.
;

5
Eine yrosse Woche ; Ewald, Alterthfiinn'^ p. 131 [Antiquities, p. 98,
note 4].
7
' ;

Cli. xxix. 14. Olshausen.

8
Chs. xv. 2, xviii. 13, 18, xx. 3, etc. <J
Vv. 50, 53, 55.
10
2 Kings xi. 2.
11
Odyssey, ii. 362 ff. ; Euripides, Hippolytus, 286 ff. ; sEneid, vii. 1 IT.

Knobel.
170 GENESIS XXIV. 60-62 [.306

nameless in C \
in B l
she is calledDeborah, and comes to
Canaan only with Jacob. For nnpJD the Septuagint has
ra vTrdp^ovra avrfjs (? ilipD 2 ).
Ver. 60. They give her their blessing, expressed in
3
rhythmical form, which serves at the same time as a
benediction on her marriage.
Thousands of myriads mother of innumerable descend-
"
ants. This was a Hebrew woman's greatest good fortune 4 ;

5
it is still the same in the East."
The gate of those ivho hate her see ch. xxii. 17.
Ver. 61. "As the daughter of a rich man, Eebecca
receives with her a number of girls to be companions and
attendants. 6 on
marriage of his daughters,
Laban, the
7
however, gave each only one maid."
The second part of this verse, as the text now stands,
summarises what occurred. But it is not unlikely that
8
originally something stood between it and what goes before,
for ver. 62 ff. also show traces of B's hand.
Vv. 6267. Eebecca reaches Isaac in safety and becomes
his wife.

Ver. 62. Introductory circumstantial clause mainly from

R, rendered necessary because he required to give a later

position to xxv. 5 and 116, which in G preceded this point.
6"s original text may have been something like

'y\ NUD K3 the general interpretation is had come from

coming to the well, 9 i.e. had returned from a journey to it.

But for a journey one requires ro? or a similar word, not

1
Ch. xxxv. 8. 2
Schleusner.
3
Comp. Ruth iv. 11
See xvi. 2, 4.
ff.
4

5
Sharastdni, trans, by Haarbriicker, ii. 350 (Geschichte der Religions
parteien und Philosophensekten) Volney, Voyage [ii. 445, Eng. tr. 1787,
;

ii.
485]. Knobel.
6
Pa. xlv. 15 [14]. 7
Cht xxix- 24, 29. Knobel.
For conjectures see Kautzsch-Socin, Genesis-
[who suppose that the
author ivl;iti'il that Abraham's death was found to have meantime taken
place].
9
Clericus, Gesenius, Knobel, Keil.
 ::m;, .",07]
CKNESIS XXIV. G3 171

N13. There is less objection to translating NUO from the

Direction of, 1 but one cannot see any reason why we should
be told where he came from. The same objection ded<l->
2
against corrections like OVP for Niun, or "^aip for "to N3E. a
Weexpect to be told rather where he was going to, or where
he was. But we cannot translate KU K3, il vint d'arrit'cr, he
had just reached Beer, 4 for such an idiom is quite without
analogy in Hebrew. We must either strike out NUID as
inexplicable, or set forit i^p, which is a partial adoption of

the reading "anoa of the Samaritan and Septuagint. His

iiii-aning may be taken to be as follows, "Isaac had reached
5
(the desert of) Beer Lachairoi, and was living there in the
G
Negeb." In this way Beer Lachairoi was the place where
Isaac received his bride. 7 The present reading may be due
to the unseasonable correction of a reader who, in accordance
with chs. xxiii. and xxv. 8 f., wished to make the servant reach
Abraham and Isaac in Mamre.
8
Ver. 63. There Isaac went out to lament or to reflect?

mbv also translated to pray

10
or to commune with him-
12
self,
11
even to fetch faggots. Lament is commended by ver. 67
more than meditate or reflect, whether the subject of reflection

is taken to be the care of his flocks, 13 or the matter of his

14
betrothal, or anything else, provided, that is, that 67& is

in the main original, and not an addition of It's. The

reading of the Peshitta 131556, to take a walk, is worthy of
1
Delitzscli 5
; cf. rosa, ch. x. 19, 30; NuS Num. xiii. 21; Nute,
1 viii. 65.
Kings
-
Houbigant, following xxv. 11.
3
Lagarde, Onomast. sacra, Hi. 95 ;
Olshausen.
4
Ewald, Hupfeld, Quellen, p. 29.
136/i ;
"
5
Ch. xvi. 14. Ch. xx. 1. (:
Cf. xxv. 11.
8
Knobel, Ewald, Alterthiimer* 271 [Antiquities, p. 203] comp. rvl", ;

Ps. Iv. 3, 18, cxlii. 3; Job vii. 11, 13 Prov. xxiii. 29. ;

9
Sept., Vulg., Clericus, Rosenmiiller, Vater, Muurus, Tuch, Bauiu-
garten, Delitzsch.
10
Targg., Arabic trans., Grace. Venet., Rashi, Luther.
11
Aquila, Symmaehus, von BoliK-n.
'-' 13
Bottcher. Tuch.
14
Delitzsch, Knobel.
172 GENESIS XXIV. H4-66F. [307

l
observation ;
Gesenius calls attention to the mb>3 "pnn of
ver. 65, and approves of this reading.
"
my about the time of the approach of evening, 2
rttii!?

when the Oriental goes out." 3 Isaac sees the caravan coming.
Ver. 64. Almost at the same time Eebecca sees Isaac,

and, without knowing him, but, doubtless, with a presenti-

ment of the truth, she fell from the camel, i.e.* sprang quickly
"
down from the animal she rode. She did so primarily as a

sign of respect to Isaac, whom she recognised as a man of

distinction. The custom is several times mentioned in the Old

5
Testament, was the practice among other ancient
and it
6 7
peoples, e.g. the Eomans, and still exists in the East. Jews
and Christians are required to dismount when they meet a
8
Moslem of distinction."

Ver. 65. "When Eebecca learned who Isaac was, she

covered herself with her veil. The bride appeared before the
bridegroom veiled, hence also the expression nubere viro.
Only after they were alone together was the veil removed.
9
This is still the custom in the East."

'?1K explained by ver. 36 and xxv. 5, even if Abraham's

death had not yet been related.
TV-f in the Old Testament only in ch. xxxviii. 14, 19
besides here.

"IJpn
the man there, also in xxxvii. 19, in .
l

Ver. 6 6 f. The servant recounts all that happened to him,

and then Isaac marries Eebecca.
1 2
Thesaurus, p. 1322. Ex. xiv. 27 ; Deut. xxiii. 12.
3 4
Ch. Knobel.
iii. 8. 2 Kings v. 21.
5
1 Sam. xxv. 23 2 Kings ; v. 21 ; Josh. xv. 18. Livy, xxiv. 44.
7
Niebuhr, Arabien, p. 50 ; Reisebeschreibung, i. 239 ; Joliffe, Travels,
(nil. tr. p. 174.
8
Niebuhr, Arabien, p. 44; Reisebeschreibung, i. 139 f.; Schultz,
Leitung des Hochsten, iv. 358 Sonnini, Voyage [Eng.
; tr. 1799, ii. 266,
309], Germ. tr. ii. 54, 92 ; Seetzen, Reisen, iii. 190.
9
Russell, Aleppo (1794), i. 287 f. ; Jaubert, Voyage, p. 303 ; Burckhardt,
Proverb*, pp. 137, 139; Game [Letters from the East, p. 92], Ger. Lelen u.
N///, i.
88; Lane, Manners and Customs, cli. vi., 1890, p. 156. Knobel.
A !-<> M un/inger, Ostafrik. titudien, p. 147.
10 25 34
Gesenius, ; Ewald, 1836.
:;<>7, ;tos]
GENESIS XXV 173

hfatttll the article before the construct cannot he

explained.
1

It,
may lu- conjectured that 1EN nib' is a g]*

to make the connection with ch. xxiii. closer. There is no

dilliculty in the mention of
belonging to a special tent
Sarah. "Jacob's wives have also separate tents (xxxi. 33).
3
Similarly the wives of Beduin chiefs."
And he comforted himself, after his mother, i.e. after her

decease, and accordingly now ceased to mourn for her ;

with
nns compare ^sb in ch. xxx. 30. This may also be a

gloss, like 1DN mb'. 4 It is equally possible

5
that originally
V3N stood where IEK now is, and that somewhere in the

narrative, perhaps at ver. 62, Abraham's death, which had

meanwhile occurred, was related. With ch. xxiv. in its

present position, preceded by ch. xxiii., Isaac must have

mourned for his mother three or four years, 6 an unusually
long time. "Thirty and seventy days, even, were long
7
periods of mourning."

4. ABRAHAM'S DESCENDANTS BY KETURAH, HIS DEATH, CH.

XXV. 1-11; FROM R, FOLLOWING A, C, AND B (T).

Tuch, Knobel, Ewald, and Noldeke attribute the whole of

this passage to A. Kegarding the authorship of vv. la 71
there can be no doubt. Its statement of Abraham's age,
"
the mention of Ishmael as still living with him (ver. 9),
the reference to the cave of Makhpelah (ver. 9 f.), the
redundant style (ver. 9 f.), the expressions nn "on (ver. 10),
vy ta c)DW and J3 ( V er. 8), "n \)ir (ver. 7), as well as w
D'nbtf (ver. 11)," and the reference of ch. xlix. 31 to ver. 9, 8

furnish the proof. But the case is otherwise with vv. 1-6. 9 In

1 25
Ewald, 290d Gesenius, 127A. 4. ;

2
Wellhausen, JBDTh. xxi. 418.
n
Arvieux \Memoires, iii. 254], MerkiourdigeNachrrichten, iii. 214. Knobel.
1
(
I ..'
'.Inner, Erste Buch tier Thora, p. 213.
5
Wellhausen. fi
Chs. xvii. 17, xxiii. 1, xxv. 20.
7
(
1

li. 1. 3 Num. xx. 29

; ;
Deut. xxi. 13, xxxiv. Knobel.8.
8 9
Knobel. Hupfeld, Bolimer, Schrader, Wellhausen.
 174 GENESIS XXV. 1 [308

the first place ver. 5 is secured for C by the coincidence with ch.
xxiv. 36 ; though it cannot be from A
ver. 6 is less certain,

in view of the contradiction with ver. 9, where Ishmael still

lives with Abraham, and because of the word D'tM^B. If it

were certain that ver. 6 is from C, it would follow that C also

had an account of Keturah ;

ver. 3 f. cannot at least be from
A, both because of the use of n^ and because of the contra-
diction with x. 7. On the other hand, ver. 1 f., apart from
5)0^1, which A
does not use, might very well be from A,
and n^N even points with certainty to another author than
that of ver. 6. Ch. xvii. 4f.
might also commend A's
authorship, though ch. xxv. 9, where only Isaac and Ishmael
are mentioned, is rather against it. In addition, seeing that
A makes Abraham's full age 175 years, the birth of sons to
him after Sarah's death, i.e. after he was 137 years old, would

be least surprising ;
in C the account would have to stand
before the birth of Isaac. 1 The words miDp '33 rhx $o
2
(ver. 4) may, in particular, be advanced to support C's
3 4
authorship of vv. 1 6 or of 1 5. But the descent of Nn^
from Yokshan, while against ^4's authorship, is also decisive

against C (ch. x. 28). For these reasons we may best

suppose that vv. 1-4 are from B, who in ch. xxxvii. 28 and
36, also, mentions Midian instead of C's Ishmael or that they ;

are an independent contribution from R himself,

following B
and A. Ver. 6 we must hold to owe its present form to R.
For ver. lib see below.
Vv. 14. Abraham takes Keturah to be his wife, and has
six sons by her, who have become the ancestors of Arab
peoples.
Ver. 1. 'as C)D^ due to R, connects the narrative with
ch. xxiii.

5
miDp properly frankincense. Sprenger is of opinion
1

Oh* xviii. 12ff., xxi. 7. 2

Cf> x 29 fj ix 19
:

I'.ii'lde, Unjcschichte, 225; Kuenen, Onderzoek, 2 i.

144, who yet on
]>.
.3 If)
regards the verses as a stray passage picked up by the last
redactor.
1

K;iut/;.rli-Sorin. 6
Geographic Arabiens, p. 295.
:IOK, :;H'.I]
GENESIS xxv. i!
175

tli;it the miDp '33 were made the descendants of Keturah

l>rraiise the author knew them as traders in spices. Tin-

Am!) genealogists of later times do not speak of Keture.m

Arabs, but they mention "a tribe Katura, which dwelt in tin-
neighbourhood of Mekka, along with the tribe Jurhum."
l
The
names of the Keturah tribes also are only in part capable of
identification. The list is also given in 1 Chron. i. 32 f., but
in an abbreviated form.
Ver. 2. Firstly, six principal tribes, a half dodecad, are

given as descended from Keturah.

i"ypt from 1OT, a species of antelope. The Septuagint
has Zo/j,(3pav, Z/jL/3pd/j,. Knobel compares Zafipd/j,, the

capital of the K.LvatSoKO\7riTai,, west of Mekka on the Red

Sea. 2 Some identify this people with the Kinda, Blau and
3
Sprenger with the Kinana. Grotius has drawn attention
to the Zamareni of Pliny. 4 pot has nothing to do with
5
Shammar, and it is questionable if it is connected with the
'"!T of Jer. xxv. 25. 6

J^p; Sept. 'lefai;, 'legai; Tuch compares ?Bj (x. 26),

;

Ewald 7
pfW (Hab. iii.
7), Knobel the Kaaa-avlrai, of Ptolemy. 8
The last named lived south of the Kiva&oicdKTrlTai on the
Eed Sea, and correspond rather to the Ghassan. 9 Arabic
10
genealogists identify \vp with the tribe Yakish in Yemen,
perhaps because in ver. 3 toi? is descended from it.
|Hp of all the descendants of Keturah these are the

best known. They were a powerful people down to about

the time of the Hebrew monarchy. In Gen. xxxvii. 28, :>6

(7>) they are engaged in caravan trade with Egypt; in Kx.

ii. and xviii. they are found in the peninsula of Sinai ;

in

1
See Ibn Coteiba, ed. Wiistenfeld, 14; Bitter, Erdkunde, xii. 19 ff.
Knobel.
2
Ptolemy, vi. 7. 5.
3
Op. cit. 30 ff.; see ZDMG. xxii. 663.
4 5
Hist. Nat. vi. 138. Sprenger, op. cit. p. 295.
6
See Delitzsch, Paradies, 237.
7 3
Geschichte, i. 451 [History, vol. i. p. 315].
8
vi. 7. 6.
9
ZDMG. xxii. 668 ; Sprenger, op. cit. 43, 52.
10
Osiander in ZDMG. x. 31.
176 GENESIS XXV. 2 [309

they appear in the country east of the Jordan, in

1
Numbers
conflict with the Israelites in the time of the Judges their ;

2
hordes overwhelmed Palestine even in ;
Isa. Ix. 6 they are
3
mentioned as an Arab merchant people.
jnp Sept. MaSdX, are nowhere else mentioned, for we
are entitled to assume that the B^JP of Gen. xxxvii. 36
of ver. 28. 4 Yet it may B^p
ought to be identical with the
be thought that the tribes here mentioned alongside of one
5
another were also neighbours. Ptolemy mentions a place
6
MaSlava on the east coast of the Gulf of 'Akaba (as well as
a Ma&ia/uia in Arabia Felix). The Onomasticon 7 knows a
" 8
place MaSiavrj there also, and the Arabic geographers a

Madian, which they place five days south of Aila on the

east side of the sea."
9
Wetzstein 10 and Sprenger n compare
a Wadi Medan 12 in the neighbourhood of the ruined city of
Dedan. 13
Osiander u and 15
have drawn attention to
Hitzig
a Jurhamite idol named Madan.
wrongly identified by Knobel with Shaubak in
P3&*

the Jebel esh-Shera, 16 which is not heard of till the Middle

Ages. It is now believed to have been also found in the

cuneiform inscriptions as Yasbuk} 7
iw mentioned in Job ii. 11 as a tribe, in the neigh-
bourhood of the land of py. The Septuagint has Swie, in
Job 2av%eis. It may be taken to be the Suchu of the

cuneiform inscriptions, 18 on the right bank of the Euphrates,

1 2
Chs. xxii. 4, 7, xxv. 6, 17 f., xxxi. 1 ff.
Judg. vi. ff.
3 4
See, further, the Biblical Dictionaries. Ewald, 164&.
5 6 7
vi. 7. 2. vi- 7> 27> Stlb M*S/^.
8
Istachri (ed. Mordtmann, p. 10) ;
Edrisi (trans, by Jaubert, i. 328,
333) ; Ka/wini, ii. 173 ; Abulfida, Arab., ed. Rommel, p. 77 f. Mardsid, ;

iii. 64.
''
Knobel. Comp. also IKings xi. 18, and Ewald, Geschic.hte,
3 ii.
473 f.
[History, vol. ii.
p. 107 f.], also Wetzstein in Zeitschriftfiir A llgem. Erdkunde,
;:,, p. ii5f.
10
In Delitzsch, Isaiah, 1 p. 665.
n
Geographic Arabiens, p. 295.
'-'
is
Vfikftt, iv. 445. See notes on x. 7.
I ..

1 '
ZDMG. vii. 492. On Prov. vi. 19.
" ;

/v'.'/. liurc.kluinlt, tiyria, p. 416.

17
l-'ii.-.l. Di'lii/sch in ^/\',S7''. ii. 92. 18
Op. cit. p. 91 f.
:;<)!), :;io]
GENESIS XXV. 3 177

;i]>l>rnxiiii;itcly between the mouths of the Jtelih and tin-

Chabor. 1 The "Arab tribe 2

Syayhe, east of Aila, or even
3
Sihan, a place in the north of Edom,"
cannot be thought
4
of. 2avrj, mentioned by Ptolemy, deserves more considera-
tion, but not ^oa/ca.^
We
cannot say if the enumeration of the Ketureans
6
proceeds from south to north and the statement of ;

7
Josephus, that they included Troglodytis and the part of
Arabia Felix lying along the Ked Sea, is not very
reliable.

Ver. 3. Sons and grandsons of Yokshan.

For Sheba and Dedan see notes on ch. x. 7. The
genealogy here seems to be constructed by one with a
narrower horizon than that shown in ch. x.

Kegarding the three sons of Dedan nothing further is

known. Induced by the plural form of the names, even
ancient expositors, 8 and more recently Hitzig, 9 have regarded
them as appelatives to be interpreted of the occupations or
modes of life adopted by certain offshoots of Dedan. Knobel's
view was that by the Dni^x, who are not, it may be re-
marked, to be identified with the "N$x of Ezek. xxvii. 23, or
with the corrupt ^K'Kn of 2 Sam. xxix., were to be under-
f
stood the tribes of the Asir in Tihama, 10 by the D^t^> the
Banu Laith in the Hijaz, 11 and by the D'BxS the Banu Lam, 12
all of which is phonologically impossible. For what the
Arabic genealogists made of the last two, see the ZDMG.
and wvh, as names of persons, have been read on

1
Schrader, KGF. 142 f., 222 ; Delitzsch, Paradies, p. 297 f.

2
Burckhardt, Syria, p. 594; Bedouins and Wahulij*, vol. ii.
p. 10.
3 4
Burckhardt, Syria, p. 414. V. 19. 5.
5
Ptolemy, vi. 7. 29; Sprenger, op. cit. 22.
6 7
Knobel. Antiquities, i. 15. 1.
8
Targg., Jerome, Qucestiones and Owmit*tfni.
9
Schenkel, Bibellexikon, sub. Dedan.
10
Hitter, Erdkunde, xii. 983 ff.
11
Ibn Coteiba, ed. Wiistenfeld, p. 32.
12
Hitter, Erdkunde, xii. 913, xiii. "234, 438, 451, 458, xiv. 45.
13
xx. 175, xxiii. 298.

DILLMANN. - II. 12
178 GENESIS XXV. 4 [310

3
Nabatean inscriptions.
1
Hommel 2 and Glaser have a

peculiar conjecture regarding D s itTK based on a Minean

inscription.
Ver. 4. Five sons or offshoots of the important people of
Midian are named.
r\&y mentioned also in Isa. Ix. 6 along with Midian as
a tribe engaged in commerce, which brought gold and incense
from Sheba, and had great wealth in camels. The Septuagint
reads Tefydp, in Isaiah Tai$a. It is now identified with
4
the Hayapa, Ha'apa of the cuneiform inscriptions, a people

Halevy reads a personal name nsy in the

5
of North Arabia.

Safa inscriptions. 6
"iDJ>
Sept. ^Afaip. Knobel identifies with the Banu
Ghifar of the Kinana tribe in the Hijaz, 7 Wetzstein, 8 with
'Ofr, a place between the hills of Tihama and Aban
9 10
Glaser, ;

with the Apparu of the inscriptions of Asshurbanipal. 11

12
"^PD perhaps to be explained of Hanakiya, a place

three days' journey north of Medina, 13 in the neighbourhood

of 'Ofr. 1 *

Seeing that na% "lay, and "pn also occur as family names
iii Judah, East Manasseh, and Eeuben, it is
quite possible
that offshoots from these Midianitish tribes were absorbed
in Israel. 15

Nothing is known of JH'?*? an ^ r

T ??^>
r

Sept. 'AfteiSd and

1
ZDMG. xiv. 403 f., 447, 477 f.

2
Aufsatze u. Abhandlungen, 1890, p. 8f.
3
In Ausland, 1891, No. 3, p. 48.
4
Schrader, KGF. p. 262 f. ; for the phonetic possibility, P. Haupt in
ZA. ii. 267.
6
Schrader, KAT? 146 f., 613 [Cuneiform Inscripp. vol. i. p. 132];
Delitzsch, Paradies, 304 ; Hommel, op. cit. p. 5, between Mekka and Medina.
c
JA. vii. 10, pp. 394 f., 418, vii. 17, pp. 186, 208.
7
Ibn Coteiba, p. 32 Abulfida, Histor. anteislam. p. 196.
;

8
Zeitschrift fur Allg. Erdkunde, 1865, p. 102.
''
10
Yfikat, iii. 688, iv. 750. Geog. Arabiens, ii. 44.
11 12
Schrader, Keilschriftliche Bibliothek, ii. 223. Knobel.
13
Burckhardt, Arabia, ii. 396 (Germ. tr. p. 610 f.).
14
Wetzstein as in note 8.
15
Noldeke in Schenkel's Bibellex. iv. 218.
 810,311] GENESIS XXV. 5-8 179

In S;il>c;in inscriptions yT3K is found as the name

of a person. 1 The concluding words of the genealogy, as in
x. l>9.

Ver. 5. Word for word as in xxiv. :56, and therefore from

C. The Samaritan and Septuagint add iJ3 after
pnv^.
Ver. 6. Abraham gave Isaac his whole property, and,
while yet alive, disposed of the sons of his concubines, Hagar
and Keturah, by gifts of servants, cattle, etc. 2 According to
B (xxi. 20 f.), Ishmael had long left his father's house. Nor
can have written this verse, if xvi. 810 is a harmonistic

interpolation. Seeing, further, that Hagar is called nns^ and

noK in C and B, while Keturah in ver. 1 is even termed n ;
K,

and that B^D in xxxv. 22, and no doubt also in xxxvi. 12

and xxii. 24, is due to R, we are led to the conjecture that
R has recast this verse wholly or in part.
He dismissed them eastwards, to the land of the east, i.e.

in general to Arabia, with Arabia Deserta or the Syrian

desert included. 3
Ver. 7 f. Death and burial of Abraham, from A.
Ver. 7. *n, ch. iii. 22. Abraham's age of 175 years
takes him fifteen years beyond the birth of his grandsons
Esau and Jacob (ver. 26). His history is nevertheless here

brought to its conclusion, as in the similar case in ch.

xi. 32.
Ver. 8. n v ) Wi, as in ver. 17 and xxxv. 29. In a good
old age (ch. xv. 15). For JJTfl the Samaritan and Septuagint
have DV^n jnen ; comp. xxxv. 29.
4 "
Gathered to his kinsfolk i.e. united to them in Sheol.
The expressions vrvatrta Kin (ch. xv. 15), WTCMrbl fpjw (Judg.
10), and the frequent vnnfcTDy 3Dl^ (Deut. xxxi. 16), have
ii.

the same meaning. They do not simply signify die, for yu

and niD are frequently used along with them, 5 nor to be

1
ZDMG. xxvii. 648, xxxvii. 399 ; Glaser, Arabien, ii. 449.
2 3 3
Comp. xxi. 10 ; Judg. xi. 2. Winer, ii. 107.
4
See ch. xvii. 14.
5
Vv. 8, 17, chs. xxxv. 29, xlix. 33 ;
Num. xx. 26 ;
Deut. xxxii. 50.
180 GENESIS XXV. 9-11 311

the family burying-place, for the interment often

in

receives separate mention, and they are also used of those

1

2
not buried beside their ancestors, or of those in whose
3
place of burial only one ancestor already lay.
But they
were originally used of burial in a common spot, and were
then applied, secondarily, to denote arrival in Sheol. In
4
Sheol those who are related are found together. See,
5
further, Bottcher, De Inferis"
Ver. 9 f. See notes on ch. xxiii. 20.

Ver. 11. The first part of the verse is still from A, as is

shown by The divine blessing which had hitherto

D\"6tf.

rested on Abraham continued with Isaac. The second part

agrees with ch. xxiv. 62 in C, and was originally a con-
tinuation of ver. 5. In A, Isaac's residence seems to have
been Hebron (xxxv. 27).
'in T6 "i2 see notes on ch. xvi. 14.

5. THE DESCENDANTS OF ISHMAEL, CH. XXV. 12-18;

FOLLOWING A. 6

Ch. xxv. 11 made the transition to the history of Isaac.

But before A
can quite pass over to it he must add, in
accordance with his custom, what was to be said regarding
the branch line of Ishmael. 7 Ishmael was a leading
O char-
acter in the patriarchal legends, and he had received such
8
great promises in ch. xvii. 20 that it was quite essential to
trace their fulfilment, especially as it was also the fulfilment
of part of the divine word spoken to Abraham in ch. xvii. 5 f.

This in itself leaves no doubt that the passage belongs to A?

1
Ver. 9, chs. xv. 15, xxxv. 29 ;
1 Kings ii. 10, xi. 43, and frequently.
2
Deut. xxxi. 16 ;
1 Kings ii. 10, xvi. 28 ;
2 Kings xxi. 18.
3
1
Kings xi. 43, xxii. 40.
4
Ch. xxxvii. 35 ; Ezek. xxxii. 22 ff. ; Ps. xlix. 20.
5
I. 54 ff. Knobel.
fl

Excepting ver. 18.

7
Coinp. x.\ xvi. 1 alongside of xxxvii. 2.
A in />' and (7, chs. xxi. 18, xvi. 10.
9
Knobel, Noldeke, Schradev, Wellhausen.
 GENESIS XXV. IL>, 13 181

and confirmation is found in the heading, in the statement of

Ishinarr.s age, and in the formulae and expressions used;
comp. also especially ver. 12 with ch. xvi. 3 and 15, ver. 13
and the twelve princes of ver.
(the firstborn) with xxxv. 23,
2
Hupfeld and Bohmer
x
16 with xvii. 20. are wrong in

di'iiying to A, in the one case vv. 13-lGa and 18, in the

other, all except ver. 17. A separate paragraph, with the
heading rr6n nta, yet consisting only of vv. 166 and 17,
would be singularly wanting in sense. Kegarding ver. 18,
see below. The list in 1 Chron. i. 2831 is to be compared
with that here.
Ver. 12. See ch. xvi. 3, 15.
Ver. 13. Comp. chs. xxxvi. 10, 40, xlvi. 8. Vv. 13 and
17 are partial headings subordinate to the general heading in
ver. 12.

oniDBG is surprising, and is only saved from being

completely superfluous if it be taken closely with the
"
following Drpforf) : after their names, according to their

genealogical order," i.e. their names in their genealogical

order.

It is reasonable to maintain that the duodecimal number

of the Ishmaelite tribes is not simply due to a baseless schema-
tism of A's? or to a transference to Ishmael of a division
4
existing in Israel, but had its historical ground in the fact
that politicalor religious federations divided duodecimally
were not infrequent among Hebrew peoples. 5 But we may
admit that the Israelite author's preconceptions had pretty
free scope when he came to arrange the individual names as

parts of the duodecimal whole. It is either this fact or a

generalisation of the word Ishmaelite to mean Bedouin or

desert Arab, 6 which accounts for the Midianites, who were
1
Quellen, p. 58 ff. ; similarly Kayser, p. 22.
2
Erste Buck der Thora, p. 84.
3 4
Noldeke. Knobel.
5
Ewald, Geschichte* i. 520-532 [History, vol. i.
pp. 362-371]; Reuss,
Geschichte des Alt. Test. 1 p. 40 f.
Ch. xvi. 12.
182 GENESIS XXV. 13 [312

1
Ketureans according to being also named Ishmaelites.
ver. 2,

It may be concluded, moreover, from the fact that the name

Ishmaelite, apart from its artificial resuscitation in Ps. Ixxxiii. 1

2
and Judith i. 13, does not occur after the time of David, that
3
this confederation early lost its individual existence.

and ~np are the best known and the most important
n*23

of the twelve tribes. The former is expressly designated the

and the two are conjoined in the inscriptions of
firstborn,
5
Similarly, Pliny mentions
4
Asshurbanipal and in Isa. Ix. 7.
6
the Nabatsei along with the Cedrei. The Arabic genealogies
make Kaidar and Mbit Ishmael's eldest sons, but they are

simply drawn from the Old Testament.

rp33 The only further Old Testament statements re-

garding Nabaioth are to the effect that Esau made a marriage

and that they were a tribe rich in flocks
alliance with them, 7

(Isa. Ix. 7). They are nowhere mentioned in the history of

Israel down to the Persian period, though, doubtless, the

8
same as the Nabaitai of the Assyrian monuments.
But in the period which followed the death of Alexander
the Great an important part is played by the Nabateans.

They were an Arab people who occupied Idumea, and Petra

its capital, after the Idumeans settled in the south of Canaan. 9

Afterwards, on the decay of the Seleucide monarchy, they

made themselves supreme in the country east of the Jordan,
and in the Syrian desert, 10 as far as the Hauran and Damascus, 11
while southwards they extended, not
merely to Elath, but
even a considerable distance into Arabia proper. 12
They were
1
Judg. viii. 24, comp. vii. 25, viii. 22, 26 ;
Gen. xxxvii. 25, 27,
xxxix. 1.
2
1 Chron. ii. 17, 27, 30.
3
Noldeke, AmaleJc, p. 5.
1

Schrader, KAT* p. 147 [Gun. Liscripp. vol. i.

p. 133].
5
Hist. Nat. v. 5.
Q
E.g. Ibn Coteiba, pp. 18, 30 (ed. Wustenfeld), and Abulfida,
Historic anteislamica,
p. 192.
7
Gen. xxviii. 9, xxxvi. 3.
Schrader, KGF. p. 102.
9
Diodorus, xix. 94-100 ft'.
10
i Mace. v. 25, ix. 35.
11
Josephus, Antiquities, xiii. 15. 2.
12
Diodorus, iii. 43 ; Steplianus Byzantinus, sub
312, 313] GENESIS XXV. 13 1 S:j

so widely spread that all theArab peoples who then bordered

on the Syrians passed for Nabateans, 1 and the whole country
from the Euphrates to the Eed Sea was called Nabatene. 2
They had kings of their own, and were as warlike as they

were distinguished commercially and by their achievements

in the other pursuits of peace. The ruins of their principal

town, Petra, and the Nabatean coins and inscriptions, which

date from the first century B.C. and the first century A.D.,
are evidences of their culture. 3 Very numerous Nabatean
inscriptions have been recently found in North Arabia,
especially in el-Hijr or Madam Salih, and in el-'Ola, south of
4 5
Teima. Their empire was destroyed by Trajan, and fresh
Arab tribes pressed into the broad territories of their former

dominion. It is still a debated question whether these later

Nabateans are to be identified with the n'Op. On the
Nabatean inscriptions and by the Arabs their name is written
6
B23, but the Talmudic Jews write it with n as well, and
7
Josephus regards it as identical with JV3: (comp. the Targum
to Isa. Ix. 4). This would not carry us far if it were certain
that the later Nabateans were Arameans. 8 But judging from
what contained in the Nabatean inscriptions, it is more
is
9
probable that they were Arab by race while using Aramaic
as a commercial people and in writing. If that be so, the

interchange of n and D being presupposed, we may still

assume that in name and in fact the ancient rvo: are found in
1
Strabo, xvi. 4. 18, 21 Pliny, xii. 73.;

2
Josephus, Antiquities, i. 12. 4 Jerome, Qucestiones, ad loc.
;

3 3
Ewald, Geschichte, i. 451 ff., iv. 458 [History, i. 316, v. 351]; Noldeke
in SchenkePs Bibellex. iv. 269.
4
See Documents e'pigr. recueillis par Doughty, Eenan, Paris, 1884 ;

Euting, Nabat. Inschriften aus Arabien, Berlin, 1885.

5
Dio Cassius, Ixviii. 14 ; Ammianus, xiv. 8. 13.
ZDMG. xiv. 371, xv. 413, xxv. 123 f.

7
Antiquities, i. 12. 4.
8
Quatremere in Journal Asiatique, 1835 C. tie Perceval, Essai .?'/ ;

rhistoire des Arabes, i. 35 ff.; Ritter, Erdkunde, xii. 128 ff.; Halevy, Revue

Critique, 1887, No. 32, p. 104 R. Duval, JA. viii. 11, p. 107.
;

Noldeke, ZDMG. xvii. 706 f., xxv. 122 f.; Scmit. Spnicln;i, p. 31;
9

Euting, op. cit. p. 73 ff.

184 GENESIS XXV. 13 [313

the more modern D33, who were a blending together of the

rvaaand other Arab peoples, and, doubtless, of Arameans also.

1
But the distinction of the two peoples is insisted on by some.
In any case, the Aramean Nahatu, mentioned in the

inscriptions of Tiglath Pilesar u. and of Sanherib, dwelling in

or near South Babylonia, 2

are to be distinguished from the

1T3J,although later the Moslem Arabs also applied the name

83: to the peasantry who had a fixed residence in the Ara-
3
mean lands, especially of Babylonia.

"T]P often mentioned in the Old Testament in the time

of the Israelite monarchy, when Midian had now lost its

former importance, and especially from the eighth century

onwards. They are spoken of as good bowmen, and as the
first to be exposed to the attacks of the Assyrians and
4 5 6
Babylonians, as dwelling in black tents- and open villages,
as rich in camels and flocks, 7 and as trading in these
8
possessions. They were situated between Arabia Petrea
and Babylonia. 9 In the cuneiform inscriptions the Kidri are
mentioned alongside of the Nabaitai, and their principal
10
deity given as Atar-samain.
is Their name is used in the
Kabbinical writers, like the name Ishmaelite, for Arab in

general;the language of Kedar is the Arabic language.

Even the Targums explain Kedar by " Arabs," once by B33
(Ezek. xxvii. 21).

^f]K n and
Sept. NaQBejX, identified by Delitzsch
12 13
Schrader as the Idibi'il of a text of
Tiglath Pilesar n.
1
E.g. again by Glaser, Geschichte und Geographic Arabiens, ii. 409 f.
2
Schrader, KGF. p. 105 ff.
3
Noldeke, ZDMG. xxv. 122 ff.
4
Isa. xxi. 16 f. ; Jer. xlix. 28 ff.
5
Song i. 5.
c
Isa. xlii. 11 ; Jer. xlix. 31.
7
Jer. xlix. 32 ; Isa. Ix. 7. 8
Ezek. xxvii. 21.
9 1
Onomasticon, ed. Lagarde, i. Ill ;
Jerome ad Isa. xlii. 10, regio
intMbitabilis trans Arabiam Saracenorum ; cf. also Jer. ii. 10 ;
Ps. cxx. 5,
and the comm. of Theodoret ; also Suidas, sub Krfdp.
10
Schrader, KGF. 52 ff. 101 ff.; KAT? 147 f.
[Eng. tr. vol. i.
p. 134] ;

comp. Glaser, op. cit. ii. 439.

11
Parodies, 301 f. '-'
KA T? p. 148 [Gun. Inscripp. i.
135].
13
Cf. Glaser, cit. ii. 439.
op.
:n.-{, :<H] CJENKSIS xxv. 14 185

p Sept. Macro-dp, unknown. In 1 Chron. iv. 25 it

is the name of a family in the tribe of Simeon.

POtto Sept. Mao-pa, also the name of a Simeonite
1
family. The Mataaifjiavel^^ north-east of Medina, and the
3
place called el-Mismiye in the Leja, south of Damascus,
4
have no connection with this name. The maps mark a
Jebel Misma* south-east of Kaf, east of the Wadi Sirhan, in
the latitude of Idumea, and another farther south, west of
the Shammar capital, Hayel, towards Teima, where in-

scriptions have also been found. It is possible that in one

or other of them a trace of yEtrro remains.

npffi hardly the Duma situated in the east of the

5
Hauran, but probably AovpaOa? Domata, AovpeOa?
8 9 "
AovfjiaiOa, seven days' journey from Damascus,
or <U.j,
and thirteen from Medina, on the borders of Sham (Syria)
and Irak. 10
According to Edrisi, this same place was four

days north of Teime, and it has been found there by modern

travellers n in the district of el-Jauf its usual name is
;

Dumath el-Jandal,"
12
but it is to be distinguished from the
nDvn of Isa. xxi. 11. number of the
Quite a of other places

name Duma are known. 13

14
Nfrp usually connected with the Maaavot of Ptolemy,
north-east of Duma.
In the inscriptions of Asshurbanipal,
Mas'u also appears along with the Nabaitai and Kidri. 15 For

1
1 Chron. iv. 25 ; Riehin, Handworterbuch, p. 993.
Knobel; see ZDMG. xxii. 672.
2
Ptolemy, vi. 7. 21.
3
Delitzsch.
4
E.g. Stieler's Handatlas, No. 70
Euting in Nabat. Imchriften, p. 2. ;

6
Pointed out by Wetzstein, Haurdn, p. 93.
6 7
Stephanus Byzantinus. Pliny, vi. $ 157.
8
Ptolemy, v. 19. 7, viii. 22. 3 lie puts it at one time in Arabia Felix,
;

at another in Arabia Deserta.

9
Abulfida, ed. Rommel, p. 89 Yakut, ii. 625 ff. [Dillmann]. ;

10
Translation by Jaubert, i. 335.
11
Niebuhr, Arabien, p. 344 ; Burckhardt, Syria, p. G(!L
;
.

12
Knobel.
13
Enumerated in Mulilau, De prov. Aguri, 1869, p. 19 f.

14
V. 19. 2 ;
so by Knobel.
15
Schrader, KGF. 102; KAT* 148 f.
[Cuneiform Inscr^- i-
135].
186 GENESIS XXV. 15 [314

a refutation of Hitzig's conjectures regarding Massa, see

Miihlau, whose own opinion, however, that it was situated
1

near the Duma of the Hauran, has also no good foundation.

2
Tin this is the correct reading ;
the Septuagint has

Xo^dv, in Chronicles Xovbdv, Xo&Sdb ;

it is otherwise un-
known.
K'n not Taima, three-quarters of an hour from Duma
3
in the Hauran, nor Qaifioi north of the Gherrheans on the
5
Persian Gulf, 4 nor the Banu Taim in the same locality. It

is the trading people mentioned in Jer. xxv. 23 and Job

vi. 19, whose land (Isa. xxi. 14) is to be identified with the
Taima'u of the Arabic geographers 6 on the western border of
the Nejd, south-east of the northern extremity of the Gulf of
*
Akaba it is also mentioned in the cuneiform inscriptions
;

7
along with the Mas'u. This Teima has been recently proved

by inscriptions found there 8 to have been the seat of an

ancient civilisation.
Y tur
e
and Ndphish were neighbours of Trans-Jordan
Israel, which made war on them and on the Hagrites (? in
9
Saul's time), and partially expelled them. Nothing further
is known of B^BD.

\
The Itureans, on the other hand, are frequently
mentioned from 105 They are spoken of as a
B.C. onwards.
rude, wild, mountain people addicted to robbery, and as good
bowmen. Their proper home in the Eoman period was in
the hills of Lebanon and Antilebanon, 10 but in earlier times

they may also have occupied districts farther south. The

Jewish king, Aristobulus I., took from them part of their
1
Op. dt. p. 22 f .

2
Given by the Massora, 1 Chron. i. 30, Samaritan, and Josephus
'"''
"nn.
3 *
Wetzstein, Hauran, p. 94. Ptolemy, vi. 7. 17.
5
Yakut, Mushtarik, pp. 310, 352, 413. Knobel.
(:

Gesenius, TJiesaurus, 600. ?

Schrader, KGF. p. 262 f .

1
By Huber and Euting, SLAW.
1884, p. 813 ff.
I
<
'liron. v. 18 ff. coinp. Bertlieau on Ezra ii. 50.
;
111
Si xvi. 2. 10, 18
who, 81 and Dio
; Pliny, v. ; Josephus, Vita, 11 ;

US. lix. 12.

:;it,;;ir>]
GENESIS xxv. n; 187

land, and compelled them to be circumcised or to emigrate. 1

l! cannot be proved from any authority 2 that they occupied

Tradionitis and the Hauran as late even as tin- K'oinan
3
period. It remains, however, possible that the modern
I )ruses are descended from them. 4 Y e
tur has no connection
with Jediir. 6

n*p"ip mentioned nowhere else. The cnp '^> wno are

distinguished from Midian and Amalek, and again mentioned

7
alongside of Edom, Moab, and Ammon, are not an in-
dividual Arab tribe, but as in 1 Kings v. 10 [iv. 30]
and Job i. 3, the Arabs of the East collectively ;
and the
name might also include 8 Amalek, Midian, and Kedar.
Compare the ^frij? of ch. xv. 19.
The CT}Jn or D^")an, mentioned in the sources of the
Chronicler as neighbours of the tribes east of Jordan, 9 in one
case along with a separate mention of the name Ishmael, 10 are
not here included In Ptolemy n they
among the Ishmaelites.
are set alongside of the Bataneans, and in Eratosthenes 12
occur as 'Aypaioi. 13 It is questionable if the name has any

connection with that of Hagar, the mother of Ishmael. 1 *

Ver. 16. "These are the sons of Ishmael in their
enclosures and their tenting places, i.e. who dwell some in
15
permanent villages or small unwalled towns, others simply
"
in movable encampments. 16 TVip, derived from TIB, a word

1
Joseplius, Antiquities, xiii. 11.3.
2
Strabo, xvi. 2. 20 included.
3
Wetzstein, Haurdn, p. 90 ; even the Onomasticon regards Itura-a and
Trachonitis as identical see Schiirer, Geschichte, 2 i. 594 ff. [History of
;

Jewish People, Div. i. vol. ii. p. 325 ff.] Riehm, Handivorterbuch, 783.
;

4
Knobel.
5
See Deut. iii. 14, and Wetzstein, Haurdn, p. 91.
6 7
Judg. vi. 3, 33, vii. 12. Isa. xi. 14 ;
Ezek. xxv. 4, 10.
8
Judg. viii. 10 ; Jer. xlix. 28.
9
1 Chron. v. 10, 18 ff., xi. 38, xxvii. 31.
10
1 Chron. xxvii. 30 f. ; coiup. Ps. Ixxxiii. 7.
11 12
V. 19.2. Stralu>, xvi. 4. 2.
13
'Ayp<r, Dionysius, Perieyetes, 956.
14
Baruch iii. 23 ; Noldeke, Amalek, p. 6 f.
15 1G
Lev. xxv. 31 ;
Isa. xlii. 11. Num. xxxi. 10; Ezek. xxv. 4.
188 GENESIS XXV. 17, 18 [315

related to "vn, to circle, means camp ;

a camp is usually

pitched in a circular form, and is called ,L j."

]
It is un-

questionably a technical expression,

2
just as
HEN is. Twelve
tribal princes; comp. ch. xvii. 20.
HEN a rare word, and more Arabic than Hebrew;
purposely used by A here and in Num. xxv. 15 of the Arab

peoples in question.
Ver. 17.
Compare ver. 8.
The country they occupied. Eegarding Shur
Ver. 18.
in front of Egypt, see ch. xvi. 7 and for n^n,3 the notes in ;

vol. i. pp. 129 and 382.

In the direction 4
'

of Asshur words in themselves surpris-

ing, for Asshur is used in its political signification, and
especially this context. so
They are probably a gloss
in
intended to intimate that the Ishmaelites extended nearly
as far as the Euphrates. 5 6
Hupfeld regards them as a
corruption of nw H3K3 ;
7
Wellhausen,
8
as a dittography of
Wiy ;
while Noldeke 9
holds that miPK is a corruption of
the name of some Egyptian locality.
'm f>a ^B-^y see ch. xvi. 12.
fea fell or alighted, 10 i.e. settled. 11
The first part of the verse in no case belongs to A, who
does not use |3P, nor does it attach itself to ver. 17. 12 It is
doubtless from C, and a continuation of ver. 6. The second
part of the verse, where the third personal singular is surpris-
ing, appears to be an addition introduced by or a later R
hand from ch. xvi. 12, with pp varied to btt, because it had
been used just before.
1

Sc- Burckhardt [Bedouins and WaMbys,

p. 33], Germ. tr. 26.
KiK.bel.
2
In spite of Giesebrecht.
1
1 It-re
given by Dillmann as Chavila (?
= Hawilah), previously
transliterated Havila.]
4
Chs. x. 19, 30, xiii. 10. s
12. 4.
fl
Josephus, Antiquities, i.

,l,i- r
Quellf.it f/o/rx/x, p. 150. i Sam. xv. 7.
JBDTk. xxi. 410 (Delitzsch, Parodies,

11
'

* "' I'- 26- 10

p. 131).
[Of. ch. xxiv. 64.]
Jndg. TiLlS, i*
Hupfeld.
 IV. THE HISTORY OF ISAAC, XXV. 19-XXXVII. 1.

ISAAC occupies a very secondary position in the patri-

archal history. No one of the three sources has much to tell
of him, and what is told is exactly paralleled in the narratives
of the life of Abraham. There is the unfruitfulness of his

marriage at first,exposure to danger, the respect

his wife's

paid him by Abimelech, the strife regarding wells with the

people of Abimelech, and even the domestic unpleasantness
arising from the dissimilarity of his two sons, all repetitions

of Abraham's history. This remains true, whether or not in

an earlier form of the legend Isaac was the original and
Abraham only the copy l and our materials are not
; suffi-

cient to decide such a question. In Genesis, as we now have

it, Isaac appears throughout as the pale copy of his father.
He is the son of promise, and inherits his position and the

possession of the blessings won by his father. He follows in

Abraham's footsteps, without his strength of character and
purpose. In quietness and patience he faithfully preserves
his inheritance, serves his father's God, and in turn, like

Abraham, is guided, protected, and blessed by Him. His

trials meet him at the hands of strangers, the Philistines,

and from his own house also, but he overcomes them by his
mild and docile disposition. The localities also, which
tradition pointed out as connected with incidents in Isaac's

life, are confined to a narrower circle than in the case of

Abraham; in the more detailed narratives he

found always is

iu the extreme south and in the oases of the desert, Beer

Wellhausen, Prolegomena, 338 [Eng.

1 Onth-r-
tr. p. 320] ; Kuenen,
zoek,- i. 228 f.
190 GENESIS XXV [316

Lachairoi, Gerar, and Beersheba',

1
though A takes him to
2
Mamre, like Abraham, latterly at least. It was in that
which remained Abrahamite immigration after
of the original

the separation of the people of Lot, and of the Ishmaelites

and Ketureans, and which now, for a length of time, settled
down in these southern steppe lands, that those of later time

recognised that part of the Hebrews which best preserved the

type of Abraham, and was their own proper ancestry.
The less there was to tell of Isaac the more there was to

say of both his sons, Esau and Jacob so

;
A's work is even

planned that their history is part of the Toledoth of Isaac.

Jacob-Israel is the real father of the people of Israel, the

representativeof a fresh immigration of Hebrews from

Mesopotamia, from which, in union with the people of Isaac,

grew the scene of his history is in the centre (Bethel,
Israel ;

Shekhem) and east (Mahanaim, Peniel, Sukkoth) of the land.

Beside him, as the other principal personage, stands Esau-
Edom, brother of Jacob-Israel, and born before him he ;

became powerful, and grew to be an independent people

before Jacob, but afterwards was pushed into the background

by the younger and more energetic brother, who served also

higher ends. The contest for supremacy between these two

related peoples, or men, as they appear in the legend, is a

main part of the contents of the Toledoth of Isaac, and it gains
an added interest and importance from the fact that Isaac,
whose birthplace was in Canaan, stands on the side of Esau,
whereas Eebecca, of Harran, is for Jacob. But this contest
between Esau and Jacob, of which the underlying national
significance, as a picture of the relations of the Edomite and
Israelite peoples, is still readily 3
perceptible, does not exhaust
the contents of the history of Isaac. The greater part of the
history was originally in B and C, and R, in his selection
from their material, has been guided
by the same principle
which he followed in the
history of Abraham, where his
ta, xx iv. 02, xxv. 11, xxvi. 1-33.
2
Ch. xxxv. 27-29.
;

Kwuld, Ueschichte* i. 492-504 [History, vol. i.

pp. 348-359].
;;i(i, 317]
GENESIS XXV 191

chief interest lay in the divine training of the patriarch a

religious hero. He
has selected and arranged such narratives
as helped him to show how from the first Jacob was destined

and fitted to be the heir of the promises, and yet had to pass
through a long series of humiliations, trials, and purifications,
until at length he became the man with whom God could

renew His covenant made with Abraham, and who could

succeed at last as Isaac's heir. In the course of the history
also the characters of the two brothers are admirably
delineated. The one
hearty and straightforward, upright,
is

and good-natured, but yet rude and rough, and heedless of the
future and of all that is not at once apparent to him, and so in
the end the loser in the contest. The character of the other

is ignoble, cunning, and crafty, and he is therefore involved

in a tangle of struggles and
yet with stratagem
difficulties ;

l
and strength he strives to the highest ends, and so in the
end, after a long course of inward purification, he is the victor.
This section of the history, like that of Abraham, falls
into three parts: (1) the history of Isaac and of Jacob's

youth to the time of his departure to Harran, xxv. 19

xxviii. 9 (2) Jacob away from home, and the founding of
;

his house in Harran in the midst of strife with Laban,

xxviii. 10-xxxii. 3; (3) Jacob's return as one who has

successfully contended with God, and before whom Esau must

yield, xxxii. 4-xxxvii. 1.

A. THE HISTORY OF ISAAC AND OF JACOB'S YOUTH,

CH. XXV. 19-XXVIII. 9.

1. BIRTH AND EARLY YOUTH OF THE TWIN BROTHERS, ANI>

PRELUDES OF THEIR FUTURE CONTESTS, CH. XXV. 19-
34 ;
ACCORDING TO A AND C (AND B).

Isaac, after his wife has been barren for twenty years, at

length receives twin sons, Esau and Jacob, in answer to his

prayer ;
even at birth the latter seeks to precede the former.
1
Hos. xii. 4 f.
192 GENESIS XXV. 19 F. [.117,318

Esau grows up a huntsman, and his father's favourite Jacob, ;

a shepherd, and the favourite of his mother. On an

occasion Esau returns home hungry, and sells his birthright
to Jacob for a dish of lentils.

Besideheadings in vv. 19f. and 26&, there are

the

certainly fragments of A's work

in this, as is proved by the

chronological statements and the use of the expressions T^n,

Paddan Aram, and Bethuel the Aramean. What remains

forms a well-connected whole, and in view of the vocabulary, 1
and the resemblance of vv. 2426 to xxxviii. 27 ff., is to be
2
asssigned in the main to C. But vv. 25 and 27 contain
redundancies, which are doublets from B ; this is confirmed

by the fact that B in ch. xxvii. presupposes the essential parts

of ver. 27 f., and that Hos. xii. 4 is evidence that ver. 26a is

part of the tradition of North Israel. may say, there- We

C has made use of as a source, but that
fore, that B
made R
3
further additions from B, hence the doublets ;
Kittel

assigns vv. 24 and 27 f. to B and C in common, and vv. 25

and 26& to B. It is certain, however, that in C this whole
section did not stand before but after ch. xxvi. (see note on
xxvi. 7), and has been transposed by E that he might fit it

into A's schematism (vv. 19 f., 265).

Ver. 19 f., according to A ; judging from the form of the
4
sentence, as well as from A's custom elsewhere, it is probable
that he also had a brief mention of Isaac's marriage, which,

however, has been omitted by E.

5
may suppose that in We
it, or elsewhere, 6 he also gave some account of Abraham's
relation to Bethuel the Aramean it is too much to 7
;
say
that this would take him out of his way, and ch. xxvi. 34,

(in ver. 22 f.), -iny (ver. 21), VJJV (ver. 23).

2
Hupfeld, Schrader, Kayser, Budde, Urgeschichte, 217 ; Kuenen,
Oitderzoek* i. 144.
8
Oeschichte der Hebraer*
p. 127 [Eng. tr. vol. i.
p. 140].
1

(Mis. xxvi. 34, xxvhi. 2 *

ff., xxxvi. 2 f. See p. 158.
In connection, perhaps, with Abraham's residence in
Harran, xi. 31,
Ml. I.

7
P.iulde, Urgeschichte, p. 423 f.
318] GENESIS XXV. 21 193

win -iv nnly Islunael is in question, does not support the

assertion.

'PI*?;}
1
applied by
epithet also A in xxviii. 5 to
Bethucl -
and Laban, and to the latter by B in xxxi. 10, 24. 3

DiN ftQ in the Old Testament only in A* HJ? in

Aramaic signifies yoke; in Arabic, where it is a loan word
from the Nabatean, 5 it means oxen for the plough and their
harness, and then a certain measure of land, like jugum and
6 7
ji'i/erum ;
it
by Lagarde is as Persian.
regarded But
8
Eawlinson gives padanu, which in the form paddnu signifies
in general road or path? the force of ginu, garden, and iJdu,
10
field, and it may therefore, even in Assyrian, have had the
meaning field or plain. It remains the most probable view
that CHK rnfe> in Hos. xii. 13 is the Hebrew translation of
the expression. In xxiv. 1 it is replaced in C by Qnn: E"}^,

and the Septuagint and Vulgate render it by Mesopotamia

11
Syriie or Mesopotamia. It does not, however, follow that the

two expressions are completely identical, still less that Paddan

Aram was the district round Harran. Yet it is noteworthy
"
that the name pa, which stands without D~iN in xlviii. 7 also,
survives in the name of a place Fadddn, and a Tell Fadddn
12
in the neighbourhood of Harran. The district of Edessa or
Harran is, we are told, 13 a plain surrounded by mountains." u
Ver. 21. Eebecca is also barren, like Sarah and Eachel, 15

1 2
Ch. x. 23. See p. 147f.
3
Of. Deut. xxvi. 5 ; Ewald, Geschichte* i. 490 f. [History, vol. i. p. 342].
4
Chs. xxviii. 2, 61, xxxi. 18, xxxiii. 18, xxxv. 9, 26, xlvi. 15 (xlviii. 7).
6
Jawaliki, cxii. 2.
G
Lane, Dictionary, p. 2353 ; ZDPV. ix. 54.
7
Prophetce Chaldaice, p. 43.
8
H. Rawlinson, Gun. Inscrip. 1866, p. 62, line 33.
9
Schrader, KAT. 2 p. 612 [Gun. Inscrip. ii.
295].
10
Delitzsch, Paradies, 135.
11
Comp. Curtius, iii. 2. 3, v. 1. 16, campos Mesopotamia .

12
Peregrinatio Sylvice, in Gamurrini, p.72; W.Wright, Catalog. Syr. MSS.
iii.1127; Yakftt, iii. 355 also Cliwolsohn, Die Ssabier, i. 304, and Noldeke
;

in ZDMG. xxix. 443 ; comp. Sachau, Reise in Mesopot. p. 222. [Dillinann.]

13
Edrisi, trans. Jaubert, ii. 153 ;
Wm. of Tyre, x. 29 ; Buckingham,
Mesopotamia, pp. 78, 132f.
14 15
Chs.
Knobel. xi. 30, xxix. 31.

DILLMANN. II. 13
194 GENESIS XXV. 22, 23 [318, 319

for nearlytwenty years according to ver. 2 6. This was to prove

Isaac's patience, and to make his offspring the gift of grace
"
and not the fruit of nature. He prays then to Jahve, and
is heard by Him."
^ " with the passive, as in xiv. 19."
"
nt?s nrtfb literally, opposite to his wife, so that she was
in view ;
with regard to her. roib only here and in xxx. 38 ;

A has nab." i

"inyi as in Ex. viii. 4 f., 25 f., ix. 23, x. 17 f., from C.

Ver. 22. She becomes pregnant with twins, who jostle

one another in the womb. It is a prelude to the future
"
contests of the men and peoples. In like manner the
brothers Akrisius and Proetus, who were rivals for supremacy,
struggled with one another even in the womb." ''

"If so, why then am I if that is the way of things, why

do I exist ? She attributes a sinister meaning to the occur-

3
rence." The expression MJN nr noi> is concise, but after

all not more so than J? ON. To set QN after nr would

necessitate '"Vnx also, and would not be good Hebrew. It is
4
obvious that nt cannot be predicate, and it is more natural to

supply a njn than either 'Wn or *n*W. In xxvii. 46, also,

Eebecca is ready with a similar speech, as if it were better
not to live at all rather than to live and see misfortune.
Thus disturbed in mind she goes to make inquiry of
Jahve. It is implied that there already existed places
where divinely-inspired responses were given, 5 or that there
were seers and priests of the true God 6 to whom people
might apply for explanation and advice in such circumstances.
If ch. xxvi. originally stood before xxv. 21 ff. it naturally
suggests itself that the sanctuary here thought of is Beer-
7
sheba'. But it does not seem to be the author's intention to
trace the origin of the oracle in Beersheba'. 8
Ver. 23. The answer or oracle is rhythmical. In its

2 3
Apollodorus, ii. 2. 1. Knobel.
< 5
S.-pt., de Wette. Ch. xiv. Ch. xiv.
< ;
7. 18.
s
Wdlli.mscn, JliDTh. xxi. 418. Stade, Geschichte,
1
p. 474.
319]
IS XXV. L'l, L':> L95

explanation of the children's jostling one another, it d

the relations of the peoples Ivloni and Jacob as they will l.e

in the far future; the younger is to overcome the elder and

make him serve him. 1 We cannot conclude 2
that because the

author, otherwise than in xxvii. 40, says nothing of the ulti-

mate independence of the elder brother, he therefore lived
before Kdom gained its freedom. This was not the place for
such an exact description of the future as that given in ch. xxvii.
From thy womb they will separate from one another on
leaving the wornb they will be at discord (ver. 26).
3& in the Pentateuch again only in xxvii. 29.
"vyv as in xix. 31 ff. applied to age comp. also xxix. 26, ;

xliii. 33, xlviii. 14.

m so Job xxxii. 9. The article may be omitted in poetry.

Ver. 24. Comp. xxxviii. 27.

1&6&1 became full, of the passage of time,3 here the time
of her pregnancy.
D'Bin contracted from DVptan, xxxviii. 27.
Ver. 25. The first boy is born ruddy, WIN, doubtless
4
not to be understood of red hair, but, as in the case of
5 "
David, of a reddish-brown complexion. There are Arabic
6
writers who account for those Orientals who have red hair
7
by their descent from Esau." In any case, the word
contains an allusion to the name D^ ;
and this fact betrays

the presence of a different source, seeing that a different

explanation of that name is given in ver. 30. The word is

8
not simply a corruption from some other such as "W?' for the
words '\y rm&o ta are quite sufficient when alone to explain
the name to ;
nor is it a gloss, 9
but rather a supplement by
R from B.

Comp. the similar announcement in xxvii. 29, 40.

1

3
2
With Knobel. As in xxix. 21, 1. 3.
4
Gesenius, Tuch, Knol ><.'!, etc.
5
1 Sam. xvi. 12, xvii. 42, in harmony with xix. 13.
fi
Ibn Coteiba, p. 19 Abulpharagius, Hist. Orient, pp.
; 22, 42.
7 8
Knobel. Budde, Urgeschichte, p. 217.
<J

Kautzsch-Socin, Genesis-.
196 GENESIS XXV. 26 [319, 320

All like a mantle of hair or fur, 1 i.e. his whole body

covered with hair. The word "W contains a play on ">W, 2 the
3
hill-country which Esau's descendants inhabited. But the
name which it is the intention to explain is ipy, the name by
which he was known, which would accordingly signify rough,
hairy. Comparison has therefore commonly been made with
4
c lJ, but against phonological law.
Kecent writers 5
are of opinion that Esau and Edom were
originally gods. Against gods
such a character, eponymous of

heroes reverenced as divine, Euhemerus would be in the right

after all.
"
Ver. 26. The second comes into the world with his

hand holding his brother's heel ;

he seeks to hold back Esau,
who ispressing before him, and to be himself the firstborn.
spy the author takes 3\>V as a denominative from Sjpy,

heel, and 3pj, as the catcher "by the heel. But the incident is

very improbable. When twins are born the birth of the

second child follows as a rule in the course of an hour after
the birth of the first, and very often even later. 7 Perhaps apjP
8
means one who follows after, for the root apy signifies to be
"
behind, follow, track out, work against, employ cunning against ;
'

comp. also the use of the word in xxvii. 36. If, again, spy

iscontracted for an original 5>fcQpJf,10 other interpretations are

also possible. 11

fcOp'l after the i&op^ of ver. 25 is surprising, but no

doubt to be explained by It's having drawn on A, as he has
certainly done in the second part of the verse (comp. xvi. 16),
1 2 3
Zech. xiii. 4. Of. xxvii. 11, 23. Ch. xxxvi. 8.
4
See Fleischer in Levy's Neuhebr. Worterbuch, iii. 732. Cf. also the
Phcen. Ofauos (vol. i. p. 37), and Ewald, Geschichte, 3 i. 494 f. [Eng. tr. i. 344 f .].
Wellhausen, JBDTh. xxi. 435; Stade, Geschichte, p. 120 f.; Rob.
5 1

Smith, Religion of the Semites, p. 43 Baudissin, Studien, i. 40 Rosch in

; ;

Zn.Md. .\\.\viii. 646 but on the other side, Biithgen, Beitrage, p. 10

; ;

N..ldcke, ZDMG. xlii. 470.

Of. lies. xii. 4.
7
A'Tonling to Busch, Lehrluch der Geburtskunde, 289.
Bo Itc.uss, Geschichte des Alt. Test. 1 p. 52. [Dillmami.]
Kuobel. 10
See p. 4. n
Biithgen, Beitrage, p. 158.
 :JL'I]
'.KNESIS XXV. L>7 F. 197

for A must also have hud an account of the birth of these

sons.

rnfel Ewald, 304a.

\Vr. '27 L As Esau grows up 1
he becomes an expert,
hunter, a man of the field, mb> &$ means huntsman, one
who traverses the fields in pursuit of game ;
it is not the
same as the HOIK iyK of ix. 20. He was therefore his father's

favourite, for venison was in his mouth, according to his taste ;

Isaac was fond of venison. 2 VD3 would have another

meaning,
"
and no improvement to refer the suffix to Esau,
it is because
he was a venison eater, had always much venison." 3
Efl in the present context can neither mean morally
blameless nor aTrXao-ros, aifKov^, simplex, simple, unsophisti-
4
cated ;
for Jacob, in what follows, appears always, on the
contrary, as sly and cunning. It must be nearly equivalent
5
to rf/ie/jo?,
and parallels are found in the use of the German
fromm (pious), meaning quiet peaceful orto in antithesis

wild, and in the development of the word rbv from a similar

significance to that of peaceable.
Jacob is called a dweller in tents, not as being domesticated

(Sept.), but as a shepherd (comp. iv. 20), because of his

"
occupation. Hunting when engaged in for sport, as by
Esau, and not in self-defence or because of necessity, is

regarded by the author as something savage, inhuman, and

barbarous, especially in contrast with the life of a shepherd,
which was much esteemed by the Hebrews." 6
It is to be noted that mfc> B*N alongside of TV yr, as
well as Dn p'K alongside of tT^HM 3P\ are most probably
doublets from the other source already noted in ver. 25.
Vv. 29-34. A first outbreak of the contest which the

1
Cli. xxi. 8, 20, xxxviii. 14.
2
Cf. xxvii. 5. 7.
3
Abulwalid, see J.A. iv. 16, p. 231 ; Bottcher.
4
Septuagint, Aquila, Tlieodotion, Vulgate.
6 f>0f>
Philo, Gesenius, Thesaurus; Ewald, Gc.-l,n-]tf<,* i.
[Jlistory,
vol. i.
p. 352, note 4].
6
Knobel.
198 GENESIS XXV. 29-32 [.320,321

brothers carry on against one another. The verses are also

a contribution to the delineation of their characters.

"
Ver. 29 f. Esau returns home hungry one day, from the
hunt, just as Jacob preparing a dish (of
is lentils, ver. 34),

and wishes to
'
In his hungry
swallow some of the red stuff.'
1
eagerness he does not say *?m but Bj, swallow, and he cannot
at once give the lentils their proper name, but calls them, just
'
as they appear, red stuff/ or a <f>oiviiclSiov* This is said to
3 "
have been the origin of his name Edom." But should we not
5 '

read tffjsn? The Arabic *!j\ is still a common expression in

r ^
the East for anything eaten along with bread, and it is clear
from ver. 34 that D'tsny YTJ was an iddm of this kind. The
Septuagint translation, ^^fnjfia, seems to have understood it in
this way." 4 This seems, in fact, to be the best explanation. 5
"
Ver. 31. Jacob selfishly demands in return Esau's resig-

nation of his rights as eldest son. These involved, with

other things, a more respected position in the family and
6
tribe, and a larger inheritance. The author has specially
in mind the fact that the divine promises belonged to those
in the direct line of descent, as exemplified in Shem, Abraham,
7
and Isaac." Ch. xxvii. 27 ff.
gives the best explanation of
what was involved.
rnap see Gesenius, 25 48. 5.
DVD now, at this moment (Isa. Iviii. 4) ; here, and
frequently elsewhere, in antithesis to a later time = first of all,

in the first place?

Ver. 32. Esau is
willing. I am going to die, must die,
9
.sc. if I do not get something to eat now or, perhaps better,
;

1
See Gesenius, Thesaurus.
2
As Crates in Diog. Laert. vii. 1.3. 3
Knobel.
4
Thomas D. Anderson, Edinburgh, in a letter of 26th June 1883.
'

'n.]. <.<! previously by Boysen in Synth, p. 13 (see Schleusner, Novus

I

Thesaurus, ii.
fifjf)).

liii 33. \lviii. 13 ff., xlix. 3 ; Deut. xxi. 17. 7

Knobel.
8
Ver. 33 S.-IMI. 27
ix. 51, xxii. 5 (Gesenius,
1 ii. 1
;
1C, ; Kings i.

MTU!, M-\ ;
Wcllliimsen, Biicher Samuelis, 37).
11

Schumann, Turh-.
::-ji
]
GENESIS XXV. :;:: 1 <J9

my manner of life, as a huntsman, leads me into constant

l
danger, ;ni(l, sooner or later, to my death ; why then should I

desire advantages I cannot fully enjoy?

"
Ver. 33. Only after the birthright has been assured to
him by oath does the prudent Jacob hand over his dish of
lentils.It is a thing he attaches importance to, whereas

Esau, as the author adds in censure, despises it.

ID occurs in the Pentateuch again only in Num. xv. 31." -

Comp. Ps. xlviii. G for the word painting by means of five

successive verbs.
Esau here shows himself a man of shortsighted heedless-

by his desires and carried away by the impulse of

ness, ruled
the moment one without any apprehension for higher things,
;

and a man of common grain, 3 therefore one lightly to cast

away that which is really best in life. Jacob acts selfishly
and immorally, inasmuch as he takes advantage of his
brother's need but his cunning and cleverness are directed
;

to higher ends, and he thereby proves himself to be the fitter

for God's purposes if only he were purified from his faults.

The brothers are presented as typical representatives of the

characters they exemplify. But the incident has no further
significance. Jacob does not afterwards anywhere claim the
birthright because of it, nor does his father take any account

of it, still less God. It was an actual fact that Jacob in

time not only wrested from Esau a superior national position,

but also became the heir and mediator of the promises, God's
chosen. But tradition made Esau indubitably the elder, so
that when Jacob was chosen the right of the firstborn was
not regarded as before. 4 This had to be explained, and it is
done in various ways. According to C, in ver. 22 f., Jacob's
pre-eminence was foreordained by God according to B and ;

5
C, in ch. xxvii., it was a consequence of the paternal blessing

which Jacob got by guile ; according to A, Isaac himself gives

1 2
Rosenmiiller, Vater, Kuoltel. Knobel.
3
Heb. xii. 10.
4
Mai. L 21
5
Cf. xlviii. 8ff., where Epliraiin is
preferred to Manassuh.
200 GENESIS XXVI [321,322

the preference to Jacob, because Esau married foreign wives

(xxvii. 46, xxviii. 9), and his choice is

confirmed by God

(xxxv. 9 Here, however, the explanation refers essentially

ff.).

to the character of the peoples as they are typically repre-

1
sented in the persons of their ancestors.

2. ISAAC MOVES FROM PLACE TO PLACE ;

HIS TROUBLES ;
GOD'S
BLESSINGS AND PROMISES TO HIM, CH. XXVI. 1-33;
CHIEFLY ACCORDING TO C (AND R).

"
In consequence of a famine in the country, Isaac
journeys to Gerar, is the recipient there of a divine promise,
gives out that his wife is his sister, engages in agriculture
with great success, and becomes so rich and powerful that
the Philistines envy him and request his departure. He
moves towards the Nachal (Wadi) Gerar, and digs there two
wells, regarding which there follows a quarrel with the
herdsmen of Gerar. Thereupon he journeys still farther off and

digs a well, which is left him this time uncontested. Finally,

he where he worships Jahve, and again
settles in Beersheba',

receives a divine promise. He digs a well there, and is

visited by Abimelech, with whom he concludes a treaty of
2
friendship. Hence the name BeershebaV
This account contains all that is ever told us of Isaac
himself apart from the history of his sons. We might
therefore suppose that it contains contributions from all the
different sources in union. In fact, however, we find that
almost 3
everything is from C; Kittel alone minimises C's
share. 4
It is indeed certain that A
also had some history of
Isaac ; he related, in particular, a theophany of HB> b which

1
Comp. ix. 20 ff., xvi. 12.
2
Knobel.
::

Hupfeld, Schrader, Kayser, Wellhausen, Kuenen, Kautzscli-Socin.

4
Assigning him only vv. If., 12-14, 16 f., 19-22; the rest he
regards as the work of R, who has here inserted parts of 's history of
Al'iaham, e.g. vv. 7 if., 26, 28-33; GescUchte, pp. 127, 138 f. [History,
vol. i. pp. 140 note
4, 153 note 4].
322,323] GENESIS XXVI 201

appeared to him ;
1
and L\ too, must have had some account
regarding his stay in the Negeb, in Beersheba' in especial. -

But R has adopted nothing from their narratives, and has

ri-sted content with C's account. There is a good deal
3
indeed, which in expression reminds us of 7>; but this is

sufficiently explained by the use which C himself had already

made of B's work, and by the fact of his incorporation of

much from it in what he wrote. Apart from this, the

4
vocabulary is plainly that of (7, and the account of Eebecca's
5 6
danger, and of the origin of the name Beersheba', can only
be due to him, even though it be possible that B also related
how Abimelech continued to hold with Isaac the friendly
relations he had with Abraham.
At the same time, vv. 16 do not contain C's narrative
8
without admixture. 7 Ver. 2& is inconsistent with 3a and 16,

and cannot simply be an addition made by E on his own ac-

count. It indicates that C's text has been united with another,

to which pfeo 3jn W in la also belongs (see note). According to

this second source, Isaac intends to leave the country for Egypt
because of a famine in the land, but is instructed by God to

remain in a place He will tell him of ;

so he remained in GerAr.

It is found in the first three words of ver. 1, in ver. 2 from

"iBK'1 onwards, and in ver. 6, and is to be attributed to B

(comp. ver. 21 with xxii. 2&). On the other hand, ver. 16,
the first three words of ver. 2, and ver. 3 a go together as (7s

account; in harmony with xxiv. 62 and xxv. 11, it begins by

changed his place of abode.
telling that Isaac The theophany
in GerAr can only be from C, for in B Isaac receives God's
instruction in Canaan; but the words of the promise in
1 2
See xxxv. 12 Ex. vi. 3. ;
Ch. xlvi. 1-4.
3 of xxi. 23 particularly
E.g. ver. 10 of xx. 9, ver. 28 of xxi. 22, ver. 29 ;

nnX'^y, ver. 32 (xxi. 11, 25), and the names of ver. 26.
4
E.g. nirp ; n&OD mitt (ver. 7), rpppn (ver. 8), rDK (ver. 28), miT
(ver. 29), niJT DP3 Kip"! (ver. 24).
5
Vv. 7-11 compared with ch. xx.
6
Vv. 25-33 compared with ch. xxi. 22 ff.

7
Already Hitzig, Begriff der Kritik, p. 169 If.

8
Knobel.
202 GENESIS XXVI. 1-3 [32.,

vv. 3&-5 are due to a later expansion (see below), probably

from R d
, just as, of course, the words E^nrix TOE in la are
from R. Of the verses which follow, 15 and 16 are also
redactional insertions to secure harmony with ch. xxi.

It is unmistakably clear that in C ch. xxvi. stood before

xxv. 21 ff.
(see note on ver. 7).
Vv. 16. Isaac journeys to Abimelech in Gerar ;
the

promises of Jahve to him.

Ver. 1. pto njn Tn from B, for p&c cannot well mean
"
anything except in Canaan," and in C Isaac is not in
1
Canaan but in ^1 Tii> 1K3.

mostly in A and J?.

3 2
nrfep for I? 1?^ This reference
;

to the famine in Abraham's time (xii. 1 ff.) can only be an

insertion of jft's, for up to this point B has recorded none.
'y\ "1^1 from C, a continuation of xxv. 11. In B
Abimelech belongs Abraham's time, 4 in C to Isaac's but
to ;

it does not follow that there were two different individuals

5
of the name, only that there are variations in the legend.
Nor does Ps. xxxiv. 1 prove that Abimelech was a common
name of the kings of Gerar, still less a royal title. Are we
to be asked also to believe that Phikhol (ver. 26) was a

standing name for the leader of the royal troops 1

Eegarding
Gferdr and the Philistines, see notes on xx. 1 f.

Ver. 2. Isaac must not go to Egypt. The intention to

do so is not previously intimated. The words are a fragment
from a narrative differing from that of C, from J5's namely
(see above). For the phrase 'y\ -IB>K, comp. xxii. 2.
Ver. 3a presupposes that Isaac is already in Gerar, and
therefore connects itself with 1&. -pia is found, for example,
in xii. 10 and xix. 9 [in C], but also in xx. 1 and xxi. 23
[in ].

py rvnto see note, xxi. 20.

1
Chs. xxiv. 62, xxv. 11.
-
Kw.-ild, 276A; Gen. xlvi. 26.
3
Also in Deut. iv. 35, xxviii. 69; Josh. xxii. 29.
'
'l'- rii Kir. 5
(
Knobel.
323]
GENESIS XXVI. 3-5 203

Ver. 3b gives a reason for obeying the injunction in the

assurance of all these lands to Isaac and his descendants.

l!y all these lands is meant Canaan and the districts bor-

dering mi it. The plural nixiN, elsewhere used of real

1
countries, signifies the different parts of the future land of
Israel only here and in ver. 4, as it does in 1 Chron. xiii. 2

and 2 Chron. usage, and proves, along

xi. 23. It is a late

with ver. 5, that the passage has been worked over by a

2
more recent hand. The special purpose appears to have
been to secure that Isaac's history also should contain an

explicit assurance that the land in its widest sense would

3
belong to his descendants. But the Septuagint and the
Book of Jubilees here and in ver. 4 have only nracrav TTJV

yijv TO.VTIJV. For 7NH see note on xix. 8.

Wprn here in the sense of maintain.* The oath
referred to is found in xxii. 16 ff.
(xv. 17 ff.).

Ver. 4. As xv. 5, xxii. 17, and xii. 3, xxii. 18 ; ?p.3nn in

especial, as xxii. 18.

Ver. 5. Isaac and his descendants enjoy this favour
because of Abraham's fulfilment of God's will in all respects.
The same principle is exemplified in Ex. xx. 6, 2 Kings
viii. 19, xix. 34.
5
When it said that Abraham kept God's
6
commandments, laws, and directions, the picture of the

patriarchal period is obtained by transferring to it features

and circumstances as they existed under the Mosaic law.
But this is the only passage of the kind, and that, along
7
with the redundant style, leads us to conclude the presence
of a late redactor, R d
.

8
For "urK spy see xxii. 18, and
n"E>c, the commentary for

on Num. i. 53. After nrrQK the Septuagint and Samaritan

add -pH.
1
Chs. x. 5, 20, 31, xli. 54.
-
Who had xxii. 17 f. before him. 3
Cf. xv. 18-20.
4
As Lev. xxvi. 9 ;
Deut. viii. 18 ;
cf. note on vi. 18.
5
Knobel.
6
See, in contrast, xvii. 1, xviii. 19.
7 s
Cf. e.g. Deut. xi. 1 ; Lev. xxvi. -1C.
[Dillmann's.]
204 GENESIS XXVI. 6-9 F. [323,324

Ver.6. Accordingly he remained in Gerfir.

Vv. 7-11. In Gerar he and Eebecca have somewhat

similar experiences to those which Abraham and Sarah had
there and, earlier, in Egypt. See notes on xii. 1 ff.
2
Ver. 7. The people of the district l asked him regarding
3
his wife. He
professed that she was his sister in order not
4 5
to be murdered on her account. The incident is plainly
conceived of by the author as occurring in the first period of
Isaac's wedded life, and in it certainly stood before
xxv. 21 ff.
6
R
changed its position because of the discrep-
7
ancy of ver. 18 with A's chronology in xxi. 5, xxv. 7, 20, 26.
For HNIID miD see xxiv. 16, and for js, iii. 22.

Ver. 8. The secret reveals itself, however, after Isaac

has been some time in Gerar.

*3"]K
the Kal found again only in Ezekiel. 8
*lWn comp. xviii. 16 and xix. 28.
p?n see viii. 6.
Q
ntf pnvo playing with Eebecca, in a way natural to
husband and wife, not to brother and sister. There is a play
on the name pny also. The author no doubt conceived of
Isaac and Eebecca as in a garden beside the king's house,
and not of the king's looking in through the window of
10
Isaac's house (!).

Ver. 9 f. Abimelech reproaches Isaac. He is repre-

as in ch. xx., as a
sented, God-fearing king, desirous of

maintaining justice and virtue in his land.

so she is after all your wife,
^JK though you told us
otherwise. Found elsewhere in C n and also in J9. 12
1
Cf. xx. 11 [their character].
2
Chs. xxxii. 30, xliii. 7 j Samaritan, ^y.
3 4
Cf. xx. 5. Cf< xii 12
5
i>y as in ver. 9 and xx. 3.
i;

tipfeld, Quellen der Genesis, p. 155.

1 1

7
Iliehm in St. Kr. 1872, p. 304.
s
S.-c, further, Num. ix. 19, 22.
: '
<'li. xxi. 9. 10
Bolimer.
" <
'lis. xviii. 32, xxix. 14, xliv. 28.
'
Chs. xx. 12, xxvii. 13, 30.
324]
GENESIS XXVI. 11 13 P, 205

33 B> Dyft3 Kwuld, I.'.i5<; ns 33^', see note on xxxiv. 2.

'ji
nsnn, as in x\. 9, only that here in C the technical
term DB>K is used.
legal
Ver. 11. All molestation of Isaac and his wife is for-

bidden, on pain even of death.

l
strong evidence against the alleged greater
This verse is

age of this variation of the legend compared with that of

xx. 2 if.

Vv. 12-17. Isaac

is greatly blessed in every respect by

God, becomes increasingly wealthy, and so incurs the enmity

of the Philistines, in the face of which he withdraws to the

Wadi Gerfir.

Ver. 12. Isaac sowed in the land of Gerar, and that

same year, the year of his sowing, he obtained one hundred
measures, i.e. reaped a hundredfold, a most unusual yield.
So rich a harvest is not unknown at the present day, at least
in the Hauran. 2 The Septuagint and Peshitta wrongly read
" "
D'nyb'. The expression in that year cannot well refer to
the year of the famine in ver. 1 in view of ver. 8, unless,

that is, we assume ver. 12 to have been at one time more

" 3
closely united to ver. 6. Jacob also, but not Abraham, is

said to have engaged in agriculture. -Many Arab nomads

4
similarly combine agriculture and the breeding of cattle."
Ver. 13 f. Thus, blessed by God, Isaac became greater and
5
greater he became very great, i.e. very powerful, because
till

rich in cattle and servants, and the Philistines in consequence

envied his prosperity and good fortune.

1
Wellhausen, Prolegomena, p. 338 [Eng. tr. p. 320] ; Kuenen,
Onderzoek* i. 228 f.

2
Burckhardt, Syria, p. 296 f . Knobel. Wetzstein, Reisebericht, p. 30 ;

ZDPV. ix. 51.

3
Ch. xxxvii. 7.
4
Burckhardt, Syria, \\ 273 f.; Bedouins and WaMbys [vol. i. p. -2-2],
(liM-ni. tr. [). 17; Berggren, Eeisen, i. 325; Robinson, Palcnttni;"' i. 53;

Buckingham, Syria, 1825, p. 9 Seetxen, i. 339, 409, ii. 335

;
Ritter, ;

Erdkunde, xiv. 978 ff. Knobel.

6 and
For the idiom, coinp. viii. 3, 5, xii. 9 ;
for the use of fnj,
xxiv. 35, xlviii. 19 2 Sam. xix. 33 [32].
;
 206 GENESIS XXVI. 15-18 [324,325

For the participle instead of the infin. absol., comp.

Judg. iv. 24. 1
The collocation JKV n:po and npn rupo occurs
again in the Pentateuch only in xlvii. 17 f.

nW only here in the Pentateuch ;

recurs in Job i. 3.
2
It is a collective to *i?y ;
see commentary on Isa. iii. 25.
Ver. 1 5 attached without waw consecutive is a redactional
addition preparatory to ver. 18. It explains that the wells

dug by Abraham had been destroyed by the Philistines to

make it impossible for Isaac to move about as a nomad in

"
their neighbourhood. Such a device was used in war, 3 and
the Arabs fill up the wells on the pilgrimage (hajj) road if
4
they do not receive the toll they demand."
DiDfip and 0*KW with masculine suffix, as in ver. 1 8 and
ch. xxxiii. 1 3 ;
see Gesenius. 5

Ver. 16 continues ver. 14. Abimelech also shares the

jealous feeling, and goes so far as to bid Isaac take his

departure, on the ground that he has become too powerful

for them.

Ver. 17. In consequence of the command of the king,

and not because of the filling up of the wells, which affected
also his new place of residence (ver. 18), Isaac leaves for the
Wadi Gerfir.

Regarding the topography, see note on ch. xx. 1.

" 6
Sozomen knows a monastery, ev Pepapo^ ev TU> ^et^appay."

1C
1

.'!
as in ch. xxxiii. 18.

Vv. 1822. Isaac's stay in the wadi of Gerar, and his

digging of wells there.

nhxa the punctuation as in Deut. x. 6 ;
otherwise in
Gen. xiv. 10.

Ver. 18. Isaac redigs

7
his father's wells, which the
1 Mill 1st i ncs had filled up after Abraham's death (ver. 15), and
1 * 3
Ewald, 2806. [Dillmann's.] 2 Kings iii. 25 Isa. xv. 16. ;

Yon Troilo, Reiselcschreibwig [1676], p. 682 Niebuhr, Arabian, ]..

;

IIH-2. KnolM-1.
8
135. 5A. 1. Hist. Eccles. vi. 32, ix. 17. Knobel.
1
Gesenius, 120. 2a.
:<':>]
GENESIS XXVI. 19-22 207

gives them their old names. In the history of Abraham

nothing is said regarding such wells in the Wadi Gerar, but,

it is nevertheless probable that R possessed some account <>!'

them in one of his sources (7/), without, however, inserting it

in his general narrative at the point where he found it.
Another of his sources (C) referred these wells to Isaac, so
he compromised between the two statements in his own way,
with the result in the text. His reading of the history in
this way makes it clear how he conceived of the possibility

of a double origin to the name Beersheba' (given in ver. 33

and in xxi. 31). But then the three wells, also, of vv. 1922
1
are not thought of as quite new, but simply as
to be

repaired, for we do not read, then he proceeded further to

2

dig, etc.
^a Sept. Samar. Vulg. and Book of Jubilees read

"
Vv. 19-21. In the case of two of the wells Isaac's men
have strife with the shepherds of Gerfir, who demand them
for their own use. 3 For this reason he names them P^V,

strife, and njlpfe', enmity."

"
D"n D' living water, i.e.
moving, flowing water as
opposed to standing water here spring water is intended." 4
;

Ver. 22. Isaac journeys further "and digs a well,

regarding which there is no dispute he names ;
it rorn,
wideness, because God has made it wide for them, i.e.
given
them room, and they are able to be fruitful, i.e. to multiply,
5
in the land."

p^nyn see ch. xii. 8.

U"i accented on the ultimate because of the follow-

6
ing y.

*3 causative, or possibly particle of quotation ; compare

ch. xxix. 32f.
2
1
IK-lit/sch. Kcil.
3
Cf. xiii. 7f. ;
also Ex. ii. 17 ; Biiivkliai-.lt, Sijr'm, p. 368, Genii, tr.

628; Bedouins and Wahdbys, vol. i. p. 146, Gerin. tr. p. 118.

4
Cf. Lev. xiv. 5 Jer. ii. 13 Zech. xiv. 8 Song iv. 15.
; ; ;
Knobel.
5 6
Knobel. Ewald, 63c, 1936.
 208 GENESIS XXVI. 23-25 [325,326

1
The well has been usuallyidentified with Buhaibe, a

place about three hours south of Elusa, and eight south of

Beersheba', where there are remains of wells. 2 When we
consider the words cpb pnjn and compare ver. 23, this
identification is quite possible. njBB> may even be the Wadi
3
Shutnet er-Kuheibe. 'Esek cannot be found.
Vv. 23-25. From there Isaac goes up to Beersheba' and
4
receives again divine promises in a vision by night. As in

ver. 5, they are given him for Abraham's sake, the servant of
God. In Genesis, Abraham is so designated only here, but

compare N^J in ch. xx. 7.

"
Ver. 25. The theophany leads Isaac to build an altar,
5
and Beersheba' thereby consecrated as a place of worship.
is

It is surprising that he should build the altar before setting up

" 6
his tent but we cannot therefore conclude, with Knobel,
;

that w. 24 and 25, as far as mrp, are an interpolation from

C, for the text of C is certainly continued in what
immediately follows. It is rather, we may think, intended
to represent Isaac's permanent settlement in the place as a

consequence of the vision which appeared to him on the first

night.
&IK D 1

"! xii. 8, xxxiii. 19, xxxv. 21.

ma as in ch. 1. 5 f.
(Ex. xxi. 23 ;
Num. xxi. 18) ;
else-
7
where in this chapter always 1DH. It is incorrect to say
that ma means set about digging, and nan, dig out completely ;
8

it more nearly true to say that tan is dig for, search by

is

digging, and ma, hollow out, dig out?

Vv. 26-33. Abimelech's covenant with Isaac and the
1
Knobel and others.
-
Kol.inson, Palestine? i. 196f.; Russegger, Reisen, iii. 69; Palmer,
Desert of Exodus, p. 384 f .

8
Given by Palmer, p. 385 ; and perhaps the same as the Wadi
Sli iil'in,
Robinson, i.
p. 200.
1

Bee ch. xv. 1 ; more frequent in B, see xx. 3, 6, xxi. 14, xxii. 1,
xxxi. 1
1, iM, xlvi. 2.
\\i. 33, xii. 7. c
Knobel.
7
Vv. I:,, I
si'., -2\
f., 32. 8
Bohmer.
''
IMit/.M-li in ZKW. iii. 452.
:;-;]
CKNKSIS XX VI. 20-30 209

explanation nf the name IlecrsliehaV It is not the ease that

the narrative here is
simpler and, therefore, older than that
of ch. xxi 22& 1 In xxi. 27 ff, the form in which the
parties pledge themselves is more antique, and in xxvi. I'D
the journey of the Philistine king (!) from Gerar to Beersheba'

has little motive.

Ver. 26. Abimelech comes from Gerar to Isaac in
3
I'.eersheba' with Phikhol and Ahuzzath his JH&, i.e. his
"
friend, confidant, who stood by him ready to give him
counsel or render him other services." 4 jnp is found only
here in the Pentateuch, rwriK is of the same form as fiv}.

Ver. 27. See vv. 14 and 16. For the \ in EJjM, see note
on xxiv. 56.
Ver. 28. "py mrv, compare xxi. 22.
rtPK here equivalent in meaning
oath, see ch. xxiv. 41 ;

to a covenant confirmed by solemn curses, as in Deut. xxix.

11, 13; Ezek. xvi. 59.

irni^a no doubt intentionally used to vary the form
WJ'a which follows; compare, further, ch. xlii. 23.
Ver. 29. BN, as in xxi. 23, xiv. 23. nfc'jm for
nba;n.s
When it is said that they had shown Isaac only good,
their dismissal of him from the country, 6 Dife, 7 it is true, is
disregarded; the redactional additions of vv. 15 and 18 are,
of course, not part of the situation.
Thou art indeed blessed of Jahve and therefore it is

desirable to be on good terms with you ;

also in ch. xxiv. 31.
Vv. 3033. "Isaac and his guests partake together of a
8
covenant feast, and next morning swear to one another the
covenant oath. After this the visitors return to Gerar, and
Isaac sees them on their way. The same day Isaac receives
news that his servants, who were digging the well (ver. 25),
have found water ;
he therefore names the well n V?'^, i.e.

1 2
Cf. xxi. 22-31. Kuenen, Giulerzoek? 229.
3 4 1 Chron. xxvii.
Cf. xxi. 22. 1 Kings iv. 5 ; 33.
5
Gesenius, 75A. 17; Ewald, 224c; Konig, Lehrgebaude, p. 831.
6 8
Vv. 16, 27.
7
As in ver. 31, xxviii. 21. See ch. xxxi. 54.
DILLMANN. II. 14
210 GENESIS XXVII [326,327

for he takes it
according to our author's interpretation oath,
to be equivalent to njDB>. This was the origin of the name
Beersheba' ;
ch. xxi. 31 contains another legend regarding its
1

origin."
ch. xxi. 11, 25.

3. THE CAUSE OF JACOB'S DEPARTURE TO MESOPOTAMIA HE ;

IS BLESSED BY ISAAC, CH. XXVI. 34-XXVIII. 9;

FROM A AND B, 0.

Esau marries two Hittite wives to the discontent of his

parents (xxvi. 34 f.). Jacob, helped by his mother, cheats

Esau of his father's blessing, and to escape his revenge must
decide on a journey to Harran (xxvii. 145). At Eebecca's
instigation Isaac sends Jacob to Paddan Aram to bring back
a wife for himself. Esau marries once more, now a daughter
of Ishmael (xxviii. 19).
2
The first and the last of the sections thus marked out

belong to one another, and contain A's account of the occasion

and object of Jacob's journey. This follows, without doubt, 3
from the unadorned character of the narrative, from the
mention of Esau's age, and from the vocabulary. 4 Ver. 46
in ch. xxvii. (see below) forms the transition from what
precedes to ch. xxviii. 1 ff. ; comp. also IDtt^KI in xxviii. 7.

