CHAPTER 22*<\/p>\n
The Akedah: The Binding of Isaac (vv. 1\u201319)<\/p>\n
This section recounts the climactic event in the life of Abraham, the ultimate trial of faith. God asks the aged patriarch to offer up his son as a sacrifice. Abraham binds the child on the altar and poises the knife for the fatal thrust. But the deadly act is stayed by a heavenly voice.
\nThe Akedah, as the story is popularly called\u2014because of the Hebrew stem \u02bf-k-d, \u201cto bind,\u201d in verse 9\u2014is organically connected with the preceding chapter. Abraham has lost one son and now seems about to lose the other. In both narratives, the child is saved by divine intervention at the critical moment, the only two biblical instances of an angel calling from heaven to human beings. In both cases there is a fortuitous discovery: a well of water in the earlier story, a ram in the thicket here.
\nBeyond its connection with the foregoing chapter, the Akedah brings to a close Abraham\u2019s spiritual odyssey that began with God\u2019s call at Haran. The curtain rises and falls on the patriarch as he receives a divine word that demands agonizing decisions. The first time God bids him to take leave of his father and to cut himself off from his past; now, in this last theophany that he is to receive, God asks that he sacrifice his beloved, longed-for son and thereby abandon all hope of posterity. On both occasions Abraham responds with unquestioning obedience and steadfast loyalty.
\nThis correspondence between Haran and Moriah encases the biography of Abraham within a framework of unwavering faith. For added emphasis, the two crucial events are cast in a common literary mold so that chapters 12 and 22 share many connecting links. God\u2019s first call to Abraham is introduced by the declaration, \u201cGo forth \u2026 to the land that I will show you\u201d; and His last employs almost identical language, \u201cGo forth \u2026 to the land of Moriah \u2026 on one of the heights that I will point out to you.\u201d The Hebrew phrase lekh lekha, \u201cgo forth,\u201d does not occur again in the Bible, a fact that underscores the deliberate and meaningful nature of its use in these two passages. In both instances, the precise ultimate destination of the trek is withheld, and in both the tension of the drama is heightened by the cumulative effect of several Hebrew epithets, the last of which is the most potent: \u201cyour land, your homeland, your father\u2019s house\u201d; \u201cyour son, your favored one, Isaac, whom you love.\u201d Both episodes culminate in promises of glorious posterity, the second one containing striking verbal echoes of the first. One blessing was received at the terebinth of Moreh, the other at the similar sounding Moriah; and at both sites, it is stated, Abraham \u201cbuilt an altar there.\u201d Finally, just as the account of the initial call is preceded by a genealogy that introduces the main character of the next episode, so the story of the final call from God is followed by a genealogical note having the same function.<\/p>\n
GOD TESTS ABRAHAM (vv. 1\u20132)<\/p>\n
1. Some time afterward As noted at 15:1, the phrase indicates an indefinite connection with foregoing events. Isaac was about three years old when Ishmael was expelled; he is now old enough to carry a load of firewood and to ask an intelligent question based on experience and observation.<\/p>\n
God put Abraham to the test This information is imparted to the reader, not divulged to Abraham, in order to remove any possible misunderstanding that God requires human sacrifice as such. Therefore, the purely probative nature of the divine request is emphasized. As a result, the focus of tension shifts from Isaac to Abraham. Now the reader knows that the son will not be slaughtered. But is the father\u2019s faith in God of such transcendent quality as to overcome his natural love for his heir in full consciousness that obedience to God\u2019s cruel request would mean the end of all his hopes and dreams, the nullification of the promises he had so often heard from the mouth of this self-same God?<\/p>\n
He said As the following verse indicates, Abraham receives the divine call in a night dream or vision.1<\/p>\n
Here I am Hebrew hinneni expresses an attitude of attentiveness and receptivity. It is the only word Abraham utters to God in the entire episode.<\/p>\n
2. The enormity of God\u2019s request and the agonizing nature of the decision to be made are conveyed through the cumulative effect of the descriptive terms set forth in ascending order of endearment. This is the same device used in God\u2019s first call to Abraham in 12:1.<\/p>\n
Take your son The Hebrew adds the participle na\u02be to the imperative,2 which usually softens the command to an entreaty, as noted in Sanhedrin 89b, Genesis Rabba 55:7, and Rashi\u2019s commentary. Abraham has absolute freedom of choice. Should he refuse, he would not incur any guilt.<\/p>\n
your favored one Literally, \u201cyour only one\u201d\u2014here construed as a term of value.3<\/p>\n
whom you love This is the first use of the key biblical stem \u02be-h-v, significantly in the parent-child relationship. Its next usage (24:67) is in the husband-wife relationship.<\/p>\n
the land of Moriah See Excursus 16 for a discussion of the problems and interpretations of the name.<\/p>\n
that I Twill point out The mode of communication is not specified.<\/p>\n
ABRAHAM MEETS THE CHALLENGE (vv. 3\u201310)<\/p>\n
3. The patriarch makes no verbal response, not even hinneni, \u201cHere I am!\u201d He who was so daringly eloquent on behalf of the people of Sodom surrenders in total silence to his own bitter personal destiny. He does not question divine constancy. Early next morning, the old man rises to fulfill the divine charge. He performs a series of preparatory acts all described with an economy of words appropriate to the somber silence that pervades the scene. Remarkably, Sarah is ignored throughout the chapter. Early exegesis has Abraham concealing from his wife the true purpose of his journey lest she hinder him from doing God\u2019s bidding.4<\/p>\n
two of his servunts An eminent personage would be accompanied by two attendants.<\/p>\n
He split the wood Since the exact destination is as yet unknown to him, he cannot be sure he will find fuel there.<\/p>\n
4. On the third day In biblical consciousness, three days constitute a significant segment of time, particularly in connection with travel.5 The long interval is crucial to the trial of faith, for Abraham\u2019s instantaneous assent to God\u2019s request may have been impulsive and emotional and without proper consideration. The long trek enables him to regain his composure. It allows time for sober reflection; yet his resolve is not weakened. His decision to obey God is thus seen to be an undoubting act of free will.<\/p>\n
saw the place from afar Is it an existing sacred site, or does he instinctively know the spot? The sight of it \u201cfrom afar\u201d immediately stirs consciousness of the actuality of the impending horror. According to rabbinic legend, Abraham and Isaac, but not the attendants, saw a cloud hovering over one of the hills.6<\/p>\n
5. we will return Use of the plural form conceals the true purpose of the journey from Isaac.<\/p>\n
6. Abraham took the wood That is, he took it off the beast of burden. He himself carried the dangerous articles\u2014the firestone and the knife\u2014so that the boy not be harmed and the sacrificial victim be unblemished at the moment of slaughter. There is a touch of bitter irony here: Isaac, unaware, cooperates in carrying some of the instruments of his own destruction. He whose name means \u201claughter\u201d appears to be on the verge of becoming the personification of tragedy.7<\/p>\n
firestone Since it is considered unlikely that a flame would be carried for three days, this seems a more likely rendering than \u201cfire.\u201d8 It could also mean a brazier.<\/p>\n
knife The use of the rare Hebrew term ma\u02beakhelet in Judges 19:29 in connection with the dissection of a human body and in Proverbs 30:14 in parallelism with \u201csword\u201d proves that a large and heavy implement is intended, not an ordinary knife. There may be word play here: The instrument of death is ma\u02beakhelet, and the rescuing agent is a mal\u02beakh (v. 11).<\/p>\n
the two walked off together There is perfect rapport between the two, encompassed as they are in mutual solitariness and enveloped in silence. The tension between the unsuspecting innocence of the son and the unuttered agony of the father does not disturb the harmony.<\/p>\n
7\u20138. The oppressive silence is broken by Isaac\u2019s simple query, which is at once artless and penetrating. Is a suspicion of the awful truth beginning to dawn upon the boy? If so, the father\u2019s equivocal reply must surely sustain whatever doubts there are, especially in an age when human sacrifice is possible. The poignant tension inherent in the situation is heightened by the repetition of the words \u201cfather\u201d and \u201cson.\u201d The bond between the two remains unbroken. The brief dialogue over\u2014the only such recorded between Isaac and his father\u2014they continue their fateful trek in perfect harmony.<\/p>\n
9\u201310. The detailed, laconic description of the various preparatory procedures conveys something of the eternity of that terrible moment in time before the angelic voice is heard. Once again, not a word escapes the father\u2019s lips. Isaac too is speechless. The intensity of the anguish is beyond the ability of words to express.<\/p>\n
bound The Hebrew stem \u02bf-k-d is found nowhere else in the ritual vocabulary of the Bible. In postbiblical texts it is a technical term for the tying together of the forefoot and the hindfoot of an animal or of the two forefeet or two hindfeet.9<\/p>\n
GOD ACKNOWLEDGES ABRAHAM\u2019S FIDELITY (vv. 11\u201312)<\/p>\n
11. called to him from heaven Angels need to travel between heaven and earth, as is clear from 28:12, as well as from place to place on earth, as proved by 18:22. But the critical urgency of the moment precludes their usual personal appearance, such as made to Hagar (16:7ff.), and dictates this exceptional mode of angelic intervention, just as it did in 21:17.<\/p>\n
Abraham! Abraham! The repetition connotes both urgency and a special relationship between the one addressed and the One who calls.10<\/p>\n
12. And he said In biblical angelology, God and His angels often interchange imperceptibly, as is noted in Excursus 10.<\/p>\n
for now I know As Ramban points out, it is not that God\u2019s foreknowledge is wanting but that, for Abraham\u2019s sake, the quality of character that now exists only potentially must be actualized.11 In the biblical view, the genuinely righteous man must deserve that status through demonstrated action. Henceforth, Abraham is the incontestable paradigm of the truly \u201cGod-fearing\u201d man, one who is wholehearted in his self-determined, disinterested, self-surrender to God\u2019s will. It is not important that the act was unfulfilled, for the value of the act may lie as much in the inward intention of the doer as in the final execution.<\/p>\n
THE SUBSTITUTION OF A RAM (v. 13)<\/p>\n
Abraham interprets the fortuitous presence of a ram to mean that a substitute animal offering is desired in place of Isaac.<\/p>\n
a ram Hebrew \u02beayil\u02bee\u1e25ad, literally \u201cone ram.\u201d This is the reading underlying many ancient versions, as well as of several medieval manuscripts. Our printed editions read \u02beayil\u02bea\u1e25ar, as did a few other ancient renderings.12 This text is taken to mean \u201ca ram behind [him]\u201d or \u201ca ram, later [caught].\u201d On the graphic confusion of resh and dalet, see Comment to 10:4.<\/p>\n
THE NAMING OF THE ALTAR (v. 14)<\/p>\n
This incident reminds Abraham of his reply to Isaac\u2019s question (v. 7f.). He had foretold better than he realized at the time. In accordance with patriarchal practice, the site of a revelation becomes sacred and receives a name somehow reminiscent of the occasion.13<\/p>\n
whence the present saying A popular saying arose based on this episode. This is not part of the narrative but an editorial note.14<\/p>\n
there is vision Hebrew yera\u02beeh, literally \u201cHe\/it shall be seen.\u201d The subject of the verb is unclear, although the apparent reference to verse 8 would favor the impersonal rendering, referring to the sheep. A different exegetical tradition is represented by the Septuagint, which renders, \u201cOn the mount the Lord appears.\u201d<\/p>\n
REAFFIRMATION OF THE BLESSINGS (vv. 15\u201318)<\/p>\n
Abraham has demonstrated his willingness to forfeit his posterity in obedience to God\u2019s will. It is fitting, therefore, that all previous promises be now reaffirmed. The formulation features several unusual elements. All previous blessings are pure acts of divine grace; now, for the first time, these are presented as a reward for Abraham\u2019s devotion to God. For the first time, too, they are introduced by a solemn oath, with God swearing by His own Being;15 and they are prefaced by the prophetic formula, \u201cThe LORD declares\u201d (Heb. ne\u02beum YHVH). There are also two innovations in the content of the blessings: Sand is employed as a metaphor of multitude, and the patriarch\u2019s posterity is promised victory over its foes.
\nFor additional comment on the meaning of the Akedah, see Excursuses 17 and 18.<\/p>\n
The Offspring of Nahor (vv. 20\u201324)<\/p>\n
These verses set forth the genealogy of Nahor, Abraham\u2019s brother. The two explanatory glosses\u2014\u201cKemuel the father of Aram\u201d and \u201cBethuel being the father of Rebekah\u201d\u2014suggest that the purpose of the genealogy is to forge a link between the Akedah and chapter 24. In order for the foregoing blessings to Abraham to be fulfilled, Isaac must marry and found a family. The list mentions Rebekah, Bethuel, Milcah, Nahor, and Aram as an intimation of Isaac\u2019s forthcoming marriage to Rebekah daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah of the city of Nahor in Aram-naharaim.
\nThe structure and content of the family tree are of considerable interest for their own sakes. Like the other genealogies in the Book of Genesis, this too echoes historical reality. Nahor\u2019s \u201csons\u201d are twelve in all. Since most of the names are otherwise known as those of tribes or localities, the list actually represents a league of tribes linked to one another by a consciousness of kinship or by confederation. Such tribal federations were common throughout the ancient Semitic world. The number twelve recalls the corresponding organization of the tribes of Ishmael, as mentioned in 17:20 and 25:12\u201316, and the later tribes of Israel.
\nEight individuals stem from the chief wife and four from the concubine. This division of wife and concubine reflects relationships within the confederation itself. The \u201cwife\u201d tribes were most likely more influential and may have constituted the original core of the league. The \u201cconcubine\u201d tribes would then have been later affiliates, subordinates who were absorbed into the confederation of tribes. It is also possible that the first group comprises tribal and geographical entities in the ancestral homeland inside Mesopotamia, while the other group consists of tribes or clans that migrated from the original center to the border regions.
\nThe genealogical lists are of undoubted antiquity. Some names never reappear, either in the Bible or elsewhere, and apparently the tribes that bore them vanished early from history. The lowly status of Aram as a \u201cgrandson\u201d tribe through the third-born means that, at the time of the origin of the list, this people had not yet risen to power. By contrast, the genealogy of Genesis 10 prestigiously has Aram as the son of Shem and the father (vv. 22f.), not the nephew, of Uz as here. That list reflects a later historic reality than this and derives from a time when Aram had overwhelmed the Uzzires and incorporated them into its tribal league. Furthermore, the depiction of Aram as part of the wider family of Abraham, in keeping with the consistent traditions about the close patriarchal associations with that people, must stem from before the Davidic period when Aram became the inveterate enemy of Israel and so remained for hundreds of years.<\/p>\n
20. Milcah too has borne children The phrase is intelligible only in light of the earlier genealogy of 11:29, which mentions Milcah together with Sarah.<\/p>\n
Nahor An important city in ancient Mesopotamia. It is mentioned in 24:10 and is known in cuneiform sources as Nakhur. It was situated in the upper Euphrates region in the Balikh Valley. The derivation of all these tribes from Nahor implies that the city was the original center of the confederation.<\/p>\n
21\u201323. Of Milcah\u2019s eight sons, nothing at all is known about Kemuel, Pildash, and Jidlaph. They must have disappeared from the scene of history early in the second millennium B.C.E.
\nThe attribution of \u201cfirst-born\u201d status to Uz means that it constituted the oldest or most powerful element within the group. The problem of its location was discussed in connection with 10:23. A similar difficulty arises regarding Buz, which, if Jeremiah 25:23 be the criterion, would be situated in northern Arabia. King Esarhaddon of Assyria claimed to have captured \u201cthe town of Bazu,\u201d which is now known to have been located near modern Bahrein on the Persian Gulf.
\nThe name Chesed, discussed earlier in connection with 11:31, is doubtless the supposed ancestor of the Chaldeans (Heb. kasdim). Hazo may be the same as the Hazu region in northern Arabia, known from the records of Esarhaddon\u2019s campaigns. Bethuel is a West Semitic personal name. In 25:20 he is called \u201cthe Aramean of Paddan-aram.\u201d No tribe or geographic entity named Bethuel is known.
\nRebekah is, of course, the wife-to-be of Isaac. The name has been variously explained as deriving from a fairly widespread Semitic root meaning \u201cto loop a cord over the head of a lamb or kid,\u201d from postbiblical rebkah (cf. Syr. rabaqta), \u201ca threshing team\u201d (Tosef. Par. 2:3; Pes. 26a); from marbek, \u201ca stall\u201d (cf. 1 Sam. 28:24); or from an inverted form of bakar, \u201ccattle,\u201d that is, \u201ca female calf.\u201d<\/p>\n
24. Reuma appears to be an ancient name of a tribal or political league in the middle Syrian and northern Transjordan area. The origin of the name lies either in Ugaritic re\u02beum, \u201cwild ox\u201d (Heb. re\u02beem), or is derived from Akkadian ramu, \u201cto love,\u201d which would make it an abbreviation for \u201cbeloved of El.\u201d
\nTebah is most likely the Tubihi of the El-Amarna letters, referred to as Dbh in the list of Thutmose III. It was an important city in southern Syria and is probably the same place as Betah in 2 Samuel 8:8 and Tibbath in 1 Chroniles 18:8. Gaham is not otherwise known but has turned up as a personal name in the seventh-century B.C.E. Arad inscriptions (31:6). Tahash is almost certainly the land of Tahsi mentioned in the El-Amarna letters and in various Egyptian lists. It is to be located between Damascus and the Orontes River in Syria. Maacah is the most southerly of the four \u201cconcubine\u201d tribes. Egyptian and biblical texts (cf., e.g., Deut. 3:14; Josh. 12:5) inform us that it was a small kingdom in northern Transjordan.<\/p>\n
CHAPTER 23*<\/p>\n
The Cave of Machpelah (vv. 1\u201320)<\/p>\n
\u1e24ayyei Sarah<\/p>\n
Abraham\u2019s spiritual odyssey reached its climax with the Akedah. For all intents and purposes, his biography is complete. But two important issues remain: the concern with mortality and the preoccupation with posterity. The former finds expression in the acquisition of a hereditary burial site, the latter through the selection of a wife for Isaac so that the succession of the line may be secured. These are the topics of chapters 23 and 24, respectively.
\nThe preceding episode closed with a genealogy that was designed to introduce the forthcoming marriage of Isaac. In a sense, therefore, chapter 23 breaks the narrative continuity. In reality, however, the death of Sarah and the purchase of Machpelah as a sepulcher are in proper chronological order. As 17:17 and 21:5 make clear, the matriarch was 90 years old when she bore Isaac. Since she was 127 at the time of her death, she died three years before Isaac\u2019s marriage at age 40 (25:20). This sequence of events is further confirmed by the statement that, in taking Rebekah to wife, Isaac \u201cfound comfort after his mother\u2019s death\u201d (24:67).
\nThe account of the purchase of the Cave of Machpelah is extraordinarily detailed, indicating the importance that the episode had assumed in the consciousness of Israel. There are several possible reasons for this emphasis. Not only is it the first recorded death and interment in the history of the Jewish people but it also concerns none other than Sarah, the first matriarch. Abraham\u2019s actions are indicative of the great respect for the dead and of the importance of proper burial that remain a characteristic of the Jewish faith. Machpelah is the first piece of real estate in the promised land secured by the founding father of the nation, and its acquisition presages the future possession of the entire land. Since all three patriarchs and three of the matriarchs eventually were interred in the cave, it most likely enjoyed popular veneration as a shrine and as a symbol of national and social unity. This may well have influenced David\u2019s choice of Hebron as the first capital of Israel. Finally, the narrative in a very real sense presents another mute affirmation of Abraham\u2019s faith. In the preceding chapter the divine promises were reiterated and expanded. Now Abraham faces harshly contrasting reality: to gain a mere burial plot he must receive permission from the local population and pay out a large sum of money. His insistence on acquiring the estate in perpetuity is an expression of faith that his descendants would indeed inherit the land.
\nThe narrative itself is suffused with legal terminology and practice, an understanding of which is essential to its interpretation. First, Abraham labors under two disabilities that derive from his status as an alien. He cannot avail himself of local burial facilities without municipal permission, and he cannot acquire land. Second, even if these restrictions were to be overcome, he would still face the problem of procuring an inheritable estate to be used by future generations, for an alien could not normally own land in perpetuity (cf. Lev. 25:23). Third, apart from legal problems, there is still to be encountered the reluctance of landowners to part with their property, a pervasive and deep-seated attitude throughout the ancient Near East. Naboth\u2019s rejection of Ahab\u2019s offer to buy his vineyard exemplifies this tendency: \u201cThe LORD forbid that I should give up to you what I have inherited from my fathers!\u201d (1 Kings 21:3). At work there is a profound and complex emotional attachment to the estate, an emotion that is shaped by a powerful feeling of continuity with one\u2019s forebears and a compelling sense of responsibility toward one\u2019s family, clan, and posterity. The land is looked upon as an ancestral trust. All this is reinforced by the strong influence of communal solidarity, the consciousness that disposal of real estate to an alien may upset the local demographic balance, impair social cohesion, and weaken the community in its relationship with neighboring cities and tribes. Given these circumstances, it is small wonder that the entire community was involved in transacting a sale of land.
\nAbraham wishes to ensure that his purchase is final and irrevocable, his ownership absolute and incontestable. For these reasons, he refuses a gift: donations are notoriously insecure in law. They may be challenged by heirs or by other members of the family or community, or even by the donor himself should his goodwill wane. Only a payment that is manifestly accepted by the seller of his own volition ensures the unchallengeable nature of the transaction. That is why Ephron, not Abraham, must first state the price and why, once that is done, there is no further bargaining.<\/p>\n
THE DEATH OF SARAH (vv. 1\u20132)<\/p>\n
1. Sarah\u2019s lifetime The span of Sarah\u2019s life. The repetition underscores this unique biblical specification of a woman\u2019s age at death and testifies to Sarah\u2019s great importance as the first matriarch (cf. Isa. 51:2).1<\/p>\n
2. Kiriath-arba The origin of this earlier name of Hebron is unclear. The first part of the name means \u201ccity.\u201d According to the tradition of Joshua 14:15 and 21:11, Arba was an important personage among the aboriginal population. Another suggestion takes \u02bearba\u02bf as an abbreviation of a non-Semitic arbi\u02belum, also the name of a Mesopotamian city. Perhaps the most likely explanation is \u201ccity of four,\u201d meaning four settlements that confederated and so received the name \u201cHebron,\u201d which may well mean \u201cconfederation,\u201d as was explained in the Comment to 13:18.2<\/p>\n
proceeded The Hebrew verb b-w-\u02be, \u201cto come,\u201d may have this sense of preparation for action when used in conjunction with another verb.3<\/p>\n
to mourn \u2026 to bewail The specific rites and the time period involved are not given because the focus of interest is on the next scene.<\/p>\n
THE APPEAL TO THE HITTITES (vv. 3\u20139)<\/p>\n
3. rose Mourners would sit on the ground.4<\/p>\n
Hittites General information about this people has been given in the Comment to 10:15. The historical problem relating to the Hittites mentioned in this episode is discussed in detail in Excursus 19.<\/p>\n
4. a resident alien Hebrew ger ve-toshav, literally \u201calien and resident,\u201d is a case of hendiadys, the use of two terms to express a single notion. Leviticus 25:47 neatly proves that the presence or absence of the conjunction does not affect the compound meaning of the phrase. Abraham mentions his status because it is the background to the request that follows; a resident alien was unable to purchase real estate.<\/p>\n
sell me The Hebrew verb n-t-n is employed seven times in the course of the negotiations. It can mean \u201cto give, sell, pay.\u201d5 Its many meanings permit the dialogue to be conducted in an atmosphere of delicate and dignified, if somewhat contrived, politeness.<\/p>\n
a burial site Hebrew \u02bea\u1e25uzzat kever essentially denotes an inheritable sepulcher.6 This is the key to the transaction since the cave is to serve future generations of the family of Abraham.<\/p>\n
6. Hear us This appeal, employed here six times in one form or another, is characteristic of the language of law court proceedings.7<\/p>\n
my lord \u2026 elect of God Abraham may be an alien, but the Hittites treat him with reverential respect. The title they give him is honorific and probably has no religious connotation.8<\/p>\n
Bury your dead The first hurdle is overcome. Abraham receives the permission of the community to bury his dead within the municipal boundaries of Hebron. Now he must acquire a specific plot of land.<\/p>\n
7. bowed low In gratitude. The patriarch conducts himself with dignity. He is respectful and courteous, but not ingratiating or obsequious. The Hittites call him \u201clord,\u201d but Abraham does not address them as superiors.<\/p>\n
the people of the land The landowner is not approached directly. Abraham must first deal with \u201cthe people of the land.\u201d It is unclear whether this term is synonymous with \u201cthe Hittites\u201d and with \u201call who entered the gate of his town\u201d (vv. 10, 18), simply connoting the general body of citizens, or whether it refers to a specific social entity, meaning the ruling oligarchy that performed certain judicial and political functions and that served as the town council. It seems that the support of this group was needed before an alien could acquire real estate and before a citizen would agree to negotiate the sale of his property.<\/p>\n
8. Ephron son of Zohar The Bible rarely records the father\u2019s name in the case of a non-Israelite.9 The present exception suggests that Ephron was a man of nobility.<\/p>\n
9. Macbpelah The Hebrew is a noun form and always takes the definite article, which indicates that it is not a personal name. Verse 17 seems to imply a place-name,10 while verse 19 as well as 49:30 and 50:13 suggest that Machpelah encompasses the entire field, not just the cave. The ancient versions and rabbinic traditions, together with many medieval exegetes, understood the word to be a descriptive term meaning \u201ctwofold\u201d\u2014two chambers either side by side or one above the other.