Between the divided parts of A's narrative is interpolated

the detailed account of how Jacob filched from Esau his
father'sblessing (xxvii. 1-45). It not only gives another
reason for Jacob's departure from home, his deceit, namely,
and Esau's hate, and even a different account of the paternal
blessing, it does not agree with A in its statements about
Isaac's age, blindness, and approaching death, 5 for in A Isaac

2
ch. xxvi. 34 f. and xxviii. 1 ff.
"
Turli, K no Ix'l, Hupfeld, Schrader, Kayser, Wellhausen.
4
jyj3 nun (xxviii. 1, 6, 8), DIK pD (w. 2, 5 ff.), ^^ and
(ver. 3), D^p and Q^K (ver. 4), ^nxn (ver. 5).
5
Vv. If., 7, 10, 41."
 :',L'7, :*28]
GENESIS XXVII 211

is not much
over middle age. This is sufficient to prove
that it must be from an author other than A, who, moreover,

speaks nowhere of the brothers being at enmity. This

conclusion is confirmed by the linguistic evidence. C has
been generally designated the author, 1 but we know 2 that //
also had an account of Jacob's flight from Esau, and the

passage contains a number of doublets. 3 It must therefore

be a combination from B and (7.
4
Their accounts were,
without doubt, very like one another, and R was therefore
able to content himself with introducing into each some
differences as to matters of fact found in the other. An
accurate separation of the component parts is no longer
5
possible, but following the indications which we have, we

may assign, e.g., vv. 7, 15*, 20, 24-27, 295, 30a (as far as
apjrnK), 35-38, and 45, to G\ and vv. II, 46, 8a, 11-13, 16,
18, 19, 21-23, 28, 305, 315, 33 f., 39, 42, and 44, to B. This
6
analysis differs little from those of Kautzsch-Socin and Kittel.
The significance and purpose of the narrative are found
in the explanation it offers of how Jacob was able to gain

precedence of his brother, and so, in particular, to secure

a better land and greater power, and even to exercise

sovereignty over him. The explanation lies in the efficacy

of the paternal blessing, 7 and in so far there is resemblance

1
Tuch, Knobel, Hupfeld, Schrader, Kayser.
2
From
ch. xxxii. (see) and xxxv. 3, 7.
3
Especially vv. 24-27a alongside of 21-23 ;
ver. 30 and 306 ;
w.
35-38 alongside of 33 f vv. 446 and 45a*.
.
;

4
Wellhausen.
5 M
E.g. rnrp, vv. 7, 20, 27 ;
rnpn, ver. 20 ; r&3 -ll 'fiO, ver. 30 ; -OK
U^3, ver. 41 ;
the house, ver. 15 ; 'ft "p-pltf,
ver. 296 (xii. 3), indicate C*s

presence while B is revealed by, e.g., DTI^Nn, ver. 28 ; vv. 13 (unlike

^ TJN,
;

xix. 9, xxiv. 8), 30 ; ont33, vv. 4, 33 (contrast t

vv. 7, 10) ;

vv. 4, 19, 31 (contrast jyo^, ver. 24) ;

}t3pn,
vv. 16, 42 ;
^p
8, 13, 43, the mode of address in ver. 16 and ver. 18 like xxii. 2, 7, 11,
xxxi. 11 (Wellhausen) ; "iKO'iy, ver. 33 f. (at least never found in 0).
Geschichte, pp. 127, 139 [History, vol. i.
pp. 141, 154] ; comp. B. W.
Bacon, Hebraica, vii. 2, p. 143 (T.
7
Of. vol. i.
p. 304.
212 GENESIS XXVII [328

to A's account in ch. xxviii. 3 f. But the blessing is here

obtained by underhand and deceitful means, in accordance
with Jacob's name, the crafty. It may appear surprising

that a writer with C's capacity of moral judgment should

relate such a popular legend without a word of disapproval,

and should attach importance to a blessing obtained thus

deceitfully. But it is evident that in C's estimation Isaac's

blessing accomplished the designs of a higher will. God

willed that Jacob should be exalted over Esau ;
the history
of the two peoples up to this time put it
beyond dispute.
In the accomplishment of His will God makes use even of
men's sins (ch. 1. 20). Isaac in blessing Jacob against his

desire, in place of Esau, is no more than God's instrument ;

and Eebecca's preference for Jacob is of more than merely

earthly origin (in C, ch. xxv. 23). Still Eebecca's fraudulent
deceit and Jacob's sin are not unpunished. The after bless-

ing of Esau (ver. 40), still more Jacob's flight and the

separation of mother and son, and the many struggles,

anxieties,disappointments, and humiliations which all at
once descend on Jacob, are the just punishments of their
sin. They are at the same time the means of Jacob's
education, by which his ignoble nature is to be done away
and himself made worthy of being one in the line of those
who inherit the promises. Viewed in this light the occur-
rence is the effective impulse to the course of education on
which Jacob now started. The part which Isaac plays in
it, of one who must serve the advancement of God's purposes

against his will, is indeed less honourable ;

but in all the
legend he is, after all, no more than Abraham's feeble
duplicate.
Ch. xx vi.
34 f. Esau in his 40th year, and so in Isaac's
100th year, 1 marries two Hittites. See notes on ch. xxxvi.
2 f. They were a bitterness of spirit, a
subject of sorrowful
displeasure and grief, to his parents, who did not desire
illiance with the natives of the land.
1
Ch. xxv. 26.
:!Ls, :;:>'.)]
GENESIS XXVII. i-i; 213

pMJTi com]), xix. ."..') !ind xxvii. 1.

Ch. xxvii. 1-4. Isaac, who is old, nearly blind, ;ind not

far oil' his death, asks Esau to hunt some venison for him
1
and prepare After partaking of his favourite dish, he
it.

will impart his blessing to him.

His eyes were gone out (extinguished), dim, 2 away from

seeing? so that they no longer saw. 4 Isaac's blindness in B
and (' is what renders the deception possible.
Nrrun see ch. xii. 11.
"
vfl only here, from r6n, to hang, and so literally a
!>
mlant ;
used of the quiver, which is suspended on one's

person,
5
not of the sword, 6 which is girded on. Bows and
arrows were the usual weapons of the Hebrew huntsman." 7
HTV elsewhere provision, here nomcn unitatis 8 to the
collective TV t
which stands in vv. 5, 7, and 33, and which,
according to the Kere, ought to be read here also.
D'pytpo literally, something tasty, and so a dainty or
9
savoury dish. Isaac desires to impart his blessing only
after he has been gratified and attuned to it by the dish of

venison.
as in xix. 31, xxi. 30, xlvi. 34; in ver. 10
jtt, in ver. 25 ]yd?.

Vv. 5-13. Rebecca overhears Isaac's request, and pro-

poses to Jacob that he should endeavour to secure the

blessing by bringing to her two kids, which she will prepare

as venison, and which he will then offer to his father as

such.
n nyfttr as in 1 Sam. xvii. 28.

W3\f? in harmony with vv. 4 and 7 the Septuagint

reads V3N^.
"
Ver. 6. Her son as in ver. 5 his son, as we also say

1 2
Ch. xxv. 28. Dent, xxxiv. 7 ;
Zecli. xi. 17.
3 4
Ch. xvi. 2, xxiii. 6. Cf. xlviii. lo 11'.

5 Iln E/ra, Kiinchi.

Sept., Vulg., Graec. Venet., Targ. of Jonath.,
K
Onkelos, Pesli., Pers., Arpi'iiius' Araliic, Haslii.
7 8
Isa. vii. 24. Tuch, Ewald, 176a.
9
Prov. xxiii. 3, 6.
214 GENESIS XXVII. 7-17 [329

l
his father's, or his mother's, boy, i.e. darling ; comp. ch.

xxv. 28." But the Septuagint here has rov vlov atrn}? rov

Ver. 7 m.T ^sh Jova prcesente ac teste comp. 1 Sam. ;

xxiii. 18. Stade 2

is of opinion that an image of Jahve in

Isaac's house is implied.

Ver. Sa as vv. 13 and 43a; B, Z>, and R write
In the next clause the preposition is i>, '31 "HW&,
/ bid you, and it is in C elsewhere that JJDP *? is found (iii.

17, xvi. 2).

wij Ewald, 212&.

3
/ s/iaW ma&e them a savoury dish prepare them as

such. 4
"The repast is a bountiful one in honour 5 of the
head of the family who is to give his blessing."
"
The only scruple that Jacob has is due to
Ver. 1 1 f.

his foresight that Isaac may recognise him by feeling his

neck and hands, which are not rough with hair like Esau's, 6
but smooth, and may then curse him, as one who makes

sport of (from yyn) his half -blind father. He is not afraid

of being treated as guilty of imposture, only as guilty of

mockery ;
for he would not avow more than his intention to
carry out a jest."
7
But Eebecca takes on herself his curse,8
i e. its consequences ;
for she is convinced because of ch. xxv.
23 that Jacob must, and will, have the blessing.
Vv. 14-17. " She prepares the kids, gives Jacob Esau's

holiday attire to dress in, covers his neck and hands with
goat-skin, and having thus made him ready, sends him to
his father with the food."
"
With rfion we must supply 'HJQ ;
Esau's better clothes, 9
which he used on festive occasions, are what is meant." A
Jewish interpretation in Jerome, Qucestiones, makes it his
"
priestly dress. Esau's clothes had an odour of the fields
1
[In <
id-man, des Vaters, der Mutter Sohn.]
'-'

/. T\V. xi. 182. s

as in xviii L
1
nb y?
,
7
4 23 5
Gesenius, 117. 5c. Cf xviii 34
6> x]iii
6
Ch. xxv. 25. 7
Knobel.
8
Cf. xvi. 9
Judg. xiv. 12
f,.
f.
 GENESIS XXVII. 18-24 215

about them (ver. 27), while those of Jacob smelt of the

Hocks and herds."
JT3 "The Jahvist (6') speaks of Isaac's house, not of
his tent: in \i.\. '2 11'., similarly, Lot dwells in a house; and
1
Jacob (xxxiii. 17) builds a house at Sukkotli."

|Bpn run appears, in view of xxix. 16, 18, to belong to

B, as the whole of ver. 16 does. It is in B that the blind
father satisfies his doubts by feeling Jacob's neck and hands,
and ver. 16 is his on that account.
Vv. 18-29. Jacob carries out the scheme, satisfies Isaac's

suspicions, and receives the blessing.

For Nbji in 18 the Sept. and Vulg. read NJ?J5.
ver. ino
in ver. 20 expresses by circumlocution an adverb in our
idiom, just as 2y in xxvi. 18. mpn, as in xxiv. 12.
Ver. 21 ff. Isaac's suspicion is roused by the early return
of thesupposed Esau, and by his voice ;
but it is allayed when
he comes to feel him.
"
iraim does not mean and he greeted him 2 by invoking
on him a blessing," 3
which would be out of place after all
"
that has gone before ; but, so he blessed him then." After
this we expect the blessing itself.
Vv. 24 27 a. But, instead, we are told how Isaac, re-
assured by Jacob's asseveration, partakes of the repast, and

by eating and drinking, by Jacob's kiss and the smell of his

garments, is put in a fitting mood to impart the blessing, as

he then does. It is true that all this does not form a bad
continuation of vv. 2123 ;
but the last word of ver. 235,
inmm, nevertheless makes it clear that we have here an
addition from another source. That source must be C, as
ver. 27Z>, its continuation, is (nirr ), 1
and in view of rP3 in ver.
15 ;
contrast also jyo^ in ver. 25 with "injn in vv. 4 and 19.
Ver. 24. You here are my son Esau? Without particle
4 n
of interrogation, as in xviii. 12 ; .T,
as in ver. 21. Jacob
simply answers in the affirmative ;
contrast ver. 1 9.

1 2
Knobel. Ch. xlvii. 7, 10 ;
2 Kings iv.
3 4
Knobel. Gesenius, 150. 1.
216 GENESIS XXVII. 25-29 [330

Ver. 25. The Septuagint, Vulgate, and Book of Jubilees

for :a TD have ^3 "prm

Ver. 26. np?N see ch. ii. 12.
Vv. 276-29. The blessing itself, partly from C, partly
from B. m,T in ver. 276 and 'Jl T in ver. 295 point to (7;

D'r6n (ver. 28) and nin ( V er. 29a), to # It is in poetical

1
form, because of its higher strain.

The odour of his son's raiment still lingers in Isaac's

sense, and supplies his starting-point he compares the smell, ;

which was that of a hunter who roams the fields, 2 to the

smell of a field which Jahve has blessed, i.e. richly decked
with glorious plants, with fragrant herbs and flowers in
3
especial. The Samaritan, Septuagint, and Vulgate add K?p
to rnb>.

Ver. 28. As suggested by this thought, his first wish for

his son is a land in which the dew from heaven and a fruitful

soilbeneath will in union bring forth a rich yield of corn and

new wine. Canaan is the land thought of regarding its ;

4
great fruitfulness, see Ex. iii. 8.
W. optative, not future; compare rrin in ver. 29.
'tpo IP, partitive, as in iv. 4, xxviii. 11, xxx. 14. "In
Palestine dewrepresents rain during the rainless summer,
and is the principal condition of a fruitful season for this ;

reason here mentioned in place of rain." 5

it is

^Pfp not from |f (Dan. xi. 24), but necessarily,

because of the sense and the parallelism, for \3t&?, a portion
7
of the fat, i.e. fruitful, places, or fertile fields of the earth.
Ver. 29. The second wish has a reference to the future
position of Jacob among the nations.
May nations serve you, and peoples low doivn to you be
subject to you, and pay you homage. The wish was realised
1
Of. iv. 23 f ., ix. 25 f., xiv. 19 xxiv. 60.
f.,

n
'
J ( ''' onr. 27. 3
Hos> xiv> 7 Song iv< .
.

4
Also Winer,
Realencyclopadie* ii. 188.
Of. xlix. 25; Deut. xxxiii.
13, 28; Hos. xiv. 6; Zech. viii. 12.
Knobel.
'

Kwald, 83a. 7 i
sa> v<
830,331] GENESIS XXVII. 30-33 217

from .Inshiiii's time, still more, from that of David. EPDft6,86e

xxv. *2'.>. inntr, anomalous for nnntr 1

,
as in xliii. 28.
Hi a lord to your brethren, and may your mothers sons bow
"
down to yon. We must, of course, think of Jacob's descend-
ants as possessors of this lordship, and therefore of Esau's

descendants, the Edomites, as being the brethren in question.

They were subdued in David's time, 1 and long remained under

"
Comp. Ps. 1. 20 for the
5
Israelite rule; see ver. 40.

rhythmic interchange of fntf and %

"pjs ^2.
nin North Palestinian (Isa. xvi. 4) and late Hebrew :

only here in the Pentateuch, although the Samaritan has it

also in Gen. xii. 2, xxiv. 60, and elsewhere; but comp. Ex.
iii. 14.

V3J also only found poetically, here and in ver. 37.

The third wish is that people may be cursed or blessed

according as they behave towards Jacob; comp. ch. xii. 3.

For the singulars "K~iN and ?jvn, comp. Ex. xxxi. 14 Lev. ;

xix. 8 ;
Num. xxiv. 9 ;
Deut. vii. 10 ; Gesenius, 145. 5.

Vv. 30-40. Immediately afterwards Esau appears, but

too late. Isaac's blessing is given beyond recall, and Esau's
requests and entreaties can only procure him an after blessing.
Ver. 30. R 3
begins with a sentence from (7, but then
gives a still more exact definition of time from B.
:]N only, just, i.e.
scarcely, had Jacob gone out, when
Esau came. 4
Ver. 33. Isaac is greatly startled when he discovers the
"
deceit, but can change nothing. The author regards the
patriarchs as men of God, and attributes the same effect to
5

their sayings as to the divine mandates of the prophets. A

divine word once spoken is a power which inevitably and

unchangeably accomplishes that which it declares. God's

word cannot fail of its effect." G Isaac views it as having
1 -
2 Sain, viii. 14; 1 Kings xi. 15 f.; Ps. Ix. 2. Kuobel.
3
Cf. rfe in xviii. 33, xxiv. 15, 19, 22, 45, xliii. 2.

4 *
Ewald, 34L?. Ch. xv. 1, xx. 7.
fi
Cf. ix. 18 fF. ;
Num. xxii. 6; 2 Kings ii. 24; Isa. ix. 7 f. Knobel.
218 GENESIS XXVII. 34-37 F. [331

been God's will that it should be so. He does not become

angry, but submits in patience.

For ba, Kautzsch-S^cin conjecture fe*. INB iy only here
and in ver. 34 in the Pentateuch. He shall also be blessed,

remain so ;
03 at the beginning of the sentence, as in xliv. 10,
1 Sam. xii. 16, and xxviii. 20.
Ver. 34. Without copula ; compare xliv. 3. But prob-
ably we should insert Tn 1
as the first words, with the Septua-
2
gint and Samaritan ;
it may easily have dropped out after
the rPiT of ver. 33. It is not probable that the present

reading has arisen 3

or been moulded 4 from an original irD")3Nl
Tn Tim DJ for it is insufficient 5 to say, and I have also
really blessed him. +
"
Esau passionately grieved at his father's statement.
is

With patriotic satisfaction the author pictures the deep

distress then experienced by the ancestor of the people of
Edom."
"ON DJ comp. ver. 38, ch. iv. 26 ;
Num. xiv. 32 ;
Prov.
6
xxii. 19.

Vv. 3538
connect themselves again with ver. 32 and

give account
C"s in supplement to vv. 33 and 34 in order

to include his special reference to ch. xxv. 29-34, and also

his interpretation of spy.

Ver. 36. Esau says that his brother has not without
reason been named npy. The word is taken in the sense of
one who overreaches another, or uses artifice against him, not
as in xxv. 26.
W is it that he has been called ?
7
Isn't it likely that
he has been called Jacob seeing that he overreached me, was
destined to overreach me, now, i.e. already, 8 two 9 times ?
Ver. 37f. "In reply to Esau's question whether he had
1
Ch. xxiv. 30, 52, xxix. 13, xxxix. 13, 15, 19.
'-'

Schumann, Tuch.
3 4
Hitzig, Begriffder Kritik, 127. Geiger, Urschrift, p. 377.
*
Delitzsch 8 .
6
Qesenius,
25
135. 2.
7
AH in xxix. 15 ; Ewald, 3246. 8
Ch. xxxi. 38, 41.
9
Cf. xxv. 31 ff.
.",31,332]
GENESIS XXVII. 38, 3< F '2 1
(
J

not put aside, i.e. reserved, a blessing for him, Isaac replies
that he has made Jacob his lord, and ^iven Tiim all his

brethren, the Kdomites, to be his servants, as well as assigned

1
to him the most fertile land;" what then could there be
?
remaining
IBD with double accusative, Ewald, 283k 2 For fO^,
see ch. iii. 9.

Ver. 38. Esau is at one with Isaac in the assumption

that the blessing once given cannot be recalled, but thinks
there must be more than one.

hp Nbo as xxi. 16, xxix. 11.

Ver. 39 f. Isaac is persuaded to give an after blessing,
which is, however, more of the nature of the contrary, and is
therefore not in the form of a wish or prayer, but of a
"
prophecy. The expressions of the previous blessing are
3 4
used, but in another sense." IP here is not partitive but
5
privative, as is clear from vv. 37 and 40. 6
Away from the fertile regions of the earth your dwelling
shall be, and away from the dew of heaven from above}
"
You will dwell remote from the lands which have a fertile

soil and a productive climate, and debarred from them.

Palestine is especially referred to ;
it was from it that Esau
withdrew to Mount Se'ir,
8
which was, in general, an arid,

According to Shaw, Edom

9 10
rocky, and sterile region. is a
11
bare, lonely wilderness ; and, according to Burckhardt, we
may shortly describe the tableland north of 'Akaba a
12
stony desert." Of course it is only a general distinction

1 2
Knobel. -
Ps. li. 14; Jiulg. xix. 5.
3 4
Of. vv. 13 and 19Tuch.
of ch. xl. Vulg., Luther, etc.
5
As Num. xv. 24; Prov. xx. 3; Job xi. 15, xxi. 9, and elsewhere.
6
Tuch, Baumgarten, Knobel, Ewald, Delitzsch.
7
Ch. xlix. 25. 8
Ch. xxxvi. 8.
9
Strabo, xvi. 4.21, describes it as being, beyond the neighbourhood of
'lov^etiec. Diodorus,
Petra, -xJupa, iftytof q -rAs/frr*!, x,xl (jt.a.~hi(rra. q ?rpo$ ii. 28,
speaks of the Nabatean country as xaoxv TV)I> ft

10
Travels* 1757, p. 438.
11 12
[Syria, p. 436] Germ. tr. 723. Knobel.
220 GENESIS XXVII. 40 [332

that is drawn between Palestine and the land of Edom. The

1
fact that there are fertile wadis in the latter and barren

spots in Palestine, is not taken account of. There is no

reference to Mai. i. 3.

Ver. 40. Because of the unfruitf illness of the land he

" 2
will live upon support himself by his sword,
his sivord, i.e.

live by war, plunder, and robbery. So Ishmael in ch. xvi. 12,

and the tribes who now inhabit the old land of Edom." 3 The
last clause of the blessing does not, indeed, recall the necessity
of subjection to his brother, but it grants a limitation of its

continuance, and that is of evil omen for Jacob. When you

exert yourself you shall break his yoke from your neck* The
reference is to the reign of King Yoram, in which Edom freed
5
itself from Judah for the first time ;
it was, indeed, again
subdued under Amasyah (2 Kings xiv. 7), 'IJzziah, and
Yotham 6 but it finally gained its freedom under Ahaz. 7
;

in in the sense of roaming about masterless and un-

8
bridled, which it has, is inappropriate here, even if it be
9
granted that Num. xxvii. 1 4 covers the use of "ifc'jo ;
a yoke
is
by mere roaming about, and it is already
not broken
broken when one can roam at liberty. The translation, to be
10
refractory,gives a better sense but, after all, every conquered ;

people is
unsubmissive, yet does not gain its liberty. So we
should rather render, 11 career about, i.e. make exertions, put

forth effort;an
comp. : and */o: and Arabic rdda
12
iv. The word has not the meaning shake. The versions
have Tnin, rrn, and T>? in mind, but had no other reading

1 3
E.g. Robinson, Palestine, ii. 154.
2
Deut. viii. 3; Isa. xxxviii. 16.
3
Burckhardt, Syria, p. 507 f. ; Hitter, xiv. 266 if. Knobel.
4
Isa. x. 27. 52 Kings viii. 20 ff.
'

7
-2
Kings xiv. 22; Isa. ii. 16, xvi. 1, 5. 2 Kings xvi. 6.
8
Jer. ii. 31 Hos.
; xii. 1. Knobel, Delitzsch.
Tucli, Hupfeld on Ps. Iv. 3.
11
In spite of Noldeke, ZDMG. x xxvii. 540.
11 !> Dieu on Jer. Rosennuiller, Winer in Lexicon;
ii. ; Ewald,
cJUt* i. 159 [History, vol. i. p. 108, note
1].
Hengstenberg, Keil.
332, 333] GENESIS XXVII. 41-4G 221

thiiii -inn or Tin; the Samaritan YIND, also in tin- Hook of

evidently only an emendation.
1
Jubilees, is

Vv. 4145. The immediate results of the whole incident,

Ksau's deadly hatred of Jacob, and Rebecca's advice to the
latter to flee to Harrau.
Ver. 41. DDb> found in 1. 15, in B\ \Jy^M "iK, comp.
viii. 21.
The days of mourning for my father not, my father's

days of mourning, as if Esau wished to avenge himself on

2
his father also by slaying his brother. He intends to wait

till his father's death, which is not far off (vv. 4 and 7), and
so spare him the sorrow of his deed; but he will not

delay so long as till the conclusion of the usual period of

3
mourning.
"
Ver. 42 f. Esau doubtless gave verbal expression to
his intention, and so Eebecca learned of it."
For the accusative with a passive, see ch. iv. 18. With
the Hithpael Dmnn, to console one's self by taking vengeance,

compare the Niphal in Isa. i. 24. For nrin, see xi. 31.
"
Ver. 44. He have to remain in Harran only some
will

days, i.e.
quite a short time. Rebecca speaks in this minimis-
ing way to persuade him the more easily."
DHHN as in ch. xxix. 20; and Dan. xi. 10 ;
ch. xi. 1 is

different.

Ver. 45. The words '31 3ic "iy are

;

unnecessary merely as
an explanation of 44&, and seem to have been incorporated
from the other source, not for their own sake, but because of
their sequel '31 naBh.

DTJC? DJ she would lose both on one day, i.e. at one

time, inasmuch as Esau as a murderer would be liable to

suffer at the hands of the avengers of blood (ch. ix. 6).

Ver. 46 is the transition to xxviii. 1 ff., and doubtless
"
an insertion by R* Rebecca tells Isaac that Esau's Hittite

1
See Gesenius, De Pentat. Samarit. 38.
2 3
Luther. Ch. xxiv. 67.
4 315 Kautzsch-Socin.
Bohmer, Kuenen, Onderzoekf p. ;
222 GENESIS XXVIII. 1-3 F. [333

wives poison the pleasure of her life, and that if Jacob makes
a similar marriage she wishes to live no longer." l The
reference to xxvi. 34f. is plain; but it does not follow,

therefore, that the verse is from A, or even from A and

2

4
C.
3
Nor are the expressions nn iron and pxn rnn any
proof so long as -4, in chs. xxviii. 1, 6, 8, and xxxvi. 2, writes

throughout fjttD D133 ; they might be imitations of by A R ;

C uses ojjjan JYD3.

5
On the contrary, in ch. xxvi. 35 these
wives of Esau were a grief to both his parents and while ;

Eebecca's initiative is quite in accordance with the re-

presentation of the writers of ch. xxvii., Isaac in A, xxviii.

1 ff., acts independently ;
D^n ^ ntb, too, finds its analogy
in ch. xxv. "Moreover, the conjunction of the ex-
22.

pressions nn rrono and pn

nuaB arouses suspicion the
6
;

Septuagint omits the former."

Ch. xxviii. 19. A's account of how Jacob was sent to
Paddan Aram for his marriage, and how he was blessed by
Isaac.

Ver. 1. Isaac blesses Jacob, and gives him a charge. For

jVJD nun, see note on ch. xxiv. 3 [xxvii. 46, above].
Ver. 2. Q"]N nrnja see ch. xxv. 20. For the construct
in n_, comp. xx. 1 and nn^ here; for the -
,
ch. xiv. 10 ;

for the accentuation of H before N,Ewald, 216c and 63c;

similarly noj in xxvii. 45,
nan in xxix. 21, etc.
"
The blessing consists in the desire that God
Ver. 3 f.

may prosper him with fruitfulness and a numerous posterity,

and may give him and his descendants the land granted to
Abraham."
nt? ta see ch. xvii. 1. D^oy trip, as in xxxv. 11, xlviii. 4,
in A. DW is also used of the tribes of Israel, e.g. in Deut.
xxxiii. 3; see also Gen. xvii. 14, xxv. 8. Abraham's bless-

ing, in ch. xvii. 8, where also see for

1
Knobel.
2
Knobel, Schrader, Kayser, Wellhausen, Kittel.
3
Delitzsch 5 .
4
For A's nn ^l see ch. xxiii. 3.
6 6
Ch. xxiv. 3, 37. Olshausen.
 GENESIS XXVIII. 5-9 223

Ver. 5. Jacob obeys and departs. For 'GIN, st'<3 note on

xx.
Yv. 69. Esau learns from the example; and in order to

gain the satisfaction and good pleasure of his parents, and in

some measure to repair his error, he marries again ;

in this

case a relative, a daughter of Ishmael's, and granddaughter

of Abraham's.
rfc i ;
instead of r&aty may be explained by
depend- its

ence on ^?, though farther on, in ver. 7, we find yDCh, which

is also still dependent on *3 N"ll in ver. 6.
lEK'tal probably due to R, and inserted with reference
to xxvii. 43 f.

Ver. 8. N-PI introduces a second consideration.

The expression,
Ver. 9. he went to Ishmael, does not

imply that Esau now left his

l
father's house entirely ;
on the
contrary, see ch. xxxvi. 6 f .
;
he went only to obtain a wife.
Ishmael was accordingly still alive and this agrees very well ;

with xxv. 26 and xxvi. 34 (comp. xxv. 17 and xvii. 24 f.).

Apart from devotion to a chronology compiled by harmonistic

2
devices, there is no reason for discovering that Ishmael
means the family of Ishmael, or for going the length of

striking out ^iftD^' "^,

1
as in the Samaritan text. Regarding
the chronology, see note at the conclusion of ch. xxxv.
Sister of Nelayoth comp. note on xxiv. 50.
Up to his wives in addition to them, xxxi. 50 ;
Lev.
xviii. 18.

Regarding Machalath, see note on ch. xxxvi. 3.

B. JACOB AWAY FROM HOME, AND THE FOUNDING OF

HIS HOUSE, CH. XXVIII. 10-XXXII. 3.

1. JACOB'S DREAM AT BETHEL, CH. XXVIII. 10-22;

FROM B AND 0.

Jacob leaves Beersheba', passes the night at Luz, there

dreams of the ladder reaching to heaven, receives divine
i 2
Tuch. Delitzsch, Keil, Kohler, Geschichte, i. 135.
224 GENESIS XXVIII [334

promises, names the place Bethel, and makes a vow regarding

it. He
had been destined by his father's blessing to be heir
and transmitter of the promises, but now for the first time
receives confirmation of it from God. His journeyings are

beginning, and the period of his education also ;

so the certainty

of the divine protection and of his exalted destiny is given

him to go with him as the guiding star of his wanderings.

It was the same in Abraham's case, xii. 1 ff., and in Isaac's,
xxvi. 2 ff. The origin also of the sanctity of Bethel is

here made clear.

The passage connects itself with xxvi. 23 if. and xxvii.

43 by the jnp -iao& and nrin of ver. 10. The use of mrr 1

1
the contents and expression of the promises in vv. 13 16,
and the words ?# saw (ver.
13), pa (ver. 14), and nDIN (ver.
14 f.), reveal the hand of C. Vv. 11 f. and 17-22, however,
have DTita and while ch. xxxv. 9-15 prohibits our thinking
;

of A's authorship, the later reference to the verses in xxxi.

13 and xxxv. 3, 7 proves that they belong to$; 2 this is
confirmed by the expressions n Jtts (ver. II) 3 and npnn own
4
(ver. 18), as well as by the mention of tenths in ver. 22
5
and the dream of ver. 12. H, accordingly, has worked
together a narrative of whose special interest was
JB's in

the sanctity of Bethel and of the stone of Jacob, and in

Jacob's vow ;
and one of C's, which laid emphasis on God's
promises to Jacob. In the case of ver. 19& we may be in

doubt to which source to assign it probably ;

it belonged to
both, for neither can do without it ; B, in particular, in xxxi.
13 and xxxv. 3,presupposes the name Bethel to be already
in existence. 6 But the use of nnn and the needlessness
of ver. 16 alongside of ver.17 prevent our attributing ver.
15 f. to B? It is just this parallelism of vv. 16 and 17
1
Cf. xiii. 14, 16, xii. 3, xviii. 18.
2
Knobel, Hupfeld, Bohmer, Schrader, Wellliausen, Kittel, Kautzsch-
Sorili.
3
Ch. xxxii. 2. 4
chs. xx. 8, xxi. 14, xxii. 3.
5
Ch. xx. 3 and frequently. c
Contrary to Hupfeld's view.
'
Knobel.
834, 336]
GENESIS XXVIII. in IL' 225

which proves, also, that two sources have been conjoined, and
that it is not simply a narrative of j&'s worked over 1

by 7,',
or by the harmonist of JE? The contents, too, of ver. 10
are too naive for R or JE, and C in xxxii. 1 ij has a reference
to xxviii. 14 (cf. also xxxii. 10 with xxviii. 15). In ch.
xii. 8, in (7, it is not Bethel but only a place in its
itself,

neighbourhood, winch is consecrated by Abraham. Ver. 19&

is from R\ 216 is either from (7, or owes its present form
to R.

Ver. 10, from C, attaches

itself, though not directly, to

ch. xxvii.In A, Jacob's departure has been already

45.
recounted xxviii. 5 (7). In B, his destination is given a
different name (xxix. 1).
jntr ">K3E Isaac's place of residence, according to C?
Ver. from B, though C also must have had some-
11 f.

thing corresponding. Jacob hits on the (sacred) spot* DlpD

5
is better so translated than the suited for
by place passing
the night. This very coincidence was itself a divine provi-
dence. He takes of the stones one (ver. 18) and lays it
at his head-place? the place where he laid his head, at his

head. This was already some days' journey from Beersheba'. 8

Ver. 12. In the night, in a dream, 9 he sees a ladder

resting on the earth and reaching to the sky the angels of ;

10
God are climbing up and down on it. The author does not
say down and up, the angels are already below when he sees
them they ascend, and afterwards return. " This ladder
;

symbolises the thought that heaven and earth, God and men,
stand in communication n that God sways the earth from ;

heaven by the agency of His Spirit, and guides the destinies

of men." It suggests to the dreamer the double conviction

that, though he is a fugitive and lonely wanderer, God's

1 2
Bohmer. Kuenen, Onderzoek? pp. 145, 247.
3 4
Ch. xxvi. 23 (also xxv. 21 il'.).
See xii. 6.
5
As in 5th ed. <!
Chs. iv. 4, xxvii. 28.
7 8
Ewald, 160ft. Ch. xxii. 4.
9 10
Ch. xx. 3. Ch. xxi. 17.
11
Cf. ix. 17.

DILLMANN. II.
15
226 GENESIS XXVIII. 13-1G [.335

angels are already with him to protect and support him, 1 and
that this place where he rests is a true Divine sanctuary, 2
where there is communication between heaven and earth.
The communication is by means of a ladder, because the
3
angels were not at first thought of as having wings.
Vv. 13-15, from C. This author narrated a Divine
manifestation, and the giving of a promise to Jacob during
his sleep (ver. 16), but nothing of any dream of a heavenly
ladder. R, by his insertion of the account here, intends
God's words to be taken as an interpretation (ver. 15) and

expansion (ver. 13f.) of what was implicit in the dream of

the heavenly ladder.

4
vf>y generally translated up above on it, the ladder ;
but
the up above is the very thing not expressed, and it is

impossible why Jahve should stand on the ladder.

to see

Besides, the whole verse is from C, so translate Jahve stood

above (before) him. 5
God of the patriarchs Abraham and Isaac, cf. xxvi. 24.
I give you the land, as xii. 7, xiii. 15, and frequently. As
the dust of the earth, see xiii. 16. nsiBl, xxx. 30, 43 ; Sept.
and Book of Jubilees have pai. '31
na^ see xiii. 14.

131331, xii. 3, xviii. 18.

"1JTIT31 does not make the impression of being a subse-

6
quent addition more than -jyita in ver. 13 ;
7
see note on ii. 9.

Ver. 15. God

expressly promises His protection to
also
Jacob during the period of his wanderings, wherever he goes.
DK ity'N iv until that, when, Num. xxxii. 17 Isa. vi. 11 ; ;

shorter in xxiv. 19.

Ver. 16, from C. Jacob on awaking is astonished that
Jahve is present in this place, and not merely in the sacred
seats where Isaac worshipped Him, e.g. at Beersheba', xxvi. 24 f.

Cli. xxiv. 7. 2
y ei .
17 ff
also Enoch Ixi. 1. 4
As by Sept. Vulg. Pesh.
5
As in xviii. 2, xxiv. 13, xlv. 1 ;
cf. xviii. 8,* xxiv. 30. Tucli,
Hiijii''ll, etc,
\\Vlll,au<,-,,, JBDTh. xxi. 421 Kautzsch-Socin.
;

7
Al.M., Imw.-vrr, regarded by Wellhausen as a supplement.
336, ii.%] GENESIS XXVIII. 17, 18 227

T<> his joyhe has learned that his separation from home has
hot yet carried him from the sphere of Jahve's presence.
px in truth, elsewhere in the Pentateuch only in
Kx. ii. 11.

Ver. 17. B's statement of the impression the vision made

on Jacob. The place is sublimely awful, a true abode of deity
(ver. 19), the gate of heaven, where, as is proper in a real
sanctuary (abode heaven opens to men, and true
of deity),

intercourse with the upper world is possible.

Ver. 18, from B. In C and R the patriarchs erect altars,
where theophanies have appeared to them. Similarly, Jacob
here sets up the stone he slept on as a memorial or monu-

ment, and sprinkles it with oil to consecrate it.

1
Stade 2 finds
in this a rudimentary form of sacrifice to a spirit
dwelling in
the stone.
This Jacob-stone in Bethel was regarded by the patri-
arch and his house as deeply sacred. 3 Sacred stones are not

spoken of in the history of Abraham, but for the first time

in that of Jacob, whose home was in central Palestine, and
4
then several times. This leaves the impression that the
need felt for such signs of the Divine presence belonged,
after all, to a later stage of the religious development, and
was not independent of Canaanite affinities. But the stones
are not reverenced as deities, they are only sacred stones,
stones to mark the sanctity of a place. It was an ancient
custom to erect stones in
memory remarkable events, and of
5
especially in memory of miraculous Divine help. In the case
of theophanies it was a natural addition to the custom to

consecrate the stones themselves, and to reverence them as

sanctuaries or places of sacrifice where Divine worship was
6
paid. More than this is not said of the Jacob-stone.

1
See Comm. on Ex. xxx. 30.
2
Geschichte,
1
i. 460-494 f.j but see Hermann, Gottesdnn Cliche Alter-
th-ii
tm-r^ p. 139.
3 4
See also xxxv. 14, and comp. xlix. 24. Of. xxxiii. ^o.
5 xxiv. 26
Ch. xxxi. 45 ;
Josh. iv. 9, 20, f.; 1 Sain. vii. li'.
6
Ver. 22.
228 GENESIS XXVIII. 18 [336

Memorial stones of this kind long continued beside the

sanctuaries of the Israelite cultus, especially in the northern
l 2
kingdom ;
even to Isaiah they are not objectionable as
memorials of Jahve. Among the Canaanites, however, they
were inseparably bound up with the worship of Baal, and the
popular consciousness readily thought of them as Baal pillars.
For this reason even laws and prophets 4 of early date are
3

5
opposed to them, and Deut. xvi. 22 directly forbids such
Masseboth to be placed beside the altars of Jahve. Stones

holy in another sense, namely, stones which had Divine

honours paid to them as being deities in corporeal form, or
stones animated by deity, or which were applied to all kinds of

magical purposes, are of frequent occurrence among heathen

peoples, not only in Canaan and among the Syrians and
Arabs, but elsewhere in the East and in the West. They are
"
termed \lOoi, \iirapoi or aX?;Xt/x/>tez/ot, lapides uncti. 6 They
include also the so-called fiairvXot,, $aiTv\ia, laetyli? of
Western Asia, which were, in part, aerolites ;
there were
instances of these in 8
Phrygia, among the Pessinus, in
9 10 11
Phoenicians, among the Syrians in Heliopolis and Emesa,
12 13
among the Egyptians and the Arabs, e.g. in ISTabatean Petra, 14
and in Mekka, the black stone of the Kaaba." 15
We do not
know whether the Hebrews, like the other Semites, once
1 2
Hos. iii. 4, x. 1 f. ; cf. Ex. xxiv. 4. Ch. xix. 19.
3
Ex. xxiii. 24, xxxiv. 13 ; Lev. xxvi. 1.
4
Mic. v. 12.
5
Comm. ad loc. [Dillmann's].
See
6
Pausanias, x. 24. 6 ; Minucius Felix, iii. 1 Apuleius, Florida (at ;

begin.) ; regarding their religious veneration, see Theophrastus, Characteres,

16; Lucian, Alex. 30, Cone. dear. 12 Clem, of Alex. Strom. 7 (p. 713, ed.
;

Syllmrgius) ; Arnob. Adv. gent. i. 39.

7 8
Pliny, xxxvii. 135. Herodian, i. 11 ; Livy, xxix. 11.
9
Sanchuniathon, ed. Orelli, p. 30.
10
Photius, Biblioth. pp. 557, 568. n Herodian, v. 3.
12
Gale on Jamblicus, De Mysteriis, p. 215.
;

Maxim us Tyrius, Disser. 38 Arnobius, vi. 196. ;

14
Suidas, sub Qsvadpns.
''
Knobel. Cf. Winer, 3 ii. 521; Riehm, Handworterbuch, 1330 f.;
Ewald, Altherthiimer* 158 ff. [Antiquities, p. 118 f.]; JB. x. 17 f. and
v. 287 f.; Grimmel, De
lapidum cultu apud patriarchas, 4, 1853; Ph.
in JA. vii. 8,
p. 253 ff.; Halevy in JA. vii. 18, 252 ff.
i

p.
;;:;i;, :?] CKXESIS xxvm. 19, 20 FF. 229

practised this stone worship. If j3aiTv\o<i be identified as

h$ JV3, it is not, a far-fetched assumption that Jacob's Bethel
stone was originally a stone fetish of this character, 1
which //

only transformed into a rnjfo in the sense above described.

P>u t the connection of /Sa/ruXo? and JT3 is at least very ^
2
questionable there is no stone worship
;
in the public worship
3
of Israel in historical times ;
the rovo, whose origin the writer
here wishes to relate, was undoubtedly still in existence in
his time as a raD, and its shape must have been that of a

ms, not of a stone fetish.

Ver. 19a essential to C"s narrative, but also suitable

in B
(comp. ver. 17), and in expression rather from him.
4

Ver. 19& is doubtless a gloss from R. Jacob names the place

Bethel; in A
he does not do so till his return (xxxv. 15).

D^&o as in xlviii. 19 Num. xiv. 21 Ex. ix. 16. ; ;

7N JV3 see xii. 8. The statement that Bethel was earlier

called Luz,5
is to be understood in the sense that the more

modern Bethel lay in the neighbourhood of the more ancient

Luz. The place where Jacob passed the night was also not
6
in Luz, but near it.

Ver. 20 ff., from B. Further, Jacob vows that if God

protect him, and bring him home again safe and sound, 7 he
will make the stone a sanctuary, etc. The apodosis begins
with '"P'7!,
8
not with ver. 22, 9 as even the order of the words
shows. But we must regard the words ftrbvb ^ rvrv, in
1

which he binds himself to venerate the god who has appeared

to him, as an interpolation of It's (? from C). For the
expression, see xvii. 7. The stone is to be a house of God, i.e.
a place of Divine worship it is made so in xxxv. 7, when ;

Jacob erects an altar there.

1
Dozy, Israelite* zu Mekka, 1864, p. 18 ff. ; Noldeke in ZDMG.
xlii. 482.
2
See Qrimmel and Halevy as just quoted.
3 4
Isa. Ivii. 6 is different. See note on xxxii. 31.
5
Chs. xxxv. 6, xlviii. 3 Judg.
;
i. 23 ;
of. Josh, xviii. 13.
6
Ewald, Geschichte* i. 435 f. [History, vol. i.
p. 304].
7 8
Ch. xxvi. 29, 31. Sept. Pesh. Vulg. Tuch, Hengsteuberg.
230 GENESIS XXIX [337, 338

Jacob's words now take the form of address to the god.

1
He will give Him the tenth of all that God gives him. The
sequel not related, perhaps it was omitted by
is It is not K
clear how the author thought of the tenth, perhaps in the
form of an offering or of a tithe to a priest (comp. Book of

Jubilees, ch. xxxii.). What the story of the vow chiefly has
in view is in any case the time in which Bethel really was
an Israelite sanctuary, 2 where tithes also were paid.

2. JACOB IN HARRAN WITH LAB AN, CH. XXIX. F. :

FHOM B AND C.

Jacob arrives in the country of the sons of the east,

meets Rachel (Rahel), Laban's daughter, even before he
reaches Harran, and goes to live in Laban's house (xxix.

1-14). He serves him

shepherd for seven years to
as
obtain Rachel as his wife, but is overreached by Laban and

given Leah, the elder daughter, whom he does not love.

After the wedding with Leah is over, however, he receives
Rachel also, in return for a promise of seven years of further
service (xxix. 15-30). By Leah, by Rachel's maid, by
Leah's, and, lastly, by Rachel herself, he obtains in all

eleven sons and one daughter (xxix. 31 xxx. 24). He now

wishes to return home. But Laban is unwilling to let him
go, for he has been of much service to him. Jacob agrees to
serve,him longer for what is apparently an insignificant wage,
but by his cunning he so increases it that in a short time he

acquires very large possessions (xxx. 25-43).

The leading thought the narrative remarks the pre-
in
sence of God's protection and
blessing (xxviii. 15) which
follow Jacob everywhere, in his contest with Laban's
cunning
Mini selfishness as well as in the rest. But Jacob's merited
punishment for the deceit he had practised at home is also
to notice,
brought though less prominently, in the service to
1
See xiv. 20.
-
-Judg. xx. 18, 26 ff.; 1 Sam. x. 3; 1 Kings xii. 29.
338] GKNKSIS XXIX 231

which he must submit, extended by Laban's fraud to double

its original length, and in the long continued barrenness of

his favourite wife. The punishment as well as the protection

are to be the means of teaching him to cling closely to his
God. But the standpoint is more national than it is

ethical ;
Jacob is glorified as the ideal of a Hebrew shepherd,
and an account is given of the origin of the Hebrew tribes.
The narrow limits of these two chapters, supplemented in
ch. xxxi., contain in a compressed form the essential points
regarding Jacob's deeds and contests in Mesopotamia. Oral
tradition at one time told the story more fully. Some
features of that story are still plainly recognisable in the
condensed account. Examples are the contest in which
Hebrew and Aramaean cunning are matched against one
another, and Jacob's many discoveries in the contrivances of
a shepherd's skill (xxx. 37 ff.). Other features have almost
vanished beyond recognition, e.g. the representation of the
hero's giant strength (xxix. 10, cf. xxxii. 25 ff.). In the
written sources, also, this part of the Jacob legend was at
one time more fully detailed. Ch. xxx. 3542, for example,

presents all the appearance of being an extract from a fuller

narrative. 1 It was B, without doubt, who gave the fuller

description of these events (cf. ch. xxxi.). Even (7, who was
acquainted with B's work, laid less stress on such merely
secular materials R, above all, made the ethico-religious
;

points of view so dominant that he did not consider it worth

his while to record much of the secular tradition.

The present text is from C and B, and is worked together

in a way similar to that of ch. xxvii.
Only chs. xxix. 24,
2
29, xxx. 22a, remind us of A; ch. xxx. 4a and 91 might

possibly also be from him. In analysing what remains,

3
Wellhausen makes xxix. 1-30 essentially the text of B.
But we cannot fail to recognise an artificial transition in
ver. 1 5 ;
ver. 1 6 f.
proceeds as if Rachel had not hitherto
1
Cf. notes on iv. 17 and vi. 1-4. 2
Knobel, Wellhausen.
3
JBDTh. xxi. 425 f.
232 GENESIS XXIX [338, 339

been mentioned. It will therefore be more accurate, while

giving xxix. 1 to B (see note), to assign xxix. 2-14 or 15a
2
to C, 1 and xxix. 15& 30 in the main, without vv. 24 and
29, and without ver. 26, because of rrpjra and ITVM, to B.
In xxix. 31 -xxx. 24, which relates the birth of Jacob's
children, the foundation narrative is in the main from (7,

as mrr* and nnsp make plain; in xxix. 3135 and xxx. 9-16
he is the only source, but in xxx. l-3a (DTita, HEN) there
is a characteristic description from B, and in vv. 6 and 8
two etymologies substituted for (7s ;
in xxx. 17-24 the
thread of the narrative, even, belongs to B (D'nta) and the
divergent etymologies (vv. of C 20& and 24), and one or two
fragments from the same source (vv. 21, 22c) are inserted in
his text. 3 procedure shows that the course of the narrative
jR's

and its material were very much the same in both sources ;

that they were, in fact, essentially alike except for certain

noticeable variations in the etymologies, so that either B or
C might be drawn upon in fi's compilation. The concluding
paragraph, xxx. 2543, telling of Jacob's acquisition of flocks
of his own, is decisively (7s, as is proved by the want of
4
agreement with J5's chronology and with his parallel state-
ments in xxxi. 6 ff., as well as by the linguistic evidence.
5

But here also parallels have been worked in from B? and

isolated expressions of his are found which have been adopted
by C or inserted
by E, e.g. D^n"i (vv. 38, 41 in contrast to
xxiv. 20), Bta (ver. 35), nty (ver. 35). It is to be remarked
that the text in this concluding paragraph is in several
instances distorted. The analysis given of the whole is

followed in almost every particular by Kittel and Kautzsch-

Socin.

1
Of. >
-IPK (ver. 9), ntOp^ pi (ver. 13), -nbOl 'JOT (ver. 14).
2
Cf. rro'po ninj and
(ver. 15), map (vv. 16, 18), nsn -isn r\v
(ver. 17).
;

Hoarding vinaj? in xxx. 18, see note there.

4
Sci; note on xxx. 25.
6
fea and 'y\ fn TlfcOftD KrDN in ver. 27,
p> in vv. 30, 43.
6
Vv. 26, 28 ; hardly 32-34, as Wellhauscn thinks.
:!)] GENESIS XXIX. 1, 2 F. 233

Ch. xx ix. 1-14. Jacob safely reaches his relatives in

Harran.
Ver. 1. He lifted his feet, i.e. continued his journey,

which was a long one, and went, not came, to the land of
the sons of the east. v^n Nbo only here. The Septuagint at

the end of the verse has a long harmonising addition, TT/JO?

Aaftdv, K.T.\.

Dip '33 see notes on xxv. 15. The expression is

surprising in itself, because it nowhere else designates the

inhabitants of Mesopotamia, which might, however, be termed
an Dip pN, 1 and because it offers a third variant to the
DIN nna -j^i of xxviii. 7 and the nrin ^i of xxviii. 10. The
Septuagint reads Dip pN without "03. The sentence does
not belong to C, 2 but along with xxviii. 20 ff., to B, who
accordingly differed somewhat from A and C in his ideas
3
regarding the place of residence of Jacob's kinsmen. This
makes it the less possible to lay down the rule 4
that C only
writes city of Nahor 5 and not Harran. 6
Ver. 2 f. The journey itself is not described, any more
than in ch. xxiv. But Jacob is just as fortunate as
Abraham's steward was in the other case. He arrives at
once the right well, and finds kinsmen there.
at/ It is not,

however, the city well of Harran, as in ch. xxiv. lOf.

Three flocks were lying at the time beside the well, from
which it was the custom to give them water at certain
times. The 1 stone, with which wells were habitually
8
covered, was large, in order that only those who had a
right, and these altogether, might be able to use the
well.

The perfects in ver. 3 with waw consecutive are co-

1
Num. xxiii. 7 ;
cf. Gen. xi. 2. 2
Delitzsch 5 .

3
Cf. xxxi. 21 and 23.
4
Wellhausen, JBDTh. xxi. 426.
5
Ch. xxiv. 10.
6
Chs. xxvii. 43, xxviii. 10, xxix. 4.
7
See. xiv. 13.
8
Robinson [Palestine* i.
490], Germ. tr. ii. 414.
234 GENESIS XXIX. 4-9 [339, 340

ordinate with ipsj>\ and express custom or habit. 1 The

description given with a view to ver. 10.
is "Such scenes
2 3
at the well were usual, and are so still. Troughs of stone
are set up beside the wells, and the rule is that the first
4
comer waters his flocks first. Among the Beduin Arabs the
wells belong to particular tribes or families. Strangers may
5
only use them in return for presents, in effect a payment ;

they are therefore often the occasion of contention. 6 The

7
Arabs are skilled in covering them over so that they remain
8
unperceived by strangers."
Vv. 46. Jacob inquires of the shepherds regarding
Laban ; they point him out his daughter Rachel, who is just

approaching with her flock.

My brothers see ch. xix. 7.

Nahor's son p must be son in the widest sense, i.e.

9
grandson ;
but as a matter of fact in C"s original narrative
10
Laban was really Nahor's son.
Is he well ? see xliii. 29 f.

Ver. 7 f. Jacob they have driven the cattle

thinks

together (pps) for the night, and proposes that they should
water the sheep and then pasture them, for the day is still
large, i.e. it is still a long time till evening. They reply that
they must wait till all are together to be able to roll away
the heavy stone by their united strength.
Dmyn the Septuagint reading D'jhn is easier ;
the
Samaritan reads the same in ver. 3 also.

Ver. 9. Meanwhile Eachel arrives at the well (for the

perf. comp. xxvii. 30). She is a shepherdess. Among the
1
Gesenius,
25
112. 3. 2
C]l> xxiv . n ff
.
Ex> ^ 16 ff>
3 2
'

Robinson, Palestine, i. 201, 204, ii. 22, 26, 35, 226.

4
Schubert, Reisen, ii. 453 Burckhardt [Syria, 1821,
; p. 63], Germ. tr.
128f.
6
Burckhardt, Bedouins, i.
p. 228 f. ;
Robinson [Palestine* ii.
99],
<
term. tr. iii. 7 ; cf. Num. xx. 17, 19, xxi. 22.
lh.XXvL 19ffi 7
Diodorus, ii. 48, xix. 94.
s
Knobel.
9
2 Kings ix. 20 and ix. 14 Ezra
10
; v. 1 compared with Zech. i. 1.
Sec, xxiv.
15, 24, 47, 50.
:;in]
GENESIS XXIX. io-i:5 i .
235

A nibs of Sinai it is the rule that the unmarried daughters

1
drive the cattle to pasture.
For the form of the sentence, see Ewald. 2 f> I^N, as in
xl. 5, in a
"
Ver. 1 f. One look at Eachel affects and inspires
Jacob with determination and strength he singly rolls away
;

the stone, and with willing hands waters her cattle. The
thrice repeated ION TIN is an indication that he gave his
3
service as her cousin."
The interpretation just given is of the present text ;
in

the background we may justifiably find the representation to

be that Jacob was a man of herculean strength ; comp. ch.

xxxii. 26. "Jacob, as Eachel's cousin, may also kiss her

4
openly, as a brother his sister. His tears are those of

joyful emotion, as in xlv. 14 and xlvi. 29." 5

For ^p Nb>3,

see xxi. 16.

Ver. 12. Brother = cousin, as in ver. 15, xiv. 16,
xxiv. 48.

Ver. 13f. Laban at the news of him, i.e. of his arrival,

hastens to meet him, embraces and kisses him much and
6
long, takes him to his house, and, from what he learns, con-
vinces himself that Jacob is really his lone and flesh, i.e. his
7 "
blood relative or kinsman. The expressions of the passage

recall ch. 23, and r\$r\\h pi, xviii. 2 and xxiv. 17.
ii. Jacob
8
remains with Laban a whole month's time." There is
nothing which requires us to attach this last statement to
ver. 15, i.e. to B, as is done by Kautzsch-Socin.
pGW with ^, as xxxi. 28, xxxii. 1, xlviii. 10 ;
in xxxiii. 4
with accusative.
^ only, i.e. no other than ;
see also note, xxvi. 9.

1
Burckhardt, Bedouins, i. 351 f. ; see, further, on Ex. ii. 16. Knobel.
- 3
Syntax, 341rf. Knobel.
"
4
Canticles viii. 1. Knobel.
Piel.
7
Ch. xxxvii. 27; Judg. ix. 2; 2 Sam. v. 1, xix. 13 f.
8
Cf. xli. 1 ;
Num. xi. 20 f. Knobel. For D^OS see Gesenius, 25
131. 2c.
236 GENESIS XXIX. 15, 16 F. [340,341

Vv. 15-30. Jacob marries two wives, sisters. In this

respect he is not a model for Israel (Lev. xviii. 18), but the
double marriage was at least not of his own choice one of the ;

sisterswas forced on him by the cunning of Laban, and so

the marriage has more the aspect of a Harran custom. See
note on ch. xx. 12 regarding the consanguineous marriages of
the patriarchs. While, however, the excuse lies in Laban's
deceit, there is also perceptible the ethical consideration that
Jacob's own fraud on Esau and Isaac is avenged by the
deception he himself must now suffer.

A
small gap is here visible, inasmuch as it has
Ver. 15.
not been said that Jacob has entered Laban's service as shep-

herd, or even that he wished to do so. Laban's offer of wages

is apparently unselfish ; but, in truth, is doubtless due to his
observation of Jacob's skill as a shepherd, and to his desire to
retain his service.

Ought you to serve me for nought when you are my brother ?

to whom more rather than less is given. ^n, as in

xxvii. 36. Kittel therefore makes ver. a still C"s. Jacob is

asked to choose his own reward, m'ato, as in xxxi. 7, 41;

elsewhere I3fc>, e.g. xxx. 28, 32 f., xxxi. 8.
Ver. 16 f. Circumstantial clauses regarding Laban's

daughters required make the answer in ver. 18 compre-

to
"
hensible. The narrator who had already spoken of Kachel
in ver. 9 ff. could not very well introduce both daughters as is

Probably E here extracts from his other source.

l
done here."

^!?1 ewe (Eahel).

n un z
?!? perhaps gazelle (oryx leucoryx), like Arabic la'dt .

3
Paul Haupt makes it mistress, in view of Assyrian li'at.

hj and as in xxvii. 15, 42.

jbp The younger is beauti-
4
ful in figure and appearance,6 the elder had weak (lit. tender)
eyes, "without brightness or brilliancy of lustre. Among
Orientals, and especially Arabs, the chief point of a woman's
1
Knobel. 2
But see Nbldeke, ZDMG. xl. 167.
;

'/'/AT. <
1883, ]. 100. Ch. xxxix. 6, xli. 18.
1
Oh. xii. 11; njOO rQID, xxiv. 16, xxvi. 7.
:m] GENESIS xxix. is-24 237

beauty consists in bright, fiery, clear, and expressive black

l
eyes, the eyes of a gazelle."
Ver. 18f. "Jacob is willing to serve Laban as shepherd

seven years, and asks in return his loved Eachel to be his

wife. Lilian is content, for he prefers to give his daughter
to a kinsman rather than to a stranger ("ins *). Among all
3
Beduin Arabs a cousin has a prior claim ;
the Druses in

Syria always prefer a relative to a rich stranger.

4
When
cousins are married they often address one another as such,
5
even after marriage." Jacob's service represents the custom-

ary "bride price for the woman. 6 Modern parallels are to be

7
found.
"
Ver. 20. The seven years of service are like a few days 8
to Jacob, for he is happy because near Eachel ;
and time passes
9
quickly when one is happy."
10
Vv. 21-24. At the end of the time he asks for his wife,

for his days, i.e. his time of service, are full, have expired. 11
Laban acquiesces, and prepares the customary wedding-feast ;

but he puts Leah, not Eachel, in the marriage chamber. The

deception was possible in the evening, especially as Leah
12
came veiled. She receives only one maid for her service ;

Eebecca had more. 13

Ver. 24, like ver. 29, is loosely attached, and unrequired
by xxx. 2, 4, 9 the style of both reminds us of A, and
f. ;

u
they are to be regarded as introduced from him by R.

pp. 557, 584, 696, 622 Ideale, p. 77 Knobel.

1
Hamasa, i. ; Hartmann, ff.

2
As Jer. vi. 12, viii. 10.
3
Burckhardt [Bedouins, i.
272], Germ. tr. 219.
4
Volney [ Voyages, ii. 74, Eng. tr. ii. 80], Germ. tr. ii. 62.
5
Burckhardt, Bedouins, i. 113 Proverbs, p. 218 Layard, NincnJi <tn<I
; ;

llalnjlnn, 1853, p. 294 Lane, Manners and Customs, ch. vi. pop. ed. p. 143.
;

Knobel.
6 3
Winer, i. 296 f.
7
Hitter, Erdkunde, xv. 674 Bmvkhardt, Syria, 297 f. Knobel.
;

8 9
Ch. xxvii. 44. Knobel.
10
nan, xxviii. 2.
n Ch. xxv. 24, 1. 3.
12 13
Of. xxiv. 65. Ch. xxiv. 61. Knobel.
14
Knobel, Wcllliausen ;
cf. xlvi. 18, 25.
238 GENESIS XXIX. 25-30 [341, 341

Laban excuses the deception by the custom

Ver. 2 5 f . of
1
the country, which was not to give a younger daughter in

marriage before an elder. This was law in India, 2 and is

3
known sporadically elsewhere. But Laban had said nothing

of this before.

rrvjre and m^n, as xix. 3 Iff., xxv. 23.

Ver. 27. But Jacob will obtain Eachel also in return for
further service of seven years.
Make full the week of this (one) complete the celebrations
of your marriage week with this one. The wedding festivities
4
usually lasted a week.
" 5
We will give I and my family "; but the Septuagint
and Samaritan have Jim
Vv. 28-30. At the end of the week he obtained Eachel,
who also was given a maid with her. He thus married two
wives within eight days. For ver. 29, see ver. 24. He went
in to Eachel also, and loved her more than Leah, preferred
her to Leah.
6
?rrrnK~D| the we
simply to emphasise f>m,
DJ, are told, is
7
or along with JD to express "etiam, still, more than." Either

explanation is against usage. Nor can it belong to nn&ri as

if it he did not merely go in to her, but loved her also. 8
were :

The only translation possible is, he loved Eachel also, not

only Leah, and more than Leah. But this contradicts ver.
31, therefore omit and Vulg.
DJ, as do the Sept.

Ch. xxix. 31 -xxx. 24. Jacob's eleven sons and one daughter

by these two wives and their maids. The account is short

and bare. The explanation given of the sons' names is a
chief feature in some cases two interpretations are
;
given.
The children are named by the mothers in each instance, as
elsewhere in B etc. But the narrative has also an ethical
t

1 2
Ch. xxiv. 7; 2 Sam. xiii. 12. Manu, 3. 1GO.

Lane, Manners and Customs, cli. vi. pop. ed. p. 144

;;

A'.'/. ;
Book of
,
c.li. sJH, wishes even to make it the law for Israel.

4
Judg. xiv. 12; Job xi. 18. See xxiv. 50.
fi
Knobel.
7
Gcscnius, Thesaurus, 294. Delitzsch.
8
Knobel; see against this xxxi. 15, xlvi. 4; 1 Sam. i. G.
342] GENESIS XXIX. 31-33 239

content. Where there are two wives it is not right to

prefer one to another. Jacob does that, and is corrected by

God through the long-continued barrenness of his favourite
wife ;
the other is also compensated for the want of her
husband's love by the number of her children. Joseph, too,
the best of his sons and the most populous of the tribes, is,
like Isaac and Esau- Jacob, born only after long waiting, as a
specially precious gift from God. The arrangement of the
sons is as in A in xxxv. 23 ff., except that the maids' four
sons are interpolated between the first four and the last two

by Leah. All the sources are at one in their division of the

twelve sons among the four wives. 1
Ver. 31. nKUb' because of ver. 30, to be understood
2
relatively, less loved.
3
Opened her womb, made her pregnant, and a mother. By
this God restored the balance between the sisters for a wife ;

isvalued by her husband if she has children. 4

Ver. 32. She names her son l?^"i. The word in appear-
ance means, see a son, but is presented as an allusion to n*o
5
"3JO, for Leah said, Jahve has seen my need, for now my
husband will love me. The original meaning of the name is
not clear. No result is got by deriving it from Arabic
ra'dba? Itmore possibly a variant of feuo.7
is In that
case its meaning would be lion or wolf, like Arabic riled the \

el is sufficient to exclude its being a name of deity. 8

For 3 after n "3PfJ, comp.

S
ver. 33 and xxvi. 22. "oanjo, see

xix. 19.

Ver. 33. PJW hearing (favourably); Jahve heard and

took notice that she was unloved. Ewald 9 conjectures that
1
This alone disposes of Stade's remarks, Cescliichte^ i. 145 ff.; Reuss
is more cautious (Geschichte des Alt Test. 63).
2 3 See
Dent. xxi. 15; Matt. vi. 24. xvi. 2.
4 5
Cli. xvi. 4. Ch. xvi. 11.
6
As f-iT
from YV Baetligen, Beitriige, 159.
1
Lagarde, Otiomastica sacra, ii. 95 it is the substitute of Josephus,
7
;

Pesh., Arabic, and Ktliiopie versions and (Jreek MSS. ('Pow/3/A, 'Poy/3jjX).
8 9
Kuenen, ThT. v. 291. 167a.
240 GENESIS XXIX. 34-XXX. 1
[342, 343

l
the word is a diminutive from 9 Hitzig and Eobertson '>

2
Smith, that it comes from Arabic sim'u, a cross between wolf
and hyena.
Ver. 34. ^ adherent, for Leah hopes that from now her
husband will adhere to her in affection. It is regarded by
3 4
many as a nomen gentile from Leah ; Lagarde interprets
the name of foreigners who joined themselves to Israel, or

alternatively of the attendants and escort of the ark of the

covenant ;
Hommel 5 draws attention to a supposed Minnean
word lau'dn, priest. See further regarding Levi, Kuenen. 6
Dyan, as in ii. 24. Kip should be read n ^1PT with the ,

Peshitta, Samaritan, and Septuagint (e/eaXecre not e/c\rj&r)) ;

comp. ver. 35.

Ver. 35. TOn N

_
subject laud and praise? for Leah
of
8
praised God for him. The name is taken as a Hophal
derivative. 9 Steinthal 10
tried to prove the existence of a

God "W.
Leah now paused from bearing n the interval ;
is doubtless
12
to be put at not less than a year, to be noticeable as such.
Ch. xxx. 18. Birth of Dan and Naphtali, by Bilhah.
" 13
Ver. 1 f. Eachel, jealous of her sister's fertility, demands
children from her husband, otherwise she will die of grief.
He angrily checks her with the words, Am I in God's place,
who is the cause of death and life, and can alone grant such 14

a request ? The same words occur in L 19, from the same

15
author."
1 2
Geschichte, 47. Journal of Philology, ix. 80, 96.
3
Wellhausen, Prolegomena, 150 [Eng. tr. p. 145]; Stade in ZATh.
i. 112 ff. cf. Literar. Centralblatt, 1879, p. 828; Noldeke in ZDMG.
;

xl. 167.
4
Orientalia, ii. 20 f.
5
Aufsatze und Abhandlungen, 1890, p. 30.
(i

Volksreliyion, 1883, p. 312 ff.

7 s
Delitzsch. Of. xlix. 8.
9
For the n, cf. Pa. xxviii. 7, xlv. 18 Nell. ; xi. 17.
111
In Die Nation,
1891, No. 46, p. 716.
"
Bee xvi. 2. 12
Knobel.
1:1

N3p, as in xxvi. 14.

14
DIM it, xxx ii. 39 ;
1 Sam. ii. 6 ; 2 Kings v. 7.
15
Knobel.
343] GENESIS XXX. 3-11 "2 -11

Ver. 3. Eachel helps herself as Sarah had done (xvi. 2 f.),

mid gives Jacob her maid Uilhah to be his wife, that she may
bear children on Eachel's knees, who will thus also be built

up by her. The last clause is from C (cf. xvi. 2). ?3">?~?y,

1
Rachel will take the children on her lap, and acknowledge
them as her own. 2

nEK as in xx. 17, xxi. 10, 12 f., from B.

Ver. 4a. Because of its repetition of ver. 3 and its use
of rinse* from perhaps from A, who speaks
0, or of Hagar
also as Abraham's n$N (xvi. 3). So ver. 9 ft.

Ver. 6. r\ judge, is the name she gives the child, for

God has judged her, i.e. decided her case as she wished.
Kuenen 3 here also conjectures a name of deity.
fnpu yoy as iii. 17, xxi. 12, xxvii. 13.
Ver. 7, from C '; at least one cannot see why nriD^ nrta
4
i>m should be an addition to the original text when na^r

i>m nri3B> in ver. 1 2 is not.

Ver. 8. yJJW combatant, for she has contended with

Leah in a wrestling match of God, and has come off the

victor. The genitive DTita does not express the idea that
the contest was of divine importance, as the founding of
Israel was, 5 nor that God brought it to a decision, 6 but that
7
it was one for God's grace and blessing; cf. xxix. 31,
xxx. 2.

Vv. 912. Leah, also, now gives her maid to Jacob,

8
seeing she obtains no more children, and Gad and Asher are
the fruit of the marriage. For ver. 9, see note on ver. 4.
9
Ver. 11. 13 child of fortune ;
she says "Ha, with good
10
fortune, eV Tv^y ; comp. np'&o in ver. 1 3 the Massoretes ;

would read "U Ka, is come n so at least the

fortune ;Targums
1
Job iii. 12.
2
Ch. 1. 23 ; cf. Stade in ZATW. vi. 143 ff.
4
3
ThT. v. 291. Wellhausen, JBDTh. xxi. 427.
5 6
Knobel. Hengstenberg.
7 8
Tuch, Delitzsch. Ch. xxix. 35.
9 10
-na, pausal. Sept.
11
Cf. Isa. Ixv. 11 and the name Baal-gad in Josli. xi. 17, xii. 7.

DILLMANN. II. 1 6
242 GENESIS XXX. 13 [343,344

and Peshitta; the Samaritan 1103, and Graecus Venetus

There was a god of
rjKei o-Tpdrevfjia, interpret as in xlix. 19.

good fortune, Gad, Tv^rj, whose worship was widely spread

1
among the Aramaeans.
Ver. 13. "i^N of even tenor, i.e. both fortunate and

propitious, lucky ; comp. n^'x, the goddess of fortune ;

as one

may the star of fortune for Gad. Leah says, with my good
fortune, i.e. it is my good fortune, for daughters
2
call me happy,
3
as the mother of many children. 'onc^N, perfect of certainty.

Vv. 1420. Birth of Leah's fifth and sixth sons. Vv.

1416 give C*B explanation of the name Issachar (Yissakhar),
and "tell the story of the D'fcTOi,* which Eeuben, still a
young child, found in the fields and brought home in the
5
days of the wheat harvest, i.e. in May."
D'KTtt
"according to the versions, the yellow apple-
shaped fruit of the Mandragora vernalis or mandrake, a shrub
which is common in Palestine, or in Galilee, and so was well
known to the Hebrews. Its fruit is the size of a nutmeg,
and has been found ripe by travellers as early as the month
6
of May. They say that the Arabs are fond of it, and believe
that it inclines to love, and gives vigour in the production of
children. 7 were used in love-potions,8 and, according
Its roots

to Hesychius, MavSpayopins was among the names of the

goddess of love. It is therefore to be rendered amatoria,

9
love-apples, from 'HFi."

1
Of. on Isa. Ixv. 11; see Lagarde, Gesammelte Abhandlungen, 16;
Symmicta, i. 87 ; Mordtmann in ZDMG. xxxi. 89 f ; Halevy, Melanges
.

de critique, 183, 212 ; Siegfried in JPTh. 1875, p. 361 ff. ; Baethgen,

Beitracje, 77, 159 f. ; Noldeke, ZDMG. xlii. 474, 478 f.

2 3 25
Song vi. 9, ii. 2. 106. 3b.
Gesenius,
4
Song yii. 14. Judg. xv. 1.
c
Mariti, Viaggi, Germ. tr. 564 ; Sclmltz, Leitungen des Hochsten, v.
197; Hasselquist [Eng. tr. Travels, 1766, p. 160]; Seetzen, ii. 98; Von
Schubert, ii. 457.
7
So also Maundrell, Narration,
p. 82.
s
Diosr-orides, iv. 76. Theoplirastus, Hist, plant, ix. 10.
''

Kwal<l, 1890. See further Tuch, Gesenius, Thesaurus-, Chwolsohn,

Hi.-.
Sfator, ii. 725 f. Knobel. Wetzstein in Delitzsch, Hohelied u,
'

,
!:{! IV.; also Winer, 3 i. 43 Riehm, Hqndworterluch, 48,
;
:m. :?I.V|
GENESIS XXX. IS, 1!F. 24)'

wishes some of these love-apples in order to use

h'aohel

this means also to attain her object. Leah at first refuses :

is it too little to have taken my husband, who preferred Rachel's

company, that you wish to take the mandrakes also ? But she
finally Ljivi's her some in return for Rachel's renunciation of
their husband for the following night. Leah's words to Jacob
in ver. 1 (i are an obvious {illusion to the name Issachar, hired.
n ni?fl the infinitive expresses intention more decisively
than the more obvious perfect with waw consecutive nnppl j

and to take = and you wish to take? See xx. 16.

sin rWs see xix. 33.
Rachel's second expedient also fails, she does not become

pregnant. But Leah does. The result, however, is not said

to be a consequence of eating the love-apples. On the

contrary, 17 continues, God heard Leah, which pre-

ver.

supposes the offering of a prayer of which there has been no

account. E is therefore now quoting from a different source,
namely, from B. Knobel advances yotr as evidence for A, ^
but the expression is occasionally found in the other writers
l
also ;
the mention, also, of the fact that this was Leah's fifth
2
son, was almost a necessity imposed by the interval from
here back to xxix. 35. 3
Ver. 18. "9^.4 i.e. "Ob> B*, there a reward; 5 God
is
6
has given her her reward because she gave her maid to her
husband (ver. 9 ff.) plainly not the same reference of *ob> as
;

that given in ver. 16. Ewald 7

interprets the name as
8
reiuard ; Wellhausen, as "Ob> B*S.

must have been altered by R, or a copyist, from

so in xxxi. 3 3 in the Samaritan.

Ver. 19 f. Two explanations are also given of the name

Zebulun. In B Leah says, God has gifted me vrith a good gift ;

1
Chs. xvi. 11, xxi. 17, xxxix. 10.
2 3
So ver. 19, the sixth. Cf. xxix. 34.
4
For another punctuation, see Baer's Genesis, p. 84.
5 Chs. xxxi. 49, xxxiv. 13, 27.
Cf. Jer. xxxi. 16.
8
r
273 ; Lolmding. Samuel, p. 95 f. and preface.
244 GENESIS XXX. 21-24 [345

the l of nnt l
is made equivalent to f>.
2
In C she says, this
4
time 3
my husband will dwell (lie) with me ;
Zebulun is thus

given a meaning like neighbour or borderer, comp. xlix. 13.

An Assyrian root has led to the proposal 5 of the meaning
6
will (esteem) me, but it has been contested.
exalt The
Septuagint renders freely alpenel fie. Eegarding the term-
ination fy see Stade. 7

Ver. 21. The mention of Jacob's daughter Dinah is inserted

in preparation for ch. xxxiv.other daughters are presupposed ;

in xlvi. 7 (A) and xxxvii. 35 (C), but without their names

being anywhere given. Though A speaks of Dinah (ch. xxxiv.,

cf. xlvi. 15), the present notice is not from him, for in his

narrative it is always the father who names his children.

Vv. 22-24. At last Eachel also receives a son, though

not by her human devices, but by God's grace and favour.
Ver. 22a is at least unrequired alongside of n^x yro^' v )

8 9
DTita certainly reminds one of A, and may be regarded
;
it

as from him, while ver. b a is from B and b ft from C. For

yBh, see ver. 17, and for nrw, xxix. 31.
Ver. 23 f. God has taken away my reproach of childless-
10
ness from B, who thus interprets ^p^ as *1DN\
; May
Jahve add to me another son, 11 is from C, and gives Joseph the

meaning more. Sayce thinks 12

*\&
= Assyrian asipu, sooth-

sayer. See also p. 4 (Yosefel).

Vv. 2543. Jacob continues to serve Laban under a
new contract. The wage agreed upon is in appearance
small, but Jacob by cunning and skill so increases it that he

1
See Gesenius, Thesaurus, p. 401.
2
For the interchange, see Gesenius, Thesaurus, p. 727, and Ewald, 51&.
3
Ch. xxix. 34 f.
4
For the accus., see Judg. v. 17 ;
Prov. viii. 12 ;
Ps. v. 5, cxx. 5 ;

for a parallel to the thought, xxix. 34.

6
St. Guyard in JA. vii. 12. 225 Fried. Delitzsch, Hebrew Language,
;

38, and Prolegomena, 62 (Delitzsch 5 Kautzsch-Socin). ;

Halcvy, REJ. 1885, p. 299 Noldeke in ZDMG. xl. 729. ;

'
Lehrbuch, 298. Cf xxi. 1 and xxvii. 44 f. .

Knobel see note on viii. 1, but cf. also 1 Sam. i. 19.

''

J
Oh. xvi. 14, 11
Cf. xxxv. 18, ZA. iv. 387 f, i
 :;i:.,346]
GENESIS XXX. 25-27 245

succeeds in possessing himself of a great part of the wealth

of his selfish father-in-law and becomes very rich.

Ver. 25f. After Joseph's birth Jacob asks to be per-

mitted to return home.

"oipB comp. xxix. 22 and 26.

chronology as given in xxxi. 41 cannot be assumed
.Z?'s

here. Jacob's first child was born in the first year of his
second period of service, and if the other births followed in
the order in which they are enumerated in this chapter it

is impossible that Leah could have borne her six sons and
l
Rachel afterwards Joseph by the end of the period, so
that the new contract could be made at the beginning of
the loth year. We must therefore either insert xxx. 1 ff.

2
before xxix. 35 and xxx. 9 f. before ver. 7, and so achieve

the possibility, or we must allow the births to occur in

3
part in the third period of service. The latter alternative

is the more natural, and has nothing against it in the text ;

for

the expression, my service, i.e.

my time of service, need not

necessarily be restricted to the seven years of ch. xxix. 18

and 27. It is thus clear that this verse is not from the

author of xxxi. 41.

Ver. 26 coincides in its contents with vv. 2ob and 29a, and
is a doublet from B ;
so ver. 28a, which is coincident with 3 la.

H^ n&o subordinate, with my children.

Ver. 27. Laban does not wish to allow the departure of

his valuable servant. His selfishness makes him polite, and his

perplexity occasions his speaking brokenly or stammeringly.

'ai &O~DK as in xviii. 3 the apodosis, do not leave me, is
;

omitted, and Laban proceeds, recovering his self-possession,

/ have observed omens* the auguries are good, to the

the

effect that that (your departure) will not be, and Jahvc has
blessed me on your account? so that I must be very desirous

1
The inx of ver. 21 leaves Dinah out of the reckoning.
-
Kcil, Knubel.
3 Sec also note on xxxvii.
Book of Jubilees ; Delitzsch, partially. 3.
5
1
Ch. xliv. 15. See xii. 13.
246 GENESIS XXX. 28-32 F. [340

that you should stay. It is wrong to translate, / have

observed unmistakably that Jahve has Messed me ;
1
$na would
not have been required, and it is not simply = jn\
Ver. 28. Starting afresh, he bids Jacob name his wage
for further service, ^y, because there will be an undertaking

imposed on him in consequence. But ~iDN is surprising in l|

l

itself, hence omitted by the Septuagint, and the request is

repeated in ver. 3 la; so the verse is from B (see ver. 26).

Ver. 29 f. From 0, containing Jacob's answer to ver. 27.
He does not hesitate to remind Laban in express terms of
the value of his service, and makes it also clear to him that
2
he must now exert himself in the interests of his own family.
"fltf with me, under my charge, pa 11

!, as xxviii. 14.
3
At my foot, in every step of mine.
(following)
Ver. 31. In reply to Laban's question Jacob says, with
a show of disinterestedness, that Laban need give him
nothing if he accepts the following proposal.
lit", as in xxvi. 18. IID^N has to be taken as an in-
4
tensification of fiJHN, but is doubtless only a variant from
5
E- cf. Hos. xii. 13.
Ver. 32 f. The text
here corrupt, so that it is not
is

entirely clear from the statement what the proposal really

was. It is based on the fact that the sheep, with few
6
exceptions, were white, while the goats were dark coloured,
brown or black. 7
Jacob accordingly proposes to go through
Laban's flocks that day and pick out 8
from the sheep every
one which was speckled and spotted (K&3 only in vv. 31-39)
or black, and from the
goats those which were spotted and
speckled ;
this should be his wage. The statement neces-
sarily leads us to understand that the wage was to consist

1 2
Delitzsch, Kautzsch-Socin. Ruth ii. 19 ;
Prov. xxxi. 13.
3 4
Isa. xli. 2 ; Job xviii. 11. Ewald, Syntax, 349a.
5
Kautzsch-Socin. Song iv. 2, vi. 6 ;
Dan. vii. 9.
7
Song iv. 1; Arvieux [Me'moires, iii.
254], Germ. tr. iii. 214 Berggren,
;

lleuen, i. 326 ; Burckhardt, Bedouins, pp. 42, G7, 201; Lynch, Expedition,
205 f.

Intiu. ;ibsol., as in xxi. 16.

:;
in, 347]
GENESIS XXX. :*_' 1'. 247

of the unusual parti-coloured animals which were to be

separated that day.
1
But neither ver. 31, noiKD &6, nor
ver. 35 f., in which (ver. 365) the unusually coloured animals
separated by Laban still belong to his flock, harmonise with
this ;
on the contrary, ver. 37 ff.
represents that Jacob's
share was to consist of those lambs and kids, still to be

born, which should be of the unusual colours. But of this

nothing is said in ver. 32, nor could it be implied in rrrn

nsb'
2
without express mention. Wellhausen 3 is therefore
of opinion that a statement has fallen out after ver. 34, to
the effect that after Jacob had separated the rarely coloured

animals, Laban found they were too many, and the wage,
therefore, too high, and so required Jacob to make another

proposal to him comp. xxxi. 7 f But it is incomprehensible

;
.

how such a gap could originate, and the contradiction with

nniND ^~inrr&6 in ver. 31 would be really too obvious. We
4
must rather assume that before or after i-oi? irm a whole
series of words has consequence it may be of
fallen out, in

homoioteleuton, or that, despite the Massoretic punctuation,

the Athnach is to be set at the first K^D1, so that we should
render :
everyone black among the sheep and parti-coloured
among the goats, that shall be my wage (in future, "inp, ver.

o'5). We might also delete lr

ob> PITH as a gloss, 5 but the
words 1 Nitai np3 nb> ^a would still remain a difficulty. Bacon's
6
proposal, to strike out ver. 32 f. as an insertion from J>,

leaves things in unrivalled confusion. Ver. 31 leaves only

one possibility regarding G 's account, viz. that he wrote, now
y

you need give me nothing but whatever afterwards, after ;

the have been purged of all the unusually coloured

flocks

animals, is born (becomes) of that character, shall be my

wage. All the rest is in agreement with this.

In the case of the sheep no other word than Din is

1
Knobel, Delitzscli, Keil.
2
As Tuch, Baumgarten, Knobel, Delitzsch maintain.
3
JBDTh. xxi. 429 f.
4
As was done even in the 3rd ed. of commentary.
5
Kautzscli-Socin. <;

Hchnn'ca, vii. 226 f.

248 GENESIS XXX. 34-36 [347

2
required,
1
for Din is equivalent to ia Din i^N, on which there
is black ;
neither here nor in vv. 33 and 3 5 are entirely
white goats presupposed. In the sentence ntrb D n ion ;

aotai TipJ the absence of Din is explained because n^ includes

sheep and goats, and black goats are normally coloured, not
abnormally; parti-coloured is shortly used for all that is

abnormally coloured, and is, besides, more closely defined in

ver. 35.

The Septuagint and Vulgate render respectively the

simpler readings ^ -ay and Son -QJJ, and both take ion as an
s

imperative (because of ver. 35).

T)p-J Jacob says further, that his integrity will easily
show itself, will be its own witness, or speak for him n roy is ;

a legal term. 3 Animals other than those agreed on, i.e.

sheep
entirely white or goats entirely black, if found in his flock

will be self-evidently stolen property. It is unnecessary to

4
take ^npltf in the sense of 'p-rc, my right, that which right-
fully belongs to me.
5
"ino DVl to-morrow, i.e.
hereafter, as crastinum tempus.
When you come, over my wage before you when you go
through my flocks to inspect them, they being, of course, near
6
you and accessible. The Septuagint has ecrri, and the
Samaritan NIT for Sy ^nn. Q^rn = Din 13JW.

Vv. 34-36. Laban agrees: good, may 7 it be so. But,

for security's sake, he himself makes the and
separation, gives
his sons charge of the animals thus It is clear
separated.
from the word v:n that Laban the subject in ver. 35
is ;

comp. ch. xxxi. 1. He also put a distance of three days'

8
journey between himself and the remaining normally
coloured animals which Jacob had charge of, in order that
1
Of. vv.33 and 35.
2 3
See ver. 35. g ee Lexicons.
4
As in 2 Sam. 29 [28]
xix. ; Neh. ii. 20. So Knobel.
5
Ex. xiii. 14 Deut. vi. 20.
;
(1
Ch. xiii. 9. Knobel.
7
Chs. xvii. 18, xxiii. 13.
*
Sept., Samar., W3 between his sons.
347, 348] GENESIS XXX. 37, 249

there might be no intermixture of the two parts in the

matter of procreation.
v\n as in xxxii. 15.

ipy striped, here apparently synonymous with lpj, but

distinguished from it in ver. 39 f., ch. xxxi. 8-10, 12.

"
Ver. 37. But Jacob has the
turn the agreement skill to

to his own advantage by the use of artificial aids. He takes

2
peels on them
l
green rods of poplar, almond, and maple, and
white peelings, a laying bare of the white on the rods, i.e. he
strips off the dark coloured bark or skin, but only in alternat-

ing strips, so that each rod is both dark coloured and white,
and so parti-coloured." 3
i>|3B collective and feminine, as is seen from jra (Samari-
tan om) ;
elsewhere masculine.
n 4
generally regarded as the storax, from the Arabic
.J?P ;

but more probably, in view of Hos. iv. 13, the populus alba. 5

PIKTUD Ewald, 239a.

Ver. 38f. "These rods he set up by the watering-places
6
to which the flocks came to drink, and that in face of them,
so that they had them in view." But they were in the habit
of interbreeding when they came to drink, so they interbred
7
in the direction of or beside the rods, and afterwards bore

parti-coloured young.
D^prn trenches, rare and rather Aramaic, also found in
8
Ex. 16; here explained by D^ ninjw (from n^).
ii.
Eegard-
ing the watering-trenches or troughs by the wells, see note on
xxix. 3.

v:>n5 for irn, coinp. Judg. v. 28 ;

Ps. li. 7 ;
9
masculine,
because the males are referred to also. The emphasis in
."i)tt. falls on niDrrfa which contains somethin additional

Num. vi. 3. 2
Gesenius,
''

I \uobel.
4
Gesi'iiius, Thesaurus, 740.
5
See Rielnn, lliin<(icortcrlnu-h, 113(5, 15G7 f.
See xxv. 21. 7
Ch. xxiv. 11; Samar.
8
Ch. xxiv. 20; see Ewald, 316, 2126.
''

Kwjild, 193a.
250 GENESIS XXX. 40 [348

to the mnuh }an nj&m of ver. 38, and so is not exactly a

1
doublet, though the expression is heavy.
"
The striking, parti-coloured rods made a vivid impression
on the animals in their state of passion, and this had its effect

on the character assumed by the foetus. A nervous impres-

2
sion was produced by the rods." Jerome gives a more
3 " 4
complicated explanation. Old writers say that the colour
of the lambs is influenced by the river from which the parents

drink during the breeding time and, according to Oppi- ;

5
anus, was customary, in order to obtain fine, variously-
it

coloured foals, to allow an ardent mare when breeding to see

6
the figure of a handsome, variously-coloured stallion. Dove
breeders obtained purple-coloured young in a similar fashion.
Ancient writers,however, allude more frequently to the
effect of such nervous impressions in the case of human
7
births."

Ver. 40. Jacob apart the specially coloured D'taa,

sets

kids as well as lambs, and turns the looks of the (rest of the)
flock towards the and black animals, which were
striped
Laban's, i.e. towards those whom he had just separated and,
as we now told, placed in front of the others, that they
are

might be constantly in sight of them and stir their imagina-

tion. This second device successfully supplements the first,
with the rods, and Jacob forms special flocks of his own from
1 2
Wellhausen. Knobel.
3 "
Observabat ergo Jacob, et tempore, quo ascendebantur pecora et post
calorem cliei ad potandum avida pergebant, discolores virgas ponebat in
canalibus et ad missis arietibus et
liircis in ipsa potandi aviditate oves et

eapras faciebat ascendi, ut ex duplici desiderio, duin avide bibunt et

ascenduntuT a maribus, tales foetus coiiciperent, quales, umbras arietum
et liircorum desuper ascendentium in aquarum speculo contemplabantur.
lv\ vir^is cnim in canalibus positis varius erat etiam imaginum color."-
Qucestiones.
4
Aristotle, Hist. Anim. iii. 12, and ^Elian, Hist. Animal, viii. 21; cf.

Strabo, x. 1. 14; Pliny, xxxi. 313 f.

5
Oynegetic. i. 33 Iff.
E.g. in Spain, according to Jerome (Qucestiones).
7
Pliny, vii. 52 Oppiamis, 358 ff.,
; and others in Bocliart, Hierozoicon
i. 618ff. (cd. i;.>s.mniilU:r). Knobel.
:!is, 349] GENESIS XXX. 41-43 IT) 1

Lin- animals ho has thus acquired, and does not place them
1
with Liibiin's flocks.

Such is the account of the Massoretic text; nor does it help

matters if we read *?$ for *?&
(Sept., Samar.), or with others, 2
ta In that case \3B would mean before and in sight of? and
'y\ "^3 would be object to jivi. The difficulty lies in the fact
that the coloured animals which have been set apart are still

called ]J? |K3 Dini lp>y,

4
whereas in the circumstances we
should expect 'jn nt^l immediately to follow -man. The whole
mention of the second device, from jm to pi>, seems to be a
5
secondary addition to the original text.
Ver. 4 If. "He also secured his becoming possessed of

strong offspring only. It was only when strong adults were

breeding that he placed his rods before them." If they

showed weakness, i.e. were weakly, so that only weakly lambs

might be expected, he did not do so. The distinction drawn

between weak and strong animals is perhaps 6 to be explained
from the fact that the stronger animals breed in summer,
the weaker ones not till autumn, and that the offspring of

the former, born in winter, are counted stronger than the

offspring of the latter, born in spring. 7

E'f 1, perf. and waw consecutive = B'E*. n
JpD7, infin.

Piel of nrp (xxxi. 10), with 3rd plur. fern, suffix; n:

comp. v

in xli. 2 1. 8

Ver. 43. By the success of his devices Jacob becomes

possessed of large property. "It is worthy of remark that

the narrator makes no such allusion to God as the writer of
xxxi. 1) If. does. A similar case in his narrative is found in
vv. 14-10.'"-'

py us in xxviii. !),
in addition to.
2
Targunis, Saadia, Houbigant, Kuobel.
3
As Ex. xxiii. 15 Ps. xlii. 3. ;

4
See, on the other hand, ver. 36.
5
Hupfeld, Olshausen, Delit/scli also Holnm-i-, Wcllliausen. ;

6
Aquila, Symmachus, Onkelos, Jerome, Saadia.
7
Columella, Res rufs. vii. 3 Varro, Res rus. ii. 2 ;
Pliny, viii. ;
187.
8 25
Gesenius, 91. 1A. 2. Knobel. ''
252 GENESIS XXXI [340

pa, as in ver. 30. IND 1ND, see ch. vii. 19. For other

points, see note on xii. 16.

3. JACOB'S KETURN FROM HARRAN, CH. XXXI. 1-XXXII. 3 ;

MOSTLY FROM B (ALSO FROM C AND A).

After having served twenty years with Laban, Jacob,

with the concurrence of his wives, resolves to return to
Canaan with all his possessions. The jealousy of Laban and
his sons, and an admonition from God, were what decided him
(vv. 116). His departure was like a flight, without Laban's
knowledge, and Rachel took with them her father's household
god. Laban set after him, and overtook him on Gilead.
They have a sharp discussion. But Laban had been warned
by God, and has to be content with making a covenant of
friendship with Jacob on Gilead. This is the origin of the
name Gilead 17-54).
(vv. They part in concord. A whole
army of angels meets Jacob immediately on his entering the
land of the Hebrews, at Mahanaim (xxxii. 1-3). The narra-
tive here shows how God guided the object of His care to the
last, guarded against his being overcome in the contest with
the Aramaean, and brought him back in safety from the foreign

land, the head of a large household and the possessor of much

property.
1
An explanation is also given of the origin of the
worship of
teraphim in Israel, of the boundary on Gilead
between Aramaeans and Hebrews, and of the sanctity of
Mahanaim.
The narrative is
mostly from B. Only ver. 18, from
bmw onwards, is from A] 2 the proof is found in the
3
language, the redundancy of expression, and the reference
to xxxv. 27. We
need not suppose that ver. 17& 4 or the
whole of ver. 17, 5 because of the in ver. 21,
repetition of Dp"
11
)

1
Cf. xxviii. 20 ff., also xxviii. 15.

Knobel, WellhaiMen.
3

4
Bb-1, Bb% jjjjp,
DIN pis, j^D p.
Scliradcr. &
Hupfcld, Quellen, p. 32.
:!!'.>, ;r>o]
GENESIS XXXI. 1, 2 "253

2
is also from A. Vv. I 1 and 3, probably the words
3
"irm DN in ver. 2 1, 25 and 27,4 are insertions
certainly vv.
from G\ vv. 46 and 48-50 are also doublets from C\ and
in the working up of the texts of B and (7 in vv. 44-53,
the hands of li and of one or more annotators have made
considerable modifications. Vv. 10 and 12 also, although
from 7>,have received their present position only from K
What remains forms a well-connected whole, and is certainly
due to I>, as is proved by the use of D s r6x, 5 by the different
explanation it gives regarding the manner of Jacob's acquisi-

tion of wealth (vv. 712), by the reference in ver. 13 to

6
xxviii. by the dream revelations it contains, the mention
20 ff.,

7
of teraphim, and the expressions used. 8

Ch. xxxi. 116. Jacob resolves to return home.

be joined with ver. 3, is from C.
Ver. 1, to Laban's sons 9
declare that Jacob has taken away their father's property,
and in this way has made his great wealth. Jacob hears
of it. After J;BE the Septuagint read apy\ It is doubtful if

10
ver. & be a doublet to ver. a ;
if it were it would be a frag-
ment from B.
nbty see ch. xii. 5.

"123 of riches, as in Isa. x. 3, Ixvi. 12; Ps. xlix. 17.

Ver. 2, to be connected with ver. 4f., is from B and

parallel to the contents of ver. 1. Jacob observes in Laban's
unfriendly countenance the signs of his change of feeling
toward him.
lE>y in his intercourse with him, in his bearing towards

him n ;
in ver. 5 f>K is used in the same way.
1 2
Hupfeld. Schrader.
3 4
See below. See below.
5
Vv. 7, 9, 11, 16, 24, 42 xxxii. 2 ;
f.

r>
Vv. 10, 24.
7
Vv. 19, 30 ff. cf. xxxv. 2 ff.
;

8
Laban the Aramcean (vv. 20, 24). nos (ver. 33), 33^ (ver. 26), rib here
(ver. 37), yja (xxxii. 2), the antique pn^ ins (xxxi. 42, 53), and
(vv. 7, 41).
9 Mentioned in xxx. 35.
10
Kautzsch-Socin, n Ps, xviii. 24, 26 f,
 254 GENESIS XXXI. 3-9 [350

Yesterday and the day before previously, formerly ;

as in

ver. 5; Ex. v. 7 f., 14, from R

Ver. 3. Jahve Himself, who guides every important step
taken by the patriarchs, commands his return to Canaan.
The verse is from C, and is referred to by him in xxxii. 1 ;

ver. 13 corresponds to it in B.

Land of your fathers again in the Pentateuch only, in

xlviii. 21.

-jrnhio see xii. 1.

Ver. 4 ff., continuing ver. 2, from B. Jacob sends for

his wives to come to him, and lays the matter before them.
He and services on Laban's account,
recalls, first, his exertions

and the thankless attitude assumed towards him in return.

Ver. 5. And yet the God of my father has been with me,
has blessed me in my service for him, and has brought me
such great riches.
Ver. 6. See xxx. 26. nans, Gesenius,25 3 2 A. 5.
"
Vv. 79. As his thanks, Laban deceived him, changing
l
his stipulated wage at will ten times, i.e. several times."
But God did not allow him to succeed in his deceptions ;

those very animals which Laban settled as Jacob's wage were

always those born.
bnn, from hhr\, Ewald, 127^. rnab'io, as in ver. 41 and
xxix. 15. D*?kj only here and in ver. 41. faro, see xx. 6.

n'jT, Gesenius,
25
145. 7A. 3. fyjl, perf. and waw consec.
Dims for IMK.*
In ch. xxx. nothing
is said of these repeated acts of

deception, and E
has inserted this speech in its entirety so
as to include B's divergent account regarding Jacob's acquisi-
tion of flocks, at least in this form. With the same intention,
E has here also included vv. 10 and 12, which were not
3
originally part of what Jacob said to his wives, but yet

1
Num. xiv. 22 ;
Job xix. 3.
2
As xxxii. 1G, xli. 23; Ex. i. 21; Num. xvi, 17 f.
(Gesenius,
25

1 :,:.. r,A. 1) ; cf. xxvi. 15, xxxiii. 13,

3
JBDTh, xxi. 428,
:::.n, :;:.!
]
GENKSis xxxi. 10-10 255

doubtless shortly reproduce the contents of a B section which

has been omitted. Ver. 12 is given quite an appropriate

position. This view relieves the difficulties expressed by
Wellhausen.
Vv. 10-12. "It was God who gave him his Hocks.
Jacob in ;i drca.ui sa\v part i-c<>l<>mv<l males covering the
Females, and (Ind himself told him that He had seen all
Laban's doings. Jacob was thus instructed to regard the
births of parti-coloured young as a gift from God. This
author accordingly attributes the blessing directly to God,
l
and says nothing of the use of rods; comp. xxx. 18."
"na for C"s K^p (xxx. 32 f., 35). The dream (see xx. 3)
and the use of DTibtf -|tfta (see xxi. 17) are characteristic of B.
Ver. 13, originally a continuation of ver. 11. God
made Himself known as the God of Bethel (xxviii. 18 ff.),

and bid him return home.

ta 1V3 bsn either with ta rpaa *p?N napan understood or
2
shortened from btt JV3 ta tan.
rnro "KTK Samaritan and Septuagint 'y\ new.
*JJT6lB Septuagint adds KOI ecropai fiera aov.
Vv. 14-16. The wives willingly accede to the proposal.
Their father has alienated them also. At home they have
no further heritage to expect other than what they may
have received at their marriage (xxix. 14, 29). Their father
3
treats them as strangers, for he has sold them, and now 4

consumes the proceeds by himself, 5 i.e. he enjoys what he

has gained by Jacob's service without giving them any share.

fyni, see ix. 23. ninaj, Sept. and Samar. nnaja.

D3 the infin. absol. makes it clear that it goes with the
verb ; similarly in xlvi. 4 in B.
*3
(ver. 16) not so that? nor affirmative yea? but
1
Knobel.
2 25 3
Ch. xxix. 18, 27
Gesenius, 127A. 4a. ;
cf. xxiv. 53.
4 5
Ch. xix. 9. Ex. xxi. 35.
4
Knobel, Delitzsch ;
nor in Deut. xiv. 24 Job x. 6 ; ;
cases like
ver. 3G, xx. 9, xl. 15 are different.
7 5
Delitzsch .
256 GENESIS XXXI. 1719 FF. [351, 352

emphatically introducing the antithesis to any connection

with their paternal home l on the contrary, we are inde- ;

pendent, and all that God has taken from our father (ver. 9)

belongs only to us, not to him, is our property ;

there is no
reason why we should not depart.
"TO in the Pentateuch only here comp. ijTOTn in xiv. 23. ;

Vv. 1725. Without Laban's knowledge Jacob departs

with his family and property Eachel carries off her father's ;

teraphim. Laban follows and overtakes the fugitive on

Gilead.
Sons and wives, in Sept. and in Samar. wives and sons. On
camels, comp. xxiv. 61.
Ver. 1 8. irwpErfernK Jnri, from B, see Ex. iii. 1 ;
the rest
of the verse from A, comp. xxxvi. 6 (also xlvi. 6).
"
The animals of his possession, therefore nothing of
2
Laban's."
Ver. 19 ff. The departure, according to B, was secret and
of the nature of a flight. Laban had gone to his sheep-
shearing, which, seeing his flocks were large, lasted a number
of days (1 Sam. xxv.). Eachel used the opportunity to carry
off his household gods, with the intention, at least, of securing
their protection and blessing, or the good fortune of the
3
house, for herself ;
Jacob availed himself of it to make a
secret departure.
D^ain 4 no certain has been found.
etymology yet
5 6
Neubauer's reference to D^NBI, and Sayce's to Assyrian
tarpu = dimma, which would lead us to the meaning
ghost,
ancestral spirits, are of no more value than the numerous

conjectures enumerated in Gesenius, Thesaurus, p. 1 5 2 f.

It may be supposed that no more than a single image 7 is

here intended; the plural pronominal suffix of ver. 34 and

1 2
Ps. xxxvii. 20, xlix. 11 [10], cxxx. 4. Knobel.
3
Just as ^Eneas took with him the Penates from Troy, Dionysius
I In Hear. i. 69
Virgil, JSneid, iii. 148 f., iv. 598.
; Knobel.
4
See Winer, 3 ii. 608 Ewald, Alterthiimer* 296 ff. [Eng.
; tr. 223 ff.].
r>

Academy, 1886, No. 756, p. 297a.

{

'%A. ii. 95. J-

1 Sam, xix. 13, 16,
352] GENESIS XXXI. L'l-24 257

the *fylt ol ver. 30 arc not certain evidence that there v,

than one, 1

still less is xxxv. _!.

Aramcan as in ver. 24. See note on xxv. 20. Lai an

has heen frequently named in what goes before, and the

epithet is here attached, not so much because of any Hebrew

national self-consciousness, as to explain the difference of

religion, and perhaps also to prepare for ver. 44 ff. so in ;

2
ver. 24. Budde would explain it to be from A, but it is
presupposed in ver. 47 ;
see also Deut. xxvi. 5.

3^ 333 also in ver. 2 6, delude one's (intellectual) perception',

3
comp. /c\e7TTiv voov in Hesiod in ver. 2 7 more shortly ;

with accus. of person, like /cKeTrretv iiva and decipere*

y2Tvy because of the want of, i.e. because or inasmuch as
5
he did not ; only here in this sense.
That he intended to flee, i.e. depart, make off (cf. ver. 27).
6 7
Ver. 2 1. "imn is generally assumed to be the
Euphrates ;

if so, the words "irurrnK "Wi Dp" !

1
must be an insertion from
C; see ver. 23.

And set his face took his course, towards the mountains
of Gilead ; comp. 2 Kings xii. 1 8.

Ver. 22 f. It is not till the third day after that Laban

learns of his flight ;

he sets after him with his brothers, i.e.
his kinsmen. 8 After seven days' march he overtakes him on
the mountains of Gilead. At whatever speed (ver. 36), it is
impossible to reach Gilead from Harran in seven days, or
9
with flocks in from ten to twelve. It follows, seeing the
number cannot be impeached, in agreement with xxix. 1,

that B thought of Laban's home as much nearer Gilead ;

10

and also that "irurrnK "UJH Dp 1

") in ver. 21, where iron can

only be the Euphrates, must be from another source (C).
Ver. 24. Laban and his people are much stronger than
Jacob (ver. 29), who is in danger of falling a victim to his
1 2
Ewald, Syntax, 318a. Uryeschichtc, p. 4-2-2.
3 4
Theoloy. 613. Knobel.
5 6
Ewald, Syntax, 322a. See xxiv. 10.
7
As Ex. xxiii. 31 ;
Mic. vii. 12. 8
Lev. x. 4 ;
2 Sam. xix. 3.
9 I0 5
Ch. xxxiii. 13 f.
Against Delitzscli .

DILLMANN. II.
17
258 GENESIS XXXI. 25-27 [352, 353

vengeance. But God intervenes before they meet, and warns

by night not to speak, much less take
l
Laban in a dream
action, against Jacob yviy aiBD. These words do not mean
2 3
beginning with good and passing to evil, but anything at all,
i.e. evil ;
this follows from ^ "iDK>n. The Septuagint rightly
has Trovrjpd; so in ver. 29.
Ver. 25. (7s account of the meeting, unlike 23b. A
distinction between puin, to be close behind, and yfrn, to over-

take* cannot be maintained.

Jacob had pitched his tent on or beside inn, and
Laban and his brethren theirs on or beside Iffon in.

Taken in connection with vv. 21 and 23, "inn can only be

understood as Ijfein in, and we should require to render,
Laban encamped on the same spot. 5 But no writer could
express himself in this way. Either in had a qualification
attached to it, which R has omitted because of the dis-
6

cordance with B's text, or C delayed mention of the name

because he wished to relate its origin in ver. 48 ;
in the
latter case, ver. 255 must be from E. Eegarding Gilead,
etc., see p. 268f.
tatf ypn only here in the Pentateuch.
vn&s unnecessary to replace this by
it is
7
^.
Vv. 26-42. Discussion between Jacob and Laban ;
abash-
ment of the latter.

Vv. 2628. Laban first reproaches him with the un-

becomingness of his secret escape. Withal, he has acted
foolishly.
Ver. 27 is in part a variant to ver. 26, and probably an
insertion from C\ note ajji without mi>. In the Septuagint
tilings are made easier by the transposition of the first five

words of ver. 27 after rVTO of ver. 26.

*H?, see note on xx. 5. Captives of the sword, gained in

1
Ch. xx. 3. 2
Knobel, Bunsen.
3
As xxiv. 50, xiv. 23. 4
Knobel.
5
Vulgate, Knolu-1.
6
Ace. to Lagarde, Ayathangelus, p. 157, nBSBil ; cf. ver. 49,
7
Laganli', liuhl, Kiuiun, p. 250.
353]
GENESIS XXXI. L'<),
30 259

war. 1 m^> nxsm, verb as adverb. 2

l|, Septuagint b
rnjn

with "irfc-'Ni That have

as apodosis.
Imi/jJit sent you away, with
3
merriment, song and music might have arranged festivities ;

on the occasion of your leaving. 4 ^a, grandsons, see ver. 43

and xxxii. 1 ; cornp. note on xxix. 5. B?IM, in the sense of

;nj and taon, only here in Pentateuch, i&jJ for nit^j; elsewhere
in the same document. 5
Ver. 29. He might well be justified, then, in requiting
himself on Jacob ;
but God has forbidden him in the night
6
just past.
?N&
^ t?1
7
has been literally rendered, it is to God my
hand? which might suitably express, I can accomplish anything,
though not, / am able, have the power. It should be trans-
9
lated, it is according to the power of my hand, it is of my power,
I am able. PN does not mean " strong," from ^N, but is a noun
like QfP and H>; see vol. i.
p. 56.
God of your father the plural suffix referring to Jacob
10
and his family ;
the Samaritan and Septuagint have T??.
Isaac is the father. Laban knows from the contents of the

warning that it was Jacob's ancestral God who spoke to

him.
Ver. 30. But though Laban is willing to call him no
further to account because his departure now an accom- is

n
plished fact, and because it may be accounted for by a great
desire to see his home again, he cannot allow the theft of
his gods to pass in a similar fashion. But in this very

particular, where he is undoubtedly in the right, he comes off

1
2 Kings vi. 22.
2 25 114. 2A. 3. 3
1 Sam. xviii. 6.
Gesenius,
4
For modern Eastern examples, see Harmer [Observations,
2
i. 435 f .],

Ger. tr. i. 415 f Knobel. .

5
Knobel 25
Chs. xlviii. 11, 1. 20; Ex. xviii. 18 ; ; Gesenius, 75A. 2.
<!
Ch. xix. 34.
7
As in Mic. ii. 1 ;
Prov. iii. 27 ;
and with a negative, in Deut. xxviii.
32 ;
Neh. v. 5.
8
Seb. Schmid, Knobel, Hitzig, Bertlieau.
9 As the older expositors ; Gesenius, Tuch, Ewald, Delitzsch.
10
Cf. xxxvii. 46. n Gesenius, 25 113. 3.
260 GENESIS XXXI. 31-35 [353, 354

second best in the end. He is over-reached by his own

daughter, whom he had before cheated of her due (xxix. 25 ff.).

cpM in the Pentateuch only here.

Ver. first complaint Jacob replies that he
31 f. To the
feared, judging from the past (xxix. 23 ff.), that Laban might
take his daughters from him by force; ^, as in xx. 11. As
to the second charge, Jacob is conscious of innocence, for
Eachel had said nothing to him of the theft ;
he therefore
declares confidently that he will condemn to death anyone

with whom Laban may find the teraphim, and he gives him

permission to search.
1
"IPK Dy for toy though imitated n^'x, quite unusual,
2
in the Aramaic versions, and acknowledged by Ewald and
Gesenius. 3 We also miss the presence at the beginning of
4
the verse of "ioar v rendered by the Septuagint.
Shall not live the patriarchs had over their families
the power of life and death (xxxviii. 24).
Our brethren as in ver. 23 ;
Jacob had a large company
with him. 5 ^"ijn xxxvii. 32, xxxviii. 25.

Vv. 33-35. Laban searches the tents, of which there

was one for each person of consequence. 6 Kachel had put
the teraphim in a camel-pannier or litter, and seated herself
on it ;
it was the time of her monthly
she professed that
7
period, and so escaped the duty of rising up on her father's
8
entrance, and deprived him of his desire to make a thorough
9
search.
The words nriDKn w ^n&ai in 33a are given their position
to make Rachel's tent the scene of all that follows, but are
followed awkwardly by n&6 ^HKID ^1 the transposition of ;

the Septuagint is no help it would be more effectual to put ;

nxb bn&oi after niriDKn. After pi> ao'i the Septuagint and
Samaritan have
1
2 25
( 'h. xliv. 9 f.
Syntax, 333a. Grammatik, 138. 1.
H
liiittcher, Neue Athrenlese, i. 22.
5
Chs. xxx. 43, xxxi. 37, 46, 54, xxxii. 8.
6
Of. xxiv. 67. 7
gee ^iu. 11.
*
Lev. xix. 32. Lev. xv. 19. Knobel.
354] GENESIS XXXI. 3(5-39 261

not? see xx. 17.

-O "a palanquin, five foot in length, with a seat in it ;

it isplaced crosswise on the .saddle of the camel and fastened

with cords; there are rods ;it the sides and crossing over-
head on which coverings are hung so that the traveller may
lie or sit in the shade. The palanquins which are placed
lengthwise on both sides and are
of the saddle are smaller,

specially for the conveyance of the women." ]

Let it not burn in the eyes so xlv. 5 ;

the fire of passion
shows itself in the glance of the eyes.
i"an xliv. 12.

Ver. 36 Jacob becomes bolder now that everything has

f.

passed off well for him, and in his turn takes Laban to task.

3p];^ irpi iv. 5.

ID (2nd) Samar. Sept. Pesh. Targ. of Jonath. and many

Hebrew codices ni.
'D nnK pin
"
to flame, be hot
2
after one = follow one
3
hotly; cf. 1 Sam. xvii. 53."
'3 (v. 37) Sam. Sept. and Vulg. not so well, ^i. na, as
xxii. 5.
4
Decide between us as arbiters ; rP3in, in B, in xx. 16

and xxi.25 has another meaning; also in C in xxiv. 14, 44.

Vv. 3842. In order to set Laban's conduct in its

proper light, Jacob, in language which is eloquent and at

times even poetical, recalls his twenty years of earnest,
unselfish, and toilsome service, and Laban's many attempts to

deprive him of his merited reward, which were frustrated

only by the intervention of Jacob's God.
Ver. 38. nt, as ver. 41, xxvii. 36. They made no mis-
carriages, as Ex. xxiii. 26; Job xxi. 10; the care of the
shepherd was so great.
Ver. 39a is to be interpreted in the light of Ex. xxii. 12.

Burckhardt [Bedouins, vol. ii. p. 85], Germ. tr. 370 f. W. G. Brown

1
;

[Travels* p. 453], Germ. tr. p. 473 ; Ker Porter [Travels, London, 1821-22,
ii.
232], Germ, tr.ii. 239 and others in .lalni, Bibl. Arch. i. 1, 285 f. [Eng.
;

3
tr. p. 54, without references]. Knobel.
2 3 4
Isa. v. H. Knobel. Isa. ii. 4 ;
Job xvi. 21.
262 GENESIS XXXI. 40-43 [354, 355

for
njNBns
1
here in the sense make amends for,
j

replace, for which D^ is the usual word.

rut^pon wanting in Sept. and Samar. ;

Laban required
him to make good This and the preceding irnpf.,
the losses.
as it were set before our eyes the events as they occurred ;

2
we must not translate, I will make good, thou mayest demand.
Stolen ly day and stolen ~by night I replaced, as you
required, the missing animals, whether they were stolen by
day or night; comp. Ex. xxii. 11. For the *-r- of TO::, see
3
Gesenius.
Ver. 40. The service was a trying one. / was ~by day
"
heat consumed me, I was wasted by the heat by day. 4 It is

well known that in the East the nights are cold to a degree
5
corresponding to the heat of the day. My sleep, that which
6
was my due, which I ought to have had."
Ver. 41 f. Because ver. 38 opens as this verse does, we
need not therefore assign vv. 3840 to a different author; 7
in such vivid speech the repetition is quite in place.
Eegarding the twenty years' service, see note on xxx. 26.
Ten times, as in ver. 7. The second Tii?K in ver. 42 is

wanting in Sept. and Vulg.

The Fear of Isaac the object of his fear and awe, numen
referendum, cre/3a? an ancient name for God; so ver. 53
;

(comp. Isa. viii. 13).

v for me, favourable to me; as Ps. cxxiv. 1 f., Ivi. 10.

8
nny ''D then in truth you would have me away empty?
sent
133 yi^ u
tj t n Of m y Ji anaS) m y toilsome work God ;

10
saw, considered, and so decided. 11
Ver. 43. Ashamed and overcome by Jacob's speech,
1 26
Gesenius, 74A. 4. 2
Xucli.
3 26 *
Grammatik, 90. 3. Ewald, 128a.
5
Cf. Jer. xxxvi. 30
Morier [Second Journey, 1818, p. 97], Germ. tr.
;

104 Wellsted [Travels in Arabia, i.

p. ;
86], Germ. tr.i. 64 Katte, Reise in ;

<'/">/', pp. 12, 56 Rosenmiiller, ad loc.;

c
Isa. xxi. 14, xxxi. 9. Knobel.
7
Wellhausen. *
Ewald, Syntax, 358,
Cf. xliii. 10 ; Num. xxii. 29 ;
1 Sam. xiv. 30 ;
2 Sam. ii. 27.
10
Chs. xvi. 11, xxix. 32. " Ver. 37.
 355] CKNKSIS xxxi. n

Lilian begins, indeed, ly Jin attempt to in;iint;iin liis

ri;j;ht to nil that Jacob had, wives, children, and property; hut

immediately opens the way for a reconciliation by saying,

yet what can do to-day to these my daughters and their
I

sons, i.e. how do them any evil? For b nb>y in its bad sense,

com]), \.\ii. ]"2, xxvii. 45; Ex. xiv. 11.

Ver. 44. He proposes that they should conclude a

1
covenant of peace and friendship.
np7 come ! as in x xxvii. 13 Ex. ;
Hi. 10, in B.
irni the subject cannot be rro, which is feminine, nor
2
the action, which itself, as something transitory, requires a

permanent witness. We must therefore either delete the

8 or assume before some words have
following >, that n-ri

fallen out, such as 5o

n'^i or rnsra nb^l, according as the
verse was originally C's or I>'s ; comp. the omission in

ver. 25.

The narrative which follows in vv. 4554,

regarding
the conclusion of the covenant, is disconnected and full of

duplications, and is certainly the result of a union of several

4 5
sources, besides containing several glosses. The Septuagint
unsuccessfully tried to reduce it to order by transpositions.
Various attempts at analysis have been made, in part too

complicated, in part insufficient. C's account is found in vv.

8
48 50 7
and According to it the witness they
ver. 46.
erected was a ^3, and the promise made was that Jacob
would treat Laban's daughters well the ns>'p is a harmon- ;

istic interpolation. It's account, contained in vv. 45, 5154,

speaks of a mro
being erected, and that as a witness that the
Arameans and Hebrews should respect the spot where it
stood as the boundary between them. The covenant is

1
CL xxi. 23 ff., xxvi. 28 ff.

2 3
Delitzsch 5 . Olshausen.
4 6
Wellhausen, JBDTh. xxi. 431. Ilgen.
6 3
Ewald, Geschichte, i. 498 [Eng. tr. i.
347] ; Hupfeld, Quellen, p. 161.
Bohmer.
7
Aatruc, Schroder, Dehtzsoh.
8
Wellhausen.
264 GENESIS XXXI. 45, 4G [355, 356

1
sealed, in both accounts, by a meal which they partake of

together. C (ver. 48) accounts for the name Gilead by the

assigns vv. 45 f., 48a, 50, 53 f.
2
incident. Kittel's analysis

to B, and ver. 51 f., without the maro, to C. It would have

this advantage that the D'nta of ver. 50 would have a simple
explanation. But the boundary between Arameans and
Hebrews (ver. 52) is more in place in B, who names Laban
M3"iNn ;
and if ver. 46 were _Z?'s continuation of ver. 45, we
should expect IBK npjn there instead of 3py -IDK 1. Besides,
S

B has already mentioned the njfei in in vv. 21, 23 (25&), and

seems to have had no special explanation of the name nyiy.
Ver. 45. From B. A stone is set up as a memorial by
Jacob, according to the text, but by Laban according to ver.
51. We must assume 3
that the original continuation of
ver. 44 was simply p&? np
s<
i,
and that 3py is a later and
erroneous expansion. The ruj?D here referred to was
certainly in an elevated position, visible from far off; Q ")n is s

therefore a rightly chosen expression, and is no proof that

the author is not the writer of ch. xxviii. 18, 22, where && is

used. 4

Ver. 46 presents once more the text of C. Stones are

collected to form a ^ or mound on which, then, the covenant
meal is held. The Septuagint has lEp^l for inp^. 5 It is not
6
so clear as in ver. 45 that npjP is here an erroneous gloss,
but probable because, in ver. 48 ff., it is Laban who
it is

explains the meaning of the i?j. There would be no difficulty

if Jacob's people gave their kelp.
The meal can only have taken place after the oaths had
been taken, but might easily be mentioned by the narrator
beforehand. Still, the second part of the verse may, perhaps,

originally in (7, like ver. 485, have stood after ver. 50, and
1
Ver. 46 in (7, ver. 54 in B.
2
Geschichte, pp. 129, 140 f. [Eng. tr. vol. i.
pp. 143, 156].
3 4
Astruc, Ilgen, Wellliausen. Against Knobel.
6 1
Approved by Pliischke, Lagarde, Onomas. Sac. ii. 95. Olsliausen,
K;iul/sch-Socin.
Wellhausen.
 :*:>(;]
CKNESIS xxxi. 47-4 (
.) 265

have been transposed by E to allow of the two promises,

vv> 48-50, and vv. 51-53, following one another directly.

Ver. 47. Neither from C, in view of ver. 48b, nor from

//, who only spoke of ji ri3D, not of a *?). It is therefore an

independent insertion, suggested by 'msn in vv. 20, 24, :md

with the object of defining more precisely the words of
48k
snnnb regarding the b for D, see note on Job xvi. 19. 1

Both names, the Hebrew and the Aramaic, denote hillock or

mound of witness. " The situation of the place on the border
seems to have occasioned the double designation. The
country north of Gilead was inhabited in part by Aramaic
2
speaking tribes, while there is no trace of them in the
southern part of the country east of Jordan. The Arameans
of Damascus at times also extended their
sovereignty as far
as Gilead. 3 In what follows also Gilead is regarded some-
what as a boundary." 4
Ver. 48& was doubtless originally, in C, followed by ver.
50 ;
ver. 485 is also from C, but, like 46&, owes its present
position to JR.

"W? from the same stem as Arabic jatad = durus,

firmus, is explained by C as W3, although this is not very
consistent with the ordinary usage by which the article was
prefixed (e.g. vv. 21, 25).
5
lEtT'Nip p'Sy always in C.
Ver. 49. The words nBTOm are surprising, because
nothing has been said before of a nDSD, place of observation,
watch-tower? though a ms, here the reading of the
Samaritan, has been spoken of. As to the grammatical con-
struction, we can scarcely doubt that navo is co-ordinate with
the -ijfa of ver. 485 he named the place, 7 or the Massebah, 8
Mispah, for this construction alone suits the following
1 2
[Dillm. Com.] Ch> xxii 24 .

3
1 Kings xxii. 3 2 ix. 14 Knobel.
ff. ; Kings f.
5
Clis. xi. 9, xix. 22, xxv. 30, xxix. 34 f.
c
But see note on ver. 25. 1
Knobel, Keil.
8
tier
Saaclia, Ewald, Contjw*. Genesis, 04; Gesenius,
206 GENESIS XXXI. 50 [356, 357

because l
he said. 2 But the sentence is so loosely joined to

ver. 48&, that we are driven to the conclusion that in its

present form not from C, but has been touched up by

it is

R to suit the tradition of his time, which spoke rather of a

Mispah than of a Massebah, and had, perhaps, transferred

the scene of the legend to another spot. Wellhausen's

supposition is that R interpolated msioni, and that afterwards

another writer was induced by the bad odour of the rraaro

to change it into navom the words 'jn rw cjyi, along with;

ver. 50&, were also an addition by this later hand. But the
explanation is improbable, because in vv. 45, 51 ff. the word
mjTD has been left untouched. The only question is, whether
from t\y to injno in ver. 49, and the related ver. 50&, are
an independent insertion of B's, or are based on something
he found in C. If we consider that in B ver. 53 follows ver.

51 f ., it is quite possible that in C, similarly, there was

something to follow 50a, such as 'y\ 1^11 o'a mir nan
11

,
and
that R has only redacted and transposed his original with
an eye to naxcm.
PIV God is to spy out between him and Jacob, keep
watch that each fulfils his covenant duty, because they are
to be out of sight of one another, 3 and so will be unable to
watch one another.
rniT the Septuagint has o @eo?.
Ver. 50. The special point in the promise, according to
C, was that Jacob should not oppress or ill-treat Laban's

daughters in revenge for their father's deception, nor take

other wives in addition to them.

ty as in ch. xxviii. 9. DK in an oath, as xiv. 23,

xxvi. 29.

No one is with us, as witness and arbiter ; God, therefore,

is to be witness between them. The original idea (ver. 48),
that the *x will be witness, falls
completely away.
~i
:
as xxvii. 27, xli. 41.

1
Ch. xxx. 18. ->
Of. x. 9, xvi. 13, xxii. 14.
3
Ch. iv. 14.
:*:>7]
GENESIS xxxi. r,i-r>p,

D\"6s snqn-isiiig after the mrp of ver. 40, and no doubt

a proof that the words have been inserted or revised by //.
Vv. 51-53. The contents of the agreement, according t<>

//. Laban and Jacob, the descendants of Nahor and <!'

Abraham, will not in future engage in hostilities against one

another, nor cross Gilead with such an end in view. As in

48 ff., it is Laban, the one who proposed

C, ver. the covenant,
who is rightly made to define for Jacob tho words of the
oath he is to take. 1

But the words i run ^n run (ver. 51) and nrn ^n ny

i

(ver. 52) are an interpolation by R? for _/>, we may assume

(p. 2G3), contained no mention of a i?a. R harmonised /> and
C by adding C's ^ to 7>"s roxiD, as in ver. 48 f. he put naso

alongside of So.

In ver. 521 the twice repeated nrn ^rrns had been

ntn Tj^an n in B, for we can hardly suppose he could, with-
out more ado, call nyfei the *?}. The words nxrn n3i*Dn nsi
must be an addition by E.
;vv Job xxxviii. 6
s
;
rrv does not mean throw stones

together, and is therefore no proof 3

that nason mm is an

interpolation.
DN DS = sive an oath probably rather as
sive* but in

in ver. 50^, to emphasise the double negation, / certainly

will not, etc.

njr6 for evil, i.e. with hostile intentions (2 Sam.

xviii. 32).
Ver. 53. Laban invokes the God of Abraham and the
God of Nahor to judge between them. Jacob now also
5
swears by the Fear? i.e. the God of his father.
nn^N i-6x unifies the conjugate expression " God of
<l

Abraham and God of Nahor," to which it is in apposition,

as if Terah's God had become a duality in his sons' lives

(cf. Josh. xxiv. 2). But it has a halting appearance, is

1
Cf. chs. xxi., xxvi. 2
Ewald, Wellhausen.
3
Kittel, Geschichte, p. 141 [Eng. tr. vol. i.
p. 156, note 1].
4 5
Delitzsch, Keil. Ch. xxi. 24. t!
Ver. 42.
268 GENESIS XXXI. 54 [357, 358

wanting in the Septuagint and certain Hebrew MSS., and

1

is doubtless a gloss. 2
3
1 BQgji Sept. Samar. Pesh. Vulg. DBK>\
Ver. 54. After the taking of the oath there follows the
4
covenant meal, anticipated in ver. 46 : it is prepared by
5 6
Jacob, and the very expression employed (mt) shows that
it was a sacrificial feast. Jacob invites those who were with
him (ver. 46), and Laban's presence may be inferred from
the purpose of the meal. Afterwards they spent the night
on the hill.

Eat bread partake of a meal ;

the principal food is put
"
for the whole meal. 7 The mere act of eating together is
8
among the Arabs one of friendship," between those who
have been at enmity it is one of reconciliation here it ;

plainly forms an integral part of the ceremonial observed in

making the covenant.
ijfan in in the Old Testament generally, like njfein ptf,
a designation for the whole mountain district and country
south of the Yarmuk as far as the plains of Heshbon. 9 At
present the name Jebel Jil'ad is that of a mountain range
eight kilometres south of Wadi Zerka (the Yabbok), which
stretches from east to west a distance of about nine kilo-
"
metres. On it are situated the ruined cities of JilTid and
Jil'aud ;
10
it is north of Salt, 11 and east of 'Allan, 12 and its

1
In the Samaritan, DITUK Tl^X-
2
Kennicott, Houbigant, Olshausen, Wellhausen, Geiger, Urschrift, 284.
3
But see Josh. xxiv. 2.
4
Of. xxvi. 30 ;
Ex. xxiv. 11 ;
2 Sam. iii. 20 f.
5
Cf. xxvi. 30.
c
Cf. xlvi. 1.
7
Cf. xxxvii. 25, xliii. 25 ;
Ex. ii. 10, xviii. 12 Matt. xv. 2. ;

8
Niebuhr, Arabien, p. 48 ;
Sonnini [Voyage, ii. 129], Germ. tr. i. 439 ;

3
Volney [Voyage, i.
412], 395, Eng. 314; Buckingham
tr. i. Germ. tr. i.

[Syria, 1825, p. 15], Germ. tr. ii. 18; Burckliardt [Bedouins, i. 164, 327 f.,
330], Germ. tr. 140, 264, 270. Knobel.
''
Deut. iii. 12 f. Josh. xvii. 1, 5 2 Kings x. 33, and frequently.
; ;

10
Buivklmnlt [Syria, p. 348], Germ. tr. 599 f.
11
Robinson, Palastina, iii. 922 [oil Eng. map cf. i. 570].
12
Seetzen, Reisen, i. 393.
358] GENKSIS XXXII. L-3 269

highest point is Jcbel 'Oscha. 1 Hosea (vi. 8) speaks of a

town of We may conjecture that the Miapah of
Gilead. 2

Judg. 34
xi. was no other than the Mispeh-Gilead of
11,
Judg. xi. 29 and it was also doubtless one and the same as
;

3
liumatli-Mispeh, the well-known Eamoth in or on Gilead,
4

Eamoth of Gilead,
5
which lay fifteen Eoman miles west
6
(north-west) of Philadelphia, according to the Onomasticon."
According to most, this Mispah or Eamoth is to be looked for
7
in the modern es-Salt, but more probably 8 in the ruins of

el-Jal'ud, eleven kilometres farther north. With these facts

in view, Knobel believed himself entitled to identify 15^3
(xxiii. 25) and lj| (ver. 47 f.) with the modern Jebel Jil'ad,

and naron (ver. 49) with the ancient Mispah or Eamoth.

But this is inconsistent with xxxii. 2, 23 f., which show that
Jacob did not cross the Yabbok till afterwards. What is

spoken of must be the part of Gilead which lies north of the

Yabbok, i.e. the Jebel 'Ajlun, which alone is suitable as the

boundary between Hebrews and Arameans. But we can no

longer determine what locality in Jebel 'Ajlun the author
had in mind, navo, which is due only to E (? C), can decide
nothing; it may be that R was under the influence of a
different tradition regarding the locality, and had Mispah -
Eamoth in view ;
but it is also possible he intended a Mispah
f " f
in Jebel Ajlun. Beke found on Jebel Ajlun a cromlech,
one of those well-known monuments of the earliest time and ;

the Consul Finn was assured by his Arab companions that

there were quite a number of them on the hills there." 9
Ch. xxxii. 1-3. From B. Laban and Jacob separate.
1
Robinson [Palestine? i.
532], Germ. tr. ii. 481 ; Buckingham [Syritt,
1825, p. 20], Germ. tr. ii. 24.
2 3
Judg. x. 17 ? Josh. xiii. 26.
4
Dent. iv. 43 ;
Josh. xx. 8, xxi. 36.
5
1 Kings iv. 13, xxii. 3 ff. ;
2 Kings viii. 28, ix. 1 ff.
6
Knobel.
7
Seetzen, i. 397
Buckingham, Xyrm [1825, ; p. 40], Germ. tr. ii. 45 ;
2
Baedeker, 287 Riehm, Handioorterbuch, 1003.
;

8
Hitzig, Langer in Ausland, 1882, p. 181.
9
Schenkel, Bibellcjiicon, ii. 472.
270 GENESIS XXXII. 1-3 [358, 359

A host of angels meets Jacob on his way at Mahanaim. The

encounter, which took place after the Aramean border had
been crossed, corresponds to the vision of angels which Jacob
had when he set out (xxviii. 10 ff.) it reminds him of the ;

divine protection which has followed him hitherto, and

assures him continuance in the face of further dangers.
of its

Ver. 1. Laban says farewell, and returns home. D3^l,

as in xx. 8, xxi. 14, xxii. 3, xxviii. 18. Kissed Ms sons,

comp. xxxi. 28.

Ver. 2. lyjEn, as xxviii. 11. Angels of God, as xxi. 17,
xxviii. 12.

Ver. 3. ':1 top 11

! as xxviii. 19.

D.^np the Septuagint (Vulgate) irape^oKai understood

1
a plural. It is in itself quite possible that the final syllable

isdue to a disintegration of an older form BJ?, camping place,

which has assumed a dual aspect. This is probably the case
in other instances of the many pre-Israelite place names
2
which once ended in T
or 1 T ,
and it may be evidence here
that we are only told of Q^x wno.s But it follows from
vv. 8-11 that in this particular word D^nD the pronunciation
as a dual is very old ;
and in this verse itself (ver. 3) a
suggestion of the double camp may be found in the camp of
the angels and in that of Jacob. 4
was sacred from early times, 5 one of the most
The city

important towns in Gilead, belonging to Gad but on the

6 7
border of Manasseh, the capital of Ishbaal, and David's
8
residence during Absalom's rebellion. It was also the

principal town in one of the districts into which Solomon

divided the country for fiscal purposes, 9 but is unmentioned
in the history of later kings and after the exile. There is
therefore no tradition regarding its site. It cannot be
1
As Gesenius, Thesaurus, 496.
-
Sec \.\.\vii. 17, xxxviii. 21 ; Philippi in ZDMG. xxxii. 63 ff.
;

\\Cllhuusen in JBDTh. xxi. 433.

1

See also note on xxxii. 22. 5

Levitical, Josh. xxi. 36.
i:
1
.lush. xiii. 26, 30. 2 Sain. ii. 8, xii. 29.

-2 Sum. xvii. 24, 27. 9

1 Kings iv. 14.
 35!)] GENESIS XXXII 271

Buckhardt's 1 Meysera,- ruins two hours south of tin; Yabbnk,

but must have lain nortli of the Yahhok (vcr. 2M), not too
i'jir from the Jordan (ver. 11), and separated from thu 'Araha
by pin? (2 Sam. ii. 29; cf. 2 Sam. xviii. 23 if.). Tin- ruins
3
of Ju*i'^ are too far north and east to suit here ;
it would at
have been preferable for Jacob to descend to the
least, then,

Jordan by the Wadi Yabis rather than over the Yabbok.

C. JACOB FROM HIS EETURN TO CANAAN TILL THE

DEATH OF ISAAC, CH. XXXII. 4-XXXVII. 1.

1. JACOB MEETS ESAU AND WRESTLES WITH GOD, Cn.

XXXII. 4-XXXIII. 17 FROM C AND R
A new danger threatens Jacob in the settlement with
Esau which has yet to be made. He sends word of his
Esau in Se'ir, but learns from his messengers that
arrival to

his brother is already on the way with 400 men. In

mortal fear of his vengeance, he takes precautions by
dividing his servants and flocks into two camps, and implores
God's help (xxxii. 4-13). He prepares rich presents for his
brother, and sends them on in front (vv. 1422). That
night he crosses the Yabbok. During what remains of it,
he wrestles alone at Peniel with a divine being who en-
counters him, and finally names him Israel, and blesses him

(vv. 23-33). Jacob and those with him now humbly advance
to pay their respects to Esau,
approaching. Theywho is

meet, however, with a fraternal reception, and Esau accepts

the presents prepared for him only after repeated entreaty.
Jacob prudently refuses the escort Esau offers, the latter
returns to Se'ir, and Jacob settles in Sukkoth (xxxiii. 1-17).
This incident is the crucial point in the history of Jacob's

spiritual education. His last danger is his greatest, and its

2
[Syria, p. 347], Germ. tr. p. 597.
1
Knobel.
3
Mahiieh (Robinson [on Eng. map], Germ. tr. iii.
920); Mulilmy
(Seetzcn, i.
385); or Mihne (ZDPV. xiii. 20G).
272 GENESIS XXXII [359, 360

issue, fortunate to a degree beyond hope, is a result of his

prayer (xxxii. 10 ff.)

and of his struggle with God (ver. 25 ff.).

But he must first pass through this experience of earnest

striving for God's grace, he must feel to its full extent the

anxiety which the sin against his brother brought on him,

and must seek his refuge in God alone before its consequences
can be turned away. Only now, as one who has wrestled
with God, as Israel, is he Jacob as God wished him to be.
B and C gave an essentially similar account of the

estrangement from Esau and the flight from his vengeance,

and they seem to have agreed also in their accounts of how
the brothers met again and were reconciled. It is from
them that R has compiled the narrative just outlined ;
A
contributes nothing, for he had no story of any estrangement,
and makes the separation of the brothers occur only at a
later date (xxxvi. 6). The whole of the first paragraph,
xxxii. 413, with the inclusion of ver. 14a, is to be assigned

to C. Almost every word of the prayer in vv. 10 13 J

is

evidence for his authorship in ver. 8 f. the origin of the name

;

Mahanaim receives a different explanation from that given by

B (ver. 3); and, lastly, vv. 4-7 are preparatory to vv. 8-13, and

betray (7s hand in the nriBJ? of ver. 6. Vv. 1 4622, regarding

the propitiatory presents, are, on the other hand, to be attri-
buted to B. It is true they form a suitable continuation of
vv. 4 14&, but ver. 22b takes us back to the point already

reached in ver. 14a, 2 and the writer knows nothing (ver. 22&)
of a division of Jacob's camp into two. It has not preserved

B's parallel to vv. 47, the message to Esau and word regarding

him, which must necessarily have preceded this point he ;

3
may have blended it, however, into C's account. On the
other hand, C
must have contained something regarding
also

a present sent to Esau, as is clear from xxxiii. 8-10, and

4
perhaps ver. 21 may be from him. But the presence of
n^n in xxxiii. 1 1 (from B), instead of nrup, is no proof that
1 -
See notes below. "Welllifiusen.
3 4
See ver. 4. See below.
380, :;i] CKNKSIS xxxn 273

1
Jill vv. 141-22 is from C. In the verses which follow next,
vv. 23 and 24, there is an evident duplication 2 ;
ver. 2.) is from
C, ver. 24 from B. In the next place, ver. 25
ff., the story of

the wrestling contest, can only be a continuation of ver. 24,

not of ver. 23. authorship is further indicated by tPrfot
7>"s

in ver. 31 ;
3
and from Hos. xii. 4 f. we learn that the legend
of Jacob's wrestling was indigenous to North Israel, where B
4
wrote and not C. Against C's authorship there is the
5 6
underlying reference to bsUQ in xxxiii. 10, and xxxii. 31
is linguistic evidence for B y seeing it cannot, without arbi-
7
trariness, be regarded as merely an insertion from him.

Ver. 29 is not proved to be C's, because in xxxv. 21 he puts

the name Israel for Jacob if so, the substitution should
;

have begun in xxxiii. 1 ff., which it does not. On the other

hand, B in 20 doubtless presupposes the narrative

xxxiii.

here. The objection, that B has elsewhere no such material

8
theophanies, more strictly angelophanies, is refuted by
xxxii. 2 (cf. Ex. iii. 2), and the crossing of the river by night

(ver. 23 f.)
9
is rather against C than for him.
10
cannot We
decide whether C had also a similar story, and whether he
accounted for the name of Israel in B's manner or A's n the
;

part played by the narrative in B's history istaken by the

prayer of ver. 1 f. in C. Ch. xxxi. 1 ff. now continues

xxxii. 23 (wives and children), and the thread of the narra-

tive is taken up by C. The language 12 is proof of this, and

there is no express mention of the arrival of the presents
which B spoke of as being sent in front. There are, indeed,

2
1 vii. 278 ff.
Bacon in Hebraica, See notes below.
3
Ilgen, Schrader, Bohmer ; see, on the other hand, xxviii. 13, 16,
where C continues to write niiT in spite of his mention of the name
1

Bethel.
4
Maintained by Wellhausen, Kuenen, Kittel, Kautzsch-Socin, Bacon.
C, and irreconcilable with that here]
5 see below.
[From ;

7
G
See note below. As by Bacon.
8 9
Wellhansen. Wellhausen.
10 See below. n But see note on xxxv. 10.
12
ninSK> (ver. 1 f., 6), DfcOp^ pi (ver. 4), nvn (ver. 1), "rj?2 |H

(ver. 8, cf. xxxii. 6), 73^3 jn TINVD N'J DN (ver. 10).

PILLMANN II, 1 8
274 GENESIS XXXII. 4-8 F. [361

unmistakable phrases from B (vv. 5, lla, D<r6x), but this

only makes it clear that B and C had very similar accounts

of the meeting of the brothers. Ch. xxxiii. 4 may be also
a fragment from B. Ch. xxxii. 33 may be supposed to be
from E.
Ch. xxxii. 47. Jacob, on reaching the neighbourhood of
the Jordan, sends messengers to Esau in Se'ir to announce
his return. He learns from them that Esau is already
advancing to meet him with 400 men.
D'IN mb> for the use of mb>, comp. xiv. 7 and xxxvi. 35.
The expression gives the impression of being a variant to

Tyb> pN, and is perhaps from B. Esau's change of home to

Edom must have been recorded in a passage from C or B

not preserved when Jacob left, Isaac had not long to live
;

(ch. xxvii.). A's account was different (xxxvi. 6).

Ver. 5 f. p-iBNn xviii. 28 ff.

1
impf. Kal syncopated from
"inx "inKK, as in Prov. viii. 17.

|N better fNVl, as Sept. Samar. Vulg. Pesh. and some

Hebrew MSS. The collective use of "rip, etc., is here

peculiar.
Ver. 7. Esau had already set out to meet Jacob. We
are not told his intention, but the fact that he brought
400 men allows us to infer that he intended under certain
circumstances to assert his rights or show his power. It

was just this uncertainty in regard to his intentions which

was bound to awaken in Jacob pangs of conscience for his

past misdeed (ch. xxvii.).

2
TjVn DJ] without Kin.

Vv. 8-1 4a. Jacob's precautions.

Ver. 8 f. In his anxiety he takes the precaution, not
uncommon, of dividing his people and flocks into two camps,
so as not to lose all at a blow in the event of a hostile

attack. It is certain that in C the name Mahanaim was

explained by this incident. R must have omitted a definite
statement on the subject because of ver. 3. The && of
i 25 2 25
Gesenius, 68. 1, Gesenius, H6, 5 A, 3,
\

:;r,i, :;<;_']
CKNKSIS xxxn. io-u 275

ver. 14^ shows that C really mentioned a locality, namely,

Mahanaim. In the enumeration of the animals, the asses,
included in vv. 6 and 16, are left out; the camels, omitted
in ver. 6, are named as in ver. 16; both are together in

xxx. 43, where ">P3 is unmentioned.

1
-iv>l from "TC.

nntf the feminine is for the masculine is

surprising,

immediately resumed the Samaritan has inxn. ;

Vv. 10-13. But Jacob feels that without God's help

this precaution will avail him little. He therefore betakes
himself to God in prayer, and, with humbleness and thankful-
ness as well as faith, puts his trust in God's promises and in
the help He has so often vouchsafed him in the past.
Ver. 10. Comp. xxviii. 13 and xxxi. 3. My father
Abraham, as in xxviii. 13, is to be specially observed.

Ver. 11. JE 'njBj: I am too small, too insignificant, for? i.e.

unworthy of, all the manifestations of grace and faithfulness

15

(to the promises).

This Jordan he was now once more in the basin of the
Jordan and on the way to the river we may gather that
;

Mahanaim was no great distance from it.

Ver. 12. And slay me, mother and children together as

in Hos. x. 14, a proverbial expression denoting merciless
cruelty. ^ pictures the mother leaning over her children
for their protection. 4

Ver. 13. The promise of a numerous posterity (xxviii. 14

in C) would come to nought if God did not protect him.
See xxii. 17 and xvi. 10 for the language.
Ver. 14ft is still part of the paragraph from C, and its

original continuation is found in ver. 23 ff.

Vv. 14&-22. The preparations for meeting Esau, accord-

ing to B. In B's narrative also the arrival of news regarding

Esau's approach is implied.

1 25 2
Gesenius, 67 A. 3. Chs. xviii. 14, iv. 13.
3
Of. xxiv. 27, 49.

Tuch, Knobel
4
;
cf. also Deut. xxii. 6.
276 GENESIS XXXII. 14-21 [302

Ver. 146ff. Jacob prepares a present for Esau/rom what

had come in his hand, 1 in his possession ;
from the property
he had brought with him. 2 According to ,
it is a nnpp, a
3
sort of tributary present, and in xxxiii. 1 1 a n ?")?. has a
somewhat different representation (see ver. 21). The present
is a very considerable one, in all 580 animals, containing a
representation of all the five species of pastoral wealth, and
with the males and females chosen in the right proportion
determined by the superior value of the latter as regards
4
breeding and milk.
DT'Ti, xxx. 35. DiTOU, masc. suffix, as xxxi. 9. D>
")^1,
25
Gesenius, 28. 2.

Ver. 17ff. He entrusts the selected animals to servants,

herd, herd, alone, from one another, 5

i.e. in herds separated

and tells them to leave free space between each herd on the
road. By this he intends to make the procession long and
imposing, and the effect surprising as one herd after another
arrives. The delivery of presents by means of the greatest
possible number of persons and beasts of burden is spoken of
as a custom. 6 Each servant is charged to explain when he
meets Esau that his flock is a present from Jacob, who is
behind him.
D3N5fb for D 7
?N??. jnsnn, see pniOKn, ver. 5.
Ver. 21. After vv. 18-20 ver. a is superfluous, ver. I

defines the present as a propitiatory one. The verse seems,

8 9
when we consider also v*K s^, and
an insertion by
"OS to be

R from C. After npy, the Samaritan and Septuagint have N3.

/ will cover his face bring it about that he will not see
the injury done him (xx. 16).
1
Ch. xxxv. 4.
2
Rightly so translated by the versions.
3
Of. 2 Kings iii. 4 2 Chron. xvii. 11, for tribute from nomads.
;

4
Job i. 3 ; 2 Chron. xvii. 11 cf. Varro, De re rust. ii. 3 ; Tucli.
;

5 25 123A. 2.
Gesenius,
6
Delia Valle [Fiaggi, 1G50-53], Germ. tr. ii. 120, 165; Sonnini
[Voyage, ii.
378], Germ. tr. ii. 108 ; Harmer, Observations, 2 1776, ii. 1711'.
KnobeL
5 s
,* 74A. 2, Sec noli; xvi. 2,
''
C'h. xix. 21,
 GENESIS XXXII. 22, 23 F. 277

Ver. 22. The animals for Esau pass on in front, n:hilc he

himself remained the same night in the camp, i.e. with his

people and flocks. The narrative thus comes back to what

was said in ver. 1-1 '/.

l
nn:D3 Wellhausen
regards this as a proper name,
Mahane, and refers to ver. 3, where he holds D:no denotes
one camp only. But Mahane is nowhere else found in the
Old Testament for Mahanaim ;
and the appellative signification
is quite in place. If B had intended a proper name he
would have required to write Djno, as in ver. 3. If C were

the author,2 would he not require to say in which of his two

camps Jacob was ?
Ver. 23 f. The crossing of the Yabbok, as related by B
and C. According to ver. 23, Jacob takes his wives and
children and crosses the Yabbok with them (himself) ;

nothing is two camps.

said of his property or the
According
to ver. 24, he takes his wives and children and sends them

and all his possessions over the river it is not said that he ;

himself crosses. 3 Here, if anywhere, there are two accounts ;

ver. 23 is pointed out as (7s by ninat?, so ver. 24 belongs to

11. The first words, 'n '^3 Dp"i, perhaps belong to both, but
certainly to ver. 24 ill
(cf. vv. 27, 32).
"
Journeys by night usual in the East 4 ," so that
are

ver. 23 presents no difficulty; but the crossing of a river

with large flocks (ver. 24) is different and unusual, and only

required by the necessity of leaving Jacob alone during the

night for his encounter with the "]xta. It is not fear of
5
Esau that occasions the passage by night ;
fear would have
induced Jacob not to cross at all.
ton rWo chs. xix. 33, xxx. 16.

l^r-HPKIW Sam. Sept. Pesh. Vulg. ii> ic'S ^5 nx.

\>&_ Samaritan, pyn. According to Deut. iii. 16 and

1
JBDTh. xxi. 433. 2
Bacon.
3
On the contrary, he stays behind, ver. 25 (cf. 32).
4
Von Troilo, Reisebeschreibiuiy, 458 ; Burekhardt, Syria, 245 (Germ. tr.

390). Knobel.
5
Ver. 8. Wellhausen.
278 GENESIS XXXII. 25, 20 [363

Josh. xii. 2, once the boundary between 'Ammon and the

l
Amorite kingdom, at least in its upper course ; according to
the Onomasticon? inter Amman i. e.
Philadelphia, et Geresam
in quarto milliaris ejus ;
the modern Wadi Zerka, which
divides the districts of 'Ajlun and Belka, and falls into the
Jordan in the latitude of Shechem. 3 It flows in a deep

ravine between steep hills with a somewhat rapid course.

The ford was probably (ver. 11) somewhere just after it

leaves the hills.

Vv. 2533. A continuation of ver. 24, from B. Jacob

wrestles with the Itfta, and receives the name Israel.

Ver. 25. Jacob remained, or was alone behind, on the

right or north bank, of course, since this is a continuation of

4
ver. 24. The march in any case was from north to south.
Esau comes from Se'ir to meet Jacob (ver. 7), and not ^"JH^P-
It of the head of the party and owner
was the natural duty
of the flocks insuch a case to be last on the ground and see
that nothing was left behind. In the night, when thus alone
by the Yabbok, one in appearance a man wrestled with him
5

till
coming up of the dawn, and so a long time it was only
the ;

afterwards that he recognised in him the presence of a

celestial being.
6
only here and in ver. 26; in its signification wrestle
P??*l
7
related to pnn, or only a dialectical variant. The choice of
the rare word isdetermined by the wish to play on the name
P2*, as if it meant river of wrestling. In the legend the
contest was associated sometimes with the river, sometimes
with Peniel (ver. 31). Both associations were known to our

author, but he preferred the former, and only hints at the latter.

Ver. 26. The unknown sees that he is not a match for

8 9
Jacob, cannot get the better of him, so strong is he, and so
1
But see comment, on Num. xxi. 24 and Deut. ii. 37.
2
Sub Jaboc. 3 See Bible Dictionaries.
4 6
Against Knobel. Chs. xviii. 2, xix. 5.
6
Sept. Pesh. Vulg.
7
Cf. Talinudic
p^x, Levy, Neuheb. Worierb. i. 146.
8
Judg. xvi. 5; 1 Sam. xvii. 9. Ch. xxix. 10.
 ,%.V*fJ4] tiKNKSIS XXXII. 27 279

manful his wrestling. To get free of him, for the time when
he must vanish is come (ver. 27), he touches him, i.e. strikes
him (a hlow) on the hollow of his hip, the socket of his thigh
bone, so that in the struggle it was dislocated, put out of

joint (impf. Kal of yp*).

Ver. 27. "At the same time he asks Jacob to let him go,
for the rising. dawn
Supernatural beings do not expose
is

themselves to the eyes of mortal men. In Plautus, 1 Jupiter

says, Cur me tenes ? tempus est : exire ex urbe priusquam hcciscat

volo. But Jacob recognises that he has encountered a being

more than man ;
he uses the opportunity for his advantage,
2
and refuses the release unless he receive a blessing."
Vv. 28-30. He receives the blessing he asks. His name
is changed to Israel. The query as to his name is no more
than an introduction to that.

For you have contended with God and with man, and have
3
been able, i.e. have
conquered in your contests. The success-
ful struggle with God has just taken place. He has had
many contests with men before now, in especial with Laban 4

and Esau ;
that with the latter is not yet finished. In
reference to it the Wj obtains the significance of a promise ;

having contended successfully with God he has as good as

won the combat with men, which now concerns him (cf.
xxxiii. 1 ff.).
The change of name to Israel is thus not

merely an honourable recognition, but itself a valuable gift, a

blessing.
bmfe^ the rare expression rnb'& is chosen, as in Hos.
xii. 4, because of f'Ni'^, which is therefore interpreted thea-

gonist, i.e. wrestler with God. The meaning is transmuted

6
by many into Gods combatant, one who fights on God's
His help; others 7 render God's ruler.
side arid with Thr
I -
Amphitr. i. 3. 35. Knobel.
3 4 5
Ch. xxx. 8. Ch. xxxi. 26 ff. See Lexicons.
II

E.IJ. Redslob, Alttestament. Nimirn, IStG; Tuch, Gesenius, Thesaurus;

Ewald, Gcschichte* i. 493 [Eng. tr. i.
344] ; Reuss, Geschichte des Alt.
l
Test. 52.
7
Ilgen, Gramberg.
280 GENESIS XXXII. 30 [364

most likely conjecture is El is ruler* or, EL is combatant ;

comp. htfVftW, etc.

Ver. 30. Jacob is now desirous of knowing his opponent's

2
name, but he is told. not He must
be satisfied with having

gained the blessing, and the issue will not leave him in doubt.
It was with God that he wrestled, according to vv. 29 and
31. The author might here have spoken of God's angel, for
God presents Himself in the person of His angel, and God and
His angel are always thus interchanged. 3 But he has not
done so. He felt a significance in the fact that Jacob had
striven with God.
The story is certainly, amongst other things, a glorification
of the physical strength of this ancestor of Israel, and of his

bold spirit, which quailed before nothing. But, still more,

it celebrates his elevation of mind and the power of his faith,
which set the highest ends before it, and would not let go
God Himself till He blessed him. Men wrestle with God
only that they may obtain from Him grace and blessings.
This, when all is considered, is the end set before all men,
and before Israel inthe real spirit of Israel
chief. It is

which is here glorified and set before the people as in a

mirror. 4

But, from the context in which it is placed, the story

acquires, besides, a special significance. Jacob has been
guilty of wrong ;
it is
only because of this that he must so
fear his brother, find in God an adversary who comes
and
against him. He
has long to struggle with God. But after
he has won His grace, the threatened danger from his brother
has also vanished. Everything assumes a smiling aspect
(xxxiii. 4 If.). It was to this result that the words D^fcTDjn

referred (see above). The struggle here is the last of the

1
Knobel. 2
xiii. 17.
Cf.Judg.
3
Cf. xvi. 10 if., xxi. 17f., xxii. 15 f.,
f.,
and how
xxxi. 11 if., xlviii. 15
Hot. xii. 4 which in other respects varies somewhat from the account
f.,

here, replaces Eft&M by Tjxfe, having thus both.

4
Hos. xii. 4 f.
:;<;!, Mi;:,)
GENKSIS XXXII. ill 281

events by which Jacob's character was purilied ; now, al

length, Jacob has become Israel.
indisputable that the wrestling with God, as under-
It is

stood by the legend, was a physical occurrence in the material

world. The statement about Jacob's limpiiig (ver. 32) is
more than sufficient to establish this. It is only entire
"
misapprehension which can explain the occurrence as some-
thing purely subjective, such as a vivid dream, 1 or a fervent

wrestling with God in prayer."

2
The standard supplied in

John iv. 24 3
is not that by which we have to test those old

legends. But it is no less certain .that the writer, like

Hosea, discerned spiritual truths in* what is, to begin with, a

4
popular legend. It is against the text to interpret the tr'K

of theguardian deity of the land of Canaan, who sought to

5
oppose Jacob's entrance. Studer, who does this, believes
also that the whole legend is a transformation of a Canaanite

temple myth regarding the contest of the Sun with the

6
demon of Winter, told at Peniel.
Ver. 31. 'y\ jop^i as in ver. 3, xxviii. 19, xli. 5 If.;

otherwise in xxxiii. 17.

?N^3 face of God, in ver. 32 and elsewhere ?KtoB; the
name given by Jacob to the place of his combat, " because he
saw God face to face 7 without forfeit of his life. 8 Somewhat
strange as the name of a locality. But the Phoenician
9
promontory Qeov irpoa-wirov must have been the same or
10
similar in Phoenician." There is no tradition whatsoever
1
Jean Gerson, J. D. Michaelis, Hengler, Eichhorn, Gabler Uryeschichte,
ii. 2, p. 53 f. Ziegler in Henke, Neues Mac), ii. 35.
;

2
Herder, Geist der Heb. Poesie, i. 265 f Hengstenberg, Geschichte .
;

Hi I <-<i.
HI?*, 51. Knobel.
;; " Uod is a spirit," etc.]
|

4
See, further, Umbreit in St. K>: I s is, p. 1 1 3 II ., and Ewald, Gesch i,-ht< ,
;:

i. 512 IT.
[Eng. tr. p. 35711'.] ;
for the parallels from antiquity, Ewald
|_p. 358, note 2], and Winer, 3 i. 523.
5
In JPTh. 1875, p. 53G II.
t;
See also Popper, Urspruny, p. 369 tf. ; see above, p. 3.
7
Ex. xxxiii. 11 Deut. xxxiv. ; 10.
8
See note on xvi. 13. 9
Strabo, xvi. 2. 15 f.
10
Knobel.
282 GENESIS XXXII. 32-XXXIII. 4 [365

regarding the situation of Peniel ;

what we may learn from
the text has been stated under ver. 25. It is again
mentioned in Judg. viii. 8 ff. and 1 Kings xii. 25, but not
elsewhere. Its name and the narrative here show that it

was regarded as a holy place.

Ver. 32. The sun rose after Jacob had passed Peniel on
his way to overtake the others. But the combat had left a
"
lasting mark upon him. He limped on his thigh, as if the
crookedness, which had previously adhered to the moral
'
nature of '
the wily Jacob, had now passed over into an
l
external physical attribute only."
Ver. 33. No doubt from R. 2 The Israelite custom of

not eating the sinew of the thigh of slain animals is ascribed

to this incident. Having been touched by God it was
sacrosanct. The custom is not mentioned elsewhere in the
3
Old Testament ;
it is prescribed by the Mishna. Eegarding
4
n^jn T3, the sinew of the thigh muscle, see Gesenius. It

is the nervus ischidiacus, the most of the

prominent thigh
muscles. Its injury involves limping. 5

Ch. xxxiii. 1-16. The meeting of Esau and Jacob turns

out amicably. Mainly C's account.
Vv. 1-4. Having reached the other side of the Yabbok
with his wives and children (xxxii. 23), Jacob sees his
brother approaching with his company of 400 (xxxii. 7).
He resolves to meet him, and separates (xxxii. 8) his
wives and children into three groups, 6 for the same reason
as in xxxii. 9, giving each mother her own children. He
places those whom he cared less for in front, his better
loved ones behind. He himself precedes them and makes a
sevenfold as
approaches his brother, i.e.
prostration he
approaches in the most submissive manner, such as only
fear and prudence could have induced.
1
Ewald, Geschichte* i. 513 [tr. vol. i.
p. 358].
2
See x. 9, xix. 37 f ., xxvi. 33. 3
Chullin 7.
4 5
Thesaurus, 921. Knobel.
' ;

There is
nothing about a division of the camp into three parts (as by
Wcllhausen, JlWTh xxi. 435).
305,300] GENESIS XXXIII. }-!) 283

But Esau hastens whole-heartedly to meet him, 1

Ver. 4.

embraces him, falls on his neck and kisses him. Both weep
from joy at meeting again.
inpnrn being before 'Ji ^ may be attributed to B (ch.
xlviii. 10).
nri>y ^'1 as in xlv. 14, xlvi. 29, in C. In these

passages the weeping immediately follows the falling on the

2
neck, so that the supra-pointed Vnpt^i may well be un-
authentic; it is wanting in certain MSS. of the Septuagint. 3
The Jews had, indeed, another view of the word. " From
Bereshith Rabba and Kimchi 4 we see that even at an early
date NiaBh, and he lit him, was thought of the Jerusalem ;

"
Targum explains Jacob's weeping from pain in his neck (?),
"
Esau's from pain occasioned in his teeth."
Vv. 57. Jacob's wives and children now approach, and
also salute Esau by prostrating themselves. At least ver. 56
is from B in view of DTita.

!?n as in ver. 11. Here with double accusative, to

favour one with something?

"13 n not hither? any more than in xxi. 29, but the
8
personal pronoun.
Vv. 8-11. Esau accepts the present of cattle only at his
brother's urgent request. It had previously met him, but

whether exactly in five herds, as in B (xxxii. 1 4 ff.), is ques-

tionable.

runs camp or host in C the animals were therefore all

;

together. The Sept., because of xxxii. 14 fF., corrects into avrai

al TrapefjuftoXai.
Who to yon is all this host ? what do you intend by it ?
A question as to Jacob's object. Who for what gives promi-
nence to the persons present. 9 " Jacob, with unattractive
humility, does not venture to call his very considerable gift
1
See xviii. 2.
2
Clis. xvi. 5, xviii. 9, xix. 33, xxxvii. 12.
3
In Lagardc's Genesis, AEcmtx. 4
[Dill, here Kimhi.]
5
Knobel. '

Geaenins," il7.*5&.
7 8 y
Delitzsch. See xiii. 1, xiv. 15, etc. Ewald, 325.
284 GENESIS XXXIII. 10, 11 [366

a present he replies only that ;

I might find grace? be treated
with kindness by you." 2
Ver. 10. Further, Jacob asks his brother to accept the

present, seeing that he has now had the fortune to see his face,
to be received by him and not repulsed, and that he has been
kindly welcomed 3
(cf. Job xxxiii. 26). He desires his brother
to continue the kindness he has shown by accepting the gift.
As one sees the face of God, strictly, face of a heavenly
4
being, i.e. so propitious ;
for celestial beings only show them-
selves to those to they are well disposed. whom
Esau met
him with a kindness which was divine. Such an explanation
is not absurd, 5 and more in place than the rendering, for this
reason I have appeared before you as one appears before
God (and not before kings ?), sc. with a gift. Wellhausen 6
has acutely, and no doubt rightly, remarked here the presence
of an allusion to the name Peniel different from that of

xxxii. 31. But, along with the whole of ver. 10, it is from
C, not from B
for 'y\ NJ DK 7 and p"6sna 8 are phrases of C's
;

as well as MB n&o, 9 and mn 11

could not be here written for

trr6fet, because an angelic being is intended. The thought

lying at the root of both variations of the legend is that at
Peniel the unfriendly God was found to be a friendly one.
It does not follow that in the original Peniel form of the
10
legend Esau himself, as the wild huntsman, was this God.
'21 MB rntro infinitivewithout subject. 11
Ver. lla. A doublet from R
"
n:m blessing ;
here the present, which accompanied a
salutation which consisted in invocations of blessing. 12 In the
Middle Ages the presents of ecclesiastics were called bencdic-
13
tiones"

1 1
xxxii. 6. 2
( li. Knobel.
and Vulg. incorrectly MVini.
;

Sept.
4
1 Sam. xxix. 9. Bacon, Genesis, 280.
fi
JBDTh. xxi. 435. *
See note on xviii. 3.
Sec xviii. 5, xix. 8. Ch. xxxii. 21.
10
See above, p. 196.
" Ewald, 304.
-
J
1 Sam. xxv. 27, xxx. 26.
1:!
Knobel.
 ,;<;, :;?] GENESIS xxxnr. 12-17 285

vocalised nxin by the Septuagint. <:3n, see ver. .".

'31, and because (Josh. vii. 15; Judg. vi. 30; 1 Sam. xix. 4;

Isa. Ixv. 16). I have everything, I am rich enough. -IVD, in

xix. 3,9, in C.
Ver. 12 f. Esau oilers, for Jacob's protection, to travel the
rest of the way on before him, so that Jacob might have him
in view (not eV evOetaiv, Sept.). But although Esau was
pledged to peace by his acceptance of the present (cf. xxi.
30), Jacob, still addressing him as lord, refuses the escort.
He was doubtless influenced, not merely by mistrust, 2 but by
the wish to be under no obligations to his brother, and to

preserve his independence.

3
He gives the excuse that his
children are still of tender age, and that his sheep and cattle
are suckling, i.e. include many suckling mothers,4 who would
die if they were driven hastily even a single day.
Dipsn for the masculine suffix, see xxvi. 15; and for the

3rd pers. plur., Ewald, Syntax, 357ft. But the Samar.

Sept. Pesh. have DTipani.
Ver. 14. He wishes to continue his march according to
5

his ease, i.e.

slowly, as it suits him, and according to the foot of
his flocks and children, according as they are able to march.
He concludes by speaking of his intention to visit him in
Se'ir. The author does not say whether this was a mere
pretence, or whether he really wished to visit Esau in acknow-
6
ledgment of his friendly reception of him.
rDJOD in ch. ii. 2 f. work, here goods or property, in
n 7
especial property in cattle, like ppp.
Ver. 1 5 f. Esau offers him some of his followers as an
escort. This also Jacob refuses, and Esau returns to Se'ir.

rarri xxx. 38, xliii. 9, xlvii. 2.

Ver. 17. Jacob, on his part, continues his journey as far
as Sukkoth. He builds a house there,8 and makes booths for
1 25 2
Gesenius, 74A. 1.
Tucll) Knobel
3 4
Delitzsch. Isa. xl. 11.
5
of the norm, as Isa. xi. 3, xxxii. 1.
^
6 7 8
Knobel, Cf. Ex, xxii. 7, 10; 1 Sam. xv. 9. See xxvii. 15,
286 GENESIS XXXIII. 17 [367, 3G8

his cattle ;
hence the name of the place. This residence in
Sukkoth is, however, only an intermediate pause on the
homeward journey, whose proximate goal was Bethel. 1 A
stay of some time had to be assumed, because in ch. xxxiv.
the young children are grown up. The verse is probably
still (7s. Besides the use of rva, the expression p-f>j; is evi-

dence for him or for R?

3
ni3p lay on the east side of the Jordan, in an open
valley,
4
west of Penuel. 5 There is, indeed, a modern Sakut
west of the Jordan, south of Bethshean. 6 It is an open
if this western Sukkoth was intended in 1 Kings
question
vii.46 (comp. iv. 12); if so, there were two places of the
name. 7 But the second cannot be thought of in the present
connection, because quite out of the line of Jacob's march.
The eastern Sukkoth is alone suitable. 8 But it cannot be
localised transJordanem in parte Scythopoleos? or at Abu
10
Obeida, where the valley broadens, which would be north of
the Yabbok, nor yet so far south as between the Wadi
Nimrin and the Wadi Mojib. 11 It must be placed 12
south of
the Yabbok, near the ford of Damie, on the road from es-Salt
to Nablus. 13 For recent discussions regarding the situation
of Penuel and of Sukkoth, see ZDPV. i. 44, iii. 80.

1
Ch. xxxi. 30, xxviii. 21 f., xxxv. Iff.
2
Unlike xxxii. 3 and 21; cf. xi. 9, xvi. 4, xix. 22, xxviii. 30, 1. 11.
3
Josh. xiii. 27 ; Judg. viii. 5.
4
Ps. Ix. 8 [6].
5
For Gideon when pursuing the Midianites eastwards marched up
from Sukkoth to Penuel (Judg. viii. 8).
6
Burckhardt [Syria, p. 345], Germ. tr. p. 595 Lynch [Expedition, ;

1849, p. 221], Germ. tr. p. 133; Eobinson [Later Researches, p. 309 ff.]
Germ. tr. p. 406 ff. Van de Velde, Reise, ii. 301 ff.
;

7
Hitter, Erdkunde, xv. 446 f. Knobel Ewald, Geschichte, 3 ii. 546
; ;

[Eng. tr. ii. 158 f.].

8
Book of Jubilees, ch. 29. 9
Jerome, Qucestiones.
10
Knobel.
11
Arnold in Herzog, Itealencyclopcedie, 1
xiv. 764; Delitzsch 4
.

12
Kohler, Geschichte, i. 147; Keil.
13
Lynch [Expedition, 1849, p. 248], Germ. tr.
p. 150,
:ws] <;KNKSIS xxxin. IK 287

2. JACOB AT SIIECIIKM, AND TIIK DISHONOURING OF DINAH,

On. XXXIII. 18-XXXIV. 31; FROM R, FOLLOWING y;,

A, AND (7.

Jacob reaches Shecheni, pitches his tent beside the town,

ami buys a piece of ground there. While there his daughter
Dinah is dishonoured by Shechem (Sh e khem), son of Hamor,
prince of the country. Jacob's sons are enraged, but accept
the proposal that Dinah should marry Shechem, and that the
two families should become allied to one another, on condition
that the Shechemites should submit to circumcision. The
Shechemites allow themselves to be circumcised. While they
are in the state of fever caused by the wounds, Simeon and
Levi on the town and slay them.
fall The town is plundered
to avenge the injured honour of the family. Jacob dis-
approves of what his sons have done. This is the first of the
troubles brought on the patriarch by his sons, and in so far
rather belongs to the Toledoth of Jacob, which begin in ch.
xxxvii. But in one or other of R's sources it must already
have belonged to the period of the return to Canaan.
The hostile encounter with the Shechemites was a

frequently-recurring subject in the tribal legends of Israel.

The deed wrought by Simeon and Levi, though somewhat

differently described, is mentioned in the old verses of ch.

xlix. 57, ascribed to Jacob. In Jacob's blessing (ch. xlviii.

22, from JS) we are told that Jacob with his sword and bow
took Shechem from the Amorites. Here, in the narrative of
ch. xxxiv., there are, further, unmistakably two accounts of
the incident. Even the introduction (ch. xxxiii. 1820),
which commences the account of the journey continued in
ch. xxxv., is from two (? three) sources. Ver. 18 contains a

fragment from A, in ver. 19 f. we recognise y?'s hand, and in

1

vv. 186 and 20 there may be traces of C. In ch. xxxiv. 2

1
See note below.
Assigned by Ilgen to 7J by K \vuld and Delitzscli to A; by Knobel
2 4
;

to A and C; by Hupfeld, Schrader, Bohmer, Kayser, to C by Kuenen to ;

288 GENESIS XXXIII. IS [368, 309

vv. 27-29 are a loosely-attached addition to the rest.

1
What
remains falls into two divisions. In the one Hamor conducts
the negotiations with Jacob regarding Dinah for his son

(vv. 4, 6, 8-10); he receives a reply (15 (14)-17), and in

due course lays it before the assembled citizens of the town
for their approval (vv. 20-24). In the other, Shechem him-
self asks Dinah from her father and brothers, and after their

reply (ver. 1 1 immediately submits to the conditions they

f.)

require (ver. 19). In the first account Dinah is still with

her family (ver. 17), in the second she is already in the town
in Shechem's hands. Ver. 2&, therefore, which speaks of her

being carried away and ravished, must belong to the latter ;

and it carries with it all the verses (5, 7, 13, 31) in which
the anger and malice of Dinah's brothers are spoken of, for it

provides their explanation. There are linguistic differences

corresponding to these differences in the story. In the first

account &otM (ver. 2) (ppn in ver. 8 compared with pm in
ver. 3), rnw (ver. 10), "orb n^ tan ( vv .
15, 22), -orb
(ver. 24), IJpi?
and nm (ver. 23), wy "W 'K^b (ver. 24),
etc., are indubitable signs of A' a authorship. The diffuseness
of style (e.g. ver. 1), the value attached to circumcision, and
the resemblance of the proceedings in the popular assembly
to what is found in ch. xxiii. are also evidence for A. In the
other account we find pm (ver. 3), "iyj (vv. 3, 12, and 19 ;

contrast mf? in ver. 4), :win> nin, and rfew &6 p (in ver.

7), Da^jn ;n KVD (ver. 11), :nn *sb (ver. 26), -oy (ver. 30),
which all belong to C's special vocabulary.

We may without any hesitation attribute

therefore
vv. la, 2a, 4, 6, 8-10, 15 (14)-17, 20-24, to A. Hamor
wishes Dinah to be Shechem's wife, i.e. he desires the
2
amalgamation of part of the house of Jacob with Shechem,
and the citizens even agree to be circumcised in order to

C and a very late redactor; by Wellhausen (Composition, 312 f.), and,

following him, Cornill (ZATW. xi. Iff.), to C, B, and a late redactor,
1
See below.
2
See Ewald, Geschichte* i. 541 f.
[Eng. tr. i. 378 f.].
 GENESIS XXXIII. 18 289

keep the house Jacob amongst them. 1

of It is uncertain

\vluit --/'s account of the

upshot of the mailer was, i'<.r vv.
25 f. and 30 f. are in the main from 0. But it seems as if
2
he also related that Simeon and Levi spoiled the whole
plan. In C, to whom vv. 2&, 3, 5, 7, 11-13 (14), 19, 25*,
20, 30 belong in
f. the main, Shechem carried off Dinah
and dishonoured her ;
but as his love for her grew he asked
her in marriage from Jacob and his sons, and offered to

accept what conditions they pleased. Dinah's brothers were

fuming at the outrage to their sister, and treacherously made

Shechem's circumcision their condition (ver. 19). He cir-
cumcised himself, and Simeon and Levi then murdered him
(and the other Shechemites) while in a state of fever from
the wound they carried off Dinah, but were severely blamed
;

by their who feared the consequences of their deed.

father,
In putting the two accounts together R had, of course, to
make certain changes, e.g.
in vv. 13 f. and 18, where Hamor
and Shechem, Jacob and Jacob's sons are put in one, or in
ver. 25, where the circumcision of the townspeople is pre-

supposed, as it was in A. He has also interpolated vv.

27 2 9, 3 and the emphatic addition there of Dninx INBD "IB>'K
(ver. 27) leads us to conclude that 136 and NEO in ver. 5,

perhaps also 1 4&, are due to him stronger expressions of ;

this kind betray his later point of view.

* 5
Wellhausen and Kuenen raise objections to this

analysis. As authorship, it is said, is not to be thought of,

for elsewhere his story proceeds in a peaceful and orderly

6
fashion, and he could not make circumcision the instrument
7
of treachery. But there is no treachery in A* 8 account, and
on the other hand, in agreement with his characteristics
it is,

that the legal question of procedure on the occasion of a

daughter's marriage should be treated of. The assumption

1
Cf. in It and (7, chs. xxi., xxvi., the trouble Abimelecli takes to
secure the friendship of Abraham and Isaac.
2 3
For ver. 256 may be from A. See above.
5
4
JBDTh. xxi. 435 ff. ThT. xiv. 256-281.
7
Kuenen, op. cit. p. 277. Hupfeld, Quellen, p. 186.
DILLMANN. II.
'9
290 GENESIS XXXIII. 18 [369, 370

that all that is not from has been interpolated by a late

diaskeuast of A's school, is refuted by the fact 1 that we have
before us, not simply a redacted narrative, but, plainly, two
narratives welded together. It is further asserted that the

conception of circumcision as the condition of membership in

2 3
the community could only exist after the exile, and that
C could not have had any such implication in his narrative.
4

His account must then have been somewhat to the effect that

a man named Shechem carried off Dinah and seduced her,

then asked her family to condone the act and legitimise the
5
union, and paid the bride-price which they asked of him ;

when all was amicably settled, Simeon and Levi slew him in
his own house, and brought back their sister to Jacob's great

displeasure. But does not ver. 25 (C) presuppose the fever

caused by circumcision ? If C"s original narrative had
nothing of this, how did it occur to the late diaskeuast to

drag in circumcision and alter the whole story? In ver. 30,

also, it is not the vengeance of the Shechemites which Jacob
but that of the people of the country, so that C cannot
fears,

merely have related Shechem's death and that of some of his

6
relatives. Kuenen, accordingly, finally leaves it undecided
whether C had anything regarding Shechem's circumcision as
a condition of the marriage, and attributes vv. 1*, 2*, 46,
8-10, 13*, 14*, 15-17, 20-24, 25*, 27-29, to the late
7
redactor. Following this, Wellhausen and Cornill now
acknowledge that ch. xxxiv. contains two narratives, but from
C and Bf the redaction of which is on the lines of A and t

that in B circumcision was made a condition of the marriage

with a treacherous intention. In C, J$'a predecessor, the
circumcision of Shechem only, not of all the Shechemites,

1
See above. 2
g ee above, 77 f.
p.
3
Kuenen, p. 276 Wellhausen, p. 437
; ; Geschichte, i. 365.
4
In view of Ex. iv. 25 f. cf Josh. v. 2
; . ff.
5
Replacing the agreement to circumcision.
<;
Underzoek* i. 316. 7
Composition, p. 318 f.
8
According to Cornill, vv. 1, 2* 3*, 4, 6, 8-10, 13*, 14, 16 f., 18,
20-24, 25*, 21 a, 28, 29a, without the phrases from A, are from 11.
370] (IKNK.SJS XXX 111. L8

was demanded, ;md that in its more primitive form, 1

the
2
circumcision of a bridegroom before his wedding ;
or the
demand was something quite different, such as for a formal
transfer of some property beside Shechem. 3 But #'s author-
ship of one of the two narratives in vv. 126 cannot be
granted. The mere possibility of attributing some of the

expressions to B
cannot prevail against the fact that the
verses in question are saturated with As characteristic
expressions without there being any perceptible cause to
account for their later admixture. In B circumcision would
be a wholly anomalous phenomenon in it has a meaning ;
A
4
(ch. xvii.). It cannot be proved from xxxv. 5 and xxxiv.
2729 that B had a story of this character in the present

context, and it is rendered improbable by xxxvii. 12 as well

as by xxxi. 41 (see note on xxxiv. 1).

Ch. xxxiii. 18. Jacob's arrival in Shechem. Ver. a,

5
at least, is certainly from A, in view of fyjiD pxa IP'K and
6
D-IN pSD ism, and is not a continuation of ver. 17 ;
ver. b

may be from 0. If the verse were from B 1

it would not be
possible to understand why anyone should have inserted the
wholly superfluous words DIN* fiDE l^ 3 -

City of Shechem cf. ver. 19 and xxxiv. 2.

oiy Samaritan Di^, as in xliii. 27, not a name for

8
Shechem or of a place near Shechem, which in that case
would occur only here in the Old Testament, although east
9
of Nablus there is a modern village called Salim. It has

the meaning unharmed, safe and sound, and is equivalent to

the oft^a of xxviii. 21, to which it is possibly a backward
10
reference added by R. Geiger gives various strange con-

1 2
Ex. iv. 25 f. Wellhausen.
3 *
Corn ill. See note, ad loc.
5 6
See xi. 31. See xxv. 20.
7
\Vellliausen.
8
Sept., Book of Jubilees, Pesh., Vulg., Luther, Mercerus ;
cf.

Onomasticon, sub Salem and 2aAj^.

9
Robinson [Palettt'n,;"- ii. 275, 279, 291 f.], Germ. tr. iii. 314, 322, 336.
10
7,").
Urschrift, p.
 292 GENESIS XXXIII. 19 [370, 371

1
jectures regarding the word ;
Wellhausen's correction to

0?^ does not commend itself.

|IT1 Jacob encamps before 2 the city, where

as xxvi. 17.

previously Abraham had also halted (xii. 6). In the plain

east of Shechem Jacob's well was shown in later times.

Ver. 19. He buys the piece of ground where he pitched

3
his tent. Later on Shechem was still a place where he had
flocks stationed. 4 The Bene Hamor were the clan settled in

way Hamor was

5
and around Shechem, and in this father of
Shechem and prince of the district (xxxiv. 2) ; similarly,
Shechem himself in his turn is regarded (xxxiv. 2 ff.)
as lord of
Shechem. 6 There is no mistake in the statement that Jacob
bought the field from the -non ^3 ;
the Sept. omits -on in
order to harmonise with xxxiv. 1 ff.

ntp'6?jp elsewhere only in Josh. xxiv. 32 and Job xlii. 11,

where it is a repetition from here, literally perhaps something

weighed out, or according to rule, vo^ia^a (BPp, LuJ), in any

case a piece of money. We cannot be certain if it was the
same as i>pK>, or perhaps larger. It has no connection with
Koptic CKITG, KITG, i.e. the Alexandrian drachme, double
drachme. 7 An old tradition 8 gave it as being lamb, it may be
without knowing why. 9
The purchase of property in land beside Shechem corre-
sponds to what A has in ch. xxiii., and has the same meaning ;

it was there that Joseph's bones were to be interred (Josh,

xxiv. 32). Everything points to this being a tradition of
Northern Israel, so that the verse is to be assigned to B.
There is no real contradiction with xlviii. 22, B presupposes
in xxxv. 4 a residence of Jacob's in Shechem, A and 6Y1
1 2
Composition, p. 316. Ch. xix. 13 ;
Lev. iv. 0.
3
The statement is repeated in Josh. xxiv. 32.
4 5
Ch. xxxvii. 12 f. Juclg. ix. 28.
6
Cf. notes on xiv. 13 and xxiii. 20.
7
E. Meier, Heb. Wtirterbuch, 394.
pt. Vulg. Onkelos.
<J
See also Madden, Jewish Coinage, 1864, p. 6.
10
Ch. xxxvii. 28.
37l] r.F.XERIS XXXIIT. 20-XXXIV. 1 293

reckon by shekels. The words D3B> UN alone may be an

addition of E's occasioned by ch. xxxiv., but they are found
in Josh. xxiv. 32 also.

Ver. 20. nvi never elsewhere with ratio as object, but

2
found certainly with nixv. 1 Either, therefore, ratio is a
correction for mano, and b for rb or Dlpc6, or R has run

together nnro 3V1 from B with ratio \$\ from C ;

it is hardly
likely that E contracted
3
an original ratio p l s
najrtD DVi into

4
Jacob names the altar (or standing-stone) El, the God
G
of Israel, not predicate to ta, 5 but in apposition
tani^ Tita 1
is ;

in any case Israel in B is thus early a reference to xxxii. 29.

The altar bears the name of the god to whom it is dedi-

7
cated ;
the name is a contraction for altar of El, etc. The
Septuagint wrongly reads ^ for ^ ft
8 9
Ch. xxxiv. 1. Dinah
goes out one day, from the camp,
10
to look at the daughters of the country, i.e. to look about

among them and make their acquaintance. She is here

supposed to be of marriageable age. In B n there would be

difficulty in such a supposition, for Jacob in his account

cannot have delayed his journey to Bethel too long 12 but ;

not in C (R\ who records a long intermediate residence

in Sukkoth (xxxiii. 17). According to the Book of
Jubilees (ch. xxix. f.), Jacob makes a stay in Sukkoth, then,
after crossing the Jordan, for seven years pastures his flocks

between the Dead Sea and Bethshean till he reaches Salem

(Shechem) ; Dinah, when seduced, was twelve years old.

Daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob compare

xvi. 15 f. and xxv. 12 in A as parallels to this expanded
style see also, however, xxi. 9 and xli. 50, in B.
;

Daughters of the country see note on xxvii. 46.

1 3
Ch. xxxv. 14, 20. Wellhausen.
3 4
Kautzsch-Socin. See xxxv. 7.
5 6
Knobel. Cf. notes on xvii. 1 and xiv. 18.
7
Ch. xxxv. 7 Ex. xvii. 15. 8
; Ch. xxx. 21.
9 10
Ch. xxxiii. 18. Judg. xvi. 27 ; Cant. vi. 11.
11 12
Cf. xxxi. 41 with xxx. 21. Ch. xxxv. 1 ff.
294 GENESIS XXXIV. 2, 3 [.372

Ver. 2a. Certainly from A, because of N'm Iu1

(and A
C ?), Shechem is son of Hamor, prince of the district, 2 and
the Bene Hamor are Hivvites, 3 otherwise than in B (xlviii.

22). It is a mere assertion that A, or one of his school,

wrote ^nn.

ptfn in xxii. 2, xxxv. 22, etc., also used of districts of

small extent.
Ver. 2Z>, from C. He took her, i.e. carried her off, and
seduced her. 4 Compare ver. 26, where Dinah is in Shechem ;

"
ver. 17 is different. Such conduct was not unusual in
5
those times, we learn from xii. 15, xx. 2, xxvi. 10."
nnx 33Bh 32^ is construed with Dy and DN ;
the

question remains whether ntf is the preposition with or the

sign of the accusative. The Massoretes understand the

latter,and always point it as such before suffixes. 6 We
cannot decide whether they were right the Kere of Deut. ;

xxi. 30 proves nothing regarding the older language. If the

tradition is justified, n aatr, in which the verb is transitive,

isplainly the coarser expression, and quite in place here and

in 2 Sam. xiii. 14, where it is a case of violation. It is

useless to maintain that C could not write this,

7
for, of

course, in xxx. 15f., xxxix. 7, 12, 14, only &y was

appropriate,
8
and C also, in xxvi. 10, has 2D^' with n
and a following noun (comp. ver. 7 and xxxv. 22).
Ver. 3. Love for Dinah follows his violation of her. A
doubtless had something corresponding to ver. a, such as
'y\ WBJ pKTirp (ver. 8).

P?. ii. 24 (xix. 19), in C. aruoi, xxiv. 67, xxix.

30, 32. "W, as vv. 12, 24, 14, 16, 28, 55, 57,
in C.

1 2
Chs. xvii. 20, xxiii. 6, xxv. 16. Of. xxxiii. 19.
3
Ch. x. 17.
4
Deut. xxii. 24 ; Judg. xix. 24, and frequently.
Knobd,
6
Lev. xv. 18, 24 ; Num. v. 13, 19 ;
2 Sam. xiii. 14.

8
Ch. xix. 32 ff., where the woman is subject, is not a parallel.
372] CKNKSIS XXXIV. 1-7 295

/A' sought to hearten, to quiet, by

spoke to the heart of
his loveand the prospect of the future, the feeling aroused
by what had occurred.
1

\Vr. 4. In any case not from the source whose account

precedes, in view of the use of m^ for 1573, and because in C

Shecheni himself seeks Dinah in marriage (ver. 11). Shechem
asks his father to get him Dinah to be his wife it was ;

the business of the parents to do such a thing (xxi. 21).

There is no hint of the occurrences of ver. 2 ;
the wooing is

proceeded with as if there had been no previous motion,

and as if the girl were still in her parents' house.
Ver. 5. Belonging to the narrative of vv. 21 and 3.
Jacob had learned, indeed, of the occurrence, but had kept
2
silence, i.e. had made no movement, demanded no account,
because his sons were absent with the flocks, and he wished
to await their return. This explains why what happened led
tono immediate action on the part of Jacob and his sons.
The brothers' judgment was of consequence (xxiv. 50).
Ntttp dishonour, defile (Ezek. xviii. 6 ff., xxxiii. 26), as
vv. 13, 27 ; comp. ver. 31.

fcy'nnn xxiv.21 ;
Ex. xiv. 14.
Ver. 6. A's continuation of ver. 4.

Ver. 7. C"s continuation of ver. 5 ;

all the expressions
used are foreign to ^t's vocabulary. By the time Hamor
came out from the city the sons had heard the news, and
returned home full of anger.

n^Wi as in ch. vi. 6, from C. The Sept. translates

as if the text were tttfjmn Djnpra.

nrT"i see ch. iv. 5.

For he has done in Israel an act of folly committed

what regarded in Israel as an infamous deed.
is The
expression is the stereotyped one for such an offence between
"
the sexes. 3 Eather naively the author applies the ex-

1
Knobel. Cf. 1. 21 Hos. ; ii. 16, and frequently.
Sum. xix. 11 [10].
3
Deut. xxii. 21 Judg. xx.; 6, 10 ;
2 Sam. xiii. 12 ff.
 2 GENESIS XXXIV. 8-11 F. [372, 373

pression of a later time to that of the patriarchs,

when there
1
was as yet no Israelitish people."

And thus it is not done it is contrary to recognised

2
usage and practice (current morality).
Vv. 8-10. Hamor's proposal, according to A, with the

exception that R
has changed in (ver. 6) into DriN. Besides

proposing that there should be intermarriage between them,

he offers a permanent settlement in the land, which, as
3
prince, he could do.

njWi Deut. xxi. 11 ;

a different expression in ver. 3.

Your daughter plural suffix, see ch. xxiv. 59 f. ;

2nd
pers., because the father is addressed, but plural, because
the brothers are also in mind.
13HK unnnn ally us in marriage, n&* being, according to
4
the Massoretic punctuation, the sign of the accusative; but
the writer may have intended the preposition with. 1 Kings
iii. 1 allows either construction. The verb is found again
in the Hexateuch only in Deut. vii. 3 and Josh, xxiii. 12.

D3W& "before you, ver. 21 and xlvii. 6, in A ;

else-

where in xiii. 9, xx. 15.

nnno in xlii. 34, in B, but "inb in xxiii. 16, in A.

Pass through it, quite at your will, with your flocks (cf.

ver. 21).

m irnxni and settle yourselves in it, take abiding posses-

sion in it ;
so rnw again, in A, in xlvii. 27 ;
Num. xxxii. 30 ;

Josh. xxii. 9, 19.