\nAccording to the Genesis sources, not only Sarah but Abraham too was buried there, as were Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, and Leah. Such traditions leave little doubt that Machpelah must have been a national shrine throughout the biblical period, even though the biblical sources outside Genesis are silent on the matter. After the Western Wall in Jerusalem, it has remained throughout history the most sacred monument of the Jewish people. It is traditionally identified with the site the Arabs call the \u1e25aram el-khalil, \u201cthe sacred precinct of the friend (of God),\u201d in present-day Hebron. The magnificent surrounding wall of hewn stones goes back at least to the time of Herod. During the Byzantine period a church was built over the sepulcher, but Jews were allowed to pray within the area. After the Arab invasion and conquest of the Land of Israel in the seventh century C.E., the church was converted into a mosque. In 1267 Sultan Baybars forbade Jews and Christians to enter the cave. Thereafter, \u201cinfidels\u201d were not allowed to ascend beyond the seventh step of the outer wall leading to the court of the mosque. This situation endured for the next 700 years until Hebron was liberated by the Israel Defense Forces in June 1967. Jews, Christians, and Muslims were then given the freedom to worship inside the cave.<\/p>\n
at the edge of his land Legal procedure naturally requires specification of the locale of the plot. In this instance, the phrase may also serve to soften reluctance about the sale, as though to say that the cave is ideally located to obviate the need for an access path through the field and so avoid any questions of the right of way.11<\/p>\n
at the full price Literally, \u201cat full silver.\u201d Coinage was invented about the end of the eighth century B.C.E. and was not found in the Land of Israel until the end of the biblical period. The silver shekel was the most common medium of exchange in business transactions throughout the ancient Near East (cf. vv. 15f.).
\nThe phrase \u201cat full price\u201d has legal force and appears in ancient Near Eastern commercial documents in one form or another in several Semitic languages over an extended period of time.12<\/p>\n
THE NEGOTIATIONS WITH EPHRON (vv. 10\u201316)<\/p>\n
It must be assumed that the assembly in some way indicated its assent to Abraham\u2019s request, so that the negotiations with Ephron alone may now proceed in earnest. These are carried out at the city gate, which served as a civic center (see Comment to 19:1). The transaction is given the widest possible publicity in order to avoid the likelihood of future litigation.<\/p>\n
10. all who entered the gate of his town The phrase is repeated in verse 18. It seems to mean \u201call who had free access to the town,\u201d that is, the body of free citizens. It could also be an ancient term for the town council.<\/p>\n
11. Abraham seems to have had in mind only the cave. Ephron offers it together with the field as a gift. There is no way of telling whether the offer is sincere or simply the opening gambit in anticipation of the usual oriental bargaining.<\/p>\n
12. bowed low As a gesture of gratitude (cf. v. 7).<\/p>\n
13. Well aware of the legal instability of gifts of land, Abraham turns down the offer.13<\/p>\n
15. four hundred shekels of silver The price is adroitly introduced by Ephron with an air of seeming nonchalance. In the absence of any information about contemporary land values and the size and quality of the estate, it is not possible to know if the price quoted was exorbitant.14 It is of interest that three texts from Ugarit, written in Akkadian and dating from the fourteenth-thirteenth centuries B.C.E., record real estate transactions involving a purchase price of 400 shekels of silver.<\/p>\n
16. paid out Literally, \u201cweighed,\u201d regularly used of payment in commercial transactions because the metal was literally weighed each time on a pair of scales.15<\/p>\n
at the going merchants\u2019 rate That is, the rate that is current among merchants, a specification necessary and important in view of the variations in the shekel weight. There was a common and royal weight (cf. 2 Sam. 14:26) and within each class also a light and heavy standard. The Hebrew technical term has its counterpart in Akkadian ma\u1e2birat illaku, \u201cthe current rate,\u201d found in the laws of the kingdom of Eshnunna (par. 41), deriving from the last quarter of the twentieth century B.C.E., and in the Old Babylonian business documents as well.<\/p>\n
A LEGAL SUMMATION (vv. 17\u201320)<\/p>\n
The final paragraph, doubtless reflecting written deeds of sale, reads like a legal document, although the contract in this instance is based on a verbal agreement. It is divided into two sections. Verses 17\u201318 contain the following information: the identity of the transferor, the location of the property and a description of its contents, the identity of the transferee, the mode of acquisition of property rights, and the fact of the conveyance of title executed in the presence of witnesses in a public proceeding. Verses 19\u201320 are not later additions but are integral to the transaction. Because the authorities have allowed the land transfer to an alien on the understanding that it be used as a burial site, it is necessary to affirm that Abraham fulfilled this precondition in good faith. It is the act of burial that legally completes the transaction, that makes the sale absolute and incontestable, and that confers the power to dispose of the property by testament or will. Hence the concluding summation in verse 20.<\/p>\n
17. Mamre As was explained in connection with 13:18, Mamre was the designation of one of the ancient and influential families in Hebron, and it seems to have lent its name to one of the town\u2019s important quarters. The fact that all subsequent references to the Cave of Machpelah invariably locate it in relation to Mamre16 means that the latter was an easily identifiable landmark, the name being perhaps elliptical for the famous \u201cterebinths of Mamre\u201d (13:18).<\/p>\n
and all the trees The specification of the trees in land sale contracts is frequent and widespread in the ancient Near East.17 It may have been occasioned by the potentiality of acquiring proprietary rights to the land without the trees, and vice versa.<\/p>\n
19. Abraham buried his wife This terse statement, bereft of any descriptive detail, epitomizes the simplicity and lack of ostentation that have always characterized traditional Jewish burial rites.<\/p>\n
20. passed Literally, \u201carose.\u201d The Hebrew stem k-w-m, used here, has legal force as a technical term in connection with property transfers and other situations.18<\/p>\n
from the Hittites Since the ultimate control of land was vested in the community, mention of the Hittites in the legal summation is essential.19<\/p>\n
CHAPTER 24*<\/p>\n
The Betrothal of Isaac (vv. 1\u201367)<\/p>\n
Having discharged his duty to the dead, Abraham now turns his attention to the needs of the living. As long as Isaac is unmarried, the divine promise of posterity remains unfulfilled. The patriarch therefore commissions his trusted servant to set out for far-off Aram-naharaim in order to find a wife for his son from among Abraham\u2019s own kinfolk.
\nThis narrative, the longest chapter in Genesis, is a kind of novella, though it is somewhat dependent for its background on a knowledge of previous events. Its underlying motif is the abhorrence of the local Canaanites, who are presented in the Torah sources as unregenerately corrupt and who, for that reason, have forfeited all rights to their land.
\nThe action in the narrative unfolds in five scenes. At the outset Abraham is the dominant personality. But the movement of the story gradually shifts to Isaac, so that at its conclusion it is the son who is the center of attention and the father has faded from the scene. The repeated phrase \u201cmy master Abraham\u201d gives way to \u201cmy master Isaac\u201d (v. 65). The betrothal episode effects the transition from the cycle of Abrahamic stories to the Isaac narratives. This progression from the older to the successor generation is mediated by the servant, who has no other function here and is never heard of again. For this reason, his anonymity is thoroughly appropriate. The fact that his statement, \u201cI am Abraham\u2019s servant\u201d (v. 34), constitutes the exact middle verse of the chapter is symbolic of his role: to forge the link between the generations.
\nThe transition to Isaac and Rebekah as the successors of Abraham and Sarah and as the heirs to the divine promises is effected through the deliberate use of several literary devices. Rebekah\u2019s departure for Canaan, recounted in verse 7, is so styled as to bring to mind Abraham\u2019s original exodus from his homeland, and the words are borrowed directly from 12:7. Key words and phrases of 12:1\u20133 also are repeated here, such as \u201cnative land\u201d (vv. 4, 7), \u201cfather\u2019s house\u201d (vv. 3, 7, 8, 41), \u201cto the land\u201d (vv. 5, 7), \u201cblessing\u201d (vv. 1, 35), and \u201cbecoming great\u201d (v. 35). The divine order to Abraham, \u201cGo forth,\u201d and his unfaltering response (12:1, 4) are paralleled here by Rebekah\u2019s unquestioning willingness to go at once (v. 58). \u201cI will go,\u201d she firmly declares in response to the query, \u201cWill you go?\u201d This crucial verb \u201cto go\u201d (Heb. h-l-kh) occurs seven times in connection with Rebekah, a sure sign of its seminal importance. Finally, the divine blessing bestowed on Abraham, \u201cYour descendants shall seize the gates of their foes\u201d (22:17), is repeated almost verbatim in the farewell blessing to the bride in Verse 60.
\nOne other feature of the narrative deserves special mention. Although God does not intervene in a supernatural manner, the reader nevertheless is left with the absolute conviction that the guiding hand of Providence is present from first to last. The narrative conveys the clear impression that the commonplace and the natural are the arena for the realization of God\u2019s unfolding plan of history.<\/p>\n
ABRAHAM COMMISSIONS HIS SERVANT (vv. 1\u20139)<\/p>\n
1. old, advanced in years Abraham\u2019s awareness of his extreme old age lends urgency to his quest for a wife for his son.1 That is why he extracts an oath from his servant when a simple order normally would have sufficed. The servant\u2019s query in verse 5 assumes the possibility of the patriarch not being alive by the end of his mission. Significantly, the only other instance of the particular form of oath described in verse 2 occurs in a deathbed scene, 47:29.<\/p>\n
blessed \u2026 in all things Abraham\u2019s wealth is to be a decisive factor in gaining consent both to the marriage and to the bride\u2019s journey to a distant land.2<\/p>\n
2. senior servant Possibly he is Eliezer, who was mentioned in 15:2. The chief servant in an aristocratic household was invested with considerable power and responsibility.3<\/p>\n
Put your band under my thigh Gestures accompanying oath-taking are universal in the ancient world. Most frequently, they involve the raising of a hand, as in 14:22, and\/or the holding of a ritual object. In later times, a Torah scroll, phylacteries, or a Bible might be held for such a purpose.4
\nThe unusual nature of the present act leaves any explanation uncertain. Interpreters are unanimous that the \u201cthigh\u201d refers to the genital organ.5 This may be a reference to circumcision: Holding the circumcised membrum, called the \u201csign of the covenant\u201d in 17:11, may invoke the presence and power of God as the guarantor of the oath. But such symbolism would be valid only if it were recognized by both sides. The gesture would be meaningless to an uncircumcised servant. If he were circumcised, and this presumably was the case here, it is unclear why he did not have to touch his own membrum. Another explanation regards the \u201cthigh\u201d as the seat of the procreative powers. The gesture would then involve posterity in the implementation of the instructions. Verse 41 shows that a curse was invoked as part of the oath in the event of noncompliance. So the placing of the hand on the membrum may have been a gesture acknowledging that Abraham\u2019s posterity would avenge the violation. (This explanation becomes less convincing in 47:29, where Jacob adjures Joseph.) The notion that the curse has to do with sterility or loss of offspring is open to the same objection as was leveled against the first explanation.<\/p>\n
3. The patriarch asks his servant to take an oath by \u201cthe LORD, the God of heaven and the God of the earth,\u201d a title that is unique in biblical literature. In light of the fact that the mission involves travel to a distant land, it makes sense to invoke God\u2019s universal sovereignty. The epithet may be a monotheistic version of an ancient Near Eastern oath formula in which the gods of heaven and earth were invoked as witnesses.6<\/p>\n
4. land of my birth Or \u201cof my kinsman,\u201d as was explained in the Comment to 12:1. In his repetition of the story, the servant consistently speaks of \u201cfamily,\u201d or \u201ckindred,\u201d as in verses 38, 40, and 41.<\/p>\n
get a wife The Hebrew verb l-k-\u1e25, literally \u201cto take,\u201d has legal force. It is the equivalent of Akkadian ah\u0101zu, \u201cto seize, possess, marry.\u201d These terms define the marriage institution from the perspective of the groom. The narrative also reflects the custom of the parent initiating the marriage transaction.7<\/p>\n
6\u20138. These verses contain the last words of the patriarch. Expressing his absolute faith in the workings of a benign Providence, they are in striking contrast to the first words that the text ascribes to him, an expression of doubt (15:2f., 8).
\nThe divine promises contain two elements, posterity and national territory. Isaac, in his person and by his very presence in Canaan, symbolizes the fulfillment of both. That is why he alone of the patriarchs must never leave the land; in 26:2f. he is actually forbidden to do so, even in time of famine. He also is the only one who sowed the soil (26:12). If Isaac were to desert the land or intermarry with the local Canaanites, he would, in effect, be renouncing God\u2019s promises. His marriage is seen as part of the same divinely ordained historic process that commenced with Abraham\u2019s exodus from Ur.<\/p>\n
7. the God of heaven The second part of the epithet of verse 3 is inappropriate because the present context is different. The emphasis is not God\u2019s sovereignty but His providence, here personified as an angel, a heavenly being.8<\/p>\n
His angel For a discussion of biblical angelology, see Excursus 10.<\/p>\n
8. clear of this oath The Hebrew stem n-k-h denotes, among other things, \u201cto be free of (further) obligation.\u201d9<\/p>\n
THE SERVANT\u2019S PRAYER (vv. 10\u201314)<\/p>\n
10. took \u2026 set out \u2026 made his way In conformity with the nondescriptive biblical narrative style, the details of the long journey are ignored. Only the goal and its achievement are considered worthy of description.<\/p>\n
ten of his master\u2019s camels The historical problem of the camel in the patriarchal narratives has been discussed in the Comment to 12:16. In the present instance, the sizable convoy is indispensable to the progress of the story, for it is designed to make a powerful impression on the girl and her family, to serve as the instrument for testing her character, and to have the practical purpose of providing the means of homeward transportation for the bride and her entourage.<\/p>\n
Aram-naharaim This rare place-name occurs nowhere else in Genesis.10 The alternative Paddan-aram is discussed in the Comment to 25:20. The Greek translation took the second element to be a dual form, \u201ctwo rivers,\u201d and so arose \u201cMesopotamia,\u201d the land \u201cbetween the two rivers.\u201d This term was misunderstood to refer to the entire territory between the Tigris and the Euphrates, or between the Euphrates and its tributary, the River Balikh. The Targums, however, with their \u201cAram which is on the Euphrates,\u201d have preserved a better tradition, for the name naharaim really means \u201cthe land along the river\u201d or \u201cthe land within the river.\u201d It is the territory bounded on three sides by the Great Bend of the Euphrates, within which lay the kingdom of Mitanni. This is called Naharain in Egyptian texts and Naharima in the El-Amarna letters.<\/p>\n
11. It was natural for a newly arrived stranger to head for the public wells. He could replenish his water supplies and at the same time cull much valuable information about the town and make useful contacts, for the well served as a meeting place for the townsfolk and shepherds. Jacob, too, gravitated at once toward the well on arriving at Haran in 29:2, and Moses did the same thing when he fled to Midian in Exodus 2:15. In each case the encounter at the well eventuated in a betrothal. The three scenes share a number of features in common.<\/p>\n
at evening time When the chores are done, and the sun-baked day has cooled, the young women who go out to draw water can dawdle over the task and engage in leisurely conversation.<\/p>\n
12\u201314. The unnamed servant of Abraham is the first person whom Scripture records as praying for personal guidance at a critical moment. The prayer is of interest because it is a \u201cprayer of the heart,\u201d uttered spontaneously and without formality. It implies a concept of the individual as a religious unit in his own right, as distinct from the community. Individual, direct contact with God and an understanding of God as approachable are prominent motifs in the religion of Israel. They find expression for the first time in the simple, pious prayer of the servant.<\/p>\n
12. grant me good fortune Hebrew hakreh, literally \u201cmake it occur.\u201d What appears to an observer to be the happy result of chance (mikreh) may, in reality, be a deliberate determination of God. Nothing is more characteristic of biblical man than a profound and pervasive conviction about the role of divine Providence in everyday human affairs. It should be noted that the servant does not ask for a miraculous divine intervention or for a revelation that would designate Isaac\u2019s bride-to-be. He prays, rather, that the rational criteria of suitability that he himself determines might be in accordance with God\u2019s will and be effective.<\/p>\n
13. by the spring For the variants \u201cspring\u201d and \u201cwell,\u201d see Comment to 16:14.<\/p>\n
14. The criteria that the servant establishes are aspects of nobility of character. The ideal wife must be hospitable to strangers, kind to animals, and willing to give of herself to others. The grueling nature of the prescribed test can be appreciated only if it is realized that a single camel\u2014and here there were ten!\u2014requires at least twenty-five gallons of water to regain the weight it loses in the course of a long journey. It takes a camel about ten minutes to drink this amount of water.<\/p>\n
THE ENCOUNTER WITH REBEKAH (vv. 15\u201327)<\/p>\n
The servant\u2019s prayer is answered at once and in full measure. He had not specified family relationship, and the girl turns out to be Abraham\u2019s kin. He had said nothing of beauty, and she is well endowed with it. Moreover, her chastity, a virtue highly esteemed, is unblemished.<\/p>\n
15. born to Bethuel \u2026 Her full genealogy is given because, as related in 22:20\u201324, Nahor also had children from a concubine. The child of a chief wife enjoyed higher social prestige. The relationship to Abraham is given in order to emphasize the providential nature of what occurred.<\/p>\n
16. a virgin \u2026 Hebrew betulah, like its cognates Akkadian batultu, Ugaritic btlt, Arabic batul, Syriac bethultha, does not by itself, without further definition, exclusively express virginity in the physical sense understood by the English word. Rather, the primary denotation is chronological, and the term denotes a sexually mature young girl of marriageable age, whether married or not. Thus Joel 1:8 can use the figure of a maiden (betulah) lamenting for the husband of her youth, and an Aramaic incantation text speaks of a bethultha who is pregnant. When Akkadian texts wish to stress the preservation of bodily virginal integrity, they employ the phrase s \u030ca zikaram la id\u016b, \u201cwho has not known a man,\u201d which corresponds almost exactly to the additional defining clause in this verse, already discussed in the Comment to 19:8.<\/p>\n
went down \u2026 filled \u2026 came up She went about her business briskly and conscientiously, not wasting time in idle gossip. This made a great impression on the servant.11<\/p>\n
17. In order to test her, he deliberately refrains from asking for water for the animals.<\/p>\n
19. until they finish Her offer is not a token gesture but an act of true generosity proffered in full knowledge of the great labor involved.<\/p>\n
22. Partly in return for her self-imposed, arduous labors and partly to win her good will and to impress her family, he lavishes rich gifts upon the girl. The fact that he does so even before learning her identity has caused difficulty for the commentators. Rashi understands the servant\u2019s action to be an expression of implicit faith in God\u2019s response to his prayer. Most Jewish exegetes prefer to reverse the order of events and cite verse 47 as proof.12
\nThe specification of the weight of the jewelry is due to the fact that such items were cast according to fixed standards and used as media of exchange.<\/p>\n
half-shekel Hebrew beka\u02bf is a weight so defined in Exodus 38:26. The word is probably derived from a root meaning \u201cto split, divide.\u201d Several weights inscribed in the paleo-Hebrew script with beka\u02bf, or its abbreviation b, have been found. They have an average weight of 6.019 grams (.21 oz.).<\/p>\n
24. In detailing her family connections, she has no reason to include her father\u2019s relationship to Abraham, as had the Narrator in verse 15.<\/p>\n
25. To provide provender and shelter for the camels is a munificent undertaking.<\/p>\n
27. kinsmen This is the force of Hebrew \u02bea\u1e25ei, literally \u201cbrothers of.\u201d The Targums and the Septuagint have the singular construction \u02bea\u1e25i, as in verse 48.<\/p>\n
THE BETROTHAL (vv. 28\u201361)<\/p>\n
28. her mother\u2019s household In this society a girl would ordinarily refer to her home as her mother\u2019s house.13<\/p>\n
29. Rebekah had a brother Not included in the genealogy of 22:23, he needs to be introduced now.14<\/p>\n
Laban Hebrew lavan, meaning \u201cwhite.\u201d The feminine form levanah, \u201cthe white one,\u201d is a poetic term for the moon.15 This association is in keeping with other names in Abraham\u2019s family that have a connection with the lunar cult, such as Terah, which has been connected yarea\u1e25, \u201cmoon\u201d; Sarah, the Hebrew form of Akkadian \u0161arratu, \u201cqueen,\u201d used of the consort of the moon-god Sin; and Milcah, from Akkadian malkatu, \u201cprincess,\u201d the name of Sin\u2019s daughter.<\/p>\n
30. when he saw \u2026 Laban\u2019s hospitality appears to match that of his sister, except for the impression that he is motivated by greed. The narrative here is anticipating the character of Laban as revealed later in his dealings with Jacob.<\/p>\n
Thus the man spoke to me Referring to verse 23.<\/p>\n
34\u201339. In a remarkably long and detailed speech, the servant recounts his entire experience. This type of repetition,16 which doubtless has its origins in orally transmitted literature, is a standard feature of the Near Eastern epic tradition and is carried over into various kinds of biblical prose narrative. The present example is the longest such. Generally, the monotony of repetition is relieved by occasional variation of language and emphasis. Where necessary, as here, there is an artful adjustment of language to meet the exigencies of the situation. Thus, the servant\u2019s account gives prominence to his master\u2019s great wealth, which is made credible by the size of his retinue and the gifts he has brought. He recounts the story of Isaac\u2019s extraordinary birth and subtly informs his audience that the prospective groom is the sole heir to his father\u2019s fortune (cf. 25:5). Mention of the oath demonstrates the great seriousness of the matter at hand, which is a delicate form of flattery to the bride and her family. So is the reference to the rejection of a Canaanite wife, which also happens to explain why Isaac has not yet married. Tactfully, the narrative leaves unmentioned Abraham\u2019s original separation from the family and the proscription on bringing Isaac to them.<\/p>\n
41. my adjuration Hebrew \u02bealah is the curse attaching to an oath as the penalty for non-compliance, as specified in Numbers 5:21f.<\/p>\n
45. Rebekah The girl had not revealed her name. How the servant knew it is not stated. Perhaps he had overheard her being addressed.17<\/p>\n
47. As noted in the Comment to verse 22, the order of events is not the same as previously recorded. Had the servant not reported as he did, he would have laid himself open to the charge of contradicting his assertion that he came specifically to find a wife from among Abraham\u2019s family.18<\/p>\n
48. my master\u2019s brother See Comment to verse 27. \u201cBrother\u201d here simply means \u201ckinsman,\u201d as it does in 29:12, 15.<\/p>\n
50. Laban and Bethuel It is not only strange that Laban takes precedence over his father but also that the father plays no further role in the proceedings. In verse 53 he is not listed among the recipients of gifts, and in verse 55 it is Laban and his mother who carry on the negotiations. The conclusion that Laban occupies a special position in the family is inescapable and is confirmed by 25:20, where, in addition to being described as the \u201cdaughter of Bethuel,\u201d Rebekah is also listed as being \u201cthe sister of Laban.\u201d Radak suggests that the father was too enfeebled and incompetent to act, other than to indicate his assent to his son\u2019s statement of agreement in principle. Numerous ancient Near Eastern texts demonstrate that in a patriarchal society the brother had important duties and powers in regard to his sisters. There are also legal documents that detail the joint exercise of authority by mother and son in the marriage of a daughter.<\/p>\n
bad or good That is, anything at all; we have no choice in the matter. The phrase is an example of merism, the expression of totality through the combination of opposites (see an earlier example noted in the Comment to 2:9).<\/p>\n
53. The two types of gifts\u2014the one to Rebekah, the other to her family\u2014most likely correspond to the \u201cbride-price and gifts\u201d mentioned in 34:12. In Akkadian these are known respectively as the ter\u1e2b\u00e2tum and the biblum. The first was a fixed amount paid by the groom in compensation for the loss of the bride\u2019s services and her potential offspring. These will now belong to her husband\u2019s family. This is probably what is called elsewhere in Hebrew the mohar (Exod. 22:16). The biblum consisted of ceremonial marriage gifts to the bride\u2019s family.19<\/p>\n
55\u201358. What is at issue here is not consent to the marriage\u2014it has already been given and its formalities completed\u2014but agreement to quit the familial hearth at once for a distant land, foregoing the customary elaborate leave-taking ceremonies such as Laban described in 31:27.<\/p>\n
55. some ten days Literally, \u201cdays or ten,\u201d a phrase interpreted by the Targums to mean \u201ca year or ten months\u201d and by the Septuagint as \u201ca few days, say ten.\u201d20<\/p>\n
59. her nurse Hebrew meneket is really a wet nurse, such as employed for the baby Moses in Exodus 2:7. Rebekah could hardly have been in need of such services. In Mesopotamia the wet nurse, Akkadian mu\u0161\u0113niqtum, \u201cthe one who suckles,\u201d frequently had the additional duties of tarb\u012btum, bringing up the child and acting as guardian. In 35:8 Rebekah\u2019s nurse is identified as Deborah, and her death and burial are recorded. She was obviously an esteemed member of the family. Having attended and reared Rebekah from birth, she must have remained as a member of the household and now accompanies her as a chaperon. Interestingly, Targum Jonathan renders meneket by padgogthah, from Greek paidag\u014dgos, \u201ctutor,\u201d a meaning that echoes the Akkadian tarb\u012btum.<\/p>\n
60. The valediction is concerned with progeny and security. It is no coincidence that Rebekah receives the same blessing that God bestowed on Abraham following the Akedah. Her marriage to Isaac is an historic, providential event by virtue of which the divine promises are to come to fruition.21<\/p>\n
O sister! A term of endearment, discussed in the Comment to 12:13.<\/p>\n
61. her maids A mark of social status.22 The ancient practice of a daughter receiving a maid at her wedding is widely attested.<\/p>\n
REBEKAH AND ISAAC (vv. 62\u201367)<\/p>\n
62. Beer-lahai-roi According to 16:14, this is the name of a well situated in the Negeb. It was probably part of an oasis to which sheep-breeders seasonally repaired for water and pasturage. Isaac later settled there (25:11).<\/p>\n
63. walking The meaning of Hebrew la-sua\u1e25 is obscure. The present rendering is based on Arabic sa\u1e25\u1ea1, \u201cto take a stroll.\u201d Another tradition has Isaac \u201cchatting\u201d with his friends, a translation derived from Hebrew sia\u1e25, \u201cto talk.\u201d Still a third interpretation connects the word with Hebrew sia\u1e25, \u201ca shrub\u201d; he strolled among the plants or went to plant shrubs. The most popular rabbinic understanding has Isaac \u201cpraying.\u201d23<\/p>\n
63. saw The Hebrew text employs the identical phraseology for the actions of Isaac and Rebekah, thus conveying an impression of simultaneity. Their eyes met in instant recognition; each knew instinctively who the other was.<\/p>\n
64. She alighted Some Jewish commentators observe that this phrase properly belongs after verse 65.24<\/p>\n
65. my master He merits this title because he is his father\u2019s sole heir.<\/p>\n
her veil The incident of Sarah in Egypt, as described in 12:14, shows that Israelite women were not normally veiled. Tamar put on a veil only to disguise herself before Judah (38:14). In the Middle Assyrian law the veil is a mark of distinction and the prerogative of a free woman,25 but this is exceptional in the Near East, where wives generally went about unveiled. There is evidence, however, that the veiling of the bride was part of the marriage ceremony. In Akkadian the bride on her wedding day is called kallatu kutumtu, \u201cthe veiled bride.\u201d Pussumtu, \u201cthe veiled one,\u201d is another term for kallatu, \u201cbride.\u201d The Middle Assyrian laws make the raising of a concubine to the status of a wife contingent upon her being veiled in the presence of the court. In light of all this, Rebekah\u2019s veiling herself has both symbolic and socio-legal significance. It is an unspoken signal to Isaac that she is his bride.<\/p>\n
67. into the tent of his mother By this act, Rebekah formally becomes the successor to Sarah the matriarch. The continuity of the generations is assured.<\/p>\n
he took Rebekah On the verb l-k-\u1e25 \u201cto take,\u201d see Comment to verse 4.<\/p>\n
as his wife Literally, \u201cand she became his wife.\u201d The phrase most likely means that the marriage was consummated and her status recognized by all.26<\/p>\n
loved her The first reference to love in the Bible (22:2) concerned the tie between parent and child; this, the second, relates to the bond between husband and wife.<\/p>\n
CHAPTER 25*<\/p>\n
The Genealogies of Abraham (vv. 1\u201318)<\/p>\n
Following Isaac\u2019s marriage, the biblical text reports nothing more of the activities of Abraham, even though the chronological system of Genesis informs us that he lived for another thirty-five years.1 His death and burial are now recorded, preceded and followed by genealogical lists of his descendants. Thus the entire cycle of Abrahamic traditions, which was preceded by a detailed list of Abraham\u2019s ancestors, is encased within a framework of genealogies. The closing section, which shows how God\u2019s promises to the patriarch were realized, is dependent on, and presupposes, a knowledge of those earlier promises.2
\nGod promised that the patriarch would be \u201cexceedingly numerous,\u201d \u201cthe father of a multitude of nations,\u201d \u201cexceedingly fertile\u201d; the genealogical lists specify how this was brought about. Abraham had been assured, \u201cYou shall go to your fathers in peace; \/ You shall be buried at a ripe old age.\u201d Here it is affirmed that he died \u201cat a good ripe age, old and contented\u201d and that \u201che was gathered to his kin.\u201d Previously God had declared that Isaac alone was to be the true heir of the covenant; here Isaac becomes the sole beneficiary of his father\u2019s estate and, immediately following Abraham\u2019s death, receives the divine blessing. Previously Hagar had been promised that God would \u201cgreatly increase\u201d her offspring, that her son Ishmael would be made \u201cfertile and exceedingly numerous,\u201d \u201cthe father of twelve chieftains,\u201d \u201ca great nation\u201d; here the twelve chieftains are listed by name.