Ver. 11 f., from C. In ver. 6 Hamor came alone. When,
accordingly, Shechem now appears conducting his own suit,
there is want of agreement with vv. 4 and 6, and proof that
we have here the account of another source. Shechem
declares himself ready to carry out anything they may
i
mi)ose. The language is that of C.
}n KD in vi. 8, xviii. 3, and frequently ; especially
xxxii. 6, xxxiii. 8, 15.

3
Knobel. 2
Q^ xx 9? xxix 6
See xx. 15. 4
Ewald, 1246.
 373] CKXESTS XXXIV. 13-17 297

1
the price of the bride paid to her parents.
"info |n is

the present to the bride. The words are distinguished in

xxiv. 53 also.

iW see ver. 3.
Ver. 13. Introduction to the reply given to Shechem
and Hamor toycther ;
from C and E. The sons of Jacob,
who were directly addressed by the wooer in ver. 11, esteem
the honour and purity of their tribe more than material gain,
and are determined not to accede to the proposal. The
condition of circumcision, which they are about to make, is

an intentional device on their part. Their whole thought

was to revenge a disgrace which they have already incurred.
The present text speaks of all the brothers being concerned ;

we cannot decide whether, in C, only Simeon and Levi were

originally named; in ver. 14 the Septuagint expressly gives
their names.

mm the meaning, act in a behind-hand manner, 2 cannot

be proved for ^\ 3
so we are most justified in restoring
rroca raTl. 4 It may be, however, that TDTI is an insertion
by the hand to which 'y\ T^'K is due this is more ; likely than
that the word is a survival from another source. 5
For rro3, comp. xxvii. 35 ;
and for -IPK = because, ver.
27 and xxxi. 49 (from R).
Vv. 14-17. The reply itself; only in vv. 15-17 in the
original form which it had in A, in ver. 14 mixed and
redacted ;
the
expressions Dfpfat nos' (inconsistent with
1
!

ver. 6) and ^nins (in vv. 17 and 8 ^na) are on the lines
of (7's narrative, and r6~iy "6 IP'K stands apart from both

narratives. Hamor had

not only asked Dinah in marriage,
but had proposed connubium between the clans, and that

they should dwell together from now onwards; vv. 15-17

are the reply to this. They will agree to amalgamate as one

1
Ex. xxii. 15f.; 1 Sam. xviii. 25.
2 4
Schultens, Gesenius, Knobel, Delitzsch .

Regarding 2 Chron. xxii. 10, see Bertheau.

:)

4 5
Schumann, Schrader, Olshausen. Cornill.
298 GENESIS XXXIV. 18-24 [373, 374

people and settle together only if the Shechemites circumcise

themselves. Otherwise they will take Dinah, and, i.e. with
her, leave the district. According to this Dinah is not in

Shechem, as in vv. 2 and 26.

Ttiwh tau tib see xix. 22. They regard marriage with
those who are imcircumcised not merely as objectionable, 1
but as a disgrace, which is a later view of the matter. 2
nNT3 .
pretii, in exchange for this, i.e. on this condition,
as ver. 22 and 1 Sam. xi. 2.

ni&u we will agree, only here, ver. 22f. and 2 Kings

xii. 9 ; impf. Niph. of nitf (according to Hitzig intrans. impf.
Kal; see xxiii. 13).

'm as xvii. 10.

ten^
wna see ver. 8.
3
Ver. 18. In no case from A, in view of 'y\ utD"l. It

introduces ver. 18. They are willing to agree to this

condition.

Ver. 19. Belongs to the account of ver. llf., in which

Shechem is himself the negotiator. He does not hesitate to
do the thing, i.e. to accept the condition proposed. As he
was the most esteemed of all his people, this was a great
honour for the house of Jacob ;
it is uncertain if we should
also supply the thought that he also easily induced the
others to follow his example.

"in*?, for "inw, because of K. 4 pan, Num. xiv. 8.

Vv. 20-24 continue vv. 15-17 (18*), and are therefore

from A. According to him, Hamor (and Shechem) first of
all lays the matter before the assembly of the people in the
5
gate at Shechem for their decision, and is successful in

getting the doubtful condition accepted. He recalls the

friendly disposition of the people of Jacob, they are on good

terms with us, on a friendly footing further, that the land is ;

6
wide, and has room enough for them left and right, and
7

2 3
xiv. 3. Knobel. See Lev. x. 19.
4 5
Konig, Lehrgebaude, p. 397. Ch. xxiii. 4, 10.
7
Judg. xviii. 10 Isa. xxii. 18, xxxiii. 21.
; Cf. ver. 10.
374] C.ENESIS XXXIV. LM, 2r, F. 299

then impresses tin- advantage they will secure, inasmuch

as that the people, being very rich, will increase tin-

prosperity of Sheclicm by amalgamation with it.

l
D'Bfe Geiger gives a strange rendering.
QBp Sam. Sept. Pesh. and Vulg. have simply 13B?.,

which would then be taken with*unK.

D^bp xvii. 26.

'ji DrupD also in xxxvi. 6 and Josh. xiv. 4, in (comp. A

Gen. xxxi. 18). As distinguished from mp&, n p[ 2 are the |

beasts of burden (camels and asses), as in Num. xxxii. 26 ;

pjp is other property.

The Shechemites accept the proposal, and have
Ver. 24.
themselves circumcised. It is assumed that they were

hitherto uncircumcised, but that they found nothing strange

2
in the custom. Their circumcising of themselves all on one
day (ver. 25) is as in xvii. 23 and Josh. v. 3 ff.

W 'N^ ba comp. xxiii. 10, 18.

Ver. 25f. From C (comp. 266 with 25) and A (at least
25& indicates his hand). 3 On the third day after the circum-

cision, when the pain and illness are greatest in the case of
4
grown-up persons, Simeon and Levi, doubtless with followers,
fall on the Shechemites, kill all the male inhabitants of the

town, and carry Dinah off with them from Shechem's house.
In this way -they prevent Dinah's being given to her lover
(A's account), or took on themselves to revenge her dishonour
5
(according to C). There must be a historical explanation of
Keuben's not having participated in the deed of Simeon and
Levi (cf. xlix. 6 f.).
n elsewhere n P??, untroubled, in fancied security to
9| ;

1
Urschrifi, p. 76.
2
See above,p. 77 f .

Assigned to R in 5th edition.

3

4
Arvieux [Mvmoires, iii. 172], Germ, tr., Merkiviirdige Nachrichten,
3
iii. 146; Winer, i. 160.
5
Cf. 2 Sam. xiii. 28 f. ; Niebuhr, Arabien, p. 39 Burckhardt [Syria,
;

p. 224], Germ. tr. 361 f.; Bedouins, pp. 116, 278 f., Germ. tr. 89, 224f.
Knobel.
300 GENESIS XXXIV. 27-30 F. [374,375

be taken with Tyn, as in Ezek. xxx. 9, 1 being accusative of

2
condition.

mn *& according to the sword's mouth, as much as it can

devour, as it does in war ;
as in a war, and without mercy.

Only here with rin, frequent with other verbs, especially nsn,
but not in A.
IN^I from the city (ver. 25), not from the house.
Vv. 2729. Attached without I, 3 is seen to be an addi-
tion to the original text. Ver. 30 f. continues 25f. without

any consciousness of 27-29; and if the text were from one

hand we should have either '
b or cnKBfcn spy ^. The
addition is from R or from a redactor, inserted perhaps to
4
harmonise with xlviii. 22, and to give the rest of Israel also

a share in the honour associated (by a later time) with the

deed. The clause Dninx iNttts IP'S reveals the same hand as
13& and 5 a. A
out of the question, if only because ^21
is

and |^i? are wanting. It cannot be proved that the verses

are what suggested Num. xxxi.; 5 they might as readily be

6
themselves a copy, or be due to the same late hand.
The sons of Jacob come down on the slain, plunder the
city, carry off the cattle, and take away captive the women
and children.
Ver. 3 Of. From C. Jacob blames Simeon and Levi for
the mischief they have wrought in exposing him to the hate
and revenge of the inhabitants of the district. " Jacob does
not here blame the wrongfulness of the deed (as in xlix. 6f.),
but the thoughtlessness of his sons which brings calamity
7
upon him."
1 2 25
Knobel. Gesenius, 118. 5a.
3
The \J;H of the Sept. Sainar. and Pesh. for IKI^, which we expect,
is only an attempt to get out of the difficulty.
4
Bohmer, Merx in Bibellexicon, ii. 5 f.
5
Cornill.
''

^Tl, possessions, property (ver. 29 and Num. xxxi. 9, and nowhere

( '!'

else in Pent; ? Deut. viii. 17f.); D'nDni Ipai }K (ver. 28 and Num.
xxxi. 28 ff.; Gen. xii. \yy QrPBO n*0 DDO DK (ver. 29 and Num.
16).
xxxi. 9). Cornill.
7
Knobel.
375] GENESIS XXXIV. .31 -XXXV. 1501

oy again in the Hexateuch in Josh. vi. 18 and vil 25.

B^fcCfi make to stink, i.e.
bring into bad odour with
someone, make an object of aversion and hatred.
1

Kana'ani and Perizzi see xiii. 7.

While I am people of a number I and
people are my
computable, few, a mere handful, 2 easily overpowered if the
inhabitants of the country attack.
WlOfcbl Lev. xxvi. 30, but especially in Deuteronomy.
Ver. 31. But the honour of their tribe stands above

every other consideration with the sons. May he treat our

sisteras a prostitute? have liberty to do with her 3 as one
4
does with a street girl.

3. JACOB'S JOURNEY TO ISAAC BY WAY OF BETHEL, AND THE

END OF ISAAC'S LIFE, CH. XXXV.; FROM B, A, AND

All the remaining narratives which belong to the Toledoth

of Isaac are here
grouped together, (a) Jacob removes every
and having done so journeys
sign of idolatry in his family,
from Shechem to Bethel, and there builds an altar to his
God. Deborah, Eebecca's nurse, dies below Bethel (vv. 1-8).
AB section, with ver. 5 inserted by R and Qa in accordance t

with A. (b)
El Shaddai appears to Jacob in Luz, changes
his name to Israel, and promises him a numerous posterity
and the possession of the land of Canaan. Jacob erects a
memorial stone, consecrates it by a libation and oil, and names
the place Bethel (vv. 915). From A, except niy in ver. 9,
and perhaps ver. 14. (c) Farther on the journey, Eachel
dies in giving birth to Benjamin, and is buried by Jacob on
the road from Bethel to Ephrath. Beyond Migdol 'Eder,
Eeuben commits an offence with his father's concubine
(vv. 16-22a). A compilation by E from C (A) and B. (d)

1
Ex. v. 21 (1 Sam. xiii. 4 ;
2 Sam. x. 6).
2
Deut. iv. 27; Ps. cv. 12 ;
Isa. x. 9.
3 4
Of. Lev. xvi. 15. Ch. xxxviii. 15.
302 GENESIS XXXV. 1-4 [376

Jacob and his twelve sons finally reach Isaac in Hebron.

The account of Isaac's death and burial follows (vv. 22&-29).

From A.
(a) Vv. 1-8. Jacob moves on to Bethel; the death of
Deborah.
Ver. 1. God's command that Jacob should set out for

Bethel. The use of DTita shows that C is not the author ;

but neither is A,
1
for whom Bethel did not yet exist

(vv. 6, 15). B is the author. But there no connection,

is

causal or otherwise, with the events of ch. xxxiv. This shows

that in the present context (between xxxiii. 20 and xxxv. 1)
B had no account of hostilities with Shechem,2 but, on the

contrary, placed his parallel history (xlviii. 22), if he had

one, elsewhere (see also note on xxxvii. 13). Jacob is still
on his return journey, according to JB's narrative, and the
command is explained by the vow of xxviii. 20 ff.
(comp.
xxxi. 13).

Jacob commanded to make a stay in Bethel, and erect

is

an altar there. The temple which he had vowed (xxviii. 22)

is here made an altar by divine order.
3
n!?JJ Bethel was situated on the hills.

p^N n&njn tan compare xii. 7.

Vv. 24. Jacob makes in family the necessary

his

preparations. He requires them to put out of their midst

4
the foreign gods.
"

Rachel had teraphim 5 Jacob's servants ;

had other gods; 6 and ver. 4 includes in what was put away
objects of heathen superstition, like earrings, which served as
7
amulets and charms. Anything connected with heathenism
is incompatible with the worship of the one God, whose
8
worshipper he had vowed his willingness to be. Further, as
was customary and necessary before acts of divine worship, 9
1
Knobel.
2
Against Wellhausen, JBDTh. xxi. 437.
3 4
Ch. xii. 8, xiii. 15. Josh. xxiv. 20, 23, in B.
1
xxxi. 19. c
< 'h. ch. xxxi. 53; Josh. xxiv. 2, 14, in B.
7 3 8
Winer, i. 56. Ch. xxviii. 21 ; cf. also xviii. 19.
9
Ex. xix. 10 II'.
;
Josh. vii. 13, and frequently.
:;7.;|
GENESIS xxxv. r, 303

Jacob requires them In /m.rify themselves, c.y. by ablutions, and

by keeping free from all that renders unclean, and to change
*
their garments, dress in their best (elsewhere, wash their
2
clothes ).
He desires to erect an altar (ver. 1), and, of course,

also sacrifice, to the God who

him in the day, i.e. listened to

the time, of his distress (pressure)? e.g. when needing help

4 5
against Laban, and was with him on the way, homewards
6
also. He buries
7
the heathen symbols under the terebinth
8
beside Shechem He certainly does not thereby consecrate
the spot rather he debases it ;
but this does not provide a
9
reason against B's authorship; as a matter of fact, it is in
B that the place is, so to speak, consecrated anew for Israel

2026, where the Massoretes punctuated n

(Josh. xxiv. ?x,

oak). The Septuagint adds, as a concluding sentence, Kai

d7ra)\ecrev avra ecu? rrjs arffjuepov rjfjiepas.

Ver. 5. After these preparations, and so without hurry

or haste, they start on the way. The author accounts for
their exemption from pursuit by the neighbouring towns by
a terror of God, i.e. a state of fear brought on them by God,
which made them faint-hearted. 10 DV&C suffices to express the
11
idea supernatural.
12
The verse is an interpolation into It's text, for in vv. 4
and 6 f. Jacob is subject, but here a plural (the sons of Jacob),
as in ver. 16,. Ch. xxxiv. is presupposed by it, and it is an

by R
1*
insertion hardly from A, in spite of DTita, more
possibly from C, who in any case also recounted Israel's
journey from Shechem by Bethel to Isaac.
iyD s l see xvi. 21, xxxiii. 17, xlvi. 1.

nnn only here.

2
1
Ch. xxvii. 15. Ex. xix. 10, 14; Num. viii. 7.
3 4
Ch. xlii. 21. Ch. xxxi. 24, xxix. 42.
5 G
See xxi. 20. Ch. xxxii. Iff.
7 8
Ex. ii. 12. See xii. 6.
9
Bohmer.
10
Ex. xxiii. 27; 2 Cliron. xiv. 13. Knobel.
11
2 Chron. xx. 29 alongside of xiv. 13, and Zech. xiv. 13.
12 13
Against Wellhausen. So also Kuenen, OmlcKoek, 3 316.
14
Knobel.
 304 GENESIS XXXV. 6-8 [377

Ver. 6. Arrival in Luz (Bethel).

In narrative the place spoken of had long held the
It's

name Bethel, so that he could not write ver. a as it has been

1

written, while A could certainly. 2 tarrn Kin is a gloss from

R, who reverts to B in what follows. E may be supposed to

have had ^jvn Wi. 3
ley "i^K Djjrri>3 see ver. 2, and in (7 xxxii. 8.

Ver. 7. He builds there an altar. Nothing is said

regarding the worship itself, nor, in particular, regarding the

giving of a tithe, promised in xxviii. 22. may have con- E
4
densed the original ;
the Book of Jubilees contains expan-
sions. He named the spot (own)
5
God of Bethel (cf.

xxxiii. 20). This is the name of the altar, or of the sacred

which comprised, we may suppose, more than the altar.

spot,
For 'y\ &rip'i, see xxxii. 3, 31. The Sept. Vulg. and Pesh.
find a difficulty in DipE>n, and therefore omit ^K before ^KJVa,
unlike xxviii. 19.
6
to plural, because the angels are included in the

meaning of D'fl/W (see also xx. 13).

Ver. 8. Below Bethel the death of Deborah, Eebecca's

nurse, takes place. Her name is mentioned only here con- ;

trast xxiv. 59 in C. She was doubtless a character of some

importance the old heroic legends.?
in Her memory was
kept alive by the oak of weeping, or mourning, below Bethel,
8
where her grave was shown. Deborahs palm (Judg. iv. 5),
9
also, will be the same tree ; compare, too, Tabor's terebinth
10
in 1 Sam. x. 3. According to C, Eebecca's nurse had
come with her to Canaan (xxiv. 59). Weak attempts
have been made to reconcile B and C by supposing that the
1
Ch. xxviii. 19, xxxv. 1, 3.
2
Cf. ver. 15 and xlviii. 3, and the addition in xxxiii. 18, in A, in the
land of Canaan.
3 4
Kautzsch-Socin. Ch. xxxi.f.
5 c
See xii. 6, xxviii. 11. Ch. xxviii. 12.
7
Kwald, Geschichte* i. 421 [History, i. 293 f.].
8
See note xiv. 6.
Bolilen, Tueh, Kwald, Delitzsch, Wellhausen.
10
Ewald, Geschichtc* iii. 31 [History, iii. 21].
377] GENESIS XXXV. .),
10 305

nurse had returned to Mesopotamia in the interval, 1 or had

been the messenger sent by llebecca, in accordance with her

promise in xxvii. 45, or had come from Hebron to Bethel

2

to meet Jacob. 3 We must recognise that there is divergence

in the tradition, 1
and this is an additional reason for not

ascribing ver. 8 to
( '.'

(b) Vv. 915. A passage from A originally introduced

by 6 a-, and referred to again in xlviii. o f. The subject is

Jacob's installation as mediator of the promises, arid it has

the same significance in Jacob's history that ch. xvii. had in
Abraham's.
Ver. 9. See ch. xvii. 1. iiy, once more, does not refer to

ver. 1 a, but to xxviii. 1 1 ff., and is an insertion by R (? fol-

lowing C). For ink, the Sept and Sainar. read DTita ins.

Ver. 10. The want of any explanation of the name Israel

is, we may suppose, not original, but due to an excision by 7

E, occasioned by xxxii. 29. At least the significance of the

name was by no means clear, as it was in xvii. 15 and
Num. xiii. 16. We are doubtless to explain the fact that A
continues to name the patriarch Jacob 8 and not Israel, just
as B does,
9
although he calls the sons "33,
10
by the
usage, never departed from, by which Israel was more a
national than a personal name. 11 It is all the more remark-

able that G and R from now onwards use Israel for Jacob. 12
We may conclude from this that C, as well as A, here for the
first time spoke of the change of name (see, further, ver. 14).

1
Nachmann, Abarbanel.
2 4
Rashi, Kinichi, Delitzsch imagine a woman, and one more than a
;

hundred years old, sent through the desert as a messenger.

3 4
Mercerus, Keil. Knobel.
5
As Hupfeld does. Tuch, Knobel.
7 8
Cf. xvii. 5. E.g. ver. 15.
9
But see xxxiii. 20.
10
Ch. xlii. 5, xlv. 21, xlvi. 5, 8, xlix. 28, 1. 25 ; but see xxxv. 22,
xlvi. 26, in A, where 3pjji 133
is still used.
11
Tuch.
12
Ch. xxxv. 21 f., xxxvii. 3, 13, xliii. 6, 8, 11, xlv. 28, xlvi. If., 30,
xlvii. 29, 31, xlviii. 2, 8, 10, 13, 21, 1. 2.

PILLMANN, II, 20
300 GENESIS XXXV. 11-14 F. [378

If not, we require to assume

l
that R only now allowed
to stand in the passages from C, and had up to this point
2
removed it out of consideration for A's account. Geiger's
3
explanation is untenable, and Kuenen does not do full justice
to the facts.

Kip^ 110 t therefore he is named* but and he named. This

is the reason that ver. 1 1 begins afresh with 'y\ -IE^I.

Ver. 11. The promise of multiplication and of royal

descendants, as in xvii. 6, 16. For the phraseology, comp.
also xxviii. 3 and xlviii. 4. For TWip, comp. xlvi. 26 and
Ex. i. 5 ;
see note on xxiv. 2. *nt? ta, see xvii. 1.

Ver. 12. The assurance of the future possession of the

land comp. xvii. 8 and xii. 7.
; Up to this point A has not
expressly recorded a promise of the land to Isaac, nor does
Isaac in xxviii. 4 (from A) claim any such promise ;
still it

is implicit in the covenant promise given to Isaac in xvii. 19,

5
2 1. See also p. 200 f.

Ver. 13, as xvii. 22. Kuenen regards ver. & as a ditto-

graphy from ver. 14.
Ver. 1 4 f As a memorial . of the theophany, Jacob erects
a monumental stone, as in xxviii. 18 (B), and consecrates it,

not only (as in xxviii. 18) by pouring oil over it, but also by
a libation, of wine if the ordinary linguistic usage is followed. 7
There is no reason for taking {&> rr^y p^i as epexegetical to
"ID and understanding a libation of oil. 8 Sacrifices, altars,
111

!,

and standing stones are mentioned by A nowhere else in the

patriarchal histories, and it is therefore questionable if this
9
verse is from him. It may be an insertion by R, but not in

independence of his sources, for he himself no longer possessed

1
Kittel, Geschichte, p. 142 [Eng. tr. vol. i.
p. 156, note 3].
2
Urschrift, p. 37 If.
3
Onderzoek* 310 f.
4 5
Kautzsch-Socin. Knobel.
6 2
Onderzoek, 316 Kautzsch-Socin.
;

7
Targ. Jon., wine and water.
s
Winer, Knobel, Kbhler, Wellhausen.
IJ

Wellhausen, Kuenen, etc,

378, 37! i] GENESIS XXXV. 1C ,,07

1
any interest in standing stones. It is not from 7?, but from
C,
2
who gave
here not, indeed, the theophany which now
stands in xxviii. 13ff., 3 but perhaps, we may suppose, mi
account of a new manifestation of God in Bethel, parallel to
change of name
A's, u id doubtless also an account of Jacob's
;

(see ver. 10). It was then in consequence of this that Jacob

erected and consecrated the mafD already referred to by B in

xxviii. 18. The expression p mam is also remarkable, as
if the wish were to mark it as a mere stone monument. For
ver. 15, see xxviii. 19.

(c) Vv. 16-22a. Continuation of the journey. First,

Benjamin's birth and the death and burial of Rachel are

recounted (vv. 16-20). In also (xlviii. 7) the death andA
burial of Eachel in Ephrath are mentioned, but vv. 24 and 26

exclude his having related Benjamin's birth in Ephrath. For

4
this and other reasons vv. 16-19 are from C, but ver. 20,

because of apjp, from J5, who, however, must have had the
5
notice in another context.
Ver. 16. '3D iyb'1, as in ver. 5.

pn rraD the length of the land, the stretch of road still

to be covered before Ephrath was reached. The distance

cannot be exactly determined, even from
and) (xlviii. 7
2 Kings v. 19, where
the expression (without the article)

again occurs. In any case it was not great 6 the Septuagint ;

makes it a tV-TroSpcyio?, the Peshitta a parasang. 7

8
Ephrath in ver. 19 (xlviii. 7), identified with Bethlehem,
two hours south of Jerusalem. But 1 Sam. x. 2 ff.
puts
Eachel's grave much farther north in the territory of

1
Cornill in ZATW. xi. 15 ff., who imagines ver. 14 to have been

originally a continuation of ver. 8, the fiDlflD to have been a gravestone,

and the offering one to the dead.
2
Kuenen, Onderzoek* 222-316 ; Wellhausen, Composition, 319.
3 Bacon in Hebraica, vii. 283.
4
lyD*!, ver. 17, compared with xxxvii. 10; the scene laid in Ephrath.
5 6
Because of xxxvii. 10. Knobel.
7
See, further, Jerome, Qucestiones, and Gesenius, Thesaurus ;
also
Schumann.
8
Originally according to Keil, and Kohler, Geschichte, i. 150.
 308 GENESIS XXXV. 17-19 F.
[379

Benjamin, or on the border between Benjamin and Ephraim,

on the way between Eamah of Samuel and Gibeah of Saul,
not very far from Bethel ;
and Jer. xxxi. 1 5 agrees with this.

That also suits the requirements of the case, for Eachel was
the ancestress of Joseph and Benjamin. But there is as yet
no trace ofan Ephrath on the borders of Ephrairn and
Benjamin. The name Ephrath here must therefore really
1

have been intended for Bethlehem, and the interpretation

of ver. 19 will be, in so far, original. In that case we have
2
to assume a Judean tradition other than the Ephraimite,

according to which the grave was situated near the Judean

Ephrath, and that it is this which the Judean writer C (and

A) records. Their tradition has prevailed among Jews,
Christians, and Moslems. 3 The harmonistic device of extend-

ing pK rn33 to be a distance of several miles, so as to allow

Ephrath to be the place beside Bethel, makes shipwreck

on the meaninglessness of a statement of distance from
Bethlehem.
She was hard set in giving birth she had a hard or
difficult delivery.

Ver. 17. The midwife, a woman skilled in such matters,

"
encourages her with the prospect of a son for this one too :

is a son
for you, in this as in your first birth you will have a
4
boy, a child of the preferred sex." Ch. xxx. 24 was the
expression of her hope, m^o in Ex. i. 15ff. in B, and Gen.
xxxviii. 28 in C.

Ver. 18. But she dies, and when dying names her child

my son of misfortune, inasmuch as he

brings her death to
her. In place of this nomen infaustum the father chooses the
name son of the right, or child of
fortune, seeing the right side
was the lucky one to the ancients. 5
Ver. 1 9 f. Eebecca dies, and is buried on the road which
1
Thenius, Knobel, Graf, Hitzig, etc.
2 5
Noldeke, Delitzsch .

3
See Matt. ii. 18 Winer, 3 i. 334 ;
4
;
Eiehm, Handworterbuch, 1263.
Cf. iv. 1, xxix. 32
Sam. iv. 20. Knobel
; 1
*
Gesenius, Thesaurus, 559 also ZDMG. xxi. G01 ; if,
379, 380] CKNKSIS XXXV L'l, i':i

leads (from Bethel) to Ephruth. Jacob erects -i iiionuniL'iitsil

1
stone over her grave. Regarding the Christian tradition
about the grave half an hour north of Bethlehem,
Robinson. 2

fl*}?!?,
also in xlvii. 30 ;
Deut. xxxiv. 6. DVmy, as
xix. 37f. (? from R).
Ver. 21, from 0. JJD*I, as vv. 5 and 16. fc&ob*, see note
on ver. 10 ;
ritax t^i, see note on xxvi. 25.

Beyond a cattle tower such towers, used for pastoral

3
purposes, were numerous, at least in later times that here ;

intended, though without the article, is defined by the context

as lying between Ephrath and Hebron. The earliest exposi-
4
tors gave its situation as at Jerusalem ;
and so more recent
5
writers. With this idea the Septuagint has even set ver.
21 after ta nuo in ver. 16. But the figurative language of
Mic. iv. 8 does not prove that it was a tower on one of the

hills of Jerusalem. Later tradition localises the tower in the

6
neighbourhood of Bethlehem-.

Ver. 22& seems to have been remodelled by R, as Ettfa

7
indicates, even though in its origin from C. Reuben lies
with his father's concubine, Bilhah. 8 The ultimate meaning
of this brief statement is presumably that the ancient custom
of marriage with the wives or concubines of one's father, which
9
long continued an Arab practice also, and is even mentioned
10
as occurring in the history of the Israelite kings, continued
11
notoriously prevalent in the tribe of Reuben. The abrupt
conclusion, and Israel heard (it), is doubtless not due to a

1
Cf. ver. 14, but also xxviii. 18, xxxi. 45, xxxiii. 20, from B.
2
l',i.lestine*i. 218 f.
"
-2
Kiii^s xvii. !>, xviii. 8 ~2 Ohnni. xxvi. 10.
;

1
.lews in Jerome's QiHratfnm-x.
5
Von Bohlen, Knobel, Wi-llliaust-n, and others.
6
Tobler, Bethlehem, 255 ff.
7
See note on xxv. <>, xxii. 24.
8
See xlix. 3f. Strain), xvi. 4. L'.V
10
Kuran, iv. 26 ; Abulfida, Ilitt. Anteisl. p. 180, ed. Fleisclu-r.
11
See above, p. 113, and Robertson Smith in Journal of Philology,
ix. 8G ff.
310 GENESIS XXXV. 27 FF. [380

mutilation of the text, 1 but is an intentional reference to

xlix. 3 f. The sentence and paragraph ends here ;

but later,

when the text was read in public, the reader did not linger
over such a doubtful passage, but hurried on and this practice ;

has found its expression in the second accentuation of the

2
Massoretes (placed before the earlier).

(d) List of Jacob's twelve sons, his arrival at Mamre

where Isaac was, Isaac's death and burial, vv. 22&-29, from
A. The list of sons suitably follows the account of the
birth of They are arranged according to their
the last.

maternal parentage, and the order of age within this arrange-

ment agrees with that of ch. xxix. f. All the twelve sons,

including, therefore, Benjamin, are born in Paddan Aram,

according to this statement. R has silently excepted
Benjamin, and so most modern expositors.
1?* Samar. and some Hebrew MSS. fljj,
as in xxxvi. 5 ;

for T^, see iv. 18, xvii. 5, xxi. 5, xlvi. 28.

Ver. 27 ff. At last Jacob, with all his following, reaches

Isaac in Mamre, the Arba town.

f
3
After pnv W the Sept.
4
adds TI itPK. Isaac is buried by Esau and Jacob, as

Abraham had been by Isaac and Ishmael (xxv. 9). From

31 we learn it was in the cave of Makhpelah.
ch. xlix. For
VBjrta, see xxv. 8.
"
The writer gives thus early his account of Isaac's death
because he wishes to conclude his history of him. 5 According
to his chronology, Isaac was still alive at the date of the

occurrences in ch. xxxvii. At Isaac's death Jacob was 120

years old, and when he migrated to Egypt he was 130.
6

But his 130th year coincided nearly with Joseph's 40th,

and the latterwas only 17 years old in xxxvii. 2." 7 In
these statements Knobel assumes that the chronology of
xxxvii. 2 f. and of xli. 46, regarding Joseph, is from A, and

1 2
Comp. the addition by the Sept. Geiger, Urschrift, 373.
3
See xxiii. 2. 4
See xxv. 7.
5
See xi. 32.
* 7
Chs. xxv. 26, xxxv. 28, xlvii. 9. Knohel.
380, 381 ] GENESIS XXXV. 27 VV. 3 1 1

he brings to his help the years of blessing and of famine in

2
Egypt, of which nine or ten had passed
1
since Joseph's

preferment.
3
But it is questionable if we are entitled to do

this, seeing that we cannot certainly prove that all these

numbers are from A. What we learn from him with
certainty is as follows. Ch. xlvi. states that in his 130th
4
year Jacob's sons had all already sons of their own,
Benjamin as many as ten, and that Judah and Asher had
each two grandsons. If, however, we put its testimony
"
aside on the ground that the list cannot in any way be
5
fitted into the historical framework of Genesis," and is

marked by the work of a later hand, other evidence remains.

Chs. xx vi. 34f., xxvii. 46, and xxviii. 1 ff. make it clear that
Jacob migrated to Paddan Aram between his 40th and 50th
years, and regarding Ishmael, agrees with this.
xxviii. 9,

Between this migration and that to Egypt there is, then, an

interval of over 80 years. How much of this period belongs

to the stay in Paddan and how much to the time spent

afterwards in Hebron we cannot now say. But it is clearly
sufficient to allow of his having many grandsons and even
great grandsons, and to dispose of the assertion that ch. xlvi.
cannot be fitted into the historical framework of Genesis.
Ch. xlvi. may be given its place even if the figure given in
xxxvii. 2 is -from A as well as that in xli. 26; for in 13 +9
6
years after the date fixed by xxxvii. 2 even Benjamin
who was younger than Joseph (xxxv. 24), might have ten
children. The assumption of the harmonists, 7 that Jacob,
when he migrated to Harran, was over 70 years old, more
exactly 76, makes no distinction between the sources, does
not do justice to the statements of xxvi. 34, xxvii. 46,
xxviii. 1 ff., must unduly prolong the
contradicts xxviii. 9,

stay in Sukkoth and Shechem (xxxiii. 17 11'.), and after all

1 2
Chs. xli. 47 f., 53 f., Ch. xlv. 6.
xlv. 6.
3 4
Ch. xli. 46. Ch. xlvii. 9.
5
Wellhausen, JBDTh. xxi. 440 f. Chs. xxxvii. 2, xli. 46, xlv. 6.
7
See in Delitzsch, Keil, Kohler, Gcschichte, i. 135 f., 150 f.
312 GENESIS XXXVI [381

does not explain how in ch. xlvi. Judah could already have
grandchildren, and Benjamin, even, ten sons.

4. ESAU AND THE EDOMITES, CH. XXXVI. ;

MAINLY
FOLLOWING A.

Before the transition is made to the Toledoth of Jacob

the collateral line of Esau is disposed of. First we are told

how Esau, while Canaan, had five sons by three

still in

wives, then how he gave place to Jacob and departed to the

mountain land of Se'ir with his dependants and all his
property (vv. 18). There follows an enumeration of
Esau's sons and grandsons in Se'ir, and of the Edomite tribes
descended from them (vv. 919), also of the aboriginal
Horite tribes of Se'ir (vv. 2030). Finally, there is a list of

the Edomite kings (31-39), and a second enumeration of the

territorial division of the Edomite tribes of later date

( vv 40-43).
.

The amount of detail devoted to these various matters is

explicable from the fact that Edom was always counted

Israel's brother, and was of the greatest importance in the
history of Israel. The Horites were the original inhabitants
of the land in the mountain country of Se'ir (ver. 20). The
Hebrews under Esau entered and amalgamated their country
with them, Esau married the Horite Oholibamah (ver. 2),
and his son Eliphaz the Horite Timna' (vv. 12, 22). But
the Esauites became the rulers of the land in Se'ir as the
Israelites did in Canaan Jahve gave them Se'ir, 1 the whole
;

country as far as the Gulf of 'Akaba. 2 Yet clearly defined

Horite communities must still have continued to exist under
their supremacy, so that it was not only possible to give a

separate description of their tribal divisions, but of sufficient

moment also. They were only by degrees absorbed or
expelled by the new masters of the country until those of a
1
I )eut. ii. 5 ;
Josh. xxiv. 4.
'-'
Num. xxi. 4 ; Dent. ii. 1 ff .
;
1 Kings ix. 26.
381, 382] r.KNKSJS XXXVI 313

Liter date, on looking back,

1
could say that Kdom liad

extirpated the Horites. The information about the, Horites,

as well as that regarding the ancient kings of Edom, is

evidence that this passage, or at least its sources, is of a

relatively ancient date.

A's authorship of the chapter has been much disputed
since Hupfeld's time, only portions of it being still assigned
to him, 2 while the rest is pronounced to be by R from and
B or other sources. There is, indeed, hardly any linguistic
evidence against A, although the language is not everywhere
so decisively testimony in his favour as it is in vv. 6-8, 30,

40, and 43. See below regarding linguistic usages which

prove redaction. The formal chronicle-like way of statement

also pervades the whole (e.g. also vv. 31-39). The objections
are drawn from the subject-matter. It is said that it was
not part of A's scheme to mention the Horites, or that he
holds much too steadily to his archaic standpoint, and has
too little objective, historical interest to allow of our suppos-

ing that the list of Edornite kings is his (see on vv. 29 and
40 for other points). But A is in no degree archaic in the
sense that he puts forward his writing as the composition of
Moses ; he, and he only, makes quite open allusions to the kings

of Israel (xvii. 6, 16, xxxv. 11); if

any writer, it is A who
takes pleasure in material which is statistical or genealogical
or chronological, which means that he is influenced by the
motive of historical interest. General considerations are

exactly what requires us to assign the passage to A. Edom

in the time of the monarchy was a dependency of Israel, and
this it was which compelled A to be more minute regarding
it than regarding Ishmael. But it has to be acknowledged
that the chapter has been pretty extensively revised by R on
the basis of another source (? C). The double heading in

1
Deut. ii. 12, 22.
-
E.y. vv. 1-8 (Hupfeld, Kayser), 6-8 (Bolimer), 1-14 (Nokleke,
Reuss), 6-8 and 40-43 (Wellhaiiseii, JBDTh. xxi. 438 Kuenen, 11'.
;

Ondtnotk,* i.
08).
314 GENESIS XXXVI [382, 383

vv. 1 and 9 is what first surprises us. But the solution is not
that ver. 9 ff. are not from A, and that vv. 1-8 are his only with
the deduction that R has altered the names of the wives in
1
accordance with the other source, ver. 9 ff. The list of wives
in ver. 2 f. cannot even be taken from that in vv. 10 and 13,

seeing that the former is fuller than the latter. Besides, the

expressions of vv. 10 and 15 (see below) are certainly those

of A, and there is no sense in denying to him, because of vv.

40-43, all vv. 1519, and, similarly, vv. 9-14, if the names
of the sons in ver. 4 f. are still allowed to be his. Finally, the
use of DIN "OK (see ver. 43) makes the case for As author-

ship stronger in ver. 9 than in ver. 1 (comp. ver. 8 for its

DViN Kin). Positively, we may assert not only that vv. 6 Sa
are indubitably from A t
but also that the formulas of 5b 2

3
and 2a reveal his presence. Vv. 2-8 are accordingly, in
the main, the names of the wives being excepted, to be
4
attributed to him. But then we are best to assume that
these notices, like xxxvii. 1, were originally, in A, part of
the pny nnf>n, and were included in the it^y nn^n by the
heading from R, who, at the same time, revised
of ver. 1

them and expanded ver. 9 by the addition of 9. He then

altered in the beginning of A' 8 Toledoth (vv. 919) the
names of the wives (vv. 10, 13f., 16-18), to be in accord-
ance with his additional source, and added ver. 12, and,
doubtless, also ver. 14, as well as pfoy PJ^N (ver. 16), and
DViN Kin (ver. 19). In the list of Horites, also (vv. 20-30),
only ver. 2 9 f can be certainly reckoned A' 8 ver. 2 f is
.
;
.

a doublet to ver. 29 f. 5 and the contents of vv. 22-28 show a

close connection with the second source of vv. 119. It is

questionable if, in the list of kings, there is matter, e.g.

ver. 35, 'jn naon, due to insertion. 6

Most of the names which occur here are found nowhere
1
Budde, Urgeschichte, 347 f .

2
Of.xxxv. 266. 3
C f. xxviii. 1, 6, 8.
4
With Bruston in Revue TMol. 1882, pp. 18 ff., 134 ff.
5
With DIN 'N3 in ver. 20 contrasted with -|iyb> 'N3 in ver. 30.
i;

Ilcgardiiig the unity of what remains, see Bruston, op. cit. p. 135 f.
383] GENESIS XXXVI. 1, 2 F. 315

else. When the people disappeared so also did the names,

so far as they were not place-names. Even of the place-
names only a few are now traceable. A part of the records
of the chapter is repeated in 1 Chron. i. 35-54.
(a) Vv. 1-8. Esau's wives and sons as they were in

Canaan ;
his departure to Se'ir.

Ver. 1. DIN Kin, repeated in ver. 8, and somewhat differ-

ently in ver. 19. It agrees with xxv. 24 ff. (JJ, C), accord-

ing to which Edoni is another name for Esau, whereas

in vv. 9 and 43 (A) Esau is father of Edom, so that Esau
is a personal and Edom a national name. 1
Ver. 2 f. Esau's wives. Their marriages .
have been
2
already related; this explains why instead of np^ (cf. x. 1)

the author writes Esau had taken his wives, etc. The start-
ing-point in a discussion of the verse is the fact that ^n
3
is an error for "Hn, seeing that 'Anah, whose daughter
Oholibamah is said to be, is in vv. 20, 25 a son, in ver. 24
a grandson of Se'ir the Horite. It is now at once evident
that the expression
}jttD no longer suitable, for only
nunn is

one Canaanite woman has been married. The words my DK

'31 have therefore riot been written by the author of ver.

2a. But, further, in A's text (xxvi. 34 f., xxviii. 9) the

three wives married by Esau in Canaan are the Hittites
na na rnirryand P^ na notra, and the Ishmaelite nintf nbnp

ntoJ, whose names are either wholly different or only

partially in agreement with those here. Attempts have
"
been made to reconcile the discrepancy either by supposing
that Esau had five wives, or that they had double names, or
had been renamed," 4 or that errors have been introduced by
5
copyists, which must then have been very extensive. A
difference of tradition or of theory can alone satisfactorily

1 3
See, further, Ewald, Geschichte, i. 494 [Eng. tr. i. 344 f .].
2
Chs. xxvi. 34, xxviii. 9.
3
J. D. Michaelis, Tuch, Bertheau, Knobel, Ewald, Delitzsch. Cf. Sept.

rrading in Josli. ix. 7.

4
Ilgen, Rosenmiiller, Schumann, Hengstenberg, Kurt/.
8 3
Knohi'l, E\v;ild, tiwhii-hte, i. 533 [Eng. tr. i. 372, note 2].
316 GENESIS XXXVI. 4-0 [383, 384

1
explain the discrepancy, and this requires us to give up any
idea of identity of authorship 2 i.e. either here or in xxvi. ;

34 f. and xxviii. 9, the names must have been inserted

from another source into As text by R. The former is in
itself the more probable, 3 and is recommended by ver. 2a,

which, as has just been shown, does not agree with ver. 2&.
We cannot decide whether B or G was this source in any ;

4
case they too have had something regarding Esau's domestic
history and departure to Se'ir.
TO see iv. 19.

nsn^nN words compounded with ^HK occur, as Israelite

5 6
(Ex. xxxi. 6), Sabean, and Phoenician names.
|isn>-n;a after njxrra as in ver. 14, but sufficiently

surprising; some have therefore corrected m to p,

7
others
translate it granddaughter (cf. ver.
39); perhaps it is only
a variant to rusrm, which is dependent on vv. 20 and 25 (cf.
ver. 18), taken from ver. 24 and finally allowed into the text.

n6?a also a Hebrew name in 1 Kings iv. 15; the

Samaritan has everywhere 8 n?Qi following xxviii. 9.
Ver. 4 f. Esau's five sons, all born while their father was
still in Canaan. The correction of try, in vv. 5 and 14, to

ny\ is based on ver. 18, and on the form usually taken by

the name, which was a common one in Israel also. The
9
Sept. has 'leou? which prevents approval of the identifica-
10
tion with the Arab deity laghiUh. The words JJ;J:D
*:a nta,

in 5& are identical with A's in xxxv. 26.

Ver. 6. Esau departs with all his possessions. The

phraseology as in xii. 5, xxxiv. 23 (in A).

pH"^K without meaning, for it is impossible to supply

1
Tuch, Nbldeke, Delitzsch, Keil, Kohler.
2
Hupfeld, Bb'hmcr, Kuvscr, Wellhausen, Bruston.
:5
Cf. the composition of x. and xi. 27 ff.
See xxxii. 4. *
vii. 4, p. 554
1

Journal Asiatique, f.

f& i. 1, p, 1-1.
7
Following Samarit. Sept. Pesh.
I, !), 13, 17.
Bilduny der Nomina, 133 Nbldeke, ZDMG. xlv. 595.
''

Latfirde, ;
10
Robertson Smith, Wellhausen, Skizzen, iii. 19 Nbldeke in ZDMG. ;

xl. 108.
384] GENESIS XXXVI. 7, 8 31

and the translations into a land before, i.e. east of,

Jacob 2 or remote from Jacob;' arc negatived by the proper

meaning of ^Qp, or give no proper definition. A word lias

Fallen mil ai'Irr px, probably TW, given by the which is

4 5
Peshitta (comp. vcr. S), and not ^i"
!*, because the land of 1

Kdom (3xpresses in itself a wider conception than land of

Se'ir/' The jwa pK of the Sept. and Samar. is a subsequent
correction.

Before his brother Jacob, i.e. because of Jacob,

7
who
extended greatly, and required much land. Esau thus gave
way to Jacob, and the passage leaves us in no doubt that it

was after the return of the latter from Paddan Aram. 8

Ver. 7. The cause of the emigration, viz. the
insufficiency
of the pasturage of the country for the flocks of both. For
the phraseology, comp. xiii.6 in A. n?$&, see iv. 13.
Ver. 8. Esau settles in the hill-country of Seir. This
9
name included also the Edomite hill-country,
in later times

east of the 'Araba, between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of
"
'Akaba, known in its whole extent by the Arabic geo-
10
graphers as the Jebel esh-Shera, but more frequently named
Jebfil in its northern portion, and esh-Shera in its southern
11
part, exactly in accordance with the distinction made in
12 13
modern times." But originally the name belonged to the
f

hilly country -west of the Araba, which, though not so high

as Jebfil and Shera, yet towers aloft in wildly torn masses of

Targg., Vulg., Clericus, Rosenmiiller, De Wette.

1

Gesenius, Von Bohlen.

2 3
Bohmer.
4
Knobel against Nbldeke's doubts see ver. 30 and xxxii. 4.
;

5 6
Cf. ver. 16 f., xxi. 31. See ver. 8.
7 8
Ch. vii. 7 ;
Isa. xvii. 9. Knobel.
9 Ezek. xxxv.
E.g. Deut. ii. ;
15.
10 337
E.g. Edrisi, tr. Jaubert, i. ; Yakut, Musktarik, 270.
11 34 f.
E.g. Istachri, ed. Mordtmanu, p.
12
Seetzen, Reisen, i. 415, 418, iii. 16 Burckhardt [*%n', pp. 401, ;

410], Germ. tr. pp. 674, 688 Robinson [Palestine, 3 ii. 154 f.], Germ. tr.
;

iii. 103 f. 860 f. Knobel. See also Winer, 3 i. 397, ii. 442; Gesenius,
Thesaurus, 258, 1335.
13 4 Deut. xxxiii. 2
Judg. v. ; ;
comp. the statements of Num. xx. 16 :

Josh, xi, 17, xii. 7, xv. 1,

318 GENESIS XXXVI. 10, 11 F. [384, 385

"
rock of gleaming whiteness, south of the bare hill," which
forms the southern boundary of the hill-country of Judah.
It is a wild, desolate, mountain land now inhabited by the
1
Arab tribe 'Azazime.

DVIK Kin m see ver. 1.

(b) Vv. 919. List of Esau's grandsons, and of the

Edomite tribes which sprang from Esau's five sons in Se'ir.

They are twelve, as in the cases of Nahor, Ishmael, and

Israel, or thirteen when the related people of 'Amalek is

added (so with Yoktan). See above, p. 148. They fall into

three groups, as Esau has three wives.

"
Ver. 9. Not an erroneous repetition from ver. 1 and to
2
be struck out," but A'B original heading to the passage, "inn

vyjp, unlike ver. 5. DTJK 3N, see ver.

<I
1.

Ver. 10. niB> r6, see xxv. 13. The intention is to

name only sons of Eliphaz and Ke'uel, which explains their

being placed together here, and the separation from them of

the sons of Oholibamah (ver. la).
Ver. 1 1 f. The first or Canaanite line. Its ancestor is

Eliphaz. His name did not become that of a tribe, any more
than that of Ee'uel ;
he only sums up a number of tribes of
whom he is the common ancestor.

!'n "elsewhere in the Old Testament name of an

3
Edomite district, which was celebrated for its wise men, and
4

was the home of Job's discerning friend Eliphaz.

5
Ezek.
6
xxv. 13 points also to its being situated in northern Edom."
7
Ver. 42 does not require us to suppose there was also a

city of Yet
Teman.
the Onomastica name a place Saipdv,
where there was a Eoman garrison, and place it 15 Roman
8
miles from Petra (Jerome 5 miles).

1
See Bertheau in Bibellex. ii. 51. ["Bare hill," Josh. xi. 17; Dill.
"
platten Berg."]
2 ii. 40.
Lagarde, Orientalia,
3
Jer. xlix. 20 ;
Amos i. 12 ; Hab. iii. 3.
4 Baruch 22 *
Jer. xlix. 7 ;
iii. f. Job ii. 11.
' ;

Kuobel. 7
Knobel.
8
Comp. further, Wetzstein in Zeitschrift fiir Allg. Erdkunde, xviii. 52 f.
:wr>]
CMXKSIS xxxvi. IL>,
is 819

Nothing further is known of Omar, Scphn (Sept. Zaxfrup,

1 Chron. i. 30 'BV), and Ga'tam.
UP explained by the Kenizzites of xv. 19, a people which
once dwelt south of Canaan. Kaleb (of Judah) l is called " the
Kenizzite," and his younger brother, or son-in-law, a son of
Kenaz;
2
and we hear of a Kenaz who was Kaleb's grandson. 3
These facts make it apparent that one part of this petty
people was absorbed in the tribal union of Judah, while

another, according to this passage, attached itself to Edom,

and therefore here appears as son of Eliphaz. 4
Ver. 12. 'Amalek is also a son of Eliphaz. but by a
concubine (Timna), and so not a full son. What is intended
is, of course, not the great people of 'Amalek, or their ances-
5 6
tor, which is and had settled in the desert regions
older,
7
south of Canaan long before Esau, but only an offshoot
from it, which attached itself to the tribes of Eliphaz, or
stood in some relation of subordination to them. What
remained of them in was driven away by the Simeonites
Se'ir

in the time of Hezekiah (1 Chron. iv. 42 f.). Timna', the

mother (? a district, ver. 40), is included amomg the Horites
in ver. 22, branch of 'Amalek already
which implies that this

stood in a somewhat close relationship with the Horites.

8
The expression t^Q shows that this verse is not from
A and the same is then probably true of pboy f^N also, in
;

ver. 16. Without 'Amalek the tribes are twelve in number,

as elsewhere in A, with it thirteen.

Ver. 13. The second or Ishmaelite line, namely, the four

sons of Ee'uel. They are unknown elsewhere. The first

three are also Israelite names ;

the Septuagint gives

Zape, 2ofjL, Mofe.

1
Num. xxxii. 12 ;
Josh. xiv. 6, 14.
2 Chron.
Judg. i. 13, iii. 9, 11; Josh. xv. 17; 1 iv. 13.
3 1 Chron. iv. 13.

*Ewald, Geschichte* i. 361 [Eng. tr. i. 251 f.] ; IVi-tlu-.-iu in IHbellex.

iii. 521.
5 otlirrs.
Winer, Hengstenberg, Keil, ,-iinl
'
6
See also Num. xxiv, 20, Ch, xiv. 7. xxii, :>4, \\v, G.
320 GENESIS XXXVF. 1419 [385, 386

Ver. 14. The third, or Horite line, is not composed of

grandsons, but of Esau's three sons by Oholibamah, already

named in ver. 5, and comprehended under the name Oholi-
bainah. fiW and rnp were also Israelite names. D?V! is
l
perhaps a derivative from an animal name, ?JP or r6jp

regarding W
see ver. 5. :
,
;

Vv. 15-19. List of the tribal princes of Edom, who are,

with one exception, identical with the already-named grand-
sons and sons of Esau.
CI^JK n ot tribe*1 or community or canton? but as a
denominative from cjta (see ver. 30), a thousand, or confeder-

acy, a chiliarch or phylarch. The word in Zech. ix. 7, xii. 5f.

4
is also used of the subdivisions of the tribe of Judah, and
5
was in Edom, so far as we can the expression for
judge,
tribal prince ; ^K, itself being the designation for the largest
subdivision of the nation, the tribe, as ^EK was in the case of

Ishmael (xxv. 16). The author's enumeration of tribal

princes is at the same time an enumeration of tribes, and is

paralleled by xxv. 16 and xvii. 20, where he speaks of the

DWto of Ishmael. In Ex. xv. 15 the parallelism of 3Nto fyx
also makes it apparent that tji;JK is the chief of the clan, and
not the clan itself.

to TOa see xxv. 13, xxxv. 23 (xxii. 21 is somewhat

different).
Ver. 16. nip *ii;>N wanting in the Samaritan, transferred
by mistake from ver. 1 8 ; perhaps a gloss to the effect that
Korath, according to another view, was reckoned one of the
Eliphaz tribes. It is certain that two different tribes had
not the same name.
Ver. 19. D11K Nin, a gloss to to, put in at the wrong

point (see xiv. 12), or it may be a mutilation of Kin to

6
. The Targum of Jonathan gives DIN ^K Kin (cf. ver. 9).

1
Robertson Smith. 2
Knobel.
3
Sprenger in ZDMG. xii. 315 ff. ;
Bbluner.
4
Cf. Micah v. 1 ; Ewald, Atierthtimer,* 321 f. [Eng. tr. 245, note 1].
6
Cf, Ex. xv. 15. Samar. cf, ver. 8, ;
3S<;] GENESIS XXXVI. 3 :>, 1> 1

(c) Vv. 20-30. The Horite tribes. Their ancestry is

1
traced to Se'tr, elsewhere the name of a country. They are
2
spoken of as the inhabitants of the land, as contrasted with
Esau's people, who came later and settled among them. They
were the earliest population, as far as our knowledge goes. 3
"
Their name, ^n, from "rin, cave, designates them cave-
dwellers, or troglodytes. Edom is full of caves. 4 The
population used them as dwellings. They had in specubus
habitatiunculas and tuyuria subterranea." 5
Ver. 20 f. Seven sons of Se'ir are first enumerated, who
are, however, identical with the alluphim of ver. 2 9 f.
Seeing
now that in the words nnn 'ai^K nta (21&) these sons of Se'ir
are even called alluphim, and that we find DTIK pao as com-
pared with iw pfeO in ver. 30, we may rightly infer that
these verses are due to another source than that of ver. 29 f.

Each son has also sons of his own given, and some daughters ;

these are to be understood as subdivisions of the tribes.

Ver. 22. The first is Lotdn, rightly identified by Ewald
with Lot, father of Moab-Ammon, and also a '")in (xix. 30).
The Arab tribe Liyathineh,7 in the neighbourhood of Petra, 8
is excluded, even by its spelling. His sons are Hori,
in whom name appears as a clan name, and
the national
9
Hemam, compared by Knobel with Humaimeh, a town south
of Petra, 10 but against the phonology. A sister of Lotan's is

Timna', the same as in ver. 12, and due to the same source.
Ver. 23. The second is Shobal. There is no connection
with Syria Sobal nrtof " and "the name Syria
(i.e. Di) ;
if

1
Cf. in Gen. x. Asshur, Aram, Misraim, Canaan, etc.
2 Ex. xxiii. 31; Num. xxxii. 17; Judg. i. 33.
3
Ch. xiv. 6.
4
Robinson, Palestine* ii. 68 f.; Ritter, xiv. 991.
5
Jerome, ad Obadiah 5. Knobel.
7
Geschichte* i. 448 [Eng. tr. i. 313]. Knobel.
8 420 433 3
Burckhardt, Syria, pp. f., Robinson, Palestine, ii. 156.
;

9
1 Cliron. i. 39, Homam Sept. in both cases, kiftoiv.
;

10 Robinson [Pakstine^
Yakut, Mushtarik, 146 ; ii.
168], Germ. tr. iii.

128, 861*.
11
Judith iii. 1, Vulgate.
DILLMANN. II. 21
322 GENESIS XXXVI. 24, 25 [380, 387

Sobal is applied by the historians of the crusades to the

2
Shobek 1
named above under xxv. 2," there has been doubt-
less a Variants are given in
confusion (with
Shaubak).
Chronicles to two of the five names of his sons |vV for jw,

and W for iBB>. Knobel hazarded a comparison of

3
'Alwan
with the Beduin tribe Alawin, north of 'Akaba, and of

Manachat with Menochia, a place in Edom ;

4
and Movvv-
5
%taTt?, the region west of Petra. It is more worthy of note
that in 1 Chron. ii. 52 (cf. 54) half of Manahat is derived
from a Kalebite Shobal.
Ver. 24. The third is Sibeon, Arabic hyena. His sons are
njN,6 Hebrew kite, and TO ;
not an animal name, for Arabic
means only troop, herd. 7
f

anah, compared in last edition,

Eegarding 'AnaJi, we are told that when watching his father's

asses he found the Dp.1 in the steppe land.

not mules? nor giants, 9 nor QEP, lakes, or D?&, waters. 19

1

&P. !

Hot waters or thermal springs n would be more in place, and

13
would then be, not those of Kallirrhoe, 12 but others yet ;

the translation u rests on a confusion with

perhaps only

Ver. 25. The fourth is 'Anah. This is a son of the Se'ir

of ver. 20, and not the same as in ver. 24. From him
Dishon is derived ;
the name is that of an animal in Deut.

1 3
Robinson, Palestine, ii. 161 f., 163 f.j Ritter, Erdkunde, xiv. 61, 987.
2
Knobel.
3 5
Burckhardt, Syria, pp. 508, 512; Robinson, Palestine, i. 165, 171;
Seetzen, Reisen, iii. 10, 102.
4
Notitia dignitatum, i. 79, 343 (ed. Booking).
5
Ptolemy, v. 17. 3.
6
To be read for ,TK1, with Samar. Sept. Pesh. Vulg. Hebrew MSS.
and 1 Chron. i. 40, if a name has not rather fallen out before it.
7
Noldeke in ZDMG. xl. 168.
8
Jems. Targ., Saadia, Kimchi, Luther ;
see Lagarde, Orientalia, ii. 58 ;

Levy, Neuheb. Worterb. i. 476a.

<J
10
DS'N, Onkelos. See Jerome, Qucestiones.
11
Vulgate; Gesenius, Thesaurus, 586.
12
Delitzsch ; see note on x. 19.
13
E.g. Burckhardt, Syria, p. 401. Knobel.
14
See Jerome.
387] GENESIS XXXVI. 2< 2H 323

xiv. 5. His appearing here as Se'ir's grandson, as'Anah does

in ver. 24, whereas in ver. 20 f. they are both sons, is explained

if a
part of 'Aiiah was absorbed in Sibeon, and of Dishon in
'Anah. The Septuagint partially smooths away the difficulty
"
by another punctuation. The formula 'ps "03 fvK was a
standing one in genealogies, and was even used where only
one son had to be named." l Oholibamak is Esau's wife (comp.
ver. 18). There were either two traditions regarding her
2
father, or ver. 246 is to be placed after 25&. 3
Ver. 26. The fifth is Dishon* One of his four sons is

rj
1
??
1
; Sept. 'A/jia&d ;
in Chronicles i"J ?D, parallel to |3B>N,
?
which
in Arabic is also name of a colour. I"J3 ; Sept. Xappdv, per-
haps connected with ">?, agnus, aries.

Ver. 27. The sixth is Eser; Sept. 'Acrdp ;

in Chronicles

'no-dp. He has three sons. |n?2i is doubtless a derivative

from nrta X
( xix. 29); Sept. Bakadp. iJJJT.; Sept. Zovtcdp ;

Samarit. JiM. JjjJJ

in Chronicles is fpy without ] but there ;

5
the Sept. has KOI *A/cdv, here it has /cal 'lov/cap. Halevy
The |j$*_ ^3 of
'

reads a name ;py in the inscriptions of Safa.

Deut. xx. 6 and Num. xxxiii. 3 If. have been compared with
the reading in Chronicles.
Ver. 28. The seventh is Dishan. Here and in vv. 21
and 30, but not in Chronicles, the Septuagint gives 'Picrcov ;

and certainly I^l, as a tribal name alongside f^, is some-

what suspicious. His son 'Us is doubtless only a section of
the well-known Aramaean py 6 Ardn is the second. The
syllable an, as in many other of these names, appears to be

formative, and therefore the interpretation chamois (from

|j$1), for which the punctuation of 1 Chron. ii. 25, P.K is

8
better suited, is very questionable.? The reading p or

1
Ch. xlvi. 23 ; Num. xxvi. 8 ;
1 Chron. i.
41, ii. 8 Knobel.
2
See notes on vv. -2 and 14.
3
Delitzsch.
4
Reading ffejvn
with 1 Chron. i. 41, and Sept. Pesh. Vulg.
5
JA. vii. 17, p. 236.
6
See note on x. 23. 7
ZDMG. xl. 168.
8
Samar.
 324 GENESIS XXXVI. 29 F. [388

,
1 occasioned by piy, is of no value. Knobel and Sprenger 2
3
compare with the Arreni of Pliny.
PJN
Ver. 29
Enumeration of the seven tribal princes of the
f.

Horites, who are, however, identical with the seven sons of

Se'ir. DrPS&fcO, according to their tribal princes, is taken to
4
mean, enumerated one by one. But seeing *\?x is written
without only here in the whole chapter, we should rather
i

read DrPB^tO, according to their tribes (comp. Sept.).

The fact that the total number of the sons of Se'ir is not
5
very large, only proves that we must not look for such in
these genealogies, and not that vv. 20-30 is a late addition.
In the list the animal names, and those which terminate in
i
(fi),
are noteworthy. very natural for peoples
It is

amongst whom arts and manufactures have not yet been

developed to take their names by preference from those of

animals. There is no need to infer an original animal
6
worship among the Semites. For a comparison of the
family names common to the Jewish family Hesron and the
7
Edomites and Horites, see Wellhausen.

(d) Vv. 31-39. A list of the kings "who ruled in the

land of Edom before an Israelite king ruled." The state-

ment generally taken absolutely, and then the period ends

is
" "
before the time of Saul if the words over Edom are to be
;

8
supplied, the period ends before the time of David, which
would determine a date more suited for the conclusion
of the list. The heading shows that there were already
kings in Israel in the author's lifetime, and xvii. 6, 20
and xxxv. 11 prove what value
attached to the monarchy. A
It shows equally that the last mentioned in the list lived

immediately before the time of the Israelite monarchy or

just at its beginning, and not, e.g., before or about Moses'
1
Heb. MSS., Targ. Jon. (also MSS. of Sept. and Vulg.).
2 3
Geog. Arabiens, 145. 6. 157.
4 4 6
Knobel, Delitzsch Noldeke.
.

6
R. Smith in Jour, of Philol. ix. 75 ff., and Kinship, 1885 ; Stade,
Geschichte* i. 408 ff. See also Noldeke in ZDMG. xl. 161 ff.
7 8
De fjentil. Jud. p. 38 f. Bruston, op. cit. p. 133.
 .".ss, :;s<>]
GENESIS XXXVI. 32, 33 325

time. 1 If it had been otherwise the author would have had

to say, left Egypt or conquered Canaan, or
before Israel

something In the development of a monarchy as

similar.

well as in his settlement in the country he made his own,

Esau preceded Israel he is the firstborn. Yet Israel in
;

the end won from him his precedency. " There are in the
list the names of eight kings, so that it might well extend

back to the time of Moses. Num. xx. 14 and Judg. iv. 17

tell us that the Edomites had a king thus early. No one of
the kings who are named is son of his predecessor. The
Edomite monarchy was therefore probably elective (cf. Isa.
xxxiv. 12). But it may also be assumed that princes of
ability pushed themselves to the front by their own efforts,
attained the dignity of royalty, and maintained it for the
'

period of their lives."

DViN pKn as in ver. 216, unlike ver. 30& -vyw pfcCJ right
from A' a point of view, because the kingdom embraced a
wider country than the home of the Horites. See on ver. 8,
and compare 40-43, where a like area is presupposed.
Ver. 32. For yb the Sept. has Ba\d K Dinhdbah, . in
the Sept. and Vulg. Aevvaftd, is not to be found in Edom.
"
But the name occurred elsewhere, e.g. there was Aava/Bd in
3 4
Palmyrene Syria, and davdfti) in Babylonia, Dannaia and
Dannaba in Moab. 5 The coincidence of the name Bela len
Be or with that of the seer BiVam ben Be' or is remarkable ;

he is thought of here by the Targum of Jonathan and by the

6
Targum on 1 Chron. i. 44."
Ver. 33. Yobab was later identified by the Greeks with
Job (lyob). 7 Bosrah, his city, was one towns
of the principal
8
or the capital of the country ;
it is
usually localised at

4
Hengstenberg, Delitzsch, Keil, and others.
1

2
Knobel.
3
Ptolemy, v. 15. 24 Assemani, Biblioth. Orient,
; iii. 2, pp. 595 f.,

606.
4 6
Zosimus, Hist. iii. 27. Onomasticon, i. 114f., ed. Lagarde.
7
fi
Knobel. Sept. Job xlii. 18 [17d in Swete].
8
Amos i. 12 ;
Jer. xlix. 13, 22 ; Isa. xxxiv. 6, Ixiii. 1.
326 GENESIS XXXVI. 34-37 [389

el-Bmeira, a small village in Jebal, two and three-quarter

1
hours south of Taflla ;
but the identification is opposed by
Wetzstein, who
2
regards rmn as the old name of Petra.

Ver. 34. Dl^'n ; Sept. ^Ao-wp ;

in Chronicles 'Acro^ ;
com-
pare the Jewish name D^n in Ezra and Nehemiah. For
Teman, see ver. 11.

Ver. 35. ffadad 3

is also the well-known name of a

Syrian deity.
4
T]3 ; Sept. BapuS. One of this king's deeds
5
is recorded, namely, his victory over Midian in the field of

Moab ;
the exceptional notice taken of it was doubtless due
7
to its being of importance to Israel also. Ewald would
make him flourish in the time of Gideon. JVIJJ, Sept.
TerOal/j,, is identified by Knobel with the hill-range Ghu-
8
weithe on the eastern side of Moabitis.
Ver. 36. The Sept. has ^a^a^d etc Maae/ctca?. But in
the Onomasticon, Mcurptied' TTO\^ /3ao-i\eias 'EBcbfjL Trepl rrjv

Ver. 37. "There are many places of the name Eehoboth.

Probably there were seyeral in Edom. That here intended
was situated on a Nahr, here a small river, and so was called
Eehoboth of the River. It is the place which the Notitia
n
dignitatum cites among Edomite localities as Eobotha, and
12
which Eusebius and Jerome quote as existing in their day
in Gebalene." So far Knobel. But it is hardly credible
that "irm is to be looked for in Edom. Following the
indication it gives us, others understand a Eehoboth on the
13
Euphrates, e.g. Eahaba on its western bank somewhat south

1 5
Burckhardt, Syria, p. 407 ; Robinson, Palestine, ii. 167 ; Seetzen,
2
ii. 51, 357, iii. 17 ; Biideker, 191.
2
In Delitzsch, Isaiah, 8 p. 704 f. 3
Of. 1 Kings xi. 14 ff.
4
ZDMG. xxxi. 734 Bathgen, Beitrcige, p. 67.
;
5
Chs. xiv. 7, xxxii. 4 Num. xxi. 20 Ruth i. ff.
; ;
B
Of. ver. 24.
7
Geschichte* ii. 476 [Eng. tr. ii. 108] cf. Riehm, Handworterbuch, 996. ;
8 9
Burckhardt, Syria, 375. Yakut, Mushtarik, 203 f .

10
But the Sept. has 'Poufiud Tij? Trctpoc, KOTctpw and not irotp* rov.
[Dillmann.]
11 12 13
i. 78. 346 f. Onomasticon. Sachau, Reisen, 279 f.
:'., :o] CKNKSIS xxxvi. 38-43

1
of the mouth of the Chaboras, and hold that Shaul was a
foreigner in spite of his Hebrew name.
Ver. 38. ijn bya. a formation like the Israelite ijnta
and jjni
11

and many similar PlKPiiirian, Punic, and Sabean

names; it is evidence of the worship of Baal. "ri2p, mouse,
is also an animal name.

Ver. 39. "nn in 1 Chron. 50, some

; Sept. 'ApaS ;
i.

Hebrew MSS., and the Peshitta Tin ;

in the Samaritan -nn
2
and Tin ;
the variant one elsewhere frequent in the case
is
"
of this very name. 3 WSJ; Chronicles ^'a Sept. $oywp? with ;

5
which we may compare the ruins of Phanara in Edom."
Hadar's successor is not given, nor is his death recorded,
either because he ceased to reign before his death, or because
he was the last who reigned in the author's lifetime (see on
ver. 40). His wife's genealogy is also given, though this is
not done in any other case the reason is ;
not that he is the
same as the Hadad of 1 Kings xi. 14 ff., and that his wife is

therefore an Egyptian princess, 6 for that Hadad was Pip

^n, and the wife's names are genuinely Semitic ;
it may be
because descendants of this marriage, e.g. the Hadad of

1 Kings xi. 14, were not without importance for Israel.

For 3HJ nil, the Sept. and Pesh. have vlov Matod>B', see
end of note on ver. 2. Elsewhere proper nouns compounded
with "'? are names of places.

(e) Vv. 4043. A list of the tribal princes of Esau

according to their families, according to their localities, with

their names. To take account only of the last part of the

heading and regard this as only a list of the principal

Edomite towns'' has no justification, not even in ver. 43;

1
Gesenius, Thesaurus ; Riehm, Handivorterbuch, 1273.
2
See de Rossi.
3
E.g. 1 Kings xi. 14 ff., Sept.; see Baudissin, Studien, i. 309 if.
4
Cf. Sept. of Josh. xv. 59 ; &-/ap in Judali.
5
Seetzen, Reisen, iii. 18. Knobel.
6
A. Bernstein, Ursprung der Regententafel von Edom, 1880; al.< MS.
gedruckt.
'
Knobel.
328 GENESIS XXXVI. 4043 [.390

besides, MP, for example, is hardly a place name. The list is,

on the contrary, of a mixed character, and includes both old

family names, e.g. npl^ng and Mi?, and the names of districts,
e.g.
"6 and |J'B. As compared with the historico-genealogical
1
list of vv. 1519, it is geographico-statistical, and divides
the Edomite population according to the districts they in-

habited, giving names which only in part coincide with the

old clan names, which are in part taken also from the
names of cities, districts, etc., and include sometimes, as in

the case of won and njpy, Horite localities also. It contains,

in fact, the political divisions of the country at a certain

time, and so the representation of a later state of affairs, per-

haps as they existed in the time of the Edomite monarchy,

but more probably as they were after it passed away, per-

haps even under the new Israelite supremacy.

2
The
Chronicler even takes this view, for in 1 Chron. i. 51 he
introduces the list with the words Wl Tin noV The
" " 4
flagrant contradiction with ver. 15 if. cannot in this

light be said, without difficulty, to exist any longer.

Of the names in vv. 1519 only Mi? and JO'fi recur here
as Alluphim. Of the others, J^pn is known from vv. 1 2 and
22, and noa^K from vv. 2, 14, 18, 25; nji>y (Chron.
nvV ; Sept. T(o\a) may be conjectured to be merely the

original form of fby (To)\dfjb) in ver. 23 ;

niv
('Ie0ep),
'N'HJp, and D^V have as yet been untraced. For DTtf, the

Sept. in Genesis and Chronicles has Za^coiv, i.e. D^DV, due

5
perhaps to an exegetical gloss DfypWfc, occasioned by IBS
in vv. 1 1 and 1 5 but see below. nf>, almost certainly
;

for the customary rfra*, 6 the seaport town of Ailah. P'Q,

elsewhere Punon? in the patristic period a viculus in deserto,
ubi ceris metalla damnatorum suppliciis effodiuntur, between

1
Cf Kings iv. 7 ff., with the old Israelite tribal lists.
. 1
a
Cf. Ewald, Geschickte* i. 113 f., 529 [Eng. tr. i. 75 f., 369].
3
See Bertheau, ad loc. *
Noldeke.
*
Knobel.
6
See xiv. 6. ^
Num. xxxiii. 42 f.
IM)]
GENESIS XXXVI. 4043 329

So'ar and Petra, not infrequently mentioned by the Church

1

Fathers as a place to which, during the persecuti

Christian martyrs were sent to labour. Compare tin-

2
mention by Seetzen of the ruins of Kalaat Phenan. "i>'3O ;

Sept. Ma fa/a, 3
certainly not Sela or Petra, more possibly the
5
same as nnxa in ver. 3 3 4 but the Onomasticon says ert KOI
;
:

vvv Ko^fjirj fjieyia-Trj Ma/3<rapa eVi TT)? ra/3a\7jvfj<:, vTrarcovovaa

rfj Ilerpa, so it is most probably not the same as Bosrah.
6
Because there are only eleven Alluphim, Ewald con-

jectures that 12V may at one time have stood in the text

alongside of wy. As a matter of fact, the Liber Genealogus

'

has the addition Fazon after DTy. But we do not necessarily

expect a geographical division to exhibit the number twelve.
8
Ch. xxxvii. A, followed
1, in originally, perhaps, xxxvi.
6-8. Esau withdrew (xxxvi. 6 ff.),
but Jacob remained in
Canaan. Importance is attached to the fact ; comp. xiii.

11 f., xxv. 6, 11. For D'TOO, see xvii. 8.

2
1
Onomastica, sub <bi\>uv, Fenon. Reisen, iii. 17.
3 4
Knobel, basing on Ps. Ix. 11. Hitzig on Isa. xxxiv. 6.
5 1
Lagarde, 277.
6
Geschickte, i.
[?] 350 [Eng.
tr. i. 369, note G].
7
Ed. Mommsen in Mon. Germ. Hist., Auctorum Antiquiss., pt. ix.

p. 175.
8
See p. 314.
 V. THE HISTORY OF JACOB, XXXVII.-L.

THIS last section deals with the history of Jacob and his
sons. Now that Esau is gone, Jacob is head of all the house
of Israel in Canaan. But regarding him personally, com-
paratively little more is told us ;
his history is now that of

brought on him by their actions.

his sons, or The sons play
a more independent part than previously, and bring much
sorrow on their old father by their evil deeds and ways.
He, for his part, in trustful patience overcomes his adverse
fortune, which God turns for him to a blessing, and is

revealed at last as a highly- favoured man of God. The

foreground of the narrative is therefore occupied by the

doings and deeds of Jacob's sons, by the story of the de-

velopment from them of a house of Israel, and of the

preparation for its migration to Egypt. The whole history
therefore assumes a different aspect. The many divine
revelations by which it was sought found a purer faith
to

in the breasts of the three patriarchs cease, with one

exception (xlvi. 24). The foundation has been laid the ;

task is now to strengthen the house of Jacob and take it

to Egypt under God's guidance. But that is so intimately
connected with Joseph that we are able to say that all the

history which follows centres in Joseph his fortunes and

his deeds. In fact, excepting ch. xxxviii., which has for its
subject the origin of the principal clans in the tribe of

Judah, there is no section which does not contain something

regarding Joseph also. His father's history and that of his
brothers is interwoven with his own he supplies the funda- ;

mental texture in the web of the following narrative, as

330
 31)1, 302] CKNESIS XXXVII 331

Jacob did in what precedes. It is in three sections. 1.

Joseph is sold into Egypt; his advancement there; an

interlude regarding Judah and Taiuar (xxxvii. xli.). 2. The

journeys of Joseph's hn-tJin-n

first, to Kgypt, and their

humiliation before Joseph (xlii.-xlv.). -'5. Tin-, migration of

the house of Jacob to Egypt at Joseph's instigation, and
Jacob's end (xlvi.-l.). In the first two sections of this

fifth division of the history, the sources used are exclusively

/>' and
C, except in xxxvii. 2 and xli. 46. From comes B
the general scheme and the greater part of the execution of
this noble,almost dramatically composed, history of Joseph.
C's narrative ran the same general course though differing

in details, and it was in part even more intensely interesting

and permeated by a clearer meaning. The compiler, accord-
ingly, drew on it also with predilection, and skilfully worked
it into one with l>'s history. It is not until the third
section that A is again made much use of, and that the
three sources appear side by side.

A. FROM THE TIME WHEN JOSEPH WAS SOLD INTO

EGYPT UNTIL HIS PREFERMENT THERE, CHS.
XXXVII.-XLI.

1. JOSEPH is SOLD INTO EGYPT, CH. XXXVII. 2-3 G ;

BY E, FROM B AND C.

Joseph, who is seventeen years old, incurs the jealousy

and hate of his brethren by telling tales of them to their
father, by being his father's favourite, and by having dreams
which exalt him at their expense. One day when in
their company at Dothan he escapes death at their hands
only by the intervention of Reuben or Judah but he is ;

thrown into a cistern, from which he is carried off by

Midianite traders, or sold by his brothers to an Ishmaelite
caravan. The traders bring him to Egypt and sell him a
slave to Fotiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's. The father
mourns deeply for his lost son.
332 GENESIS XXXVII. 2 [392

In this account the heading in ver. 2 is from A ;

but we
cannot assume that the rest of the verse isfrom him, 1 still
less that vv. 2-4, 23, 24, 28 from natfl, 31, and 32a are so
2
also. The narrative has, on the contrary, been combined
from those of B and C. Its composite nature has been long
3
recognised from Keuben's being the intercessor in vv.

21 f. and 29, while Judah is in ver. 26; from their being

Midianites who take Joseph to Egypt in vv. 2Sa and 36,
but Ishmaelites in vv. 25, 27, and 28&; and from the differ-
4
ence between ver. 28aa, where Joseph is secretly taken
out of the cistern by the Midianites, and ver. 28a/3,
where he is sold by his brethren. 5 But the earlier parts of
6
the narrative also contain evident doublets ;
in ver. 3 f.

Jacob's preference for Joseph makes him hated by his

brothers, in vv. 511 his proud dreams rouse the brothers'

jealousy, ver. 22 f. also is a doublet to ver. 21. The account

in which the dreams and Eeuben play important parts must
7
belong to B, and when this fact is added to the material
and linguistic
8
distinctions, which elsewhere characterise B
and G, the separation of the component parts may be made
9
almost complete. Vv. 2*, 5-11, 136, 14a, 180, 19 f., 22,
23 (to vtina), 24, 25aa (to on5), 28aa (to "ton), 29-31,
32*, 33*, 34a, 35&, and 36 belong to B, the rest to C.

But the present form of vv. 5&, 8a, and doubtless also of

1DK &93W in ver. 18&, has been given them by R. It

remains doubtful, also, whether there may not be in ver. 2

an insertion from A or from elsewhere. The analyses of
Kittel 10
and of Bacon n are somewhat different.
Ver. 2 is not a unity. After the heading from A, nta
1 2
Bruston. Knobel.
3 8
Ilgen, Hupfeld, Ewald, Geschichte, i. 596 ff.
[History, i.
417ff.];
Knobel, Schrader.
4 s
Ch. xl. 15. Ch< xlv 4
7
E.g. Jacob's residence is not the same in and C. B
8
E.g. ^fcOB* in vv. 3 and 13, apyi in ver. 34.
9
See commentary below.
10
Geschichte, i. 130, 142 [Eng. tr. i.
pp. 144, 157].
11
Hebraica, vii. 284.
392, 393] GENESIS XXXVII. 2 333

nni?n, there follows the statement, Joseph, seventeen years

old,was watching, 1 among, or beside, 2 the flock with his brothers.
The next words, 'ji lya Nim, cannot mean, and he grew up,3
4
nor, after all, and was loy (servant) to the sons of the

concubines, appointed to serve, as it were, an apprentices! iip

with them, or to perform paltry duties for them 5 for there ;

is no parallel use of nya in this absolute way. The trans-

G
lationis, and he was yet young with the sons, etc. In any
case the same hand cannot have written vntf n njn and
nrta ^3 nN "iya alongside of one another in this way
',31
;

'jl Kini must be a doublet to 'ji t]D1\ The insertion of

7
V3N ^3'HN by an interpolator is comprehensible, but not
that he added nyj torn also the words from Kim to V3N are ;

rather evidence of a different source. What follows, and

8
Joseph brought their report, an evil one? sc. so far as it was
an evil one, i.e. evil reports regarding them, to their father,

must in the present text refer to the sons of the concubines,

10
but may, as continuation of JKV3 njn before the inter-

polation of V3K Nini, have referred to the brothers in

general, who alone are spoken of in what follows. It is

recorded evidently as what occasioned the enmity, yet it is

surprising that this consequence not expressly stated, and is

that other causes for the enmity are given both in C (ver.
3 f.) and B (vv. 5-11). This makes it plausible that
Dit3N Nini should be a later insertion, 11 or should be from
12
A. But the whole of ver. 2 cannot be from A, because
13
the verse not a unity, still less
is vv. 24. Joseph's age,
u
seventeen years, may be from A, but also from B 15 in the ;

latter case, 2b would also be from B. IQ

1
See i. 6.
2 3
1 Sam. xvi. 11, xvii. 34. Targ. Pesh.
4
Ch. xxii. Judg.3 ;
vii. 11, ix. 54, xix. 13.
5 6
Gesenius, Knobel, Delitzsclr"'. Sept.
8
7 Wellhausen. Num. xiii. 32, xiv. 36 f ., in A .

9 25 10
Gesenius, 126. 5A, Ib. Kittel.
11 12
Kuenen, Onderzoek* i. 317. Bruston.
13 14
Knobel. See xli. 26.
15 See xxxi. 38, 41. Kittel, Kautzsch-Socin.
 334 GENESIS XXXVII. 3F. [303

Ver. 3 f. A further cause for Joseph's unpopularity

with (all) his brethren, was his father's preference for him.
Jacob loved Joseph most because he was born late, and
he had distinguished him in the matter of dress also.
(Benjamin is left out of account as too young.)
Because of ^fcnb* we cannot attribute ver. 3 f. to A *
nor
to B, but only to C, for whom D^prp is also evidence, not
2 3

only linguistically, but because in B^ Joseph cannot be more

than twelve years younger than his eldest brother. It is

true that in C5 he appears to be only five or six years

is Knobel's reason for giving ver. 3 f. to A.
younger, and this
But it has already been remarked (on xxx. 25) that this is
only an appearance called forth by the redaction of ch. xxx.
In truth, Joseph's birth may have been dated much later in

67, and xxvii. 1 ff. also suggests the conjecture that Jacob
had reached a fairly advanced age when he set out for

Harran.
':i "6 new we are told the reason in ver. a, so that the
words cannot be from BQ but only from C.

D^DB runs only here, including vv. 23 and 32, and

2 Sam. xiii. 18f., where it is the garment of a princess. It
isnot yiTtav Trom'Xo?, tunica polymita, parti-coloured garment?
but %iTa)v KapTTcoros, aarpaydXeios, ^et/5t8coro9, tunica talaris,
a sleeve and ankle garment?
one reaching the ankles, i.e.

and with sleeves with the ordinary

to the wrists, contrasted

ruro, which extended no farther than the knees, and had no

DQ (in Aramaic) is the
sleeves. extremity of the hand or
9
foot.

For vriK tao the Samar. and Sept. have van !>:DD. i&ot^,
contrast IK^I in B, ver. 11.
And him for w
they were not able to speak peace }
to talk

1 2
Knobel. Wellhausen.
3 *
See xxi. 2 and xliv. 20. Ch. xxxi. 17, 41.
6 G
Ch. xxx. 23 ff. Wellhausen. 7
Sept., Vulg.
8
Pesh., Aquila, Sym. ; also Vulg. in ver. 23 and Sept. in 2 Sam.
9
Dan. v. 5, 24 ;
Ezek. xlvii. 3,
1(1
As Deut. xviii. 21 f.
:)l] GENESIS XXXVII. 5, OFF.

way, to give him a friendly word, or

1
with him in a friendly
2
to greet him and answer his greeting. iisn does not mean
"
Ms speech (with " to endure supplied),3 and scarcely to speak
of him.* It is impossible to see why ver. b should be
from R 5

Vv. 511, following B. Joseph has proud dreams, and

relates them to his brothers ;
this awakes their jealousy (ver.

11, from B), and strengthens their hate (vv. 5 and 8, from
R).
Ver. 5. ins ab> "iiy laovi, not from B? but with a refer-
ence to the inN i&oj^i of ver. 4, from R, who placed together
vv. 2-4 and 5-11 ;
not happily inserted, seeing the brothers
have not yet heard the contents of the dream (hence the

omission of the Sept.). In ver. Sb R makes the same

insertion once more, to mark the progressive growth of the
hatred ;
he again anticipates the course of his story (by
vnriri), but the Sept. has now the insertion also.
Ver. 6 ff. In his first dream he sees how, when they are
7
binding the sheaves, his sheaf rises up and remains erect,
while their sheaves station themselves round it and prostrate
themselves before it. In the second he sees the sun, moon,
8
and eleven stars prostrate themselves before him. This
latter dream he relates to his father also, who, however,

rebukes him', for he infers from such dreams that Joseph

cherishes arrogant thoughts. According to the author (ver.
116), they were divinely sent presentiments of his future
greatness. The meaning of the dreams is clear, and is also
"
immediately recognised by all.
Things celestial and things
terrestrial pay him homage. The double dream expresses
9
certainty and speedy fulfilment."

1
Sept., Knobel.
2
Saadia, Delitzsch ;
cf. xliii. 27, Ex. xviii. 7.
3 4
Olshausen. Ewald, 282a.
5 e
Kittel. Kittel.
7
See xxvi. 12.
8
There is no allusion to the Zodiac (Knobel, Delitzsch).
9
Ch. xli. 32. Knobel.
 336 GENESIS XXXVII. 912 [394

Yer. 9. vn&6 inN "IBD^ is surprising because of intf (con-

trast ver. 5 a), but necessary in view of 1D&01. tal V3N bx "iSD'l

Vns in 10<x is irreconcilable with it, besides being peculiar

in having ?K for ?, and is wanting in the Septuagint ;
it may
1
be a secondary expansion in explanation of 105; with this
same object the Septuagint has inserted 1 va&6 in 9& before
VH&6, if its text be not rather the original.
Ver. 10. -JBKI. The moon signifies his mother, and indeed
his dead mother, 2 if we take account of xxxv. 19, according
to which Eachel was no longer alive. 3 But it cannot be
proved that Kachel was already dead in B's narrative (see
note on xxxv. 12).
Ver. 11. iwp !, compare xxx. 1. Jacob, in spite of his
11

rebuke, did not forget (IOP) the dream; comp. Luke ii.

19, 51.
Vv. 1222.
Joseph on an occasion is sent to his
brethren, and they decide on his destruction.
Vv. 12-14, in the main from C, with whose authorship
the use of taib* in ver. 1 3 harmonises. Only in C (or A)
can Jacob have lived in Hebron (see xxxv. 1 6 ff.) ;
in B his
permanent residence was, it appears, Shechem (xxxiii. 19),
4
scarcely Bethel. In order, then, to secure correspondence
with B, the brethren in C require to journey to Shechem in
the first place (ver. 12), and Joseph has to be sent there
also (13a, 145). But vv. 135 5 and 14a 6 are from # 7 The
Book of Jubilees (ch. xxxiv.) inserts here the war against
8
the Amorites, because the choice of Shechem as pasture

ground appeared to offer difficulties after the occurrences of

ch. xxxiv.

Ver. 12. Joseph's brothers go to the neighbourhood of

Shechem for the sake of its pasturage. The points over ritf

1
Wellhausen, Kautzsch-Socin.
2
Leah being out of the question.
3 4
Delitzscli. Bacon.
5
For -ojn l5> comp. xxii. 1, 7, 11, xxvii. 1, xxxi. 11.
-ID&01,
''
For in 'jap'n, comp. Num. xiii. 26, xxii. 8, Josh. xiv. 7, in B.
1
Wellhausen, Bacon. Of. Gen. xlviii. 22.
39r>]
CKXESIS XXXVII. 11 L'<>
337

express critical suspicion ;

for the accusative without DK, see,

for example, xvii. 24.

Ver. 14. See your brothers' well-leing ,

ascertain if
they
are well. For the valley of Heir on, see notes on xxiii. 2, 20.
To Shechem = to the neighbourhood of Shechem.
Vv. 15-17. Joseph, while searching for his brothers
without success, is met by a man who informs him that
they have gone to Dothan. This is not from B but from 6'.
l 2

There is material evidence of this as well as stylistic, for in

B the distance between Jacob and his sons is not so great
that he could not be informed regarding their movements.
For irmw see xvi. 7 ;
for nyn rum without ton, xxiv.

30; the Samaritan reads D'nyop for >nyB>; but see Ewald's

Syntax, 2846.
3
irn with |?rn as a differentiated form, according to
2 Kings vi. 13 ff. not a very great distance from Samaria ;

in Judith, 4 Awraia or Au>6ai'p. According to the Onomasticon,

AwOaieijjL lay twelve Koman miles north of Sebaste (Samaria);
its situation is marked by the modern ruins of Tell Dothan, 5

one and a half hours south-west of Jenin. The road from

Bethshean and Jezreel to Eamle and Egypt passes through
the plain of Tell Dothan. 6 This was the caravan road (ver.
25 ff.).

Vv. 18-20. Joseph's brothers catch sight of him from

a distance, and maliciously propose to put him to death.
Ver. 18b is from C, 19 f. from B\ it is unnatural to reverse
7
the analysis, for it is B, not C, who has described Joseph as
the dreamer.
The Sept. omits the i of D'J9^ ;
in C it may well have
been originally D"iB3 TPi. The ioj of inx taam, they formed
a malicious plan against him, 8 occurs again only in Num. xxv.
1 -
Bacon. \Velll lausen, Kittel.
3 4
See note on xxxii. 3. Chs. iii. 9f., iv. 6, vii. 3, viii. 3.
5 2
Robinson, Later Bib. Researches, p. 122. Biideker, 237.
6 3
Robinson [Palestine, ii. 316, 331], Germ. tr. iii. 161, 338, 413, 417,
481, 541, 552, 575.
7 8
Wellhausen. Ewald, 1246.
, II. 22
338 GENESIS XXXVII. 21-27 [.395,390

18 ;
Ps. cv., and Mai. i. 18 ;
it is therefore natural to con-
1
jecture, without assigning the phrase to a late diaskeuast,
that it is an insertion by R, who did not wish to give in
extenso the brothers' plan as C had it (alongside of ver. 20
from B), Master of dreams = dreamer. 2 a mocking designa-
tion, nt^n, see xxiv. 65.
"
Ver. Eeuben opposes the suggestion; as the
21 f.

eldest he has special obligations." 3 The text is a composite

one from B and C] this is the only explanation of the
double "ION 11
*,. But ver. 22 is certainly from B, in view of
ver. 29 f., and therefore ver. 21 is from C, excepting that
pl&n yEfc^l is an alteration ;
in C, Judali is Joseph's friend, so
k
that the first words must have been fmn JJBB*I ; part of
Judah's proposal has been relegated by R to ver. 26 for

harmonistic reasons.
0*1*0 Iffatt Ex. ii. 19; he saved him, inasmuch as he
prevented his instant death, and had him thrown into a pit, 4
without its being decided what should further be done with
him.

Slay him in respect of life = slay him dead.

5

Ver. 22. Do not lay hand on him, xxii. 12. There is not
the slightest reason for pronouncing '31 \yzb to be a later
6
insertion; ver. 29 confirms them.
Ver. 23 They throw him into the empty cistern. For
f.

7
this use of cisterns, compare Jer. xxxviii. 6 and Lam. iii. 53.
Their stripping him of his garment is connected with the
plan of vv. 20 and 31 ff. In ver. 23& the texts of B and of
C (the sleeved garment of ver. 3) are placed alongside of one
another.
Vv. 25-27. The first three words, as the introduction
to 28aa, are from B, the rest from C. The brothers partake
1 2
Kaenen, OnderzoeJc, 317.
2 s
Cli. xiv. 13. Knobel.
4
Tliis contested from
is
by Bacon, but may be held to follow ver.
236/3.
6
Deut. xix. G, 11, and frequently; see Gesenius, 25 117. 5rf.

Knobel, 7 3
Winer, i. 199,
 r.EXESIS XXXVII. 28

2
of a meal. 1 Suddenly they see an Ishmaelite 3 caravan

coming. It was from Gilead, doubtless by way of Bethshefm, 4

"
and was laden with spices. 5 Judah takes the opportunity to
make a proposal. They were going to gain nothing by killing

Joseph let ;
them rather sell him to the Ishmaelites, and
6
not lay hands on one who is their flesh and their brother." ?

Part of his speech has perhaps been transposed here by R

from ver. 21 (see note).
HN33 trayacantli, the gum of the Astragalus gummifer*
" f
Three species of it were found in Lebanon by Eauwolff."
"
^V mastic, indigenous to the land of the Hebrews,

especially to Gilead, and exported to Phoenicia and Egypt." 10

It is the balsamic gum (prjrivr)) of the mastic tree, 11 which,
when dissolved in oil, was used also for salves, but is not to

be confused with the true balm. It is not o-Tpvpat;, which

12
Lagarde supports for etymological reasons.
13
tift ladanum, \fj$ov, XtySopop, Assyrian ladumi, the

fragrant gum of the cistus rose, which is indigenous to Crete,

14
Cyprus, Arabia, Syria, and Palestine. 15
"
nor " bury
16
'J1 WD3 not destroy without bloodshed,"
17 "
properly," but conceal the murder by covering up the
18
blood."
19
Ver. 28. The brothers agree to this, and sell him to the
20
Ishmaelites for twenty (shekels ) silver (Sept. %pvo-ovs, as in

xlv. 22). For the price, compare Lev. xxvii. 5.

1 2
Ch. xxxi. 54. Ch. xxxi. 1.
3 4
Ch. xxv. 18. See note on ver. 17.
5 For the names, see Gesenius, Thesaurus.
6 *
Knobel.
Ch. xxix. 14.
8
Riehm, Hcmdworterbuch, 1682 f.
9
Reisebeschreibung, ii. 136 f. (ed. of 1852).
10
Ch. xliii. 11; Jer. viii. 22, xlvi. 11; E/A-k. xxvii. 17.
11 12
Riehm, p. 959. Mittheilungen, i. 234 f., 384.
13 Schrader in MBA W. 1881, p. 413 ff.
14 47 f.
Pliny, xxvi.
15
Von
Schubert, Reisen, iii. 114, 174. See Winer, 3 ii. 2; Riehm,
p. 877; and for the names, Schrader, op. cit.
1(1
Wellhausen. 17
Schwally, Leben nach dem Tod, p. 52.
18 10 2
Rashi, Knobel, Delitzsch, Ch. xlv. 4. See xx. 16.
340 GENESIS XXXVII. 29-31 F. [396,397

This is what remains is from B.

C'a account; The
words and Midianite traders passed ~by
: and drew Joseph out of
the pit, i.e. carried him off as a profitable prize, plainly give a

different account of the incident. The subject to -DEW in

the present text is indeed ITIN but the actual presence of ;

another source is made evident (a) by the variation in the

*
name of the merchants (b) by the absence of the article
;

with 'no which prevents them being identified with the

'tf,

Ishmaelites of vv. 25 and 27; and (c) by xl. 15, according

to which Joseph is not sold, but stolen. B's speaking of
Midianites suits his authorship in xxv. 2. It has to be
2
left uncertain whether C intended Ishmaelites in the wider
"
or narrower sense. Another version of the whole occurrence
3
is given inArtapan ;
in
escape his brothers'it Joseph, to
plots, requests Arabs in the vicinity to take him with them
4
to Egypt, and they do so." Ver. 28b is also from B; C
5
does not write Kun, but nnin (ver. 25 and xxxix. I).

Ver. 29 f. From
Eeuben, who had intended to
B. When
6 7
rescue Joseph (afterwards, when their meal was over), looks
for him in the cistern that he might set him free and send

him home, he finds him gone, and is reduced to despair.

And /, where shall I enter, turn myself ? B has nn in xxviii.
20 and xli. 42, as well as "$&, e.g., in xxxv. 2 and xli.

14. For the phrase vnw jnp, comp. Num. xiv. 6 ; vrttib jnp
in ver. 34, xliv. 13, and Josh. vii. 6.
Ver. 3 If. The brothers dip Joseph's garment, which they
had retained for the purpose (ver. 23), in the blood of a he-

goat, which and they send it to their father.

is killed, Ver.
8
3 1 is from B, 3 2 from C each requires to be supplemented
;

by the other, for in the one there is no mention of the

garment being sent home, in the other of its being dipped

in blood. KJ-nan as in C in xxxviii. 25; yet see xxxi. 32
1
The difference is maintained in ver. 36 from B, and xxxix. 1 from C.
2 3
See p. 181 f.
Eusebius, Prcep. Evang. ix. 23.
4
Knobel ; Ewald, Geschichte* i. 588 [Eng. tr. i.
411].
6 6
Ilupfeld. Cf. xlii. 22.
7 *
Ver. 26a, Because of D^DSH rUJ"D,
397] GENESIS XXXVII. 33-M 34 i

also. The disjunctive question is as in xviii. 21 and xxiv.

21, from C.
Ver. 33. Jacob at once draws the conclusion his sons
had intended (ver. 20) from the blood-stained garment. The
formula inrteK njn rrn is from B (see ver. 20); *nb sptp, from
(7 (see xliv. 28). For nanan, HTS'I, and *PB, see Gesenius. 1
Ver. 34f. Jacob puts on mourning,2 and for long mourns
his loved son disconsolately. He desires to die in his
"
mourning dress, and go down to the shadow-land. 3 k?K
and ^HNnn, one who goes about in a mourning dress. 4 f>HNnn
of

recurs in the Pentateuch only in Ex. xxxiii. 4 and Num.

5
xiv. 39."

The text is composite, and not wholly from R Q

But the
division is not 34 and 35& to B and 35a to (7;
7
34& and
35a are inseparable, and stand apart from 35&, which, with
34a is more likely from B,8 whereas 346 and 35a betray C's
9
hand.
Ver. 36. From B. The Midianites sold Joseph to Poti-

pliar in Egypt.
D
^"JP is a contraction 10 or corruption from

?rP> which rendered by all the versions.

D<t is

-iB'Bte identical with the JHB *pia of xli. 45 and xlvi. 20,
from which it is a contraction, only to distinguish the two

persons in question ;
at least the Septuagint gives Uere^/nfc

or IlevTeffis for both forms. 11 The name is Egyptian, Petepre

i.e. lie whom the sun-god has given, gift of the sun. Pa or PTJ
12
is the sun-god. Brugsch explains otherwise by puti-par,
gift of him who has appeared. See, further, regarding these
"
Egyptian names the notes on xli. 45. Potiphar is called
13 14
circumcised, eunuch, court official of Pharaoh, and head of

1
Grammatik** 100A. 4, 60A. 2, 113. 3A. 4.
- 3 3
Winer, ii. 3~> See xxv. 8.
4 Sam. 3 Ps. xxxv. 14.
Of. 2 xiv. 2 ;
Isa. Ixi. ;

5 6 7
Knobel. Bacon. Kittel.
8
Because of 3pjp, and in spite of Vnfeb-
9 10
Because of ntac' TlK cf. xlii. 38, xliv. 29, 31.; Ewald, 1646.
11
Lagarde, Genesis grace, Preface, p. 20.
12 14
Geschichte, p. 248.
1;!
See xl. 2. Ch. xii. 15.
342 GENESIS XXXVIII [397,398

the slaughterers, i.e. executioners, guards. He was therefore

head of the palace-guard, one of whose duties was the exe-
cution of the death penalty, from which accordingly it had
its name. He also superintended the state prison (xl. 3 f.).

The same found among the Babylonians, 1 where the

office is

chief of the guards carried out arrests and executions as part

2
of his duty."

2. JUDAH AND TAMAR, CH. XXXVIII. ;

FROM C.

In the middle of the history of Joseph a narrative is

inserted which deals with the origin of the three principal
clans or kinships in the tribe of Judah. 3 'Er and Oiian early
4
disappeared, or survived only in fragments, and two others,
Peres and Zerach, took their places. These were not, how-
ever, regarded as adopted grandsons, as Ephrairn and Man-
5
asseh were, but as later-born sons of Judah himself, not by
6
his wife, however, but by his daughter-in-law. Peres, the

younger of them, like Ephraim, finally gained precedence of

his brother. The connection made with the history of Joseph
is quite external (see ver. 1); but the chapter is like it, a
contribution to the history of the growth of the Israelite

tribes, and in especial to the history of their amalgamation

with the people of Canaan. Judah here already appears on
the point of separating himself from his brethren and of

settling in the country which became his home. He marries

a Canaanite woman, and his sons by her are 'Er, Onan, and
Shelah. 'Er Tamar, but dies without children.
marries
Onan, although Tamar's brother-in-law, refuses to give her
children, and is also soon carried off. Judah, for the time,
hesitates to give Shelah to Tamar, because he fears for his
life. Tamar in her widowhood long remains in expectation
1
2 Kings xxv. 8ff. ; Jer. xxxix. 9, Hi. 12 IF.;
Dan. ii. 15.
2
Knobcl. 3
Num . xxvi 19 _22.
.

4 c
1 Chron. iv. 21, where an Er appears under Shelah.
5
Gen. xlviii. 5 ff.
Ewald, Geschichte* i. 543 ff.
[Eng. tr. i. 380 f.]
398] GENESIS XXXVIII 343

of Shelah, and finally employs a stratagem, which results in

her pregnancy by Judah, her father-in-law. Twins, Peres and

Xerach, are the result of the connection.
A secondary purpose of the narrative is found in the
desire it exhibits of impressing the duty of marriage with a
deceased brother's wife. 1 Such a marriage receives historical
2
mention only once, and is not prescribed in the legisla-
tion until Deut. xxv. 5 ff. ;
but it was an ancient custom
diffused among many other peoples of antiquity also. Stories

of the kind exemplified here were not, we may suppose,

unique in the ancient legendary cycle and in the legendary
collections. But they have not survived, though xxxv. 22
and xlix. 4 may be regarded as a fragment of the kind.
The only detailed narrative of its class is this of ch. xxxiv.,

which R preserved because of its importance to Judah.

When Joseph's history had so much attention devoted to it,

it was desired not to pass entirely over the tribe of Judah

and the history of its
development.
C
without doubt, the source of the narrative.
is, The
divine name used is sufficient to exclude A,3 and the same

usage puts B also out of the question. The Judean country

was itself, without doubt, the original home of the legend ;
it
4 5
was not an invention to cast reproach on Judah, nor

prompted by the jealousy of the northern tribes. We cannot

even conclude, from a couple of expressions, nra in ver. 21 f.

and W* in xiv. 19, that B also told the story. "The inter-

pretations of names in ver. 29 f. and the use of miT (vv. 7,

10), vrya jn (ver. 10), np'K yr (ver. 26), Tan (ver. 25 f.),

in (vv. 12, 20), mn come (ver. 16), Tta (ver. 9), p-^jr'D (ver.

26), &o (vv. 16, 25)," suit C's authorship. The chapter has
been given its present position by fi.

1 3
See Winer, ii. 19 ; KwuM, Alicrlkiimn; p. 276 ff.
[Eng. tr. 207 ff.].
-
In Until, cli. iv., where in ver. 12 reiVivmv is iii;uK- to .liulali and
Tamiar.
3
Regarding xlvi. 12, see note there.
4
Kuenen, Onderzoekf i. 226.
5
Ueuss, Geschichte, 250. Knobel.
344 GENESIS XXXVIII. 1-3 [398,399

Ver. 1. The words &onn nya make the time of Joseph's

loss the date ofJudah's marriage, and not of the birth of
Peres and Zerach (ver. 29 f.) as has been assumed for the

purpose of removing chronological difficulties. In xxxvii.

26, as again in ch. xlii. ff., Judah is still with the other
f
"
brethren. Here he separates from them and joins an Adul-
lamite Hirah. The two seem to have had their flocks in

common (ver. 12), but Judah was the principal per-

sonage."
"
He went down from Hebron (? see xxxvii. 14) on the
hill-land of Judah to 'Adullam which lay in the plain (She-
l
phelah) of Judah."
P.1! we are not to supply i*,2 for that is not else-
where omitted, and there is no place name after "W. Trans-
late devertit, a^t/eero, 3 as in ver. 16, or inclined himself towards,

i.e. attached himself to,

4
as ^a nnx PIDJ elsewhere. 5 For "W,

comp. 1 Sam. ix. 9.

Vv. 2-5. There he marries the daughter of the Canaanite
r
Shua and has three sons by her, 'Er, Onan, and Shelah.
The last is born at Kezib, a place in the plain of Judah,
elsewhere named Akzib. 6 It was therefore later held to be
the original home of the clan Shelah. 7 There is no hesitation
shown here in speaking either of Judah's marriage with a
8
Canaanite, and so of the half Canaanite origin of Shelah, or
of Judah's
partnership with Hirah.
For jop^ the Samar., Targ of Jonathan, and some
Ver. 3.

Hebrew Codd. have anpni comp. de Eossi, ad loc., and the ;

false reading in xxix. 34.

n
^
Sept. ^Xwyu,, just as mTi may be supposed to be
only a variant of D^n comp. note on xxxvi. 14. The ;

nomen gentile is ^fa? (Num. xxvi. 20).

1
Josh. xv. 35. Knobel. See further [Dillmann's] Conim. on Josh.
xii. 15.
2 4
Delitzscli, Keil. 3
Targ<p es i u Se pt.
4
Knobel. 5
Ex xx iii. 2 1 Kings
.
;
ii. 20.
(;
Josh. xv. 44 ; Micah i. 14. 7
See 1 Chron. iv. 22.
8
Of. xlvi. 10.
399] GENESIS XXXVIII. G-12 345

n;ni :
unendurable ;
Samar. TPI ; Sept. better, afar) Se rjv,

.e.

"
Ver. 6 f.
According to Hebrew custom 2 he chooses a
wife for his eldest son 'Kr. She was a woman named Tamar,
doubtless also a Canaanite. But Jahve (Sept. o eo?)

brought his death upon him because He was displeased with

him. The author infers this from the principle that an early
3
death is apunishment for sin."

Vv. 8-10. " Judah prompts Onan to agree to marry

Tamar as her levir, that he may raise up seed to his dead
brother, i.e.
procure him descendants. The author is able to
give particulars of what brought on him Jahve's (Sept. rov
Seov) displeasure."
4
He is unwilling to perform the service
of begetting descendants for his brother, and of so preventing

the extinction of his name. 5

He lies, indeed, with Tamar, but

intentionally avoids impregnating her he displays selfishness ;

and want of love to his brother. For this sinful conduct

God carries him away.
'y\ ivrn consecutive perfect in the sense of the habitual
6
imperfect ;
as often as 7 he went in to her he let perish to the

earth, allowed his seed to fall on the ground. 8 |H3 is found

again only in Num. xx. 21.
Ver. 11. "Judah regards Tamar as a woman with whom
9
marriage is fatal, and does not wish to give her his third
son. He does not say this directly, but only that Tamar
should remain a widow until Shelah is grown up. A widow,
10
if she had no children, returned to her father's house."
Ver. 12. The days became many, a considerable time
11
passed, and Judah 's wife died. He comforted himself, ceased

1
Of. Driver, Tenses, 5 p. 161 ; see also Geige, Urschrift, 462.
2
See xxi. 21, xxxiv. 34.
3
Ps. xc. 7 ff. ;
Prov. x. 27 ;
Job viii. 11 ff., xv. 32.
4 5 Job
Knobel. E.g. xviii. 17 ;
Ps. ix. 7, cix. 15 ;
Dent. ix. 14.
6
As xxx. 41 f. ; Num. xxi. 9. Ewald, Syntax, 3456.
7
Ewald, 3556. See Winer, 3 ii. 175.
''
Tobit iii. 7 IF. Lev xxii> 13 Knobel.
. .

11
Ch. xxvi. 8.
340 GENESIS XXXVIII. 13-15 [399,400

1
to mourn for her. After the period of mourning was over,
2
Judah went with his partner Hirah to Timnah for the

sheep-shearing. For ?y, comp. xxx. 3 3 ;

here it expresses
also that he went for purposes of supervision. Timnah is
"
here probably not the better known Danite locality, but,
in view of w, the place in the Judean hill-country named
3
along with Gibeah in Josh. xv. 57."
Ver. 13 f. Tamar has until now waited in vain for Judah
to give her Shelah, and having heard of Judah's journey, uses
her opportunity so that he himself is made to do a levir's

part. She lays aside her widow's garments, 4 covers her face
6
with the veil? so as to be unrecognised by Judah, puts a

wrapping round her, as courtesans seem habitually to have

done, and goes to 'Enaim, where she sits down at the entrance,
7

She wishes n
i.e. before the place. to pass as a ^i?, one
8
dedicated, who gave her person in honour of the goddess of
9
love, Astarte. Such women made the sides of the roads a
10
favourite haunt. impurity was widely Such sanctified
diffused in Canaan and elsewhere, and is here assumed for

this early period ;

itwas certainly of very old standing.
&W in ver. 21 with the article, doubtless only an
11 "
expanded form of CW, which was a place in the plain of
12
Judah, and lay, according to this passage, on the road between
Judah's home and Timnah." 13 Eegarding the dual ending,
14
see note on xxxii. 3. Some versions, in spite of ver. 21,
took the word as an appellative and translated n^y nna, cross-
road.

Ver. 15. Judah supposes her to be a prostitute. But

1
Cf. xxiv. 67.
2
Here and in ver. 20 in the Mass, text, rightly following ver. 1 ; Sept.
Vulg. and Luther, wrongly, :injn.
3 3 4
Robinson, Palestine, ii. 17. Judith x. 3, xvi. 7.
"'
Oh. xxiv. (55. Job xxiv. 15.
10; but Sept. Pesh. Onkelos, adorns herself with dress.
'

I'rov. vii.
s
Ver. 21 f. 9
Movers, Phonici'en,, i. G7U f.
10
Jer. 2 Ezek. xvi. 25 Epist. Jer. 42 f. [Baruch vi. 43].
iii. ; ;
11
See xxx vii 17. Josh. xv. 34.
13
Knobel. 14
Targg. Pesh. Jerome, Saadia.
400, 40l] GENESIS XXXVIII. 10-22 347

the causal sentence does not give as the reason for his
'31
^
doing so that she was veiled it explains why lie did not ;

recognise her. To make this clear the Septuagint and

Vulgate add tealOVK eTreyvw avrrjv (njTP N^).
Ver. 1 6 f. Judah turns aside to her, to the road, 1 i.e. where
she was sitting, and wishes to lie with her she asks a kid ;

in return, and meantime a pledge that he will send it her.

Kids and goats were favourite offerings to the goddess of

2 3
love, especially from the hetairai. The goddess was also

depicted sitting on a he-goat. 4

A kid appears also as a
husband's gift to his wife (Judg. xv. 1).
Ver. 18. The pledge consists of things well suited to be
afterwards a convincing proof that Judah was the cause of
Tamer's pregnancy, for they were always about their pos-
sessor's person. They are a signet ring, which Judah carried
on a cord about his neck, as the townspeople in Arabia still
5
do, and a stick, which we have to think of as ornamented
and valuable. The ancient Babylonians carried a signet ring
6
and a stick, the latter with an ornamented carved top.
7
The author supposes the existence of the same custom here.

Eegarding walking-sticks among the ancient Egyptians and

8
Hebrews, see also Chabas. The earliest interpreters took
^na (in ver. 25, D^na) to be neck-chain* or armilla or cloth,
n
mantle they were not familiar with the custom of carrying
;

the &nh on the breast.

Ver. 19. Tamar goes home with the pledge and resumes
her widowhood.
Vv. 2022. Hirah brings from Judah the kid he had

1
Sept. rqv , by the way, without ^s ; Lagarde (Prov. p. iii), and
Olshausen prefer this reading.
"
2
Tacitus, Hist. ii. 3. Lucian, /)inl. mentr. vii. 1.
4
Pausanias, vi. 25. 2.
5 3
Robinson, Palestine, i. 3(!.
Herodotus, i. 195 Strabo, xvi. 1. 20. ;
7
Knobel.
8
Annales du Musce Guimet, i. 35 ff.
p u,iffx.o;,
l s, Sept. Aq. Sym.
Jerome. " Onkelos, Peshitta.
348 GENESIS XXXVIII. 23-25 F. [401

promised in redemption of the pledge, but cannot find Tamar

in 'Enaim, where she had only been for the moment.

For sin n^npn, see xix. 33. nta in the Pentateuch only
in xlviii. 9 ;
Ex. xxiv. 14 ;
Num. xxii. 19, xxiii. 1, 29.
Judah declares she may take and keep the pledge,
Ver. 23.
which was of more value than the kid, in case they may
be laughed at if they search further he had kept his ;

promise.
Ver. 24. After about three months Judah is told that
Tamar is pregnant in the direction of prostitution?- in conse-
quence of it. In virtue of his power over her, as head of
the family,2 he decides to have her burned. She could be
regarded as affianced to Shelah, and so as an adulteress. But
3
the legal punishment for ordinary adultery is stoning, only
4
priests' daughters who prostituted themselves were burned.

Knobel, following the Targum of Jonathan, therefore supposes

that we have here again a representation of the patriarchs as
men of God. 5 Such could hardly be in place, however, in the
case of Judah, the visitor of a prostitute. We must grant
that the punishment not that prescribed by the law.
is It

may preserve the memory of what preceded the law or was

6
practised in spite of it.

vh^n?. for the double preposition comp. B^noa in the

Sept. of 1 Sam. x. 27 ;
also 1 Sam. xiv. 14 and Lev. xxvi.
37. For vihw the Samaritan has more correctly ne&&.
mn nan see xxiv. 30.
Ver. 25f. For the construction, see xxix. 9. When she
isbeing led out to death she sends the pledges to Judah, who
acknowledges them to be his, and declares she is in the right,
7
starting from me, against me.
S
3ED npiv does not so much
"
mean she is more righteous than I," i.e. has not acted so
1
Ps. xviii. 45 Num. xvi. 34; ;
Samar.
2
Ch. xxxi. 32.
3
Lev. xx. 10 ; Deut. xxii. 23 ff. ; Ezek. xvi. 40 ; John viii. 5.
4
Lev. xxi. 9. 5
Chs. xv. 1, xx. 7.
fl
But see also Lev. xx. 14.
7
Cf. Job iv. 17 ; Gesenius,
25
133. 1A. 1, footnote 3.
Ull, GENESIS XXXVIII. 27-30 349

badly in getting me to lie with her as I have in

depriving
1 "
her of Shelali. Judah does not lie with her again, for
s
that would have been incest."

Ip-^SPS, see xviii. 5 ; wian, xxxi. 32, xxxvii. 32. For

D^TIB the Samaritan has ^"na ;
but see Bottcher. 3
Vv. 2730. Tainar bears twins. The story of their 1m Mi
is much like that in Rebecca's case (xxv. 2411'.).

T }m then lie, sc. |nSn, gave, a hand, i.e. then one of them
stretched out a hand. unnecessary to translate im-
It is

personally there appeared a liand^ and reasons may also be

urged against it.

5
The midwife 6 pronounces this the first-
born, and ties a scarlet thread on his hand so as to recognise

him again. It is not he, but the other, who first comes out of

the womb.
IT woa he was as one drawing back his hand, 7
TT"! not,
for he must have drawn back in reality, and not apparently, to

allow of the other coming forward. ^Btea must be equivalent

8
to yvfo n ^r% as in post-biblical Hebrew as (when) he dreiv :

9
lack. If there is to be correction, 2"i"n2 is not sufficient,
because of the change of subject in what follows ;
tawa is

necessary.
T^y nviD no
ps the midwife's reproach to the second,
how you have rent a rent for yourself (on your account, xx. 3),
10
why need you press out in front with such violence Hence !

the name rent (one who rends or presses forward). There is

less likelihood in the view which takes pD *fiy as an inde-

11
pendent exclamation, a rent on you, either, you must bear
12 13
the blame of rending the vagina, or, may you be fractured.
2
1
Knobel, Delitzsch. Lev. xviii. 15, xx. 12. Knobel.
3 Neue Aehrenlese, i. 23 (for nnn also).
4
Gesenius, Delitzsch, Keil.
5
See Hitzig on Job xxxvii. 10.
6 7
Ch. xxxv. 17. Delitzsch 4 .

s
Ch. xl. 10 Jer. ii. 17 Ewald, Syntax,
; ; 337c.
9 3
Driver, Tenses, p. 172.
10 and others. " Cf. xvi. 5.
Sept. Aq. Luther, Delitzsch,
12 and others.
Clcricus, Rosenmiiller, Gesenius,
13
Knobel,
350 GENESIS XXXIX [402

An injury to the mother would require clearer statement,

and the breaking off of the majority of the tribes from David's
l
house after Solomon's time did not befall Peres as distin-

guished from Zerach, even if David were descended from him,

but either the Davidic house or more truly all Judah. The
reference is rather to nothing more than the fact that Peres,

although properly the younger, in time gained precedence of

his rival, and doubtless gave rise also to complaints regarding
his violence.
rnr there is no statement of the etymology such as

rising, because he rose, or wished to appear, first or such as ;

2
indigena (rnTN) and a play on *}&, literally, brilliant,
;
is

simply absent.
NVI both in vv. 29 and 30 read topni by Samar., Targ.
of Jonathan, and Peshitta.
There is as little intention to disgrace Peres by this

narrative as there was in the case of Jacob in xxv. 26. For

what modern tendency criticism can make out of such na'ive
3
tribal legends, full of popular wit, see Bernstein.

3. JOSEPH IN PRISON, CH. XXXIX. ;

MOSTLY FROM C.

1. An
Egyptian (Potiphar) buys Joseph from the Ish-
maelites, and finds him so qualified that he sets him over all
the affairs of his house. The pious youth firmly puts aside
the unchaste suggestions of his master's wife, is therefore

falsely accused by her of an attempt on her chastity, and is

put by her husband in the state prison. But God brings him
the favour of the head of the prison, so that he is placed by
him in charge of his fellow-prisoners. Joseph's purity makes
a bright contrast to the conduct of Judah and Tamar. In
ch. xxxvii. he appears merely as one persecuted without
cause ;
here he displays a strength of piety and a moral

greatness which range him with the patriarchs, in the true

1 2
Knobel. Delitzsch.
3
Ursprnng der Sayen, 1871, p. 52 fF.
402,403] GENESIS XXXIX I If)!

sense of the term, and make us understand how the develop-

ment of the fortunes of his house depends on him. At'h-r

being so tried, he appears worthy of the advancement which

awaits him.
This narrative, filthmi^h essential as part of the general

story of Genesis, is not from the principal narrator of the

1
history of Joseph, B, but from 6'. The Ishmaelites, spoken of

by C in xxxvii. 25 ff., are those who sell Joseph in ver. 1.

"
His purchaser "an Egyptian (ver. 1, see below), afterwards
is
" "
called "Joseph's Egyptian master" (ver. 2) and the Egyptian
(ver. 5), without his name and title being given (as in B, xxxvii.

36). Joseph is consigned for punishment to the royal prison

(inbn rvn), in charge of a governor (inon m -it?) whose name
is not given, and is entrusted by him with the supervision of
the captives (xxxix. 20 ff.).
In >, on the other hand (xl. 2-4),

Potiphar, captain of the guard, has the state prison pp^p) in

his house, is himself governor of the prison, and sets Joseph, his

slave (xli. 12), to wait upon the king's prisoners. The passage
differs therefore from B in regard to matters of fact, just as it

shows linguistically that it belongs to C? Its delicate moral

3
tone also suits C's authorship best. Wellhausen is of opinion

that only vv. 1-5 and 20-23 are from C, and that 6-29 are
in the main from B* Some support is given to this view by
the doublet in ver. 10& (see below), and by the expressions
6
DTita (ver. 9),
5
rta<n onmn ins Tn (ver. 7), and na'i ">Kh na'

nsno (ver. 6).

7
WJ in ver. 14 is no support,
8
(ver. 8, and &
as 4f.), "iKto, because (ver. 9, as 23 never in B), and onma
;

1 2
Ewald, Hupfeld, Schrader, Bohmer, Kuenen, Onderzoelc, p. 143.
2
m;T (vv. 2f., 5, 21, 23), rp&n (w. 21, 23), and TND (ver. ^3 5),

TTin (ver. i), ntan nnro (w. 17, 18).

3
JBDTh. xxi. 444. 4
From A, according to Knobel.
5
But a hi'atlii-n wcinaii is addivssecl.
6
A common formula of transition to a loosely-connected narrative ;
frequent in 5, but not peculiar to him cf. note on xv. 1 also Josh, ; ;

xxiv. 29 ; 1 Kings xvii. 17, xxi. 1, and elsewhere.

7 A
satisfactory alternative explanation may be derived from the
certain fact that "ij<h 3112 was not an expression in use.
8 but similarly xxvii. 27 and xxxi. 50 [in
Cli. xli. 41 ; C].
 352 GENESIS XXXIX [403

n (vv. 17 and 19), are rather proofs against it. But it is

quite improbable, for the reason that the story contained

in vv. 6-19 cannot be fitted on to B's account in xl. 3 f.,

if, at least, the former ended with Joseph's imprisonment.

It is true, indeed, that in JB's narrative we miss a statement
between xxxvii. 3 6 and xl. 3 f. regarding what the chief of
the guard did with Joseph, and how the latter gained his
master's favour by tact or virtue. Probably E's remarks on
this point have not only been utilised by C himself, but have
been in a fragmentary way worked into C's text by fi.
1
R
has also combined the divergent statements as to Joseph's

master, in a sense favourable to B, by the insertion of "is^is

DTDtsn,and he has decided the difference regarding the prison

governor in favour of C by admitting vv. 2023 (with some
redaction in 20); the result
ver. is that there are two
governors one without name, who may be regarded as a
subordinate official the other Potiphar, captain of the guard
;

(xl. 4), head of the prison. This artificial reconciliation

brings with it new only removable by harmonistic

difficulties

hypotheses. We find,
2
namely, a D^D with a wife, and one
Potiphar, who, as an outraged husband, imprisons Joseph
(ver. 20), yet as head of the prison advances him to favour

(xl. 4).

Kittel and Kautzsch-Socin have given their adhesion to

the analysis here presented.
2. The question as to whether it was under a native
Egyptian king or under one of the Hyksos kings that Joseph
came Egypt and rose
to to power, cannot be answered from
Genesis alone, and is of no essential importance in our
interpretation of it. No attempt will be made here to give
Joseph a place in the course of Egyptian history. As in the
case of Abraham and the rest, Joseph must originally have

*K Ml (ver. 2),
yitf
TW1 (ver. 4 ;
cf. xl. 4 ;
Ex.
xxiv. 13, xxxiii. 11), or ver. Qa (mainly
superfluous along with ver. 4),
etc.
2
See note on ver. 1.
403, 404] liKNESLS XXXIX 353

been the designation for a community of some size, 1 but in

Genesis he appears as no more than an individual, with u

history which is purely a domestic one. The Egyptian kiii^

is called Pharaoh only ;
his own name or that of his capital

(xliv. 4) is not given. Our text gives no indication regard-

ing the royal residence, except that it was in a city not

2
extremely remote from Goshen, so that we are unable to
decide between the claims advanced for Soan 3 and for
4
Memphis. Only three Egyptian names are mentioned, On,
Asenath, and Potiphera' and the last quoted is that of two
;

different individuals, though slightly varying in form in

Hebrew. If we exclude the naturalised words "IN 1

,
and in^
there are two other Egyptian words which occur (xli. 43,
45). The narrators show themselves well acquainted with
Egyptian affairs, customs, and ideas there are no real ;

5
lapses due to ignorance, and there are notes and descriptions
which appear surprisingly faithful and happy. The legend
may have had a certain Egyptian impress from the begin-

ning, but individual traits may also have been added as the
Israelites became increasingly acquainted with Egypt, which
they did in the time of the Hebrew monarchy. For
example, it is only in CQ that special stress is laid on the

Egyptian dislike of the Hebrews and of shepherds ;

and
recently the age of several of the Egyptian proper names
found in the text has been called in question. 7 In any case,
the Egyptian colouring does not help us to determine

Joseph's date, for life in Egypt remained much the same

from age to age. Nor is a point of departure to be found
in the statements of ch. xlvii. regarding the changes worked
by Joseph's agrarian policy, for we have no definite in-

1
Ewald, Geschichtef i. 580 ff.
[Eng. tr. i. 405 ff.].
2
Chs. xlv. 10, xlvi. 28, xlviii. 1 f.
3 3
Hengstenberg, Kurtz, Ewald, Geschichte, i. 571 [Eng. tr. i. 399] ;

Bubastis also a possible claimant, see Naville, Bubastis, 1891, p. 1G it'.

is
4
E.g. Knobel, Delitzsch.
6
See, further, notes on xii. 16 and xlvii. 17.
1
Chs. xliii. 32, xlvi. 34. See note on xli. 45.

DILLMANN. II. 23
354 GENESIS XXXIX. 1 [404, 405

formation on the subject elsewhere. We cannot even

draw any conclusions from the mention in the inscription
of El Kab of a famine which lasted several years, and the
l

2
rock inscription from the island of Sehel is proved to be

Egyptian monuments and inscriptions tell us

3
a forgery.
4
nothing of Joseph, and non-biblical writers depend on
Genesis for their information. The only way of approaching
5
the question is to argue back from the date of the exodus.
From this starting-point it appears most probable, and is
assumed by most, that Joseph rose to power in Egypt under
the Hyksos dynasty ;
not in the time of their first wild

conquest, when they were the foes and destroyers of all

that was Egyptian, but in the period after their assimilation
of Egyptian culture, which revived once more under their

rule, while they themselves came more and more to occupy

the places of the ancient Pharaohs. It may even be main-

tained that this alone makes Joseph's advancement com-

"
prehensible. The elevation
Semite shepherd to the of a

highest office in the empire, his marriage with one who

belonged to a leading priestly family, his becoming one of
the priestly caste himself, and the very friendly reception
accorded to the tribe of Hebrew shepherds, is almost in-

explicable, when weEgyptian considerfor the hatred

strangers (xliii. 32), if native kings were then ruling, and

more especially if it were just after the Hyksos domination,
when the hatred of foreigners was particularly strong, above
6
all towards Semites."
Ver.
Joseph is brought to Egypt by the Ishmaelites
1.

(xxxvii. 28) and sold to an Egyptian. Eegarding "n^n and

-nn, see xxxvii. 28.

?'K is superfluous in the present text, and a proof

1
Brugsch, Geschichte, p. 244 S. [Eng. tr. 1891, p. 121 f.].
2
Brugsch, Die 7 Jahre der Hungersnoth, 1891.
bill.
''
Sf<- Krman in DLZ. 1891, No. 37. 4
E.g. Justin, xxxvi. 2.
6
See Comm. on Ex. i. 8, xii. 41.
1
Knobel. See, further, llielim, p. 763 f.; and Kittel, Geschichte, i.

.
[Kng. tr. i. 184 ft'.].
403] GENESIS XXXIX. 2-fi FF. 355

that D'naon "is'DlD is a later addition. It is as little intended

to stand in antithesis to the Hebrew slave of vv. 1 4 and 17 1

2
as to the Hyksos ;
the distinction between natives and
dominant foreigners is nowhere made in these narratives.

By this addition of R'a a married D^D comes into the

narrative. It is an uncertain way out of the difficulty to

maintain that ono denotes merely an official of the royal

court and ceases to mean eunuch. 3 It is more to the

point to recall that married eunuchs have existed and do

4
exist.
"
Ver. 2. Joseph is fortunate in the business assigned to
him in his master's house, for Jahve is with him." 5
w
rv^D t^N is perhaps from B, for C writes ?w as subject to
6
n^sri.
"
Ver. 3 f. When his master observes this he grants him
his special favour, makes him his personal attendant, 7 sets

him in the position of steward of his household, and entrusts

all his other possessions to his management also. Joseph
thus comes to occupy a position like that of Eliezer in rela-
8
tion to Abraham."
For iTjn, the Samar. and Sept. have vns ^'JD. For
in mBh, see p. 352, note 1.
frtf, without the relative is

rare in prose ;
but the Samar. has b w -icte ;
cf. vv. 5 and 8.

^ is
9
frequent in (7, but in xlii. 1 also in B.
"
Ver. 5. After this God's blessing dwells with him. In
the house and in the field, so that he had possessions in land
also. The author exhibits patriotic interest in showing how
God held His protecting hand over one of their ancestors."
]

TKO, Ex. iv. 10, v. 23, ix. 24. For 5&3, see xii. 13.
Ver. 6 ff. With the story of Joseph's temptation by his
mistress there is to be compared a very similar tale dating

1
Delitzsch 4 .
2
Knobel.
3 4 3
See Gesenius, Thesaurus, 973. Winer, ii. 655.
5 6
See xxi. 20. Ch. iii. 23 see note on xxiv. 21. ;

7
Job xix. 16. 8
Ch. xxiv. 2, xv. 2 f. Knobel.
9
Ch. xxiv. 23, 42, 49, xxviii. 16, xliii. 4, 7, xliv. 20, xlvii. 6.
10
Knobel.
356 GENESIS XXXIX. 6-10 F. [405, 406

from the 19th dynasty. 1 Egyptian women, at least of a later

2
period, had not a very good reputation, least of all in the
time of the Koman empire.
3
But we are not therefore
entitled conclude directly regarding ancient Egypt.
to A
4
comparison of the state of society in Egypt under Islam
is quite too remote to be of value.
5
Ver. 6. The Egyptian leaves
his whole property in

Joseph's hand, under his control, and concerns himself for

nothing with him, i.e. when he had already looked to it

(ver. 8),except for the food he ate, doubtless as being what
he could not leave to another. 6 Knobel's explanation would
follow xliii. 32 and xlvi. 34. For nK"D~na', see xxix. 17.
Vv. 79. The lustful mistress directs her looks to the
handsome youth, and makes unchaste proposals to him. He
refuses, and speaks of his master's unlimited confidence in

him, which he desires to merit by faithfulness and honesty,

and of the heinous sin he would be guilty of towards God if
he violated his master's marriage rights.
For n ?p^, see Gesenius, 25 48. 5. np presents no diffi-
culty, whether taken as an interrogative or indefinite
pronoun
7
Samar. noiNB.
; He is not great before me, " he has
not more control in his house than I have, having put under

my authority all but his wife. The iar does not permit of
the rendering, there is no one, or nothing, in this house greater
than 7." 8 -jbn, xx. 6, xxii. 12. T*?, xliv. 8 and 34. -ip'ao,

inasmuch as, or because, in the Pentateuch only here and in

ver. 23.

Ver. 1 f. While she was thus daily 9

urging him, without
1
Found by E. de Rouge in the Papyrus d'Orbiney, published, e.g., in
Ebers, ^gypten, i. 31 Iff.; Brugsch, Geschichte, 249 ff. [Eng. tr. 123 f.];
Erman, ^Egypten, 505 ff.
[Eng. tr. 1894, p 378 f.].
2
Herodotus, ii. 111.
3
Diod. i. 59 ; Martial, iv. 42. 4; Dio Cassius, li. 15.
4
E.g. Barhebrams, Chron. Syr. p. 217; Burckhardt, Arabic Proverbs,
p. 173 ff.

*
Isa. x. Job xxxix. 11, 14.
3 ;
6
Delitzsch.
7
Prov. ix. 13
Job xiii. 13. ;
8
Knobel.
8 25
Gesenius, 123. Al.
406] GENESIS XXXIX. 12-15 357

2
his agreeing to her proposal
l
to lie down beside tier, that he

might be with her, have sexual intercourse with her,3 it

4
happened like this time, i.e. just then, that Joseph came into
1,1m house about his business without any of the household

bcini;- there. At that time in Egypt it was not the custom

strictly to seclude the women from the men. 5

nrov nvr6 would surely have been too trivial to be

placed as a doublet to noy Me6 ;

there is less objection to
making it a gloss.
Ver. 12. "She wishes to force him, but he frees himself,
and hastens out, leaving his garment behind."
Vv. 1315. "To revenge the slight, and to secure herself
by anticipating the possibility an accusation by Joseph, of

she resolves to accuse him, although he was guiltless, of an

attack on her chastity, and calls the servants forthwith to
7
be witnesses."
"
He has brought in amongst us a Hebrew one of the
8
impure Hebrew pastoral people. She desires
produce to

the impression that she is very discontented with Joseph's

being there at all." 9

in prrai> to sport with, play the wanton on us. 3 has

a different force from that of nx in xxvi. 8. 10 She says us
(ver. 17, ^
not in the sense of me, 11 as is shown by what
follows, but as including, in her evil case, those (women)
whom she addresses. She
be understood that they
lets it

are no doubt also exposed to similar insolence. In proof of

her assertion, she points to the garment (hence **n) which he
had already laid aside and omitted to take with him on his

flight.
For tyx the Samaritan has wrongly 'Ta, for this

would have betrayed herself. 12

1 25
114. 3.
Gesenius,
2 3
Vv. 15 f., 18, xli. 3. 2 Sam. xiii. 20.
4
Sept. then a day like this became, came again.
5 6
Ebers, jEgypten, p. 205 ff. Wellhausen.
7
For parallels, see Rosenmiiller, ANM. i. 185 f.

8 9
Ch. xliii. 32, xlvi. 34. Knobel.
10
Cf. Prov. i. 26 ; Sept. epireti&i*.
n Knobel. 12
Delitzsch,
358 GENESIS XXXIX. 16-23 [406, 407

Vv. 1018. She garment down beside her, and

lays the
when Joseph's master, her husband, comes home, she relates
the occurrence to him. '3 prrai? is to be taken with ^K K3.

Ver. 19. The Egyptian is angry on hearing the story;

" "
but the writer does not say with Joseph probably because ;

he was not the only object of his anger, which was also

against his wife, whom he did not trust.

1

ntan Dnana also in ver. 17, as xxiv. 28, xliv. 7.

Ver. 20. He does not subject him to the utmost rigour

of the law, 2 putting him in prison only, because of his esteem
for him apart from this incident.
\nx in xlii. 30, 33 also; elsewhere in the plural only

with suffixes.

"inbn JV3 house of enclosure, prison, only here (vv. 20-23)

and xl. 3 and 5, where it is an insertion by R, following C.
3
The more usual expression "ii3 occurs in xl. 15, xli. 14.
D'TiDK Dlpo added to help the transition to ch. xl. It

results in the incongruity of allowing a private individual to

put his slave in the prison where the king confined those
4
subject to his displeasure.
"IPK is without Dip, as in xxxv. 13. For the construct
5
Dip?, see Gesenius.
Vv. 2123. "Here also Jahve is with Joseph, and wins
him favour. 'y\ inn }m, he set his (Joseph's) favour in the eyes

of, etc., brought him favour

with, the governor.
6
He made
Joseph head of the other prisoners, the overseer and director
of their tasks, so that they looked to him in everything. He
himself looked after nothing in his hand, did not trouble
7
himself about anything which was entrusted to Joseph's
hand (supervision). It would have been unnecessary, for
Jahve caused everything to succeed which Joseph undertook.
This elevation of Joseph's over the other captives does not

1 2
Delitzscli. Diod. i. 77 f.
3
Cf. Ex. xii. 29. *
Hupfeld.
6
Grammatik 130. 3. 6
As Ex. iii. 21, xi. 3, xii. 36.
7
1 xii. 19.
Kings
407] CKNKSIS XL

l
harmonise with xl. 4." This, in itself, is proof that vv.
20-23 are not an independent addition by U? but existed in

C as he had it.

5
For D'bty, gee Gesonius,- 110. H. A3. noNtO"fa after the

nothing at all; only here in this sense.

4. JOSEPH INTERPRETS THE DREAMS OF THE TWO KOYAL

SERVANTS, CH. XL. ;
FROM B.

The turning-point of Joseph's fortunes begins by his

gaining the opportunity to interpret correctly, in Potiphar's

prison-house, the dreams of two royal officials who had fallen
into disgrace. He thus establishes the fame of possessing
a divinely inspired wisdom. At home he had already shown
3
himself to be a dreamer of divinely sent dreams ;
he has
also the gift of the interpretation of dreams given him by
God (ver. 8). This is to be the means of bringing him to
"
power and fame in Egypt, that fairyland of supreme science
and mysterious art" where also the belief 'in dreams was
4
prevalent.
The important part played by dreams in the course of
the history is evidence for B's authorship. 5 Further proof is

given by vv. ?>a and 4, where Joseph is slave of the captain

of the guard, 6 and not in prison as in ch. xxxix., also by "fl3J3

in ver. 15 (cf. xxxvii. 28), and by the connection of ch. xli.

with ch. xl. The linguistic indications are not numerous,

seeing that the subject-matter requires a variation in the

vocabulary, and that DTita (ver. 8) is required by the nature
of the case but the avoidance of verbal suffixes, 7 which
;

distinguishes B from C, is to be observed. 8 One or two

references to xxxix. 20 ff., found in vv. ?>b, 5&, and 15&, are,
1
Knobel. 2
Bohmer.
3 4
Ch. xxxvii. 5 if.
Ebers, sftjif^'n, 321 f.
5
For the author of xx. 3, xxi. 12, xxviii. 12, xxxi. 11, 24, xxxvii. f>
It".,

and so for />'.

'
fi
As in xxxvii. 3G (cf. xli. 12). Vv. 3 f., G, 8, 11, lf>, 17. 19.
8
Wellhausen.
360 GENESIS XL. 13 [407, 408

like ver. 1, taken

by R from C to harmonise the narratives.
Such fragments are proof, however, that C also had some
similar account of the occurrence. 1
Ver. 1. For the formula of transition, see note on xv. 1.

The verse be regarded as an insertion by R from C, 2

is to

because of the use of npK'ip and nBN for the DV^'on -ib> and
"ic? in vv. 2, 4 ff., because instead of njna we find

]ta, and because the sentence from iSLon onwards is not

really required before ver. 2.

nnvo npBfo can only mean Ae cupbearer of the king,
3
like riBKn, as in ver. 5 it cannot be a cupbearer,
;
nor a
4
collective the cupbearers (and bakers) ;
in the latter case
the king must have made the heads responsible for their
subordinates. The expression does not exclude, for either

the cupbearer baker, they had servants and

or the that
subordinates under them. The Egyptian court was well
supplied with all sorts of officials, but the title cupbearer

has not yet been found in native sources, 5 although the court
bakers have, it seems. 6 Comparison may be made with
7 8
the Persian court and its cupbearers, and with the Turkish
9
court."
Ver. 2, from R Both the officials are eunuchs. 10 The
11
construct of D'np sometimes retains ,
sometimes not. t]Vp
v
i

as ch. xli. 10.

Ver. 3. The king places them in confinement in the
house of the captain of the guard, where the state-prison,
"
therefore, also was. Nothing is said regarding a special
1
Knobel still assigned all ch. iv. except vv. 7 f. and 14 f.
(partially)
to A.
2 3
Wellhausen. Ilgen.
4 5
Mercerus, Bottcher. Ebers, ^Egypten, 320.
6
JA. viii. 11, p. 259 ; Erman, JSgypten, 269 [Eng. tr. p. 191 f.].
7
Xenophon, Hellenica, vii. 1. 38.
8
Herod, iii. 34 Xen. Cyropcedia, i. 3. 8 Neh. i. 11, ii. 1.
; ;
9
Tavernier [Voyages, cf. Eng. tr. Appendix], Germ. tr. iii. 2, G f. ;

Klemm, Moryenland, p. 206 f. Knobel.

10
In ver. 7 also (see xxxix. 1).
11
See Gesenius, Thesaurus, and Ewald, 260&.
IMS]
CKA'KRTR XL. 4-11 361

l
warden of this prison other than Potiphar." Equally in

ver. 7 'jn inon rvirta is an insertion by R from C. 2

Ver. 4. 1'ntiphar makes his slave (ver. 7) Joseph tin-

3
servant of the two distinguished slate prisoners. For D'tr,

see iv. .*>.

Ver. 5. During one and the same night each dreams a

dream, each according to the interpretation of his dream, i.e.
"
each a dream which had a special meaning and interpreta-
tion for him." 4
Ver. 1) is superfluous, agrees in contents and

expression with vv. 1, 3&, and xxxix. 20 ff., and is an

insertion by R from C. f> IP'S, as xxix. 9, xli. 43, xlvii. 4.

Ver. 6. They are troubled by the dream, and Joseph finds

5
them next morning out of humour.
Ver. 7 f. in^ with him, as he was with them (ver. 4).
"
If we had supply as his fellow-prisoners," the words
to

inN -)B>K would be from C. See Neh. ii. 2 for DTI D :D (an S

ill-tempered expression).
They believe that dreams are significant, and desire an
interpreter. Joseph offers his services after expressly stating

that interpretation of dreams is of God, i.e. comes from God,

"
is a gift of God. As the ancients ascribed dreams to divine
influence (xli. 25), so they regarded the privilege of interpret-
ing them gift by which God distinguishes
truly as also a
individuals. 6
The Egyptians held that the art of a seer was
wholly from the gods."
7
For tmna the Sept. has D3->na, ?}

Vv. 911. The

cupbearer in his dream saw a vine before
him, with three shoots on it. It was just budding, or putting

out its leaves, had hardly put out its leaves, when its
i.e.

blossom shot outf and its clusters ripened grapes. Further, he

dreamed that, having Pharaoh's cup in his hand, he pressed
the grapes into it and handed it to the king.
1 2
Knobel. Cf. xxxix. -Jo 11.

3 4
Cf. xxxix. 4. Knobel.
5
Cf. Prov. xxv. 23.
6
Cli. xli. 16, 38 f. Dan.
;
i.
17, ii. 30, iv. G, v. 11 f.

7
Herod, ii. 83. Knobel. Isa. xviii. o.
362 GENESIS XL. 9-11 [408, 409

nrnba the 3 is not the 3 of comparison ;

1
for while the

whole dream was only an appearance, in the dream the

occurrence actually took place, and did not merely appear to
do so. It is a temporal 3 and nrna 5
is equivalent to nrna ;

see xxxviii. 29. The perfects after the circumstantial clause

express the immediateness with which the events follow one

another.
naw
post-biblical Hebrew proves the existence of a

singular ?. }
but that would be masculine, and there is difficulty

in taking flaw, alternatively, as accusative after J?Jf,

and making
2
|M the subject of the verb ;
it is easier to take flaw as con-
3
tracted from ffifl}??.

The Old Testament speaks elsewhere also of vines in

4
Egypt. Classical writers distinguish different kinds of
5
Egyptian wine, and localities distinguished for grape culture.
The monuments and inscriptions show that what they say is
not to be applied to a later period only. 6 The culture of the
vine and the use of wine was common under the ancient

empire also. A further proof is found in the Egyptian

belief that Osiris invented grape culture and drank wine first 7
in an Egyptian city. 8 Accordingly we must limit the state-
9
ment of Herodotus, ov yap a<f)l
elcn ev rf) ^copy a/MreXot, to
the Egyptians who lived Trepl rrjv tnreipOfAevffv Aiywrrov. 10
But the king here drinks pure grape juice, though not, as
suggested, because wine was forbidden to the kings before
Psammetichus n or because the Hyksos kings shared the dis-

I 3 2
2816.
Rashi, Knobel, Driver, Tenses, p. 172. Ewald,
3
Ewald, 257d
4
Ps. Ixxviii. 47, cv. 33 ;
cf. Num. xx. 5.
5
Strabo, xvii. 1. 14, 35 ; Diod.
i. 60, ed. Casaubon,
i. 36 ; Athenteus,
p. 33 ; Columella, De re rustica, iii. 2 ; Pliny, xiv. 74. Knobel.
c
Ebers, jflgypten, 323 ff. ; Erman, jflgypten, 276 ff. [Eng. tr. p. 196 ft'.].
7
Diodorus, i. 15.
8
Athenseus, i.
61, p. 34.
9 10 Knobel.
Ch. ii. 77.
II
According to Plutarch, de Iside, vi., this was not the case, and what
actually existed was at most a limitation as to time and amount by
priestly regulation (Diod. i.
70).
409] CKNKSIS XL. 12-14 I-'.

1
like of the Semite nomads for wine, but because fresh

grape juice must have been, in the season when it could In-

had, a favourite drink with the Egyptians, as it WHS with

other peoples.
Ver. 1_! f.
Joseph interprets the three brain-hes to be
three days, and what followed as the restoration of the cup-
"
bearer to his office. Artemidorus 2 includes the vine among
plants of rapid growth, and says that dreams in which it

appears are speedily fulfilled."

"
He will raise your head, bring you out from prison,
3
restore you to honour."

}3 as in xli. 13; in the same sense again only in the

4
Book of Daniel ; Kuenen, therefore, regards ^33 ^y p^ri'i as a
late insertion.

"B>K when] comp. 1 Kings viii. 9 ;

2 Sam. xix. 25.
14f. After giving this favourable interpretation
Ver.

Joseph adds for himself the request that the cupbearer, after

his restoration to office, will influence the king to deliver him

from his present situation. He appeals to the fact that he
was stolen from the land of the Hebrews,6 i.e. carried off by
5

stealth, and so is unjustly a slave he also says he has done ;

nothing in Egypt to merit imprisonment. It is clearly

apparent that ver. 156 is not from B, but is an insertion
from C. 7 In B, Joseph's wish is for deliverance from the
condition of slavery in which he is made use of as gaoler.
Btf ""S but if, except, only, only that, with a perfect of
8
condition when the verb follows directly. Only that you
9
think of me in your mind when it is well with you, 10 and will
n to show kindness to me. 12 If *3 be corrected to
please
1 2
Knobel. iv. 1.
3 4
2 Kings xxv. 27. Knobel. Onderzoek* 317.
5 6
See Ex. xxi. 16. Anachronism for \ya pN.
7
Against Hnpfekl, Quellen, p. 70, and Bohmer, </<<s/x, p. 263.
8
2 Sam. v. 6; 2 Kings v. 20, xxiii. 9; Ewald, 25
3566; Gesenius,
163. 2.
9 10
inK, Job xii. 3, xiv. 5. Ch. xiii. 12.
11
Ewald, 342c.
12
Not only in C, xxiv. 12, 14, 49, but also in B, xx. 13, xxi. 23.
364 GENESIS XL. 16-18 F. [409,410

TJX,
1 "OT is made conditional, whereas Joseph plainly makes
this a part of his request.

For 112, see note on xxxix. 20 ;

for TQ3J, xxxvii. 28 ;
for

rV3, vv. 3 and 7.

Ver. 1 6
Encouraged by f. this favourable interpretation

the baker tells his dream also. He dreamed he was carrying

three baskets
of white, white, i.e. of fine pastry. In the
2 3
uppermost basket he had, of (partitive) all kinds of Pharaoh's
food, in so far as it was work of a baker, i.e. all sorts of
the

pastry for the king. But the birds ate it from the basket on
his head. Dnfc, them, the different kinds of pastry.
In ancient Egypt the men carried articles on their heads
as the women also do now, the women used their shoulders.
4 5

The boldness and importunity of the birds is illustrated in

6
Denon.
Yer. 1 8 f. The interpretation is simple ;
it was necessarily
unfavourable, because of the conclusion of the dream.
Within three days the baker will be beheaded and impaled,
and the birds will devour his flesh. KSJOwas the word used
in the interpretation of the cupbearer's dream also ;
but here,
followed by ?yp, it has the signification take away. Compare
ch. xxvii. 39.

Beheading was customary in Egypt, but not among the

Israelites until the exile. The impalement of the dead body 7
8
is an aggravation of and the superstitious
the punishment,
beliefs of the Egyptians regarding their bodies made it a

keenly felt infliction to be cast to the beasts. 9

1 8
Wellhausen, xxi. 445 ; Driver, Tenses, p. 142.
2
As iv. 4, xxvii. 28, xxx. 14, xxxiii. 15.
3 4
Ch. ii. 9.
Seetzen, Reisen, iii. 363 f.
5
woodcut from the monuments [Ancient Egyptians,
Of. Wilkinson's

1878, ii. 34] (reproduced Ebers, jflgypten, 332, and Kiehm, HWB. 326).
6
[Voyage en Ecjypte, ii. 46 f.], Germ. tr. p. 327. Knobel.
7
Deut. xxi. 22 f. Josh. x. 26 2 Sam. iv. 12 similarly the Persians
; ; ;

in Herod, ix. 78, iii. 125 ;

Ctesias, Persica, ed. Lion, p. 59 ; Plutarch,
Artax. 17 ; and the Carthaginians in Plutarch, Timol 22 ; Justin,
xxi. 4.
8 o
Knobel. Ebers, sEyypten, 334,
410] GENESIS XL. 20-23 365

Ver. 20 ff. On the third day after, which was the birth-

day of the king, the interpretations are fulfilled.

rn?n is infin.
Hophal its subject is in the accusative c ;
l

as in iv. 18, xvii. 5, and elsewhere. Nbo has the double

sense made clear by vv. 13 and 19. The npBT? of ^P^P is
hardly cupbearership? but means beverage?
The Eosetta and Canopus tablets 4 are evidence, for the
Ptolemaic period at least, that the birthdays of the Egyptian

kings were celebrated by festivities and proclamations of

5
amnesty. Similarly among the Persians and Jews. 6 For
acts of clemency associated with occasions of special rejoicing,

see 1 Sam. xi. 13 2 Sam. xix. 22 f.7

;

The cupbearer ungratefully does nothing

Ver. 23. for

Joseph, who must therefore still remain in the situation in

which he is.

5. PHARAOH'S DREAMS AND JOSEPH'S ELEVATION, On. XLT. ;

MOSTLY ACCORDING TO B.

Two years later, Joseph is given the opportunity of

proving hiswisdom before a yet higher personage. The king

has wonderful dreams regarding seven fat and seven lean
cows, and ears of corn, and the Egyptian sages are unable to
interpret them. The chief cupbearer tells of Joseph. He is

brought, interprets the dreams of seven fruitful and seven un-

fruitful years, and advises that preparations be made in the

time of plenty for the time of famine. His interpretation

and his advice meet with approval the king appoints him ;

to the highest office in his kingdom, and marries him to the

1 25
Gesenius, 69. 2A, 7. Konig, Lehrgebiiude, p. 433 ;
cf. Ezek.
xvi. 4f.
2
Delitzsch 5 .

3 21 ; Gesenius, Thesaurus.
1 Kings x.
4
Ebers, JEgypten, 335 f. also Diod. xxxiv. 20. ;

6
See Herodotus, ix. 110 ; Athenseus, iv. 27, p. 146 ; Plato, Alcibiades,
i.
p. 121.
6 7
Matt. xiv. 6. Tuch, Knobel.
366 GENESIS XLI [411

daughter of Potiphera', priest of On ;

she is afterwards the
mother of Manasseh and Ephraim. The king's dreams are
fulfilled in accordance with Joseph's interpretation, and when
the famine sets in people from every quarter come to Egypt
to get corn. 1

This section is a continuation of what precedes, and has

been cast in the same mould. Dreams play the same
important part as before ;
the same significance is attached to
2
them, and the gift of interpretation is viewed in the same

light ;
3
vv. 1 01 3 expressly refer to ch. xl. 1 if. ;
and the
4
unusual expressions, ina, fnns, 15, place (ver. 13), and
C]Vp (ver. 10), recur again. Special signs of B are found in
ver. 12, where Joseph is the slave of the captain of the
5
guard, and in the expressions DTita and ^V/s ;
6 see a l so
the note on ver. 21. But the passage is not entirely
uniform. The account of the dreams in ver. 12 ff. varies
from the first (in ver. 1 ff.) more than we expect from the
analogy of similar cases (e.g. ch. xxiv.), and the language is

also different, e.g. ^ (ver. 18f., cf. n&op i n

na
vv. 2-4), PI
(ver. 10 f., cf. PI in 3 f.), K.te (ver. 22, cf. in ver. 5);

vv. 7 and 23 contain an accumulation of expressions. The

thread of the narrative is still from B, but C appears to
have been used more than before. R has also, we may
suppose, worked in doublets from in vv. 31, 34a,
(partially), 41, 43&, 44, 49, 55, 566, perhaps, also,
inn |
in ver. 14. C, without doubt, had a very similar
narrative to that of B. There may even be a fragment from
A retained in ver. 46, but Ilgen and Knobel are in the
wrong in supposing the greater part of the passage to be
from A.

1
Knobel. 2
y v 25j 2 8, 32, 39.
3
Ver. 16.
4
Vv. 8, 11, 12, 13, 15.
5
In ver. 51 f. in vv. 16, 25, 32, 38 f. miT would not be in place.
;

6
Ver. 16.
7
See also Kittel, Geschichte, i. 131, 143 [Eng. tr. i. 145,
159] Bacon in ;

II' I,
mica, vii. 286.
Ill] GENESIS XLT. 1-7

x
Ver. 1. After two years' time
has passed the kin^ I:

double dream, in which he finds himself transported to the

banks of the Nile.
For noy rum, see xxiv. 30. "ifr is
supposed to be a word
taken from the Egyptian 2 Fried. Delitzsch thinks it proved
;

from Assyrian to be of Semitic origin. 3

"
Vv. 24. First he sees seven cows of good appearance
and fat-fleshed coming out of the Nile and browsing among
the reed-grass, and seven other cows ill-favoured and lean-
4
fleshed, which come out after them and stand beside them,
and finally devour them. Then he awakes."
^n is originally an Egyptian word. For rpp*?, the
Samar. has nipi here and in ver. 4 comp. the Massoretic ;

text in vv. 19f., 29.

"
Vv. 57. Next, having fallen asleep again, he sees
seven fat, full, and beautiful ears of corn growing on one
5 6
stalk, and then seven thin ears, blasted by the east wind,
springing up after them, and finally swallowing them." nixta
in ver. 7 stands for nUB in ver. 5, as it does in ver. 22 for

"
Both dreams receive a suitable interpretation from
Joseph. The fertility of Egypt depends on the inundations
of the Nile ;
it is therefore from the Nile that the cows
7
come out. The Nile was symbolised by a bull, which was
8
specially sacred to Osiris the inventor of agriculture. In

Egyptian hieroglyphics the cow was the symbol for the

9
earth, for agriculture, and for nutrition. 10 Isis, too, was
11
goddess of the earth, which nourishes all, yet is itself

1
See xxix. 14.
2
Regarding its older Egyptian forms, see ZDMG. xlvi. 127.
3 Hebrew Language, p. 25.
4 6
Ck. xxxix. 10, 15, 18. Ch. xl. 10.
6
Hos. xiii. 15 ; Jonah iv. 8 ; Ezek. xvii. 10, xix. 12 ;
for Egypt, we
must think of the S.E. wind.
7 8
Diod. i. 51. Diod. i. 21.
9
Macrobius, Sat. i. 19.
10
Clement of Alex. Stromal. v. p. 567.
11
Macrobius, Sat. i. 20.
368 GENESIS XLI. 8 [412

fertilised by the Nile the ;

l
cow was specially sacred to
3
her. 2 She was moon-goddess also, and in the hieroglyphics
4
a representation of her denoted the year. The seven fat
cows therefore signify seven fruitful years, and the seven
lean cows seven unfruitful years. Their standing beside
one another (ver. 3) expresses that the unfruitful years will
follow the fruitful years without interval. The meaning of
the ears of corn is self-evident. Their growing on one stalk
5
all together."
signifies their coming
Ver. 8. The king is disquieted by the repeated dreams,
and summons the learned men of Egypt ; just as they were
6
unable to imitate the miracles of Moses, so they cannot
interpret the dream. God did not put it in their power
(xl. 8).

DJYIK with the Sept. rather than vnfcon for the

read int*
7
previous topn, where the Samar. has 1WJJ.
D'Btnn apart from the imitation of the Book of Daniel,
the word again found only in Ex. vii. x., in A, of the
is

Egyptian magicians the singular was doubtless Dbnn.

;
It is

not an Egyptian word, but neither does it signify one who

speaks through the nose, from Arabic hatama, hurtumf for a

charmer or here quite out of place.
exorcist is It should

rather be rendered scribe, and derived from tFin, trin. In

that case it will be identical with the
Egyptian lepo-
ypapfjiaTeis, who are distinguished on the monuments by
having pens behind their ears and writing materials in their
"
hands. 9 They belonged to the priestly caste, were versed
in hieroglyphic writing, cosmography, astronomy, and other
10
sciences, and were powerful magicians 11
who foretold the

1
Plutarch, de hide, 38.
2
Herodotus, ii. 41 JSlianus, Hist, animal, x. 27.
;

3
Diod. i. 11 Plut. loc. cit., cf. 52.
;

4
Horapollo, i. 3. Knobel.
Ex. viii. 14 f., ix. 11. ?
Kautzseh-Socin.
8
G. Hoffmann in ZATW. iii. 89. 9
Ebers, JEgypten, 345.
10
Clem, of Alex. Stromateis, v. p. 555, and vi. p. 633.
11
Lucian, Philops. 34 ff. Eusebius, Prapar. Evangel,
; v. 10, ix. 8.
412] GENESIS XLI. Jl-ir, 369

1
future. The Egyptian priests appear in Tacitus
2
also as
3
interpreters of visions by night."
by Kuenen
}
DJJ3JV wrongly objected to ;
in D.miVl it is

borrowed only.
Vv. 9-13. The chief cupbearer the king of Joseph
tells

as a successful interpreter of dreams. For njnsrnK the Sept.

and Sumar. have, better, njHErta (see ver. 17), also cntf more

correctly for the first TIN of ver. 10.

TiJTp / must mention my sins, not / remember them/'
His king are intended; the plural is used in
sins against the

a self-depreciatory tone. He does not think of his in-

6
gratitude to Joseph.
For |Vp, see xl. 2 ;
for noBfoa, xl. 3 ;
and for nc^rm,
7
Gesenius. With ver. 11 comp. xl. 5 ; it^rD e^K, according
8
to the dream of each. "$3 in ver. 1 2 is rather in the sense
of attendant; *PJ is ^'s word for youth. For 'aa, ver. 13,
see xl. 13.
Ver. 14. Pharaoh sends for Joseph immediately.
And they made him run from the hole released him in

haste from the prison, -ria, as in xl. 15 ;

the Sept. (o^vpayfia)

appears to have read rpa ; comp. xl. 14.

may stand without itr'fco ns

n^pi as object (comp. pm).

Those who appeared before the king of Egypt required to

be perfectly clean the shaving of the head and beard, and

;

9
the changing of the clothes, which are Joseph's preparations,
were included in this requirement by Egyptian custom. 10
We need not suppose that according to Egyptian practice
he allowed his hair and beard to grow as a sign of mourning
11
for his captivity, so the words may belong to /A

Ver. 15. The king praises Joseph's skill.

1
Diodorus, i. 87 ; Suidas, sub. ispoypoipftotTH;.
2
Histories, iv. 83.
3 See Ebers, 341
Knobel. J-:<iiipt<-n, ].
11'.

4 5
Onderzoek* p. 318. Gesenius. <;
KimK-l.
7 8 25 139.
Granvmatik 49. 2. Gesenius, 1.
9 "'
Ch. xxxv. 2. Ili-rodotiis, ii. 3G.
11 4
Tuch, Knobel, Delitzsch .

DILLMANN. II. 24
370 GENESIS XLI. 1G-25 [412, 413

'31 "iWi, see xl. 8. T, as 1 Kings x. 6. You hear a

dream to interpret it, require only to hear it in order to be
able immediately to interpret it; see xii. 13.
Ver. 16. Joseph refuses the compliment.
ny hl / in no wise, as xiv. 24.
"
God will answer Pharaoh's welfare it is God who
gives a true interpretation (xl. 8),
and He will give it, will

reveal what will be for the king's highest good. It is an

ansiver,
1
inasmuch as God gives it, by Joseph, at the king's
2
request."
Samar. and Sept. my $b, with the words
mjp "nj; io

DTita taken to mean avev rov Seov.

Vv. 1721. "Pharaoh relates his first dream. As com-
pared with the previous account there are some additions,
e.g. that the king
had never seen anywhere in Egypt cows
so ill-favoured as were the second seven, and that they

seemed in no way different after they had swallowed the

3
fat ones. Some other expressions are also used."
For "ojn (ver. 17) the Samar. has ^rn ;
see xl. 9, 16.

mpi in ver. 19 as in vv. 20 and 27 in 3 f ;

. and 23 f. mpl
(cf. 6 f.). Lengthened forms like naanp occur elsewhere in B?
D !?^"1P 5
but also in xxx. 14. is singular.
Vv. 22-24. The second dream.
D13V = hard, dried only here.
;
6
DrrnriK with masculine

suffix, see xxxi. 9 ; only here in the chapter thus for the
feminine.
Ver. 25. Joseph declares that the two dreams have one

meaning (cf. xxxvii. 5-11). Dreams which recur at a short

interval are the same in meaning, the purpose of the

repetition being to secure attention and belief. 7 By these

dreams God reveals to the king what He is on the point of
doing.

1 2
Cf. Jer. xxiii. 35 ; Micah iii. 7. Knobel. ;

Knobel.
4
Chs. xxi. 29, xxxi. 6, xlii. 36 ; regarding the ... ,
see Ewald, 247d.
8 G
Gescnius,-'' 3. 3A. 3. See Gesenius, Thesaurus.
1
Artemidorus, Oneir. iv. 27. Knobel.
413] CENESIS XLI. 2G-3G .'1 71

Vv. 26-28. The seven cows and the seven ears of corn
arc both seven years ;
see note on ver. 7.

Ver. 26. rota rms, see xxi. 2!>.'

1

Ver. 27. nip !),

unlike riip'i in vv. 2.'-> and 6 f., is a suit-
able antithesis to niawp (vv. 7, 22), but may be an erroneous

transcription for rripl (see note on ver. 19). The words

nin w
for which
?
we expect nan Q" 1

^, anticipate the more

minute interpretation which is afterwards to be given (in
ver. 2911'.).

Ver. 28. imn Kin, referring to ver. 25.

Vv. 29-31. Particulars are given: there will be first

seven years of plenty, then seven years of famine. Ver. 3 1
is somewhat superfluous after ver. 30, and may well be from
2
the other source ;
it is to be understood in relation with
'y\ ym &6l in ver. 21.
With 1EP1, com p. Job xi. 17. The superfluity is forgotten,
is so completely expended in the time of famine, that its

existence is no longer remembered.

Ver. 32. The repetition of the dream signifies that the
decision on God's part is certain, and that the fulfilment will

shortly come about (see ver. 25).

For ^J>, comp. Euth iv. 7, and ? in Gen. xvii. 20.

^ = it is because (cf. xviii. 20).

Vv. 33-36. "Joseph adds the advice that a wise

intelligent man should be looked out, i.e. chosen, and

3
set

over the country, with overseers under him for each province.
The proposal was that the king should fifth the country, ie.
in the years of plenty take from the cultivators of the land

a fifth of their grain harvest and store it in granaries as

" 4
provision for the unfruitful years ;
see further, xlvii. 24.

Egypt was so fertile that such a measure, especially in years

of plenty, was not oppressive; and then it was for the

ultimate advantage of the people.
1 25 12G. 5 A. In.
Gesenius,
~ 3
123, see xlvii. 4. Ch. xxii. 8.

4
Knobel.
372 GENESIS XLI. 37-40 [413, 414

tfJV Ewald, 63d; Baer's edition has

2
niPT Olshausen reads nvp nb ;
Delitzsch translates it
3
A
1

in close connection with "li?.^ !, way he make, 7ie

appoint,
i.e. let him take action and appoint. If we render constituat
4
Pharao et prceficiat prsefectos, either nwy or nps 11
is super-
fluous. Perhaps the object of new has fallen out or been
omitted, and 34=a may well be an insertion from (7, 5 like the
6
words njna ro^Tl in 355, where 7JN is pleonastic alongside
of and where the original reading was WW\ (ver. 48).
13,
Ver. 3 5 may have undergone more alteration in v v. 3 5 f ;
.

and 48 f.
^ (C) and
is
(B) seem quite arbitrarily inter-
changed.
Under the hand of Pharaoh under his control and
7
charge.
In the towns where the granaries were, and to which
the surrounding country was in each case attached as an
administrative department (ver. 48).
p-ipa Again in the O.T. only in Lev. v. 20, 23.

P.?? th e population of the country, as in x. 25.

"
Ver. 3 7 ff. Pharaoh and his courtiers think Joseph's

proposal good. The king concludes that Joseph has received

his interpretation from God for the dream was from heaven,
;

8
they believed, as well the power to interpret it, and they
felt that Joseph's
explanation recommended itself. He
9
therefore sees in Joseph the man filled with the Divine Spirit
whom he ought to set over Egypt." 10

KttMn_i pers. pi. impf. Kal (ver. 38).

Ver. 40. He resolves to set him over his house n and

people.

1 25
Gesenius, 75A. 36 Konig, Lehrgebaude, 561.
;

2
New Comm., following Gesenius, Thes. 1077.
3
1 Kings viii. 32.
4
With nb'JJ as 1 Sam. viii. 1G 1 Kings xii. 31. ;

5
Kittel, Bacon.
fi
Cf. ver. 49.
7
2 Kings xiii. 5 ;
Isa. iii. 6.
8 9
Note on xl. 8. Dan. v. 11, 14.
10
Knobol. " Cf. Isa. xxii. 15,
41 1]
GENESIS XLI. 41-43 373

l
the kiss of homage cannot be intended, for
that was not given on the mouth, least of all by all the
1
MM )])lo, and for the reason that 7V PPJ is not so used.
TS'V is to be taken with the versions, as in xlv. 21 ;
i

xvii. 1 ;
Num. iii. 16, and elsewhere. pt^ is, then, not
2
shall run, nor equip self, arm? but fit or submit itself*

Translate, therefore, freely, my whole people shall submit itself

5
to thy mouth (command), be guided by it. "ps is not

sufficiently definite to express the idea of kissing the written

command, a well-known custom.
6
Only to the extent of the throne will I be greater than you

surpass you in dignity and honour only by my seat on the

throne. PI is common in C ;
it occurs in Z, xx. 11.
Ver. 41 The carrying out of the resolve.
if.

Ver. 41, which is resumed in 43Z>, seems to be the

7
parallel to ver. 40.
"IN") as xxvii. 27, xxxi. 50, xxxix. 14. wo, I give you
herewith. 8
Ver. 42. To mark his rank the king gives him the royal
9 10
signet ring, a vesture of byssus, such as the Egyptian
11
priests wore, and the yolden neck-chain ; they all belonged to
12
the insignia of royalty.
Ver. 43. Having thus arrayed him, the king sends
Joseph in his chariot of second rank, in the second of his
royal chariots, to make a public procession, with heralds
before him calling on the people to pay him homage.

1
1 Sam. x. 1 ;
also 1 Kings xix. 18 ;
Hos. xiii. 2.
2
From Lud. de Dieu. 3 Graecus Venetus, Mercerus.
ppt^,
4
Intrans. of the trans. Jit un, /.'/xx.

5 )rlil/s('li
Tticli, 1
; Vulg. Sept. VTroiKfiVaiTOLt.
r 7
So also Kittel and
>
Ost'iiiuv'-' 1 IS. -' P>acon.
8
See i. :>!.
''
In Kslh. iii. l<>, viii. i\ carri.-.! 1\ tin- lir-t minister of tin- !'

i'm]mv, and liythe regent in 1 Mace. vi. 15.

10
L'
;
L'S *iie Coinin. on Kx. xxv. 1.
11
Linen according to Herod, ii. 37 ; Plutarch, //
7x/Wf, 4 ;
rot ion arc.
to Pliny, xix. $ M ;
rt'.
Pliilostratus, Apolloniiis, ii. 20.
12
Knobel.
374 GENESIS XLI. 44 [414, 415

1
Kegarding the construct form n??1P, see Ewald ;
and regard-
2
ing Egyptian chariots, Erman. For li? I^'N, see xl. 5.

^3K presumably an Egyptian word given a Semitic

8
form. The interpretations, father of the king, tender (young)
father* and God's strong one? are without value. Various

Egyptian explanations are offered Ane pen, caput in- :

8
clinarc, ap-re^-u, head of the ivise? thy command is our desire,
6

prostrate yourself? The last of these approaches most nearly

a possible interpretation of the word from the Hebrew lend
the knee, 10 it being taken as infin. absol. Aphel, for Hiphil,
used as imperat. 11 But the question of its correctness remains.
12
Brugsch holds it be a Semitic word, bend your knees,
to

adopted into Egyptian. The Assyrian abarakku 13 is too

remote to allow of its being introduced into the discussion. 14

|h:i no longer the words of the herald, but a continua-

15
tion of the narrative, resuming where 33"i l left off, and as it
(|

were concluding the episode; it attaches itself to ver. 41 (an

insertion by R).
Ver. 44, in which Pharaoh confers supreme authority on
16
Joseph, nearly coincides with ver. 40, and so is from (7.
/ am Pharaoh, king, supreme ruler. You shall be
1 2
188c. ^gypten, 650 f.
[Eng. tr. p. 491 f.].
3
Targ. -p, $y\ = rex t
c f. xlv. 8.
4
Targ. II. ; Jerome, Qucestiones.
5
inilK, Book of Jubilees, cli. xl., ed. Eonsch, p. 158 f.

6
Rossi,Etym. JSgypt. pp. 1, 339.
7
Harkavy in B. Ag. Z. 1869, p. 132.
8
Lepage Renouf in SBAP. 1888, xi. 1, p. 5 if.

9
A
sign of the
imper., BUOp projicere, of the second pers. K sign
Benfey, Verhtiltn. der dEgypt. Sprache, 302 f but see Eodiger in Gesenius, .
;

Thes. addit. p. 64.

10
Aquila in Jerome, Q,ucestiones, et clamavit in conspectu ejus ad
geniculationem.
11
Cf. ^j in ver. 51.
12
Geschichte, 247.
13
Delitzsch, Paradies, 225 ; Hebr. Language, 26 Prolegomena, 145. ;

14
See Schrader, KAT* 152 [Eng. tr. LI and Noldeke in ZD
xl. 734.
15
Gesenius,2s 113. 4a Ex> n> and f requen tly.
.
cf< viii>
10
Kitlel, JJacon, who compares Ex. x. 26, xi. 7.
415]
GENESIS XLI. 45

regent; no one in Egypt shall move (lift) hand or i

without your will, do a single action, or take- a BU

step.
Ver. 45. The king gives him a suitable Egyptian name.
mya ruBV Sept. Wov0ofjL<f)avr)x. Jerome says 1 that in
l^-yptian Zapfanethfane, sive (Sept.) Psontonphanech, signifies
salvator mundi. But the efforts to reach this
meaning by
means of CCOTO redemptio, solus, and cino? sceculum, have been
in vain, 2 and the statement is perhaps of no more value than
3
another in Philo. The proposal sustentatio or sustentator
vitcc* from the Egypto-koptic CUT, CUIIIT sustentare, and Aiii
5
vita, presupposing transposition of v and a, seemed better.
6
Brugsch's za-p-u-nt-p-a-Fmkh, governor of the
alternative,

province of the district of life, i.e. of the nomos Sethroites,

unduly limits the character the name requires to express.
7
After attention was drawn to a series of Egyptian names of
the form t'
ef-6nch, theremaining middle section of the
name, viz. n:B, was determined 8 to be n-iiovm the deity, and
the whole, therefore, as xo-miovTn-o(|-coii2 God says, he
lives. A
proper name of this type, but with the name of a
particular Egyptian god instead of nnovro, is found at the
close of the 20th dynasty they become more usual under
;

the 22nd dynasty, and quite common under the 26th or

9 10 11
Saitic dynasty. The Jews and the Fathers interpret
by occultorum revelator, with reference to Hebrew JBX and a
= " 12
supposed IJJB $aiva) ;
hence Luther's privy councillor."
The king also gave him Asenath to be his wife. The
name is Ns-nt, or with n dropped and replaced by a vocalic

1 2
Question'-*. Gesenius, Tlicmuni^ 1181.
3 Ik nom. mutation* in M.-m^vy, j. ri!):>.

4
Bunsen, jEgypten, i.
562, 583 ; Lepsius, CJironol. i. 382. Knobel,
5
Delitzsch. Ewald, 786.
6
L'Exode, 17 (Iwhirhte, 248. [Eng. tr. p. 122].
;
'
J.Krall in VII. Orient. Conc/r. 1886, Egypto- African section, p. 98 ff.

8
By G. Steindorff, B. Ay. Z. xxvii. 41.
9
B. Ag. Z. 1892, xxx. 49 ff.

1(1
Onkelos, Pesh., Saadia ; Josephus, Antiq. ii. 6. 1.
11 12
See Parthey, Vocab. 578. Dcr heimliche Rath.
376 GENESIS XLI. 45 [416

1
prefix, with the meaning belonging to (the goddess) Neit.
s-nt,

Names compounded with Ns occur even in the ancient and

middle kingdoms ;
those formed with the help of Pete
f 2
(P3di )
are found under the 22nd dynasty. Both are
extremely common in the time of the Saitic dynasty, and
3
this fact is used by Lagarde in assigning 's date. There
4
is a later romance regarding Asenath. For jns ^ia, see
xxxvii. 36. By jnn high priest is intended.
(

jk or jiK
5
Sept. H\ioviTd\^ ;
two hours north of Kairo
6
on the eastern bank of the Nile ;
from the earliest times

the seat of a sun cultus, and possessing a famous temple of

the Sun, the priests of which were pre-eminently dis-
7 "
tinguished for their learning. The caste of the priests

was the royal caste. Kings who had been of the warrior
caste on attaining royalty, admitted as priests and
were,
8
initiated in their learning. This is plainly what happened
in the case of Joseph, 9whom the king desired to dignify in
the eyes of the people, and for whom he wished the support
of the leading caste. Chairemon 10 makes Joseph a iepo-
VpafjifjiaTevs, and from xliv. 5 we learn that he understood
divination by water. The narrative presupposes that there
was in the city a n
temple belonging to the Egyptian cultus."
'^ **? wanting in the Sept., and like a mutilated
version of ver. 466 or a corrected parallel to it. But *?y is

scarcely explicable even with the help of Ps. Ixxxi. 6 some ;

MSS. read iof To put n aaw for K>3, 12 inserts what is

against the linguistic usage of the writer.

1
B. Ag. Z. 1889, p. 41. 2
Page 341.
*GGN. 1889, p. 319 ff.
4
Fabricius, Psalms (Cod. Ps. Vet. Test. ii. 85 ff.).
5
Also ver. 50, xlvi. 20; Exek. xxx. 17 (cf. Ex. i. 11, Sept.; Jer.
xliii. 13).
G
See Brugscli, Geo. Inschr. i. 254; Ebers in Rielnn, JhtntltrHrli-rlmch,
1111 f.
7
Herod, ii. 3 ; Strabo, xvii. 1. 29 ;
cf. E. Meyer, Geschichte, 93.
8
Plutarch, De
hide, ch. ix.
y
See xliii. 32, xliv. 5.
Josephus, Contra Ap. i. 32.
n Knobel.
12
Olsliausen.
IK!, 117] GENESIS XLI. 40-52 377

Ver. 46 Joseph was thirty

interjects a statement that

years old when he stood before Pharaoh, was admitted to an

1
audience witli him. It then adds that he went out from
2
before him and made a progress through the country in order
to become acquainted with it and make the arrangements he

proposed. A
comparison with xxxvii. 2 gives the result
that Joseph's slavery lasted twelve or thirteen years. The
formula D'nVB *jte njns 3 and the other expressions 4 are
evidence that the verse is an insertion from A.
Vv. 4749. The dreams are fulfilled as Joseph had
interpreted them. During the seven fruitful years the land
bears E^ppv ly full handfuls, i.e. most abundantly ;
it pro-
duces its utmost. pop is elsewhere only in A. 5 In ver.

48 we must either substitute Vj'^n ^ for cn^

6
or read
yn^n ;rn IP'N D^n for vn DW, as the Sept. and Samaritan.
Joseph collects all the grain, to the extent defined in ver. 34,
and places what he receives from each district in the
granaries of the capital of that district. In this way he
accumulated such stores of grain that they ceased to keep a
reckoning of the quantity. The change of expressions in
ver. 49 (">?? and "13) leads us to conjecture the other source

(cf. ver. 35). As the sand of the sea, is like xxxii. 13 (from
G\ xxii. 17); ifop nznn, as xv. 1, cf. xvi. 10; for <nn, see
xi. 8, xviii. 11.
Vv. 5052. Before the (first) year of famine Joseph
obtains two sons by Asenath. The first he names Manassch,
because God has caused him to forget all his trouble and his

father's house, his disconsolate thoughts of it, by his good

fortune in the foreign country. The second he names
Ephraim, for God has mm/V linn fruitful in the land of his
7
distress by giving him children.
For 15J,
see xxxv. 26 and ;
for h rrfy TJ X, xxxiv. 1.
;
The

1
Cli. xlvii. 7. xlvii. 10.
8 4
K\. vi. 11, 13, 27, -29, xiv. S, in A. I'f. xlvii. 7, 10.
5
In the laws of Lev. ii. 2, v. 12, vi. s : Num. v. 2G. Knobel.
6 7
Following ver. 53. OlsliaiiK'ii. llos. xiii. 15.
378 GENESIS XLI. 53-57 [417

punctuation of n$3, Pael for Piel (cf. ver. 43), is for the sake
1
of the assonance with nBfop, and the Piel is used for the

Hiphil for the same reason.

Ver. 53 f. The seventh year brings the time of plenty to
an end and the period famine follows, affecting not only
of

Egypt, but the other countries also. In Egypt, however,

food has been stored in the granaries. rvn, in ver. 53,

refers to jnj?n.

Ver. 55 is surprising after ver. 54a, describes the situa-

tion found in xlvii. 13ff., and may best be ascribed to C. 2

The Egyptians begin to starve they appeal to the king, and ;

him to Joseph. Ver. 566 attaches itself to

are referred by
ver. 55, and is an insertion from 0. Ver. 5Qa, on the other

hand, was B's transition from ver. 54 to ver. 57 ;

Olshausen
wishes, therefore, to place it after 566. pKH, in ver. 56&,
can only be the earth, not the land (of Egypt).
'jl nnD l|
1 and Joseph opened all in which was (anything), is

taken to mean opened all the granaries. But a sentence thus

doubly abbreviated may be regarded as impossible. The
Samaritan reading "12 Dm "IB>K would pass for want of a
3
better ;
but other versions directly render
"ia rhyitf in place

of, or along with, am IP'N. The text is corrupt. Wellhausen

conjectures a derivative of -QP, which should mean granary ;

4 5
Lagarde, some such word as (!) KTa^K, sirus.
6
"611571 read 1?^, from xlii. 6 he sold the Egyptians ;

corn.

'y\ prm omitted by the Sept. as being an unsuitable

transition to ver. 57, and emended by Ilgen by the substitu-
tion of |yj3 for D'-ISO, conveys the meaning that in spite of

the sale of grain to the people, the famine described in

ver. 5 5 kept growing greater.
Ver. 57 continues 56a, and tells how every country came
to Joseph in Egypt to buy corn, because the famine scourge

1 25 2
Gesenius, 52. 2 A. 1. Kittel, Bacon.
3 4
Sept. (fftTofio'hGJvts) Vulg. Pesli. Onk. Symmida, i. 57.
5 6
Buxtorf, Lex. Talmud, 2321. Olshausen.
117, 418] GENESIS XLII 379

1
was everywhere. Brugsch gives instances of distributioQfl
of grain in Egypt from granaries in times of famine.

R THE WANDERINGS AND HUMILIATIONS OF JOSKI'II S

BRETHREN, UNTIL THEIR RECONCILIATION, CHS.
XLII.-XLV.

B and continue to be the narrators, as in what lias

preceded, and C complicates and heightens the interest, as

before, by what he adds to B's narratives. So early as by
Knobel the acknowledgment of fragments by A was with-
drawn, in spite of the presence of El Shaddai in xliii. 14. The
paragraphs from B and C are pretty completely preserved, and
are distinguishable by a number of material and linguistic
features. Yet the compiler has made changes here also.

1. THE HUMILIATION AND PUNISHMENT OF JOSEPH'S TEN

BRETHREN, CH. XLII. ;
MOSTLY ACCORDING TO B.

Jacob suffers from the famine, and sends his ten elder
sons to Egypt to buy corn. They arrive, and prostrate
themselves before Joseph. He recognises them, but does
not betray himself. He first puts them to the proof. He
declares them to be spies, and arrests them. But he releases

them on the third day, and they are allowed to return home
with their corn, all except Simeon, who
kept as a is to be

hostage until they bring their youngest brother with them.

They already recognise, in what has befallen them, a punish-
ment for their crime against Joseph. But Joseph, without
their knowledge, returns them their money in their sacks,

that they, or at least their father, might surmise a brother's

presence behind the aspect of the stern ruler. This very

money, however, when discovered, causes fresh dismay to the

conscience-stricken men, and is an additional cause of their
father's refusal to let Benjamin go with them on the next
1
Geschichte, 130, 24G [Eng. tr.
pp. 61 f., 121 f.j.
380 GENESIS XLTI. IF. [418

occasion. Here, as in ch. xli., Joseph appears as the instru-

ment of
providence. The distress which his brothers ex-
perience was required in retribution of their evil deeds and
to rouse their penitence. The execution of the punishment
by Joseph's own hands was a consequence of the position
he had attained. Even ver. 24, still more the issue of events
in ch. xlv., is an indication from the writer that Joseph
played his part, not in a spirit of vengefulness, but against
his natural feelings, and under the impulse of a higher will.

Nor could the old father's suffering, endured by him along

with his sons, be avoided without sacrifice of the primary
end. In reality, however, it was for him the preliminary
to that extreme happiness, which, in the divine provi-
dence, is not attained except when deep depression has

gone before.
The reference in vv. 6 and 9 to Joseph's dreams at
home, and in ver. 22 to Keuben's intercession for him, as
well as the part played by Eeuben as first among the
1
brothers, are evidence of I?s authorship. Equally the use
2 3
of i^ (ver. 22) for ijtt, of apy for fj&op 11

,
of pb> for nnnrpx, O f
4
pK TIN t^Nn instead of t^Nn alone, of IBP'O (vv. 17, 19),
nab (ver. 36), and
rm (ver. 25), as well as of rns (ver. 21),
and ">?J (ver. 9). Still R has worked in some scattered sen-
tences from the corresponding narrative of C regarding this
first journey, namely, 2a, 4&
5*, 6*, 7* (ver. 10, ? ^N),and
(?),

especially vv. 27 f. and 38. 5

The expression JTO ptf, which
repeatedly occurs here and later in B and C? is due to the
antithesis with Egypt.

Jacob asks his sons to bring corn from Egypt.

Ver. 1 f.

Ver. 2a adds nothing new to la, and is rendered surprising

by its also having -IBN'"I (omitted by the Sept.). It may be

taken to be an insertion from C.

1
Ver. 37; otherwise in xliii. 3ff.
-
Vv. 1, 4, 29, 3G. 3
Vv. 25 (27), 35.
4 5
Vv. 30, 33. See below.
(i
Vv. 5, 7, 13, 29, 32, xliv. 8, xlv. 17, 25, xlvii. 13, 15.
418, 411)] GENESIS XLII. 3-G 3N1

"i?r used of corn, especially when it is an art iele of com-

merce, and occurring more frequently from now onwards.
1

//'//// do yon, yazc

at one another in
perplexity and help- .'

lessness, each expecting advice and initiative from the other.

Vv. 3-5. Ten of Joseph's brethren journey to Egypt,
r.enjamin is kept by their father to secure against any mis-
adventure happening to him. He was a special favourite of
Jacob's, because the youngest and the only surviving son of
Eachel. 2
3
Ver. 3. 13 "Qc6. Lagarde wishes to read ">?&? "UBv.
4
Ver. 4Z> may be regarded as from 6', since it is found
elsewhere in his narrative (ver. 38 and xliv. 29); but there
is a possibility of its having been taken by C from 7?.

5
jios, as early as in Ex. xxi. 22f. jop for nip, as in
ver. 38, Ex. i. 10, and also Gen. xlix. 1.
6
Ver. 5 may be from C, because of the use of taib* <I

J3,
7

and because unrequired along with ver. 3.

it is In the midst
of those coming, amongst the others who came from Canaan
8
they came not definitely in the same caravan.
;

Ver. G. It is questionable if the whole verse, 9 or at least

clauses a and la,
10
are to be assigned to C. B must also have
had some statement accounting for the brethren coming
before Joseph himself and 6a, especially if ver. 5 belongs to
;

C\ along with &/3, is in any case indispensable for B. The

most, therefore, that can be said is that there are elements
from C in the verse.

Joseph superintends the sale of corn, so that the

arrivals from abroad have to make application to him. They
appear before him and prostrate themselves;
11
Joseph's
12
dreams are thus fulfilled.

1
Vv. 2, 19, 26, xliii. 2, xliv. 2, xlvii. 14.
2 3
Ch. xliv. 20 ff. Billninj <l< r X,>,,iimi. 230.
4
Wi'llliausi'ii, KitU-1, Kautzsch-Sorin, U.-u-on.
5 ''
Ver. 29, xliv. 29. Kuut/.sch-Socin, Bacon.
7
See xxxv. 10 but also ;
1. 25.
s 9
Kin.lu-l. Bacon.
1(1
KitU-1, Kuutzsch-Socin.
n Cf. xliii. 26, 28. '-
Ch. xxxvii. 7,9.
 382 GENESIS XLII. 7-9 [419

tDW Joseph is emphatically described as lord or ruler

of Egypt. B uses Wp and fete l so the word is not from
;

him. But it is questionable if it be any the more from C,

for it occurs elsewhere only in the Aramaic parts of Ezra,

Ecclesiastes, and Daniel. The surprising coincidence with

Salatis or Silitis, the name of the first of the Hyksos rulers
2
of Egypt, suggests the conjecture that, in the present context,

it is a technical expression, which the tradition has preserved.

Otherwise it must be an insertion by a late reader in place of

3
some other word.
For the second Kin the Samar. Pesh. and Targ. of Jonath.

have aom. In xix. 1 rreiN D'BK ninnBTi occurs in C, but in

xlviii. 12 in B also, with the slight variation WSNf.
Ver. 7 f. C's authorship is indicated by DTP&M "GJJT'l OW,
parallel to ver. 8, and by fefc, but it does not therefore
4
follow that the whole verse is from him ;
the words "DTI
'y\ JWp DDK (cf. ver. 30) appear to have been transferred
from their original place in B after 9 a.
"
Joseph is unrecognised by his brothers, for in the twenty
5
years which have passed since he left them the youth has
6
become a man," and his whole costume and bearing are
those of an Egyptian. None the less he recognises them.
But he conducts himself as a stranger towards them,
and speaks
to them hard things, addresses them ungraciously and im-
7
periously, bringing hard accusations (ver. 9 ff.) against them.
"
His questions are intended to ascertain at once how
Benjamin is, he does not see him among the others." 8
for .