\nIn summation, verses 1\u201318 constitute a conceptual unity. By enveloping his note on the death of Abraham in genealogical lists, the Narrator demonstrates both God\u2019s fidelity to His promises and his own personal perception of the history of the human race as the fulfillment of God\u2019s purposes.
\nAside from their literary-theological function, these genealogical lists bear intrinsic interest for the historian. There are two groupings of nomadic tribes or peoples, mostly identifiable as Arab. Both are said to trace their origins back to the patriarch, the one through a certain Keturah, the other through Ishmael, Abraham\u2019s son by Hagar. Keturah has six sons, Ishmael twelve. Since many of the names here listed are known to us from cuneiform sources as those of peoples, it is clear that the two genealogical tables represent in reality two confederations of tribes that once enjoyed kinship, trade, or political ties with the early Israelites. In accordance with common biblical practice, these relationships are expressed in familial terms and arranged in a genealogical pattern.
\nThe antiquity of some of the traditions that lie behind the lists is apparent from several of their features. The term \u201cArab\u201d is not used, nor is there a personality of that name who is regarded as the eponym, or name-giving ancestor, of the Arabs. The reason is that the designation \u201cArab\u201d does not appear in written sources before the ninth century B.C.E., when it is first used in both royal Assyrian inscriptions and in biblical literature.3 The omission of the name \u201cArab\u201d from our lists would indicate that these derive from before the period when it came into vogue.
\nThe inclusion of the Midianites provides further evidence of antiquity. This people was hostile to Israel during the wilderness wanderings; its fertility cult proved to be a provocative and corrupting influence; it engaged in a bloody clash with Israel, and in the time of the Judges, it exerted hegemony over the Israelites, who fought a war of liberation under Gideon to rid themselves of the yoke of the hated oppressor. This victory was long remembered in Israel.4 Given such a history of enmity between the two peoples, it is hardly likely that a narrator would have invented a record of kinship unless it rested on solid fact. Indeed, the story of Moses\u2019 flight from Pharaoh to Midian, where he found refuge and intermarried with the priestly family,5 corroborates the inference of an earlier record of amicable relationships between Israel and Midian.
\nStill further testimony to the early source of some of the traditions is afforded by the Ishmaelite genealogy. The text clearly presents a twelve-tribe confederation known as \u201cthe sons of Ishmael.\u201d Interestingly, there is no biblical allusion to the Ishmaelites after the time of David, suggesting that the Ishmaelite confederation disintegrated about this time and disappeared from history. This dovetails with the fact that no such ethnic entity is mentioned in the several royal Assyrian inscriptions that deal with Arab tribes. Accordingly, our list precedes the tenth century B.C.E. Finally, the present genealogy places the Kedarites in the second position. This must reproduce an earlier state of affairs than that reflected in the Assyrian documents of the eighth and seventh centuries B.C.E. and in Isaiah 60:7, in which the Kedarites are the leading north Arabian tribe.<\/p>\n
THE DESCENDANTS OF KETURAH (vv. 1\u20136)<\/p>\n
The \u201csons\u201d of Keturah, six in number, are to be regarded as constituting the original core of the tribal confederation to which others, \u201cgrandsons\u201d and \u201cgreat-grandsons,\u201d later adhered. The name \u201cKeturah\u201d is obviously related to Hebrew ketoret, \u201cspices.\u201d There was a universal and sustained demand in the ancient world for frankincense, myrrh, and other aromatic resins and gums. These were needed for the requirements of the cult, for the manufacture of medicines, and in the preparation and preservation of food. The prime source and producer was southern Arabia, especially the Hadramaut region, which is modern Yemen (Arabia Felix), the most fertile part of the Arabian Peninsula.
\nBecause of her name, it is reasonable to assume that the key factor behind the organization of the Keturah tribes was the spice trade\u2014the production, shipment, and distribution of this precious commodity. It so happens that both biblical and Assyrian sources mention many of the names here listed as those of peoples or localities involved in this particular branch of international commerce. They controlled the trade routes that led from the Arabian Peninsula to the lands of the Fertile Crescent. This accounts for the picture of such widespread geographical diffusion of the Ketureans from southern Arabia to the Middle Euphrates region and northern Syria.<\/p>\n
1. Abraham took another wife Over forty years earlier the patriarch had judged himself to be too old to sire children;6 it is hardly likely that he had six sons after the age of one hundred and forty. Hence, the present report does not relate to a time subsequent to Sarah\u2019s death and Isaac\u2019s marriage, but to many years before. That is why verse 6, like 1 Chronicles 1:32, refers to Keturah as a \u201cconcubine,\u201d not a wife.7<\/p>\n
Keturah Neither her parentage nor her origin is given. A rabbinic tradition identifies her with Hagar, but many medieval Jewish exegetes reject this view.<\/p>\n
2. Of the six names listed, the first three have not been identified with any degree of confidence, but they most likely refer to peoples or oases along the international trade routes. The last three are well documented.
\nZimran may be the Arab tribe Zamareni mentioned by Pliny the Elder (23\u201379 C.E.). Jokshan is otherwise unknown. Medan may be a variant of the place-name Badana, situated south of Tema, which is mentioned in the Annals of Tiglath-pileser III (744\u2013727 B.C.E.).8
\nThe Midianites were traders in frankincense according to the testimony of Isaiah 60:6. They are the best known of the entire list on account of the varied history of relationships between them and Israel, as outlined above. Their land lay along the territory east of the Gulf of Akaba in northwestern Arabia. Classical and Arabic sources still knew of a place named Madyan in this region. Biblical texts show that the Midianites were really a confederation of five tribes (v. 4) and were dispersed over a wide area, which included territory close to the borders of Egypt and the Land of Israel. Genesis 37:25, 28 and Judges 8:24 indicate an affiliation with the Ishmaelites.
\nIshbak is certainly the north Syrian tribe of Iasbuq mentioned in the monolith inscription of Shalmaneser III (858\u2013824 B.C.E.). Its ruler at the time was Bur-Anate, a name that betrays Aramaic influence. The tribe is there included with the petty Hittite and Aramean kingdoms of northern Syria, southern Asia Minor, and regions of the Upper Euphrates.
\nShuah (Su\u1e2bie) is found in cuneiform texts as early as the eighteenth century B.C.E. It lay on the right bank of the Middle Euphrates below the mouth of the river Habur. This very important international trade center may well have been the place of origin of Job\u2019s friend \u201cBildad the Shuhite\u201d (Job 2:11).<\/p>\n
3. The two \u201csons\u201d of the otherwise unknown Jokshan are well attested. Sheba was situated in the southwestern part of the Arabian Peninsula. The Annals of Sargon II (721\u2013705 B.C.E.) mention \u201call kinds of aromatic substances\u201d that were received from the kingdom, and the biblical prophets also refer to it as a source of frankincense and other spices.9
\nDedan, too, was a major center of the spice trade. It is identified with the modern oasis of \u02beel \u02bfUlla in the northwestern part of the peninsula.
\nBoth Sheba and Dedan have been discussed in detail in the Comment to Genesis 10:7.<\/p>\n
Asshurim, Letushim, Leummim These may be obscure tribes that fell under the domination of the Dedanites or that were associated with them. The first name is the same that elsewhere in the Bible means \u201cAssyrians,\u201d but such an interpretation is historically unlikely in the present context. Numbers 24:22, 24 and Psalms 83:9 mention a people named Asshur and in neither instance is Assyria suited to the circumstances described. There may well have been another people named Asshur that is referred to in these texts. It is also possible that Syria is meant because the spelling of this name in some ancient languages is closer to Asshur. There is indeed evidence for the presence of a Syrian merchant colony at the oasis of Dedan.
\nIt should be noted that the three names are, exceptionally in this list, in the plural form and that they are omitted from the parallel list of 1 Chronicles 1:32. Because of this, they may not be ethnic names at all. As a matter of fact, the Targums had no such tradition. Targum Onkelos renders \u201cinhabitants of camps, tents, and islands,\u201d while Targum Jonathan has \u201cmerchants, traders, chiefs of peoples.\u201d Targum Yerushalmi translates letushim by \u201ccraftsmen.\u201d The terms may signify three main classes or professions among the Dedanites: peasants, smiths, and seminomads.<\/p>\n
4. As stated above, this verse shows that the Midianites were really a confederation of five tribes, here called \u201csons.\u201d This accords with the information given elsewhere in the Bible about five \u201ckings\u201d or \u201cchiefs\u201d of this people.10
\nEphah is identified as the \u1e2aaiapp\u0101, who are mentioned in the inscriptions of Tiglath-pileser III as bearing tribute, which included spices. Isaiah 60:6 similarly refers to dromedaries from Midian and Ephah arriving from Sheba and carrying gold and frankincense. The Annals of Sargon II (721\u2013705 B.C.E.) list the \u1e2aaiapp\u0101 together with other Arab tribes whose habitat was the region of the Red Sea coast.11 Epher is perhaps the place-name Apparu mentioned in the description of the campaigns of Ashurbanipal (668\u2013627 B.C.E.) against the Arabs.12 Enoch has not been identified; it may be the same town as that mentioned in Genesis 4:17. Neither Abida nor Eldaah is otherwise known, but the former might survive in the modern Arabic place-name Bad\u02bf, an oasis in what was the ancient Midianite homeland.<\/p>\n
5\u20136. The preceding list naturally raises the question as to how Isaac\u2019s status might be affected by the existence of so many brothers. We are therefore informed of three measures taken by the patriarch to remove any possible opposition to Isaac and to ensure his son\u2019s undisputed succession.
\nFirst, Isaac is formally declared to be the sole heir to all the father\u2019s effects. In this period, as opposed to the Torah legislation of a later age (see Deut. 21:15\u201317), the father still exercised the right of absolute discretion in designating his own successor, regardless of the order of birth of his sons.
\nSecond, Abraham makes gifts to his other sons while he is still alive. The purpose and meaning of this are uncertain and depend upon the legal status of these offspring, which hinges upon whether or not they were legitimated. The situation may be illuminated by Hammurabi\u2019s laws, paragraph 171 of which stipulates that if the sons of concubines are not formally legitimated by the father \u201cduring his lifetime,\u201d they may not share in the paternal estate. Paragraph 46 of the Middle Assyrian laws similarly provides that if a man does not formally give his concubine the status of a wife, her sons only share in the estate if the father dies without leaving a son from the legal wife.13 In the present case, the gifts to the other sons would either be a gesture of generosity on the part of Abraham designed to secure their good will toward Isaac or in compensation for their surrender of future claims.
\nThird, the purposes of the two preceding measures are finally secured by the separation of the half brothers from the clan of Abraham and their migration to another land. This development is reminiscent of the earlier separation of Lot, as described in 13:11.<\/p>\n
concubines The plural refers to Hagar and Keturah.<\/p>\n
the land of the East The unique Hebrew phrase \u02beerets kedem may mean either \u201cthe land of Kedem,\u201d a specific territorial entity, or \u201cthe land of the East.\u201d In support of the former is the Egyptian Story of Sinuhe (20th cent. B.C.E.), which even gives the name of the ruler of this land not too far from Byblos in ancient Phoenicia. Elsewhere in the Bible the usage of kedem is vague and has a broad meaning covering a wide territorial expanse east of the Land of Israel from the Aramean area of the Middle Euphrates down to northern Arabia.14<\/p>\n
THE DEATH AND BURIAL OF ABRAHAM (vv. 7\u201311)<\/p>\n
7. According to the chronology of Genesis, Abraham resided in the land exactly one hundred years and lived to see his grandchildren\u2019s fifteenth birthday.15<\/p>\n
8. old and contented Such a summation of a life is found with no other personality in biblical literature. The phrase describes not his longevity, which is otherwise mentioned, but the quality of his earthly existence.<\/p>\n
be was gathered to his kin This phrase, peculiar to the Torah, is also used of Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Aaron, and Moses. An analysis of the contexts in which it is found reveals that it is to be distinguished from death itself because the action follows the demise. It is not the same as burial in an ancestral grave, because it is employed of Abraham, Aaron, and Moses, none of whom was buried with his forefathers. It is also not identical with interment in general because the report of burial follows this phrase, and the difference between the two is especially blatant in the case of Jacob, who was interred quite a while after being \u201cgathered to his kin.\u201d It would seem, therefore, that the existence of this idiom, as of the corresponding figure \u201cto lie down with one\u2019s fathers,\u201d testifies to a belief that, despite his mortality and perishability, man possesses an immortal element that survives the loss of life. Death is looked upon as a transition to an afterlife where one is united with one\u2019s ancestors. This interpretation contradicts the widespread, but apparently erroneous, view that such a notion is unknown in Israel until later times.16<\/p>\n
9. Isaac and Ishmael In order of importance, not birth.17<\/p>\n
Machpelah The reference is to the transaction described in chapter 23. The cave now becomes a family tomb.<\/p>\n
11. After the death of \u2026 Literally, \u201cIt was after the death of.\u2026\u201d The Hebrew expression occurs nowhere else in the Torah but is again used in Joshua 1:1, Judges 1:1, and 2 Samuel 1:1 in connection with the passing of Moses, Joshua, and Saul, respectively. In each instance it indicates that a historic turning point has been reached; an era has come to an end, but the continuity of the leadership has been assured.18<\/p>\n
God blessed \u2026 Isaac He made him the recipient of the covenant in fulfillment of the promise of 17:21.<\/p>\n
near Beer-lahai-roi This is mentioned in 16:14 as the site of God\u2019s promise of a son\u2014Ishmael\u2014to Hagar. Isaac\u2019s settling here may be a symbolic assertion of hegemony over his brother.19<\/p>\n
THE LINE OF ISHMAEL (vv. 12\u201318)<\/p>\n
Whereas the descendants of Keturah include three generations, reflecting a complicated history of tribal relationships, the line of Ishmael comprises only \u201csons,\u201d which suggests a very powerful primary confederation of tribes. Some of these are also mentioned in extrabiblical Near Eastern sources; others are known only from other biblical texts, while two\u2014Hadad and Kedmah\u2014are not otherwise identifiable.
\nSome of the names, which in this chapter are differentiated according to Keturah or Ishmael ancestry, are elsewhere combined within a single context. Thus, Isaiah 60:6\u20137 has Midian, Ephah, and Sheba\u2014all Keturah tribes\u2014side by side with Kedar and Nebaioth. Jeremiah 25:23 pairs Dedan with Tema, and Ezekiel 27:21f. has Kedar with Sheba. The same commingling occurs in the Annals of Tiglath-pileser III, which cite Massa, Tema, and the Idiba\u02beileans (=Abdeel), who are all Ishmaelites in our tables, together with Sheba and Ephah, who are descendants of Keturah. This phenomenon illustrates the fluidity of tribal confederations and the instability of allegiances, a perennial characteristic of the ancient Near East.<\/p>\n
12\u201313. This is the line \u2026 These are the names of \u2026 The first formula has been discussed in the Comment to 2:4. The second occurs frequently, but the combination of the two rubrics is unusual and its significance is unclear.20<\/p>\n
13. The Nebaioth are the people referred to as Nabaiati in the accounts of Ashurbanipal\u2019s campaigns against the Arabs. As noted above, the tradition about their preeminence in the Ishmaelite tribal league is an early one. Genesis 28:9 and 36:3 testify to a relationship with the Edomites. In the last centuries B.C.E. and the first century C.E., the former Edomite homeland in Transjordan became the kingdom of the Nabateans, an Arab people. Its main center was Petra. Whether these were the descendants of our Nebaioth cannot be determined, but the possibility certainly cannot be ruled out.21
\nKedar is frequently mentioned in the Bible and also appears often in royal Assyrian inscriptions from the eighth century on. The Kedarites are depicted as herders of sheep and goats who pursued a seminomadic existence and were diffused over a wide area of the desert region east of the Land of Israel.
\nAdbeel is the tribe of Idibi\u02belu or Idiba\u02beil, whom Tiglath-pileser III subjugated and then assigned to guard duty on the Egyptian frontier.
\nMibsam cannot be identified, but the name clearly derives from Hebrew bosem, \u201cspice,\u201d and may indicate an association with the spice trade. Ishmael is also said to have had a daughter Basemath (36:3), whose name also points in the same direction. Mibsam together with the following Mishma appear again as brothers in the genealogy of the tribe of Simeon, listed in 1 Chronicles 4:24ff. This probably means that these two clans were later absorbed into the Israelite tribe whose territory in the south indeed bordered on the habitation and grazing zones of the Ishmaelites.<\/p>\n
14. Mishma is not mentioned in extrabiblical sources, but a place-name Jebel Misma\u02bf in Arabia, about 160 miles (247 km.) east of Tema, may be an indication that the original habitat of the group lay in this area.
\nDumah is referred to again in the Bible only in Isaiah 21:11. The site is most likely the very important strategic oasis described as \u201cAdumati the stronghold of the Arabs\u201d in the inscriptions of Esarhaddon (680\u2013669 B.C.E.). The later Arabs called it D\u016bmat al-Jundal (\u201cDumah of the stones\u201d). Its modern name is al-Jawf (\u201cthe cavity\u201d). It lies in the northern sector of the Arabian Desert due east of the Gulf of Akaba.22
\nMassa may well be referred to in Proverbs 30:1 and 31:1. Tiglath-pileser III mentions \u201cthe inhabitants of Mas\u2019a\u201d together with those of Tema and other Arabian peoples. The location of the site is uncertain, however.<\/p>\n
15. Hadad does not appear elsewhere, but the stem is a frequent component of early Arabic personal names.
\nTema is a famous oasis, northeast of Dedan, astride the caravan route that led from southern Arabia to southern Mesopotamia. It is mentioned again in both Isaiah 21:14 and Jeremiah 25:23 in association with Dedan, while Job 6:19 connects it with Sheba.
\nJetur and Naphish are both described in 1 Chronicles 5:19 as being \u201cHagrites,\u201d that is, most probably, descendants of Hagar. They are said to have warred with the Israelite Transjordanian tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half-Manasseh. A district of Iturea in the Lebanon, Anti-Lebanon, and Mount Hermon region is mentioned in Roman classical sources as the home of a predatory Arab people, the Itureans. This name is derived from Jetur.
\nNothing further is known about Naphish, but the \u201csons of Naphusim,\u201d mentioned in Ezra 2:50 and Nehemiah 7:52 among the returnees from the Babylonian exile, may have been survivors of this people, which had been absorbed into the Israelite tribes in the days of the monarchy.