Ver. 9. As he sees his brothers standing humbly before

9 10
him he recalls the dreams he had had with reference to
"
them. 11
He accuses them of being spies who wish to see the
1
Vv. 30, 33, xlv. 8, 26.
2
Josephus, Contra Ap. i. 14 ; Eusebius, Chron. Arm. i. 224.
3 2
Kuenen, Onderzoek, 318.
4 5
Kautzsch-Socin, Bacon. Ch. xxxvii. 3, xli. 46.
6 7
Knobel. 1 Sam. xxv. 3 ;
Isa. xix. 4.
8
Knobel. Ch. xl. 14, 23.
10
Ch. xxxvii. 5ff. n Chs. xvii. 20, xix. 21,
t1!>, 121
1]
GENESIS XLII. 10-lT) I'. 383

nakedness of the land, 1 to find out the districts which are

unoccupied and easily accessible. The use of npy ln;l

y ].
2
paralleled from the Koran, the Iliad? and Caesar's com-
mentaries. 4 The accusation comes naturally from the mouth
5
of the first minister of the empire."

Vv. 10-13. The brothers meet the accusation with

protestations of their sincerity, and a statement of particulars

regarding their home.

"OIK b, as xxiii. 11. TWi, after the negation is used for
6
the ordinary ^, as xvii. 5 ;
Isa, x. 20, etc. ru for H3N,
7
which the Samar. has. D 11

??, straight, in the sense of

upright, honourable, only here and in xix. 3134 in the

Pentateuch.
Ver. 13. laniK is either to be struck out as a gloss from
8
ver. 32, or is to be taken with what goes before, contrary to
9
the accents :
thy servants are twelve, "brothers we are. The
10
little one, i.e. the youngest, is with their father, and one is
"
not to be found, has vanished. 11 They avoid particulars so
12
as not to increase Joseph's distrust."
Ver. 14. As one in high position, Joseph will not allow

that he is in the wrong. It is what I have said, my asser-

tion that you are spies remains true. For Kin compare
13
xx. 16; Job xiii. 16.

Ver. 15 f. He demands to see their youngest brother ;

one of them is to bring him from Canaan while the others

remain his prisoners. u whether
By this ye shall lie
proved, sc.

your assurances are true or false. He thinks it possible 15

that they may have treated Benjamin as badly as they did

himself, and desires to ascertain. But his ostensible pur-

I
Cf. Num. xiii. 18 ; Josh. ii. 1.
-
xxxiii. 13,
*jjZ.
3 4
xii. 399, "/vftvovffOoti. Pel. nail. vii. 70, ni"I>ir/.
5 c
Knobel. Ewald, 354.
7
See Ges. 2B 32 A. 2. 8
Olshausen.
9 10
Delitzsch. See ix. 24.
11 12
Cli. v. 24. Knobel.
II 14
Knobel. See xv. 8.
15 Cf. xx. 33.
384 GENESIS XLII. 17-20 [420

pose is that he desires to see whether their statement is

true.

njna *n Pharaoh is living, i.e.

by the ife of Pharaoh. 1
2
the pronunciation n for 'n, when the word God
H
The use of

does not follow, is a merely rabbinical distinction similar to

that between *fi$ and ^'"IK. The oath is the more appro-

priate since the Egyptians reverenced their kings o>? 77730?

3
akijOeiav ovras #eou?. The Israelites swore by the life of

the king, at least when addressing him. 4

For & see xiv. 23 ;
for nan, xxi. 23, xlv. 5, 8, 13.
6
Vv. 1720. He brings them together 5
under guard
" 7
that they may have the experience of a captive who has the
8
worst to expect." But on the third day he announces that
he will keep only one of them as a hostage while the others
return home with the necessary supplies of corn, and fetch
their youngest brother. The brothers agree to this proposal.
9
It is unnecessary to reject p 1'Wi.

Do this and live you shall not be executed (as spies) if

you do as follows. TO DNT in xlv. 17 and 19, but also in

10
xliii. II. Ifear God, and so am unwilling to treat you with
unnecessary severity on mere suspicion. The words, if you
are true men, state a condition to all the proposal which
follows ;
we may supply, You will willingly accept the offer

I make.
nnK without the article,
11
as in xliii. 14; in xlii. 33,
nnsn.
12
fain the corn for the famine
of your houses, i.e. the
corn required by your families during the famine cf. ">p ;

IJp.T
in Isa. xxx. 23. 13 In ver. 33 jujn stands alone as if -it

1
Ges. 25 93. 1A. 7, footnote.
2
See Lev. xxv. 36 where T! is verbal.
3 4
Diod. i. 90. 1 Sam. xvii. 55 2 Sam. xi. 11. ;
Knobel.
5
Ezek. xxiv. 4 Josh. ii. 18.
; Ver. 19, xl. 3, 7.
7
Cf. his own ease in xxxvii. 24. 8
Kiiolx-l.
''
10 note on xlv. 17.]
K;uit/sch-Socin. [('<>ni]>.
11
Ues." 126. 5A. 1ft.
'-'
Ewald, 103<f.
13
OlshauBen.
420, 421] (IKNKSIS XI .11. L'1-L':, 385

could iiKMii that which is required for the famine; but the
Sept. Pesli. and Onkelos have, better, P3JH nap.
Ver. 21. Their conscience awakens .to a sense of tlu-ir
1
sin against Joseph, and they find th *c they are all at one
r

in the thought that it is on his account that they have

to suffer. Similarly in xliv. 16, in 0. />JN, as xvii. 19;

n")V }
as xxxv. 3.

Ver. 22. Eeuben, as Joseph's protector, 2 is conscious of

innocence, and is in a position to reproach them with their

crime. The words he attributes to himself are not literally

those reported previously, but they express the spirit in
which he acted. TJJ
in xxi. 8, 14, and frequently.
And also his blood, behold it is demanded his blood, his

death which you occasioned, is now accordingly in due

course being avenged (cf. ix. 5 f.).
Eeuben assumes that
Joseph's sudden disappearance from the pit was explained by
his having been devoured by a wild beast, or having lost his

life in some way. Everything agrees with 's account in

ch. xxxvii.

Ver. 23. The brothers' conversation is open and aloud,

for they are unaware that Joseph hears, i.e. understands 3
4
them, seeing that the interpreter, customary in such cases,
was between, them. fli^3 as in xxvi. 28. Egyptian was, of
}

5
course, the language of the court.
moved by their sorrow and
Ver. 24. Joseph is penitence,
and turns away from them that he may weep. Then he
comes back and talks with them, and has Simeon bound
before their eyes. simply mean to make prisoner?
"iDN may
Joseph does not detain Reuben, his defender, but the eldest
of the others.

Ver. 25. By Joseph's orders their corn sacks are filled,

they are given provision for their journey, and inside each one's
sack, on the top, the money is placed.

2
1
Ch. xxxvii. 21 ff. Ch. xxx vi. 22, 29 f.

3 4
Ch. xi. 7. See xiv. 13.
5 6
See p. 354. 2 Kings xxiii. 33.
DILLMANN. II. 25
 386 GENESIS XLII. 26, 27 F. [421

The finite verb iKta l|

1 is surprising because followed by
infinitives. cannot express the intention, but only the
It

execution of the ord &rs he gave command, and accordingly

:

they filled their sackt ; and, further, he ordered them to

replace, etc.
DrP3p3 plural, to designate separate sums of money
1
belonging to several individuals; cf. ver. 35. The in-

flectional stem with sheva silent and daghesh in the s is

occasional in the construct plurals of segholates, or before

2
heavy suffixes.
In each one's sack as in ver. 35 ;
see ix. 5. rnv, as
xlv. 21.

W the indefinite subject is very awkward after W ;

the

reading is probably an error for i^yi (cf. iNiw) ;

the Septua-

gint extricated itself by the pointing tOT.

Ver. 26. They load their animals and depart.
Ver. 27 f. An according to whose
insertion from C,

account, otherwise than in ver. 35, the brothers discover at

a halting-place on the way home that their money has been
returned to them (cf. xliii. 21). The discovery was not
made by one only, but by all of them, which better suits the
statement that they all fell into a state of fear. 3 But R has
obliterated this feature in our present text for harmonistic

reasons; it is presupposed, however, in xliii. 21. The ex-

4 5
pressions }v&, Nispp, and nnripN are evidence for C. But
ip> in ver. 27 must be from R to secure the connection with
ver. 25, and in ver. 28 the words from 10*6 onwards are
shown by D'ft^M to be from a passage of It's ; they may have
stood after ver. 35.

nnxn, the one who commenced, i.e. the first ;

for originally
the statement followed that the others then opened their
sacks also, nnnotf, a packing -cloth? or sack, used consistently

2
Gcs. 25 93 A.
1
Ewald, 176c. 1 F.
3
Wellhausen, JBDTh. xxi. 446.
4
Ex. iv. 24.
5
Ch. xxiv. 25, 32. (i
See ii. 11, iv. 19.
7
See Lexicon.
L'l, li] GENESIS XLII. 20-37 387

in ch. xliii. f. B 3, also, as in

e
cli. xliii. 1 '2 ;unl L'l. run DK,
;is in xxxviii. 24. ^i?irf their heart went out, their
courage
left them, they completely lost heart the idiom does not ;

occur elsewhere. And they trembled one to another, turned to

one another trembling ;
a pregnant construction, similar to

They now feared that they would be treated

1
xliii. 33. as

thieves, and in this new misfortune recognise God's chastising

hand, nxf no, as in xxix. 25 ;
in iii. 13, xii. 18, xxvi. 10, it

is from C.

Vv. 2934. Having home they

reached tell their father

all that had occurred, and impress on him the necessity of

taking Benjamin Egyptian to the ruler.

2
nhpn, in a perfect sense. ^N, in ver. 33 also; for the
form see xxxix. 20, and for the title ver. G. After ^nfc the
3
Sept. read noBta (ev faXa/cy) ;
translate the Mass, text gave
us as spies, treated us as spies. DTIK urutf (ver. 32), Samari-
tan urns DTIK. For pujn (ver. 33) see note on ver. 19.
ino (ver. 34) with the accus. journey through for trading
4
purposes.
Ver. 35. Only now that they have reached home do
they empty their sacks, according to B, and their bundles of
money are not found till the sacks are quite emptied out
instead of being on the top (^?). They and their father
take alarm at the discovery.
Ver. 36. The old father breaks into peevish complaint:
"
Me you have made childless, it is I who suffer, not you it is ;

all very well for you to talk and make proposals when my
5
children, not yours, are put to the hazard." It is on me

that all this has come, I alone have to bear the burden of
these events; comp. rhp in ver. 29; nj^p.for ^3, as Prov.
6
xxxi. 29.
Ver. 37. Thereupon Eeuben, who is spokesman here
also (see ver. 22), offers loth his sons as pledges; the father

119. 4. ies." 116. f>,/.

3 4
See xl. 3. Of. xxxiv. 1), 21.
r>
Knobel. ''
Sue note on xli. 21.
388 GENESIS XLII. 38 [422

may kill them if Benjamin perishes. According to A,

Eeuben had four sons at the time of the emigration to
1
Egypt.
2
Give him on my hand trust him to my power.
Ver. 38. "Jacob refuses to allow Benjamin, who alone is

left him (of Eachel's children), to go with them. Something

might happen to him on the journey, and they would in this

grey hair down to Sheol with sorrow,

3
way bring his grieve
and sadden the closing days of his already far advanced
4
life."

There is no mention here of Simeon, whose release was

nevertheless in question, according to xxiv. 33. The reply
is, therefore, not much in harmony with the preceding
narrative, ^'s. It suits C alone, for in his account Simeon
was not a though the condition of seeing Joseph's
captive,
face again was that Benjamin should be brought. 5 The
language of the verse is also that of C, as determined in
xliv. 29, 31. At ver. 37, therefore, B's narrative breaks
off. We
no longer know whether or when, or under what
conditions, Jacob accepted Eeuben's offer as given in B.
Instead of telling us this, R in ver. 38 has given the con-
clusion of C"s history of the adventures of the brothers in

Egypt and of their report to their father, all of which has

been omitted in what goes before, but may be reconstructed
from xliv. 20-24 and xliii. 3, 7. 6 R made the substitution
in order to be able to proceed at once in ch. xliii. 1 ff. with
the text of C. In C, ver. 38
was not the reply to an
offer such as Eeuben's, but only to the announcement that

they would not be able to see Joseph again without

Benjamin.

1
Ch. xlvi. 9.
2
1 Sam. xvii. 22 ;
Job xvi. 11. Knobel.
;:
xxxvii. 35. 4
('!'. 1
Kings ii. G, 9. Knobel.
Ch. xliii. 3, xliv. 23, 2G. Wellhausen.
422, rj;;|
CENESIS XLTII 389

2. THE I.KOTIIEKS' SECOND VISIT TO JOSEPH AND now

UK TESTS THEM, <'ll. XLEIlE. J
EKOM G.

becomes necessary to make fresh purchases of corn in

It

Egypt, and rhidali persuaders Jacob to let IJeiijaiiiin go. Tin-

brothers arrive in Egypt with a present for Joseph and
double money for the corn. When
Joseph sees Benjamin
lie receives them kindly and invites them to a meal. In

spite of the fears which the discovery of the money in their

sacks had caused them, everything, to begin with, passes off

well. Joseph's conduct towards his guests even gives some
indication of how he stands towards them. But before they
leave he orders his cup to be secretly concealed in Benjamin's

sack, and then he sends in pursuit after them. Benjamin is

found to be guilty of the theft of the cup. They are brought

back to Joseph and sternly reproached by him he declares ;

his resolve to punish Benjamin by detaining him as his slave.

Judah thereupon endeavours, in touching words, to move

Joseph's heart, and offers himself in his brother's place.
This second journey accordingly not only results in fresh
humiliation before Joseph, in fresh distress and anxiety, it
reveals the spirit the brothers cherish toward one another
and toward their father, and so marks an advance as

compared with the firstjourney, where they had not got

beyond the stage of self-accusation. Forgiveness and salva-
tion can be the portion only of those who have shown true

amendment by their deeds.

B also must have described the second journey (for
Simeon's release), but 72 has not inserted his description.
The account here is not from the author of ch. xlii. 1 but
from and not merely from C in the main,2 but entirely,3
C,
4
apart from the fragments in xliii. 14 and 235. The prin-
cipal facts which prove this are the differences between
the
account of the first journey found in ch. xlii. and that pre-
1 2
Knobel, Bolnncr. Schrader.
3 4
See notes.
Wellkausen, Kuenen.
390 GENESIS XLIII. 1-5 [423

2 3
supposed here,
1
the substitution of Judah for Eeuben as

leader of the brothers, and the consistent use of certain

words in place of others used in ch. xlii., viz. K^Kn O f Joseph,

when Jacob and the brothers are the speakers 4 iy:j of ;

5 6 7 s
Benjamin, nnncK, tank*, and Jofc
(for ^). Besides, C's

special diction
everywhere perceptible. On the other
is
9

10
hand, the use DTi^s*, where it is an Egyptian who is
of

addressing the brothers, or conversely, is no evidence for B,

and as little is the expression ^'np, 11 which belongs to G in
xxx. 27 also. In general C's narrative style as known from
chs. xviii. f., xxiv. etc., is apparent here also.
Ver. 1 f. The famine was heavy in the land. After their

purchase of corn is exhausted, Jacob calls on his sons to

make a second journey to Egypt.

133, as in xii. 10, 47, iv. 13 ;

on the other hand, prn in
xli. 57. rfo, followed by h and an infinitive, is a favourite
12 13
usage of C's. BJflp, in the construct, elsewhere always
in C.

Vv. 35. Judah declares that they will not leave with-
out Benjamin, since the man had expressly stated that they
will not see his face, 14 will not be admitted to his presence, 15
16
unless their youngest brother is with them. This was C's
1
Ch. xliii. 3, 5, 7, 21, xliv. 19 f., 22 f., 26.
2 3
Ch. xliii. 3 ff., xliv. 16, 18 ff. Ch. xxxvii. 26 ff.
4
Ch. xliii. 3, 5, 6 f., 11, 13 f., xliv. 26.
5
Ch.
Ch.
xliii. 8, xliv. 22,

xliii. 12, 18,

30 1, 33 f. ;
for
^
11
in xliv. 20 see note.

21-23, xliv. 1 f., 8, f.

7 *
Ch. xliii. 6, 8, 11. Ch. xliii. 2, 20, 22, xliv. 1, 25
9
133, xliii. 1 ; j-|;O, followed by f) cum Infin., xliii. 2 ; BJJJO, xliii. 2,

11, xliv. 25 w* with suff. and partic., xliii. 4 xliii. 10

; ;
nrpncnn, ;
^N,
xliii. 12 ; TP and Tnin of going to Egypt, xliii. U,'l5, 20, 22 (xlii. 38) ;

Pins, xliii. 19 xliii. 24 mnnt?m xliii. 28 13, xliii. 20,

;
Ki2p?p, ; Tip, ;

xliv. 18
; r&KPI cmiTD, xliv. 7 ; followed by and in fin., xliv. nWn p
7, 17
the termination
; in xliii. 32, xliv. 1, 23, etc. observe also the ;
ft
names of the fruits of the country in xliii. 11 (cf. xxxvii. 25).
10
Ch. xliii. 29, xliv. 16. n Ch. xliv. 5, 15.
12
See note on xxvii. 30 in xvii. 22, xlix. 33, in A. ;
3
Ver. 11, xliv. 25, xviii. 4, xxiv. 17, 43.
14
Ch. xliv. 23, 26. 15
2 Sam. iii. 13, xiv. 14, 28.
16
Ges. 25 K;:J. -2.
 ILM] GENESIS XLIII. G-ll 391

1
version; in 7?, their bringing Benjamin was to In- tin; j

that Mn-y were not spies, and was to d't'cct Simeon's re].-

"^ with partic., as in xxiv. IL', ID.

Israel" reproaches them with having told the

Ver. Of.

man whether* they had another brother. They defend them-

selves by the plea that they required to answer the man's
4 5
questions concerning their family, in accordance with //

6
words which he put to them; could we know then that lie

would demand to see Benjamin.

Here, again, and also in xliv. 19f., there is some
variation from B'$ account in xlii. 13, 32, where the
brothers speak of their home circle as part of their defence

against the accusation of being spies.

Vv. 810. Judah asks his father to entrust Benjamin to
him. He will be surety for him, will answer for him. Ch.
xlii. 37 is B's parallel to this. Eegarding nyj, see p. 390.
Ver. 9. vnjjfii, as in xxx. 38, xxxiii. 15, xlvii. 2.

*]*? Tixurn, then I sin to you for all time, will be convicted
7
to you, will be your debtor, all my life, so that you may do
with me according to your pleasure.
Ver. 10. But for their excessive delay they might have
been there and back twice. ijnoncnn, as in xix. 10. nny 'a,

as xxxi. 42. D'oya nt, see xxvii. 36.

Ver. 11. Israel resigns himself to the inevitable, and
tells his sons to take with them a present for the man.
"
The custom of making presents to exalted personages, to
secure their favour, was and isseldom departed from in the
8
East." Ktetf, as xxvii. .">:'>, :7 and it"y nsr, as xlii. 18.
;

9
n^n rnoflp the usual translation, of the song of the
country, is explained to mean, of the song-lauded, i.e. cele-

1
Ch. xlii. 20, 34.
2 3
See note on xxxv. 10. Ch. viii. 8, xlii. 1G.
4 5
Ch. xxvi. 7. Ex. xxxiv. ^7 and frequently.
Ewald, 136d ;
Ges. 25 107. 4 /.. i>.

7
1
Kings i. 21.
8
Ch. xxxii. 14 1
Kings x. 25 Matt,
II'. ;
;
ii. 11. Knolul.
9
Following Tai-gum and Vulgate.
392 GENESIS XLIIL 11 [424

1
brated, products of Canaan, and something like this is what
we expect. But it is true that an expression so poetical
2
seems strange, and the root 1ET is almost solely used of

song that is a part of divine worship. Still, cutting in the

3
sense of crop or produce is an inadmissible rendering, since
IDT is only used of the cutting off of what is unnecessary
and obstructive. The Septuagint
simply Kapjroi, fruits or is
4
products Norris quotes
;
an Assyrian zumri in this sense ;

and Hartmann compared Arabic thamar and tkamir, but

against the laws of the transmutation of sounds. The
meaning is, besides, too general.
For ti!>, n&fcM, and ^, see xxxvii. 25.
BW "
here doubtless not honey made by bees, but a
thick syrup made from grape-juice by continued boiling,
Arabic dibs. Itwas exported from Palestine in ancient
5
times, as it is still.
6
Vines were cultivated in Egypt, 7 but
it was not characteristically a vine country ;
on the other
hand, bee-keeping is much practised, in modern times at
8
least.
9
D'Jtpa only here ; probably pistachio nuts. The nuts of

the pistachio, vera w have always been much in request as

11
dainty morsels. no longer grow
According to Rosen, they
in Palestine, but are found in Syria, at Aleppo, and even
12
Ma'lula, eight hours north of Damascus. The pistachio
belongs to the genus terebinth, which is in Arabic lutm, and
was called 13
Trio-rd/cia by the Syrians. The Septuagint and

1
Gesenius, Tuch, Knobel, and others.
2 3
Delitzsch. Delitzsch.
4 5
Assyr. Diet. ii. 354. Ezek. xxvii. 17.
c 3
Wellsted, Arabia, L 320, Germ. tr. i. 222 ; Winer, i. 510.
'
Ch. xl. 10 f.
8
Brims, Erdbeschreib. v. Afrika, i. 114f. Savary [Lettres sur Egypt e,~ ;

ii. 283
1786, f.], Zustande ^Egypt. ii. 219. Knobel.
9
Low, Pflanzennamen, No. 44 a Punic word also, see Blair in
;

ZDMG. xi. 520 ; and Assyrian, see Schrader in MBAW. 1881, 419.
10
Riehm, Handworterbuch, 1211.
1

ZI>M<:. xii. 502, against Schubert, ii. 478, iii. 114.

12
Wetzstcin in ZDMG. xi. 520. 13
Atlu-iiM-us, xiv. HI, p. HI!).
 IL>:>]
GENESIS XLIII. 12-10 393

Vulgate may accordingly have meant pistachio ly their

2
',
"cultivated, it is true, in Kgypt also,
15
but to a very small extent."
Ver. 12f. They are also to take with them money two

times, that which they require for their purchase of corn,

and that which they had taken before and brought back with
them perhaps 4 there has been a mistake.
;
"

5
naefo is an adverbial accusative ;
in ver. 1 5 ^03 is the
Q
adv. accus. : two times in money. wnnnON *B3, as xlii. 27
and xliii. 21.
Ver. 14. Jacob then sends them away with his best

wishes.
"
But /, as I am bereaved, I am bereaved, if I must lose

my children, so be it ;
an expression of composed resignation
with which he yields to destiny." 7
The verse is from B, since the other brother is Simeon
whom Joseph detained, according to B* (Samar. and Sept.
had inxn for "in). But R's hand is perceptible in trxn,
and likely also in *HP ta, which B does not use elsewhere.
W ta, see xvii. 1. D'om jrr, Deut. xiii. 18 ;
Jer. xlii. 12.
9
"intf, without article, see xlii. 19. J$ ii in pause for o.

Ver. 15.- They journey to Egypt and come before Joseph.

For rwb, see ver. 12.

Ver. 1 6 f. Joseph when he sees Benjamin among them,

and learns that they had previously spoken the truth, and
that Benjamin is alive, resolves to treat them kindly. He
10
bids his steward take them to his house and prepare for
them a midday meal.
1
See, further, Celsius, Hicrobotanicoii, \. 24 ft*.
; Hitter, Erdkunde,
xi. 561 ff.

2
Abdollatif, Memor. Egypt, p. 33, ed. White.
3 4
Brims, op. cit. p. 99. Knobel. See note on xvi. 2.
5
As Ex. xvi. 22.
.UT. xvii. 18 ; Geseniiis, 25 131 A. 5.
(;

7
Similarly Esth. iv. 16 ;
2 Kings vii. 4. Knobel.
8
Ch. xlii. 24.
9 25 10
Gesenius, 29, end. Ch. xxxix. 4
394 GENESIS XLIII. 18-23 [425

nhtp for rntp ;

a form not found elsewhere, 1 occasioned by
2 "
the wish to contrast with nntp. The author is not guilty
of a slip here, 3 for kings and priests partook of flesh also, and
4
that even daily ; priests in general abstained only from the
5
flesh of certain animals, e.g. sheep and swine, and only
(
certain of them from all flesh."
"
Ver. 1 8. The brothers are alarmed at being taken
into Joseph's house. The harsh treatment which was their

previous experience prevents them from thinking of its being

a special they are afraid Joseph will treat them

honour ;

still worse, because of the money which got lack into their
sacks. The indefinite expression 3$n implies their view that
some chance agency had operated against them." 7
To roll (themselves) over ?is s and set (themselves) on us,

fall on us in great numbers and make us slaves ; compare

Ex. xxii. 2 [3] for the punishment of theft in Israel. For
nnp^i the Samar. and Sept. have nnpf^.

Vv. 19-22. In order to escape their danger they turn

to the steward while they are still at the entrance of the

house? before going in, explain to him about the money, and
make excuses. Their story presupposes that things
their

happened otherwise than as described in xlii. 35. 10

*"?, a particle of request, always with "OIK. So xliv. 18,

Ex. iv. 10, 13, in C. Our money with its (full) weight,
without deficiency; see xxiii. 16.
Ver. 23. The steward tranquillises them. DD^ D^B>, peace
11 "
to you, i.e. banish care. Their money had come into his
hands ;
what they had found must accordingly be a treasure
put for them in their sacks by the God of their father and

themselves, i.e.
by the tutelary deity of their family. The

1
Ewalcl, 226d.
-
Uuttcher, Lehrbuch, 1051. 3
Von Bolilen.
4 5
Herod, 37, 77 ; Diod. i. 70.
ii. Plut. de hide, v.
(;

Porphyry, de Abstinentia, iv. 7. Knobcl.

7 8
Kii(])cl. Job xxx. 14.
9 10
Ch. xviii. 1, ]0. See note on xlii. 27.
11
Judg. vi. 23; 1 Sam. xx. 21.
IL'I;]
GENESIS XLIII. 24-:;n 306

r
L,
ii'ts of fortune were ascril)cd by each recipient to the
1
particular jjod IK-
worshipped." For D3'3S the Samar. and
Sept. have DDT.UNV
Tin 1

words, I In 11
1

he In'o/njld nnl >S'/////vm /<> Hum, ait- an

insertion by 11 I'mm A"s account of the second j'ounu-y.
Ver. 24 f.
They enter the house, make themselves ready,"
and prepare their present.
That the if are to dine there, 5 and see Joseph on the
occasion. The Septuagint reads more simply ^x for tajo, 11

with Joseph as subject.

Ver. 26. When Joseph enters the house (room) they

bring in to him the present which was in their hand, which

4
they had brought with them, and present it with the
5
customary obeisance.
for particulars regarding the in the N, see
1

ifcOn "! mappik

6
Gesenius.
Ver. 27f. Joseph makes inquiries, first regarding them-
selves, then regarding their father. 7 HP* 1
combined with
mnriKTi, as in xxiv. 26, 48, in C.
Ver. 29. Noticing Benjamin, his mothers son, i.e. his full

brother, he asks if it is he ;
then immediately, without an
express reply from them, he greets him with the words, God
le gracious to you. He addresses him as son. 7> and C
represent Benjamin throughout as considerably younger than
8
Joseph. Ch. xlvi. 21 implies something different.
9
Ijn; for ^rv, as in Isa. xxx. 19.
Ver. 30 f.
Joseph hastens, i.e. breaks off quickly, because
his bovjcls, his feelings of tenderness, arc kindled ton-unls his

brother, and he retires to the (inner) chamber, because he

1
Hos. ii. 7 ff. Knobel.
2 See xxiv. 3 25
32. Gesenius, 107. 3ft.
4
Ch. xxiv. 10, xxxv. 4 Num. xxii. 7, 29. ;

5
Ch. xviii. 2, xix. 1, xxiv. ">:>, \\xiii.3, xxxvii. 10.
6
Qrammatiky** 14. 1A. 2 [in pmiU'd texts only in four ]ass-\i,vs, l>ut

in certain MSS. i'iv<|m-nt, to denote consonantal power of tf].

7 Ex.
xviii. 7; Judg. xviii. 15, and frequently.
8
This agrees with xxxv. 17 f. comp. note on xxxiv. 1. ;

''
Ges.25 67- 8A 2 .
10
i Kings iii. 2G ;
Hos. xi. 8.
396 GENESIS XLIII. 32-34 [426

feels the need of tears for the recovery of his composure.

Then he returns, pulls himself together, or puts constraint on
1
himself, and orders the meal to be served.

mru Lam. v. 10 is sufficient evidence against Delitzsch's

2
interpretation, based on Assyrian kamdru.
be overcome,

Ver. 32. He, the Egyptians who ate with him, and the
"
brothers were served separately (at separate tables). In his
own case the explanation is found in his rank and in his

membership in the priestly caste (xli. 45), which kept aloof

3
from the laity Egyptian guests, though probably not
;
his
4
priests, could not, i.e. might not, eat with the Hebrews.

Egyptian national prejudice, and the narrowness with which

5
they excluded everything foreign, were noted facts. The
priests and drank nothing which came from abroad 6
ate ;

an Egyptian would use none of a Greek's cooking utensils. 7

This was their attitude towards the Hebrews also, more
8
especially as they were a pastoral people."
Ver. 33. The brothers are assigned their places in the
order of seniority ; they express to one another their astonish-
ment at this.

ta non, pregnant construction, as in xlii. 28. For Tim

and Tjra, see note on xxix. 26.
"As a mark of special favour Joseph, in accord-
Ver. 34.
ance with an ancient custom, sends them dishes 9 from his own
table. That received by Benjamin amounts to five hands, i.e.

10
handfuls, portions, more than that of any of the others.
The most honoured guest was given the largest and finest
11 12
pieces. Among the Spartans the king had a double portion,
1 2
Ch. xlv. 1. Hebrew Language, p. 41 f.
3
Porphyry, de Abstinentia, iv. 6.
4
Of. Deut. xii. 17, xvi. 5, xvii. 15.
5
Diod. i. 67; Strabo, xvii. 1. 6.
7
Porphyry, iv. 7. Herod, ii. 41.
8
See xlvi. 34. Knobel. Of. 2Sam. xi. 8.
10
Ch. xlvii. 24 2 Kings ; xi. 7.
11
1 Sam. ix. 23 f.; 310
Iliad, vii. 321, viii. 162, xii. ; Odyssey, iv. 65 f.,
xiv. -i:',7; I Hod. v. 28.
-
Herod, vi. 57; Xenoph. Laced, xv. 4.
427] GENESIS XLIV. 1-0 397

among the Kretans the archon four times more than ntli,

The. number five is specially Egyptian."- Knobol prof,

Egyptian preference for

to explain this five by their assumption
that there were five planets," which is also connected with
4
their designation of the number five by a star. But we might
5
equally well refer to their week of ten days, or still more

simply make a connection with the five fingers of the hand.

After the meal they drank largely together.
Ntn, subject indefinite; see xlii. 25. The Sept. and
Pesh. render a plural.
Ch. xliv. The brothers are again put to the test by a
scheme which Joseph devises.

Ver. 1. He commands their sacks to be filled to over-

flowing with corn, and each one's money to be put in his own
sack. By this he clearly indicates his friendship. He also,
however, commands his silver cup to be put in Benjamin's
sack along with the money.
Kittel finds evidence of a parallel text of J?s in the use
of jBpn here and in other verses. 6 It is true that in xliii. 33
and xxix. 26 C writes TD2 and vyv ;
but must he always
have done so ? In any case R
7
may have introduced a
variation. There are no other signs of J5's presence.
Vv. 3-6. The construction in ver. 3 f. as in xxxviii. !'."

and xix. 23. When the morning became light 8

they were
9
sent away. They were still not far from the city when
Joseph ordered his steward to pursue them and call them to
account for the cup they had with them. The versions 10
prefix to ver. 5 the words, Why
have you stolen my silver
1
Heraclides, Pol. iii.

2 24 Isa. xix. 18. Knobel.

Ch. xli. 34, xlv. 22, xlvii. 2, ;

3 3 Diod.
Macrobius, Somn. Scip. i. 21; Seneca, Qua-*, nut. vii. ;
cf.

ii. 30 ; Eiisebius, Chron. Armen. i. 26.

4 6
Horapollo, i. 13. Lepsius, Chron. i. 132 f.

f>
Vv. 20, 23, 26 (also xliii. 29), and especially ^n:i and |op in VCT. Ii'.

7
See xix. 11, xlviii. 19 (xxvii. 15, 42, ix. 24).
8 25
Intrans. perf.; Gesenius, 72. A. 1.
IJ
Which ? See note on xlvi. 31, and above, p. 353.
10
Sept. (Vulg. Pesh.).
398 GENESIS XLIV. 7-9 [427, 428

cup ? The Hebrew text is less direct : is it not that, is not

1
what is in question that, in which i.e., from which my lord

drinks ?
something valuable therefore. And lie is accustomed
2
to observe the signs in, or by, it, to examine the future ;
so

that its use is an important one, and itself of a consecrated

character.
"
Such divination by a cup was called Kv\iKOjjLavreia ;

and, together with divination from dishes (\eKav o^avreia),

was named vSpofjuavTeia? Water was poured into a glass or
other vessel, and little pieces of gold, silver, and precious
stones might also be thrown into the water which had been
filled in then observations were made of the results, of the
;

figures, etc., which appeared, with the expectation of learning

the future or the unknown by this means. XeKavo/mdvre^

4
and v^po^dvTe^ were indigenous to Persia also. Such
divination reported is to exist in Egypt even in modern
times. 5 This was the art which, according to the passage here,

Joseph practised, in connection, no doubt, with his member-

6
ship in the priestly caste."
Ver. 7 f. The brothers try to prove their honesty, and
the impossibility of the theft, by appeal to the fact of their

having brought back the money they found with them on

their first return journey.

rfotn DnniD, see note on xxxix. 19. ':n nWn, also in

ver. 17; see xviii. 25. For ^9? ft the Samar. and Sept. have
PIDDH jn TpK, as xxxix. 9.

Ver. 9. Further, whoever of them is found to have the

7
cup shall die, and the others of them will be his slaves.

npj, as in xxii. 31; Ewald, Syntax, 243&.

1
i instrument Amos vi. 6. ;
2
Ch. xxx. 27.
3
For particulars, see Jamblichus, Myster. iii.
14, and Varro in Augus-
tine, Civit. Dei, vii. 35 (Pliny, xxxvii. 192 ;
Damascius in Pliotius,
Jiibliotheca, cod. 242, p. 507).
4
Stral>o, xvi. 2. 39.
5
Norden, Travels [Eng. tr. 1757], Germ. tr. by Steffens, p. 423.
Ch. xli. 45. Knobel.
7
Cf. xxxi. 32.
IL'S]
GENESIS XL1V. 10-18

Ycr. 10. The steward says, let it Ic now oho cur<

1
your words, let it be as you say. But 1m at nun- modifies
the proposal, and requires only the guilty one, not fur CM
tion, but to be Joseph's slave.
2
DJ placed at the beginning of the sentence.

Vv. 1114. Each in turn is searched, 3 from the oldest to

the youngest, and the cup is found in Benjamin's sack. In

4
grief and despair they rend their clothes, reload their animals,
and return They enter Joseph's presence with
to the town.
5
Judah, Benjamin's surety, at their head, and prostrate them-
selves before him, imploring his compassion.

Eegarding hiari and jtDpn, see note on ver. 2. For Nm,

see ix. 23.
Ver. 15. Joseph addresses them sharply: Did they not
know that a man
one of the sages of Egypt,6
like himself,

understood divining, and would accordingly at once detect

the theft ?

Ver. 16. Judah only spokesman for them all.

is 7
He
does not attempt to brave appearances and clear them from
the accusation of theft. In the consciousness that this is
what they have merited by their conduct towards Joseph, 8 he
yields their case. God Himself 9 has searched out and found
the guilt of your servants, discovered and exposed it, shown
that we are guilty ;
no denial will remove the fact. He
declares their readiness to be his slaves, Benjamin and all.

Ver. 17. Joseph will not keep more than Benjamin.

Di?v ; you will be at peace, undisturbed.
so that 10

Ver. 18. Judah now advances from among the others,

and approaches Joseph to save his father's favourite. He

1 2
Of. xxx. 34. For parallels, see xxvii. 33.
3 4
As in xxxi. 35. Ch. xxxvii. 34.
* 8 c
Ch. xliii. ff. Isa. xix. 1 1. Knoln-l.
7
\\Vllhausru wishes to omit rniiT Waiise of ver. 18, ami to read
rout
Ch. xlii. 21.
9
Sam. and Sept. QTitani as circumstantial elau.-H .

10 1 Sam. i. 17, xx. 42.

 400 GENESIS XLIV. 19-29 [428, 429

asks to be granted the favour of speaking freely before him. 1

He is aware of the greatness of the request, for Joseph is like
the king in authority and dignity,
3 3, as xviii. 25. For ^, see xliii. 20.

Ver. 1 9 ff. He first tells their whole history in so far as

connected with Joseph's demand to see Benjamin, and explains

how and why it was with the utmost unwillingness that his
father had allowed him to come with them.
Ver. 19. A passage of (7's, which has not been preserved,
and which differed from 5's account in ch. xlii., is here pre-

supposed ;
see note on xliii. 6 f.

Ver. 20. And a young boy born to him in his old age ;
cf.

xxxvii. 3, in C. Probably- the expression D^pT "ijtt was not

used ;
hence *fp, though elsewhere in ch. xliii. f. Benjamin is

always called *iyj. J">p, as in xlii. 38 ;

in xlii. 13, 32, from Jj,

13^8 is used. They regarded him as really dead. 2

Ver. 21. / wish to set my eye on him, "to show him

3
attention, take him under my protection. Judah ventures
to interpret Joseph's request as a sign of favour towards
4
Benjamin."
Ver. 22. At the time they had raised the objection that
5
the boy could not leave their father, for he would die in such
a case. This was in C's account only (not in B, xlii. 13, 32).
niDI W) [one type of conditional sentence, without special
6
particle in protasis].
For ver. 23, see xliii. 3, 5; for vv. 24-26, xliii. 2 ff. For
*?N, Samar. Sept. Pesh. Vulg. have U'OK. But see ver. 27.

UTM is apodosis to 'y\ w DN.

Vv. 27-29. See xxxvii. 33 and xlii. 38. Eor ^, see

note xxix. 14; and for nanny, xv. 16.

"lira, in misfortune, which would cloud his closing

evil, i.e.

days. The antithesis is in peace}

1 2
Ch. xx. 8, xxiii. 1G, 1. 4. Ch. xlii. 22.
3
Jer. xxxix. 13, xl. 4 ;
Ps. xxxiii. 18, xxxiv. 16.
4 5
Knobel. See xliii. 32.
6 25 7
Gesenius, 159. 2e. Ch. xv. 15. Knobel.
42!)]
GENESIS XL1V. 30-3:5 I '.
401

Ver. 30 f. The inference from all this is now drawn: if

Judah returns to his father without the son to whose soul the

father's soul is bound, i.e. to whom he was attached with all

his soul, 1 it will cost him (the speaker) his life, a result which

Joseph cannot, so he assumes, desire. The principal clause,

to which ver. 30 is subordinate, begins with irm in ver. 31;

and within it, in turn, iniN"}3 is subordinate to HDJ.

It is not at all obvious why ieto should be corrected to

2 3
'Bto. After -iyan p the versions have uns, as in ver. 30 ;

but it is unrequired. See, further, xlii. 38.

hoping without misgiving that

Ver. 32. Their father is

he will return, for your servant got the boy for a pledge from
his father, was trusted with him after giving a pledge. 4 This,

too, is the reason why he is making his appeal in this way.

Ver. 3 3 f . His final appeal, which has been prepared for
by the account of their father's love for Benjamin (vv. 19-29)
and of his own suretyship (ver. 32). He asks to be allowed
to Benjamin's place as slave, and for permission to
take

Benjamin to depart with the others. If his request is not

5
granted, he will have to be a witness of his father's mis-
fortune.
Judah's speech is in the name of the others, and so an
expression of- their desires also.

3. JOSEPH REVEALS HIMSELF, AND INVITES MIGRATION TO

EGYPT, CH. XLV. FOLLOWING B AND C. ;

Joseph is now convinced of his brothers' change of

feeling, and at length reveals himself. At the same time he

calms their fears regarding the consequences of their sin

against him, and proposes to them to hasten back to Canaan

and tell his father, and invite him
migrate to Goshen to

in Egypt. The king extends to them a similar invitation,

-
1
1 Sam. xviii. 1. \Vellhausen, JBDTh. xxi. 447.
3 4
Sam. Sept. Pesh. Vulg. See xliii. 9.
5
For JQ, cf. iii. 22, xxxviii. 11, xlii. 1.

DILLMANN. II. 26
 402 GENESIS XLV. 1 [429, 430

and waggons which would be required in the migra-

offers the

tion. The brethren return home with presents from Joseph

for themselves and their father. Jacob is overjoyed, and
at once shows his resolution to go to be with Joseph. The
whole tangled history is thus now unravelled, and the guiding
influence of divine providence (vv. 58) streams out as a

light from the obscurity which had enveloped the actions and
fortunes of those involved.
Both narrators must, of course, have written about this

preliminary conclusion to the history. find, as a matter We

of fact, thatR has made H's account his main source, but
has worked into it not a little from C. C is represented
2
principally in vv. 1ft,
1
2, 4&, and partially 5ct; 3 traces are
also present in vv. 7, 4 13 f.,
5 6
28, and probably also ver. 10.
7

What remains is a well-connected whole, which

is proved to

belong to by B
divergences from
its C,
8
by references to it
9
afterwards, by the emphasis it lays on the agency of divine

providence and on Joseph's high position in Egypt, and by

10
its language. At least it offers no decisive reasons against
It's authorship. Eegarding vv. 1921 and a surprising

expression in ver. 23, see below.

Ver. la. Joseph has succeeded thus far in playing his

part of stranger only because of his uncertainty regarding

his brothers' state of mind. Now that Judah has spoken as
he did he can no longer restrain himself?- 1 as he must do,
because of all those standing before him. He therefore com-
mands all to withdraw except his brothers.
V^y D*3S3 in xviii. 2, xxviii. 13, from C (in Ex. xviii. 14,
from B).
2 3
Contrast ver. 16. Joseph's sale ;

4 5
Redundant. Parallel to ver. 9 ; Till"!, *HW"7P ^-
6 7
blTlfe*. See notes.
8
E.g. ver. 3 contrasted with xliii. 27 f. ;
Pharaoh's offer (ver. I7ff.)
contrasted with xlvi. 31 if., where it is not presupposed.
9
In xlvi. 5 to vv. 19, 21, in xlvii. 12, 1. 21 to ver. 11.
10
E.g. DT^K (vv. 5, 7f., 9), npy (ver. 25), I'W mn (ver. 5), jyD (ver.
17), mv (ver. 21), 13 (ver. 23).
11
Ch. xliii. 31.
430] GENESIS XLV. 1-7 403

Ver. Ib may also be from C, but may be taken from tin-

introduction to It's recognition scene, ynnn, make one*

knoivn, elsewhere only in Num. xii. 0.

Ver. from C Joseph gave free vent to his voice in

2,

weeping, broke
i.e. into loud weeping, so that Egypt, i.e. tin-
1
Iv^yptians, outside or near by, heard it; the court also heard

it, i.e.
probably learned of it. Comp. ver. 1G. Joseph
lived in the royal city (xlvi. 31).

DnVD has not the article, and so is not to be pointed

onyp.
Ver. 3 f. After thus revealing himself Joseph's first

question is regarding his father ;

this is natural in B, in C
it would be superfluous after xliii. 27 f. and xliv. 1934.
Their trepidation is so great they cannot reply. They had
started back from him (John xviii. 6), and he now tellsthem
2
to come nearer, so that they might gain confidence and
courage. The further declaration, that he is Joseph whom 3
4 5
they sold into Egypt, is taken from C.
Ver. 5aa and 7, also from C. He exhorts them not to be
downcast and depressed because of what they had done, but
to regard it as of God's working, and themselves as His

instruments. God sent him before them to Egypt to preserve

them and others alive.

lavyn
G
and the sale recall C ;
oa^ya in;
i
an j D ^, p
For 3n, see xlii. 15.
8
Ver. 6. For now the famine had lasted two years
already (a period during which he had been the means of

preserving people), and there still awaited them five years in

which there would be no tillage and no harvest.

Ver. 7. It was for this purpose God sent him before
them to Egypt, that he might preserve them by his care.
To place a remnant for you on the earth, " to bring it
1
Ch. xli. 55.
2 3 25
Ch. xliv. 18. Gesenius, 138. 1 A. 1.
4 8
Chs. xxxvii. 28, xxxix. 1. Contrast xl. 15a.
6 7
Chs. vi. 6, xxxiv. 7. Ch. xxxi. 35.
8
Chs. xxxi. 38, 41, xxvii. 3G, xliii. 10.
 404 GENESIS XLV. 8, 9 F. [430, 431

about that you should have descendants on the earth, and

l
that your race should not be extirpated from the earth."
The words which you life nhlJ ntrW, are very
follow, to give

difficult, whether the untranslated words are taken in apposi-

2
tion toD3^ or as dative of the product, so that there may be a
numerous rescued land? The difficulty is increased by the
fact that B elsewhere 4
uses nTin with the accusative, for it is

even less easy to supply

n" "]^.
1

In view of 2 Chron. xii. 7

we can hardly strike out *? before na^D. 5 Ver. I may be a
mutilated insertion from C. The thought may be paralleled
from 1. 20 (in B) for nB'{>B, comp.
;
xxxii. 9 (xiv. 13).

Ver. 8. To execute this plan of His, accordingly, God

sent him to Egypt, not the brothers, and has given him the
needful position.
Pharaoh's father paternal councillor of the king ;
a title
6
of honour designating the king's chief minister. According
to Brugsch, 7 ab en pirdo isan official title of the principal
(house) minister in documents of the 19th dynasty; and
" "
adon of the whole country occurs in a similar sense in a
document of the 18th dynasty.
Lord of his house, xli. 40. Ruler (as ver. 26), see note
xlii. 6.

Ver. 9 f. The brothers are to hasten back to Canaan and

invite Jacob, in Joseph's name, to migrate without delay to

Egypt with all his possessions and dependants. We have to

assign ver. 10 to C, 8 because it is presupposed in xlvi. 28.

But we can scarcely doubt that Goshen was to be, and
became, the place of residence in B also, for we cannot
assume, in spite of Pharaoh's offer in ver. 17 ff., that Israel,
according to his account, lived in the city beside Joseph.

1
2 Sam. xiv. 7 ;
Jer. xliv. 7. Knobel.
2 3
Schumann. Knobel, Delitzsch.
4 6
Chs. xlvii. 25, 1. 20. Sam. Sept. Olshausen.
6
See Gesenius, Thes. p. 7, also Esther (Apocr.)xiii. 6, xvi. 1 1 1 Mace. xi. 32. ;
7
ISKxode, p. 17 ; Geschichte, 207, 248, 252, 592, etc. [Eng. tr. i. 2G5,
ii.
140, 180, 348].
8
Wellhausen, Kittel ;
the first three words, Kautzsch-Socin,
 I
Ml] GENESIS XLV 405

1^3 in C, 1 wlicreas A has Land of Eamescs.

2 "
Uoth
names refer to the same district, which permits of the Septua-
gint rendering of jtrji
in xlvi. 28 by 'Papeavfj. Its situation

was at least on the eastern side of the Nile ;

for while the
3
Hebrews extended as far as the river, there is no mention
of their crossing it either on the occasion of their arrival or

departure." 10 and xlvi. 34 the Septuagint hay

In xlv.

JTecre/z
*Apa$la<:. In the Greco-Koman period 'Apa&ta was
one of the twenty-three vofiol into which the Delta was
divided ;
its principal town was ^afcovao-a. 4 Even in the

Peregrinatio Sylvice? Arabia, in this sense, and Gesse are

identified. During the 18th and 19th dynasties Lower
Egypt had only fifteen nomes, and the later vopoi of Arabia
and Bubastis were still included in the great province of On
(Heliopolis), which was bounded on the east by what was later

the z/oyLto? of
Heroonpolis (Pithom). jjw has not yet been
found as a voftos in the inscriptions of that date. But a text
6
which dates from King Merenptah says of the neighbourhood
"
of Pi-Bailos (probably Bilbeis), the country around was not

cultivated, but was left as pasture for cattle, because of the

strangers ;
it was abandoned since the time of the ancestors."

Now the Egyptian name of the region two or three hours east
of Bubastis was Kesem or Kcs ; and $afcov<7(ra, already referred

to,has long been supposed 7 to-be a compound from this very

Kes, in the form Pa-Kes, while Kes itself has been identified
with \w. s Naville's excavations have shown that Sopt, the
modern Soft el-Henneh, was the religious capital of this

district.The country round Sopt east of the canal Abu-1-

Munagge, between Belbeis on the south and Abbaseh on the

1
Chs. xlvi. 28 f., 34, xlvii. 1, 4, 6, 27, 1. 8 ;
Ex. viii. 18, ix. 2G.
2
Ch. xlvii. 11 ;
cf. Ex. xii. 37 ;
Num. xxxiii. 5.
3
Ex. ii. 3tf. ;
Num. xi. 5.
4
Ptol. iv. 5. 53 ;
cf. Strabo, xvii. 1. 26.
5
Ed. Gamurrini, p. 4G 11'.

Marietta, Karnak, Hi. line 8.

7
Vender Hardt, Champollion, Brugsch, Ebers.
8
See Naville, Land of Goshen, 1887, pp. 15 if. and 26.
406 GENESIS XLV. 11-13 [431, 432

east, would then be Kesem. We have accordingly to think

of the Old Testament Goshen as lying east of Bubastis

(Zagazig) in the direction of Tell el-Kebir, and as extending

south to a point beyond Bilbeis. This does not deny that
the Israelites may in time have extended farther east.
"
Saadia and Abusaid still put Sadir for ffi it is a place ;

north-east of Bilbeis l
between Abbasia and Chashbi. 2 Mak-
3
rizi defines Goshen as the land of Bilbeis, principal town
of modern province of esh-Sharkiye, as far as the
the

country of 'Amalek. Goshen was counted one of the best

4 5
parts of Egypt, and was a pastoral country. The province
of esh-Sharkiye reckoned the best and most productive
is still
6
in Egypt." The name JKO, which was also that of a city
7
and district in southern Canaan, may have been semitised
8
from Kes, Kesem.
Ver. 11. He will nourish Jacob here, beside him, during
the five years of famine which remain.

BnjJTffi that you may not come to poverty, decline in

10
wealth ;
the Sept. has KTpL/3f)s, Aquila avd\.u>6i)s, Vulg.
and Pesh. pereas. The rendering, that you may not ~be
pos-

sessed, i.e.
being pressed by want, become the property of
11
others, is less natural.
Ver. 12. He bids them be convinced, in spite of their
surprise, of the truth of what they see (or hear). That it is

my mouth which speaks to you, not that of another.

Ver. 13. Commission to tell his father of his exalted

station,and to bring him to Egypt with all speed. Practically

a repetition of ver. 9 ff., and so, in view also of Tnin, no doubt
12
an insertion from (7.

1 2
Ritter, Erdkunde, xiv. 59. YakCit, Mushtarik, p. 242.
3
In Rosenmiiller, Alterthumskunde, iii. 247.
4 5
Ch. xlvii. 6, 11. Ch. xlvi. 34.
3
Robinson, Palestine, i. 54. Knobel.
7
Josh. x. 41, xi. 16, xv. 51.
8
See also Riehm, Handworterluch, 528.
9
Chs. xlvii. 12,
1. 21.
10
Onkelos, Gesenius, Delitzscli, and others.
11
Knobel, with reference to xlvii. 19 if.
12
Wellhaii.M-ii.
432] GENESIS XLV. 14-19 407

Ver 14f. Now that he has made them fully comprehend

the situation, the- actual greeting is given them, by embraces,
kisses, and tears of joy; r.eiijaiiiin receives the fh.-t ;m<l

warmest welcome. After this pledge of reconciliation they

venture, on their part, to address him. Ver. 14 is from G', 1
ver. 15 from B.
&(by. on them, while he embraced them.
Ver. 16. The news of the arrival of Joseph's brothers
reaches the royal palace also, and pleases the king and his court.

Joseph's person and services were duly esteemed. C, in

ver. 2, has already shortly stated the same thing.
W2 31^1 as in xli. 37 ;
still in xxxiv. 18 also.
"
Ver 17 f.
Independently of Joseph's wishes, but in

agreement with them, it occurs to the king to invite Jacob

and his family to Egypt he empowers Joseph to make the ;

c
'

necessary proposals."
wy nx?, in xlii. 18, but also xliii. 11, xlv. 19. uyo,
whereas in xliv. 13, in C, ^ DE5>. Tj?a, see Ex. xxii. 4; else-

where in the Pentateuch in Num. xx. 4, 8, 11 (in B).

" 3
Dnvo ps 3i not the part of Egypt, Goshen, for
best
4
which 2D'p is the correct expression, but the lest things,
5 of the land, the
possessions and products, afterwards the fat
finest products. The king does not think of the Hebrews
dwelling in Egypt for long."
Ver. 19. In particular, he offers them waggons from Egypt
for the conveyance of their family and father.
nn^y nnx can only mean and you have or
1

<
)
/,

are empowered. But in ife>y inp the brothers are addressed,

not Joseph, so that the intermediate words THK/K ibs,
7
are

required. The text is therefore in confusion, more especially

1
Of. xlvi. 29 (xxxiii. 4).
Knobel.
Rashi, Fagius, V;it;iMu>, CK-ri.-us, J. D. Michaelis, Gesenius, Rosen-
3

ninlliT, Schumann.
4
Oh. xlvii. 6, 11.
5
As vv. 20, 23, xxiv. 10 ;
-J
Kings viii. 9 ; S^t., Vulg., Tuch, Knobel,
DelitBKh.
6 7
Knobel. Peshitta.
408 GENESIS XLV. 20-22 [432, 433

as the use of the passive njv is very suspicious.

1
We might
read QriK my from the Sept. (Vulg.) o-v Be evrei\ai. But the
words WKobl DDDt^ 2
are also surprising, for B does not else-
3
where name D ^': specially along with rp.
1

Further, i?y pyn onn

is written elsewhere in the Pentateuch only by D, 'jn nitD 'a in

ver. 20 has already been expressed in ver. 18, and "03 p 1W1
bant? in ver. 21 is absolutely proleptical.
1
It may accord-

ingly be conjectured that ver. 19 f . with i?&o^ 1'Wi an(i

4
nyiD *a ^y in ver. 2 1 are due to insertion and redaction by

E, who considered it of importance that Pharaoh himself

l{
should have given the orders related. B's text, 'y\ spv ? JJV1

(ver. 21, cf. 27), was simpler.

5
i"i?JJ> a waggon, differs from the nnsnp among the Egyp-
6 7
tians also. Nothing is said of horses being yoked to it ;
the
use of other animals, oxen or asses, is presupposed ;
in

xlvi. 29 and 1. 9 it is different.

Ver. 20. "They may leave their effects in Canaan, for in

Egypt, the land of civilisation and industry, they will be able

to procure the best there is. Let not your eye take pity on

your effects, do not be so attached to them as to think you

must take them with you. Compassion receives expression
8
in the look."

Ver. 21. They act accordingly, ^y, xli. 40 ; Tr6 f

xlii. 25.
Ver. 22. Joseph also presents his brothers with new
suits of clothes, in accordance with the Eastern custom of
9
doing so. rhtiw nia^n, dress-changes, i.e. garments for change,
valuable garments for which the ordinary dress was changed
on holiday occasions. 10 Each of the ten brothers received

1
See Num. xxxvi. 2.
2
Also in xlvi. 5.
:

See Comm. on Num. xxxii. 36.

4
And so, of course, also xlvi. 56.
5
Ch. xli. 43.
G
Erman, Algypten, p. 6501 [Eng. tr. 491].
7
Si-c xii. 16.
8
Deut. vii. 16, xiii.
9, and frequently.
9 3
Winer, i.
411, 663.
10
Ch. xxvii. 15. See Judg. xiv. 12 19 2 Kings v. 5, 22 f .
f., ;
 m] GENESIS XLV. 2:5-28 409

the garments of a full suit; Benjamin is given live, times as

2
many, and 300 shekels
1
of silver in addition.' 1

Ver. 23. He also sends his father presents, namely, ten

asses laden with Egyptian products, and ten she asses with
corn and provisions for his journey.
DNT3 in like manner, equally* not " garments and money
"
also," but also as a present."

pttp more an Aramaic word

perhaps a later gloss for an
;

original
!TO (ver. 21, xlii. 25).
Ver. 24. "He sends them away. The words Win ts do
not mean tremble not, i.e. fear not, 5 for such encour
ment was unnecessary in the case of men who had repeatedly
made the journey, and to express it W^n would be used.
l
Translate be not moved, do not get angry on the road."

They are to abstain from quarrelling about their offence

7
against Joseph, "and make no reproaches." The Samaritan
has the reciprocal form of the verb, tfjnnn.
Ver. 25 f. They return home and tell their father.

^l and that, transition to the indirect speech.

JSJ! not remained cold, 8 but became cold. A numbness

of consciousness and sensation was the first result of the

sudden news, which he could not at once believe. The ex-

9 10
pression :ns need not be assigned to E.
Ver. 27. Only after they repeat to him some of Joseph's

words, in which he recognises him, and after he sees the

waggons, does Jacob feel the news to be true. His ajnrit came
n the life of
. to life ; joyful emotion entered him.
Ver. 28, from C. Now, putting aside every other

thought, and dominated by the single idea that Joseph

is

1 2
Cf. xliii. :>,!. See xx. 1C.
3 4
Knobel. KwuM, $ 1056.
5
J. D. Michaelis, Ilgen, Bohlcn, Tucli, BauingurU-n, CJesenius.
Versions, Rabbinical writer-.
'

7 KnoK-1.
Cf. xlii. -l-l romp. 1'rov. xxix. !) Isa. xxviii. -1\.
; ;

8
Knobel, Kril. Hab. i. 1
;
IV. xxxviii. U.
10
Giesebrecht, ZATW. 1881, p. 237.
11
Ps. xxii. 27, Ixix. 33.
410 GENESIS XLVI [434

alive, Jacob wishes to set out without delay to see him.

Comp. xlvi. 30.

2~t, much, i.e. enough^ For niEK D1D3, cf. xxvii. 4.

a FROM THE MIGRATION INTO EGYPT TO THE END

OF JACOB'S HISTORY, CHS. XLVL-L.

From now onwards all three sources are again present.

Three subdivisions are marked out. a. Chs. xlvi. 1 xlvii.

27, the immigration of the Israelites, their settlement in

Goshen, and the course of affairs as long as the famine

lasted. /3. Chs. xlvii. 28 xlix. 33, Jacob's last instructions
and arrangements, and his death. 7. Ch. 1. 126, his burial,

and events up to Joseph's death. The first two of these

subdivide still further into several sections.

1. THE MIGRATION OF ISRAEL, CH. XLVI. 1-27; ACCORDING

TO B (C) AND A.

Jacob journeys to Beersheba', offers God sacrifices, and in

a vision by night receives encouraging revelations regarding

his emigration. From here he sets out for Egypt with all

his family and his possessions. The house of Israel at this

date numbered seventy souls ;

a list of all their names is

given.
Vv. 15 are from B\
2
the vision by night, the Egyptian

waggons (ver. 5), the words DTita (ver. 2), *\b D^ (ver. 3),
and more in ver. 3 f.
prove his authorship. But R has
made changes in vv. 1 f. and 5,
3
and la is mainly from C.

Of what remains, ver. 6 f., by universal consent, belongs to

A.* But so in the main does the list in vv. 8-27, which
has a very appropriate position, and is neither superfluous

1
2 Sum. xxiv. 1C; 1 Kings xix. 4; in the Pentateuch, Ex. ix. 28;
Num. xvi. 3, 7 ; Dent. i.
6, ii. 3, iii. 3G.
2 3
Knobel, Schrader, Wellhausen. See notes.
pan WIN ijnr.
434, 435] GENESIS XLVI. 1,2 411

nor inconsistent with the short recapitulation of Ex. i. 1-5,

the lists of Ex. vi. 14 fV. and Num. xxvi. In style and
it agrees with other sections from A. It is not
2
from 6', with whose statements it is irreconcilable, nor
3
simply by a later hand from A' a material, nor from that of
A and C? or of other sources. 5 While in the main from A?
it has, however, been redacted by R on the basis of C l>

in vv. 8, 126, 15, 20, 26 f.,

7
and in a manner similar to

x. 36 and xi. 27 ff. We may here leave undecided the

question whether Deut. x. 22 depends on A8 or on a

tradition independent of A?
10
Ver. la, from 0, because of tanb''' VD
1

"! ;
in his history
11
Jacob was resident in Hebron. There is no trace of an
account from C, also, regarding the sacrificial feast in

Beersheba', and we have to assign ver. Ib to 7/, in whose

12
history Jacob started for Egypt from Beersheba'. The
words jnt? 1^2 K^I are accordingly a connecting link from /.'.

It is not clear whether in E's account Jacob arrived in

Beersheba' on his way to Egypt from elsewhere, or whether
he was already in Beersheba', perhaps for the sake of being
nearer Egypt during the famine, or because of what had
13
happened in Shechem.
Here in" Beersheba', where Isaac had previously built an
14
altar, Jacob, on the occasion of his leaving the country,
sacrifices to the God of his father in token of thanksgiving
and petition for grace. 16 The rat was a sacrificial feast.

Ver. 2. Here God speaks to him in the visions of night

Ey. npyi 1321 (ver. 8), DIN flD (ver. 15), ^ (vv. 15, 18, 22, 25,

27), 131'' 'Ktf (ver. 26).

- 4
Ihi]il\'l<l, IVilmuT. :;
\Wllhausen. K'ayscr.
Kucncn, Omlerzoek* i. G9, 317
r>
I'.

8 f
Kuobel, Noldeke, Schradn-. Noldeke, Bru
8 ''

Kuobel, Noldeke, Bruston. Wrllluiusi'u, Kiu-iu-u.

10
Cf. \\.\v. xvi. 21. " (Mis. xxxv. xxxvii. 15.
f>, '21,
'-' is
Ver. 5. Ch. xlviii. 22.
14
Ch. xxvi. 25 ; cf. Abraham in xxi. 33.
15
Cf. xxxi. 54, 4:>.
10
Cf. also the sacrifices in Bethel, xxxv. 1, 3, 7.
412 GENESIS XLVI. 3-5

the customary visions of niglit. 1 Compare notes on xx. :\

and xv. 1. This is the last revelation. The immigration

into Canaan rested on one, 2 and now the emigration from it

does so also.

The phraseology is as in xxii. 11. For the repetition

of ID&OI see note on xxii. 7. !\XTC* instead of 3pjP, which
comes immediately after, is probably an expression carried
on by R from ver. 1.
Ver. 3. God announces Himself as El, God of your
4
father? and takes away his fear of migration to a foreign
country by telling him that He will make him a great

people.
TJ"! for rrn, as njn for njn in Ex. ii. 4, also in ./.'.'

"1:6 D^ as in xxi. 13, 18. It is not apparent why

(i
'J1 *\b *3 should be held to be an insertion by 7i'.

Ver. 4. God Himself will journey with him, and He, too,
will be the one to bring him back to Canaan. The refer-
ence is to the return of his descendants, and not to the
7
bringing back of Jacob's dead body. There is no mention
of divine
agency in connection with the latter event, while
it is
always emphasised in connection with the exodus from
8
Egypt. His loved son Joseph will close his eyes (in the
9 "
foreign land). This last service of love was a custom
10
among other peoples of antiquity."
n^v D_3 as in xxxi. 15, from B\ infin. Kal, although
verb Hiphil, cf. xxxvii. 33.
f
Ver. 5. Jacob sets out from Beersheba . The waggons
11
sent by Pharaoh are made use of. Ver. I is probably
redacted by R\ see note on xlv. 19.
1
Job iv. 13. '-'
Ch. xii. 1 if.
3
Cf. xxxv. 7, xxxiii. 20, and the note on xiv. 18.
4 *
Ch. xlv. 28 is not from II. Knobel.
tt
7
Kautzsch-Socin. Chs. \lvii. -J!> I'., 1. f> II'.

s
Kx. iii. 8, vi. 8, and i'lv.pirut 1\ . KnoM.
"
Ch. 1. 1.
10
Iliad, xi. 453; Oily**, xi. -I :.'<;, \\iv. 296; Euripides, 7Vm //.

// i:$n 487 Knobel.

"/<", ; ,
/;//,/,/, ix. ; Ovid, Hcroul. i. 102.
11
Ch. xlv. i'l,27.
I.",:,, i:si;]
GENESIS XLVI. 0-1 o 413

Ver. G f., from A. 1

For tn ijnt, cf. xvii. 7, !)
1'., xxxv.
12, etc.
Ver. 7. He took with him all his descendants, including

daughters and granddaughters. Although only our daii'_dil<T

plays a part in the legend, 2 others are, of course, to !>

8
Supposed. Ill the list which follows, one daughter and <>nr

granddaughter arc named (vv. 15 and 17). The daughter's

name is an interpolation; the granddaughter must have
possessed some significance in the tribal history of later
times. 4 The other daughters, granddaughters, and daughters-
in-law (ver. 26) are not named.
Ver. 8. These are the names, as in xxv. 13, xxxvi. 10.
The list is said to contain the names of the sons of /s?v" /

who came to Egypt ;

ver. 1 7 includes a granddaughter. The
statement is corrected by the words Jacob and his sons, which
are doubtless an insertion of the redactor, who desired to

retain the number thirty-three, given in ver. 15, in spite of

his insertion of ver. 126 a. In the list the sons are

arranged according to their mothers. 5 The names are

6
repeated elsewhere with certain variations.
spy iba as xxv. 13, xxxv. 23, xxxvi. 15 ;
Num. iii. 2.

Vv. 9-15. The sons of Leah.

Ver. 10. ^tt
1

!
is replaced by ?Ni!M in Num. xxvi. 12,
1 Chron. iv. 24. ink is not given in Num. and Chmn.
"inv in Ex. vi. 15 also, but rnt in Num. and Chron.
1
her history is supposed to
Saul, son of the Canaanite
be known to us from the legends or genealogies. See ch.
xxxviii. regarding the intermingling of the sons of Jacob

with the Canaanites.

2
1
Cf. xii. 5, xxxi. 18, xxxvi. (J. Chs. xxx. -JI, xxxiv. 1 H'.

3 Cli. xxxvii. :>,:> as v. -I 11'., ; xi. 11 ff.

4 Num. xxvi. -1(1; see also Kw.-ild, <!>. ]</' <},!,,'' i. fill 11'.
|
Kni,r . tr. i.

378 f.],
and cf. cases like Num. xxix. I H'. : 1 Chron. ii. .'*
I, iv. :$, vii. ~\.

:>,-2, xxv. 5 ; also Gen. xxxvi. 2, 2:>.

5
As xxxv. and xxxix. 9-14.
23-2(5
14-16; Num. xxvi.; 1 Chron.
(i
Ivx. vi. ii.-viii.
7
Also in Ex. vi. 15.
414 GENESIS XLVI. 12-22 [436

Ver. 12. Eegarding Peres and Zerach, see xxxviii. 29f.

From rw
to jyjs is an insertion of the redactor from ch.

xxxviii. as it is in Num. xxvi. 19. Descendants who died

in Canaan could have no place here (see ver. 8). Seeing
that A included Er and Onan, he was guided by a theory
f

other than that of ch. xxxviii.

2
Ver. 13. n;s; in 1 Chron. vii. 1, nxia.i Lagarde makes
"ft a mean sea-wrack, and j6ta the carmine worm (Purpurschnecke]
cochineal insect). ^ ; Sept. 'Acrovfj, ; Samaritan, Num. xxvi. 24
and 1 Chron. vii. 1, arc*

Ver. 15. Concluding sentence, iro niH HN1, is awkwardly

3 4
attached, and without doubt an insertion by the redactor ;

Dinah was therefore not included by A in his enumeration,

5
although he knew of her. vmjai, which is out of harmony
with ver. 8, will also be an insertion. Thirty- three is
"
exactly the total of the sons of Leah," Eeuben having four,
Simeon Judah seven, Issachar four, and
six, Levi three,
Zebulun three, both sons and grandsons being reckoned. But
f
the redactor, who could not count Er and Onan, must have
included Dinah and Jacob himself.
Vv. 16-18. The sons of Zilpah.

Ver. 16. For P^V the Sept. has Zafyutv, and the Samar.
and Num. xxvi. 15, jto, which is to be preferred because of
6
'pto. fcK; Samar. pjnVK Sept. Qaaofidv; Num. ;
xxvi.

16, ^m. nn in Num. xxvi. 17 is iViK.

Ver. 17. njK* is given in 1 Chron. vii. 30, but absent in
Num. xxvi. 44. Jastrow 7
suggests a connection between
~i?n and ^3^p and the much quoted Habiri and Milkil of
the Tell Amarna letters.

Ver. 18. The with the particulars

total sixteen agrees

which give seven sons to Gad, and four sons, a daughter and
two grandsons to Asher.
Vv. 19-22. The sons of Eachel. Ver. 19 does not

1
Cf. Judg. x. 1. 2
In GGN. 1889, p. 282 [error].
4
;

<
MsliHiisen. In accordance with xxxiv. 26.
5 7
Ch. xxxiv, Of, Josh. xiii. 27. In JEL. xi. 120.
430, 437] GENESIS XLVI. 20-20 415

commence anBKi PIBOD cpv '331, because UK-

as before in-

formation that Joseph's two sons were born in Ivjypt :

be given here.
Ver. 20. From -IP'K to ;K is an insertion of the redacl
from xli. 50 ;
Tj ;
tf must be made to refer to a D'33 wliich

may be supplied from tW, 1

Ver. 21. In the Septuagint only Ba\d, Bo%op, 'Aor/3ij\
are the sons of Benjamin; Typd, Noe/iav, 'Ay^h, 'Poi?,

Map,<f)ifj, are sons of Ba\d, and 'ApdS son of Typ/i.

2
"9? not in 1 Chron. viii.; in Num. xxvi. .">~> under
Ephraim.
K"3U absent in Num. xxvi. 38 ;
in 1 Chron. viii. 3 (5),
son of J&3.
fsStt son of y^3 in Num. xxvi. 40 and 1 Chron. viii. 4.
For D'B B*hj 'HK, Num. xxvi. 38 (BTnK and DMB>) f.

3 4
and 1 Chron. viii. (ver. 1, n^ns, and ver. 5, }?^' ) have two
names only, but the total in ver. 22 presupposes three.
D*an
wanting in Sept.; in Num. xxvi. 39, Dwn ;
in

1 Chron. viii. 5, D^n, grandson of y^3 (?) ;

but see vii. 12, 15,
osn and Q^an.

T!^ son of ^3 in Num. xxvi. 40 ; probably in 1 Chron.

viii. 3, also, under the name "HN.
Ver. 22. The total tallies, and shows that if the names
of ver. 21 are in part corrupt there were still originally ten
names the last place for the suggestion of a
there. It is
5
patchwork from other genealogies (Num. xxvi. in especial).
For "5J
the Samar. and Sept. have, better, rHTj ; comp. ver. 20.

Vv. 23-25. The sons of Bilhah.

Ver. 23. ^3, although only one name follows; see
xxxvi. 25. D^'n ; Sept. 'Aao/j,] Num. xxvi. 42, crwr.
Ver. 24. D^; Sept. So\\fo ; ata", Samar. and 1 Chron.
vii. 1 3. The total tallies.

Ver. 26. The sum total of Jacob's direct descendants

1 2
See v. 3. Not Sept. U-xt.
3
Or TinN, ver. G. 4
('f. vii. 12,' 15, a<2L".
"

Kui'lli'll.
416 GENESIS XLVI. 27 [437

who came with him to Egypt was 66, excluding daughters-

in-law. From Leah 32 are counted, from Zilpah 16, from
Bilhah 7, and from Eachel 11. Joseph and his sons do not
come into consideration until ver. 27.

3pjpf>, by Jacob, or under his leadership ;

with him
(Sept. /xera). IDT \s^, Ex. i. 5; Gen. xxxv. 11. For 13;>p,

see xxvi. 1.
Ver. 27. ^; cf. ver. 2 2, xxxv. 26. D^p, Ewald, 318a.

ntf^n,
see xviii. 21.
The remark is only now made that when Joseph and his

two sons, who were already in Egypt, are added, the complete
total of the House of Jacob, as it came to Egypt, was 70.
But it is immediately clear that this final reckoning
(66 +3+1 *) is a correction of the original, which was
made up of 33 + 16 + 14 + 7, 2
and that it connects itself

with the secondary understanding of the number 33 remarked

under ver. 15. Tn this light we see that
D^w, in wi
ver. 26, and all ver. 27 as far as ntynro, from the redactor,
is

and perhaps upy 'on *&) nuta (ver. 26) also. He counted 69
without Jacob, but A 70. 3 It's correction makes still more
4
obvious the system by which each subordinate wife is given
a number half that of the corresponding principal wife
(Leah 32, Zilpah 16; Eachel 14, Bilhah 7). The number
70 recurs in Ex. i. 5 (70 without Jacob), and Deut. x. 22
(70 with Jacob (?)). But in ver. 27 the Septuagint gives
75, and so also Acts vii. 14. In ver. 26 the Septuagint, as
well as the Massoretic, number is 66. Its total 75 is

obtained by giving Joseph (ver. 20) 3 grandsons and 2 great-

5
grandsons. The partial total in ver. 22, the sons of Eachel,
is 18 ;
for while Joseph has 5 more than the Massoretic
6
number, Benjamin has one less. The deliberate character
1
The 1 is the head of the house, Jacob himself.
2
Vv. 15, 18, 22, 25.
3
Cf> Ex> y< L
4
Ewald, AUerthiimer* 331 [Eng. tr. 250].
5
From 1. 23 Num. xxvi. 28 ff.
; ;
1 Chron. vii. 14 ff.
(;
The number given by the Sept. in ver. 27 as the number of
9,

Joseph's descendants born in Egypt, can only be an erroneous reading for 7.

437, 438] GENESIS XLVI. L'7 -117

of the change is clear. The Septuagint wishes to put

by side all the ancestors of the families riiium-rati'd in

Num. xxvi. ;
A includes only those whom In- thinks ,

already in existence at the time of the migration. Ver. 21

has also been corrected in accordance with Num. xxvi.
When the genealogy is compared with those in Num. xxvi.

and 1 Chron. ii viii., there are to be found, not

only
variants in the readings of the names, but also all sorts
of divergences in number and arrangement ;
such as that
sons become grandsons, etc. This is not at all surprising
when we consider the continuous historical change in such

family and tribal groupings. The divergence of A's list in

Num. xxvi. from that here, is no reason for denying his
1
authorship of the latter. It is only a proof that, while in

Num. xxvi. he describes later, legally-constituted conditions,

here his purpose is more a historical one, so that he includes
names which afterwards became insignificant, but had once
been of consequence. 2 The number 70 is no more merely
accidental than 12 was in the enumeration of tribes. It

appears from the time of Moses onwards as the number of

the membership of the body of elders, who were the repre-
3
sentatives of the tribes and principal kinships ;
and it

retained its significance in the whole history of Israel down

to the time of the Sanhedrim itself. It is postulated as an
ideal number of this kind here also. But it is to be observed

that and not kinships are always spoken of.

individuals
Even however, the representation is inconsistent with the
so,

stage which has been reached in the development of Israel,

according to the narrative of B C, up to ch. xlvi. Even if
4
we allow that Peres might have sons twenty-one years after
5
the date of Joseph's being sold, there is an evident contra-

1
Hupfeld.
2
E.g. ver. 12. Ewald, Cc^hich /,/ i. 594 f. [History, i. 415].
3
Ex. xxiv. 1, 9; Num. XL. 16 ; Ewald, Alterthiitner, 3 328 ff. [

ties, 245 If.].

4
Ver. 126.
5
Chs. xxxvii. 2, xxxviii. Iff., xli. 46, xlv. 11.
DILLMANN. II.
27
418 GENESIS XLVI. 27 [438, 439

diction between Benjamin the youth of xliii. 8, xliv. 20, etc.,

1 "
and Benjamin the father of twelve sons. To remove the
inconsistencies, it has been assumed that besides Manasseh
and Ephraim, others also of the enumerated descendants of
Jacob were born in Egypt. 2 But the assumption is unallow-
able. It is only in the two cases that the narrator records
birth in Egypt. 3
If others had been similarly regarded it

would certainly have been remarked in their case also. The

narrative represents all the sons, grandsons, and great-grand-
sons enumerated, except Joseph, Manasseh, and Ephraim, as

having participated in Jacob's migration. There was certainly

no thought of their having done so in lurribis patrum" 4
We gain nothing by the assertion that the author mistook a
list of descendants born in Jacob's own lifetime for one of
those who migrated to Egypt with him, and that as such he
5
used and inserted it ;
we also do injustice to the author.
In A's chronology, if only we keep it apart from B and C, Q
a growth of the house of Jacob to the extent represented
7
is possible.

2. ARKIVAL, MEETING WITH JOSEPH, ASSIGNMENT OF GOSHEN,

CHS. XLVI. 28-XLVIL 11 ;
ACCOKDING TO C AND A.

Jacob, having sent Judah on in front to Joseph, arrives

in Goshen with all he has. Joseph hastens there to greet

his father, and directs his brothers to tell the king, at an

audience he will obtain for them, that they are shepherds.

The purpose is to secure a residence in Goshen. Five of
them are presented to Pharaoh ; they follow Joseph's direc-

1
Cf. in tlie case of Reuben, ver. 9 and xlii. 37.
2
Vater, Rosenmiiller, Kanne, Bibl Untersuch. ii. 58 ff. ; Hengsten-
354 2
berg, Pent. ii. ff. ; Lengerke, Ken. i. 348 f. ; Kurt/, Geschichte, i. 299 ff. ;

Reinke, tteitraye, i. 101 fl'.

; Delit/scli, Ki-il.
3
Ver. 27; cf. ver. 20 ;
Ex. i. 5.
4 5
Knobel. Koliler, (,W// /<///<, i. ir.o.
6
See p. 31 If.
7
Cf. xxvi. 34 and xxviii. 1 ff. with xlvii. 9.
i:;:i]
GENESIS XLVI. 28 419

tions, with the wished for result (xlvi. 28-xlvii. G). Jacob
himself is
presented to Pharaoh by Joseph, and receives
for

himself and those with him the assignment of a place of

residence in the district of Ra'meses (xlvii. 7-11).
It is at once obvious that xlvii. 711 cannot be from
the author of what immediately precedes. Jacob himself is

presented to Pharaoh, whereas, before, five sons are pre-

sented. By Pharaoh's command Joseph here appoints them
the land of Ea'meses, in the other case Pharaoh assigns them
Goshen. A is indicated as the author by the statement of

age (ver. 7), by the phrase 'a *n *w w (ver. 8 f.), by Q^o

(ver. 3), and rttnx (ver. 11). Vv. 5& and Qa should stand
before ver. 7 (Sept.), and were also A's originally (see below).

On the other hand, ch. xlvi. 28-xlvii. 5a, Qb is from C.

Plain indication of authorship found in the prominence

its is

assigned to Judah (xlvi. 28) and in its vocabulary.

1
Con-
firmation is found in the want of any mention of Pharaoh's

voluntary offer made in xlv. 18 (B).

Ver. 28. Ahas already announced the arrival in Egypt

(ver. 6) ;
this verse continues the story of the start in ver.

1 ff., and relates that Israel sent Judah before him to

Joseph to show
way before the him to Goshen. The meaning
cannot be that Judah is to show the way from Palestine to

Egypt, but only that in Egypt either the way should be

shoiun them to Goshen (xlv. 10), or that the necessary
directions should be proclaimed to
Goshen, so that there might
be no obstacles in the way of Jacob's entrance with his
Hocks. Joseph had to see to this, and the subject to rnir6
2
is Joseph, not Judah. 3 The expression is condensed but
the meaning is suitable. 4 It is true that the Samaritan and

Peshitta read niNir6 as infin. Niph., which might seem con-

(ver. 30), Tl ^ny (ver. 30),

and myin (ver. 34), rvn (xlvii. -2), -733 (ver. 4), etc.
2
Gesenius, Knobel.
3
Delitzsch, supposing min to mean to briny word.
4
Against Kautzsch-Socin.
 GKOSIS XLTL

finned by r5* rn in TO-. 29. The meaning then is, with

the ctnnnjsskm Oo* At (Joseph) fcmU appear fe/or* Aim,
, in fcAfiLl Bat &^>rr Aim, temporally, is

by TCT.29, where Joseph appears only o/fer

Jacob's arrival, and rat would be unsuitable lor to him
(l4f, rer. 29X The Septoagint ghres vvrarrTpcu avrat toff
'H(x~ w&uv &w
'Pafufferi, but did not read such a
dnng as fa ...revb <*a0"Hp* . . . *&*,*
Lagarde's solemn
Terdk-tr> Its rendering is only a free one with an insertion

got from a better acquaintance with the locality, Jacob is

to be met on entering Egypt at Pfthom, i& Heroonpolis.
This city was not in Goshen proper,* but more eastward, in
a district where Ba'meses n. had built much, and which was
4
named from him,29 also the Septnagint accord*
In rer.
r
ingly gives >ro^
H/MMw voXir for rsra They probably
read also f&hp6* for fnvA, and either omitted ver. b, or
read *ri (for *
Jndah's being chosen as messenger agrees with xxxvii
26, xliiL 36% zfiv: 146% in a
Then ftqr onw^, t>. Jacob
and those with him, to Gochen
Yer. 29, Joseph orders the horses to be pot in his
chariot 9 and drwe up to meet bis father from the Kile land,
in its narrower sense, to tbe more elevated district of Gosben,

!*% xxxnl 4, xlr. 14, f^r repeatedly and long

Yer, 30, Isnel wffl die wiDin^y now that he has

9
attained tiie dearest wish of his life,

man, see H 23, T: TW, **&- 28, xlv, 28,

Yer, 311 In older to obtain the king's permwrion to
remain in Goshen, Joseph intends to go to tbe king,

w Mte < sir,

 "
- - IMSLBUS XLTL 35 F. 4.1

announce their arrival, and

that they are
tell him
i iv. 2X and hare brought their flocks and herds and
property with them.
^Joseph had JMK 19 to Goshen (ver. 29^ iron the

royal residence to suppose; now, when

we have no doubt
returning, he still fas 191: the real or ideal elevation of
the residence explains the word.1 Knohel has Memphis in
mind as Hyksos* and explains the expres-
residence of the
sion of an msmt of the Nile valley to Memphis.
'

breeders); the rn is in itself surprising, and the words may

5
:> :: "-: ;,u .u:.i::i::: :r::v. v-:: -4 :,- v,v. --; :' -:
:c::;fc:v.r-r..:

way for the immediate mention of Tpa belonging to

hepherfe
>1 He instruets them ate to R-.

presented to fhaiaoh, when asked regarding their

that they have heen from their earliest days, like their
fathers* raisers of cattle.
For the use of srn, oompare XXUL 17 and xxvii 2SL
nS30, as Tiii 21 ; m OX xxiv. 25, 44, xKii S, xKv. 16,
xlvii 3, 19; TQ^X sxL 30, xxvii 4, 19, SI; Ex. ix. 14:
32 : fTV see xlviL 3 ; Samaritan, in both plifj%

This ^ataaent wiU be followed by pmusnon to fire

in Gttshen, for all shepherds are objects of awtskn to the

Egyptians* In xhii IT and Ex. ix. 3, flocks and herds are

Elgyptian possessions, and in xhriL 6 there is mention of cattfe
which are the property of the king himselL The monn-
ments show thai the Egyptians kept numbers of asses, cattle,,
sheep* and goats* They required, therefore,, herdsmen to
dhugQ of ::--. uad ::-y had Mnb uaon| Aeii

-F^
422 GENESIS XLVII. 1-3 F.
[440,441

But their occupation prevented their satisfying the Egyptian

standard of cleanliness and refinement in the care of their
bodies ; they were despised and avoided as men of the lowest
class. This was true not only of swine herds l but of cattle
"
herdsmen, who were called swamp -
dwellers," because,

during a part year they took their herds to the

of the
uncultivated marshes, particularly of the north, for pasture. 2
These facts sufficiently explain the statement of the text,
which would not harmonise with the facts if it were
3
restricted to the case of sheep and goat herds. The reasons
4
given for this restriction are insufficient. But if herdsmen
in general were an aversion to the Egyptians, still more
would foreign nomads from the land of 'Amu be so. 5
6
Ch. xlvii. 1 ff. As he had promised, Joseph announces to

the king the arrival of his family in Goshen, and introduces

to him five of his brothers whom he had brought with him

as representatives of the numerous whole.

n rfi?P, 7
of the total ;
otherwise in xix. 4. Eegarding the
number 5, see xliii. 34. After npk, the Samar. and Sept.
have loy. For asn, see xliii. 9.

Ver. 3 f. As had been foreseen, the king inquires regard-

ing their occupation, and they give their answer according to

8
Joseph's instructions, with the request that they may be
allowed to dwell as strangers in the land of Goshen. 9
For VHN, Samar. Sept. Pesh. and Targ. of Jonath. have
ppl
s
TIK. njna-fo r)DK s
1 at the beginning of ver. 4 is not a
10
mistaken repetition from 3&, but makes their request some-
11
thing apart, added to their answer they said further. :

n V'"i
written wrongly for ^'1 so doubtless in xlvi. 34
;

also, although more tolerable there after the singular ^3.

1
Herod, ii. 47, 164. 2 3
Erman, p. 583 [Eng. tr.
439]. Knobcl.
4
Derived from Herod, ii. 42, 45 f., 81 ; Plutarch, de Iside, cli. 4f.;
Diodorus, i. 70; Strabo, xvii. 1. 23.
5
Cf. xliii. 32. <5Ch. x ] vi- 31>
7
Cf. Ezek. xxxiii 2 1 xii. 31.
; Kings
8
Ch. xlvi. 33 f. o
Chs. xlv. 10, xlvi. 34.
10
Kautzsch-Socin, " See ix. 25 f., xv. 5, xix. 9, xx. 9 f.
44l] GENESIS XLVII. 5-9 423

na xii. 10, xli. 31, xliii. 1, xlvii. 13.

Ver. 56 does not suit as a reply to the reqin-si
Ver. 5 f.

of -Joseph's brothers, nor serve any purpose as a continuation

of vv. 2-4. The Septuagint is therefore right in making 06

directly follow 5a. When that is added to C's narrative all

that remains belongs to A. The Septuagint alone has pre-

served his text completely and in its original connection ;
the
Massoretic text is the result of a later revision intended to
obliterate by omission and transposition the astonishing
1
opposition between two mutually exclusive accounts. The
Septuagint after ver. 66 continues: rj\6ov Se et9 AiyvTrrov
2
TT/DO? 'jf&)(7?)(/> 'Ia/w/3 /cal ot viol avrov. Kal rjKovcre <Papaa)

flacriXevs AlyvTrrov. Kal etTre $apaco TT/JO? *Ia)(rrj(f) \eycDV ;

then follow vv. 56, 6 a.

In vv. 56, 6a 3 (from A) Pharaoh, on hearing of Israel's
4
arrival, offers Joseph the best part of the land for them. In
66 (from C) Pharaoh permits their residence in Goshen, and
commissions Joseph " to appoint from the Israelites skilled
men to be the chief of those in charge of his cattle,5 with the
other herdsmen as their subordinates."
Ver. 7. Continuation of A's account. Joseph presents
his father to Pharaoh. The surprising presentation of the

father after his sons is due to the combination of two

accounts. Note the Toyn here for the mn of ver. 2. TI^I is
to be understood of the fornmke of blessing used as greetings. 7
"
Ver. 8. People naturally ask an old man his age, and
this leads to his telling something of his history. So the
king does here. The expression as in xxv. 7."
"
Ver. 9. Jacob feels himself at the close of his life, and

regards the 130 years of it which are past as the whole. In

Wellhausen, JBDTh. xxi. 441.

1

2
A's continuation of xlvi. 7 (but following xlvi. 7-27).
3
"p3l& again
in A, in xxxiv. 10, 21; see also xiii. and xx. 15, in C )

and B. Dt^E, only again in ver. 11 (^4's), Ex. xxii. 4, and 1 Sain. xv. 9, 15.
4 5
Cf. xlv. 18 ff., in B. Magistros reyii pecorit, Livy, i. 1.

Yurro, DC re rnstica Knobel.

(-1

y
ii. 10.
7
As 1 Sam. xiii. 10 ;
2 Kings iv. 29.
424 GENESIS XLVII. 10, 11 [441, 442

1
comparison with the years of his fathers, he calls his own
few and he calls them
;
evil when he thinks of his long

oppressive service for Laban, and of the misfortunes his sons

2
had brought him."
3
Dnuip migratory life, pilgrimage. The expression is the
more appropriate as applied to Jacob's life, because he was
ever on the move, without fixed abode or proper home, and
has come to live in Egypt after having lived in two other
countries before.
On
taking leave he salutes the king again with
Ver. 10.
formulas of blessing. 4 *)sbn N^l, as xli. 46.

Ver. 11. Joseph accordingly (in accordance with ver. 6 a)

assigns his family a place of residence, and gives them

possession in Egypt in the best of the land, that best suited

for cattle-grazing.
'

DDOjn pN Sept. 77? Pafjieaa-fj ; only here and in the

Sept. text of xlvi. 28. It includes somewhat more than
ftM.
5
The district probably has its name in A from the town
of Ba'meses, 6 from which the exodus took place under Moses'
7
leadership. The situation of the city not yet definitely
is
8
settled. Naville conjectures it was in the neighbourhood
of Phacusa, not far from the modern Tell el-Kebir.
njna mv "ip'aa see ver. 6 a.

3. JOSEPH'S SUPPOKT OF ISRAEL, AND THE POLITICAL CHANGES

HE MAKES IN EGYPT, CH. XLVII. 12-27; FROM
(IN VER. 12 B, IN VER. 27 C, A).

While Israel is being supported by Joseph in Goshen

during what remains of the period of famine, the Egyptians
have to give up all their money and cattle in return for corn
from the royal granaries. Finally, they have even to sell
1
Abraham lived 175, Isaac 180 years (xxv. 7, xxxv. 28).
2 3
Knobel. Qf xvii. 8, xxviii. 4, xxxvi. 7, xxxvii. 1.
4
(Ver. 7) ;
2 Sam. xiii. 25, xix. 40.
5
See ])p. 405, 420.
6
Ex. i. 11.
7
Kx. xii. 37; Num. xxxiii. 3, 5. 8
Goshen, p. 20; Exodus, p. 7.
M2] GENESIS XLVII. 1'J 4 L';"

their land and themselves to the king so as to be aM<

remain alive. Joseph thus brings the Egyptians, tin- pi;
excepted, into a permanent relation of dependence on tin-

crown. They receive their land from the kin#, and in

return deliver to him yearly a fifth of its produce. Israel

meantime attaches itself to the country, increases, and
becomes very numerous. Only the first verse and the last
has here anything to say of Israel. The rest is all about
Egyptian affairs. But the purpose of this detailed narrative
is not to represent such
dependency of the people on royal
power as a model and goal for Israelite statecraft, still less
l
as the type of Israel's relationship to Jahve. Its intention
is partly to contrast the straits to which the famine reduced
the Egyptians with Joseph's perfect care for Israel, and partly
to portray the influence which Joseph exercised on
Egypt,
and the service he rendered to its royal house. 2

The passage seems to have been given its present position

by R. The opening verse (ver. 12) is from B, and tells how
Joseph, after Israel's migration, kept his promise given in
xlv. 11; and the concluding verse (ver. 27 a) is from (7, and

provides the finish of ver. 65. But ver. 13, from C, attaches
itself to xli. f. ;
and
it is therefore not improbable that
55

ver. 1 3 were originally the continuation of ch. xli.

ff. As to
the source of vv. 1326, words are found in the passage
which are unusual in the Pentateuch,3 and there is little to
remind us of *
On the other hand, there are numerous
expressions which belong to C's special vocabulary.
5
We
1 2
Keil. EJJ. Ex. i. 8.
3
nr6 (ver. 13), DDK (ver. 15 f.),
Djpp,
Kal
(ver. 19), n (ver. 23).
4
E.g. nan, inn (ver. 15 f.), give, as xxix. 21, xxx. 1, unlike (7s weaker
use in xi. 3f. etc.; the payment of a fifth (vv. 24, 26), but yet with ;i
different significance than xli. 34 but yet in a sense other
; pfn (ver. 20),
than in xli. 57.
5
E.g. naa (ver. 13), Dpi? and tfSDan (vor. 14), (ver. 21), pi_ (vv. 22,
nyp
26), ^ya jn KVD (ver. 25), fan n^pc, ipan njpo, nonan rupD (ver. n f.,
xxvi. 14), niT (ver. 24), DJ DJ (ver. 19), ^-|J (ver. 17, xxxiii. 14), thu
mention of horses (ver. 17, 1.
9).
426 GENESIS XLVII. 12-17 [442,
44P,

must therefore, after all, assign the passage to C. Ver. 27 a

is a combination from A and C,
1
and ver. 275 is from A. 2
So far as As, it is his continuation of ver. 11, and is not
rendered superfluous by Ex. i. 7.

Eegarding the historical foundation of the narrative, see

the notes on vv. 22 and 26.
Ver. 12. Joseph supports and maintains his relatives by

supplies of food. According to the measure of the young, the

provision was more or less according to the number of

children (and wives).

7573, see xlv. 11, in B\ here with double accusative. 3

"Sp, cf. Ex. xii.4; Lev. xxv. 16, 51, and frequently, epn,
also in ver. 24; see note on xlv. 19.
Ver. 13. Introduction to what follows : in all the country
there was no bread, and the lands of Egypt and Canaan were
4
exhausted.
'31 "DD "o, in ver. 4 also ;
a standing expression of C's.

nnj, only here; comp. F1K7.

Ver. 14. The people of both countries have no resource

but to buy corn from Joseph, and expend their money in this

way. Joseph collects the money in the king's house where

the royal treasure is.

Dp^l, xxxi. 44. Ny??n which was (existed; xix. 15).

5

Ver. 15 f. Their money being at an end, the Egyptians

come before Joseph and ask bread. Why should u'e die

before you, when you are a witness of our perishing ? You

will not surely let us without help ? 5 die But Joseph
demands their cattle in return for further help.
Wop [plural ;
form allows of being singular]. 6 DDK, rare,
and only here in the Pentateuch. After Dp^ the Sept. Samar.
and Vulg. have Dr6.
Ver. 17. They bring their cattle and receive in return

1
ftW p&O alongside of onXD pK3.
2
rn3, rim-i ma.
3 25
Gesenius, 117. 5. 4
Cf. xli. 55.
5 25
(Jf. ver. 19. Gesenius, 93. 3A. 3.
4i:>>]
GENESIS XLVII. 18, I'.i 427

sullicient corn to last them for that year. The statement is

not to ]H> taken too strictly, for what could Joseph have
done with all (he cattle '.

/furses, see note xii. 16. n:p, see xxvi. 14.

'y\ JKV
fa
to pasture v:cll ;
1
here and here only in sense of

provide or maintain, though the Sept. renders Ps. xxiii. 2 l>v

Ver. 18. In the second, i.e. the following year, not in

the second of the seven, 2 they appear again before Joseph, and
declare that they have now only themselves and their land
to offer.

We do not conceal before my lord, must frankly acknow-

ledge to him ;
the Sept. "injj does not suit 'J-INID.

'y\ DN ^ DK is not because, 5 for such a causal signification

4
isnot proved even by Ezek. xxxv. 6, but when that when :

the money and cattle are exhausted. may even trans- We

5
late, rather (we have to say), the money is exhausted.
tfVTK has all come to my lord, passed into his posses-
6
sion, been used in paying him. The singular suffix used by
7
one speaking on behalf of several.
DK "rfa also in Judg. vii. 14; in Gen. xxi. 20, xliii. 3
without DN.

They propose that Joseph should acquire them-

Ver. 19.
selves for the king, by providing them with
and their land
food. They mean to be independent landowners no longer,
but to cultivate the ground for the king. They ask seed for
8
the first year, i.e. to sow with.
used by zeugma 9 of the land also (perish).
rnJ It is

explained by the author himself by OOP, become waste, desolate ;

uncultivated land is like a dead waste. A similar

1
See Delitzscli, Heb. Lang. p. 5 f.

2 3
See xlv. 6. Gesenius, Knobel.
4 5
Sept. Tar-.
6 Kn<>U-l.
Similar pregnant constructions in xiv. lf>, xlii. 28, xliii. 33.
7
As Num. xx xii. 25, 27, xxxvi. -2.

8
"iva,
Sept., aTTipftct
9
Cf. iv. 20,
428 GENESIS XLVII. 20 F. [443,444

is found in the use of ;

as applied to the land it expresses

the idea of appertainment.

1
See also note on ver. 15.

D3 w> gee xlvi. 34. D^n, intrans. Kal (xvi. 4); "else-
where in the Pent, only in Lev. xxvi. 22, 31 f., 34 f., 43;
2
Num. xxi. 30."

Ver. 20 f.
Joseph accepts their proposal and acquires for
the king all the landed property of Egypt, for everyone sells
what belongs to him.

pj n became strong against them, overpowered them ;

different from -na in ver. 13.

0<ny5) TIN Tayn read D*!J$ ^ T-?Jj[?,

8
but the people he made
to serve
4
him for, or as, thralls, so that they became or were
thralls, from one end of the frontier of the kingdom to the other.

The Massoretic text is generally referred to a general trans-

planting of the population from one place to another, but
cannot express this, for Tayn does not in itself mean trans-

plant, cannot be equivalent to "VJft 1W. 5

and D'ijA Besides,
those in question are more the country than the town

population. It should rather be translated, but the people he

brought into the towns, D iJ^ being then explained as in place

s

of D'nyrvta to secure a distributive sense. 6 The purpose of

thiswould not be that the people might receive his orders,7

but that they might obtain corn from the granaries. 8 But
the language is too condensed for all this, and such a state-

ment would come rather after ver. 26. 9 The position of Djjrrn&fl
at the commencement involves, as what should follow, a
statement about the acquisition of the population correspond-

ing to that regarding the ntyitf.

10
simultaneous and per- A
manent removal of the whole population of the country into

the towns would be also unmeaning. For nvpiD, see xix. 4.

1 2
Knobel. Knobel.
3
In accordance with ver. 19, and as the Sam. Sept. Vulg. Houbi-
# ml, Ilgen, Knobel, Olshausen.
1
.Icr. xvii. 4.
5
Onkelos, Kosenmiiller, Winer, Gesenius, Tuch.
Del it /sdi 4
' ;

Rave, Schumann.
.
7

8 9 10
Cli. xli. 35, 48. Knobel. Of. vv. 19 and 23.
ill] GENESIS XLVII. 22, 23 F. 429

Ver. 22. "The lands of the priests were alone excluded

from purchase. The priests had a definite provision l
from
the king, and lived on what the king thus gave them. Tiny
did not therefore require to sell their lands in this time of
distress." We know from other sources 2
that the lands of
the priests were exempt from taxation. But Diodorus' 3
statement, that they received definite payments from the
king, applies only to the judges chosen from among the
4
priests.
Ver. 23 f.
Joseph makes an agreement with the

Egyptians to give them seed for sowing the land, which

now belongs to the king (i.e.
when next they sow it). They
are afterwards to pay the king one-fifth of their harvest.

n, only again in Ezek. xix. 43 (Dan. ii. 43).

at the iribringings, when the harvest is brought home ;

can have its usual meaning harvest (yield), only if the pre-
5
position 3, is struck out or replaced by Pp. n'T, as xliii. 34.

n^T, see xv. 17. D^tob ioi6l is wanting in the Septuagint,

and is either a gloss or stood originally after D3?3N7*.

"
When we consider how fertile Egypt is, the payment
does not appear excessive for cultivators of the soil who were
not proprietors. Compare the Jewish tribute to the Syrian
7
government. The Messenians had to deliver half their
8
produce to the Spartans. Under Turkish rule the pro-
9
portion is no less, and Arab exactions from the fellahin are
similar. 10 In Syria, cases occur where it is two-thirds n and
;

in the neighbourhood of Ispahan the peasants, who receive

1
ph, as Prov. xxx. 8, xxxi. 15 ; Ezek. xvi. 27 ; comp. note on Lev.
vii. 34.
-
Diod. i. 73 ; Herod, ii. 168 (who says that the warriors are also
exempt).
3 4
i. 75. But cf. Herod, ii. 37.
5 c
Sept. Olshausen.
7 1 Mace. x. 30 [one-third of the seed and one-half of the fruit].
8
Pausanias, iv. 14. 3.
9
O. von Richtcr, Wallfuhrten, 178; Seetzen, i. 47; Hitter, x. 810,
xv. 849.
10
Burckhardt, KeduuiHs, p. 29.
" 96.
Seetzen, Reisen, i.
430 GENESIS XLVII. 25, 20 [445

land and seed from the government, pay even three-fourths

*
of their harvest."

Ver. 25. "The Egyptians declare themselves satisfied,

seeing that Joseph has preserved their lives, and they desire
'

only that he will be a kind master to them."

Ver. 26. The arrangement became a permanent one.
3
He made it, i.e. what had been said in ver. 24, an ordinance

regarding the soil of Egypt for Pharaoh, to his advantage,

regarding the fifth. But the expression is involved. The
ancient versions either render ^onn njnaf> as a separate
4
clause of nnx, or Bter6 to
explanatory point fljnrf), give
Pharaoh the fifth?

When this narrative was written it was still the custom

to pay the king a fifth of the produce of the land, the
possessions of the priests being alone excepted. The writer
commencement of the arrangement to Joseph,
attributes the
and connects the change from peasant proprietorship to a
system of hereditary leases with the events of the seven

years' famine. This is the only permanent Egyptian

institution due to Joseph of which the Hebrew legend
has preserved a trace. The details, such as the connection
made with the years of famine, the want of money to
continue the purchase of corn, the sale of the cattle, etc.,
are obviously due to the naivete of the legend. But the
change in the condition of the peasantry itself and the in-

stitution of fifths must have an actual basis in history.

No native Egyptian record of the events, however, is yet
known. Classical writers of a much later date do not
mention the payment of fifths, though Diodorus G says that
in Egypt the soil was the
possession of the king and of the
priestly and warrior castes the warrior caste is also named
;

7
by Herodotus as a landowning class. The narrative here
<locs not mention the warrior
caste, but it appears to follow
1
2
Morier, Second Journey, p. 154. Knobcl.
3 4 6
Cf. xv. 6. Pesldtta. Sept.
18
i. 73 f. Mi. 168.
li:,, Hi;] (JKNKSIS XLVII. 27 431

from what Herodotus

says that this very class becaim-
1

landowners only at a comparatively recent date.

2
We arc
not entitled to connect Joseph's arrangement with the
division of Egypt into thirty-six noines, each under a

separate head, which is ascribed to Sesostris, 3 and with the

division of the country into squares of equal size put in the
4
hands of cultivators in return for a yearly payment The
text says nothing of a division and apportionment of the

land, not even if we keep the Massoretic reading in ver.

21 ;
on the contrary, xli. 35, 38 presuppose the existence
of the provinces and their chief towns.
Ver. 27, from C and A,
5
brings us back to Israel.

With Joseph to favour it, Israel makes itself a permanent

home in Egypt, and increases greatly. ta"ib s is here used of

the whole tribe; see note on xxxv. 10. For irn^l, see

xxxiv. 10.

4. JACOB'S LAST INSTRUCTIONS AND ARRANGEMENTS, AND

ins DEATH, CHS. XLVII. 28-XLIX. 33.

(a) Ch. xlvii. 28-31. R commences (ver. 28) with a

statement from A6 of the age which Jacob lived to be,
and puts after it, from (7, Jacob's instruction to Joseph
regarding his burial in Canaan ;
A' 8 corresponding notice he
sets later, in xlix. 29 ff. C's authorship is clear from the
use of ^nfc^ (vv. 29, 31) and a number of other expressions.
Other information which C contained regarding Israel's

parting from Joseph is delayed till ch. xlviii., where it is

combined with JB's account. The situation presupposed here,

in ver. 31, even requires xlviii. 1 f.
(cf. xlix. 33) in ex-
planation and supplement. The original connection of C's
1 2
ii. 141. Knobel.
Diod. 54 i., and l\aim>si's n.
:!
i. ; Sesostris, i.e. Seti
4
Herod, ii. 109. As is appaivnily done by Artapanus in Eusebius,
I'nrpar. Evang. ix. 23.
5
See preliminary remarks.
G
As ver. 27 had been.
432 GENESIS XLVII. 28, 29 FF. [446

narrative has been dissolved by R to allow of his making a

compilation from all the sources.

Ver. 28. Jacob lives seventeen years after his migration,
and reaches (xlvii. 9) the age of one hundred and forty -seven

years. For TVi, see 14; Samar. has vm.

i.

Ver. 29 ff. On the approach of his death Israel sends

for Joseph and requires him to swear that he will bury him
in Canaan, in the family burying-place. Ch. 1. 5 contains a

slight variation. xlix. 29, from A, Jacob directs this

In
wish to all his sons, and requires no oath.
S&Ofe*, see note on xxxv. 10. ':i 'Q"ip
v see xxvii. 41 i,

(Deut. xxxi. 14), from C. 'y\ WDN, in xviii. 3 and fre-

quently (from C). Pray, lo.y your hand under my thigh,

xxiv. 2, from C. DCNI inn, xxiv. 49, xxxii. 11, from C.

THfrTDj; TODfcri, as in Deut. xxxi. 16, from (7; regarding the

"
n ?P, see note on xxxv. 20
meaning, see note on xxv. 7. 1
;

see note on xlviii. 7 regarding the conjecture Firnajps, where

the suffix is referred to Eachel. 1
Israel bowed himself towards the head of his bed, i.e. sat
2
up on his couch while speaking to Joseph but when their ;

conversation was over prostrated himself towards its upper

end and thanked God for listening to his last wish. David
3
acted similarly in his old age in a similar situation. The
4
versions render HBB, not n^p, as if Jacob bowed on the
head of his staff. The
be understood as being staff may
Joseph's, carried as an emblem of dignity, and the reverence
paid to it in accordance with xxxvii. 7 or we may think ;

of Jacob's own shepherd staff (xxxii. 11) on which he had

wandered through life. In either case no reasonable
explanation of the reverence paid to the staff or to God
over the staff is apparent, nor why ^"i should be specially
its

mentioned. Besides, a suffix OHEE) would be necessary,

" "
whereas the bed r>
lias a sufficiently obvious meaning from

1 2
Bruston. QJ IS x i v jii. 3, xxvii. 19.
:;
1 K ings i. 47. Knobel.
<
Sept. (Ili-l,. xi. 21), Ital., Pesh. Ch. xlviii. 2.
 in;, 117] GENESIS XLVIII 433

the context, it is tlu; bed on which the dyin^ man lay, and
so can do without a pronominal suflix.

(b) Oh. xlviii. The adoption and blessing of Joseph's

sons, Manasseh and Kphraim, by Jacob. A compilation
by 11 from A, B, and 0.

Joseph is informed of Jacob's illness, and visits him with

his two sons (ver. 1 f.).
Jacob formally adopts the sons as
his own, so that they should be no longer sons of Joseph, but
sons of Jacob (vv. 3-7). Then in his joy at seeing them he
bids Joseph set them before him, and imparts his solemn
blessing to them. In doing so he gives Ephraim, the
younger, the first place (vv. 8-20). His concluding words
are to Joseph, to whom he gives Shechem as a future

possession (ver. 21 f.).

In this passage vv. 36 l

and belong to A.
ver. 7
2
The
name ^ ^ (ver. 3), the reference of ver. 3 f. to xxxv. 6,
9, 11, the expressions D^y ninN, ?pnN ^jnr (ver. 4), and
T^in (ver. 6), and A's liking for questions of a legal character,
leave us in no doubt. What remains (vv. 8-22) along with
3
ver. Ib is generally assigned to B. There is decisive
evidence for him in the divine name D\~6tf (vv. 9, 11, 15,
20 f.),
in nan (ver. 11), -j^teri, w Dm sn^ (ver. 16) (words
so rare as ??3 (ver. 11), and nw (ver. 16)), in the distinction

given to Joseph by the special blessing of his sons (vv. 15,

21), and in the peculiar statement about Shechem (ver. 22).
But the frequent designation the patriarch by the name
of
4
Israel is alone sufficient to make it improbable that the
whole passage is from L\ for the assumption 5 " that from
ch. xlviii. onwards the redactor has no longer preserved the

distinction between Jacob and Israel," is untenable in view

of xlix. 1, 33, 1. 2. Since, besides, the double presentation

1
Ilgen, Ewald, Knobel, Hupfelcl, Sclirader, Nokleke, Wellhausen.
2
See note below.
3
Knobel, Hupfeld, Ewald, Scbrader, Wellhausen.
4
A characteristic of G and R (vv. 2, 8, 10 f., 13 f., 21 comp. Jacob in ;

ver. 2 f
.).
6
Wellhausen.
DILLMANN. II. 28
434 GENESIS XLVIIL IF. [447

l
of the sons of Joseph (to be blessed) points to there being
two accounts of the same event, we cannot doubt that the

text of vv. 8-22 is a compilation by R from B and 0, as

was ch. xxvii., for example. In B, Jacob embraces and kisses

Joseph's sons, and expresses his joy at seeing them again but ;

it is after all Joseph whom he blesses in his sons, and to him

that he grants Shechem in anticipation (vv. 8,* 9&, 10&,
11 f., 15 f., 20&, 21 f.). In C the central feature is Jacob's

preference of Ephraim to Manasseh, and the blessing is made

essentially of the sons of Joseph. Jacob's blindness also plays
a part in the scene, and Joseph's objection to the changed

places of his sons gives it greater life (vv. 9&, 10 a, 13f.,

17-19, 20c). The word D s
a sure guide in the analysis,
r6tf is

but ^nfe* is not, for it has been introduced everywhere in vv.

8-22, and proves that the compiler made C the fundamental

narrative, and only made insertions from B. It is true that

something of C's is wanting before vv. 9& and 10&. We

cannot assign the whole of ver. 8 f. to C 2 because of XTl

(ver. 8 ;
contrast 10a) and DTita (ver. 9), so that (7s introduc-
tion has been omitted in favour of 's. But the whole of

ver. 1 3
cannot be from R On the other hand, there is no
occasion to deny vv. 13 f., 17-19 to (7, and regard them as a
free interpolation by a later hand. 4 On the contrary, vv.
9& and 10a, and still earlier ver. 2&, prepare the way for

them; TJJX (ver. 14) reveals (7s hand (as does JKJD' in
ver. 19); the passing remark of ver. 20c could not readily,
in spite of xli. 5 1 f., be
regarded as explaining Ephraim 's
being afterwards set before Manasseh in B and f
C f even were
itcertain that ver. 20c belongs to B? and not rather to the
author of vv. 13f., 17-19. Eegarding redactional changes
which may be conjectured in vv. 5 and 20, see below.
Ver. 1 f.is also a
compilation from B (vv. 1, 2 a) and C
(ver. 21). 11 intends it as his preface to all the instructions

1
Vv. 9 f., 13. 2
Budde in ZATW. iii. 58 f.
:;
4 2
I'.udde, op. cit. p. 59. Kuenen, Onderzoek, 144.
5
See note on ver. 5. (i
Kuenen.
 117, Its] GENESIS XLVIII. 1, 2 435

and arrangements which follow as far as xlix. 32. 1 They are

represented by him as coming from Jacob on his sick-bed
2
during the time just preceding his death. Vv. 1, 2a cannot
be from C, 3 because in C' 4 Joseph is summoned by Jacob
before his death ;
but naorr^y 3Bh (ver. 2&), as the pre-
5
supposition of ver. 13 f., is proof for C, and so also is the
use of S>K"ib*.

Kautzsch-Socin and Kittel have adopted this analysis in

its essentials.

Ver. 1 f.
Joseph's visit to Jacob ;
the introduction to all
that follows.
Ver. 1, from B. Joseph visits his sick father, and takes
with him both his sons. 6 In ver. 8 ff., but not necessarily in
vv. 37, they are presupposed as present in person.
'y\ ^ins W, see note on xv. 1. "lo&oi, with indefinite sub-
7
ject ;
The passive has been rejected by the
so in ver. 2.

Massoretes, though not in xxii. 20 p-W) and Josh. ii. 2

Ver. 2. When Israel is informed of Joseph's arrival he

summons up his strength and sits up on his couch to

receive his son. Ver. 2a is from B (3py), ver - %b from

C (tolfc*).
8

Vv. 3-7. Jacob admits the two sons of Joseph to the

status of sons of Jacob. From A and, in all probability,
originally part of the context of xlix. 29 ff., where the words
were addressed to Joseph in the presence of the other sons.

Transposed here by R in order to have all that concerned

Joseph in one place.

Joseph, the chief of the tribes of Israel, along with
Judah, and the most populous of all, received a double voice

1
Chs. xlviii. 3-7, 8-22, xlix. 1-28, 29-32.
2 s
Set- xlix. :;:;. Budde.
4 5
Oh. xlvii. 29. Against Kuenen.
c
Ch. xli. 50 f.
7 25 144. 3<t somewhat as
Geseiiius, ;
3 s. in. in xlii. 25 and xliii. 34,
and harsher than xi. 9, xvi. 14, and frequently.
8
Cf. xlvii. 31, xlix. 33.
436 GENESIS XLVIII. 3-0 [448

in the community of the twelve tribes after Levi was with-

drawn from it. Its two sections, Ephraim and Manasseh,
had the recognised position of two tribes, even from the time
of Moses, 1 and therefore received two portions when Canaan

was divided, 2 although afterwards they are still not in-

frequently comprehended in one under the name, tribe or
house of Joseph. 3 A' a intention here is to explain these
facts. He
relates that Jacob adopted Ephraim and Manasseh

as sons, and so put them on the same footing as the ancestors

of the other tribes. The actual effect of this was to elevate
Joseph to the rank of firstborn, with a double portion for
his inheritance 4 but such a mode of statement is not
;

5
adopted here.
Ver. 3 f. Jacob recalls the blessings and promises of God
6
imparted to him in Luz. They had been to the effect that
a community of tribes would proceed from him and receive
Canaan as its possession.
n^y bnp, xxviii. 3, xxxv. 11. chw n-iriK, xvii. 8.

Ver. 5. With this future acquisition of territory in view

(nTO), Jacob declares that the two sons already born to
Joseph Egypt in shall belong to himself, and be his sons, as
Eeuben and Simeon, his eldest, are. This elevates them to
be ancestors of distinct tribes, like the sons of Jacob, and to
the possession of equal rights with these. The mention of
Ephraim before Manasseh seems to be due to a silent change
by A', for in A Manasseh always stands first
7 8
the same ;

correction has been made in Num. i. 10.

Ver. 6. But those born later are to count as sons of
Joseph only ; upon (by) the name of their brothers they shall le
called in their inheritance, "
i.e. their descendants shall dwell

1
According to Num. i. if.
2
Josh. xiv. 4, xvii. 14 ff.

i'lcs xlix. 22 ff. and Deut. xxxiii. 13 ff., cf. e.g. Josh. xvii. 14, 17,
xviii. 5 ; Judfr. i. 22 f.
4
Dent. x.xi. 17. But see 1 Ohron. v. If.
t;
Olis. xxxv. 11 xxxv. G, 15.
f.,
7
in ;uT<>nl;uice with ver. 19.
h
iNiiiu. xxvi. 28 11'., xxxiv. 23 f. Josh. xiv. 4, xvi.
; 4, xvii. 1.
448, -ll'.l]
CKNESIS XLVIII. 7 437

with Ephraiin and Manasseh, and be counted as of

Then- is no mention elsewhere of sons of Joseph horn after

Ephraini ami Manasseh. The meaning will therefore only

he that all the later house of Joseph belonged either to

Ephraim or Manasseh.
Ver. 7. Jacob recalls Bachel's death in Canaan in the

neighbourhood of Ephrath, and her burial there, during his

.journey back from Paddan. vJf is not beside me, 1 but, to my

sorrow, properly, to my burden. Paddan stands for Paddan
Aram 2 only here the Samar. has DIN piao.
;

The verse used generally to be regarded as advancing a

reason for the arrangement of ver. 5 f. In honour of his
loved Kachel, who had
died so soon, Jacob gives her grand-
sons the position of sons, for the esteem in which a woman
and an ancestress was held depended on the number of her
children. 3 But the prefixed absolute pronoun, *}&}, does not
4
express a causal relation, nor is there any connection
between Rachel's burial and the adoption of her grand-
children. On the contrary, the order in the original text of
A was xlix. laa (v:2 &np^) ver 286)8 ('ji -pm)> ver. 29a -

(DDK 1V1), xlviii. 37, xlix. 29, and accordingly the continua-

tion of this verse is contained in the words ':n f)DNJ "OX ( n W)

of xlix. 29, which were intended to form a transition to
the command to bury Jacob in the family burying-place at
5
Makhpelah. E's choice of a position for ver. 7 here rather
than after xlix. 29 has been occasioned by the special
connection between Rachel and Joseph, who is here addressed.
The abrupt conclusion, which points to a continuation,
receives in this context the explanation that Jacob's words
are suddenly interrupted on his catching sight of Joseph's
sons (ver. 8).
The absence of any apparent motive prevents our regard -
1 2 3
Knobel, Keil. See xxv. 20. Knobel.
4
The insiTtioii of
TJQX after f>rn (Sept. Sum. IVsh.) does not help
to make any.
5
Nuldeke ; so now also Delitzseh 5 ,
438 GENESIS XLVIIT. 7 [449

the verse as a mere gloss

1
taken from xxxv. 16, 20.
ing
But the words Dr6 TV3 Sin are out of place in Jacob's mouth,
and are a late addition, as in xxxv. 19. Others have also
2
denied the verse to A. According to Buclde, it was origin-

ally an interpolation by
R placed Its removal
l
after xlix. 32.

later was due to R, who, at the same time, struck out i>rrrnKl

from the conclusion of A's text of xlix. 31, and was influenced

by his desire to harmonise A with xxxv. 16-19 (B, C). How

superfluous when the alleged contradiction had already been
removed by the omission of !?m nsi ! And what an injustice
to emend A's text into contradiction with the other sources,
so as to have the pleasure of letting R put matters right
3
again. According to Bruston and Kautzsch-Socin, the verse
is a fragment of C (with i^s for rjC ),
1
which stood between
29 and 30, where Jacob's request was originally that
xlvii.

he should be buried in Eachel's grave (nrniijpa, in spite of

TihN DJJ
!).
R's change in xlvii. 29, 30, and his transposition
of xlviii. 7, were made on A's account. But why should the
transposition have been made to this passage, and pn
changed to paio ?
Seeing, also, that Jacob is certainly a
more prominent figure in the legend than Eachel, the grave
in question would certainly have been called grave of Jacob,

and not grave of Eachel.

Vv. 8-22. The blessing of the sons of Joseph; from
11 and C.
"
Ephraim and Manasseh were among the most populous
of the tribes, occupied a beautiful and extensive tract of

country, possessed great power and importance, and so were

4
specially blessed, most of all Ephraim," whose ancestor was
regarded as the younger of Joseph's sons. Ephraim gained
in position
particularly from the fact that Joshua was
an Ephraimite, and because Shechem and Shiloh
lay in its

1
Hupfcld, Quellen, p. 36. Schrader.
2
ZATW. iii. 62 ff. (Kuenen, Ondevsoek* 69, 317).
3
ZATW. vii. 207.
4
Ch. xlix. 22 ff. ; Deut. xxxiii. 13 ff.
mi, ir,d]
IIKNKSIS XLVIII. s-n F. 439
1

1
territory. In the time of the Judges and in the time ni

the divided nioii;trchy it was the real centre of Israel.

The piv -eminence uf (he two tribes, and the priority of the

younger Kplmiim, ,-ire here both explained l,y their ancesfc

2
blessing, in accordance with the assumption that words of

blessing from men God possess power and efficacy.

of

Ver. 8. Israel remarks the presence of Joseph's sons,

and breaks off what he is saying to ask who they are. His
not knowing them not caused merely by his weak eyesight,
is

ver. 11 shows he had not seen them before. A's chronology,3

according to which Jacob had been in Egypt for seventeen
years, and the sons were already out of their boyhood, is not
that here presupposed.
To r6x ''D the Samar. and Sept. add -fr ;
cf xxxv. 5.

Ver. 9 f. On Joseph's reply that these are his sons given

him here* by JSlohimf Israel (from C) asks him to bring
them to him that he may bless them ver. 1 8 a explains the ;

need for Joseph's doing so by the dimmed sight of the old

man. Ver. 10& should be assigned to B (cf. ver. 12); the

proper sequel to the request of ver. 96 (from C) is not given

until ver. 13.
6
Nroni? [toneless suffix].
D313&0, this Massoretic pausal pronunciation adopted by
Baer and similar to Ppvo in xxi. 9, and the frequent "W rfnj,
7
is peculiar, and has not everywhere prevailed. Were heavy
from aye, i.e. dull. 8

Ver. 1 1 f. He expresses his joy at the unhoped for sight.

^.??, judye, i.e. think, suppose ; only here in this sense, njq,
xxxi. 28.
In spite of the introductory bfcOb* 1E*01 what follows
'ft HN"] is from J5, who says nothing of Jacob's dulness of
sight. So also ver. 12 (observe Bni< instead of a suffix).
2
1
Judg. viii. 1 ff., xii. 1 ff. See xxvii. 33.
3 4 As
Oh. xlvii. 9, 28 ; cf. xli. 50. xxxviii. 21 f.

5 G
Cf. xxxiii. 5. Ewald, 253u.
7 25
(Konig, Lehryebiiude, p. 232) ; Gesenius, 58. 3 A. 1.
8
Cf. xxvii. l,21f.
440 GENESIS XLVIII. 13 F. [450,451

In B
the sons are brought to Jacob that he may embrace
and kiss them. After he does so Joseph takes them away
the same situation
again from his father's knees (this implies
as in vv. 2b and 13 f.), for the blessing proper is given to

Joseph himself (vv. 15 f., 21). In JS's context, Joseph, of

course, takes them out only that he may place them suitably
for receiving the solemn blessing (ver. 1 3 f.). But why did he
not do that immediately on hearing the request of ver. 96 ?
l
V2&6 in Num. xxii. 3 1 also (from C) ;
elsewhere simply
D;BX, xix 1 (C), xlii. 6 (B). In spite of 1 Sam. xxv. 23 we
cannot make VBK7=v:{p7, 2 so the alternative reading Winc^l 8
for inneh is to be rejected. Originally, in B, Joseph's
prostration may have been preparatory to his receiving a
blessing (ver. 15 f.) ;
in the present text it is the expression
of reverential thanks for the promise of blessing to his sons
(vv. 9J, 13 f.).

Ver. 1 3 f., from C. In obedience to the request of ver.

9&,Joseph places his sons so that Israel will find the elder
(Manasseh) at his right and the younger (Ephraim) at his
left, and takes them to him in this position. But Israel lays
his right hand on the head he gives of the younger, 4 to whom
the preference, and his left hand on the head of the elder.

Among the Hebrews also the right hand was preferred. 5

VT-nx explanatory apposition to what precedes. Not
?3b>

he made, or guided his hands understandingly i.e. placed them ,

so purposely, 6 for even if ?3b> could be

proved = ^3fH, we
should still have to expect VT3. Translate as J.Ci>, ligavit
7
he interlaced his hands,
plexuit :
changed them, laid them
i.e.
"
crosswise. The explanatory sentence which follows, for

1
Cf. 2 Sain. xiv. 33, xviii.
28, xxiv. 20; 1 Kings i. 23.
2 5
Delitzsch .

"Sept. Sam. Pesh.; Michaelis, Ilgen, Ewald, Geschichte,

3
ii. 396
.itnry, ii. 52].
4
"pyx, see note on xxix. 26.
5
1 19
Ps. xlv. 10, ex. 1 ; see also xxxv. 18.
Kings ii. ;

Onkeloi, Sa.-idia, Grace. Venet., Luther [AV., RV. text].

S.-pt. IV-sli.
Vulg. Targ. of Jonath. and most moderns [R.V. mnrg.].
tfil]
GENESIS XLVIII. 15-17 F. 441

Manasseh supports this translation.

ivas the firstborn, The
right was Manasseh's due, but lie did not obtain it, for Israel
1
changed his hands."

It is true that the laying on of hands is part of the

2
ceremony of consecration to a calling, but all laying on of
hands is not therefore a consecration. 3 Yet it is always the
outward sign and means by which a man represents the
feelings which move him and are finding external expression
as directed he lays hands, by
towards the one on whom
4
which also he opens a channel of communication with him.
As an example from the Christian era, when the custom
was more widely spread, comp. Mk. x. 16 (Matt. xix. 13 f.).
Ver. 15 f., from B. He blesses Joseph as the sequel of ;

5
ver. 13 f. we expect blessed them, but the verses were

originally from a different source. The prospective giver of

the blessing is named three times, which is no mere accident

6
any more than in the similar case in ch. ix. 25 ff.

*2& ^nnn, see note on xvii. 1. Who pastured me,

protected and cared for me as a shepherd would ;
7
an

appropriate metaphor in the mouth of the ideal shepherd

Jacob. 8 nrn QVmy ntyp
only again in Num. xxii. 30 in
the Old Testament. The angel, as whom God appeared to
him and delivered him from his troubles. 9 The expression
here as elsewhere is used interchangeably with God Himself. 10
"W Dm fcOjs^
see xxi. 12. Shall increase in multitude, multiply,
become tribes of large size ; run, only here in the Old
Testament.
Ver. 17 f., from 0. Joseph thinks the position of the
hands is due to error, and tries to change Jacob's right hand
from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's, who is the firstborn. 11
':n
jrvi, xxxviii. 10 (xxi. llf.).

1
Knobel. 2
Num. viii. 10, xxvii. 18, 23 Deut. xxxiv. 9.
;

3 4
Schenkel, Bibellexicon, ii. 583 f. See Comin. on Lev. i. 4.
5
The Sept. makes the change. c
Vol. i.
p. 308.
7
IV. xxiii. 1, xxviii. 9 Isa. xl. 11. 8
; Of. xlix. 24.
9
Of. xxxi. 11, xxxii. L>5 11'.,
xxviii. 11 ff., xxxii. 2 f., all in Ji.
10
See Comm. on Ex. iii. 2. Knobel.
442 GENESIS XLVIII. 19-21 F. [451, 452

Ver. 19 (6'). But Jacob puts aside the objection, and

declares that he is aware of what he is doing. He goes on
now (under the influence of the spirit) to say distinctly that
Manasseh will indeed be numerous and powerful, but that
his younger brother will excel him in greatness and numbers.
xxxix. 8 (xxxvii. 35).
IK?'}, D^N] as xxviii. 19.
D'lM a6 not partitive, the fullest (*6) of the tribes,
but lie will become the fulness of the peoples, i.e. a multitude

of peoples, 1
or populousness itself. In xxxv. 11 D'U is used
of the tribes of Israel,
2
here of still smaller divisions. The
condition of things in the Holy Land is here in view, and not
Num. xxvi. 34, 37, i. 33, 35.
Ver. 20. A further blessing from B's account. R has

separated it from its proper context, ver. 15 f., and added

the opening words, ver. 20a, -in&6 DDi^i. 3 The suffix D shows
he intended it to be referred to the sons of Joseph, while
1? shows that it was originally addressed to Joseph (as ver.
15 f.). The Septuagint altered ^ to Ma, which Budde,
4

holds to be original.

Joseph's name will be used in Israel in formulas of

5
blessing, because of the position and greatness of the two

Joseph tribes. The formula quoted must once have been

actually in use. In it Ephraim is placed before Manasseh ;

but whether B wrote it so or E made the change (cf. ver. 5)

6
we cannot say. In the former case, what follows, and lie

placed Ephraim before Manasseh, could also be from B ;

7
in
the latter it would be from E, or is C's conclusion placed
here by R.
Ver. 21 f. A last word of blessing, certainly from B
(ta"ib>\ from R). Jacob, trusting in the promises of the future
8
possession of the land and looking forward to the return
of his descendants to the land of the fathers? grants to
1 2
Isa. xxxi. 4. AS Q^y in xxviii. 3, xlviii. 4.
3 4
Cf. vv. 15, 18.
Urgeschichte, 59.
5
See note on xii. 3. 6
But see 1. 23.
7
Kuenen.
8
Last given in xlvi. 3 (/;), and xlviii. 4 (A). 9
Ch. xxxi. 3.
 (JKNESIS XLVIII. 1M F. 443

Joseph one shoulder ridge beyond

1
his brothers, ins for
2
ins.
D3G> inaccurately translated portion/'' and wrongly
4
identified with Arabic xlmkm (gift). It can only mean
5
hill-slope or ridyc, like ^na and similar words in Arabic.'
1

e
It is used with a reference to Shechem (Sh khem) in the

territory of Kphraim (Sept. ZiKi^a), one of the most

7
important towns in the country, Joseph's place of burial,
8
the place of meeting for national assemblies, and the
9
earliest royal residence in Israel. Jacob gives this Shechem
to Joseph as his advantage over the others, so that he
towers above them by its height, as if by a shoulder or a
10
ridge. Eidge cannot be transmuted into tribal territory,
with the meaning that Joseph is to have a district more
than the others, i.e. two in all (cf. ver. 5, from A). A
complete district would not be merely one ridge, and B?y"
ins cannot be a district in which D? ;
lies.

Jacob's choice of Shechem as his gift was owing to

11
his having taken it from the Amorite, i.e., in .Z?, the
inhabitants of the country, by his sword and bow, 12 i.e. by
force of arms. The reference is to a form of the legend
which differs from that found in A and C (ch. xxxiv.).
13

It is not, however, inconsistent with xxxiii. 19 and Josh.

xxiv.32, the purchase of land in Shechem, because it is
an essentially different legend. The conjecture ':i <3"ira vh
u
for 'ji '3-ira is therefore as unnecessary as the trans-

1
tjy, cf. Ps. xvi. 2 ; Eccles. i. 16 (2 Sam. xi. 23 ;
Ps. cxxxvii. G).
2 25
Gesenius, 130. 6.
3
Onkelos, Pesli., Saadia [A.V., R.V. text].
4
J.D. Michaelis, Bohnu-r.
5
Num. xxxiv. 11 ;
Josh. xv. 8 ;
Isa. xi. 14.
c 7
Gesenius, Tlu.ntru8, 1407. Josh. xxiv. 32.
8
Josh. xxiv. 1, 25 1 Kings ; xii. 1.
9
Judg. ix. 1 Kings xii. 25. See also note on Gen.
;
1
xii. 6f.
10 4
Tueh, Knobel, Delit/sch, and others.
11
See Josh. xxiv. 8, and cf. Gen. xiv. 7, xv. 16.
12 13
Josh. xxiv. 12. g ee notes on xxx i v> 27-29.
14
Kueneii, Th.T., 1880, p. 27 f.
444 GENESIS XLTX [452, 453

1
mutation of sword and bow into prayer, or righteousness
or money 2 is inadmissible. Nor can Wp^ any more than
"P.nj
3
be prophetic perfect. 4 If the reference were to a

conquest still in the future, when Canaan was taken

possession of, there would be no indication of why Shechem

should be chosen as his gift, and there could not be con-
ceivably a more unsuitable expression than Tinp^ for ripri

or inpn (it is not even Ennjp^). Later Haggadic writers have

an entirely original account to give of this war of Jacob's
5
against the Aniorites. See further, p. 287.

(c) Ch. xlix. 128. The utterances of Jacob regarding

the future of his twelve sons or of the twelve tribes (ver.

28). In ver. 1 they are characterised as predictions. They

6
are frequently in the form of commands or wishes spoken
with paternal authority, and so are better entitled the

testament of Jacob. The title, Jacob's blessing, is not so

"
good, for the words contain also much that is of ill omen
for the tribes ;
the first three (Reuben, Simeon, Levi) have
"
nothing but evil given them in prospect, and only Judah
and Joseph are fully and exclusively blessed. In this
respect the passage differs from the blessing of Moses in
7
Deut. xxxiii. The title has been given because of ver.
8
28Z>, which originally belonged to what follows (ver. 29 ff.).

Jacob's twelve sons are here all before him (ver. 1), and
he speaks regarding the future of each in turn, but with
"
varying degrees of brevity or length. When Eeuben,
Judah, and Joseph are addressed, the foremost of his sons,
the father's heart is roused and the language becomes more

vigorous." The names come in order of age ;

but as in
xxxv. 23 ff., all the Leah tribes are put together, and

1
Onkelos, Rashi, etc.
'-'
.1 1! mi i
in, Qucestiones. s
See note on i. 29.
1

'
IJo^iiiuiill.T, Tuch, Knobel, Delitzsch, Keil, and others.
llnnh o/,////,/7,,r.s, xxxiv.
;
VW. Judit', iii.-vii. ; Yalkut Simeoni, i. 132 ;

(also Tai^. of .Jonatli.j.

.l-]liu.-k, /;,//,,
Im-Mitlrn^h, iii. I II".

Vv. 4, Of., 17, 25 f.

7
Knobel.
86 notes, '
Knobel.
!':] GENESIS XLIX 445

between them iiiul the Ilac.hel tribes come those of sub-

ordinate origin. Zebuliin, liowever, comes before Lssafhar, 1

perhaps because what was to be said of him was more

honourable. The four secondary tribes also are not arranged
in order of birth, but geographically from south to north. 2

Jacob speaks throughout in the higher style of speech.

But in elevation, power, and richness of imagery his words
3
surpass other similar poetic utterances, and evidence their

greater age by their special ideas and figures of speech, and

by the numerous rare expressions, some of which afterwards
4 "
passed almost entirely out of use. In earlier times it
was not doubted that Jacob actually spoke the words here
attributed to him. Many modern expositors continued to
maintain this view, 5 and
it has found defenders
up to the
e "
present." was assumed that
It Joseph wrote his father's
words and handed them down to his posterity, 7 or that each
son preserved the utterance which affected himself, and that
one afterwards wrote them down together. 8 But such a
prophecy as this, with its word plays and metaphors, its
boldness and strength, its beautiful parallelisms and extremely

poetical character, has rightly been pronounced unaccount-

able in the mouth of an aged, weak, and dying man ;
still

more, the all-pervading knowledge of the localities and

circumstances of the Israelite tribes, as they were only long
after the time of Jacob. It has also been remarked how

improbable it is that such predictions should come from a

simple nomad, and that once he had commenced to prophesy,
1
Unlike xxx. 17 if., xxxv. 23, xlvi. 13 f., but Dent, xxxiii. 18 follows
tins.
2 3
Ewald, Geschichte, ii. 435 [History, ii.
80].
3
Clis. ix. 25 ff., xiv. 19 if., xxiv. GO, xxv. 23, xxvii. 27 ft'.,
39 f.
4
tnp and -vrrin (ver. 4),
rrop (ver. 5), pjphp (ver. 10), rKD (vcr. 11),

Wan (ver. 12), D'nBPD (vcr. 14), flaw (ver. 17), ppfe (ver. 21), and
others in vv. L^-26.
5
Venema, Teller, J. D. Michael is, Herder, Knapp, Hensler, and others.
Rosen miilK-r, Bauinguileii, IMitzsch,
Hengstenberg, Sui-k, Ki-il,
Lunge, and others ;
most recently M. S. Terry.
7 8
Mossier. Vogel on Grotius, J. E. Ch. Schmidt.
 446 GENESIS XLIX [453, 454

it is astonishing that he should conclude with the Davidic

period and say nothing of what was to occur after that

date.
" 1
an intermediate
The force of these considerations led to

view, according to which, while Jacob actually blessed his

sons, his utterances received their present poetical form only
2
at a later time. Most critics, however, entirely denied
3
Jacob's authorship of the prophecy, and assigned it to some
later period, e.g. to the Mosaic, with Moses even as its

author,
4
to the latter part of the time of the Judges, 5 to that
of Samuel 6
or of David. 7 The prophet Nathan even was
8 9 10
recognised as its author." Reuss conjectures the time
of David or Solomon. The decisive feature of the case is,

that all the utterances have in view the geographical and

historical conditions of the periodof the Judges, that they

entirely pass over the period between that date and the
time of Jacob, and advance no later than the very beginning
of the period of the monarchy. This limitation of the

speaker's horizon to a definite portion of Israelite history,

which leaves what goes before and what comes after a

complete and unnoticed blank, is the plainest proof that the

utterances are no real prophecy. Only one who regards the
prophets as mere soothsayers, will fail to find difficulty in
the supposition Jacob describes one sharply defined
that

portion of Israelite history with the utmost exactitude, yet

knows nothing of the intervening history which lies nearer

to his own time. Prophecy, under the influence of the
Spirit, takes the present for its point of departure, and while
it gives surprising revelations regarding the immediate and
the near future, regarding the distant and remotest future,

1
First definitely advanced by Heinrichs.
2
Plutschkc.
3
Eichhorn, Justi, Vater, de Wette, Schumann, Bleek, etc.
4 5
Hsissu, Sc,lic,rer. Ewald, G. Baur.
'
7
Tuch, E. Meier. Heinriclis, Werliin, Knolu-l.
8
Fried rich, Bohlen. Knobel. <J

10
(ieschichte des Alt. Test. 1 200 f.
4f)l] GENKSIS XLIX 447

it proclaims only such certainties as follow from tin- denial

principles of tin; divine government of the world, and not
particulars of a geographical or historical nature. But this

connection with the present is here strikingly absent.

Except in the case of Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, the speaker

does not take the special situation or actions of his sons as
l
his point of departure, and in several cases merely an inter-
pretation of their names. The horizon of the utterances,
shows that they have been composed and collected
therefore,
at a date remote from that of Jacob, but yet before the

dissolution of the tribal organisation under the monarchy.

The Song of Deborah is used as a source, 2 but there is no
allusion to the kingdom of Saul (ver. 27), and what is said
of Issachar and Dan (vv. 1418) describes their circum-
stances in the
pre-monarchial period. There is ground,
therefore, for maintaining the date of composition to belong
to the close of the period of the Judges. 3 But vv. 8-12
receive their most natural explanation only from the great

gain in position which Judah made under David. We have

therefore rather to decide for this Davidic period, or at
latest that of Solomon. The period of the divided monarchy
is excluded by ver. 8 (10). "The passage reveals no trace
of the jealousy between Judah and Joseph which became so

prominent after Solomon's death on the contrary, both ;

4
tribes are lauded with equal enthusiasm." In this respect
Deut. xxxiii. (especially ver. 7) is a complete contrast.

Joseph's designation as prince ("WJ, ver. 26) among his

brethren, is due to his long-standing position, and need not
be regarded as a reference to the kingdom of the ten tribes.
There is no foundation for referring ver. 23 5 to the wars
of Syria and Israel in the ninth century, and so none for
6
assigning the poem to that period or to Ahab's reign.'

1 2
Vv. 8, 13, 1G, 19. Ver. 13 f.; cf.
Judg. v. 16 f.
3 4 5
Comni. 5th edition. Knoln-1. See notes.
(;

\Vollliauson, (Iwhichte, 1878, i. 375 ; Kueneii, Omlerzoek,- p. 234.

1
Stade, Geschichte, 150.
448 GENESIS XLIX [454, 455

At such a time when Eeuben and Simeon had practically

disappeared, and when tribal distinctions in both kingdoms
had more and more lost their importance, the composition
of such a poem is no longer comprehensible.

It was different when, from the time of Samuel, after

centuries of division and separation into isolated tribes

and tribal groups, the feeling of national unity once more
asserted itself, and the powerful tribe of Judah, hitherto
apart from the rest of Israel, entered
into its rightful relation-

ship with the whole. Then was the right and proper time
for a man, qualified by his position, his ideals, and his

genius, to assemble the

hitherto divergent tribes, by writing

or speech, round the person of their common ancestor, and

let them hear from his mouth what he had

to say to

them, as he looked back on their past. Their achievements

and present circumstances are the theme. Eeligion is not
referred to. Indeed, it is remarkable in the extreme that
there is no expression of view regarding religious affairs (in

contrast to Deut. xxxiii). The tribal characteristics of the

people are portrayed, and of these Jacob was regarded as the

originator, just as Abraham had been of their more spiritual

religion. There were some who had acted nobly ;

there were
others who, in much, had come short of their dignity as sons

of Jacob. The early greatness of some had faded away ;

others had advanced to honour. There were those who had

been fortunate, and there were the more unfortunate, There
were the active and the indolent. All have a word spoken
to them, according as they deserve it, in praise or blame, in

Mussing or curse. Even where little is said, or only some-

thing apparently indifferent, it receives a peculiar sting from

comparison with what is said of others. The song in Judg.

v. 13 had already enumerated the tribes and accorded them
ff.

praise and blame in a similar manner. In this light the

poem had a n leaning and value for the time of its composition,
and the introduction ofJacob as the speaker was uniquely
suitable for a people
amongst whom the feeling of union
 466, 45(5] GENESIS XLIX 449

between an ancestor and his descendants was still un-

broken,
1
and who believed in the actual efficacy of his

blessing and curse. 2 The peculiar variation in the character

of the speech, where declarations, commands, and desires,

blessings and curses, alternate with one another, finds a suit-

able explanation in this view of the origin of the whole.
We must reject the conjecture that it is a mere collection
3
of utterances, which at first circulated independently.
There is no reference except to the closing period of the

Judges and to the beginnings of the monarchy ;

there is an
inner connection between the utterances regarding Reuben,

Judah, and Joseph and some of the utterances when they

;

are separated from the others sink to absolute insignificance.

We are thus prevented from doubting that one author has

composed the whole, and has given it definite and artistic

shape, though he may at the same time have made partial

use of older materials.
The author was certainly a Judean, as we may infer from
his warm eulogy of Judah. The glorification of Judah is
not, indeed, more than was due. But we know the feeling of
the northern tribes to have been such that it is more diffi-

cult to realise making a worthy acknowledgment of

their

Judah's position than to suppose that Joseph's rank was

ungrudgingly acknowledged by Judah. Such an acknowledg-

ment was a most necessary one during David's reign in par-
ticular. The conclusion is also supported by the geographi-
cal arrangement of the four secondary tribes. What has
been said up to this point implies that whether the poem
once circulated independently or has been taken from another
context, it is at least older than either A, ,
or C, no one of

whom, besides, was a poet. The only remaining question is

whether one of these writers inserted it in his own work, or

whether E added it from some other source. A 4
is the least

Ewald, Geschichte* i. 588 [History, i. 411].

1

2 3
See above, pp. i. 304 ii. 217. ; Land, Kuenen, 233.
4
Tucli, Kwald, Geschichte* i. 591 [Eng. tr. i. 413].
DILLMANN. II.
29
450 GENESIS XLIX [456

have adopted it, " since the curse of ver. 7 and the
likely to
name mrp in ver. 18 are evidence against him, and the inser-
l "
tion of poetic pieces was foreign to his purpose he is also ;

2
excluded by ver. 28b. In view of xlviii. 22 and xxxvii. 2 If.,
29 f., xlii.
3
22, 37, and also because of vv. 812, we cannot
think of B. Ch. xxxiv. 30 f.
(xxxv. 22) makes it additionally
probable that C, a Judean, borrowed, though he did not com-
pose,
4
the piece. And this is the generally accepted view.
R then included it in his work ;
and to him ver. lb is doubt-
5
less due. Ver. la goes along with 28, and will be from A.
Ver. Ib pronounces the passage to be a prophecy, and this is

in accordance with the prevalent belief of antiquity in the

6
prophetical power possessed by dying persons.

LITERATURE. Venema, Dissert, sel. 1750, i.

2; Teller,

Segen Jacobs u. Mosis, 1766 ;

notce crit. d exeget. in G-en. xlix.

1766; Knapp, Disput. ad vatic. Jacobi, 1774; Aurivillius,

Diss. ad sacr. litt, ed. Michaelis, pp. 178-267 (only vv. 1-10);
Herder in Werke zur Eel. u. Theol. 1829, xiii. 61-79; Geist
der hbr. Poes., edit, by Justi, ii. 175-196; Horrer, National-
gesdnge der Isr. 1780; Hasse, Magazin filr die bibl. orient.,
Lit. i. 1., p. 5 if. ;
J. E. Chr. Schmidt, eins der dltesten u. schon-

sten Idyllen, 1793; Scherer, Gesch. der Isr. i. 167-183;

Pllischke, oratio Jacobi mor. 1805; Mossier, vatic. Jacobi,
1808, 2 partt. (only as far as ver. 12); Friedrich, Segen
Jacobs, 1811; K. I. Fischer, diss. de benedictione Gen. xlix.

1814; Justi, Nationalgesdnge der Hebr. ii. 194; Stahelin,

anwiadv. in Jacobi vatic. 1827; Diestel, Segen Jacobs, 1853;
Land, disp. de carmine Jacobi, 1858 ;
E. Meier, Gescli. der poet.
Nationalliter. 1856, p. 109ff. C. Kohler, Jac. mit
; Seg.
Beruclcs. des Midrasch, Berl. 1867; A. N. Obbard, The Prophecy
of Jacob, Cambridge, 1877.
Ki'Ml.d. 2
Against chs. xxxiv. and xlix. 6.
;i
4
U.'tfinling Reuben. Hupfeld, Bohmer.
5
See notes.
';

///"</, xvi. 849ff., xxii. 358 ff ; Plato,

Apologia, p. 39, ed. Stepli.
.
;

X.-IIMJ.II. Oyrop. viii. 7. 21; Diod. xviii. 1; Cicero, De divin. i. 23, 30.
Knobd.
 i:,r>, ir,r)
CKXESIS XLIX. 1 451

For other writings, see Justi and Tuch. Add M. S.

Terry
in Mdhodist Review, V. ii.
(1886) p. 847 ft'.; J. P. Peters in
1

J.B.L. vi. 1 (1886), p. 99 ff. Zimmern

;
in ZA. vii. 161 H .

(who attempts to trace references to the twelve signs of the

zodiac). Regarding the date of the prophecy Heinrichs, :

De auctore atque cetate cap. Gen. xlix. 1790. Compare also

Kurtz, Geschichte des Alien Bundes? i. 314ff. ;
G. Baur,
Geschichte des ATI Weiss, 1861, i. 216 ff.; Ewald, Geschichte?
i. 104 ff., 585-589, ii. 412, 463, 493 [Eng. tr. i. 69, 409-
412, ii. 63 f., 99 f., 121]; J.B. ii. 49 ff., xii. 189 ff; GGA.
1873, p. 42 Iff; Stade, Geschichte,
1
i. 150ff ; Wellhausen,
Compos. 320 ff

Ver. 1. Jacob, on his couch,

1
summons to him his other

sons also, that he may tell them their future. Until now
there has been nothing said of their being present.
^
sop"* he called for, summoned
1

!
2
frequently in A, also ;

in D and Rd . B and C, on the other hand, generally have

h Kip-

What will befall you i.e. in the persons of your descend-

ants ; comp. ver. 28, according to which the real reference
is to the .tribes. The words own mriKn are therefore

essential, and not an interpolation. 3 For Kip, befall, see

xlii. 4.

D'DM JViriKn in the sequel of the days, in time to come,

" 4
in the future." has an absolute or relative meaning,
rvnriK

according to the context. The translation "last days" is

out of place here,5 but in Messianic eschatological prophecies 6
the word denotes the last period in history, or at least the
remotest point within the prophet's range of vision. As a
1
Ch. xlviii. 2.
2
Cf. Gen. xxviii. 1 ; Ex. xxxvi. 2 ;
Lev. x. 4, etc.
3
Against Stark in ZATW. xi. 291.
4
Luther.
5
And in Num. xxiv. 14 ;
Deut. iv. 30, xxxi. 29 ;
Jer. xxiii. 30 (xxx.
24).
<;

E.tj. Hos. iii. 5 ;

Mich. iv. 1 ;
Ezek. xxxviii. 16.
 452 GENESIS XLIX. 2, 3 F. [457

formula in use during the prophetic period, though not from

Ezekiel's time only, it marks the verse as the addition of a
narrator of that date.
Ver. 2. The poem begins with an emphatic call to
1
attention. They are to listen all together, for Jacob's words
concern the relation of each to all.

Ver. 3 f. KEUBEN. In all the genealogies he appears as

2
firstborn. This must have an historical reason but not, of ;

3
course, that assigned by Stade, who says that Reuben was
given the place of honour because
of his absolute insignifi-

cance. On the contrary, Reuben must at one time have

exercised a sort of hegemony among the allied tribes, or
have been the first among them to attain power and im-
4
portance. In i?'s history of Joseph he appears as mindful
of this position of his, and in the Mosaic period lays claim

to certain rights as firstborn. 5 Reuben and Gad were the

first to settle in the southern part of the land east of Jordan,

but from that time onwards Reuben never distinguished

itself either by populousness and power or by any service
rendered to the whole people. The only accomplishment
recorded of it is spoken of in 1 Chron. v. 10, 18 ff. Even
so early as under the Judges it showed itself indifferent to
the national struggles, 6 and it continued to isolate itself more
and more until in the period of the early monarchy it had
7
practically disappeared as part of Israel. Judah (ver. 8 ff.)
and Joseph 26) shared the succession to his previous
(ver.
8
position. The early decadence of the tribe is here attributed
induced by his wanton arrogance, which
to the paternal curse

impelled him to dishonour his father's marriage bed. The

particulars of what he did are unknown ;
ch. xxxv. 2 2 uses

1
Ch. iv. 23.
2
Chs. xxix. 32, xxxv. 23, xlvi. 8 ; Ex. vi. 14 ; Num. i. 20, xxvi. 5 ;

1 Chron. v. 3.
8 1 <
Geschichte, 151. Clls> xxxv ii. 21 ff., xlii. 22.
6
Num. xvi., xxix. Gf. [?] ;
Deut. xi. 6.

-lii'ltf. v. ir> f. r
D eut xxxiii. 6 ;
Isa. xv. f.
'

ll-ir ol the 1 Chron. v. 1 f.

birthright,
r.:, i.-us]
CKNESIS XLIX. 3 F. 453

the same expression. The final meaning of the statement is

not merely that Eeuben abused his power as head of the

1
tribes, but doubtless also that in this tribe sexual unions were

customary which were un-Israelite, and immoral as jud;jvd

by Israelite standards,- and that these gradually alienated
Eeuben from the rest of Israel.

In ver. 3 Eeuben receives the praise due to his position,

in ver. 4 he is degraded from it.

You are my firstborn, my strength, the product of my

3 and
strength, of full and unimpaired virility, the first-fruit
4
of my
power, procreative power. As firstborn and in con-
5
sequence you are pre-eminence, in rank and pre-eminence in
pre-eminent over
strength, all the brethren in position and

power, superior to them. Excess or pre-eminence is used

poetically for pre-eminent ;

com p. rna in ver. 4. W is

pausal, for f'y as in ver. 27 ;

see xliii. 14.
No secured by taking D'OD TDD with ver. 3. 6
good sense is
7
Overflow as water, you shall have no pre-eminence, trie is the

abstract for the concrete as, because you are, an overflow,

;

because you pour over like boiling water, you shall have no
excess, preference, or pre-eminence. The reading njna 8 has
corne from a desire to make the text easier. The expression
"irrin is chosen with reference to the "irp of ver. 3 ;
it is found
9 "
in this sense only here. As water in a pot, set in motion

by heat, boils up and bubbles over

Eeuben, excited by the ;
so

flame of passion, transgressed the bounds of morality and

Knobel, Ewald, Geschichte* i. 535 f.

[Eng. tr. i.
374].
2
See above, pp. 113, 309.
3
Ch. iv. 12.
4
Dent. xxi. 17 Ps. Ixxviii. 51, cv. 36.
;

5 Job xiii. 11, xxxi. 23 Hab.

Ps. Ixii. 5 ; ;
i. 7.

Ilgen, Justi, Pliisclike, Vat or.

r>
Clericus, Venema, Herder,
7
See Gesenius, Thesaurus ;
it does not mean exhilation (Ilgen, de
Wette, Schumann).
8
Samar. Sept. (styppuroti), and other versions.
9
Properly understood by Onkelos, Aq. Sym. Graoc. Ven. wrongly ;

by the Sept. U^etry; (see Geiger, Urschrift, 373), fays ( see Scholion in
Lagarde's Genesis yrcece, p. 202) ;
the Pesh. has rendered
454 GEXESIS XLIX. 3F. [458

1
acted wantonly and arrogantly." Kegarding the privilege
attaching to the firstborn, see note on xxv. 31 the Targums ;

make it consist in hcereditas, regnum, sacerdotium.

j-^y 13 a statement of wherein the overflow consisted,

and the cause of Eeuben's rejection; comp. xxxv. 22.
"
Phoenix was similarly cursed by his father Amyntor
because he lay with his father's concubine." 2
aa^D plural, because a double bed is intended. The
Massoretes were doubtless right in avoiding a construct
*
punctuation (cf. 1 Chron. v. 1).
TK
according to usage not thereupon, but then you
profaned, did an act of profanation, defiled what was sacred.
This was his crime.
He ascended my bed Jacob has turned away from
3
Eeuben and so uses the 3rd person ;
the feeling of wonder
at the incredibility of the misdeed still fills him. The text
is somewhat surprising, but H-y^
4
is less vigorous,
&
^ and ripy

are unpoetical and contrary syntax, to be nnta would

utterly prosaic, the transposition of r6y to a place before
6 "
n^y too violent, and the translation my couch of eleva-
7
tion," insufficiently supported by the use of r6'y for step ;

even to read nVy = and translate adverbially, wickedly,

( '"6]y),
is no advantage. It may be a question, however, if TOn
would not be a better punctuation were dishonoured, made :

unfit to hold the position of firstborn.

W elsewhere always punctuated a plur. by the Mass.

Vv. 5-7. SIMEON and LEVI, Jacob's second and third sons.
The poet is induced to group them together because they
shared the same fate, and because legend preserved the story
of an action in which
they jointly shared. Perhaps a curse
against them was also handed down with the story of the
deed and 8 is expanded here. In their relations with the
1

3
Knobel. 2
/ Mj i x< 447 ff. Knobel.
Tuch, Knobel. 4
Sept. Pesh. Targg.
5
Geiger, Urschrift 374. Olshausen.
7
Ewald, Geschichte, 8 i. 535 [Eng. tr. i. 373, note 4].
8
Ch. xxxiv. 25 ff.
458,459] GENESIS XL1X. 5 455

Shechemites they had both marked themselves out by their

cruelty, and earned their father's rebuke (xxxiv. 30) or his

aimer and curse (the tradition here followed).
Ver. 5. t^ntf would be trivial 1 only if it were predicate 2 ;

it stands, however, in apposition to the subject, the predicate

does not follow till vv. 5&, 6. DTIK cannot in itself signify

true, real brothers', it is in ver. 5& that we are told that the
brothers by descent were brothers in character and life

also.

Their rri"O are weapons of violence, cruel weapons. .TOD

is a hapax eiremenon. The interpretation sword 3 suits the con-

text, but cannot, of course, be proved by the resemblance to

fjid^aipa. Nor is it possible to suppose seriously that it is

a semitised form of /jud^aipa^ although the Mass, vocalisation

may have been influenced by acquaintance with the Greek
word. Derivations from "O, which are grammatically pos-
5
sible, e.g. wily plots, artifices? and marriage contracts? do not
8
suit 0^3, which never means agencies.
the use of <"^3p

might come from TO, to be round? but could not signify

sinuosity, devious course of action but only a round bent
1
instrument, and so curved knife or sickle}- Shepherd's staff is
12
not possible, but perhaps crook may be. The meaning gladius
can be obtained from a root, "N3 = rn3 only if we assume that l

1 2
Lagarde, Agath. 157. Knobel, Delitzsch.
3
Rashi, Luther, Herder, Teller, Pliischke, Hgen, Friedrich, Delitzsch,
Bunsen.
4
Hasse, Rosenmiiller ;
still Lagarde, Eel. jur. eccles. p. xxxvii.
5
Ewald, 260a.
6
To which there are Ethiopic and Arabic, but not Hebrew parallels
in the use of "OD L. de Dieu, Schultens, Knapp, Maurer, Halevy, and
;

others.
7
Clericus, J. D. Michaelis, Aurivillius, Dalhe, Knobel, Luzzatto,
Bottcher, 791 ;
Merx in Bibelkx. ii. 5, from ;*~iV>, desponsavit, hut Heb.
2= sell.
8 Not even in 9
Isa. xxxii. 7. Olshausen, Lehrbuch, 199d
10 Tuch.
11
Cf. in Arabic in the form minjal,
parp, (I>^.lD, adopted
12 3
Ewald, Geschichte, ii. 493 [Eng. tr. ii.
121].
456 GENESIS XLIX. G [459

2
the root signified confodere,
1
or ccedere, and then the word
8
would rather have the pronunciation rnbD.
The renderings of the Sept. Pesh. and Onk. are of no

assistance, even if we adopt the reading fe for 7p. 4 5

Ver. 6. Jacob disclaims their deed, and all participation

in it, with horror.
Let my soul not enter into their council, where they planned
their treachery, let my honour or nobility not unite itself to
their assemlly. Him, corresponding in the verse parallelism
to and equivalent to spirit; comp. Ps. xvi. 9, Ivii. 9.
^'33,

But the feminine inn 6 is surprising. The Sept. has firj eplo-cu
ra r)T7ara pov, 7 and as in Assyrian also kabidtu 0??) inter-

changes with napiltu (^), the original writer may be

supposed to have intended "n??, my liver, i.e. my disposition

8
(lieart).

For in their anger they slew man? and in their desire they
10 11
lamed the ox. DJJTG, at their pleasure, here, in accordance
12 13
with the parallel SJK, equivalent to self- will ; Lagarde
proposes CMnnsi. The act was one prompted by a vindictive
"
love of destruction. But according to the later legend
(xxxiv. 28f.), Jacob's sons stole the cattle and carried them
off."
u It was, no doubt, only to avoid this discrepancy that
15
the versions preferred the pronunciation "fit?, wall, and
interpreted ipy, destroy, in accordance with Aramaic usage ;

1
Gesenius, Thesaurus, 672.
2
Delitzsch, Proleg, 121, from the Assyrian.
3
But see ITDO, Ezek. xvi. 3, xxi. 35 f., xxix. 14.
4
Sept. Samar. Onk.
5
See also Geiger, Urschrift, 374 f., 442, and ZDMG. xx. 160 ff.
6
Samar., in*.
7
From Yin, be sharp, zealous ; others take from mn, see Geiger,
Urschrift, 319.
8
Delitzsch, Assyr. Gram. 68, end.
Generic singular.
10
By severing the sinew of the thigh, Josh. xi. 6, 9 ;
2 Sam. viii. 4
11
Dan. viii. 4, xi. 3, 16 Neh. ix. 24, 37.
;

12
Cf. Esth. ix. 5.
Agath. 157.
14
Knobel.
15
Aq. Sym. Pcsli. Tni- Jerome, Vulg.
160, 400] (1KNESIS XLIX. 7 457

J
while more recent interpreters strangely make "W, hero,

prince? and refer it, e.g., to Shechem or Hamor (xxxiv. 2).

3
Such cruel rage brings on
Ver. 7. itself Jacob's curse.
A much milder judgment is passed on it in ch. xxxiv., wlx-iv

a partial excuse is found for it in their zeal for the honour <>f

their house. The Samaritan by reading "VW for "iviN, and

ornnn for onnny, and the
Targ. of Jonath., have made the
curse a eulogy. Others have found the text so offensive 4
that they have endeavoured to mend it by taking ">vw with
ut? in ver. 6.
5
7
pausal for the perf. W.
Simeon and Levi are condemned to dispersion, and, there-
"
fore, to powerlessness. Their descendants are not to possess

any one the country, but are to live divided up

district in
e
amongst the other tribes, and scattered through the country."
Simeon was much weakened even at the close of the desert
7
wanderings. In the contests with the Canaanites
it united

with Judah, and received a number of cities in the Negeb, 9

8

10
which, however, are elsewhere counted possessions of Judah.
Simeonites seem also to have been scattered among other
tribes n Eobertson Smith 12
thinks this be inferred from
;
may
the presence of names like Shim'i, 13 Shaul, and Yamin in other

tribes also. Of the families enumerated in Gen. xlvi. 10 as

those of the tribe, only that of Shaul seems to have been later
of importance, 14 and it was probably composed in part of
15 16
Ishmaelites. At the time when the kingdom split in two,
Simeon was hardly counted a tribe ;
in Dent, xxxiii. it is

1
Pluschke, Mossier, Schumann, Bohlen, etc.
2 3
Ps. Ixviii. 31 Deut. xxxiii. 17.
; Cf. language of Song viii. 6.
4 *
Cf. Judith ix. 2. Cf. Ex. xxxii. 20 Gen. xxv. ;
7.
c
Knobel. *
Num. xxvi. 14 ;
cf. Num. i. 23.
8
Judg. i. 3, 17.
9
Josh. xix. 1-9 ;
1 Chron. iv. 28-33.
10
Josh. xv. 26-32, 42 ; in 1 Sam. xxvii. 6, xxx. 30 1 Kings xix. 3 ;

also towns like Siklag, Beersheba', and Hormah are Judean.

11 12
2 Chron. xv. 9, xxxiv. 6. Journal of Philol. ix. 96.
13 14
Norn. gent, from fiyop. 1 Chron. iv. 25 ff.
15 1C
See Gen. xxv. 13 f. 1 Kings xii.
458 GENESIS XLIX. 7 [460

entirely absent. Towards the close of the monarchy frag-

ments of the tribe made some small conquests beyond the
boundaries of Canaan. 1 It is well known that Lew had no

tribal territory. In A provision is made for his dwelling in

2

forty-eight cities given up to him by all the tribes. It is

surprising that here the dispersion of Levi is not connected

with its exercise of priestly functions, but is regarded even as
a curse. The attempt to discover in this a proof of the
" " 3
authenticity of Jacob's blessing is unavailing. There
could be no dispersion before Israel settled in Canaan, so that
if the curse had been transformed to a blessing by Moses'
time it would never have taken effect, and need never have
been spoken. The explanation is found in the fact that in
the post-Mosaic period the Levitical priesthood was restricted
to certain families only, while the greater part of the tribe
4
lived without possessions, power, or means of subsistence,
and in part in most wretched circumstances. Deut. xxxiii.
8 ff.
speaks quite differently regarding Levi. It has been

conjectured that Simeon and Levi, during the war of conquest

which followed the Mosaic period, were so weakened in their
attacks on Shechem as to be unable to maintain themselves
as distinct tribes. 5
Vv. 8-12. JUDAH, the fourth of the Leah tribes, is the
first on whom the father can fully pour out his praise and
6
blessing. Only the pressure of actual fact prevents the
author from giving him Eeuben's old position as head of the
tribes. 7 In C he is leader of the others, even in the patri-

1
1 Chron. iv. 34 ff. See Bertheau on Chronicles ; Graf, Der Stamm
Simeon, 1886; Ewald, Geschichtef ii. 405 ff.
[Eng. tr. ii. 59 ff.]; Eiehm,
Handworterbuch, 1480f.
2
Num. xxxv. ; Josh. xxi.
3
Keil, Bredenkamp, Ges. u. Prof. p. 173.
1
.ludtf. xvii.f.
5
Wellhausen, Compos. 353 ff. Kittel, Geschichte, ii. 63 [Eng. tr.
;
ii.
70].
Regarding Levi in the period of the Judges, see also Baudissin, Altest.
Priest. 69 ff.
(;

.I<*f]h in reality maintained the balance against him.

7
1 Chron. v. If.
401] GENESIS XLIX. S 54

archal period. 1According to A, he was the strongest tribe

2
individually in the Mosaic period, Manasseh
and Ephrairn

being reckoned apart and when camping, or on the march, ;

he stood, with Issachar and Zebulun, at the head of all.

:i

During the conquest of Canaan he took the foremost part

in the contests with the heathen, 4 and along with Joseph

was the first to settle in his extensive territory in the south

of Canaan. 5
He is afterwards more than once again
6
mentioned as leading the nation, and maintains his inde-

pendence, though separated by intervening heathen territory

7

from the rest of Israel, until, with the Davidic monarchy, he

comes to be head of Israel. It is the power and success
of the tribe and the choiceness of its land which form the
theme of vv. 812. The Messianic character of the con-
8
tents have led to many special interpretations of the passage.
In the absence of a special tradition regarding
Ver. 8.

his earliest history, the utterance makes Judah's name its

starting-point.
9
He is praised as the mighty conqueror who
is
acknowledged and praised by the kindred tribes also.

Judah (praiseworthy) thee 10 will, or must, tliy brothers praise,

for thy hand is on the neck 11 of thine enemies, seizes them

by the neck as they flee ;
to thee sons of thy father will pay
1
Chs. xxxvii. 26 f., xliii. 8ff., xliv. 14ff., xlvi. 28.
2
Num. i. 27, xxvi. 22.
3
Num. ii. 3, x. 14.
4 5
Judg. i. Josh. xiv. ff. cf. with xviii. 1 ff. ;

6
Judg. iii. 9ff., xx. 19 ff.
7
Unless during the Philistine oppression, Judg. xv. 11 ff.
8
E.g. Zirkel, Super bened. Judce, Wirceb. 1786; Werliin, de laud.
Judce, Havn. 1838 Hufnagel in Eichh. Repert. xiv. 235 ff. Muhlert in
; ;

Keil u. Tzschirner, Anal. ii. 3. 46 ff.; Petterson, Comm. Grit. Phil, in

Gen. xlix. 10, Lond. Goth. 1821 ; many others in Tuch, Gen.- 485 f. and
2
G. Baur, Gesch. derAlttest. Weiss. 227 f. ; Hgst. Christ. 54-104 Hofmann,
i. ;

Weiss, u. Erf. i. 112ff. Reinke, Weiss. Jacobs iiber

; Juda, 1849 Keil in;

Rudelbein u. Guericke's Luth. Zeitschr. 1861, p. 30 ff.; Cheyne, Proph. of

Isaiah, 1881, ii. 189 ff.; Driver in Journ. of Philol. xiv.; also in the
text-books on Dogmatics (Oehler, Schultz, Hitzig, etc.), and in writings
on Messianic prophecy (Delitzsch, Orelli, Ch. Briggs, etc.).
9
See xxix. 35.
10 25
Gesenius, 135. 2a [practically emphatic accus.].
11
Job xvi. 12.
460 GENESIS XLIX. 9 [461, 462

homage ;
not the sons of Leah only, but all the tribes of
Jacob. They bow before him, acknowledging his primacy
and leadership. The utterance was fully realised in the
reign of David. It was no longer applicable to the period

after Solomon.

Ver. 9. Judah is pictured in triumphant security as a

lion which has returned to its lair from the hunt, and devours
its prey aloft in security and ease. The metaphor of the
lion frequently occurs, 1 and does not need to be explained by
the assumption that Judah thus early had a lion as the
emblem on its flag. 2 A
reference to the constellation of the
3
lion and to the star Eegulus is merely read into the verses.
Judah is a lions wlulp. Jacob considers first his be-
ginnings. The words also suggest that r&y should be inter-
5
preted of growth* This is perhaps linguistically possible,
though in general rAy is used only of plants, horns, etc. But
itwould be dubious praise to say he grew great by plunder,
was a robber tribe; and, "if the poet were speaking of a
growing lion, he would not afterwards call it a lion and
(
lioness." Translate, therefore :
from the prey, my son, hast
7
thou gone up. As the lion to his hills, so Judah to his
mountain land after his fights are over. 8
He has couched
and lain down, 10 occupied his land, like a lion and a lioness ;
11

when he has done "

so, who will rouse him up ? He dwells
in the proud ease and confidence of one who is strong,

1
Deut. xxxiii. 20, 22 Num. xxiii. 24, xxiv. 9 ; Mich. v. 7.
;

2
Targ. of Jonath. on Num. ii. ; Ewald, Geschichtef iii. 341 [Eng.
l.r. iii.
250].
3
Zimmcrn.
4
Sept., which interpreted spa as in Ezek. xvii. 9 ; Grotius, Auri-

villius, Teller, J. D. Michaelis, Hensler, Justi, Gesenius, Ewald.

'
K/ck. xix. 3. (Deut. xxviii. 43, Prov. xxxi.
29, are less cogent).
Knobel.
7
Song. iv. 8 ;
Bochart, Hierozoicon, ii. 36 f.
8
Judg. i. 19. o
Num. xxiv. 9.
10
Of. iv. 7.
11
Which is yet more terrible in attack, Herod, iii. 108 ; Aelian, Far.
hist. xii. 39.
4G2] GENESIS XLIX. 10 461

feared by his enemies, and safe from their attacks."

1
The
character of the tribe as it was from the beginning is thus

portrayed for us.

Ver. 10 gives, without the use of metaphor, a description
of his historical greatness. Ver. llf. follows in close con-
nection with ver. 10, as the participial construction shows.
The staff of ride will not depart from Judah, nor the staff
of command from 'between his feet, he continues to hold and
2
it. Bat? is not peculiar to a king it might belong
carry ;

to a prince, or the chief of a tribe, or of its larger sub-

3 4
divisions ; and, like Pi?n*p,
is to be thought of as a long staff

of lance-like shape, or also, it might be, curved at the top,

and perhaps with emblems attached. was planted in the It

ground like a standard beside the prince, or between his feet

as he sat. 5 It is obvious that ppno, which is parallel to B2B>,
cannot mean lawgiver or leader, and that \hr\ p3D cannot be
6
from his thi/jhs, i.e. from his seed, descendants. The proposal
vb^ \^ from his banners?
}
also is irreconcilable with the proper

meaning of ppno and the rendering from the

;
midst of his
8
footmen is tasteless, and grammatically inadmissible ;
for the
9 10
contraction D^p. is allowable without V^i, for Vjpn, being so.

The staff and dignity of leadership are not to depart

from Judah until he comes to Shiloh having the obedience of

peoples.
'y\
6j is a circumstantial clause, with dagesh
Drip* ,
1

forte dirimens, 11
signifies obedience,
12
but not expectation, hope, 13
2
i
Knol.el. Knobel.
3 v. 14.
Judg.
4
Num. xxi. 18 ;
Ps. Ix. 9. A word later disused.
5
Cf. also Wellsted, [Arabia, i.
178] Germ. tr. i. 126 ; Pausanias,
ix. 40. 6 ;
C. F. Hermann, De sceptri regii antiquitate, 1851 ;
and the repre-
sentations on ancient Persian and Assyrian monuments.
6
But so Sept. Vulg. Targg. and most older commentators, till Herder ;

even Gesenius (Thesaurus, 220) keeps to this translation of V?J"1 J

S
3O.
7
Samar., Houbigant, Clericus, Tell IT.
8 9
Veiel, Huth, Tuch. Jer. xii. 5.
10 827.
Bottcher,
11 25 20. 2& as Prov. xxx. 17.
Gesenius, ;

12
Targg.
Sept. Vulg. IV.sh., with re fu iv no! to I*u.
1:5
xlii. 4.
mpn,
462 GENESIS XL1X. 10 [462, 463

1
or assembly, meeting. Q^y is certainly heathen peoples, not
Israelite tribes,
2
which in this context would be expressed by
this, that nn|
3
VHK. The argument against expresses willing
and not forced obedience, cannot be substantiated. The
"
meaning of the circumstantial clause is after subjugation of

the peoples against whom he has contended." It could not

be better expressed, for Judah stands one opposed to

as
4
many. The clause following ^ "W defines a point of time

up to which he will not lay aside his staff of leadership.

The meaning, as long as,
5
for ^ *W, finds its only support in
the w IP of Cant. i. 12, is nowhere else what it signifies, and
makes the utterance one contrary to fact. Some Jewish
interpreters have separated "W from 'a, for ever, for, but
6
against usage.
everywhere in the Old Testament name of
7
rfyw (rife)
the town ShiloJi* in the tribe of Ephraim. It became the

seat of the intertribal sanctuary after the conquest of the

territory round it, and remained so during the period of the

Judges down to Eli's time. 9 If the reading rh"V is adhered

to, this is the meaning here also. 10 It is, then, an accusative
11
of place, and the subject to an* 1
is not indefinite, but is

Judah, to whom the following *b] refers. The date thus fixed

Aquila, Arab., Kaslri.

,

2
See note on xxviii. 3 ; Gesenius, Winer, Meier, Baur.
3
See viii. 26.
4
Chs. xxvi. 13, xli. 49 ;
2 Sam. xxiii. 10 j comp. -|^N iy, xxviii. 15.
5
Tucli, Maurer, Meier, Baur.
(!
See Baur, Gesch. der Alttest. Weiss, p. 239.
7
rfe in the Samar. Heb. MSS. and ancient versions (see De Rossi,
Varice lectiones,iv. 217ff.).
8
Generally written n^
or fap, more rarely i^^ and n^> (Gesenius,
a contraction from
Thesaurus, 1424) ;
p^gj, as is shown by the nom. gent.

9
Josh, xviii. 1 ff. ; Judg. xviii. 31, xxi. 19 ;
1 Sam. i.-iv. ;
cf. Jer. vii.
\-2\\.; I's. ] xx viii. 60.
10
So many since Teller :
Zirkler, Eichhorn, Herder, Bleek, Observ.
;, p. 18 f. ; Hitzig, Tucli, Diestel, Baumgarten, Evvald, Bunsen, Rod.,
ll.-iur, Dclit/^li.
11
1 S.un. iv. 12.
463] GENESIS XLIX. 10 463

is the time when tho sanctuary, common to all the tribes,

1
was transferred from Gilgal to Shiloh, after Judah and
Joseph had securely established themselves, and the struggle
with the Canaanites had in a manner terminated. In the
absence of a second verb it is impossible to find in 'ji fa a
further period extending indefinitely beyond the time spoken
of in Josh, xviii. 2 Nor (see above) may we alter the meaning
men
to as long as come (or he comes) to Shiloh, i.e. as long as

people worship God in Shiloh, i.e. for ever, as the author

would suppose. 3 The meaning conveyed as the text stands is

that Judah's staff of leadership, which belongs to him as a

4
tribe, will continue in undiminished warlike activity till the

conquest of his territory, unlike that of other tribes who

gave up the contest or fought in vain. This takes us back
to the time of the conquest, but does not pass over in silence

the period of occupation which is the setting given to the

5
pictures of all the other tribes, for ver. 1 1 f represents that .

as the fruit of Judah's victories.

But apart from the question whether Judah really came
to Shiloh, regarding which we have no information, it is

surprising to find an actual geographical name inserted where

all the utterances are
perfectly general otherwise of a
character. We
expect the statement to be something like,
until he comes to rest. The reading rbw does not allow of
this, but neither does rfe. n:>^
;
or IW, rest, or ^V }
rest or

pacifier, from the root ife, are nowhere found, and the last
named is grammatically impossible, seeing it ought to be ^t?
7
or ?* Kenderings, therefore, such as until rest comes, or
8
until he cornes to rest, or until a bringer of peace comes, i.e.

1 2
Josh, xviii. 9, 1.
Baumgarten, Delitzsch.
3
Hitzig, Tuch, Baur.
4
Num. xxi. 18.
5
H. Sclmltz, Alttest. Theol. 4 713 [Eng. tr. ii.
338].
6
See Tuch.
7
Pliisclike, Justi, Vat., Gesenius, Schumann, De Wette, Knobel ; cf.
Pi-ov. vi. 15 ;
Job iii. 26.
8 1
Oehlev, Alttest. Theol. ii. 255 [Eng. tr. ii.
408].
 464 GENESIS XLIX. 10 [463, 464

2
Solomon l
or the Messiah, are inadmissible. The expression
becomes a very colourless one, again, if we translate until he

enters into what belongs to him, into his possessions. 3 The

4
conjecture ofe is preferable, but not
in the form cw, until
5
he (David) enters Jerusalem, which makes it again a proper
6 7
name, but as D^, until lie enters peace. Another expedient
would be to read rfyv K3J ny.s
"
But on the assumption that the meaning is, he will not
cease the contest," we are met by the further difficulty that
instead of 'ji -no 11
d> we rather expect something to the effect,
"
he will not lay aside his staff." The expression 'ji TiD &6 11

requires us to understand LQtr and ppriD of the staff of a

ruler rather than of that of a commander, and to translate,
" "
this," i.e. the dignity of ruler, will not depart from him."

In this case ':i ^D iy is not to be interpreted until he

(Eehoboam) come to Shiloh (Shechem), 9 i.e. until the division

of the kingdom, nor until a mighty one (reading Ov^ for

ni?^),
10
i.e. the
sovereign ruler of Upper Asia, comes. We must
admit a Messianic interpretation, such as used to be univer-
sally acknowledged, and take, for the purpose, the reading
nte. The renderings, eW av e\6rj ra aTro/cefaeva avrw,
11
what is laid up for him, or a> airoKeirai, for whom it (the
sceptre) is reserved,
12
or to whom is the lordship,
13
cannot,
however, be obtained from rfW quod ei, without a verb, still
more cui, without an antecedent, leaves us without a sentence
1
Friedrich, Werliin.
2
Mossier, Knapp, Muhlert, Eosenmiiller, Winer, Hengstenberg, Keil,
Kohler, Geschichte, i. 162.
3
Orelli, Alttest. Weiss. 137 f.; Briggs, with .p, and rb for nfe.
4
Ch. xiv. 18.
5
Neubauer in Athenceum, 1885, i. 695.
6
Isa. Ivii. 2.
7 8
Halcvy, Revue Critique, 1883, p. 290. 2 Sam. iii. 22.
9
Rashbain, Heilprin, Hist. Poetry, i. 39 ff. ; Peters, JBL. vi. 1 (1886),
105 f.

10
Olshausen. n
Sept. Driver.
12
Sept., var. led. ; H. Schultz.
18
Onk., Jerus. Targ., Saadia ; doubtless, also, Pesh. cf. with Apliraates,
hce Driver, up. cit.
p. 5.
Ml] GENESIS XLIX. 11 F. 4G5

or any sense. 1 The only possible translation is his one, the

one who belongs to him, which would be a veiled designation

of the mighty ruler who is to spring from Judith. But 'V in
u Jiult'an would be surprising in the highest degree,2 and
li'.xt

r6 for ii>
unique. Nothing is gained by such corrections as
rw or fW, qui mittcndus est? n>K^ is quern Juda cxpctitf
17 rw, for whom it (the dominion) is appointed.
5
It has
6
been proposed to delete ft]
as gloss to n/^, or r6e> as gloss to
7
l^l, and translate until he comes to whom the obedience of the

peoples is
(rightly due), but what explanation is there of how
the gloss came to be inserted ?

The Messianic interpretation accordingly does not result

in any more satisfactory explanation of rtyv. When, there-
fore, it is further considered that ver. 11 f. stands in no
connection with this glance into the far future, we have to
8
conclude that ver. 10 is an interpolation, not, however, from
9
post-exilic times, when
the Dn&> had actually passed from

Judah, but doubtless from a period when the Messianic hope

had already been proclaimed by the prophets of Judah.
Probably it is not an independent insertion, but a modifica-
tion of some older text. The Massoretic reading rbw, for
the older r6t5>, seems to rest on the Eabbinical explanation,
his little son (P^). 10
Ver. 11 f.
portrays how Judah, after the subjugation of

his enemies, enjoys in his settled home (cf. ver. 9) rich

blessings from the vineyards and pasture lands. There is no
connection with ver. 10 if the subject there was the great

king of the future.

For V of the construct in npfc, ^3,. "Won, see xxxi. 39 ;

1
Ezek. xxi. 32 is no parallel, for DS^Dn is part of the context.
2 3
See also vi. 3.
Vulg.
4 1
Hiller, Onora., 931 ; Lagarde, Onom. ii 96.
5
Clieyne, following Ronscli in ZWTh. 1872, p. 291 ; Driver ?

Wellhausen, Geschichte, i. 375 ; Stade, Geschichte,

1
i. 160.
7 r
\\ ellhausen, Composition, 321.
8 9
Wellhausen. Sta.lr.
10
See Baur, op. cit. 247 f. ; Driver, op. tit. 7, 18 f.

DILLMANN. II.
30
46 G GENESIS XLIX. 13 [465

l
for the construct before a preposition, Gesenius ;
for rh'j;

from rh7, Ewald; 2

for ri for i, ch. ix. 21 ;
for the perf. D33,

as continuing the particip. construction and for its pro-

3
nunciation with ~, Gesenius.
The author's picture is an idyllic one. Judah, the

warrior and conqueror, is now riding on his ass, the usual

4
riding animal in pre-Davidic times,
and especially used by
5 he
princes. His land is so full of vines that little requires
to give heed to them or treat them as of value. So when
he dismounts he fastens his ass to a vine branch, the branch
of a choice vine. 6 His land produces wine, red wine, 7 so
8
plentifully that he can use it to wash his garments ;
a

hyperbole as in Job xxix. Judah was a grape country, 9

6.

and the vineyards of Hebron and ^Engedi specially famous. 10

His eyes are dull from wine, his teeth white from milk
"
he has wine and milk in over abundance for his use his ;

teeth are dripping with milk so that they appear of dazzling

whiteness, his glance is dulled by the wine. 11 The last clause

12
conveys no reproach. Judah also possessed famous pasture
lands. 13 For the hyperboles, comp. Jon. iv. 18; Am. ix.
14
13."
Ver. 13. ZEBULUN, the 6th son of Leah, 15 never held a

prominent position, though he played a praiseworthy part in

the national contests of the time of the Judges. 16 Our
author boasts for him only the favourable situation of his

territory the signification of his name, 17 dweller, borderer, is

;

1
Grammatik, 90. 3a.
2
2556 (Isa. x. 17 Dent. xxv. 4). ;

3 4 3
116. 5 A. 7 and 52. 2 A. 1. Winer, i. 347.
5 G
Judg. x. 4, xii. 14 cf. Zech. ix. 9. ; Isa. v. 2 ;
Jer. ii. 21.
7
Deut. xxxii. 14 ;
Sirach xxxix. 26, 1. 15.
Isa. Ixiii. 2 ;

8
JTlD for rnp ;
cf.
nipp Ex. xxxiv. 33 ff. ; Samar. nniDD-
9
Jo. i. 7 ff.,'iv. 18 ;
'2 Cliron. xxvi. 10.
111
Num. 23 f. Song
xiii. ;
i. 14.
11 12
Prov. xxiii. 29 f. Ch. xliii. 24.
'"
A'.;/, i Sam. xxv. 2 ;
Am. i. 1 ;
2 Chron. xxvi. 10.
g ee p re ii m remarks.
14
Knobel. .

16
Judg. iv. 6, 10, v. 14, 18, vi. 35 ;
cf. also xxii. 11.
17
Ch. xxx. 20.
4(i:>, t<;<5]
GENESIS XLIX. 14 F. 4G7

doubtless hinted at. Zebuluntowards the strand of the sea l

2
he settles, he himself towards the strand of the ships, and his
rear to or opposite Sidon. He is compared to ;i man or
animal stretched on the ground with his face to the shore,
at which ships can lio, ami his back to Sidon (Phoenicia in

all likelihood). According to Josh. xix. 10-16, Zebulun was

separated from Lake Tiberias by Naphtali west of him, in ;

the direction of the Mediterranean, lay Asher. But the

boundary between Zebulun and Asher is not exactly given
in Josh. xix. 14 f., which does not therefore exclude the

possibility that a strip of the territory of Zebulun bordered

on the Mediterranean. 3
What is alone certain is that Asher
D" ?^
1

Ppr6 3^ (Judg. v. 17), and that Issachar and Zebulun

"
sucked the treasures of the sea'"' (Deut. xxxiii. 19). The
lines of demarcation between the tribes and those which

separated them from the heathen were never sharply drawn

and varied as time went on. There is no difficulty, then, in

believing that in our author's time Zebulun extended as far

as the sea. Otherwise, we must understand the words to the
effect that Zebulun bordered on the coast, i.e. the coast-lands
and not the sea itself ;
such proximity would in itself be
4
advantageous and a source of gain to the tribe.