\nKedmah does not appear elsewhere as the name of a people. The word usually means \u201ceastward.\u201d<\/p>\n
16. All twelve Ishmaelite tribes are said to have lived in \u201cvillages,\u201d a mode of life also characteristic of the tribes of Avvim and Kedar, according to Deuteronomy 2:23 and Isaiah 42:11. The Hebrew word used in these passages, \u1e25atser (pl. \u1e25atserim), corresponds to the technical term \u1e25ats\u0101rum (pl. \u1e25atsir\u0101tum) employed in the Mari texts for the settlements of pastoral nomads. From Leviticus 25:31 and other biblical references, it is clear that the \u201cvillages\u201d were unfortified encampments, often dependent on neighboring towns.23<\/p>\n
twelve chieftains The phrase harks back to 17:20 to indicate that God\u2019s promise has been fulfilled. The \u201cchieftain,\u201d Hebrew nasi\u02be, was the secular leader of the tribe. The foregoing twelve are taken to be the eponymous ancestors of the Ishmaelite confederacy, that is, the historical personalities from whom the tribes and places listed received their names.<\/p>\n
tribes Hebrew \u02beummah, as proven by the usage of ummatum in the Mari texts, denotes a large nomadic tribal unit. In Numbers 25:15 it is used in connection with the Midianite confederacy.<\/p>\n
17. From the patriarchal period on, the Bible only records the life spans of the heroes of Israel. This notice about Ishmael is exceptional and appears because of two earlier chronological notes, namely, Abraham\u2019s age at his birth and the boy\u2019s age when he was circumcised.24<\/p>\n
18. The territorial boundaries of the Ishmaelite confederation, or the geographic limits of their settlement and migration patterns, are now given. The tradition derives from the period prior to the rise of the Amalekites, for by the days of Saul this people had occupied the identical area, according to 1 Samuel 15:7, and had apparently displaced the Ishmaelites.
\nThe location of Havilah is uncertain because there was more than one site of this name, as pointed out in the Comments to 2:11 and 10:7. Shur must certainly be the line of Egyptian fortifications in the eastern Delta discussed in connection with 16:7. Asshur cannot be Assyria but, rather, some place in the northern Sinai desert\u2014if it is not a variant of Shur.25<\/p>\n
they camped \u2026 their kinsmen The Hebrew has the singular \u201che \u2026 his\u201d because it harks back to the prediction of 16:12 which speaks of Ishmael, the person. The stem n-f-l, here rendered \u201ccamped,\u201d is the same as that used in Judges 7:12 of predatory tribes \u201cspread\u201d over the plain, deployed for incursions against Israel.<\/p>\n
Isaac, Father of Two Nations (vv. 19\u201334)<\/p>\n
Toledot<\/p>\n
The second series of patriarchal narratives, that relating to Isaac, now begins. The data about him are exceedingly sparse. Much of what is preserved\u2014his birth and circumcision, the Akedah, and his marriage\u2014is integrated into the biography of Abraham, while other episodes belong to the large collection of traditions regarding Jacob. Nothing is recorded of the first twenty years of Isaac\u2019s marriage. Only a few isolated events in his life are preserved in the literature, where he is eclipsed by the towering figure of his father Abraham and overshadowed by the dynamic, forceful personality of his son Jacob.
\nYet Isaac is more than a mere transition between Abraham and Jacob, and the biblical account does contain unmistakable elements of individuality. Isaac\u2019s name, uniquely bestowed by God, is not changed; his pastoral wanderings are restricted to a narrow range and largely center around Beersheba; unlike Abraham, he does not live at Hebron-Kiriat-arba but settles there only in his old age; he alone remains monogamous; he is the only patriarch to engage in agriculture and the only one never to leave the promised land; finally, the unique divine name pa\u1e25ad yits\u1e25ak (31:42) suggests some episode, not recorded, in which this particular name would have been meaningful. References in Amos 7:9, 16 to \u201cthe shrines of Isaac\u201d and to \u201cthe house of Isaac\u201d as an epithet for Israel seem to indicate that a more extensive account of his life once existed.
\nThe story of Isaac, interrupted by the genealogies of chapter 25, now resumes with the main emphasis on the birth of Esau and Jacob and the rivalry between them. These narratives present an ancient belief that the bitter hostility that marked the later relationships between the peoples of Israel and Edom had its origin in the prenatal experience of their founding fathers, who were twins.
\nThe idea that Jacob\/Israel and Esau\/Edom were siblings finds expression in several biblical texts. Deuteronomy 23:8 says: \u201cYou shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your kinsman.\u201d Numbers 20:14 reports that in the course of the wilderness wanderings Moses sent a message to the king of Edom that opened with the phrase, \u201cThus says your brother Israel.\u201d The prophet Obadiah, in his indictment of Edom, also refers to \u201cyour brother Jacob\u201d (v. 10), and Malachi (1:2) assumes it to be common knowledge that \u201cEsau is Jacob\u2019s brother.\u201d This tradition is so extraordinary, given the long and bitter history of enmity between Israel and Edom, that it must reflect authentic historical experience. The two peoples must have shared memories of an early common ancestry, blood kinship, or treaty associations.
\nAccording to Genesis 36:6\u20138, the clan of Esau originally lived in Canaan but later settled in \u201cthe hill country of Seir.\u201d The national territory of Edom lay east of the Jordan in the southernmost part of the country. It stretched from the Gulf of Elath northward for a distance of about 100 miles (170 km.) to Na\u1e25al Zered (Wadi \u1e24as\u0101), which formed the natural boundary between Edom and Moab. It shared a common boundary with Judea along the rift of the Arabah, which extends from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Akaba.
\nIt was this geographic reality that engendered the hostility between the two peoples. The western side of the Edomite homeland enjoyed a strategic and climatic advantage. Its steep precipices, rising to 5,000 feet (1,525 m.) above sea level, overlook the Arabah. Their westerly exposure assures the receipt of respectable amounts of precipitation, thereby sustaining agriculture and forests. The \u201cking\u2019s highway,\u201d one of the main arteries of communication in the ancient world, traversed the country from north to south. This gave it control over the precious caravan trade from India and southern Arabia and connected it with Egypt, Syria, and Mesopotamia. Punon, an important copper mining and smelting site, was also situated within Edom.
\nOn the western side of the rift lay the Arabah, arid and far from the Judean centers of population. This necessitated long lines of communication and the hauling of supplies over considerable distances and treacherous terrain. The copper deposits of the Arabah were unexploitable without a local supply of fuel. A strategic highway led through the region from the Gulf of Akaba across the Negeb to Beer-sheba, where it split into a network of roads joining the important towns of Judea and Northern Israel. Without control of the Arabah, the nomadic tribes that roamed the Negeb were a constant menace.
\nBoth Edom and Israel had abundant incentive to encroach upon each other\u2019s territory. It was easier for the Edomites to infiltrate westward into the Arabah than for the Judcans to penetrate Edom. The Edomites exploited their strategic advantage to the full, while the temptation to shorten communication lines, to have a supply source close by, and to have access to fuel for the copper mines as well as control over the lucrative spice trade proved irresistible to the Judean kings. It was David who defeated the Edomites, stationed permanent garrisons in their land, and made them vassals of his kingdom, as described in 2 Samuel 8:13f.<\/p>\n
THE BIRTH OF JACOB AND ESAU (vv. 19\u201326)<\/p>\n
19. This is the story of Isaac The introductory formula \u02beelleh toledot has been discussed in the Comment to 2:4. Here it serves as the general title for the narrative cycle that concludes with 35:29. As such, it balances the earlier use of the formula before the listing of the line of Ishmael.26 In like manner, \u02beelleh toledot in 37:2 prefaces a cycle of stories about Jacob, thus matching its appearance in 36:1, 19 with the Esau genealogies.<\/p>\n
Abraham begot Isaac This note is hardly needed after the foregoing \u201cIsaac son of Abraham.\u201d Moreover, such a usage is never found in the other \u02beelleh toledot examples. Yet the Chronicler later followed the pattern of this verse in recording, in 1 Chronicles 1:28, that the sons of Abraham were Isaac and Ishmael, and then stating, in verse 34, that \u201cAbraham begot Isaac.\u201d The redundancy, therefore, is not a gloss but a literary device for emphasizing Isaac\u2019s role as the sole successor to the patriarch, in fulfillment of the promise of 21:12: \u201cIt is through Isaac that offspring shall be continued.\u201d27 Some commentators see a desire to underscore the fact that Abraham is the father of Isaac\u2014in light of Abimelech\u2019s kidnapping of Sarah, as told in chapter 20.28<\/p>\n
20. forty years old Rebekah\u2019s age is omitted because, unlike Sarah, she was not beyond the age of childbearing.29<\/p>\n
Bethuel the Aramean According to 22:22, Bethuel was one of the Nahorite tribes, and Aram was his nephew. The epithet \u201cAramean\u201d would have been attached to Bethuel and Laban only after the Arameans dominated the region. Their history has been discussed in connection with 10:22\u201323.<\/p>\n
Paddan-aram This place-name is found only in Genesis.30 It is either another name for Aram-naharaim, mentioned in 24:10, or a town within that region. In favor of the former is Hosea 12:13, which describes the land to which Jacob fled from Esau\u2019s wrath as \u201cthe field of Aram\u201d (Heb. sedeh \u02bearam). The word pdn in Aramaic, Syriac, and Arabic means \u201ca yoke of oxen\u201d or \u201ca plowshare,\u201d\u2014hence, the stretch of land that oxen could plow in a day\u2014in short, \u201ca field.\u201d On the other hand, Akkadian pad\u0101nu means \u201ca path, track.\u201d Elsewhere, Laban\u2019s hometown is designated Haran, a name derived from Akkadian \u1e2brranu, also meaning \u201ca road.\u201d Paddan-aram may thus be another name for Haran.<\/p>\n
sister of Laban The relationship is mentioned as an intimation of the fact that the Jacob-Esau episodes are intertwined with those of Jacob-Laban.<\/p>\n
21. Once again we encounter the motif of the barren wife of the patriarch. In the present instance, Rebekah\u2019s inability to procreate is tinged with irony, for she had gone to her marriage with her family\u2019s blessing echoing in her ears: \u201cO sister! May you grow into thousands of myriads.\u201d31 Now twenty years have passed, and the divine pledges that Isaac would be the progenitor of a people remain unredeemed.32 Nevertheless, unlike Sarah and Abraham, Isaac and Rebekah do not resort to concubinage. Rather, they maintain their faith in God\u2019s word and rely on the power of prayer.33 The prolonged state of barrenness is profoundly meaningful in that it is ended by a deliberate act of divine Providence, a clear sign that the resulting offspring are predestined to be the instruments of God\u2019s purposes.<\/p>\n
22. the children By indicating that there is to be more than one child, the Narrator takes the reader into his confidence.<\/p>\n
struggled in her womb Rebekah experiences an unusually difficult pregnancy. Instead of the normally gentle quickening, the fetal movements are spasmodic and she has fears of miscarrying. Not only is the report of the difficult pregnancy unique in biblical literature, but the Hebrew also uses an unusual verb (va-yitrotsetsu), which literally means \u201cthey crushed, thrust, one another\u201d and which foretokens the future hostile relationship between the children who are about to be born.<\/p>\n
If so, why do I exist? The Hebrew is an incomplete sentence, which literally means \u201cIf so, why then am\/do I \u2026?\u201d The sense requires something like, \u201cWhy then did I yearn and pray to become pregnant?\u201d or \u201cWhy do I go on living?\u201d34 The latter is the reading of the Syriac version, and some scholars regard it as original. Compare Rebekah\u2019s complaint in 27:46, \u201cWhat good will life be to me?\u201d<\/p>\n
She went to inquire of the LORD The idiom employed means to seek divine guidance in a moment of great perplexity and anguish.35 Generally one would go to a specific sanctuary or to some charismatic personage of recognized authority. In this case the narrative is tantalizingly short on details. According to verse 11, the couple is living at Beer-lahai-roi at this time, the place where Hagar had received the divine announcement concerning the birth and destiny of a son, as told in 16:7\u201314. This may have influenced Rebekah to go to the same site. It is to be noted that the divine name YHVH is carefully employed in both inquiry and response, as though to dissociate her action from any pagan cultic rite.<\/p>\n
23. God\u2019s response is oracular in style, poetic in form, the message being conveyed in four pithy phrases.36 Rebekah is informed that she carries twins,37 that each will be the progenitor of a people, that the movements in her womb result from sibling rivalry for priority of birth,38 and that physical strength would be decisive; ultimately, however, hegemony would belong to the loser in the uterine struggle. In historic terms, the seniority of Esau is reflected in his having achieved a settled kingdom earlier than Israel, as noted in 36:31; the supremacy of Jacob found expression in David\u2019s crushing victories over Edom.
\nThere is another aspect to the oracle. Its presence here actually suggests a moral judgment on Jacob\u2019s behavior, for it tacitly asserts that his claim to be heir to the divine promises rests solely upon God\u2019s predetermination. Thus, his election is thereby disengaged from the improper means he later employed to obtain his rights.<\/p>\n
25. red Hebrew \u02beadmoni is also used\u2014admiringly\u2014of David in 1 Samuel 16:12 and 17:42. The term, therefore, is not likely to mean redheadedness, which was popularly associated with the sinister and the dangerous. More likely, a ruddy complexion is intended. This may well be connected with the convention found in Egyptian and Cretan art, as well as in the Ugaritic texts, that equates red skin with heroic stature. At any rate, there is here an undoubted implicit word play between \u02beadmoni and Edom, which is another name for Esau, as noted in verse 30 and other texts. It is likely that the origin of the name Edom may lie in the characteristically reddish hue of the Nubian sandstone and crystalline rocks of that country.<\/p>\n
like a hairy mantle This detail anticipates the crucial role of Esau\u2019s hairiness later on in the narrative. Hebrew se\u02bfar, \u201chair\u201d (sa\u02bfir, \u201chairy\u201d), is also an allusion to the land of Seir, the habitat of Esau\/Edom, as mentioned in 32:4 and in other texts.39 This region probably derived its name from the shaggy nature of the terrain. The Jebel section of Edom has a relatively high annual precipitation and also benefits from snowfall on the hilltops. As a result, it was always distinguished for its woods, forests, and brush. It was not until World War I that the region became finally denuded of vegetation. The Turks cut down the forests in order to service the Hejaz Railroad.
\nEsau\u2019s unusual hairiness brings to mind the account of Enkidu in the Gilgamesh Epic. His entire body is also said to have been covered with hair, a condition that was popularly taken to be a sign of boorish uncouthness.<\/p>\n
Esau The context requires either the name Seir instead of Esau or some etymological association, fancied or real, between \u201cEsau\u201d and shagginess. In the absence of a satisfactory derivation from Hebrew, a connection with Arabic gh-\u0161-w, \u201cto cover, envelop,\u201d is an attractive possibility.40 The name would then mean something like \u201cthe mantled one.\u201d A derivation from Hebrew \u02bf-s-h, \u201cto make,\u201d\u2014that is, \u201cthe one fully developed at birth\u201d\u2014commonly advanced in antiquity and the Middle Ages, is less likely, although evidence of word play on Esau and \u02bf-s-h is to be found in 27:19, 30f.<\/p>\n
26. holding on to the heel That is, attempting to forestall the prior birth of his twin. This seems to be the idea behind Hosea 12:4: \u201cIn the womb he tried to supplant his brother.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jacob By folk etymology, the name is here derived from Hebrew \u02bfakev, \u201cheel.\u201d In reality, Hebrew ya\u02bfakav stems from a Semitic root \u02bf-k-v, \u201cto protect.\u201d It is abbreviated from a fuller form with a divine name or epithet as its subject. Ya\u02bfakov-\u02beel, \u201cMay El protect,\u201d is a name that has turned up several times in cuneiform texts over a wide area. The name Jacob is thus, in origin, a plea for divine protection of the newly born\u2014most appropriate for the one who was to live his entire life in the shadow of danger.<\/p>\n
THE SALE OF THE BIRTHRIGHT (vv. 27\u201334)<\/p>\n
The struggle for seniority between the twins, which commenced inside the womb, continues into adulthood. Jacob now seizes an opportunity to inveigle Esau into transferring the birthright to him. His desperate endeavors to obtain this end by means fair or foul can only be understood in terms of a specific psychological situation, the elements of which were certain complex sacred realities. The first-born son along with the first fruits of the soil and the male firstlings of the herd and the flock were considered to be possessed of a unique sanctity. They all belonged to God. The first male issue of the human womb had to be redeemed from his sacral state. Originally he was accorded a privileged position in the cult. At a later time the tribe of Levi displaced the first-born in Israel and appropriated his cultic prerogatives. Being the primary guarantor of the future of the family line and, hence, of the preservation of the ancestral heritage, the first-born naturally ranked second only to the head of the family, the paterfamilias, whose successor he would automatically become. Isaac\u2019s blessing in 27:29 makes this quite clear. The status of first-born was bound up with responsibilities and obligations on the one hand and with rights, privileges, and prerogatives on the other.
\nTwo other aspects of the story of Jacob and Esau have been illuminated by ancient Near Eastern documents. We now know that a father had the right to disregard chronological considerations in determining his heirs and that an heir was able to barter away his future inheritance.
\nThe hegemony of the older brother in the ancient world is widely attested. It is taken for granted, for example, in a Sumerian hymn to Enlil extolling the fact that in the city of Nippur \u201cthe older brother honors the younger brother, acts humanely toward him.\u201d The right of the first-born to a double share of the inheritance is documented at Mari and Nuzi, in the Middle Assyrian laws, and in biblical law (Deut. 21:17).41
\nThe provisions of Deuteronomy 21:15\u201317 establish that at some period it had been legally and socially acceptable in Israel for the father to ignore seniority of birth. We know also that Jacob deprived Reuben of his birthright, an event that is commemorated in the poem of Genesis 49:3\u20134 and explained in 1 Chronicles 5:1. Further, Genesis 48:13 tells us that Jacob passed over Manasseh in favor of the younger Ephraim. Added to these examples is the documentation from Nuzi, Alalakh, and Ugarit, all confirming the same sociolegal situation. Finally, the possibility of the transfer of inheritance rights is illustrated by a Nuzi tablet that records how a man parted with his future inheritance share in return for three sheep received immediately from his brother.<\/p>\n
27. The two lads pursued incompatible vocations and lifestyles. The description of Esau as a hunter and as \u201cone who lives by the sword\u201d (27:40) reflects a very early stage in the history of Edom, the time when the tribe was still engaged in hunting as an economic necessity and had not yet become a settled monarchy. This ancient period is reflected in the nature of the national Edomite god Qaus, whose name is Arabic for \u201cbow.\u201d He was originally the god of hunting and warfare.
\nHunting as a way of life was held in low esteem in Israel. The only hunter, other than Esau, mentioned by name in the Bible is Nimrod, in 10:9. Near Eastern art often portrays kings and nobles in pursuit of game, but no Israelite or Judean king or hero is ever mentioned as indulging in the sport. However, the fact that Leviticus 17:13 legislates concerning the preparation for food of an animal caught in the hunt and that Deuteronomy 14:5 includes wild animals among those permitted to be eaten proves that hunting was sometimes an economic necessity even in Israel. Nevertheless, it is highly significant that sacrifice in Israel was restricted to domesticated animals.<\/p>\n
a mild man Jacob is a quiet man and does not carry weapons.<\/p>\n
who stayed in camp Literally, \u201cwho dwelt in tents,\u201d the hallmark of a pastoralist, according to 4:20.42<\/p>\n
28. Although this verse is not pertinent to the immediate context, it is essential to the understanding of the events described in chapter 27.<\/p>\n
but Rebekah favored Jacob No reason is given for her preference, but it may well have been based on the oracle she had received.43<\/p>\n
29. cooking a stew The nature of the dish is at first left vague and is disclosed only in stages\u2014first as \u201cred stuff,\u201d then as \u201clentil stew.\u201d<\/p>\n
famished Hebrew \u02bfayef, traditionally rendered \u201cfaint,\u201d actually means to be in dire need of food and drink.44<\/p>\n
30. Give me \u2026 to gulp down In rabbinic Hebrew the stem l-\u02bf-t is employed for the feeding of animals.45 Its use here, unique in the Bible, is suggestive of Esau\u2019s boorish manners.<\/p>\n
red stuff Hebrew ha-\u02beadom ha-\u02beadom. The repetition may indicate \u201cdeep red.\u201d46 The description provides another etiology, this time explicit, for Esau being called Edom. At the same time, \u02beadom is close in sound to dam, \u201cblood.\u201d Word play involving \u201cEdom\u201d and dam occurs in several texts.47 Blood was considered to constitute the life-essence and was widely believed to contain magical properties. It was a symbol of strength and vitality. A suggestion that Esau thought the \u201cred stuff\u201d to be a blood broth is most plausible. His primitive instincts were aroused by the sight. He expected his vitality to be renewed by drinking it.<\/p>\n
31. Jacob exploits his brother\u2019s misery in order to gain what he thought an accident of birth had denied him.<\/p>\n
sell Biblical law and terminology do not differentiate between sale and barter, using m-kh-r for both.<\/p>\n
32. I am at the point of death Literally, \u201cI am going to die.\u201d This statement either refers to the generally perilous life he led as a hunter or is an exaggerated description of his present condition.48<\/p>\n
33. Swear to me first Esau\u2019s reply indicates that he agrees to the transaction. But Jacob does not trust his brother. He wants an oath. In the ancient world an oath was an unqualifiedly sacred act. The self-imprecations against the violator that all such oaths usually contained were a potent means of reinforcing a verbal commitment. It made the transaction irrevocable, even if one party was later disappointed.<\/p>\n
34. bread and lentil stew Only now is the identity of the stew revealed. It is not blood broth, after all, but lentils!<\/p>\n
lentil This plant was cultivated very early in the Near East. Because of its highly nutritious properties, it was an important staple in the daily diet. The color of the lentil is yellowish red or light brown. On this occasion Jacob either added something that gave the stew an exceptionally red hue, or he made use of the Egyptian variety, which is red.<\/p>\n
he ate \u2026 The abrupt succession of five short Hebrew verbs effectively reproduces the chilling, sullen atmosphere in which Esau silently devours the meal.<\/p>\n
Thus did Esau spurn the birthright Our sympathy with Esau is somewhat dissipated when the Narrator describes his inner feelings. Having finished the broth, Esau does not quarrel with Jacob but goes indifferently about his business, with no apparent regard for the sacred institution of the first-born. On the other hand, it is highly significant that the text only mentions Esau\u2019s sale of the birthright but does not state that Jacob bought it. This is contrary to the usual biblical legal style as, for instance, in the case of Abraham\u2019s purchase of the Cave of Machpelah, Jacob\u2019s acquisition of a field, and David\u2019s buying the threshing floor from Araunah.49 The omission in the present story is another way of dissociating Jacob\u2019s eventual ascendancy from the means he adopted.<\/p>\n
CHAPTER 26*<\/p>\n
The Adventures of Isaac (vv. 1\u201335)<\/p>\n
The present chapter recounts various incidents in the life of the second patriarch. Although most of them closely resemble the earlier narratives about Abraham, they present Isaac as an individual in his own right.<\/p>\n
REAFFIRMATION OF THE COVENANT (vv. 1\u20135)<\/p>\n
The sharp contrast between God\u2019s promises for the future and the threatening reality of the present is a recurring theme in the patriarchal narratives. Isaac, heir to the covenant, experiences famine. The desperate need for forage and water forces him to move outside his normal cyclical route. Like his father before him in a similar situation, Isaac sets out for Egypt. As Exodus 13:17 observes, the shortest route to that country from Canaan led through \u201cthe land of the Philistines.\u201d Along the way, Isaac makes a stopover at Gerar, a Philistine royal city that was certain to have storage facilities. The treaty that his father had contracted with the king of Gerar, as reported in 21:22\u201334, would be expected to work to his advantage. Here in Gerar, God reaffirms to Isaac the covenant He had made with Abraham. His initial revelation to the father bade him go to the land; this first communication to the son exhorts him not to leave it. The one demand, like the other, involves a trial of faith. For a pastoralist to stay in the land in time of famine means courting hunger and the loss of precious livestock.<\/p>\n
1. Abimelech This can hardly be the same king whom Abraham dealt with over seventy-five years earlier. The name may have been a dynastic favorite\u2014like Henry, Edward, or George among the British monarchs.1 The problems raised by the king\u2019s title are discussed in Excursus 15.<\/p>\n
2. appeared For the significance of this term, see the Comment to 12:7.<\/p>\n
2\u20133. stay \u2026 Reside There is no redundancy here. Hebrew sh-k-n means \u201cto tent,\u201d while g-w-r, a key word in the patriarchal narratives, means to have the status of an alien, one devoid of legal rights and wholly dependent on the goodwill of the local community.2 It is to Isaac\u2019s alien status that the promise of protection, \u201cI will be with you,\u201d addresses itself.<\/p>\n
and bless you You will prosper even in time of famine.<\/p>\n
all these lands The unusual use of the plural derives either from Hebrew \u02beerets in the sense of a territory or district within Canaan, or from its reflecting the idealized boundaries of the promised land as set forth in 15:18\u201321 and other texts. These encompass the territories of Sidon, Tyre, Byblos, the Hermon, and Lebanon, as well as the land of the Philistines.3<\/p>\n
shall bless themselves by your heirs The well-being of humanity at large is intertwined with the destiny and fate of Israel. This is one of the major themes of Genesis, and it is repeated to each of the patriarchs in turn.4<\/p>\n
5. By his fidelity and constancy, Abraham represents the ideal standard of obedience to the will of God. Through this merit, he effectuates and guarantees the fulfillment of the divine promises to future generations.<\/p>\n
My charge \u2026 The combination of different terms for God\u2019s precepts connotes comprehensiveness.5<\/p>\n
POSSIBLE PERIL TO REBEKAH (vv. 6\u201311)<\/p>\n
In response to divine bidding, Isaac stays in Gerar. However, his feeling of security is undermined when the local menfolk begin to show an interest in his beautiful wife.