Ver. 14f. ISSACHAR, the 5th son of Leah, 5 dwelt along

the Jordan to Lake Tiberias, and in the fertile plain of

Jezreel. The great caravan road from the Mediterranean to

Bethshean passed through his land, and in it a number of

Canaanite towns maintained themselves independent and

6
powerful. Though he took part in the struggle for in-
7
dependence under Deborah, he is here sharply rebuked
because in his contentment with his luxurious land he has

1 2
Ch. i. 10. Ewald, 3146.
3
Josephus, Antiq. v. 1. 22 ; Bell. jud. iii. 3. 1.
4
See also Ewald, Geschichte, 3 ii. 413 f. [Eng. tr. ii.
64] ; Schenkel,
Bibellex. v. 267 ; Stade, Geschichte, 1 i. 171.
5
See prelim, remarks.
6 3
Ewald, Geschichte, ii. 468 [Eng. tr. ii.
103].
7
As Reuben in Judg. v. 15 f.
 468 GENESIS XLIX. 14 F.
[4G6

submitted to subjection with sluggish ease, to serve the rich

and powerful strangers as their hired servant and slave. 1
In agreement with this, he alone is absent from the enumera-
tion in Judg. heathen supremacy were not the
iv. 27, as if

exception but the rule in his territory. In the background

the play on the name "9^ here also,2 perhaps, is present ^
in the form
Issachar
^is
KtP. 8

a bony, strong-built ass which stretches itself

down between the folds,4 in quiet and comfort in its "

own
country. The metaphor is in itself a reference to the
burdens to which it submits itself; contrast Nia in xvi. 12.
The reading D^a lion, the strangers' beast of burden? impairs
the metaphor, and Dnj, foreign land, is an unsuitable ex-
6 8
pression. Thus he saw rest that 7
it was a good, and the land
that was delightful? and that he might remain in quiet
it

enjoyment of it and profit by it, he bowed his back to carry

burdens, and became subject to the forced service of a slave,
became one giving service by compulsion. The expression
DB 10 always expresses the forced labour of vassals,
conquered
peoples, and captives. Von Bohlen and Knobel, following
the Sept., are wrong in finding in this a description of the
base (!) and toilsome occupation of cultivator of the soil to
which they say the tribe devoted itself. The Septuagint
and Onkelos have exerted their expository abilities in the
11
attempt to get rid of the rebuke allotted to this tribe.
1
According to Kuenen, ThT. v. 292 f., it was from tins only that lie
received his name !

2
Ch. xxx. 16, 18. s
Deiitxsch.
4
Judg. v. 16 Ps. ; Ixviii. 14. For other interpretations of D^natrb,
see Gesenius, Thesaurus, 1471 f. ; Bottcher, New Aehrenlese, i. 25 ; Bach-
mann, Richter, 400 ff.

5
Samar. ; Geiger, Urschrift, 360 ; Olshausen, Kuenen, op. cit, v. 292.
6
Delitzsch. i
See i. 14.
8
Sarnar., miD, adjective.
9
Regarding" the fertility of Lower Galilee, see Josephus, Bell jiul
iii. 3. 2.
10
Cf. Deut. xx. 11 Josh. xvi. xvii. 13
;
10, ; Judg. i.
28, 30, 33; 1

Kings ix. 21 Isa. xxxi. 8.;

Sec Geiger,
1 '

360. Urschrift,
 iiii;, 1(17]
GENESIS XLIX. 16-18 469

Vv. 16-18. DAN, the first son of Bilhah, lay between

Ephraim, Benjamin, Judah, and the Philistines, and extended

west towards the sea. 1 It was pressed on by the Amorites,

however, and had much difficulty in maintaining its ground

2
Part people moved away northwards, conquered the
of its

Sidonian colony of Laish or Leshem on Lebanon, and settled

there under the name of Dan. 3 Samson, who contended so
long and bravely with the Philistines,4 belonged to that
part which remained in its original territory.
The name is the starting-point of this utterance also.
Dan, though unimportant in point of power and extent of
5
territory, will judge his people like (any) one of the tribes of
Israel, inferior to none in this respect. W is understood

by many tribesmen of Dan, and the meaning taken

of the

to be that this small tribe will have its own government

and laws, 6 or rather will maintain its independence as a

7
tribe, a thing which might be doubted in the case of one so
hard pressed. But it suits ver. 18 better, as well as the
8
use of p, which does not mean govern, but secure justice

and aid, to understand itsy as Israel. 9 The meaning, then,

is, not that Dan will give a judge to Israel no less than

any other tribe, for pn could not be so used, and the Book
of Judges was unknown to our author, but that he will play
his part in the contests against the heathen for the national
cause, as much as the others. He did so in the fights of
Samson with the Philistines, and as warden of the northern
frontier. His manner of fighting, also, as extolled in ver. 17,

1
Josh. xix. 40 ff. ; Judg. v. 17.
2
Judg. xviii. 11.
3
Judg. i. 34, xviii. 7, ^7 11'. ;
.lush, xix. 47; also 2 Sam. xx. 18 (Sept.);
Kwald, Uwhii-ht,'* iii. J(J4 [\l\ig. lr. iii.
194].
4
Judg. xiii.-xvi.
5
Judg. xvi. 7; -2 Sain. ix. 11; 1 Kings xix. 2.
6
Mercerus, Herder, Hasse, Heusler, Rosenmiiller, Vater, Von Bolilen.
Tueh, Wi'llliaust-n ((,W/YMe, i. 375), Stade (Geschichtc, 168).
'
1

8
Ch. xxx. 6 Dent, xxxii. 36 etc.
; ;

8
Deut. xxxiii. 7; Ephraem, Targg., Raslii, Kimchi, Clericus, Friedrich
Schumann, Ewald, Knpbel, Delitzsch.
470 GENESIS XLIX. 17, 18 [467

suits only hiswarfare against foreigners, not a struggle for

independence amongst the tribes.

l 2
Ver. 1 7 wishes him success in this contest. May he be

a serpent, a horned viper on the road, which bites the horse's heels
so that its rider falls backward. It is not, as in the case of

Judah, an open contest, decided by superior power, which is

portrayed, but the sly efforts of the weaker against
the

stronger, which have, however, their results also. Such was

the attack of the 600 Danites who overpowered the city of
Laish,
3
and the warfare of Samson, who inflicted serious loss
on his enemies by his many stratagems. Jacob does not
4
it is his wish.
disapprove of this ;

"apy, with daghesh forte dirimens] see ver. 10. |bW ;

there is no certain tradition regarding the species most prob- ;

5
ably it is the cerastes (horned viper), which is the colour of
"
the desert sand in which it conceals itself by day. 6 It lies
7
in holes and ruts, and unexpectedly on the passer-by
falls ;

it is the colour of the earth, and people may readily trample

8
on it to their injury."
9
Ver. 18 is not a later interpolation, nor the sigh of an
10
exhausted man
seeking to gather fresh strength.
dying
"
The ancestor utters here a prayer in the name of his
descendants, who will have to wait patiently for Jahve's help
in their wars with the nations, e.g. the Philistines. Its

position is due to the fact that Dan in particular was not a

match but needed to rely on higher
for his enemies, aid."
n
It may be that Philistine wars were harassing the country
12
just in our author's time. Only God can give final victory.
1

Samar. PITT is
1
not so good.
2
Not is ; Kautzscli-Sorin.
3 4
Judg. xviii. 27. Knobel.
5
Gesi-nius, Thesaurus.
G
Riehm, HWB. 223.
7
Oken, NG t
vi. 544. *
Diocl. iii. 50. Knobel.
1J

Pliiselikc, llgcn, Vali'i-, Maurer, Bohlen, Gramberg, Olsliausen.

liolinirr limls in it a protest of IPs
against Dan's tendency to idol-worship,
l-'ripp, ZATW. \\. 203.
10
Teller, Hensler, Tuch. " Knobel.
407,468] GENESIS XLIX. 19,20 471

Ver. 19. GAD, theson of Zilpah, dwelt in Gilead,first

;n id was exposed to the attacks of the desert peoples and of

the Ammonites, who claimed part of his land.

1
He defended
2
himself bravely, especially against the Ammonites; fought
3
successfully against the Arabs even in Saul's time, and pro-
4
vided David with many of his best heroes.
5
The name is here connected with -na, press in on one,

oppress him, and IVia, band of fighters and robbers. It is viewed

as meaning one who presses. Gad a press of men presses on

G "
him, but he presses on their heel though hostile bands press ;

in on him he puts them to flight, and boldly follows close

7
at their heels in attack as they retreat." l\?V yields
sufficient sense, but it has been brilliantly conjectured 8 that
we should read ?i?^, taking the JD away from the beginning
of ver. 20.

Ver. 20. ASHER, Zilpah's second son, "inhabited the land

from Karmel to Phoenicia, 9 and so occupied the sea-coast of
Galilee, a very fertile district," n rich in wheat, wine, and
10

oil.
Politically, it was not of importance.
If the o of ~IK
J
KO belongs to ver. 19, 12 and the true reading
;
13
is ~i&
N, the translation will be : Asher his bread is fat,

abundant, and excellent. As the text is, it may be rendered :

1*
from Asher is fat as his (own special) bread, an abundance of

products of excellent quality which form his food supply.

for itfK r?x, is not altogether suitable, and another

1
Josh. xiii. 25; Judg. xi. 15.
2 3
Judg. x. f. 1 Chron. v. 18 ff.
4
1 Chron. xii. 8 ff. ; cf. Dent, xxxiii. 20.
6
Otherwise than in xxx. 11.
Hab. iii. 16. 7
fi
Knobel.
8
E. Scheid, Teller, Pliischke, Bleek (emend, loci Gen. xlix. 9 f., Bonn,
1831), Schumann, Knobel, Olshausen.
9 10
Josh. xix. 24 ff.
Judg. v. 17.
11
Deut. xxxiii. 24. Knobel.
12
See above.
13
Sept. Vulg. Pesh. Onk. All the other utterances except ver. 22
commence with the simple name without prefix. But the Samar. has
feo.
14
Tuch, Baumgarten, Knobel, Delitzsch.
47'.2 GENESIS XLIX. 21 [468

1
&rfe is feminine
rendering is: for Ashcr his bread is too fat.
2 "
[only] here, but the Samar. has jE^.
The meaning of the
word "IE
;
K 3
seems to be present to the author's mind in what
he says."
"
And 4
gives to others also of his
lie gives royal dainties
so good are they that
superabundance of these products ;

they are served at royal tables. The reference is to export

trade. The Phoenicians, for example, obtained from the
Hebrews all sorts of country produce, 5 and the geographical
position of Asher leads us to expect that
he would participate

largely in this trade. It is unnecessary to suppose that ita

c
(without the article) is an Israelite king."

Ver. 21. NAPHTALI, Bilhah's second son, inhabited a long

drawn-out tract of country along Lake Tiberias, the Jordan,
and Lake Hule into Lebanon even. This fact itself, 7 without
8
any reference to maps, leads one naturally to read, with the
Sept.,
n?K and ^.P^, 9 Naphtali is a stretched-out, 10 i.e. slender
terebinth, the who gives sends out beautiful tops. 11 It is
one

Naphtali, not the terebinth, which sends out the tops, which
an expression suggested by the metaphor for the
are, then,
heroes and national leaders sprung from this tribe. 12 The
metaphor is no longer taken from the world of animals, but
from that of plants; ver. 22 is, then, a parallel. Onkelos
13
and Jerome have had the reading n^N. 14
seem still to

The Massoretic reading 15 was explained by the older

1
Kwjild. 2
Of. BSttcher, Lehrluch, 657.
4
Oh, xxx. 13. Emphatic.
5
Ezek. xxvii. 17; Acts xii. 20; Josli. Antiq. xiv. 10. 6 (cf. also 1
Kings v. 23, 25).
6
Knobel. 7
Of. ver. 13.
8
Peters. Isa. xvii. 6, 9.
10
Cf. Jer. xvii. 8 ;
E/.ck. xvii. (5
;
Ps. Ixxx. 12 ;
also rfe.
"
H'x-kirl, Uwtli, 11,-nI.T, .1. 1). Micliaelis, Hensler, Hasse, Justi,
'.
Vater, Von Bohlen, Ewald, Olshausen, and others.
'-
.In.!-, iv. C, v .
18, vi. 35, vii. 23.
' :

Qwutiot H See note on xii. <;.

5
Not presupposed at all in Hab. iii. 19 (Delit/scli 4 ), but witnessed
to by Aquila, Test. and
Napht. ch. ii., Targ. ii. iii. ;
Pesli. Vulg. (cf. Jerome,
Quatt.).
 H)0] GENESIS XLIX. >
473

interpreters sometimes of Naphtali's service as messenger,

sometimes of the Sopherim of Tiberias, or of the Galilean

apostles. It involves two separate and unconnected utter-

ances. Naplitali is a released, i.e. unfastened, swift
l
kind.
2 3
FirAtf is not stretched out, i.e. slender, nor chased out. The
swiftness of its heroes and men must be taken as the point
4 5
of the metaphor, not its freedom from servitude, for which
other metaphors were in use. The second sentence, he who
gives words, is
beautiful now generally referred to the
6
eloquence, the poetical or oratorical gifts of the tribe. But
there are no proofs of this 7 other than the share in the song
of Deborah, which Judg. v. 1 ascribes to Barak.
M
"ipi occurs nowhere else. The constellation of the bjK,

ram, and the punctuation ">Sb> "HEN, horned lambs* give no

satisfactory meaning to the verse.

Vv. 2226. JOSEPH, Jacob's favourite son, the great and

9
powerful double tribe,next to Judah is most, or even 10 still
more blessed. We can scarcely fail to recognise that the

language here is even more cumbrous and antique than in

the other utterances, with perhaps the exception of ver. 3 f.
It is natural to infer that the poet made use of some older

version. 11 The ancient divine names in ver. 24 confirm this

view.
Ver. 22
commences with a glance at the fertility, the
populousness, of the tribe. As it is even more difficult to
take a feminine adjective with a masculine substantive than
to speak of the i? or re O f plants, 12 I? is to be read for the

1
Job xxxix. 5 Clericus, Qesenius, Tuch, Delitzscli.
;

2
Gesenius, Tuch, Stiihelin.
::
Isa. xvi. 2. Knobel.
4
Ps. xviii. 34; Hab. iii. 19; Isa. xxxv. 6; cf. 2 Sam. ii. 18;
Cant. ii. 9.
5
Delitzscli.

Rosenmuller, Stiihelin, Schumann, Tuch, Knobel, Delitzscli, etc.

(:

7 s
Certainly not Deut. xxxiii. 23. Zimiiu-rii.
a "'
Ch. xlviii. Ver. 26.
11
Ewald, Geschichte* i. 586 f. [Eng. tr. i. 409 f.].
12
Ps. Ixxx. 16 cf.
pjv, Job xiv. 7
; Isa. liii. 2. ;
474 GENESIS XLIX. 23 F. [469

Massoretic, I?. rnb>, an old form of rna or nns,i is neither

1'ZjA fl^na, ovicula? as a play on

i>rn }
nor instead of rna,
5
juvenca? nor to be read rns,
4
but a fruit tree, more
6 7
definitely, in view of ver. 6, a fruitful vine.

Son of a fruitful vine, i.e. a young fruitful vine, is Joseph.

There is a play on the word BnpN, the principal branch of the
in ver. 9. A young
8 -
tribe. The use of |3 is similar to that of
and fruitful vine ly a fountain, which has sufficient moisture for
9
its Its daughters, i.e. shoots, tendrils, mount upon the
growth.
wall. 10Watered beneath and protected by the wall, it spreads
luxuriantly as it climbs on the wall,
vrto would be more
distinct, but is not absolutely necessary. It is no advantage
to read rnjn? rm, and rto would have no predicate if

rnjflf were taken as a relatival construction. The third sing.

n
fern, readily follows a feminine plural denoting things ;
J.
12
Peters assumes and tries to prove an old third plur. fern,

perf. in n__. the Sept. and Samar. are no

The readings of
13
help. Tuch disposes of the wild beasts on the watch (for
14
prey), or on the wall, "ii> is an unsuitable reading here ;

^y, young ^>y, young (w

a pure invention, and of a bull), 15 is
"
the translation, daughters have marched in procession to a
16
bull," meaningless.
Ver. 23 f. A picture of the troubles brought on the
prosperous tribe by enemies, but victoriously overcome in
its

the power of the God of Jacob. The transition from

metaphor to simple speech is not too sudden if we take with
us the main idea of the metaphor. The consecutive im-
perfect may be intended to express that it was the prosperity
1 2
Ewald, 173d. Ilgen, Vater, Justi.
Schumann. 4
Zimrnem.
;

Peters,
6
Isa. xvii. 6 ; Saadia, Herder, Rosenmiiller, Gesenius, Knobel.
1

LSI. xxxii. 12 ;
Exek. xix. 10 j
Ps. cxxviii. 3.
'
<
Mikelos, Tuch, Ewald, Delitzsch.
'
( 'li. xli. 52 Hos. xiii. 15.
; Ps. i. 3 ;
Jer. xvii. 8.
1

xvii i. 30. 11 25 145. 4.

Gesenius,
I

'

13 2
mica, iii. Ill and v. 190.
1

1 1, 1,
Genesis, 499.
14
From Deut. xxxiii. 17. 15
Zimmern.
16
Peters.
Hi!), 170] GENESIS XLIX. 23 F. 475

of the tribe which was the direct cause of the hostility

to it.

Then, bow-possessors, bowmen, became litter against him,

properly treated him bitterly, with enmity, rather than
"
made him bitter," and shot and showed enmity l
to him. i:n,
2
from 32"), intransitive
pronunciation meaning in ;
its as
Ps. xviii. 1 5 ;
nm
and n"i are related words. 4 D^n ^jn is
3

against the reading inan^i from n"n.

5
The Arab tribes 6 were
famous bowmen, so it is now generally supposed 7 that we
have here a reference to attacks on Ephraim and Manasseh,
east and west of Arab neighbours and in-
the Jordan, by
8 9
comers, as well as by Canaanites, both in the period of the

Judges. Wars with other Israelite tribes 10 are not so

11
appropriate they were occasioned by Ephraimite arrogance.
;

The language is against any reference to the enmity of

12
Joseph's brethren, as related in ch. xxxvii. ff. It is far from
probable that the author was acquainted with a less altered
form of the traditions regarding the ancient historical inter-
which originally drove Joseph to Egypt. 13 The
tribal feuds

wars with the Syrians under Benhadad and Hazael 14 are a

possible reference only if the blessing be viewed as a pro-
15
phecy. They are too remote from the circle of events to
which the other utterances confine themselves.
16
But his "bow, his weapon with which he drove them back,
17
also,metaphorically, his power, remained in perpetuity, i.e.
18
durable and steadfast. \ copulative, may be used in Semitic
1
Ch. xxvii. 41. 2 25
Gesenius, 67 A. 1.
3 4
Ch. xxi. 20. Cf. 3-1, Job xvi. 13 ;
Jcr. 1. 29.
5 6
Samar., Sept. See xxi. 20.
7 4
E.g. Knobel, Delitzsch.
8 9
Judg.vi.fr. ; 1 ( 'lin.ii. v. 18fr. Josh. xvii. 16.
10 11
Knobel. Judg. viii. 1 f., xii. 1 ir.
12
Sept. Targg. Rashi, Kinnhi, Mercerus, Clericus, J. D. Michaelis,
Teller, Rosenmiiller, and others.
13 3
Ewald, Geschichte, i. 587 f.
[Eng. tr. i. 410 f.].
14
Wellliausen, Geschichte, i. 375 St.-uU-, (,'im-hifhtCj 105.
;

15 5
Luth., Delitzsch.
10
Cf. xlviii. 22 ; Hos. i. 5. " Job. xxix. 20.
18
Ewald, 299?>.
476 GENESIS XLIX. 23 F. [470

idiom, where we apply a category of antithesis, and so

expresses our but, even after a negative. 1 So also waw con-

2
secutive, as here, 3B>n is only conceivable as predicate to
bow if, in the older language, the original sense fixum, stabilem
csse(Arabic thabba thabbata) was still felt to lie behind the
3
usual meaning, set oneself down. ^&n} or ">^1 is unsuitable,
because "ntr, unused as a verb, expresses inelastic, not elastic,

steadfastness, and because we do not expect such a com-

V1

plete verbal idea alongside of jn^a. Everything (i, , , TTB,

jivso) is against the Septuagint ">2$Fn.

The combination D)T 'jnT, " hand-arms" i.e. arms whose

muscular power makes possible the use of the hands in
drawing the bow, is unusual, but not, after all, too bold for
a poet. TtB, be mobile, active*

need not be replaced by Wte 5 for a comparative

'TP
construction would be without meaning, and so is at once
excluded ;
and the real meaning is made clear immediately

by D$o. The poet, in this O-T/^O?, points out the cause of

Joseph's undiminished power of resistance :

from the hands
6
of the strong one of Jacob, which support and strengthen,
from there, etc.

npjT TIIK a divine name, which belongs to the earliest

7
period, and is merely a survival from that period in Isa. i. 24,
xlix. 26 ;
Ps. cxxxii. 2, 5. It is impossible to see why it
should originally have signified Bull of Jacob, 8 even if the

punctuation "i^K for "V3K may be conjectured to have been

intended to guard against such an interpretation. 9 It is no
other than the God of Jacob Himself who continues to bless
Jacob in the person of Joseph.
p njn DB &$? gives better sense, and is more
1

>vii. 2
< 1> .

f>, xlii. 10. chs. xix. 9, xxxii. 31.

:J
Knol.cl. 4
g ee Qesenius, Thesaurus, 109
5 1
Lagarde, Onomcu. ii. 97; Olsliuusen.
\vii. }-2. Kw.-ild.
xvii. 1, xxi. 33, xxxi. 13, 42.
UVllliausen, Geschichte, i. 298 ; Stacle, and others.
9
ZA 'IW. iii. 124.
471] GENESIS XLIX. LT, 477

forcible than E^P; 1

it refers to the heavens, and is explained
by njh, (from) the shepherd. Even better is the rendering
indc ubi est pastor, like TSB, ex <//> fr.injiuf', xxxi.v. ;".- Tin-

M.issoretes regard tax-" 1

ps as in apposition to njn. There

two divine names: Shepherd 3 and Stone of Ismr/,
are, tlien,
elsewhere "ii. 4 But njn is incomprehensible without the
article or a following fcmfe* ;
and God is nowhere else named
It is better, therefore, to read '^ njn,
pK. Shepherd of the
Stone of Israel? in which the reference is to xxviii. 18f., 22,

and xxxv. 14, and the meaning practically God of Bethel?

except that the God of the shepherd hero is now, still more
appropriately, Himself named Shepherd, in the sense of
xlviii. 15. It is thus a divine name used by the house of
Jacob in the earliest times. Bottcher's correction, njh "icb'p,

makes an unnecessary addition, and ^fe ^3 rnij ip#p

7

contains ideas from a later stage of the religious develop-

ment. ^1'^ T?? r
Tl8 anticipates ver. 2 5 a.

Everything from ''TP onwards is rightly connected in

the textus receptus with ver. 24a. A reference to the source

of Joseph's undiminished power is here appropriate. In

ver. 25ff. it is carried on for a moment still, and then
passes quickly into invocations of blessing. May the same
God who has helped him hitherto give him also the bless-
ings which follow.
Ver. 25. From the God of your father 9 may He help you

then, and with n the help of the Almighty may He bless you
then. For 'w without ^N, see Num. xxiv. 4, 16. The reading
12 13
nsi is uncertain ;
the alternative 5$} is preferred by many,

1
Pesh., Onk., Teller, Mich., Dathe, Ilgen, Oettli.
3
Ewald, 332d ; Tuch. Ch. xlviii. 15 ; Ps. Ixxx. 2, xxiii.
2 1.

4 Ps. xviii. 32 ;
1 Sam. ii. 2 ;
Deut. xxxii. 4 ; Isa. xxx. 29.
5 6 7
Herder, Ewald. Ch. xxxi. 13. Lagarde, Olshausi-n.
s
Oettli in Schweizer Theol. Zeitsch. 1885, p. 147 f.
9
Chs. xxxi. 5, 42, xlviii. 15 Ex. xv. 2, xviii. 4.
;

10 Ch. iv. 1.n

Ewald, 347a.
12
Sept. Samar. Pesli. (Vulg.), Saadia,
and even some Heb. codd.
11
PHischke, Vater, Justi, Bleek, Gesenius, Hitzig, Tuch, Ewald,
Kautzsch-Socin,
478 GENESIS XLIX. 26 [471,472

because n here somewhat surprising.

is There is no evi-

dence for riKD. 1 p might continue to be the governing

2
preposition before
$* ;
there is no analogy for its doing so
before nK(=nN&).
3
'31 rD"O accusative of specification after -pirn : with
5
dew, rain, sunshine, with blessings of
4'
blessings of the sky above,
6
the dee}) which lies beneath, springs and fountains, brooks and
Einn in short, with
rivers, which issue from the underground ;

fertility of the soil.

7
With blessings of the breasts and of the
womb, with fertility among living beings, both men and
8

9
animals ;
not to be limited to milk and the increase of

herds.
Ver. 26. But he is loaded with yet greater blessings than
the mere fertility of land and people. According to the Massor-
10
etic text, the statement is, that Jacob's blessing on Joseph is

greater and more efficacious than that with which his parents
11
blessed him or were blessed. The clause a@ allows of very
various interpretations, according to the meaning assigned to

msn and to the view taken of ny, as preposition or conjunc-

tion. But nnin is used nowhere in the Old Testament of

parents ;
nor could it, for in i"nin mother, 12 the idea of conceiv-
;

"
ing was still The parallelism with
quite in the foreground.
D^y run:!, the analogy of Deut. xxxiii. 15 and Hab. iii. 6, and
the Sept. opeav povlpwv lead us to adopt the reading ]in s<

IV,
13
or, seeing Yin is elsewhere only a proper name, "W 'Tin
u ;

IV nn 15 is less likely," 16 and ny nin Or 'Tin is out of the

*
question, for a construct in cannot be demonstrated.

1 2
Knobel. Ewald, 351a.
3 4
Deut. xii. 7, xv. 14 Ch. xxvii. 39.
a
Ch. xxvii. 28, 39. Clis. i. 9, vii. 11.
7
See Deut. xxxiii. 13 ff.
s
The contrary in Hos. ix. 14. Tuch. 9
Knobel.
"'
Found even in the Pesliitta and Onkelos.
1 '

Sec, further, Geiger, Ursvhrift, 250.

MI. iii. 4; Hos. ii. 7.

Winer, Schumann, Bohlen, Maurer, Ewald.

inn-,
"
l-'nc.lrirh, I'liischke, Tuch.
15
J. D. Michaelis, Ilgen, Dathe. Knobel.
472] CKNKSIS XLIX. L'li 479

The "pas ro"Q

x
are accordingly not the Missings which
the father is now bestowing, the perfect 113:1 being in it si -If

evidence ;igjiinst this view, but those which tlie I'M t her
received from his ancestors. Translate : the Uessings of
your
2
father were strong against surpassed the blessings of the prim-
3
eval mountains, the desire the seductive products of the eternal
hills ; may they le the portion of, etc. The meaning is that

they comprised things higher than merely the admirable

products of the lovely mountain country (Ephraim, Gilead,
Bashan), i.e., doubtless power, respect, honour, and political
4
consequence; and, above all, the promises. In bestowing
these on Joseph, Jacob makes him his father's successor, 5 and
names him "WJ among his brethren one separated and conse-
6
crated, not in a Levitical and ethical sense, Nazarene, 7 but

prince? But there is no reference to a royal house in the

tribe of Joseph ;
for the kingdom of North Israel was not
a mere appendage of the tribe of Joseph, although that was
9
always its most important part.
Nri in the Massoretic text best understood as boundary
from nsn.io This does not suit the emended reading, unless
11
we give rom the unprovable meaning summit. It is un-
12
necessary to emend into the prose HN'Ofi.
B^ni Prov. x. 6, xi. 26 also in Job. xix. ; 9, Isa. xxxv. 10,
which lead us to regard a blessing as an adornment to the

head.
13
Fripp maintains that vv. 24&-26 are an interpolation
from Deut. 13-16, for the reason that praise is given
xxxiii.

1
Sept. and Samar. add *J?3NV
2 3
Ch. xlviii. 22. Ch. iii. 6.
4 *
Knobel, Ewald. Ch. 15 ff.
xlviii.
6 7
Onkelos. Vulg. Saadia.
8
Sept. Targ. of Jonath., modern scholars since Herder ;
most even
take Tfj, as did the Pesh., to be the one crowned with the IT;J, diad m ;

conip. Lain. iv. 7 and

^ si^.
;

9
See, further, Dent, xxxiii. 16.
Eosenmiiller, De Pent. pers. p. 43
10
; Ewald, 186& ; Delitzsch.
11
Ewald, Geschichte* i. 586 [Eng. tr. i.
409, note 4].
12
Olshausen. 13
ZA TW. xi. 262 ff.
480 GENESIS XLIX. 27 [472, 473

to the Joseph in opposition to the praise

monarchy of

bestowed on the Davidic kingdom in vv. 8 and 10. The true

inference is, that "i
s
tt contains no reference to the monarchy, 1
of which not a syllable is said otherwise. The narrative
clauses of vv. 23, 24a form no conclusion to the utterance.

The historical importance of Ephraim-Manasseh is not done

justice to by vv. 22 24& alone. Deut. xxxiii. 13-16a turns

out be an adapted modification of Gen. xlix. 2 45- 2 6 a,
to

and not conversely. The prominence of the religious element

in vv. 24&, 25 is quite in place; for the father's heart beats

higher when he comes to mention his dearest and most

prominent son. 2 The divine names also (including ^w) are

those of the earliest date instead of being late.

Ver. 27. BENJAMIN, one of the most warlike of the tribes, 3

4
and famed for its bowmen and slingers. Itproduced not a
5
few soldier - as Ehud,
chiefs, such and, later, Saul and
Jonathan. But showed a contentious quarrelsomeness
it also

in its war with the rest of Israel in an unjust cause. 6 It is

compared to a wolf which rendeth ; in the morning it devours
8
prey? and towards evening it divides spoil ; it is at all times
eager for fighting and the pursuit of its prey, which it
9 "
devours in triumph. *TJtp^ pausal for *PP1. Elsewhere in
the Old Testament the comparison with a wolf is employed
10
in an unfavourable sense ;
unstinted praise, therefore, is not
expressed by here, althoughit it makes acknowledgment of
n At the same time, we have
Benjamin's warlike capacity."
to that the nobler comparison with a lion has
consider

already been used (ver. 9), and that it is appropriate to

compare a tribe, which was one of the smallest, when our

1
See above. 2
Qf. xlviii. 15 f.
3
Juclg. v. 14, xx. 19 ff. ;
2 Sam. ii. 15.
4
Jiulg. xx. 16 ;
1 Chron. viii. 40, xii. 2 2 Chron. xiv. 7, xvii.
; 17.
6 c
Judg. iii. 15 f. Judg. xix. ff.
8
nodii 23. Of. Eccles. xi. 6; Ps. Iv. 18, xcii. 3.
9
See note on ver. 3.
111
X.-pli. iii. 3 ; H;il). i. 8 ; Jer. v. G; Ezek. xxii. 27.
11
KnobeL
473] GENESIS XLIX. 28, 20 T. 481

author wrote, 1 one of the smaller beasts of prey.

to Besides,
the non-Semitic of it was an honour
among peoples antiquity
to be designated a wolf.

There is cause for surprise at the absence here of any

reference to the reign of Saul.
Ver. 28. All these are Israelite tribes, twelve, and this is

what their father said to them. A footnote which suggests

that in reality the tribes are addressed in the utterances. 2
But the Septuagint has viol 'la/cooft instead of ?^W <I
02E)
'.

And he blessed them, with that which was as his blessing he

"
blessed them, he invoked on each the blessing which suited
his character and was to be his, the blessing specially appro-

priate for him. "pa followed by a double accusative ;

see
ver. 25." But ISP'K is wanting in the Sept., Samar., and
3
Peshitta, and may be a copyist's error for t^N.
"
The statement that all the sons of Jacob were blessed
does not harmonise with the contents of vv. 127, where
4
certainly every one does not receive a m"O." The phrase-
6 5
ology is suggestive of i. 27 and v. 1 f., and is therefore to
be assigned to A's narrative, which is continued in ver. 29 ff.

(d) Vv. 2933. Jacob's injunction to his sons to bury

him in the 'cave of Makhpelah, followed by his death. The
7
passage is As, and is his continuation of xlviii. 3-7. The
"
indications of authorship are the distinct reference to the
earlier part of A's narrative, the expanded style, the vocabu-
8
lary, the connection with his later statement in 1. 12 f. and
the variation from xlvii. 29-31, where, in C, Joseph alone
9
receives injunctions regarding Jacob's burial."
10
Ver. 29 f. orn 1^1 is wanting in the Sept., but see

1
1 Sam.
ix. 21 ; Judg. xxi. 6.
2 l|

previously in ver. 16.

tD3t?
3
Delitzsch cf. 2 Sam. xxiii. 21.
;

4 5
Knobel. Yet see also xli. 11 f.
[B].
6
Knobel, Schrader, Kautzsch-Socin.
7
See note on xlviii. 7.
8
jna, runN, vtsybtf *ID&O, and jy^ ps.
9 10
Knobel. See notes on xxv. 8 and ch. xxiii.

DILLMANN. II.
31
482 GENESIS XLIX. 31-33 [473, 474

1
ver. 33. Ver. I is maintained by some to be a gloss;

certainly either it or ver. 32 is superfluous.

<i3jri>K the analogy of other passages would lead us to

expect W^, 2
but there is no doubt that oy, also, might
3
express clan, kinsfolk.
mjyn nap "IB>K in 1. 13 also; it is unnecessary to
regard -icte as meaning where* or to translate rnbrrnN, along
with tJie field. 5
Ver. 31. With the statement regarding Sarah and
Abraham, compare chs. xxiii. 19 and xxv. 9. In xxxv. 29
Isaac's place of burial is not named. The burials of Kebecca

and Leah are not recorded in Genesis. Eegarding Eachel,

see the note on xlviii. 7.

Ver. 32. The words, the piece of ground purchased from

the Hittites along with the, cave in it, hardly connect them-
6
selves naturally with fl?^, and are clumsy in themselves.
They are, perhaps, a gloss which passes back over ver. 31 to
attach itself to ver. 30&.
Ver. 33. ntpn PJDN^, a reference to xlviii. 2 (xlvii. 31),
and so from C. The rest of the verse is from A. The
view that vwio^ also belongs C, with Tl?f, however,
to
7
instead of nw, is untenable, if only because xlix. 2-27 is
not a nr^ and the n:m in ver. 286 is from A, not C. The
fact is that nivb ^1 has its complete justification in A,
because in xlviii. 36 and xlix. 2932 Jacob's last wishes
are expressed, and for this the technical expression was
no other than nw.
Jacob spoke all that has been just recorded while seated
on his bed. Now he draws his feet back on to the bed and
dies. A has already given his age in xlvii. 28.

1 4
Olshausen, Delitzsch, Budde.
-
/,!'/'//'. viii. 281. 3
See xvii. 14.
4
Num. xx. 13 ; Bbttcher, Olshausen, Delitzsch
4
.

K
Delit/sch 6 ; see, on the contrary, the note onxiii. 16, and Gesenius,
25

148. 1, footnote 1.
'

Kautzsch-Socin.
7
Budde, ZATW. iii. 72 ff.
474] GENESIS L 483

5. JACOB'S BURIAL AND JOSEPH'S DEATH, CH. L. ;

FKOM
A, JJ, AND C.

Joseph has Jacob's body embalmed in Egyptian fashion,

and his brothers and many Egyptians accompany him to the

interment in the ancestral burying-place at Hebron. The

brothers are afraid of Joseph's vengeance after their father's

death, but he allays their fears and continues to provide for

their needs with a brother's kindness. He dies at the age of
110, after living to see his descendants of the third genera-
tion. His body also is embalmed, and is preserved in a
1
coffin.

A' s share in this narrative is no more than ver. 1 2 f .,

which records the sequel of xlix. 29 ff. The chronological

statement of vv. 22 and 26 is, doubtless, not from him,

seeing he would have written QW "1OT njE> nxp. Vv. 4-11

and 14 belong with equal certainty to C, for they relate the
sequel to the command of xlvii. 29 ff. expressly referred to in
ver. The vocabulary 2 is also evidence for
5. C. The
introduction in vv. 1 4aa may be due to B, and, if so, has
been somewhat remodelled by R (^fcOb* in ver. 2). It may,
however, have been composed by C on the basis of U, who
was best acquainted with Egyptian affairs (cf. ver. 26 with
ver. 2 f.).
Vv. 15-26, in the next place, are from B. This
is his conclusion to the history of Joseph, which he has
narrated with such warm interest. The key to this interest
of his is given in ver. 20 (cf. xlv. 7). The special proofs of
his authorship are found in the divergent chronology, which
may be detected in ver. 21 ;
in the connection of vv. 2426
with Ex. xiii. 19, Josh. xxiv. 32, and Gen. xxxiii. 19 ;
in

the use of D\"6 (vv. 19f., 24f.), and of the expressions

nnnn
^3 (ver. 21), nfey s (ver. 20), 'JK D'nta ( V er. 19),
"snsrbv (ver. 23). But a few phrases have been added by R,
1
Knobel.
2
'yya jn TISSD W DX and 'Q ^tN3 im (ver. 4), pn (ver. 8), 3:n
and DWD (ver. 9), *m( vv -
(
J-11), JOp p-^y (ver. 11).
484 GENESIS L. 1-3 [474, 475

from a parallel text of C"s, in particular in vv. 18, 21, 13T1

DaWy, and in ver. 24, 'ai yaBO ntsfc.
Ver. 1. When Jacob expires Joseph throws himself on
his face, and laments and kisses him. 'y\ ^1 corresponds to
1
C's viNW^y ^zn. Comp. further, xlvi. 4.
Ver. 2. He then orders his subordinate physicians to

embalm the body.

"
Homer 2 even was acquainted with the medical fame
of Egypt. Its physicians were a numerous class,
3
who
4 5
formed part of the priesthood, and had their special books.

Joseph had some in his service owing to his position as first

minister of the crown, 6 and a leading member of the priestly
caste. 7 (rapi^eveip, rapl^eva-^) was an Egyptian
Embalming
custom," associated with the belief in an unbroken connection
"
of soul and body. It was the professional and paid occu-
pation of a special class (rap^evTal). Various methods were
8
practised. The bodies of both Jacob and Joseph (ver. 26)
were made mummies. This is not said to have been the
case with any other Hebrew. Embalmment among the later
9
Jews was somewhat different."
"
Ver. Forty days are spent on the embalming.
3. This
10
is in harmony with Diodorus' statement, that there was
required for the process, ecj) rjfjLepas TrXetou? rwv TpiaKovra
n But Herodotus 12
makes it more than
(var.TeTTapaKovra)"
seventy days. Confusion with the period of mourning 13 can
hardly be the explanation of this difference. The time may
have varied for individuals and localities.
14
For the use of

^p, see xxv. 24, xxix. 21.

I 2
Chs. xxxiii. 4, xlv. 14, xlvi. 29. Od. iv. 231 f.
3 4
Herod, ii. 84, iii. 1, 129. Diog. Laer. iii. 1. 8.
5
Diod. i. 82 Clem, of Alex. Strom,
; vi. p. 634.
' ;

xli. 40.
<'l,. 'Ch.xli.45.
8
"Her. ii. 86ff.; Diod. i. 91. See Friedrich, Zur Bibel, ii. ]99f.;
Winciy 307 f. " Ebers in Kiehm, HWB. 352 f.
!
i.
;

II
39 10
.lliii xix. f. i. QL
"
Knobei 12
ii. 86, 88.
3
Tucli ;
Heiigstenberg, Mose u. Aegypten, p. 70. Knobel.
14
Sec Wint-r.
475] GENESIS L. 4 F. 485

The seventy days of mourning for Jacob certainly include

the forty days spent mi embalming. Aaron ;ni<l Moses were
lamented l>y Israel for lint the Egyptians
thirty days.
1

the mourners Their period of mourning for a, king

here.

was seventy-two days. 2 Their mourning for Jacob at all,

and for so long a time, was out of respect for Joseph (accord-
3
ing to the author's idea).
Ver. 4 f. After the period of mourning is over, Joseph
arranges that the king should be asked to permit him to

escort his father'sbody to Canaan, and to bury him in the

grave he has prepared; for he had sworn to his father to
4
do this. The reason of his availing himself of the inter-
mediation of the courtiers, instead of making the request

himself, not that he was no longer minister, 5 nor even

is

that he was himself mourning beyond the Egyptian period

and could not suitably appear before the king in mourning
dress. 6 More probably it was not usual to take steps in a
matter which personally concerned the minister, without the
intermediation of other exalted personages.
n X xxv. 8 rwa. 'ji &o DK, see note on xviii. 3.

,
xliv. 1 8 ;
no ^:N run, xlviii. 21 ;
omitted in the Sept.
9
most probably dug? seeing a grave is in question ;

10
bought is less natural. In either case surprising when com-

pared with It naturally suggests itself that

xlvii. 30.
another grave than that of Makhpelah is here intended, and
that xlvii. 30 is a correction by E in favour of A. 11 A
1
Num. xx. 29 ; Deut. xxxiv. 8 ;
cf. Deut. xxi. 23.
2
Diod. i. 72.
3
Kegarcling the mourning customs of the Egyptians, see Herod, ii. 85 ;

Diod. i. 91 Wilkinson [1878, iii. 423 f., 439 ff.], series 1, i. 256.
;

4
Ch. xlvii. 31.
5
Bunsen ; see to the contrary, ver 21.
6
Ch. xli. 14; Esth. iv. 2 ; Schumann, Hengstenberg, Knobel, Del-
itzsch, Keil. The words '31 Toyi are against this view.
7 8
Ewald, 1866. Ch. xxvi. 25.
9
Cf. 2 Chron. xvi. 14 ; Sept. Vulg. Targ. of Jonath., Saadia, Graec.
Yen.
10
Cf. Deut. ii. 6 ; Onkelos, Pesh., Von Bohlen, Knobel.
11
Wellhausen.
486 GENESIS L. G-10F. [475, 47G

grave in the piece of ground purchased beside Shechem

(xxxiii. 19) has been thought of.
1
But xxxiii. 19 is from ,

3
not C? and 1. 4-11 from C, not #; and a grave of Jacob
in Shechem would not find a place among C"s Judean tradi-

tions. Besides, it would be remarkably inconsequent on fi's

part to alter C's text in xlvii. 30 for the sake of ^4's, and

yet leave 1. 5 in unaltered contradiction with A. We must

rather assume that the expression under discussion is chosen
in accordance with Egyptian ideas. Besides, as a matter of
fact, the "i?i? of each individual required to be specially pre-

pared in the family vault.

Vv. 6-9. The king gives his consent, and the company
"
sets out. The officials 4 of the court and country join in
Joseph's escort of the body. Jacob's whole family, excepting
women and children, go too ;
and there are chariots and
horsemen (as escort and protection). The whole makes an
imposing cortege, and thus the patriarch is honoured when
he dies." 5
After njna "ID&OI the Sept. adds rw 'IW^. PJB, see
xlv. 19. D'KhD, regarding the historical difficulty here, see
6
commentary on Ex. xiv. 9.
Ver. 10 f. "When they reach the place called Thornfloor^
they commence, honour, a lament, that was great
in Jacob's
and heavy. seven days, the ordinary period of
It lasted
8
mourning, and was seen and heard by the native inhabitants,
who give the place the name Dnvo iaK (Indus ^cjyptiorum).
The punctuators have not given the author's pronunciation 9

of this new name, but read D'nVD ioK (pratum ^gyptiorum,

10
the Egyptian meadow)" The place is otherwise unknown.

1
Kayser, Urgeschichte, p. 35 ;
Bruston in ZATW. vii. 202 ff.
-
3
Kayser. Bruston.
4
jpt,
of dignity, as in xxiv. 2.
1
K bel. B
[Also p. 20 above.]
7
The buckthorn threshing-floor.
1 I
Sam. xxxi. 13 ; Judith xvi. 24 ; Sirach xxii. 12.

"'
Knob.-].
1715, 477] GENESIS L. 10 F. 487

Egyptian meadow no longer requires to be explained by

reference to its Egyptian-like fertility.
1
Abundant mom is

given for an historical explanation of such a name by the

long period of Egyptian domination in Palestine during pn--
Mosaic times, which is now known to us from the Tell-
Amarna letters. The Israelites gave their own explanation
of thename by linking it with the history of Joseph. It

can only have been because legend had already connected the
name and the incident that C admitted the incident into his

history.

According to the text, the place lay prvn *ajn. As the

author did not write on the east side of the Jordan, this can

only mean on the east side of Jordan, perhaps near the river
in the 'Arabah. A statement of Jerome's 2
has led, indeed,
3
to its being looked for in other localities, 4 and an inference
in favour of them has been drawn from the use of 'ayaan. 5

But we do not know the source of Jerome's statement, and it

ishazardous to prefer it to our text, still more to assume 6

that pTn was at one time read tnan, ^ onvo bra. The text
points to a locality east of Jordan ;
and if it was not too
far from the Jordan, we may understand oyaan N*M as

meaning that spectators on the western bank were able to

view what went on on the other side. The alternative is to

regard 'jjnan as a gloss. Such a view presents less difficulty

than that which regards the twice-repeated 'n "njn TJ K as an ;

interpolation. The writer gives no explanation of why the

way round the Dead Sea should have been preferred to the
1
Tuch, Knobel.
Of. xiii. 10; Hitzig, Isaiah, 227;
2
Onomasticon, sub area Atad lacus trans Jordanem in quo planxerunt
:

quondam Jacob, tertio ab Hierico lapide, duobus milibus a Jonl.uic 4111

mine vocatur Bethagla.
3
By Knobel, Raum., and others.
'
4
In rbin rV3 (Josh. xv. 6, xviii. 19, 21), the modern Ain llnjla,
about an hour north-west of the mouth of the Jordan, and Kasr Hajla,
1 hour south-east of Jericho (Berggren. Reisen, iii. 110 f. Seetzen, ii. ;

302 f.; Robinson, Palestine 3 [i. 544], Germ. t.r. 510 De Saulcy, Voij. ii. 11*. ;

147ff. ;
Gadow in ZDMG. ii. 59).
5 c
Of. xii. 6. Bunsen.
 488 GENESIS L. 12-15 [477

direct road from Egypt by Ehinocolura and Beersheba'.

Doubtless he gave the matter no consideration. are We
certainly not to suppose that any tradition made ntDNn pj
Jacob's place of burial. 1 It would necessarily have received
mention elsewhere in the legends about Jacob if that had
been so and ver. 5, in any case, is not a reference to it.
;

There seems no necessity for regarding 'ji VSN? K>jn as a

2
doublet to ver. 10&. For aop p-?y see note on xxxiii. 17.
Ver. 12f. A quotation from A is made to conclude the
narrative. It is apparent that
thought that the actual R
interment was the work of the sons of Jacob alone, and not
of the Egyptians as if it were inadmissible that the foreign
;

element in the company should enter the holy land of

3
promise. A's authorship of ver. 12 f., which was originally
the sequel of xlix. 33, proved by ra in ver. 12, instead of
is
4
3pjP J3, by the fulness of statement regarding Makhpelah,
S

by the absence of any special prominence assigned to Joseph,

5
the use of njriK, and the resemblance of ver. 12 to vi. 22.

See, further, note on xlix. 40.

Ver. 14. After the interment Joseph returns home with

the whole company which set out with him (vv. 79). Here
again Joseph plays the leading part, and the Egyptians
rejoin him.
Ver. 15. B now takes up the narrative. The brothers
are afraid that after death Joseph will no
their father's

longer feel any restraint in requiting on them their wrong-

doing. With ver. I comp. 1 Sam. xxiv. 18.
UOOfe* 17 were
if Jie to display enmity against us ; supply
the apodosis, it would go badly with us ; similarly, Ps. xxvii.
13. 7 So the Versions,
s
^ Trore, soin. The equally possible
reading i?, of kim, has been avoided by the Massoretes
because it would make the brothers' fear a certainty.
1
Kautzsch-Socin. 2
Kautzsch-Socin.
;

Tuch, 4
See xxiii. 20.
%
Kii.,M. c
Chs. xxvii. 41, xlix. 23.
7
Kwalcl, 358a.
Oh, xx. 13; Ps. iii. 3, Ixxi. 10 ix. 54.
; Judg.
477,478] GENESIS L. 1(5-19 F. 489

Ver. 16f. To make sure of their position, they commis-

sioned '

(deputies) to him to remind him of (heir father's

express command, and to ask his forgiveness for the j

It remains uncertain whether or not B had previously

recorded this command of Jacob's ;
it would be sufficient to

mention it here for the first time.

ll^l, Sept. Kal Trapayevofjbevoi, Pesh. U"ip1, but not in

2
harmony with 1E&6 (nor ver. 18). H3K, oh, still; again in
3
the Pentateuch only in Ex. xxxii. 3 1 (in C). Kfco, forgive ;

4 5
^N'bo, with the sin as object, is a variation only. Servants of
the God of your father, they worshipped the same God ;
and
this was a further reason why he should hear them.
Joseph weeps, because they think him capable of this and
misunderstand him so greatly, 6 or rather out of compassion
for his brothers, whose evil consciences make them so afraid
of him. B^r1 *!-
1
, subject the deputies, by whom we have,
doubtless, to understand some of the brothers.

Ver. 18. Then his brothers also, i.e. his other brothers,
come to him, humble themselves before him, and offer them-
selves to him as his slaves (as in xliv. 16 in C). This act of
submission can hardly be made to harmonise quite with the
petition for forgiveness, and the verse may be regarded as an
insertion from C.

13^1, unobjectionable (see ver. 16); it ought not to be

7
changed to
vrurDa, *Mi. if translated his brothers themselves,
would imply that the deputies were strangers.
Ver. 1 9 f. He speaks encouragingly to them. I in Am
God's place? he says, have I the power and right to act
Providence and inflict retribution ? He has no wish to
own action. The brothers had planned
interfere with .God's
evil against him, but God had planned it for
good, and so
had guided it to serve a good purpose, to do as it now
1 2
Isa. x. 6 ; Jer. xxvii. 4. Ewald, 262a.
3
Ch. xviii. 24.
4
As Ex. xxiii. 21 ;
Josh. xxiv. 19 (in B).
5 c
Ewald, 282d. Knobel, Keil.
<
Yuter.
8
As in xxx. 2 ; Sept. Pesh. have no n, the Samar. no '3.
490 GENESIS L. 21-23 [478

2 "
is,
1
to preserve much people. The brothers' evil intentions have

been sufficiently punished by their experiences in ch. xlii. ff.

If Joseph were to seek to punish them further he would be

interfering with the providence of God, who had willed

Joseph's coming to Egypt for the preservation of His chosen.
-For nfeg see xlviii. 11."
"
Ver. 21. He
will care for their preservation as God had
purposed. This statement and the run DVD of ver. 20 read
as if the famine still continued. 3
According to the chron-
ology of xlvii. 28, it had long ago reached its conclusion." 4
B clearly assigned Jacob's death to an earlier date than A.
D3^ f>y, xxxiv. 3.
Ver. 22. Joseph and the house of Jacob remain in

Egypt, Joseph reaches the age of 110, like his descendant

Joshua 5 comp. p. 3 5 3 f
; According to Egyptian ideas, the .

duration of a complete human life, and one which was

6
blessed, was 110 years.
'Jl ^m makes the transition to ver. 23, and need not be
7
an interpolation, nor to be from Cf along with ver. 25.
Ver. 23. Joseph "lived to see D^fi? ^filios tertiorum,

great-grandsons from Ephraim, and from Manasseh also ? as ;

8 10
in xliv. 20." D^E?, children of the third generation, their
common ancestor not being included ;
n D^tJW "on are there-
fore great-great-grandchildren, 12 elsewhere called D^ri. But
the Sept. Vulg. Pesh. and Targ. give great-grandchildren, 13
and may have read D^s, like the Samar., or have regarded
1
See Comm. on Deut. ii. 30.
2
Ch. xlv. 7.
3 "
"Chs. xlv. 11, xlvii. 12 ;
Delitzsch 5
contests this without effect.
*
Knobel,
5
Josh. xxiv. 29.
c
As early as in Papyrus Prisse, and later ; L. Stern in BAcjZ. 1873, p.
75 f. ; Krall in VII. Orient. Congr., 1886, Egypto- African section, p. 110.
7
Kautzsch-Socin. Kittel.
9
Knobel.
10
Ex. xx. 5, xxxiv. 7 ; Num. xiv. 18 ; Deut. v. 9.
11
Ex. xxxiv. 7.
12
KwaM, Alterthumer, 225 [Eng. tr. 169, note 1] ;
Keil.
'"
Tuch, Knobel, Delitzsch
478, 47!)] CKNESIS L. 24-2IJ 491

the construct as in apposition to D^tr. 1 Their interpretation

is supported
by what is told us of Manasseh.
"
Kphraim is
put iirst because in xlviii. 8 ff. he received
'

the principal blessing." The more concrete form of the

statement regarding Manasseh is chosen because of the fame
ofMakhir.
On Joseph's knees they were born. He took the new-
3
born children on to his lap, and so recognised them as his

descendants. We cannot suppose that adoption in the sense

of xlviii. 5 f., and in contradiction with that passage, is
intended. 4 The Samaritan has simply ^3 for wa^y, and
Kautzsch-Socin prefer this. The special mention of Joseph's
5
acting thus in the case of Makhir's sons arises from the
important position which Makhir held in the land east of
6
Jordan.
7
Ver. 24 f. On the approach of death Joseph exacts an
oath from his kinsmen that they will one day take his bones
to Canaan. His brothers, best taken to mean his fellow-
8
tribesmen (comp. ver. 25), as in xxxi. 23. It is implied

that Joseph knew they would one day leave Egypt see xlvi. ;

4 and xlviii. 21.

yst??}, see xlvii. 29 f. ipD npD, Ex.

11
xiii. 19, iii. 16 (in B) ;

see also Gen. xxi. 1. ':i "it? ps ta is a phrase of 0"s

9
or TZ's.

Ver. 26. Joseph is embalmed after death, as Jacob had

been (ver. 2), and is laid in a coffin. For Db^l see note on
xxiv. o3.
10 "
jhN3 in the. coffin used in such a case. The Egyptians
put the embalmed bodies in wooden coffins, and then stored
1 -
Ewald, 287*. Kuobel.
3
Ch. xxx. 3 in a Greek instance, Odyssey, xix. 401.
;

4
See Stade,Z427F. vi. 145 f.
5
Riehm, Handioffrterbuch, 765k
c
See Num. xxxii. 39 f.; Dent. iii. 15 Josh. xiii. 31, xvii. 1 ff. ;

7 8
Language as in xlviii. 21 (1. 5). Knobel.
9
Ch. xxvi. 3 Ex. xiii. 5, xxxii. 13, xxxiii. 1, and elsewhere.
;

10
See Hengstenberg, Mos. u. sEyypt. 74 f.; Ebers in Riehm, 1IWII.
354.
492 GENESIS L. 2G [479

them with care in a They were

sepulchral chamber. 1

regarded as of much
value, and it was a disgrace not to
redeem them if they had been given as a pledge in an
2
extremity. So Joseph's mummy was preserved by the
Israelites down to the time of the Exodus. On that occasion
3
they took his bones with them, and interred them in

the piece of ground beside Shechem, 4 which Jacob had once

5 6
bought. These statements are all from the same author."

1
Herod, ii. 86.
2
Herod, ii. 136 ; Diod. i. 93 ; Lucian, De Ludu, ch. xxi.
3 4
Ex. xiii. 19. Josh. xxiv. 32.
5 6
Ch. xxxiii. 19. Knobel.
 I. GENERAL INDEX

| Aradus, i. 367.
Aram (Naharaim), ii. 161 f.

A (
= P), CHRONOLOGICAL system, i. Aramaisms 54, 59, 66
(alleged), i.

210 f., 217 IF., 395 ff. ; ii. 6, 8, note, 71 note 4, 74, 75, 80, 85,
160, 311, 416. 89, 273 f. ; ii. 81, 154.
conception of "peace of God," i. 87. Arameans, ii. 265.
date, i. 8(216f.), 31 6 f.; ii. 324 f. Ararat, i. 282 f.

does not archaise, ii. 313. Arka ('Arki), i. 366.

general features and contents, i. 7f., Arphaxad, i. 372 f., 408, 409.
27, 211. Article, and perfect, ii. 99.
grammat. peculiarities, i. 89 ; ii. 126. as relative, ii. 127.
juristic features, i. 84, 223, 277 demonstrative, i. 144, note 5.
(precision) ;
i. 288 (expanded generic, i. 124 ii. 23, 114. ;

style) ;
i. 298 (use of formulae). of implied knowledge, i. 170 ;
ii. 46,
not a unity, i. 8, 251. 71, 135, 233.
religious attitude, i. 8, 250, 273. omitted, ii. 115, 136, 195.
schematism, i. 312, 323 ; ii. 180, 416. Asher, etymology, ii. 242.
sources, ii. 77. fertile country, ii. 471.
Abimelech, ii. 119, 137, 202. 'Ashteroth (Karnaim), ii. 40 f.
Abraham, ii. 5, 47, 83, 448. Asses for riding, ii. 466.
as delineated by A, JB, and C Asshur, i. 355; ii. 177 f., 188.
respectively, ii. 6f., 31.
Accusative, adverbial, ii. 393. B
of material, i. 117.
of place, ii. 19, 165.
of specification, ii. 478.
B (
= .),CHIIONOLOGY, ii. 245, 293,
376, 417 f.
Adjective expressed by noun, i. 76.
date, i. 10.
Adoption, ii. 241, 436, 491. distinctive character of its contents
Adverb expressed by verb, ii. 215.
and expressions, ii. 6, 31.
Agriculture, i. 163, 185 ; ii. 305, 367,
468. general features and contents, i. 8 fF.
Akkad, i. 354. grammatical peculiarities, ii. ]'J_,
1

304 (D'n ?^ construed as plur.)

Al (Arabic article), 378. i.
;

ii. 144 (repetition expressing

Alliteration, ii. 101, 135.
urgency), ii. 259, 412 (intinn.
Altars, i. 288 f.
with divine names, ii. 293, 304. ibj^ and rrn), ii. 273, 281 (use of
wuw const'L'. where C has p'^y),
'Amalekites, ii. 43, 319.
ii. 359 (avoidance of verbal
'Ammon, ii. 115f. ii. 370 (lengthened
suffixes),
Amorite, i. 365.
suflixes).
Amraphel, ii. 36. Israelite origin of, i. 9.
Anachronisms, ii. 47, 295, 363, note 6.
rare expressions frequent in, ii. 118
An#>ls, i. 152, 171, 233 ; ii. 226, 441.
Sv under T;N^?. njDN, h or
(p'jja, *?K TCK), ii. 127
i. 155, 243, 279 (nan, nna, n?g njh), ii. 134
Anthropomorphisms, ;

ii. 73, 281. (>? P), ii- 254 (D'p), ii. 433
'Arabah, ii. 25.
Apapla, ii. 405. style, ii. 117, 132.
494 I. GENERAL INDEX

Baal, in compound names, ii. 327. Compound expressions, with p, i. 233 ;

473 with
Targumic rendering of, ii. 14. ii. 58, 85, f.; ^jn, ii.

with appellative genitive, ii. 46. 46.

Babel (Babylon), 394. ii. Connubium, ii. 297.

buildings of, i. 392. Construct, before prepos., i. 167, note 4.

Beersheba, ii. 137. in n T-, ii. 118, 146, 222.

-

Benjamin, age in and C, ii. 395. B in i or i, i. 77.

history, ii. 480. in ,
ii. 478.

meaning of name, ii. 308. in '-T-, ii. 262 (454), 465.

Bethel, ii. 16, 229. repeated, ii. 44.
Bethuel, ii. 150. with pretonic qamec, i. 214.
Bilhah, ii. 323. Covenants, divine, i. 296 f. ii. 76 ; f.,

Bitumen, i. 392 ;
ii. 44. 98 (cf. i. 250 f.).
Blessing, conveyed by laying on hands, ceremonies, ii. 61, 135 f., 209, 263 f.,
441 (440).
ii. 267, 268.
efficacy of, ii. 21 If., 439. Critical points, ii. 70, 96, 115, 283,
formula of, ii. 442. 336 f.
irrevocable, ii. 217. minuscule, i. 94.
Blood revenge, i. 192, 193 f., 207, Cubit, i. 271.
295 Culture, legendary beginnings of, i.
Bricks, i. 392. 204.
Burial-places, ii. 154. Custom of dismounting, ii. 172.
Business in the East, ii. 153, 155. of walking in the evening, i. 155.
Byblus, i. 366. on occasion of death, ii. 173, 341,
412, 485, 486.
regarding presents, ii. 168 f., 408 f.

regarding widows, ii. 345.

C (
= /), ANTHROPOMORPHIC expres-
sions, i.
96, 140.
date, 13 (261 f.); ii. 195, 209.
i. D
dependent on B, i. 11 ff. ; ii. 9, 192,
201. DAN, etymology, ii. 241.
family life in, i. 145. history, ii. 469 f.

general features, i. 10 ff. ;

ii. 194. Dead Sea, ii. 107, 109, 111.
grammatical 91 (dis-
peculiarities, ii. Deuteronomistic elements, ii. 60, 203,
junc. question), 359 (avoidance of 408.
nota accus. TIN), 390 (terrain, ji). Divination, ii. 398.
heterogeneous sections, i. 14 (see Dodanim, i. 337.
under J). Dreams, 361, 363, 370.
ii.

relationship to A, L 11, 14 (300). Dress, ii. 334,

i. 306
341, 346, 347,
;

sources, i. 12 ; ii. 450. 373, 408.

style, i. 12, 96 7, 90 f. ;
ii.
Dumah, ii. 185.
theology 103 ff., 140, 146 f.,
of, i. 13,
244, 251, 386 f.; ii. 7, 90, 98,
101. E
worship of Jahve in, ii. 209, 289.
Canaan, a descendant of Ham, i. 343. EARLY death, how viewed, ii. 345.
nii^ining, i. 342. Eden, i. 120, 136, 167.
s<:<;
peoples. death in, i. 106, 108, 165, 168 f., 220.
Chabiri, i. 402; ii. 414. Edom, ii. 219 f., 315.
Charms, potions, etc., ii. 242, 302. Egyptian, agrarian conditions, 429, ii.

<'ln-nibim, i. 170 f. 430 f.

Children, a blessing, ii. 10, 70, 82, court officials, ii. 360.
170. customs and ideas, ii. 354, 356, 357,
adoption of, ii. 241, 436. 364, 365, 369, 396, 421.
naming of, ii. 72, 83, 238, 308. physicians, ii. 484.
warning of, ii. 128f. priests, ii. 368 f., 373, 376, 394, 396,
I'irrimirision, ii.
7711'., 83, 85, 89, 291, 398, 429.
298 f.
scribes, ii. 368.
" Clean and
unclean," i. 275. shepherds, ii. 421 f.

Commerce, articles of, ii. 339.

titles, ii. 382, 404.
caravan routes of, ii. 337. El, i. 56 ;
ii. 50, 138.
 I. GENERAL INDEX 495

as appclative, ii. 259. ,

ii. 405 f., 424.
in compound names, i. 199, 378, Guti, ii. 37.
403 ii. 279, 327.
;

Elath, ii. 42, 328.

"
Klders," ii. 417, 486, note 4.
Elohim etymology, i. 56. II \I:IKI, i.
402; ii. 414.
mi-ailing, i. 56, 152. Hadad, ii. 327.
= supernatural, i. 352 ii. 303. ; Hadramaut, i. 379.
Enoch, i. 198, 215, 226 f. Hagar, ii. 69, 75.
Kphraim, position of, ii. 438 f.
Hagrenes, ii. 187.
Ephrath, ii. 307 f. Ham, 307, 321
i. f.

Epicene use of Kin and nw, ii. 163. Hamath, i. 368.

Eriaku (Ariokh), ii. 36 f. Hammurabi, ii. 36.
Esau, ii. 190f., 199, 315. Hanokh, i. 198, 226.
Eshkol, ii. 46, 157. Haran, i. 405 f.
Etymologies in Genesis, i. 117, 145, Harran, i. 41 Of.
228, 309, 394 ; ii. 87, 96, 106, Havilah, i. 345 382. ;

115, 195, 239 ff., 377. Hebrew (n?y), i. 402; ii. 46.
Eunuchs, ii. 355. Hebron, ii. 28, 152, 156 f.
Eve (Hawwah), meaning of name, i. Historical credibility of Genesis, i.

'165. 99 f., 254 ff., 261 ff., 387 f. ;

ii.

2f., 82f., llOff., 151, 181f.,423.

meaning of the family histories, i.
315 f., 409 f. ;
ii. 122, 288, 309,
FAMILY government, ii. 260. 321, 342, 451.
ii. 169. Hittites, i. 363 f.
nurses, 365
ii. 69. Hiwites, i. f.
slaves,
See under festivity, etc. Horites, ii. 42, 321 ff.

Horses in Egypt, ii. 20, 420, 425,

Feminine in neuter sense, ii. 59 note
note 5.
136, 163.
5,
Hospitality, ii. 94, 95,
102, 103.
Fenchu, i. 343.
Hyksos, ii. 33, 354.
Festivity, occasions of, ii. 128 f., 238,
259.
Flesh, not at first used as food, i. 87, I

185, 246 f., 292.

Food, articles of, 70, 86 ii. 95, 102,
i. ;
INFINITIVE absolute, i. 137 note 2
198, 282; 392 f., 394, 466.
and note 7, 151, 162 ii. 103. ;

eaten sacrificially, ii. 268. Infinitive without b, i. 192.

given in hospitality, ii. 95, 102, Isaac, ii. 189 f., 225.
396 f. Ishmael, ii. 73, 133, 181 f.
Isis, ii. 367 f.
Israel, boundaries of, ii. 65 f., 467.
G 190.
development of, ii.

241 foreign elements in, ii. 178, 319,

GAD, etymology, ii. f.
344, 457.
history, ii. 471.
Gate of city, ii. 101 f., 153. meaning of name, ii. 279 f., 305.
Issachar, ii.
etymology, 243, 468,
Genealogies, historical value of the, i.
note 1.
178 f., 315 f., 324 f., 347.
Generic singular, ii. 456, note 9. history, ii. 467 f.
Genesis proved to be a compilation, i.

4 tf. ;
ii. 277, 332.
Genitive, of object, i. 292 ; ii. 70.
1 2
of requirement, ii. 384. J, i.
J, 98, 180, 209 note 3, 226,
Gerar, ii. 118 f. 262, 301, 353, 384.
Giant i. 231, 243
races, ;
ii. 40, 41. Jacob, ii. 190 f., 231, 448.
C iK-ad, 265, 268 f.
ii. meaning of name. ii. 196, 218.
Cirgashite, i. 365. Jahve, in compound names, ii. 327.
God, most ancient names for, ii.
(
7 J, used for Elohim, i. 352.
262, 476 f.
used for "the sky," ii. 10S.
seen by mortals, ii. 74, 106, 279. Japhet, i. 323.
takes oath, ii. 146. Jetur. See Peoples (Yetur).
 496 I. GENERAL INDEX

Jewish in Genesis, i. 83,

difficulties Marriage, arranged by parents (ii. 168,
233 457, 468.
f. ; ii. 295), gifts 169, 297), festivi-
(ii.
ties (ii. 237, 238), in order of
interpretations, i. 166, 191, 210, 224.
Joktan (Yoktan), i. 378. age (ii. 239), of cousins (ii. 237),
Joseph, meaning of name, ii. 244. payment (ii. 169, 297), preceded
place in Egyptian history, ii. 353 f. by circumcision (ii. 291), veil
position in Israel, ii. 435 f. (ii. 172, 237).
sons other than Eph. and Man., ii. Marriages, consanguineous, i. 196f.,
437. 409 f. ;
ii. 113 f.,
121f., 232.
Judah, etymology, ii. 240. levirate, 343. ii.

history, ii. 458 f., 448. with father's wives, ii. 309.
in C, ii. 458 f. Massa, i. 383 ii. 185. ;

Jussive ofLamed He verbs, i. 68. Massoretic text, errors of, i. 67; ii. 99,
with negative &, i. 192 (of. ii. 106). 153, 422.
late changes in, i. 220 f. ; ii. 52, 423
tradition of, ii. 80, 455.
Meals, posture at, ii. 94.
K See under Food.
42 Mesha, i. 382 f.
KADESH, ii. f.
Meshia and Meshiane, i. 144.
Kasdim, ii. 149. Messianic passages discussed, i. 160f.
Kasluchim, i. 360. ii. 11, 464 f.
;

Kedar, ii. 184.

Midian, ii. 175f.
Kcdcshah, ii. 346.
Milkath, i. 410.
Kedorla'omer, ii. 37. 414.
224. Milkil, ii.
Kenan, i.
referred to, ii. 313, 324,
Kenaz, ii. 319. Monarchy
i. 343. 480, 481.
Keft,
Money, ii. 155 f., 292.
Keturah, ii. 174 f., 177.
Moriah, ii. 142, 146.
Kikkar, ii. 25.
Mourning, ii. 399. See Customs.
Rush, i. 129, 131, 338, 351. Musical instruments, i. 202 f.
Kuti, ii. 37.
Mythology, i. 58 f., 140, 171; ii. 281.

N
LABAN, 163, 166, 234.
i.
NAHARINA, ii. 162.
his home in B, ii. 233. 403
Nahor, i. f.
=
Larsaw ( Ellasar), ii. 36. Names, an evidence of date, i. 316 f.,
Leah, ii. 236. 363.
Legend, origin and character of Hebrew, analogy of Hebrew divine, ii. 80, 83.
i. 172 ff. ii. 1. ;
animal, ii. 320, 322, 323, 324, 327.
Levi, etymology, ii. 240. Cainite and Sethite, i. 176 ff., 199.
history, ii. 458. 215.
Libation, ii. 306. composite, ii. 49 f., 83, 116, 316,
Literature, i. 22 ff., 33 note 1, 45 327. See under EL
note 2, 52, 112 182, 222,
f., Egyptian, ii. 341, 375.
267, 304, 325, 390, 405 ;
ii. 35, ending in D- or D' -, ii. 270.
450 f., 459, note 8.
significant, i.
196, 215.
Local presence of deity, 193f. uncertainty in readings
i.
; ii.
of, i. 199 ; ii.
73, 226 f.
417.
Lot, ii.114, 321. Sabean, i. 378, 380.
Luclim, i. 358, 373. See under Peoples.
Naphtali, ii. 241.
Natural order, conception of, i. 291.
Negeb, ii. 16, 118.
Nimrod, i. 349 f.
MA'AKIIAH, ii. 1501'.
Nineveh, i. 357.
M.ihanaim, ii.270, 277. Noah, meaning of name, i. 229.
Mamrc, ii. 46, 152, 157. subject of two legendary cycles, i.

Manasseh, A' a usage regarding, ii. 305.

436.
Nod, i. 196, 198.
 I. GENERAL INDEX 497

178 Magog Scythians), i. 330.

Numbers, significant, i. f., 219, (?

239, 308, 396 f. ii. ; 62, 397, Mi-slii-kli (Mdax0, i-

417, 441.
Misraim (Egypt), i. 339.
tinlmtoriual, i. 214, 221. Nebayoth ( JNabateww fy, ii. 182 if.

Pathms (I'ppcr Egypt), i.

Put (Libya), i. 840
K.iphath (Paphlagonians), i.

Etodanixn (IMm.i.
OATHS, I'nrmnl:!' used iii, ii. 52, 146, Slirl.u (Sabcaiis), i. :M7t'.
384. Sliin'ar (I5abylmia proper), i.

mode of taking, ii. 51, 159f. 353 f.

words in Hebrew for, ii. 167, 209. Tarsliish (Tartcssus), i. :j:J5 f.

Omens, ii. 194, 245, 335, 398. Tiras (Ivpffyvoi), i. 333 f.

On, 376.
ii. Togarmah (Armenia), i. 329.
Ophir, i. 380. Tubal (Ti/Sa/MjvoO, i.333.
Oracles, ii. 43, 194. Yawan (Greeks), i. 332.
Yetur (Itureans ; ?
Druses), ii.

186 f.
of Canaan, i. 363 ff. ; ii. 24, 66, 153.
(or countries) personified, ii. 321.
PADDAN ARAM, ii. 193.
principle of classification in cli. x.,
Paradise, meaning of word, i. 121. i. 317 ff.

Paronomasia, i. 192; ii. 72, 196, 204, Peri/zites, i. 366 ; ii. 24.
468. Pharaoh, ii. 19.
Participle and .rn, i. 283. Phikhol, ii. 134.
peculiarly punctuated, ii. 72. Philistines, i. 360 f.

use of, i. 123, 304. Pithorn, ii. 420.

Passive construed with accus., i. 198. Plural, in mouth of God, i. 78 f., 167.
Patria poleslas, ii. 260. nouns, i. 56, 67, 68, 191.
Patriarchs, alleged to be originally royal use of, i. 78.
divine beings, ii. 196, 284. Polygamy, illustrated, ii. 71, 168.
character assigned them, ii. 73, 133, not the ideal in Genesis, i. 141 ;
ii.

200. 69 f.

how far historical personages, ii. Potiphar, ii. 341.

3ff., 352 f. Predicate and subject, agreement of,
longevity in A
and 0, i. 211, 240. i. 71, 79 ii. 24, 474. ;

patterns to Israel, ii. 15, 236. Pregnant constructions, ii. 387, 427,
their wealth, ii. 20, 23. note 6.
Pausal forms, i. 156 ; ii. 86, 129, 393, Primogeniture, 198, 454. ii.

439, 453, 457. Prophecy, dying, ii. 450.

Peniel, ii. 28 If., 286. real meaning of, ii. 446f.
Peoples, Arab, i. 377 ff. ;
ii. 174 ff., "Prophet," meaning of word, ii. 120f.
187. Punishments, ii. 348, 364, 394.
Hebrew designations of various Punt, land of, i. 341.
peoples
Aram (Syrians), i. 374 f.

Ashkenaz (Mysia and Phrygia), i. K

328.
Asshur (Assyria), i. 372. ,
INDEPENDENT additions by, i. 18,
llt'iif- Kedcm (Eastern Arabs), ii. 123, 182; ii. 56, 62, 267, 289,
187.' 300.
Dedan (in N.-W. Arabia), i. 349 ;
insufficient redaction, i. 306.
ii. 177. ligatures from, i. 18, 93, 97, 166,
Elishah (? Sicily and Lower Italy), 277 ; ii. 23, 170, 442.
i. 335. obliteration of distinctions, i. 18,
Gomer (? Cimmerians), i 326. 207 ; ii. 7, 55, 127, 314, 386,
'Ham (Elam), i. 371 (323). 408, 434.
Kaphtor (Crete), i. 361 f. one or several ? i. 19 ff. (ii. 203).
Kittim (Cyprus), i. 336. phraseology, ii. 141, 179, 203, 338,
Leliabim (Libyan.O, i. 359. 409.
Lud (Lydians), i. 374 ; cf. i. 358. principles of arrangement, i. 228,
Madai (Modes), i. 331. 288 ; ii. 17, 68, 204, 226.

DILLMANN, II.
32
498 I. GENERAL INDEX

treatment of the sources, i. 16ff.,

249; ii. 7, 55 f., 132, 207, 231,
254, 314, 338, 352. TARGUMIC renderings, i. 210 ; ii. 14.
Rachel, grave of, ii. 307 f. Taxation, ii. 429 f.
meaning, 236. ii. Technical expressions, nax (ii. 188), isn
Rebecca, 194. ii. (ii. 108, 112), ifoandirfii 18),
Redaction of Pent, in Babylonia, i. 409. .TVB 187 oipo
(ii. f.), (ii. 13),
-ino (ii. 295), nra
Rephaim, ii. 40. (ii. 482).
Reuben, etymology, ii. 239. Tema, ii. 186.
history, ii. 299, 309, 452. Teman, ii. 318.
Revelation, nature of, i. 29, 44. Terah, i. 404.
Right hand lucky, ii. 308. Teraphim, ii. 25 6 f.
Theophanies in A, ii. 79 ; in C, ii. 27.
Tiamat, i. 40 f., 58.
Tithe, ii. 51, 230.

SACRED, spots in Palestine, ii. 15, 16, Travelling, ii. 261, 277.
28, 74, 208, 225. Trees, i. 270 ; ii. 14, 42, 131, 137, 247.
stones, ii. 227 ff. (cf. 293 and 306). sacred, ii. 14, 137 f., 152, 304.
Sacrifice, i. 185 ff., 288 f. ii. 61, 139 f., ; Tribe, expressions for, ii. 188, 222, 320,
143, 145, 227, 347, 411. 442.
Salutations, ii. 82, 103, 193, 260, Turusha, i. 334.
282 f., 373, 395, 424.
Sarah (Sarai), ii. 86 f.

Science in Genesis, i. 42, 45 ff., 58, 62, U

66, 68, 74, 88, 116, 132, 213 f.

Seasons, Hebrew, i. 291 (253). UR KASDIM, i. 406 f.

Seba, i. 344 f. TJruk (-Erekh), i. 354.
Se'ir, ii. 317 f.
Uz ('Us), i. 375 f. ; ii. 143 323.
f.,
Septuagint, Egyptian colouring of, i.

253 ; ii. 420.

alterations in Hebrew text, i. 220 f.,

397; ii. 263.

=
Serug( Saruj), i. 403.
Shaddai (El), ii. 79 ff.
VINE culture, i. 305 ; ii. 466.
Visions and revelations by night, ii.
Shalem, ii. 48.
119, 279 (cf. ii. 73).
Shechem, ii. 13, 15, 443 f.

Shem, i 322 f.
I79f.
Sheol,
Shepherd
ii.

life, ii. 262 (249, 231), 309, W

421.
Shiloh, ii. 462 ff.
WELLS, ii. 43, 234.
353. Wine, i. 305 ; ii. 362 f.
Shin'ar, etymology, i.
Women, care for flocks, ii. 234 f.
Shur, ii. 71.
draw water, ii. 162.
Sidon, i. 363.
estimate of, i. 140 f., 145, 163, 183;
Siddim, ii. 39.
Sidik (Sedek), name of deity, ii. 49 f.
ii. 110, 158.
239 live apart from men, ii. 166, 173.
Simeon, etymology, ii. f.
seclusion of, ii. 357.
history, ii. 457 f.
their beauty, ii. 236 f.
So'ar, ii. 107.
Solar significance of Enoch, ii. 215.
Staff, ii. 432, 461.
Subject, indefinite, ii. 435.
Suffix, in ..
,
i. 70.
on, i. 76 ;
ii. 370. YABBOK, ii. 277 f.

.T, i. 305. See also under J.

masc. for fern., ii. 206, 370.
retrospective, i. 294.
sing, for plural, ii. 427.
Sukkoth, ii. 286.
Sumur (Samar), i. 367. ZEBULUN, etymology, ii. 243 f.
Synonyms, i. 279, 287 ; ii. 104, history and situation, ii. 466 f.

208. Zeugma, i. 201 ii. 427, ;

 I. GENERAL INDEX 499

K
2N for >3N, ii. 82. DJ position, ii. 399.

Egyptian title, ii. 404. with verb, ii. 255.

fiTK
husband, i. 96. p, i.
121, 136, note 1.

DIN etymology, i. 117 f.

as proper name, i. 163, 207, 222.

niN meanings, i. 72, 195 f. love-apples, ii. 242.

-Ill, ii. 64.

nN significations, ii. 103, 168, 257.
i. ii. 221. Tpn pregnant use, i. 165.
usages, 391,
225. meanings, ii. 114.
usage of, i.

K after all, ii. 204.

only, ii. 235.

259. Kin (
= ^H), ii. 163.
* power, ii.

nan local, ii. 384.

*
<?
i
j,
ii
11. 199
1ZZ.
:

regarding, ii. 119. 1

X in oath, ii. 52. 1 adversative, ii. 475 f.

not causal, ii. 427. nh = 1^,1.410.

T T

usage of, i. 208.

r

meanings, ii. 203, 372. of position, ii. 159.

|pT
I,
ii. 203.

J?K because, i. 242, ii. 297.

governed by prepos., ii. 260. "n of inanimate objects, ii. 207.

when, ii. 363.
^n pointing, ii. 384.

ph, ii. 429, note 1.

21 because of, ii. 101.

jn iN 3iD idiom, ii. 168 (cf.i 1381).
distributive, i.
280, 296.
inter or cum, i. 292. %

instrumental, i. 295. N\ ii. 367.

of norm, i. 79. P euphemistically, i. 183.

of particularisation, i. 246. other meanings, i. 306.
1

pretii, i. 295. i
*

period of time, i.
64, 165.
PIOPO meanings, i. 77, 244, 292, ii. 299. in meanings, ii. 124, 163.
5>K Kin euphemistic, i. 241. indefinite use, i. 185.
of news, ii. 99 (i.

Dl 11
!! meaning, i. 113. 3
*pm'f, ii, 456.
i- 233 ff.

ii. 490 f.
n'3 produce, i.
192, ii. 453.
3,

nyp3 usage, i. 391. 13 uses of, i. 205.

n:m </?#, ii. 284. Di*3 in the first place, ii. 198.
500 I. GENERAL INDEX

fe dcf. in itself, i.
76, 292. 468.
DD, ii.

every kind of, i.

121, note 14. "OSD owing to, i. 269.
!"l?3 daughter-in-law, i. 412. i. 201.
p meaning,
npS make ready, i. 90.
usage, ii. 102.

1133, i- 202.

KJ, ii. 93 f.
7 against, ii. 26.
ni>33 of sexual offence, ii. 291.
focawse of, L 206. T T :

i. 195. inj Euphrates, ii. 257.

/or,
"lij earlier nj, i. 196.
in reference 119.

namely, i. 296.
to, ii.
^ a%^, ii. 188.

of agent, ii. 51. yD3, i. 391.

of norm, ii. 26, 285. V

of product, ii. 392. 13 iy, ii. 462.
ii. 420.
temporal, i.
155, note 2. Ity,
various uses, i. 293. 331V, i- 202 f.

Dr6 a meal, ii. 268. ^V m addition to, ii. 223.

corn-food, i. 164. in front of, ii. 93.

femin., ii. 472. wore tocm, ii. 443, note 1.

('31 D!&) ^ otiose, ii. 9. with i.

137, ii. 21.
njV,
oab a* toe choice
o/, ii. 24. rhy ngur. use, ii. 421.
ofnorm, i. 268. of growth, ii. 460.
under the care of, ii. 88. p^y without article, ii. 50.
with ^nnn, ii. 81. 352.
ID^ J3 ty usage, i.

nirp ^sb, ii. 214.

Dy, ii. 116, 482.
D sy
s
(Israelite) tribes, ii. 222 (462).
etymology, i. 272. kinsmen, ii. 86.

meaning, i. 72. peoples, ii. 462.

1p prepos. use, i.''294. D'iy, i. 146.

(m.T) 1*62, ii.

132, 280, 441. B>JJ, i. 70, 86.
PI3Ki>!D property, ii. 285.

JO and infin., ii. 69.

|Q absolute use, i. 168.
at the end of, L 185.
away from, i. 191. P
in 191.
'Comparisons, i. 193. i?ip hark, i.

I'-i'li'-ulai-ising, i. 233. sound, i. 155.

partitive, i. 185. pp as appellative, i. 183.

privulm-, ii. 219. ]'\) destruction, i. 269.

elective, i. i;>7. ii. 422.

nrup sacrificial gift, i. 135. ii. 381.
f r
Unitary present, ii. 276. ii. 292.
,
 1. (1KNK1IAL 1N1)KX 501

intentl^ ii. 121. DK 33^, ii. 294.

ii. ii. ^1
iiK'aning, i. 236, irpoiref*ireti> t

ii. 121. ^
understand, ii. 3
meaning,
>
meaning, i. 280.
b
i- H4.
ml;*,
rvb', i- 114. inn, i. 44, 58, 277 f., 478.

DCS i. 392 f. n, ii. 197.

 II. LEXICAL INDEXES

LINGUISTIC USAGES OF A (P).

W) 13T, i.
84, 276.
^ 24
:, ii. 288, 296. D3jnr(])>
ION iyir, ii. 4io.
ii. 76, 84.
i. 245, 274.
n
i. 245.
n;n,
r6tf,' i.
27, 56.
n s
n, i. 27, 279.
!P 5N, ii. 79.

ii. 173.
S|DgJ, n, i. 223.
n), ii. 210 193).
(cf.
"n W" '',
ii. 173.
pK, ii- 412. *
1 I|
N^, ii. 411.

,
ii. 24.
3 (of particularisation), i.
246, 280.
?33, i.
27, 80.

,
i-
245, 268, 280.
'a -133, ii. 411, 413 (cf. 238). ,
ii. 76.

&JJ3 r)U3, ii. 160.

'ii ^'DM nnnsa, ii. 76, 85.
DP! -03, ii. 153.

-I3rp, ii. 76, 85.

,
ii. 76, 84.
N-13, ii.
55, 67, 244.
i
ii. 22, 23.

,
ii. 245.
133, i. 279.
jna, i. 245. i. 384.

1 D
nin, ii.
338, note 8. nD, i.
246, 280.
nw, i. 211. ,
ii. 126.

n'lVi- 267. ,
ii. 76, 84.
'51 DD!> hen, ii. 288.
nnn, i. 224. i. 70 76.
pO, f.,

n, i. 94
(cf. 114). 156.
nB3S(n), ii.

D ii. 202.
ll"J> HNT, ii.
384, 407. i.
27, 68.
13?; i-
281, ii. 127. ii. 76.

502
 II. LEXICAL INDEXES 503

194.
ma D'pn, i. 245 273.
nab, ii.

f*pp,
ii. 377.
p'aa, ii. is, si.
ii. 252.
pjp,
nsn B>3J, i.
77, 142.
^N Nip, ii. 451.
JOfcO, ii. 294 (181).
rria fnj,
i. 273.
nil, i. 118.
"1:6 TO, ii. 88.
t^'131, ii. 13, 31.

76.
ii. 13.
(in genitive), ii.

i. 245. and ton, i.

246, 292.
DVy, V V ~
T

13Dn ny, ii. 26.

nby |3 tes b'jn, i- 274.

(?) naiD na^, ii. 55.

a
DIN jna, ii. 193.

nan ma, i. 245. (JTTOn) nntr, i.

245, ii. 25.

w", ii. 151.

'a *>n

D!?, i. 211. pK^ and pt^', i. 27, 75.

D'ey fjnp, ii. 222. nnhn, i. 93.

ii. 151, 156. L 151.

Dip,

LINGUISTIC USAGES OF B (E).

,
ii. 483.
ii. 211 204).
(only)r\X, (cf.
,
ii 380 (cf. 434).
DTlta, ii. 127.
a\ ii. 232, 236.
HDN, ii-
117, 125.
(or f)) ^N ION, ii.
118, note 1, 119.
^jn 336. (local) nb, ii.
140, 143.
if) 10^1, ii.

fefe, ii. 426.

nox(n), ii. 31.
a
D1t33, ii. 211. aai?, ii. 120.
:: :

Hjta, ii. 366. D

ii. 132.
12,'ii. 372.
,

ibto, ii.
232, 236.
D, ii.
211, 213 (cf. i.
97).
,
ii. 380.
3, ii. 407.

n
403. (permit) \r\),
ii. 120, note 9.
nin, ii.

,
ii. 402, 407. ;, ii.
211, 218.
.;, ii. 129.
ii. 380. 232.
^, ii.
,

T
1
See also General Index under 15.
 504 II. LEXICAL INDEXES

3 yjB, ii. 224.

D^, ii- 127, 130.
ii- 380.
rm, ii. 380.

rn, ii. 380.

,
ii- 336.
232.
,
ii.
"Ipaa OWn, ii. 224 (but cf. 91).

a ii. 433.
N-1J53, ,
ii. 126, 214.

DWI, ii. 232.

ii. 127. ^n, ii. 232.
pnin,

LINGUISTIC USAGES OF (J).

i-
249, 286, 385. (interj.) nan, i.
392, ii. 343.

,
ii. 67, 69. w nan, ii. 18.

*K, i- 249 (cf. 84, 276). ,

i. 97, ii. 419.

!)3K, ii. 372.

>K,ii. 91, 103.

VJpT 6 or p), ii. 127.

,
i. 249.
n
,
ii. 386.
ii. 59.
njftn(n),
(adv.)t|K, ii. 91.
(?) n>n, i. 276 (cf. 274).
PBnn, ii. 402.
mfcri nn, i. 96, 141.
,
i. 180.
ID n^f>n, ii. 390.

i?nn, i.
230, 232.
K3, ii. 91, 96.
nDKi non, ii. 158, 165.
,
ii. 16, 19.
ii. 273.
nK a, ii- 394. nyn,
(riifin) nnn, ii. 280, 287.
rra, ii. 215.

IGO.
^ mn, i. 187, ii. 288.
n nwa, ii.

,
i. 97 (cf. ii. 211). D
inn" TJlia, 201, note 4.
1
ii.
(of beauty) aiD, i. 230, 233.
a 7n_33,
ii. 9.
,
ii. 91, 102.

non "un, ii. 91.

(portions) niT, ii. 425 (396).
D3 D3, ii. 425 (421).
see nan.
i. 97. arty T
Enjj,
,
i. 209.
n
in, i. 181.
pan, ii. 288, 294.
a^ (or a) ^ nan, ii. IGS, 21 1 (cf. 484).
n, ii. 391, 419.
i- 9 ?.
'a \JTNa nan, ii. 483, note 2. >
,
i-
230, 243.
 II. LEXICAL INDEXKS 505
,
i.
248, 27C.
IT, ii-
''Ml, not- ,
ii. 343.

,
ii. 406. n, ii. 91.

DT, ii. 158. f^na, ii.

425, 427.
e*, ii- 390, 433, note 4. T3n, ii.
343, 349.
,
ii. 355 (158, 300). 1j;a, ii. 288, 294 (400).

3 3, ii. 402.

1tTN3, ii. 211. ^a,

ii.
224, 226 (cf. 402).
33, ii. 419 (390). Nba, ii. 276.

Dnaia, ii.
351, 358. a, i. 280.

'3, ii. 91, 95.

HIM 133, ii. 26.

.I irfe, ii. 10, 91. (pron. use) Tpriy, ii. 91.

,
i. 249. 'n iiy, ii.
4i9, 420.
n rnnapo-fo, ii.
9, 10. 13y, ii.
288, 301.
&3, ii.
217, note 3. (Nip) p-i>y, ii. 286 (cf. 281).
ii.
390, note 12. >,
i. 97.

p, ii- 288. i,
ii. 402.

asynn, i.
230, ii. 288.
1^31 DVy, ii. 232, note 1.
),
ii. G7, 72.
llio.
i. 97. rnjjg,
1DH nj^y, ii. 158 (cf. 363, note 12).
,
i.
249, 276.
iny, ii. 194.
HT n?j)!>, ii. 91.

21 H fiii ii. 288, 300.

425.
^> 304
ii.
LDpS i- -

(pn), ii.
91, 93. IS nVD, i. 181.
'

ID
ii. 91, 102.

,
ii.
351, 355.
ii. 224.

(entrance) HH3, ii. 390.

ii.
434, 442.
nr n, i. 97 (cf. ii. 387).
noniDnn, ii. 390.
ii.
192, 195.
nniD, i- 230.
npyv, ii. 91.
haiDH ^O, i.
248, 273.
,
ii. 1(J4.
life, ii. 386.

,
ii.
419, 421.
ii. 386.
ni np, ii. 158.
(cons.) syp, ii. 390. i. 248.
,

, i/230, ii. 296. ii. 9.

j5,

n, ii. 425. ii. 425.

i. 127.
D*T[i3D, D^a Nip, ii. 137 (i. 209).
("i pa) INV napp, ii. 425 (206).
rnpn, ii. 158, 211.
DILLMANN. II.
33
506 II. LEXICAL INDEXES

& ii. 158.

'3 "OS PIN-l, ii. 284. nab, i- 384.
na-in nznn, i. 97 (162).
jn, ii. 343. ninn^n, ii. 91 (440).

Wyi ii. 343. 1p33 D'3B>n, ii. 91 (but cf.

V}, 224).

pi, ii. 91 ynw, i.

97, 214.
(cf. 373).
n, ii. 91.

n
i.
96, 180.
najnn, ii. 419, 421.

OTHER LINGUISTIC DATA.

 II. LEXICAL INDKXKS 507

Tj^B^ ii. 423. 6) *Q ^ nip, ii. -i:

niste npi>, i. 233. ii. 370.

n3Zl")p,

1
C ;
ii. 390.
n;j,
21 (eHuuylt), ii. 410.
Nririn, ii. 340 f.

riD3, ii- 141.

hp XtW, ii- 131. ii. 340.

,

KJW, ii- 100.

33^', ii. 432.

-IHD, ii. 296.
,
ii. 382.

96. i. 181, notes 2 and 6, 202.

POT, i. D^(l),
n (wh nnn) DKS ii. 181, 200.
nn, ii. 121. ii. 428.
(Kal),
ii. 127.
,
ii- 243 -

ii. 360. 'i

'
ii- 125.
C]Vp, T :

b Nip, ii. 451. me', ii. 352, note 1.

I'ltl.NTKP I!V .

MORRISON AND QIBB LIMITKIi. KDINUfKOlI

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