\nThis episode is reminiscent of the two earlier stories about Sarah\u2019s experiences in Egypt and Gerar. The present incident is the least complicated and the most natural: There is no real tension; Rebekah is not kidnapped; the king is in no way culpable; and Isaac does not anticipate a danger\u2014he resorts to subterfuge only when it actually materializes. Divine intervention is unnecessary because the king discovers the truth in the normal course of events; for the same reason, no gifts are proffered.
\nThis episode must have occurred before the birth of the twins, for they are not once mentioned; had they been around, it is hardly likely that Rebekah could have been passed off as a sister. The insertion of the incident at this point in the cycle of Isaac narratives is determined by literary, not chronological, considerations. It temporarily diverts attention from the ongoing rivalry between Jacob and Esau.<\/p>\n
7. She is my sister The meaning of this stratagem is discussed in the Comment to 12:13.<\/p>\n
8. looking out of the window The definite article suggests a specific window, most likely the one in the outer court of the royal palace, at which the king showed himself to the people on ceremonial occasions.6<\/p>\n
fondling Hebrew metsa\u1e25ek is a word play on the name Isaac (yits\u1e25ak).7<\/p>\n
10. In reproving Isaac, the king inferentially confirms the patriarch\u2019s assessment of the low moral standards of the local inhabitants.<\/p>\n
brought guilt upon us The word here rendered \u201cguilt,\u201d Hebrew \u02beasham, belongs to the technical vocabulary of the cult system, with particular application to the unintentional commission of a sin.8 It can mean both the offense and its consequences, and in the mouth of Abimelech it means, \u201cWe would have been subject to punishment.\u201d The principle involved is communal culpability, similar to that found in the two previous stories about the matriarch in peril (12:17; 20:7\u20139).<\/p>\n
11. who molests Hebrew n-g-\u02bf is used in the double sense of \u201ccausing harm\u201d and \u201ccoming into physical contact with,\u201d or \u201csexually harassing.\u201d On this double entendre, see Comment to 12:16.<\/p>\n
ISAAC\u2019S PROSPERITY (vv. 12\u201316)<\/p>\n
The next episode illustrates the speedy fulfillment of the divine blessing (v. 13). Isaac tills the soil and reaps a bountiful harvest\u2014in time of famine! Yet his God-given prosperity paradoxically becomes a cause of distress for it provokes the envy of the local people and leads to Isaac\u2019s expulsion from Gerar.<\/p>\n
12. The patriarch\u2019s venture into agriculture should not be viewed as a stage of transition from the nomadic to the sedentary mode of life. The pastoral nomads of Mari and elsewhere similarly engaged in small-scale agriculture from time to time. This practice is well documented. In the case of Isaac, there is no evidence that his sedentary experience was other than exceptional; it was probably occasioned by the famine and encouraged by the favorable agricultural conditions in the low-lying plains of the region of Gerar, which is situated between the settled country and the grazing land of the nomads.
\nThe nature of the crop is not specified. Most likely it was wheat, which was a winter cereal widely cultivated in the land. It would be planted in October\u2013November and harvested in May\u2013June.<\/p>\n
reaped a hundredfold The crop yield in relation to the unit of seed planted was one hundred for one.9<\/p>\n
15. Prevented by the king from physically abusing Isaac, the townsfolk resort to harassment. They attempt to force him out by denying him access to water.<\/p>\n
in the days of \u2026 Abraham These wells are mentioned again in verse 18. The background to the situation is provided by 21:25, 30. The digging of wells or cisterns, usually in the dry beds of rivers, streams, and brooks, was essential to the pastoralist\u2019s survival. Because the winter floods would silt them up and obliterate them, the wells were frequently lined with stone, or the cisterns were actually hewn out of rock. They would have to be cleaned out after the floods subsided. The Philistines spitefully and deliberately refilled them with dirt.<\/p>\n
16. Go away from us Given the vicious hostility of his subjects to the foreigners, the king probably feels that he can no longer guarantee the safety of his guests and so requests their departure.<\/p>\n
ISAAC\u2019S WELLS (vv. 17\u201322)<\/p>\n
Isaac submits to the expulsion order without protest. He moves his family and belongings beyond the recognized urban limits of Gerar to the same region in which his father had once made a prolonged stay (21:34). Abraham\u2019s sojourn could not have been accomplished without the digging and maintenance of several wells. In order to establish clear proprietary rights, each well would be given an identifying name.10 Since Abraham\u2019s death the Philistines had blocked them up. Isaac now restores them and revives their original names so as to make his ownership incontestable. In the course of this work his men unexpectedly uncover an old well fed by a subterranean spring. A well of this type was especially valuable; when originally excavated, it would have been lined with stone. Since a memory of its existence has not been preserved, it is ownerless and ought to belong to the finder. Nevertheless, the shepherds of Gerar lay claim to it. Significantly, they do not assert this on behalf of the king, which shows that the well was situated in a region beyond the limits of royal domain.<\/p>\n
20. Esek Literally, \u201ccontention,\u201d a word not otherwise attested in biblical Hebrew, but its stem is employed in rabbinic legal terminology in connection with a disputed title to ownership.11<\/p>\n
21. Sitnah No reason is given for the name. The term is used in Ezra 4:6 to denote a formal accusation lodged against someone. The verb derived from the stem means \u201cto show hostility.\u201d12<\/p>\n
22. To avoid strife, Isaac once again bows to pressure and removes himself from the communal grazing ground.<\/p>\n
Rehoboth This site is generally identified with the present Ruheibeh, about 19 miles (30.5 km.) southwest of Beer-sheba. To this day, there are several large wells of great antiquity in the area and traces of very early agricultural settlements.13<\/p>\n
A THEOPHANY AT BEER-SHEBA (vv. 23\u201325)<\/p>\n
Isaac finally abandons the region of Gerar and returns to Beer-sheba, where he had gone to live with his father following the episode in which he had nearly been sacrificed. The place already had sacred associations for him in that Abraham had planted a terebinth there and had invoked \u201cthe name of the LORD, the Everlasting God.\u201d Now, echoing the pattern of the Abraham stories, Isaac, after exposure to trial and danger, receives assurances of divine protection and reaffirmation of the promises. He builds an altar, thereby establishing Beer-sheba as a cult site with which his name becomes closely associated. Many years later Jacob stops there on his way to Egypt and offers sacrifices \u201cto the God of his father Isaac.\u201d14<\/p>\n
24. I am This self-identifying, introductory formula has been discussed in the Comment to 15:7.<\/p>\n
the God of your father This epithet, used here for the first time, is distinctively characteristic of the subsequent patriarchal narratives. On this topic, see Excursus 20. In the present context, the designation affirms God\u2019s role as the guarantor of the promises: He is the same One who spoke with Abraham. At the same time, it emphasizes the continuity of the succession from father to son, and it connotes a personal and intimate relationship between God and the individual.<\/p>\n
Fear not On this formula of assurance, see the Comment to 15:1.<\/p>\n
for the sake of My servant This title is used in the Torah only of the patriarchs, Moses, and Caleb. Very few individuals in the rest of the Bible, of whom David is the outstanding one, are called \u201cMy servant.\u201d The righteous are collectively termed \u201cthe servants of the Lord,\u201d and in Isaiah 40\u201366, there appears the enigmatic figure of the \u201cservant of the Lord,\u201d whose suffering is seen to be part of the process of Israel\u2019s national redemption.15 The significance of the title becomes clear from the description of Caleb: \u201cHe was imbued with a different spirit and remained loyal to Me\u201d (Num. 14:24). In the face of widespread disaffection and demoralization, Caleb displayed superior moral courage, unswerving loyalty, and heroic leadership.<\/p>\n
for the sake of \u2026 Abraham Here, for the first time, we encounter the notion that the righteousness of ancestors creates a fund of spiritual credit that may sustain their descendants. Known in rabbinic Hebrew as zekhut \u02beavot, \u201cthe merit of the fathers,\u201d the idea is often invoked in the Jewish liturgy.<\/p>\n
25. built an altar See Comment to 12:7.<\/p>\n
started digging a well The Hebrew verb k-r-h denotes the process, not its completion, which is reported in verse 32.<\/p>\n
ISAAC\u2019S PACT WITH ABIMELECH (vv. 26\u201333)<\/p>\n
Abimelech is apparently uneasy over the presence of a powerful and prosperous clan of pastoralists on the fringes of his kingdom. The clashes over the wells do nothing to allay his anxiety. In seeking to regulate his relationships with Isaac, the king now acts as representative of his people. That is why he employs \u201cwe\u201d and \u201cus\u201d in his speech. in contrast to the earlier negotiations between Abimelech and Abraham, recorded in 21:22\u201332. There the pact is between two individuals. Incidentally, Isaac is now the stronger party. It is the king who initiates the pact.<\/p>\n
26. his councilor Hebrew mere\u02bfehu, literally \u201chis friend.\u201d The title \u201cking\u2019s friend\u201d belonged to one of the highest offices in the royal administration.16 It is devoid of emotional connotation and signifies that its bearer was counselor to the king in matters of state.17 The king thus brought along his chief civilian and military officers.<\/p>\n
28. the LORD has been with you He refers to Isaac\u2019s success in agriculture and the exploration for water and to his increasing affluence.<\/p>\n
a sworn treaty Hebrew \u02bealah, strictly speaking, is the curse or imprecation that accompanies a treaty sealed by an oath. It thus constitutes its sanction and is meant to assure fidelity to the treaty\u2019s terms.18<\/p>\n
29. The king cites the incident described in verses 7\u201311 and boasts that no harm had befallen Isaac.<\/p>\n
\u201cbe you blessed of the LORD!\u201d A final greeting of goodwill, intended to mitigate the bitterness produced by the previous expulsion order.<\/p>\n
30. In the ancient world, treaty-making often was accompanied by a ceremonial meal,19 the purpose of which was to create an auspicious atmosphere of harmony and fellowship for the pact to go into effect.<\/p>\n
31. they exchanged oaths The pact is consummated by oaths that most likely also embodied the imprecation mentioned in verse 28.<\/p>\n
in peace Hebrew shalom in this instance probably has a technical-legal flavor to it because a \u201ccovenant of friendship\u201d (Heb. berit shalom) is a frequently attested institution.20<\/p>\n
32\u201333. That same day The coincidence is highly significant. It indicates a causal relationship between the name Beer-sheba and the oath-taking ceremony just completed. One would expect, then, that the well would be called shevu\u02bfah, which is the Hebrew term for oath, rather than sheva\u02bf (Shibah),21 which means \u201cseven.\u201d The anomaly proves that the present story presupposes a knowledge of the earlier one involving Abraham and Abimelech, as recounted in 21:22\u201334. There the number seven predominates. Moreover, the names Abraham and Abimelech occur in the present chapter precisely seven times each, just as they do in the first story. Accordingly, our narrative about Isaac entails implicit word play on shiv\u02bfah and shevu\u02bfah that is intelligible only in the context of the earlier narrative. This leads to the conclusion that verse 33 is not intended to suggest that Isaac first coined and applied the name Beer-sheba but, rather, that he endowed the name previously given by Abraham with new, contemporary meaning and that he gave it currency. As verse 18 notes, Isaac made a practice of giving the wells \u201cthe same names that his father had given them.\u201d<\/p>\n
therefore the name of the city \u2026 No city of Beer-sheba is ever mentioned in connection with patriarchal activities because, as archaeological research has shown, no such city existed at that time. The present note is not intrinsic to the story but is an editorial remark indicating that the famous city derived its name from the well of patriarchal fame (see Excursus 14).<\/p>\n
ESAU\u2019S HITTITE WIVES (vv. 34\u201335)<\/p>\n
An addendum about Esau\u2019s Hittite wives, wholly unrelated to the foregoing, is here appended to the collection of incidents in the life of Isaac. At first sight, its presence is all the more strange in that nothing about Esau\u2019s family situation previously appears in the chapter. However, like the genealogies of 11:10\u201332 and 22:20\u201324, the intrusive material is here a literary device to supply essential data that is preparatory to developments in a subsequent narrative. The information given here lends intelligibility to Rebekah\u2019s stratagem for saving Jacob from Esau\u2019s anger, as told in 27:42\u201346. At the same time, the passage reinforces the idea of Esau\u2019s unworthiness to be Isaac\u2019s heir, for he commits a threefold offense: breaking with social convention by contracting the marriage himself rather than leaving the initiative to his parents; abandoning the established practice of endogamy by marrying outside the kinship group; and violating the honor of his clan by intermarrying with the native women.22<\/p>\n
Esau was forty years old On the basis of 25:20, 26, Isaac is now one hundred years old. This provides the context for the statement in 27:1 that the patriarch was old and blind.<\/p>\n
Judith She is not mentioned in the second list of Esau\u2019s wives found in 36:2\u20133, and no offspring of hers is recorded.<\/p>\n
Basemath The variant data about her in 36:3 are discussed in the Comment to that passage.<\/p>\n
35. they were a source of bitterness The reason why is not stated, but the fact is important for the development of the narrative (27:46f). There may be ironic word play here, for the name Judith is connected with the verb \u201cto praise\u201d and Basemath has to do with \u201cfragrance.\u201d<\/p>\n
CHAPTER 27*<\/p>\n
Jacob Purloins the Blessing (27:1\u201328:9)<\/p>\n
In an earlier narrative we were told that Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of lentil stew. After satisfying his hunger, he not only showed no regret but also displayed a careless indifference to the sacred institution. The statement at the end of chapter 26 regarding Esau\u2019s intermarriage with Hittite women served to reinforce the impression of Esau\u2019s unworthiness to be the father of the future chosen people. Now Esau is about to be deprived of the final paternal blessing, sacred words intended to seal the destiny of their recipient. His mother conspires with Jacob, her favorite son, to bring this about.
\nThe action in its entirety covers 27:1\u201328:5 and unfolds in seven scenes. All four members of the family participate, but only in pairs. Neither Jacob and Esau nor Rebekah and Esau appear together; they dare not confront each other. Each pair moves to the center of the stage twice, save mother and father who meet but once, and that briefly. The strong-willed, artful Rebekah prefers to hover inconspicuously in the background, manipulating the situation. She approaches her husband only when matters threaten to get out of hand.
\nAll the action and the dialogue is directed toward the dominant, recurring theme of the entire episode: the father\u2019s final blessing. The Hebrew noun berakhah occurs seven times and its verbal form exactly twenty-one times. The birthright is not an issue here, and its relationship to the blessing is unclear. Apparently, they were separate institutions. Nothing is said about the disposition of property, and it is striking that Esau expected to receive the blessing even though he admitted to having lost the birthright.
\nOn the moral implications of Jacob\u2019s behavior, see Excursus 21.<\/p>\n
ISAAC AND ESAU (vv. 1\u20134)<\/p>\n
1. When Isaac vas old The ensuing dialogue creates the impression of impending death, yet Isaac lives on for many years.1 His total blindness, or perhaps some illness, prompts him to decide on his successor.<\/p>\n
his eyes were too dim The loss of vision is central to the narrative, for Jacob could not otherwise have impersonated his brother. The statement may also have a figurative significance: Isaac\u2019s perception of reality about Esau\u2019s worthiness to receive the blessing appears to have been clouded.2<\/p>\n
his older son The Narrator studiously avoids calling Esau the \u201cfirst-born\u201d because the term carries with it social and legal implications that he wishes to avoid since Esau had sold his birthright.3<\/p>\n
3. gear This general term is more closely defined as the \u201cquiver and the bow.\u201d The weapon of the hunter was the bow and arrow as Isaiah 7:24 shows. The arrow was kept in a light-weight container, a \u201cquiver\u201d that hung over the hunter\u2019s shoulder.4<\/p>\n
4. The repeated emphasis given to the meal5 suggests not just a means of inducing physical well-being and the proper mood for the occasion, but also a ritual of ceremonial function closely connected with the act of blessing.<\/p>\n
my innermost blessing Literally, \u201cthat my being (Heb. nefesh) may bless you.\u201d This formulation, which appears again three times,6 is clearly of great importance to the understanding of the blessing. We see from verse 28 that the source and sanction of the blessing is not man but God. Isaac summons from the very depths of his own soul all the vitality and energy at his command in order to invoke God\u2019s blessing upon his son. He communicates the blessing to his offspring by virtue of his own special relationship with God and by dint of his power and authority as patriarch.<\/p>\n
REBEKAH AND JACOB (vv. 5\u201317)<\/p>\n
5. Alert to the interests of her favorite son, Rebekah makes it her business to know what is going on when Isaac summons Esau.7<\/p>\n
7. with the LORD\u2019s approval Literally, \u201cin the presence of the Lord.\u201d Rebekah adds this phrase to Isaac\u2019s words in order to impress upon Jacob the importance and solemnity of the occasion.8<\/p>\n
9. two choice kids The skin of a kid is tougher than that of a lamb.9<\/p>\n
11. hairy \u2026 smooth-skinned Hebrew sa\u02bfir \u2026 \u1e25alak. Jacob indulges in clever word play.10 The terms evoke Mount Seir and Mount Halak, mentioned together in Joshua 11:17 and 12:7. The second mount marked the southern limit of Joshua\u2019s conquest of Canaan, bordering on Esau\u2019s habitat, which was Mount Seir. Jacob hesitates to encroach upon Esau\u2019s prerogative.<\/p>\n
12. a trickster At the present stage of his character development, Jacob seems to be more concerned with the consequences of detection than with the morality of the act.<\/p>\n
13. Rebekah confidently brushes aside Jacob\u2019s fears because she remembers the oracle she received that the older son was destined to serve the younger.11<\/p>\n
14. He got them and brought them The Hebrew has a staccato succession of three short verbs: \u201cHe went, he took, he brought.\u201d The effect is a picture of Jacob performing the unpleasant deed with nervous haste.<\/p>\n
15. the best clothes These were probably reserved for festal or ceremonial occasions.<\/p>\n
ISAAC AND JACOB (vv. 18\u201320)<\/p>\n
18. \u201cFather\u201d In obvious trepidation, Jacob can only utter a single word. The contrast with Esau\u2019s bold and ample statement in verse 31 is blatant.<\/p>\n
\u201cwhich of my sons are you?\u201d Jacob\u2019s attempt at mimicking Esau is not quite successful.<\/p>\n
19. For a moment, one is in suspense as to whether the impersonator can carry through his act or will crumble, but then Jacob rallies and rises to the challenge.<\/p>\n
20. Jacob actually invokes God\u2019s name in an outright lie! There may be an underlying idea that he really spoke better than he knew, for the hand of Providence was indeed at work.<\/p>\n
21\u201327. Deprived of his eyesight, Isaac summons to his aid the remaining senses of hearing, touch. taste, and smell.<\/p>\n
22\u201323. The distinctive quality and inflection of Jacob\u2019s voice puts his impersonation of Esau in jeopardy, but the skin disguise is effective and saves the day. Isaac makes up his mind to bless his son, but at the last moment he is once again seized by a vague disquiet and renews his probing.<\/p>\n
24. \u201cI am\u201d Again at the moment of crisis, Jacob can only utter a single word.<\/p>\n
25. In demanding the meal at this particular point, Isaac imposes the test of taste. The thrice-repeated emphasis on the meat being prepared in accordance with his special preference12 suggests a particular recipe, distinctive of Esau\u2019s singular culinary skill. It was this that endeared him to his father in the first place.<\/p>\n
27. The clothes of the shepherd reek of the flock and the herd, whereas the hunter\u2019s emit the odor of the fields, which Isaac relished more.
\nNow fully convinced that Esau stands before him, Isaac proceeds to communicate the decisive blessing, which really relates to national destiny rather than to the fate of an individual. It is composed of three parts13 and contains assurances of fertility of the soil, of political and military preeminence, and of God\u2019s consummate protection. This blessing is unique in the patriarchal narratives thus far in that it contains no promises of progeny or land.<\/p>\n
28. the dew of heaven Dew in the Bible is a metaphor of abundance and reinvigoration, a symbol of God\u2019s beneficence. Throughout most of the rainless summer months, dew provides a major source of irrigation for crops in many places in the Land of Israel. The westerly and northwesterly winds that blow in from the Mediterranean Sea carry moisture overland. When the air is saturated with water vapor, the cool night temperatures cause the vapor to condense into a heavy mist. This is particularly true of the western Negeb, the central coastal plain, the western slopes of the hills of Judea and Samaria, on Mount Carmel, and in Gilead. Several regions of the country receive negligible amounts of dew or none at all, while there is no dewfall whatsoever on many of the lands neighboring Israel. Further, in many places what appears to be dew is simply the evaporation and precipitation of moisture already present in the soil, so that this adds nothing to the overall water balance and does not contribute to the growth of vegetation.
\nThe significance of dew as a factor in the hydrology of the Land of Israel gives special meaning to this aspect of the blessing. It continued to be reflected in the Jewish liturgy throughout the ages. Rabbinic sources report that in the days of the Second Temple, when the High Priest emerged safely from performing the sacred service in the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement, he uttered a short prayer for the welfare of Israel during the coming year. Among other things, he asked for an abundance of dew. To the present time, the end of the rainy season and the commencement of the rainless summer is marked in the Jewish liturgy by a prayer for dew (tefullat tal\/tikkun tal), which forms part of the Musaf, or Additional Service, on the first day of Passover during the reader\u2019s repetition of the Amidah. Even during the winter season, the ninth benediction of the daily Amidah couples a petition for dew with that for rain.14<\/p>\n
28. the fat of the earth The finest fruits of the soil.<\/p>\n
29. Israel\u2019s military might and political power will give it preeminence over its hostile neighbors.<\/p>\n
brothers\/mother\u2019s sons This parallel pair of words, like \u201cpeoples\/nations,\u201d is a poetic convention both in the Bible and in Ugaritic literature.15 The plural, as in verse 37, simply emphasizes the comprehensive and absolute nature of Jacob\u2019s predominance.<\/p>\n
Cursed In the ancient Near East, the curse was thought to be a powerful weapon against an enemy.<\/p>\n
ISAAC AND ESAU (vv. 30\u201341)<\/p>\n
The Narrator\u2019s skill is seen here at its best. No sooner does the tension relax and Jacob withdraw from the stage, than it reaches a new pitch of intensity with Esau\u2019s reappearance on the scene. There is no doubt where the author\u2019s sympathy lies. Esau is the innocent victim of a cruel ruse. This rough fellow, the hardy hunter, is utterly crushed when he discovers what happened. He sobs convulsively.<\/p>\n
32. \u201cWho are you?\u201d This time Isaac does not call the speaker \u201cmy son\u201d because he cannot conceive of the possibility of having been deceived by his own offspring.<\/p>\n
33. \u201cNow he must remain blessed\u201d Isaac is overwhelmed with consternation but then realizes that, irrespective of the circumstances, the blessing he has uttered is beyond recall. According to the conception of the times, it now has a potency and dynamism all its own, and the destiny that has been solemnly conferred upon his younger son is irreversible (v. 37). For this reason, Esau does not ask his father to rescind the blessing, only to bless him as well.<\/p>\n
36. In his misery, Esau resorts to bitter sarcasm that expresses itself in word plays. He reinterprets the name Jacob (ya\u02bfakov) as deriving from the stem \u02bf-k-v, meaning \u201cto supplant,\u201d and he puns on bekhorah, \u201cbirthright,\u201d and berakhah, \u201cblessing.\u201d In echoing his father\u2019s use of \u201ctook away,\u201d Esau may also be engaging in double entendre, because the Hebrew stem l-k-\u1e25 can mean both \u201cto take away\u201d and \u201cto purchase.\u201d16 In his anguish, he blurts out the fact of his foolish sale of his birthright, something apparently unknown to Isaac.<\/p>\n
39. Ostensibly, the wording of the pronouncement is identical with that uttered to Jacob, yet it is strangely enigmatic and ambiguous. The preposition min before the two key words may be partitive: Esau will share in the richness of the earth. In favor of this interpretation is the fact that the western side of Mount Seir, Esau\u2019s habitat according to 36:8, receives plenty of wind and rain and is relatively well off in springs and vegetation. On the other hand, the preposition min can also be understood to express deprivation,17 and the passage may be translated: \u201cYour abode shall be far from the fat of the earth, \/ Far from the dew of heaven above.\u201d The land of Edom as a whole was never very fruitful and the nature of its topography deprives it of all but a negligible dewfall. To compound the ambiguity, the order of the parallel pair of words \u201cdew\/fat\u201d has been reversed as though, perhaps, to insinuate a reversal of the blessing given to Jacob.<\/p>\n
40. Edom shall subsist, not from pastoral or agricultural pursuits but from violence and pillage, raiding its neighbors and plundering the caravans that pass through its land. For a long time it is destined to be a vassal of Israel. However, it will eventually free itself of domination.
\nHistorically, it was King David who first made vassals of the Edomites. The first sign of their restiveness occurred during Solomon\u2019s reign, but in the time of Jehoshaphat (873\u2013849 B.C.E.) it was still a province of Judah. However, Edom successfully revolted in the days of Jehoram (Joram, 849\u2013842 B.C.E.). Amaziah (800\u2013783 B.C.E.) had to war against Edom, and by the time of Ahaz (735\u2013715 B.C.E.) Judah was forced to yield the port of Elath to the Edomites who settled the town.18<\/p>\n
41. Esau said to himself The Hebrew simply means that his mind was made up, not that he kept his thoughts to himself.19<\/p>\n
the mourning period Out of filial respect, Esau employs a euphemism20 for death.<\/p>\n
REBEKAH AND JACOB (vv. 42\u201345)<\/p>\n
Rebekah seems to have misjudged the depth of Esau\u2019s outrage and the intensity of his vindictive reaction. She is now clearly alarmed.<\/p>\n
42. she sent for Jacob may well have been in hiding.21<\/p>\n
45. Let me not lose you both If Esau carries out his threat, Jacob would be killed when Isaac dies. Alternately, \u201cboth\u201d may refer to the two sons, for Esau would either be judicially condemned to death for murder or struck down in an act of private revenge.22<\/p>\n
REBEKAH AND ISAAC (v. 46)<\/p>\n
Rebekah realizes that, for his own safety, Jacob must be sent away at once. But how can this be achieved? She needs her husband\u2019s agreement, yet she dare not divulge the true reason\u2014both because she wishes to spare him further anguish and because she fears that her own involvement in the deception might thereby be exposed. She hits upon the pretext of his need to get married.<\/p>\n
I am disgusted The persuasiveness of her argument is decisive because, as 26:34\u201335 has already informed us, Esau\u2019s union with the local women has become an intolerable torment to his parents. Implicit in Rebekah\u2019s words seems to be a subtle rebuke to Isaac for his unmerited favoritism of Esau, a rebuke that is also calculated to allay any lingering uneasiness about his unwitting blessing of Jacob.<\/p>\n
CHAPTER 28*<\/p>\n
ISAAC AND JACOB (vv. 1\u20135)<\/p>\n
1. and blessed him By this act, Isaac confirms Jacob\u2019s title to the birthright independently of the deception. Jacob is recognized to be the true heir to the Abrahamic covenant, which is why he must not marry outside of the family.<\/p>\n
2. Up, go Isaac knows nothing of the real reason for Jacob\u2019s journey. That is why he uses \u201cgo\u201d in contrast to Rebekah\u2019s \u201cflee\u201d in 27:43.<\/p>\n
Paddan-aram See Comment to 25:20.<\/p>\n
take a wife there It is the patriarch\u2019s prerogative to decide whom the members of his clan shall marry.<\/p>\n
3\u20134. This blessing complements the earlier one in that it adds the dimensions of nationhood and national territory. It cites the divine promises to Abraham as given in chapter 17, even to the extent of using the divine name El Shaddai with which that section begins.<\/p>\n
El Shaddai On the name itself, see Excursus 11.<\/p>\n
an assembly of peoples The future league of the tribes of Israel.1<\/p>\n
you are sojourning See Comment to 12:10.<\/p>\n
5. mother of Jacob and Esau Jacob is given precedence, but Esau is also mentioned in order to smooth the connection with the following item.2<\/p>\n
ESAU\u2019S ISHMAELITE WIFE (vv. 6\u20139)<\/p>\n
The account of Jacob\u2019s flight from home suddenly breaks off, and a note about Esau\u2019s marriage follows. This note acts as a literary device that slows the pace of the narrative. It also has another function. In the same way that mention of Esau\u2019s Hittite wives preceded the story of Jacob\u2019s purloining the paternal blessing, so the report of Esau\u2019s further marriage, this time to a daughter of Ishmael, concludes it. The entire episode is thus provided with a literary framework.<\/p>\n
6\u20138. When Esau saw Realizing that his marriages outside the kinship group and his alliances with the native women had contributed to his loss of the blessing, Esau now tries to repair the situation. He takes to wife the daughter of his father\u2019s brother, an act that corresponds to Jacob\u2019s move, soon to be made, to wed the daughter of his mother\u2019s brother.
\nIn historical terms, this report indicates some kind of affiliation between the Edomites and the Ishmaelites. This would most likely have taken place in connection with the international spice trade, a topic discussed in the Comments to 25:1\u20136, 13. Psalms 83:6 mentions \u201can alliance\u201d against Israel by \u201cthe clans of Edom and the Ishmaelites.\u201d<\/p>\n
9. Isbmael The man, himself, was no longer alive at this time.3<\/p>\n
Mahalath She is not mentioned among Esau\u2019s wives listed in 36:2\u20133. There it is Bascmath who is said to be the daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth. Traditional Jewish exegesis assumed that the two names belonged to the same person.4<\/p>\n
sister of Nebaioth According to Megillah 17a, Nebaioth gave his sister away in marriage because their father was dead.<\/p>\n
Nebaioth He was the first-born of Ishmael, and the clan bearing that name was preeminent in the Ishmaelite tribal league. Its identification with the Nabaiti of Assyrian sources, possibly the ancestors of the later Nabateans, is discussed in the Comment to 25:13.<\/p>\n
Jacob\u2019s Encounter with God (vv. 10\u201322)<\/p>\n
Va-Yetse\u02be<\/p>\n
The biography of Jacob as an independent personality, a patriarch in his own right, now begins. The home-loving favorite of an overprotective mother is now an exile, utterly alone and friendless, embarking on a long perilous journey that is to take him from Beer-sheba in southern Canaan to Haran in northern Mesopotamia. His character is to be tested and refined, his personality molded and transformed by the experience.
\nIn typically nondescriptive biblical style, the narrative provides no details about the adventures or the trials and tribulations of Jacob in the course of his trek, only the bare facts that he set out and that he arrived. This follows the pattern of the accounts of Abraham\u2019s three-day journey to Moriah and of his servant\u2019s mission to Aram-naharaim. In the present instance, however, the silence on detail is broken by the highlighting of a single, momentous encounter on the way, an encounter not with man but with God. This event draws the curtain on the cycle of Jacob-Esau stories and prepares the reader for a new phase in the life of Jacob.<\/p>\n
THE DREAM-REVELATION (vv. 11\u201315)<\/p>\n
11. He came upon a certain place The impossibility of travel after sunset is the only reason for Jacob\u2019s stopping at the nameless \u201cplace.\u201d The use of this designation is suggestive because Hebrew makom frequently has the connotation of \u201ca sacred site,\u201d as noted in the Comment to 12:6. To Jacob, however, it is a profane place with no prior tradition of holiness, and he treats it with indifference.<\/p>\n
12. While Jacob sleeps unsuspectingly in this \u201cplace,\u201d he receives a dream-revelation. Superficially, the episode recalls the phenomenon of incubation. It was customary throughout the ancient world, both Near Eastern and classical, for a devotee to sleep in the sacred precincts of a temple in order to induce the deity to reveal its will. However, the present narrative emphatically dissociates Jacob\u2019s experience from this pagan practice by stressing the wholly unplanned nature of his stopover, the complete anonymity of \u201cthe place,\u201d and the total unexpectedness of the theophany. Here it is God who freely takes the initiative in revealing Himself to an amazed Jacob.
\nVisual imagery and an auditory sensation are the manifest content of the dream. The Hebrew term sullam, here rendered \u201cstairway,\u201d is unique in the Bible; its etymology is uncertain. It may derive from the stem s-l-l, \u201cto cast up a mound,\u201d or may be connected with Akkadian simmiltu, \u201csteps.\u201d Sullam could therefore be a ladder or a stairway ramp. The inspirational stimulus for the image seems to be the ladder of ascent to heaven known from Egyptian and Hittite sources, in which both divinities and the souls of the dead are provided with ladders to enable them to ascend from the netherworld to the abodes of men and the gods. Another explanation of the representational reality lies in the Babylonian ziggurat, the temple tower familiar from the Tower of Babel story in chapter 11. This edifice was equipped with an external stairway or ramp linking each stage of the tower with the next until \u201cits top reached the sky.\u201d It should be noted, though, that in Jacob\u2019s dream, the sullam, whatever it be, does not function as a channel of communication between man and God.<\/p>\n
angels of God They play no role in the dream. Their presence may reflect the notion of angelic beings who patrol the earth and report back to God.5 It is also possible that the angelic activity may symbolize Jacob\u2019s personal hopes and fears, his prayers for protection, which rise to heaven and receive a response. See Excursus 10.<\/p>\n
13. beside him Or \u201cit.\u201d6<\/p>\n
I am the LORD For this introductory, self-identifying formula, see the Comment to 15:7. In the present context the use of the divine name YHVH has special importance because the revelation is thereby disengaged from any possible connection with El, the head of the Canaanite pantheon, whose name is a component of Bethel, the name soon to be given to the place.<\/p>\n
Abraham \u2026 Isaac The theophany confirms Jacob as the heir to the divine promises to his forebears.7 The continuity of the generations is assured. Jacob thus becomes the third patriarch.<\/p>\n
the ground on which you are lying \u2026 Just as he is about to be exiled from the land, his title to it is affirmed. It is quite possible that Jacob\u2019s simple recumbency, occasioned by the sunset, is here transformed by God into a symbolic, formal act that constitutes a mode of legal acquisition. This would correspond to Abraham\u2019s walking about the land, discussed in the Comment to 13:17.<\/p>\n
14. The wording of the divine promises shows clear dependency on the promise made to Abraham in 13:14\u201317.<\/p>\n
15. The unconditional national promises that project into the distant future conclude on a personal note directed specifically to Jacob in his present predicament.<\/p>\n
BETHEL (vv. 16\u201319)<\/p>\n
The next morning Jacob memorializes the events of the night, gives a name to the site, and makes a vow to God. The selection of the name Bethel and its attribution to Jacob are of particular interest because of the paramount importance that the sanctuary at Bethel later assumed in the religious history of Israel and because the undoubted prior Canaanite associations of Bethel are wholly ignored. Both issues are treated at length in Excursus 22. The theophany to Jacob provides the sole basis for the sanctity of Bethel, and there is a deliberate dissociation from any sacred antecedents.<\/p>\n
16. Surely the LORD is present in this place This reaction of amazement is unprecedented in the patriarchal stories. Neither Abraham nor Isaac exhibit any surprise at their initial experience of God\u2019s sudden self-revelation. Jacob\u2019s exceptional emotional response requires explanation. Undoubtedly it lies, at least partially, in his realization of the baseness of his behavior toward his father and brother. He must have been beset with feelings of complete and deserved abandonment by God and man. Having fallen prey to guilt and solitary despair, he is surprised that God is still concerned for him. At the same time, \u201cthe place\u201d he has stumbled upon possesses no intrinsic value for Jacob. It is merely a convenient spot where he may lodge for the night.<\/p>\n
I did not know it Had he known that YHVH would reveal Himself there, he would not have treated the place as profane.8<\/p>\n
17. Shaken Jacob is profoundly affected by the unique, overwhelming mystery of the encounter with God.9<\/p>\n
abode of God That is, the site where He has manifested His presence. The building or consecration of a sanctuary is not mentioned. When Jacob returns from Haran he erects only an altar (35:7).<\/p>\n
the gateway to heaven That is, the place where the angels ascend to and descend from heaven. The notion that such \u201cgateways\u201d existed was widespread. One of the titles of the high priest of Thebes in Egypt was \u201cThe Opener of the Gates of Heavens,\u201d while the city of Babylon was understood by the Semites to have derived its name from bab-ilim, \u201cgate of the god.\u201d The phraseology has persisted to this day in the Jewish liturgy.<\/p>\n
18. a pillar Hebrew matsevah derives from the stem n-ts-v, \u201cto stand.\u201d It denotes a single, upright slab of stone.10 Believed to be the repository of a divinity or spirit, it was often used as a cultic object. For this reason, matsevot are strictly proscribed in the Torah as being idolatrous. There is also the legitimate matsevah, such as, for instance, one that simply memorializes the dead. In 35:20 Jacob erects one for Rachel, and in 2 Samuel 18:18 Absalom sets one up for himself because he had no children. The lawful type is also attested in Genesis 31:45\u201354, where it serves as a mute witness to a treaty between Jacob and Laban. A large stone was similarly used to commemorate the covenant between God and Israel made at Shechem. The wording used in Joshua 24:27 is highly instructive: \u201cSee, this very stone shall be a witness against us, for it heard all the words that the LORD spoke to us.\u201d This text provides the key to Jacob\u2019s action. Because the stone is under his head while he sleeps, it not only marks the spot but functions, as it were, as a witness to the dream and the accompanying divine promises. The Comment to verse 22 gives further support for this interpretation.<\/p>\n
and poured oil on the top of it This ritual must have held great significance for it is recalled in 31:13, where the stem m-sh-\u1e25 is used to describe the action. This is the regular Hebrew term for the sacred ceremony of anointing. Jacob once again pours oil over a matsevah at Bethel on his return from Haran (35:14). The meaning of the anointing is uncertain. It might be a means of consecration in much the same way that the wilderness Tabernacle and its appurtenances were thereby dedicated and sanctified.11 Far more plausible in the present instance is the suggestion that the anointing of the witness stone with oil was a symbolic act establishing a contractual bond between Jacob and God. There is widespread evidence from the ancient Near East for the use of oil in international treaty relationships and in effectuating business contracts. It seems to have been a token of peace, friendship, and assumed obligation. In Jacob\u2019s case, the anointing is connected with the making of a vow that binds him to a certain commitment. The special connection between the pouring of oil and the vow is explicit in 31:13.<\/p>\n
19. Luz The name may mean \u201can almond tree,\u201d as in 30:37. In fact, the region is ideal fruit and nut country. An alternative possibility is to derive it from Arabic laudb, \u201ca place of refuge,\u201d a name highly appropriate to the present circumstances.12 The change of place-name is an exception to the usual instances, which are occasioned by the conquest of a city by new settlers. It should be noted that the text carefully differentiates between the \u201csite (Heb. makom) of Bethel\u201d and \u201cthe city of Luz,\u201d even though it implies that the name Bethel displaced an earlier name Luz. This conforms to Joshua 16:2, which clearly treats Bethel and Luz as two distinct and coexisting entities, the latter being situated west of the former. On the other hand, the identity of the two localities is again asserted in Genesis 35:6, Joshua 18:13, and Judges 1:23. The most likely explanation for the discrepancy is that Bethel was originally applied solely to the cultic area outside the town of Luz. As Bethel grew in fame and importance, the name was gradually extended to the urban area as well. Eventually it eclipsed Luz, which fell into disuse.<\/p>\n
THE VOW (vv. 20\u201322)<\/p>\n
At this critical moment, while still under the impact of his extraordinary dream experience, Jacob takes upon himself certain obligations. The structure and style of his vow is in accord with a pattern known also from the story of Jephthah in Judges 11:30\u201331, of Hannah in 1 Samuel 1:11, and of Absalom in 2 Samuel 15:8. In each case the desire of the speaker is formulated as a condition whose fulfillment is wholly dependent upon God\u2019s providence; the suppliant solemnly undertakes to discharge some special obligation when this materializes. Jacob\u2019s vow is unique in that all the desired conditions have already been unqualifiedly promised by God (v. 15).
\nThis peculiarity is noted in Genesis Rabba 70:4, where two possible explanations are given.13 One is that the true sequence of events has been transposed in the narrative so that, in reality, the theophany becomes a response to Jacob\u2019s vow, which actually preceded it. The other is that verses 20\u201322 are not so much conditional as temporal. Jacob pledges himself to a certain course of action as an expression of gratitude to God after the promises will be fulfilled. According to the natural order presupposed by our story, Jacob\u2019s vow cannot be understood as a bargaining with God since all that he asks for has already been promised.<\/p>\n
21. the LORD shall be my God This phrase appears to be the resolution of the vow. It implies a commitment on the part of Jacob to exclusive allegiance to YHVH, which expresses itself through the imposition of a self-discipline that demonstrates that loyalty.14<\/p>\n
22. And this stone \u2026 shall be God\u2019s abode The stone shall function as a witness to Jacob\u2019s vow. An eighth-century B.C.E. Aramaic treaty inscription from Sfire, in Syria, terms each upright stone on which the treaty is inscribed a ntsb\u02be. This is the Aramaic cognate of Hebrew matsevah, both words being derived from the same stem n-ts-v. That text also designates these identical stones \u201cabode of the gods\u201d (bty \u02belhy\u02be) when they serve as witnesses to the treaty. It is clear that matsevah is the generic term for an upright stone slab irrespective of its function; beit \u02beelohim, \u201cGod\u2019s abode,\u201d is a specific subcategory of the matsevah. It is so called because it symbolizes the divine presence that monitors the fulfillment or infraction of the terms of a treaty or vow.
\nThat the expression beit \u02beelohim\/\u02beel in this special, technical sense once had a far wider currency is proved by the fact that it found its way into Greek usage. Hellenistic writers mention \u201cbethels\u201d (baituloi) as certain sacred stones supposedly possessed of divine or demonic powers. In addition, as shown in Excursus 22, there is plenty of evidence for a pagan god named \u201cBethel,\u201d who would either have been the deified sacred stone or the watchful divinity thought to reside in the stone of testimony. Of course, in the mouth of Jacob the term beit \u02beelohim means that the stone is a testimony to the Divine Presence.<\/p>\n
a tithe The institution of tithe-giving to temples and the royal court is well attested throughout the ancient Near East. Abraham had earlier paid a tithe of the spoils of war to Melchizedek, the priest-king of Salem (14:20). Jacob, now empty-handed, vows to pay a tithe to God of all his future possessions on his return. This tithe appears to be a one-time votive offering from the flocks and the products of the soil, not an annual obligation. The text is intriguingly silent on who is to receive the tithe and what is to be done with it. Normally one offers the tithe only to a king or to a sanctuary with an established clergy.<\/p>\n
CHAPTER 29*<\/p>\n
Jacob\u2019s Marriages (vv. 1\u201330)<\/p>\n
Buoyed by his experience at Bethel, Jacob makes his way to Haran with a lighter step. The scene depicting his arrival at the well and the ensuing events is reminiscent of what occurred many years earlier, in chapter 26, when Abraham\u2019s servant came to this same place intent on finding a wife for Isaac. But what a glaring contrast between the well-laden camel train of the grandfather and the lonely, empty-handed Jacob who arrives on foot! Yet Providence is at work in etching the fortunes of the one as surely as in the case of the other.
\nAs will be seen, the language of this section resounds with verbal echoes of preceding incidents, thereby suggesting causal relationships.<\/p>\n
1. resumed his journey Literally, \u201clifted up his feet,\u201d a phrase found nowhere else. It has variously been interpreted to mean that (i) the going was now easier; (ii) he directed his feet, that is, he went with resolve and confidence; (iii) he had to force himself to leave the site of the theophany.1<\/p>\n
the Easterners Hebrew benei kedem. As noted in the Comment to 25:6, kedem is a generalized designation of territory to the east of the Land of Israel. In 25:20 and 28:7, Laban\u2019s domicile is specified as Paddan-aram. Hosea 12:13 reads: \u201cThen Jacob had to flee to the land of Aram.\u201d2<\/p>\n
2\u20133. The stone restricted the use of the well to a closed group, and outsiders were required to pay for water. At the same time, the cover would serve as a protection against dust and filth and as a guard against accidental fall by man or beast. The prominence given to \u201cthe stone\u201d in this episode (vv. 2, 32, 10) provides a link with the important stone of Bethel (28:11, 18, 22), a reminder that the God who there promised Jacob protection now endows the weary fugitive with superhuman strength.<\/p>\n
4. Jacob does not realize that he has already arrived at his destination.<\/p>\n
5. Laban the son of Nahor Bethuel, Laban\u2019s actual father, is ignored here as he practically is in chapter 24. Nahor, the grandfather, was the head of the clan and the most notable figure.3<\/p>\n
6. Rachel \u2026 with the flock Perhaps word play, for her name means \u201ca ewe lamb.\u201d4<\/p>\n
7\u20138. Quite likely, Jacob wants the shepherds out of the way so that he can greet Rachel and converse with her alone. The laconic shepherds suddenly become talkative, for Jacob touches a raw nerve when he insinuates that they are shirking their duties.
\nThe dialogue is reported in unwonted detail. This unusual literary device allows time for Rachel to arrive at the well.<\/p>\n
9. for she was a shepherdess The gloss is probably occasioned by the rarity of women in this occupation in Israel. Such was not the case among the bedouin of Sinai, as shown by the story of Jethro\u2019s daughters in Exodus 2:16.<\/p>\n
10\u201311. rolled the stone This act Jacob performed singlehandedly, experiencing a sudden surge of strength at the sight of Rachel and in the knowledge that he is meeting with his own kith and kin at last.<\/p>\n
uncle Literally, \u201chis mother\u2019s brother.\u201d The threefold repetition of this phrase links the incident to the instructions of his parents (27:43; 28:2) and contains a hint that this girl is to become his wife.<\/p>\n
watered the flock Rachel must have been dumbfounded to receive preferential treatment at the well (cf. Exod. 2:16\u201319) and at the hand of a total stranger! This act at once establishes a singular bond between the two.<\/p>\n
went up \u2026 kissed Since Jacob already knows her to be his cousin, his kiss, even before he discloses his identity, becomes a natural and innocent act. The association between his watering of her flock and his show of affection is subtly expressed through the assonance of the two verbs va-yashk and va-yishak. This is the only instance in a biblical narrative of a man kissing a woman who is neither his mother nor his wife. The two verbs are identical with those employed in 27:26\u201327 in the fateful scene that precipitated Jacob\u2019s flight, which now ends with the encounter with Rachel. Their use here acts to draw the curtain on that phase in his life while simultaneously intimating that the next scene is retributive justice for his offence in the previous one, for Laban too will use the kiss as a greeting.<\/p>\n
broke into tears Men of the East are less inhibited than Westerners in giving expression to their emotions.<\/p>\n
12. and told her father Either because her mother was dead or because it was the duty of the father to welcome strangers.5<\/p>\n
13. the news Of Jacob\u2019s arrival.<\/p>\n
embraced \u2026 kissed Future developments show Laban\u2019s effusive greeting to have been self-serving.<\/p>\n
all that had happened It is hardly credible that Jacob reported that he had cheated his own brother and father. More likely, he told how his parents had sent him to find a wife from among his kinfolk and that his misadventures on the journey had brought him empty-handed.<\/p>\n
14. You are truly my bone and flesh Recognition of kinship involved formal obligations of solidarity and determined social behavior. It meant acceptance of Jacob as a member of Laban\u2019s household.<\/p>\n
15. Just because you are a kinsman According to this traditional rendering, Laban pretends to be concerned for Jacob\u2019s welfare. He is either telling him that henceforth he must earn his keep, or he is trying to retain his services, having observed him to be a skilled and faithful shepherd. There is another possibility, however. The initial Hebrew hakhi is usually interrogative, and the sentence could be rendered, \u201cAre you my kinsman that you should serve me for nothing?\u201d A member of the household does not receive payment for his services. The question would thus be a repudiation by Laban of the formal recognition of the ties of kinship; henceforth, Jacob would have the status of a hireling. See further Comment on verse 18.<\/p>\n
serve This is a key word, occurring seven times in the narrative.6 What bitter irony! This is precisely the term that conveyed the essence of the blessing that Jacob fought so desperately to obtain. The original oracle to the pregnant Rebekah forecast that \u201cthe older shall serve the younger\u201d; the purloined blessing contained the phrase, \u201cLet peoples serve you,\u201d which Isaac confirmed, saying to Esau, \u201cI have given him all his brothers for servants,\u201d \u201cYou shall serve your brother.\u201d Now it is Jacob who must do the serving.<\/p>\n
16. Jacob\u2019s response is delayed in order to provide the background information essential to the full understanding of subsequent developments.<\/p>\n
Leah The name may mean \u201ccow\u201d or \u201cstrong woman,\u201d or \u201cmistress.\u201d7<\/p>\n
Rachel She is mentioned again only because it was necessary to introduce Leah and to explain the order of birth, an item of vital importance to the plot.<\/p>\n
17. weak eyes Not poor vision, but lacking in luster.8<\/p>\n
18. The seven years\u2019 service is to be in lieu of the usual \u201cbride-price,\u201d known as mohar in Hebrew and ter\u1e2batum in Akkadian, an institution discussed in the Comment to 24:53.
\nThe nature of the legal relationship between Jacob and Laban has been a matter of scholarly dispute. It is now apparent that the data does not support the theory of an adoption arrangement or of an er\u0113bu marriage, whereby the husband is incorporated into the wife\u2019s clan and her offspring belong to her father\u2019s family. The entire drift of the story is opposed to the idea that Jacob has any intention or desire to stay permanently in Laban\u2019s household. Texts such as 30:25 and 31:13, 18 show that after twenty years, Isaac is still Jacob\u2019s father and Canaan is still his real home. This narrative contains none of the usual terminology of the adoption formulas. Adoption usually takes place when there are no natural-born sons, but 31:1 indicates that Laban has mature sons only fourteen years after Jacob\u2019s marriages. Jacob\u2019s altercation with Laban in 30:25\u201334 proves that the father-in-law recognizes Jacob\u2019s independent right to own property and to return to his ancestral homeland. Moreover, 30:30 makes clear that Jacob has his own household distinct from Laban\u2019s, while 31:1 shows that he works for his own gain. Finally, the patriarch\u2019s bitter complaint in 31:38\u201342 leaves no doubt that he has all along had the status of a laborer under contract. The Mari texts document the practice of pastoral nomads hiring themselves out on contract as shepherds to villagers. An Assyrian tablet records the case of a certain \u0160ama\u0161-amranni, who voluntarily undertook to \u201cdwell ten years\u201d\u2014that is, to perform service\u2014in the house of his employer in return for a wife, food, and clothing. On completion of his service, he may take his wife and depart. Jacob has the status of an indentured laborer working to pay off the bride-price.9<\/p>\n
19. Laban\u2019s reply is a piece of consummate ambiguity naively taken by Jacob to be a binding commitment.<\/p>\n
Better that I give her to you Marriage between relatives was regarded as highly desirable in that it safeguarded \u201cpurity of blood,\u201d tribal property, and the welfare of the daughter.<\/p>\n
20. but a few days Without doubt, the phrase is a verbal echo of 27:44. His mother sent her son to Laban \u201cfor a short while\u201d (lit. \u201ca few days\u201d) on the pretext of finding a wife. Now grim reality mocks her careless words and the ostensible becomes the actual. Yet the harshness of seven years\u2019 arduous toil is mitigated by the ardor of his love for Rachel, which ultimately makes the sacrifice worthwhile.<\/p>\n
21. my wife A betrothed woman has the status of a wife in the laws of Hammurabi (pars. 130, 161) as well as in Deuteronomy 20:7 and 22:23\u201324.<\/p>\n
23. The episode is intelligible only on the presumption that Leah wore a veil. As noted in the Comment to 24:65, there is evidence that in the Near East the bride was indeed veiled when presented to her husband.<\/p>\n
When evening came It is uncertain whether prevailing custom for the time of the wedding happened to facilitate the deception or whether Laban deliberately chose this time of the day.<\/p>\n
24. The custom of a father presenting his daughter with a maid on her marriage is widely attested in Mesopotamia over a long period of time. Its mention at this point is intrusive and acts as a retardation device to increase the tension concerning Jacob\u2019s reaction. At the same time, in accordance with biblical narrative style, the information is anticipatory to future developments. This literary feature is discussed in the Comment to 9:18.<\/p>\n
Zilpah The name has been connected with Arabic zulfah, \u201cdignity,\u201d or with dhulifa, \u201cto be small.\u201d<\/p>\n
25. there was Leah Observe Nemesis at work. Jacob\u2019s masquerading as his brother meets its appropriate counterstroke in the substitution of Leah for her sister. But retributive justice is not the only motif. Just as Jacob\u2019s succession to the birthright was divinely ordained, irrespective of human machinations (25:23), so Jacob\u2019s unintended marriage to Leah is seen as the working of Providence, for from this unplanned union issued Levi and Judah, whose offspring shared spiritual and temporal hegemony in Israel through the two great institutions of the biblical period, the priesthood and the Davidic monarchy.<\/p>\n
Why did you deceive me? The stem r-m-h is the same used by Isaac in 27:35 to define Jacob\u2019s own act of deception. Apart from this consonance, there may also be an implied play on the oft-repeated designation \u201cLaban the Aramean.\u201d10 Compare Hebrew \u02bearammi and rammai.<\/p>\n
26. It is not the practice All other biblical usages of this formula involve reactions to acts of great moral turpitude.11 Laban feigns outrage as though Jacob were the guilty one! In self-righteous justification of his dishonorable conduct, he hypocritically has recourse to the importance of tradition.<\/p>\n
younger \u2026 alder This is an instance of dramatic irony, as in a Greek drama. The contrasting term \u201cour place\u201d and the substitution of the terms used in verses 16 and 18 for \u201cyounger, older\u201d by tse\u02bfirah, bekhirah12 deftly evoke the Jacob-Esau rivalry, an underlying meaning that must have been perceived by Jacob and the audience but not comprehended by Laban, the speaker, who is not privy to the previous history. Jacob is stunned into silence and does not even reprove Laban for not having informed him about the local custom in the first place.<\/p>\n
27. the bridal week Literally, \u201cthe week of this one,\u201d that is, the seven days of feasting in celebration of a marriage, also mentioned in Judges 14:12, 17 in connection with Samson\u2019s wedding. This practice retained its popularity into Second Temple times (Tob. 11:18) and beyond (Mish. Neg. 3:2) and has continued in practice among Jews down to the present. It is popularly known as sheva\u02bf berakhot because seven benedictions are recited each day over a cup of wine at the grace after the festive meal when a fresh guest is present among a minyan (quorum of ten).<\/p>\n
28. The antiquity of the narrative is attested by the fact that Jacob\u2019s action is contrary to the prohibition of Leviticus 18:18 against a man marrying a sister of his wife during her lifetime. No attempt was made to rewrite tradition in conformity with the morality and law of a later age.<\/p>\n
29. Bilhah The name has been explained by reference to Arabic baliha, \u201cstupid, unconcerned,\u201d or the Horite clan Bilhan mentioned in 36:27.<\/p>\n
The Birth of Jacob\u2019s Children (29:31\u201330:43)<\/p>\n
This section records the birth of Jacob\u2019s children in Haran, eleven sons and one daughter. The account of the births is arranged according to maternal origin. The narrative divides into three parts, with four sons born in each: Leah\u2019s four sons in 29:31\u201335; the handmaids\u2019 four sons in 30:1\u201313; and the four children of Leah and Rachel in 30:14\u201324. Each son, as it turns out later, becomes the eponymous, or name-giving, ancestor of a tribe of Israel, a subject that is discussed at length in Excursus 23. The present story contains not the slightest hint of this. Where the personalities of the sons are delineated, they are remarkably individualized and real. There is no inkling of tribal development, and the folk etymologies and word plays on the names possess no underlying meaning that could be construed as reflecting tribal history, as is the case with Genesis 49.<\/p>\n
LEAH\u2019S FOUR SONS (vv. 29:31\u201335)<\/p>\n
The first motif that runs through the narrative is the unhappiness of Leah. Jacob\u2019s greater love of Rachel is psychologically understandable in the context of his experience with Laban; but that makes the lesser-loved Leah the innocent victim of her father\u2019s duplicity. For this reason she is the beneficiary of God\u2019s compassion and is blessed with many children. In fact, she herself bears more than all three other women combined.<\/p>\n
31. unloved Hebrew senu\u02beah is paired with \u02beahuvah in Deuteronomy 21:15 in a similar context of the relationship of a husband to his co-wives. The term has sociolegal implications in addition to its emotional dimension. It expresses not \u201chated\u201d as opposed to \u201cbeloved\u201d so much as a relative degree of preference.13<\/p>\n
he opened her womb This suggests that she had been childless for a while.14<\/p>\n
Rachel was barren The note prepares the reader for the next episode.15<\/p>\n
32. Reuben The true origin of the name is disputed. The simplest explanation makes it a compound of re\u02beu ben, \u201cSee, a son!\u201d a joyous exclamation by parents at the time of birth. Another suggestion connects it with South Arabic ra\u02beb\u0101n, \u201ca chief,\u201d a name befitting a first-born. The present story gives a folk etymology, rooted in the subjective circumstances, that by assonantal word play echoes ra\u02beah be-\u02bfonyi, \u201cHe (God) has seen my affliction.\u201d This special providential use of ra\u02beah, \u201cto see,\u201d has been noted in the Comment to 16:13.<\/p>\n
it also means Such is the force of the particle ki in this context. The double midrash on the name is a recurring feature in the birth narratives.<\/p>\n
will love me The last two syllables of Hebrew ye\u02beehavani are resonant of the final syllable of re\u02beuven. This midrash expresses Leah\u2019s aspiration to become the \u02beahuvah, the preferred wife.<\/p>\n
33. Simeon This name may originally have derived from Arabic sim\u02bf, the hybrid offspring of the hyena and female wolf. The midrash here connects it with the stem sh-m-\u02bf, \u201cto hear.\u201d The name Ishmael was similarly derived in 16:11. The names of Leah\u2019s first two sons replicate a pair of verbs that expresses God\u2019s providential concern and care for the unfortunate.16<\/p>\n
34. Levi The true origin of this name is obscure. A similar word in Akkadian and in Minaean inscriptions from northern Arabia designates a special class of temple servitors, but the present midrash, unlike that of Numbers 18:2, 4, contains no hint of any future sacral role. The name is given a purely secular twist, for it articulates the mother\u2019s yearning for her husband\u2019s companionship.<\/p>\n
he was named Hebrew kara\u02be shemo, literally \u201che named him,\u201d cannot refer to Jacob. The impersonal subject has the force of a passive.17<\/p>\n
35. Judah Hebrew yehudah is explained as stemming from \u02beahodeh, the original full form that was later contracted to \u02beodeh.18<\/p>\n
she stopped bearing No reason is given, but the episode that opens with 30:14 suggests that Jacob ceased to perform his conjugal duty by her.<\/p>\n
CHAPTER 30*<\/p>\n
THE FOUR SONS OF THE HANDMAIDS (vv. 1\u201313)<\/p>\n
The second motif that informs the birth narratives is Rachel\u2019s desperate unhappiness at being childless, with the consequent shame and ignominy that society attached to that misfortune. Envy of her sister\u2019s fertility is a natural sequel.<\/p>\n
1. or I shall die Life without children would not be worth living.1<\/p>\n
2. Can I take the place of God He is the ultimate and sole arbiter of human destiny.<\/p>\n
3. Rachel, like Sarah before her, now resorts to the device of concubinage, an institution that has been discussed in the Comment to 16:1\u20133.<\/p>\n
that she may bear on my knees The key to this phrase lies in a symbolic gesture, widely attested in Near Eastern sources, especially Hittite, as well as in the cultures of ancient Greece and Rome. The placing or reception of a child on or by the knees of another signifies legitimation, whether in acknowledgment of physical parenthood or by adoption. This practice is again referred to in the Bible in Genesis 48:12 and 50:23 and in Job 3:12. Its origin is in the idea of the knee as the seat of generative power. Akkadian birku, \u201cknee,\u201d is in fact used as a euphemism for the sexual parts. An impotent man is \u0161a, la i\u0161\u00fb birki, literally \u201cone who has no knees.\u201d Sennacherib speaks of his oldest son as \u201cthe offspring of my knees.\u201d In the present text, because Bilhah is to act as a surrogate mother for Rachel, her offspring have to be accepted and legitimated. The appropriate symbolic gesture on Rachel\u2019s part is thus called for.<\/p>\n
4. as concubine The text reads literally \u201cas a wife,\u201d but in 35:22 Bilhah is called \u201ca concubine\u201d (Heb. pilegesh). Zilpah is designated \u201cwife\u201d in verse 9. In 37:2 both women are termed \u201cwives.\u201d The basic difference between a concubine and a wife is that no mohar, or bride-price, is paid for the former. The interchange of terminology shows that in the course of time the distinction in social status between the two often tended to be effaced.<\/p>\n
5. Jacob Hebrew le-ya\u02bfakov, \u201cto Jacob,\u201d is placed in an emphatic position in the word order. It has not appeared in the account of the birth of the previous sons but is included here because the paternity of a child born to a maidservant may be uncertain.<\/p>\n
6. Dan The name is derived from the stem d-y-n, \u201cto judge, vindicate.\u201d2 It also appears together with a divine element in compound names like Daniel and Abidan. The second part of the verse explicates \u201cvindication.\u201d The statement may well reflect a liturgical formula, such as found in Psalms 54:3b\u20134a: \u201cBy Your power vindicate me (tedineni). \/ O God, hear my prayer.\u201d<\/p>\n
8. Naphtali The name is explained by a unique noun naftulim, itself unclear but usually understood to mean \u201ccontest.\u201d The rendering \u201cfateful contest\u201d is based on the occasional use of \u02beelohim, \u201cGod,\u201d as an intensifying or superlative element.3 The phrase could also mean \u201ca contest for God,\u201d that is, for divine favor.<\/p>\n
9. she had stopped bearing This links with 29:35. Leah\u2019s resort to concubinage is unexplained. From verse 18 it is clear that she regarded this as something particularly meritorious. Perhaps she sensed that Jacob wanted more children. Being convinced that Rachel could not provide them, and facing the fact that her husband did not find her desirable, she was prepared to sacrifice her pride, and she gave her maid for the purpose.<\/p>\n
11. Gad This appears as the name of the god of fortune and good luck in several Near Eastern cultures.4 It corresponds to the Greek Tyche and the Latin Fortuna. This pagan divinity is mentioned in Isaiah 65:11, where it is paired with \u201cDestiny\u201d (Heb. meni). The name is also a component of the Canaanite town names Baal-gad in Joshua 11:17 and Migdal-gad in Joshua 15:37. It also appears as an element in personal names. In the mouth of Leah it is simply an abstract noun, \u201cluck,\u201d just as one would refer to \u201cLady Luck\u201d in English.<\/p>\n
13. Asher Both interpretations of the name derive from the stem \u02be-sh-r, \u201chappy.\u201d5 A feminine form of the name has turned up in an eighteenth-century B.C.E. list of Semitic slaves in Egypt.<\/p>\n
THE FOUR CHILDREN OF RACHEL AND LEAH (vv. 14\u201324)<\/p>\n
THE MANDRAKES (VV. 14\u201316)<\/p>\n
The chronicle of births is briefly interrupted by the introduction of a minor episode that acts as a delaying device to avoid tedium and to sustain audience attention and interest. The motifs that characterized the previous two parts here merge and interact.<\/p>\n
14. at the time of the wheat harvest Around May. The dating of events by agricultural seasons is quite common.6 Time in the Bible is often designated by its content rather than by atomized units. This is particularly so in connection with a pastoralist society. As noted in the Comment to 26:12, the Mari archives provide abundant evidence for the involvement of pastoralist nomads in seasonal agricultural activity in the fields near their grazing grounds.<\/p>\n
mandrakes Hebrew duda\u02beim has long been identified with the Mandragora, officinarum, which grows wild in the fields. Its small, yellow, tomatolike fruit ripens during March and April. Chemical analysis shows it to contain emetic, purgative, and narcotic substances, which explains its widespread medicinal use in ancient times. Because the fruit exudes a distinctive and heady fragrance, and its sturdy, forked or intertwined root has torsolike features, the mandrake appears as a widely diffused folkloristic motif associated with aphrodisiac powers. Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, beauty, and sex, was given the epithet \u201ch\u0113 mandragoriti,\u201d \u201cLady of the Mandrake.\u201d The Hebrew term duda\u02beim is close in sound to dodim, \u201clove.\u201d7 Indeed, the two are associated in The Song of Songs: \u201cThere I will give my love (dodai) to you. \/ The mandrakes (duda\u02beim) yield their fragrance \u2026 my beloved (dodi)\u201d (7:13\u201314).
\nWhile the text is silent on the reason for the intense interest in the mandrakes on the part of both sisters, the underlying folkloristic associations are undoubtedly present. It is significant that the subsequent narrative tacitly, but effectively, neutralizes this aspect, dismissing the notion that such superstitions may have any validity. Leah, who gives up the mandrakes, bears three children; Rachel, who possesses them, remains barren for apparently three more years. Further, both sisters, as well as the Narrator, repeatedly emphasize that all events are by the will of God and under His control. It can hardly be coincidental that God is mentioned seven times in all.<\/p>\n
15. my husband \u2026 mandrakes The pairing of the two intimates that the fruit was to be used to induce Jacob to resume his conjugal duty.<\/p>\n
I promise For this use of Hebrew lakhen, see Comment to 4:15.<\/p>\n
he shall lie with you The pathetic nature of this barter arrangement is underlined by the striking fact that the verb sh-k-v, when employed in Genesis with a sexual nuance, never connotes a relationship of marital love but is invariably used in unsavory circumstances.8<\/p>\n
16. I have hired you Hebrew s-k-r points to a folk etymology for Issachar, who is to issue from this rendezvous.<\/p>\n
18. Issachar This second explanation connects it with the action of verse 9 and suggests yesh sakhar, \u201cThere is a reward,\u201d a phrase found in Jeremiah 31:16(15) and 2 Chronicles 15:7. It is an affirmation of belief in divine Providence. In Genesis 49:14 a third midrash on the name takes it as \u02beish sakhar, \u201ca hireling.\u201d Actually, personal names formed from the verb s-k-r are found in the list of Semitic slaves referred to above as well as in several ancient Arabic dialects. The different Hebrew consonantal spelling seems to go back to an archaic causative verbal form yashaskir, \u201cMay He (God) grant favor\/reward.\u201d9<\/p>\n
20. Zebulun A double folk etymology is given for this name. The first is based on similarity of sound with the two initial consonants of the stem z-v-d, \u201cto give, grant,\u201d which appears as a verb only here in the Bible but is known from other Semitic languages and is a component of several proper names.10 The second explanation more closely connects the name with the stem z-v-l, which ancient versions and Jewish commentators took to mean \u201cto dwell,\u201d namely, \u201cmy husband will dwell with me.\u201d This etymology, however, is doubtful. The stem z-v-l is now known to signify \u201cto raise up.\u201d11<\/p>\n
this time \u2026 Leah\u2019s yearning for her husband\u2019s attention and esteem following the birth of her sixth son echoes her plea after the arrival of the third son (29:34).<\/p>\n
21. Dinah The announcement of her birth is offhanded and without explanation for her name. It is mentioned only because it anticipates and is necessary for the understanding of the episode to be recounted in chapter 34.12<\/p>\n
22. God remembered For the significance of this phrase, see the Comment to 8:1.<\/p>\n
23\u201324. Joseph The two Hebrew verbs \u02beasaf and yosef, \u201ctaken away\u201d and \u201cadd,\u201d provide a double etymology for the name, the first looking back to the past years of shame and anguish, the second looking forward to an even greater measure of joy.
\nWith the announcement about Joseph, the birth narrative is completed. It opens and closes with the use of the divine name YHVH (29:31; 30:24).<\/p>\n
JACOB AND LABAN: A NEW CONTRACT (vv. 25\u201343)<\/p>\n
Jacob has now conscientiously discharged all his obligations to Laban. This coincides with the extraordinary birth of Joseph to his beloved Rachel. God\u2019s promise of numerous offspring has been abundantly fulfilled, and another turning point in Jacob\u2019s life has been reached. In accordance with the divine blessing at Bethel (28:15), the patriarch must now prepare to return home.<\/p>\n
25\u201327. Jacob formally asks leave of Laban to take his wives and children and to return to his native land. The petition is couched in conventional, formulaic language, as a comparison with 1 Kings 11:21 shows. Laban\u2019s inquiry about payment seems surprising in view of Jacob\u2019s silence on the matter. Actually, Laban well understood his son-in-law\u2019s repeated use of the stem \u02bf-v-d, \u201cto serve\u201d (v. 26). It puts the phrase \u201cGive me leave,\u201d Hebrew shalle\u1e25ni, in far less innocent light, for the verb shilla\u1e25 is a technical term for the manumission of one in service to another.13 By the terms of the original contract with Laban, as explained in the Comment to 29:18, Jacob\u2019s status was that of an indentured servant paying off a debt, in this case the bride-price for his employer\u2019s two daughters. Hence, Jacob is entitled to the philanthropy accorded one who leaves his master\u2019s house on completion of his term of service. This rule, which saves a man from renewed penury, is formulated as follows in Deuteronomy 15:13\u201314: \u201cWhen you set him free, do not let him go empty-handed: Furnish him out of the flock, threshing floor, and vat \u2026\u201d Later on, in his altercation with Laban reported in 31:38\u201342, Jacob uses the identical formula, saying: \u201cYou would have sent me away empty-handed.\u201d<\/p>\n
26. and my children Strictly speaking, mention of the children is inappropriate since Jacob did not \u201cserve\u201d for them. What Jacob is saying is that he is not an ordinary slave to whom his master gives a wife. In such a case, she and her offspring would belong to the master and remain in his household on the manumission of the slave, as specified in Exodus 21:2\u20134.<\/p>\n
27. I have learned by divination This is the traditional rendering of Hebrew ni\u1e25ashti. However, to use divination to discover the secret of success would be very anomalous. Some translate, \u201cI have learned by experience,\u201d but this is etymologically and semantically insupportable. Hence, a connection with Akkadian ne\u1e2b\u0101\u0161u, \u201cto prosper,\u201d is very plausible.14 Laban would then be saying, \u201cI have become prosperous, seeing that God has blessed me on your account.\u201d<\/p>\n
28\u201330. Laban is reluctant to lose the skilled services of Jacob, so he ignores the request to depart and pretends to understand Jacob\u2019s remarks as the opening bid in a haggle over the price of future service. He is deferential to the point of being obsequious. Jacob, for his part, disregards Laban\u2019s question and astutely drives home the point about his own decisive role in Laban\u2019s success.<\/p>\n
32\u201336. In the Near East, sheep are generally white and goats are dark brown or black.15 A minority of sheep may have dark patches, and goats white markings. It is these uncommon types to be born in the future that Jacob demands as wages for his unpaid services. Laban readily agrees, believing that he is getting a bargain on account of their rarity. He promptly withdraws all the livestock that already possess the specified characteristics and moves them a considerable distance away to avoid contact with the rest of the flocks that remain in Jacob\u2019s care. However, Jacob succeeds in outwitting Laban in the course of the next six years (31:41). How does he do it?
\nOne account has it that he first segregates the feebler animals. Then he subjects the sturdier ones to visual impressions at mating time, in this way influencing the character of the progeny. Of course, this interpretation rests on folkloristic beliefs and fallaciously assumes the inheritability of acquired characteristics.
\nAnother explanation is given in 31:8\u201312. Here the preferred characteristics are obtained through controlled propagation and transmitted from parent to progeny. Scientifically, the required results could be achieved by the successive interbreeding of the monochrome heterozygotes, or the singlecolored animals that carried recessive genes for spottedness. Such animals are detectable by the characteristic known as heterosis, or hybrid vigor.
\nIt should be noted that Jacob claims to have received the idea in a dream. The entire action is thus attributed to divine intervention, not to Jacob\u2019s ingenuity. This process made it necessary for Jacob to find a way to advance the mating season so that the rare types would be induced to engage in reproductive activity before they were segregated, which they were when the normal mating time approached. If this is the true explanation, then the varied accounts need not be contradictory. The first would describe the elaborate display put on by Jacob in order to mask his secret technique. It is also possible that the three plants placed in the watering troughs, each known to contain toxic substances and used in the ancient world for medicinal purposes, could have had the effect of hastening the onset of the estrous cycle in the animals and so heightened their readiness to copulate.<\/p>\n
35. that hud white on it Hebrew laban is a play on the name Laban, which recurs in verse 37. It conveys the idea of Jacob beating Laban at his own game.<\/p>\n
36. three days\u2019 journey See Comment to 22:4.<\/p>\n
43. grew exceedingly prosperous Hebrew p-r-ts is a verbal echo of 28:14. God\u2019s promise has been fulfilled.<\/p>\n
and came to own \u2026 Jacob was able to barter the rare sheep and goats for flocks, servants, camels, and asses.<\/p>\n
CHAPTER 31*<\/p>\n
Jacob and Laban: The Finale (31:1\u201332:3)<\/p>\n
The final act in the drama of complicated relationships between Jacob and Laban is about to unfold. The patriarch\u2019s hard-earned affluence and independence have made the situation intolerable all round. Jacob decides to return home and slips away when the opportunity presents itself.
\nThe action divides into six distinct scenes. In the first two Jacob is the main character (vv. 1\u201316, 17\u201321). In the next two it is Laban who occupies the center of the stage (vv. 22\u201324, 25\u201335). Then it is Jacob who plays the dominant role (vv. 36\u201343), leading to the climactic resolution: the pact between two equal partners (vv. 44\u201354).<\/p>\n
JACOB CONSULTS WITH HIS WIVES (vv. 1\u201316)<\/p>\n
1\u20132. The signs of impending trouble are unmistakably clear to the ear and the eye. Jacob hears what is said about him and observes Laban\u2019s changed demeanor.<\/p>\n
3. Any lingering doubts as to his proper course of action are soon dispelled by God\u2019s command and His reassurance of protection.<\/p>\n
the land of your fathers Jacob is the first patriarch to whom the land can be so described.<\/p>\n
I will be with you The wording evokes the revelation at Bethel, \u201cRemember, I am with you\u201d (28:15).<\/p>\n
4\u201313. Jacob promptly consults with his wives, for he cannot leave without their consent. By so doing, he exposes the falseness of Laban\u2019s accusation in verse 26. While shepherding his flock in the open field, he can summon his wives without arousing suspicion. At the same time, the locale affords protection from eavesdroppers. The concubines are excluded because their presence at a discussion of Laban\u2019s lack of scruple would be inappropriate, and lower social status makes it unnecessary for Jacob to seek their agreement to his plan.
\nIn the course of his address to his wives, Jacob takes great pains to prove his own integrity as opposed to Laban\u2019s repeated perfidy. He also exhibits sensitivity to the feelings of his wives when he attributes his prosperity to God and not to his being more clever than their father. Finally, he relates a dream revelation in which God orders him to return to his native land.<\/p>\n
7. time and again Hebrew \u02bfaseret monim, literally \u201cten times.\u201d The number is used solely for rhetorical effect in the sense of \u201crepeatedly.\u201d1 Although the context leaves no doubt as to the meaning, the unique Hebrew monim here and in verse 41, instead of the usual pe\u02bfamim, may be a subtle echo of the stem y-n-h, \u201cto oppose, maltreat.\u201d2<\/p>\n
9. has taken away \u2026 and given This is a legal formula for the conveyance and transfer of property. The first term, hitsil, is unique in Hebrew in such a context but is attested in Aramaic legal documents.3 Jacob\u2019s use of an Aramaism, echoed by his wives in verse 16, is congruous with the narrative background that deals as it does with \u201cLaban the Aramean,\u201d who himself uses Aramaic in verse 47.<\/p>\n
10. I had a dream Jacob credits his successful sheep-breeding strategy to the inspiration of a dream-vision.<\/p>\n
12. for I have noted Literally, \u201csaw.\u201d This term frequently is used to express God\u2019s compassionate response to a suffering victim.4<\/p>\n
13. The logical sequence and stylistic connection of the verse with the preceding discourse is very tenuous, and the difficulty is aggravated by the sudden self-identifying formula in the middle of a divine address. It is best, therefore, to assume that Jacob is recounting two separate dream experiences\u2014the first relating to the past, the second to the present and immediate future.<\/p>\n
I am the God of Bethel The succeeding double use of \u201cwhere\u201d (Heb. sham) shows that \u201cBethel\u201d here is a place-name, not a divine name. The title is intended not to limit the living God to a specific locale but to call to mind the original theophany, specifically the promise of constant protection and safe return.5 In like manner, the emphasis on the vow is a reminder to the patriarch that his self-imposed obligation assumed at Bethel has yet to be discharged. As noted in the Comment to 28:22, the term Bethel possesses a technical meaning suggesting the divine witnessing and monitoring of a compact.<\/p>\n
14\u201316. The two wives are of one mind in identifying with Jacob, and they voice three major grievances that relate, in sequence, to the future, the present, and the past. Rachel precedes Leah because she had been the special object of her father\u2019s trickery and was particularly bitter.<\/p>\n
14. Have we still a share \u2026? The question is rhetorical. From the way the idiom is used in 2 Samuel 20:1 and 1 Kings 12:16, it is clear that the declaration carries with it both a repudiation of another\u2019s claim on one\u2019s loyalty and a renunciation of allegiance.<\/p>\n
15. as outsiders That is, as though we were no longer members of the clan. Being deprived of protection and with no legal redress, an \u201coutsider\u201d or alien would be a ready object of exploitation.<\/p>\n
he has sold us The reference is probably to the discreditable manner in which Laban married them off, as described in 29:15\u201328.<\/p>\n
and has used up our purchase price Literally, \u201cand has eaten up our money.\u201d This unique Hebrew idiom appears in Akkadian in the sense of pocketing the purchase or bridal price. Normally the groom deposited with the bride\u2019s father or guardian a sum of money to be settled on the bride. In the present case, the impecunious Jacob gave fourteen years of service instead. The wives accuse their father either of the improvident disposition of the monetary equivalent of this service or of outright larceny.<\/p>\n
16. The wives fully concur with Jacob\u2019s claim of good title to his wealth, thereby refuting by anticipation Laban\u2019s counterclaim in verse 43.<\/p>\n
THE ESCAPE (vv. 17\u201321)<\/p>\n
Jacob loses no time. Taking advantage of Laban\u2019s absence due to sheep-shearing activities, he makes his escape.<\/p>\n
17. on camels This detail explains the presence of the \u201ccamel cushion,\u201d which plays a crucial role in the next episode (v. 34).<\/p>\n
18. that he had amassed \u2026 in his possession that he had acquired The unusual cluster of phrases underscores Jacob\u2019s claim to absolute and rightful ownership of all his possessions, thus again refuting in advance Laban\u2019s assertion in verse 43.<\/p>\n
19. Sheep-shearing in Mesopotamia was carried out in the spring. It entailed much hard work on the part of a large number of men who often had to labor at a considerable distance from their homes for extended periods of time. Mesopotamian documents from the eighteenth century B.C.E. refer to severe labor shortages on such occasions. In one case a gang of 1,000 men was said to be insufficient. One letter from the Mari archives records the need for 300\u2013400 men for a period of three days, while another states that the shearing would have to take as long as a week and a half due to rains and an inadequate labor force. The completion of the arduous work would be marked by festivities.6
\nAll this explains why the sheep-shearing season would be an ideal time for Jacob to make his departure. Laban, his sons, and his menfolk would all be far away and busily preoccupied.<\/p>\n
Rachel stole The text unequivocally describes her action as thievery. Even her father\u2019s shabby treatment of her did not justify her illegal act.<\/p>\n
household idols The nature and function of these objects remain largely obscure, as does Rachel\u2019s motivation. Called \u201cterafim\u201d in Hebrew, they are translated \u201cidols\u201d by ancient versions of the text such as the Aramaic Targums and the Greek Septuagint. Laban refers to them as \u201cmy gods\u201d (v. 30), and Jacob correspondingly speaks of \u201cyour gods\u201d (v. 32). The Narrator, however, dubs them \u201cterafim,\u201d suggesting that the term may be a contemptuous substitution word such as is frequently used in the Bible in connection with idolatry. Thus, pagan gods may be variously characterized as \u02beelilim, \u201cworthless things\u201d; boshet, \u201cshame\u201d; gillulim, \u201cpellets of dung\u201d; havalim, \u201cfutilities\u201d; and shikkutsim, \u201cdetestable things.\u201d In 2 Kings 23:24 terafim appear together with gillulim and shikkutsim in a list of idolatrous abominations outlawed by King Josiah of Judah. In line with this substitution-word practice, the term may be derived from a stem r-f-h, \u201cto be limp, without energy,\u201d hence meaning \u201cinert things.\u201d Another, perhaps more likely, origin is t-r-f, \u201cto decay, become foul,\u201d known from Aramaic and postbiblical Hebrew. A derivation from Hittite tarpi, \u201cspirit, demon,\u201d then an object symbolizing the same, also cannot be ruled out.
\nAs to the size and shape of these objects, it is apparent from verse 34 that they are small enough to be hidden beneath a camel cushion. On the other hand, the story in 1 Samuel 19:13, 16 shows them to be large and anthropoid. They were clearly not of uniform size.
\nWhat was their function? They have been widely understood as corresponding to the ilani, the family gods of the Nuzi household, and to the Roman penates, the household gods who were thought to protect the food supply and assure the general well-being of the family. That possession of the household gods was connected to birthright or clan leadership is to be inferred from an adoption contract from Nuzi, which stipulates: \u201cIf Nashwi has a son of his own, he shall divide [the estate] equally with Wullu, but the son of Nashwi shall take the gods of Nashwi. However, if Nashwi does not have a son of his own, then Wullu shall take the gods of Nashwi.\u201d In the case of Jacob, however, the terafim could not have assured inheritance rights since the patriarch claims nothing from Laban and, in any case, is leaving Mesopotamia for good.
\nSeveral biblical texts leave no doubt of the cultic role that the terafim played, and more specifically of their use in divination. Perhaps Rachel, by appropriating them, hoped to deprive her father of the ability to detect Jacob\u2019s escape.7<\/p>\n
20. kept Laban the Aramean in the dark Literally, \u201cstole the heart (Heb. lev) of.\u2026\u201d The Hebrew contains a double word play. Lev echoes Laban (Heb. lavan), while \u02bearami evokes the stem r-m-h, \u201cto cheat.\u201d Laban the heartless cheat has been beaten at his own game!<\/p>\n
the Aramean The emphasis on Laban\u2019s ethnic affiliation, here and again in verse 24, artfully alerts the audience to an awareness that Laban and Jacob are now totally alienated from each other and represent two distinct peoples. It presages the pact that is soon to be concluded.<\/p>\n
21. Events have come full cycle. As Jacob fled from his father\u2019s home to the safety of Laban\u2019s, so he now flees from Laban back to his native land. The entire episode is brought to a conclusion by employing the same two verbs used at the outset. It began with Rebekah\u2019s directive of 27:43, \u201cflee at once to Haran,\u201d which in the Hebrew really reads \u201carise, flee!\u201d It closes here with, \u201cHe fled \u2026 and arose.\u2026\u201d The reversal of the word order symbolizes the reversal of direction.<\/p>\n
the hill country of Gilead This designation is very general and apparently covers the entire high plateau east of the Jordan between the Yarmuk, which flows into the river just below the Sea of Galilee, and the northern shore of the Dead Sea.<\/p>\n
LABAN IN HOT PURSUIT (vv. 22\u201335)<\/p>\n
When Laban receives news of Jacob\u2019s flight, he sets out at once in hot pursuit. No sooner does he catch up with his son-in-law, than he is forbidden by God to resort to force. He then embarks on an emotional and self-righteous harangue, portraying himself as the aggrieved party.<\/p>\n
22\u201323. third day \u2026 seven days These are symbolic numbers indicative of significant segments of time.8 A literal understanding would mean that Jacob covered the approximately 400-mile (640 km.) distance between Haran and Gilead in ten days, thus sustaining an average rate of travel of about forty miles (64 km.) a day, despite the encumbrance of vast flocks and a considerable entourage, which included women and children. Comparative evidence from the ancient Near East suggests that daily progress of about 6 miles (9.65 km.) would be realistic in these circumstances.<\/p>\n
24. in a dream by night A similar device is employed to warn Abimelech and Balaam.9<\/p>\n
attempting anything Literally, \u201cspeaking from good until bad.\u201d On the merism, see Comment to 24:50. Once he has Jacob in sight, Laban encamps for the night without making contact. He then experiences the admonition dream. The next morning he overtakes his son-in-law and confronts him with formal allegations of misconduct that include deception, humiliation of the wives, neglect of the appropriate ceremonies of leave-taking, and the theft of his gods.<\/p>\n
25. pitched \u2026 encamped The Hebrew uses the same stem t-k-\u02bf in both clauses, instead of the usual n-t-h for pitching a tent. The verb t-k-\u02bf, \u201cto thrust, drive in (pegs),\u201d is found elsewhere only in Jeremiah 6:3 in a war context, suggesting that the choice of this unusual verb here is intended to convey something of the hostile atmosphere that pervades the scene.<\/p>\n
on the Height \u2026 in the hill country Despite the generalized language, the contrast suggests two separate and adjacent sites that face one another. On the basis of verse 49 and Judges 10:17, Mizpah and Mount Gilead come to mind.<\/p>\n
26\u201327. Laban\u2019s indictment is laced with irony. He opens with the question, \u201cWhat did you mean?\u201d\u2014literally \u201cWhat have you done?\u201d\u2014a phrase that invariably introduces an accusation of wrongdoing.10 These are the very words that Jacob spoke to Laban the morning after his wedding (29:25). Laban professes to believe that his daughters were coerced into leaving, while we already know the contrary to be the case (vv. 14\u201316). He charges his son-in-law with treating him as an enemy and his daughters as prizes of war\u2014yet the two had earlier denounced their father for treating them as aliens. With an air of injured innocence, the man who repeatedly defrauded Jacob from the very beginning of their relationship unabashedly complains of having been misled!<\/p>\n
with festive music Laban refers either to a farewell of a social nature or to some formal, ceremonious leave-taking procedure.<\/p>\n
28\u201329. Laban apparently considers Jacob to be a member of his clan who deserves punishment for violating its rules and mores. However, in deference to the divine admonition, retribution will not be exacted.<\/p>\n
30. For devastating psychological effect, Laban cynically reinforces his feigned magnanimity with a beguiling show of empathy. Having thus emotionally disarmed his opponent by lulling him into a false sense of relief, he then proceeds to deliver the coup de grace in the form of the most serious charge of all: theft of his gods.<\/p>\n
31. Although thrown on the defensive, Jacob manages to get in a few barbs. His clandestine flight was justified, he says, by the fear that Laban might have robbed him of his wives by force. He implies that this was a more realistic prospect than the joyous send-off. Laban, it should be noted, used the verb g-n-v, \u201cto steal,\u201d three times. Jacob\u2019s riposte employs the much harsher g-z-l, \u201cto remove by force, to kidnap.\u201d<\/p>\n
32. Outright rejection of the final charge takes the form of a fearful imprecation. As an earnest of his sincerity, Jacob issues an invitation to search his effects.<\/p>\n
shall not remain alive It is uncertain whether the phrase has here judicial or rhetorical force. It appears once more in 44:9, also in connection with an allegation of theft of a sacred object. Sacrilege was severely dealt with in the ancient Near East, but it did not always incur the death penalty. See Comment to 44:9.<\/p>\n
point out Hebrew hakker is the same word as used in 37:32f and 38:25f, each time in connection with something that constitutes presumptive evidence. It is most likely a legal term.<\/p>\n
33. Laban makes no reply but immediately proceeds with the search. Does the silence imply acceptance of Jacob\u2019s position or does it portend further mischief? The interest of the audience is heightened by the uncertainty, while the tension is sustained by commencement of the search with the least likely culprit, thereby increasing the nervousness of the defendant. Joseph adopts the same device in searching his brothers\u2019 effects in 44:12, and the analogy suggests that the actual sequence was: Jacob, Leah, maidservants, Rachel. In order to slow up the climax and to amplify the excitement the Narrator inserts a sort of interim report\u2014(\u201cbut he did not find them\u201d)\u2014and appends a telescoped summary of the order of search. Here only Leah and Rachel are mentioned because the next development contains resonances of what happened at the first Laban-Jacob confrontation.<\/p>\n
34\u201335. At the climactic moment, Laban is outmaneuvered by his own daughter. It is a final act of retribution for the fraud he had perpetrated on her and Jacob on what was to have been their wedding day.<\/p>\n
the camel cushion This is illuminated by a relief uncovered at Tell Halaf in northern Syria, dating from about 900 B.C.E. It depicts a camel driver with a stick in hand seated on a boxlike object that simultaneously serves as a riding saddle and a pack saddle and is secured to the camel by straps.11<\/p>\n
I cannot rise before you Rachel apologizes that her indisposition prevents her from paying her father proper filial respect.<\/p>\n
the period of women It is this condition that decisively deters Laban from searching the camel cushion. He cannot approach Rachel, and he cannot possibly imagine that she would sit on his \u201cgods\u201d in a state of menstrual impurity. The ancients widely regarded menstrual flow as a potently contaminating substance, and the menstruant was thought to be possessed by evil spirits, thus requiring her separation from other persons. In light of Israelite notions of purity and impurity, as set forth in Leviticus 15:19\u201324, the description of Rachel\u2019s act constitutes the culminating absurdity in the religious situation. It implies an attitude of willful defilement and contemptuous rejection of the idea that Laban\u2019s cult objects had any religious worth.<\/p>\n
JACOB\u2019S COUNTERCHARGES (vv. 36\u201343)<\/p>\n
According to ancient law, the futility of Laban\u2019s search for his property constitutes presumptive proof of Jacob\u2019s innocence. Twenty years\u2019 suppressed anger at abuse and mistreatment now find expression in an impassioned outpouring of righteous indignation, giving us a glimpse of the hard life and the trials and tribulations that Jacob endured.<\/p>\n
36. became incensed By searching Jacob\u2019s tent, Laban had shown that he really believed him to be guilty of theft. Moreover, the man maintains his silence and does not apologize for his false accusation.<\/p>\n
took up bis grievance The Hebrew stem r-y-v, as a verb and a noun, belongs to the terminology of jurisprudence.12 It is Jacob who now becomes the aggrieved party, the plaintiff, and Laban the accused, the defendant.<\/p>\n
37. What have you found? Jacob believes that Laban used the issue of the terafim as a pretext and that he really suspected his son-in-law of stealing much more from him.13<\/p>\n
let them decide Hebrew y-kh-\u1e25, like r-y-v, also has a forensic context. Jacob calls upon the kinsmen of each side to form a tribunal and to decide which of the rivals is the real thief.14<\/p>\n
38. never miscarried This is another way of saying, \u201cI was never negligent but always exercised tender care and diligence with the flock.\u201d<\/p>\n
39. Jacob is not taking credit for virtuous conduct beyond what the law demanded. Rather, he is accusing Laban of unscrupulous behavior in violation of Near Eastern law and custom, which absolved a shepherd of personal responsibility in a case of force majeur, provided he could supply corroborating evidence. Both the laws of Hammurabi15 and Exodus 22:12 make clear that a shepherd under contract had the status of a paid bailee and was liable only for lost or stolen sheep.16<\/p>\n
by day \u2026 by night The significance of this addition is unclear since it is not otherwise known that the time of the day had any bearing on the shepherd\u2019s responsibility or exculpation.<\/p>\n
42. Jacob winds up his bitter response with a sarcastic sally against Laban\u2019s pretense of generosity in verse 27. To the contrary, he says, if it had been left to you, I would have completed my service still destitute.<\/p>\n
the God of my father On this divine title, see Comment to 26:24 and Excursus 20.<\/p>\n
the Fear of Isaac Hebrew pa\u1e25ad yits\u1e25ak is a unique divine title embedded also in verse 53. It conveys a double meaning: \u201cThe One Whom Isaac Reveres\u201d and \u201cThe One of Isaac Who Caused Terror.\u201d This latter nuance is a reference to the admonitory dream, the source of which Laban recognized to be the God of Jacob\u2019s father (v. 29).17<\/p>\n
sent me away empty-handed See Comment to 30:25\u201327.<\/p>\n
43. Now publicly exposed as a scoundrel, Laban lamely tries to cover his loss of face with empty rhetoric that has no legal force behind it, only emotion. It is as though he is saying, \u201cAll the same, were it not for me, you would still be a nobody possessing nothing. Besides, how could you think I might harm my own offspring?\u201d<\/p>\n
THE PACT BETWEEN LABAN AND JACOB (vv. 44\u201354)<\/p>\n
To show good faith, Laban now proposes that he and Jacob conclude a pact of mutual non-aggression. By so doing, he capitulates to reality. In legal terms, it means that he tacitly acknowledges Jacob as constituting a separate, independent social entity of equal status. This is reflected in the narrative in several ways: there are two stone markers, two meals, two place-names; the deity is twice invoked, and by two separate names. Moreover, the pact contains two provisions\u2014one dealing with family matters, the other of a political nature. The first seeks to protect the interests of Laban\u2019s two daughters in a foreign land, the second delineates the boundary between two ethnic groups.
\nThe form and structure of the pact, as well as its contents, have analogies in ancient Near Eastern documents. The antiquity of the episode is proved both by the covenant meal, which is characteristic of second-millennium B.C.E. treaties, and by the pact of peaceful coexistence between Israel and Aram. In postsettlement times the relationships between the two were implacably hostile. A late author would hardly have concocted such a story.<\/p>\n
44. that there may be a witness Rather, \u201cIt shall constitute.\u2026\u201d The existence of the pact itself constitutes testimony to the state of relationships between the parties. Another possibility, and one consonant with the several Aramaisms in this chapter, is to take Hebrew \u02bfed, not as \u201cwitness\u201d but from an original \u02bfd, \u201ctreaty, agreement,\u201d especially one secured by an oath. This term appears repeatedly in the eighth-century B.C.E. Aramaic treaty inscriptions from Sfire, as well as in Akkadian adu. In Hebrew, the two originally distinct words \u02bfed, \u201cwitness,\u201d and \u02bfd, \u201ctreaty,\u201d merged; but the fact that the \u201cArk of the Pact\u201d can be either \u02bearon ha-berit or \u02bearon ha-\u02bfedut, and the \u201cTablets of the Covenant\u201d either lu\u1e25ot ha-berit or lu\u1e25ot ha-\u02bfedut, shows that \u02bfd in the sense of \u201ctreaty\u201d remained vestigially in Hebrew.18<\/p>\n
45. pillar Hebrew matsevah is discussed in the Comment to 28:18. Jacob\u2019s pillar may well have symbolized for him the presence of \u201cthe God of Bethel,\u201d who had promised him protection and, in fact, who mentioned the \u201cpillar\u201d when ordering him to return to his native land (v. 13).<\/p>\n
46. his kinsmen As in verse 54, the term apparently embraces all present on both sides. Hebrew \u02bea\u1e25, \u201cbrother, kinsman,\u201d is a standard term for participants in treaties.<\/p>\n
they partook of a meal See Comment to 26:30. Probably only the principals, Laban and Jacob, ate at this time.<\/p>\n
47. Each party uses his native language, indicating the broader interethnic implications, an accommodation between the Hebrews and the Arameans.<\/p>\n
48. And Laban declared Having initiated the pact, he speaks first.<\/p>\n
This mound is a witness See Comment to 28:18.<\/p>\n
Gal-ed Clearly, we have here a folk etymology for the regional name Gilead, the site of the treaty-making as recorded in verses 21, 23, and 25. The true origin of the name probably lies in Arabic jal\u02bfad, \u201chard, rough,\u201d referring to the local hard dolomitic limestone.<\/p>\n
49. Mizpah See Comment to verse 25. The two sites are mentioned together in Judges 10:17 and 11:11. A place named \u201cMizpeh of Gilead\u201d appears in Judges 11:29.<\/p>\n
May the LORD watch Because no supranational organization for the arbitration of conflicts existed, the deity or deities were invariably appealed to as a high authority for monitoring the making and enforcement of treaties in the ancient Near East. Thus, the aforementioned Sfire treaty lists the various gods in whose presence it is enacted and declares: \u201cAll [you] gods are witnesses (\u015bhdn). Open your eyes to see the treaty.\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
50. ill-treat The term is undefined. A rabbinic tradition takes it to mean the withholding of conjugal rights.19<\/p>\n
or take other wives The restrictions imposed by Laban to safeguard the status of his daughters are unknown elsewhere in the Bible but parallel a variety of Near Eastern texts. A contract from Nuzi between Nashwi and Wullu provides that \u201cif Wullu takes another wife, he shall forfeit the lands and houses of Nashwi [his father-in-law].\u201d A marriage contract stipulates plainly that \u201cZilikkushu shall not take another wife in addition to Naluya.\u201d<\/p>\n
51\u201352. The solemn statement about the purpose of the stone monuments is repeated because they are to fulfill a second function, that of boundary markers. They stand as silent witnesses to the mutually agreed frontier between Aram and Israel. From 1 Kings 22:3 and 2 Kings 9:14 it is apparent that the highland of Gilead was an area of dispute between the two peoples in monarchy times. The frontier population mix is doubtlessly reflected in the tradition of 1 Chronicles 7:14 that the family of Machir father of Gilead is traced to an Aramean concubine.<\/p>\n
53. May the God of Abraham and the god of Nahor judge Everywhere in the Near East the national god was regarded as the protector of the boundary. The plural verb here indicates that Laban is invoking two separate deities. In the Sfire treaty the diversity of gods similarly corresponds to the ethnic diversity of the parties involved. According to 22:20\u201323, Nahor is the ancestor of the Arameans.<\/p>\n
their ancestral deities The phrase is here taken to be the Narrator\u2019s explanatory comment. Literally, the Hebrew means \u201cthe deities of their father,\u201d perhaps referring to Terah. According to Joshua 24:2, \u201cTerah, father of Abraham and father of Nahor \u2026 worshiped other gods.\u201d It is highly significant that in response Jacob ignores Laban\u2019s formula and invokes only the \u201cFear of his father Isaac.\u201d<\/p>\n
54. The entire treaty-making process is sealed by a sacrificial meal of which all present partake.20<\/p>\n