CHAPTER 32*<\/p>\n
ANGELS AT MAHANAIM (vv. 1\u20133)<\/p>\n
The next morning Jacob and Laban part forever. The patriarchal connection with Mesopotamia is finally severed. A new era in the life of Jacob and in the development of the people of Israel is about to open.
\nJust as Jacob\u2019s outward journey was marked by the appearance of angels (28:12), so is his return to his native land. In neither case are the angels assigned any role in the narrative, and in this instance there is not even an accompanying divine revelation. Perhaps their mere presence is intended to insinuate the notion of divine protection such as is formulated in Psalms 91:9\u201311: \u201cBecause you took the LORD\u2014my refuge, \/ the Most High\u2014as your haven, \/ no harm will befall you, \/ no disease touch your tent. \/ For He will order His angels \/ to guard you wherever you go.\u201d
\nA fuller story about Jacob and Mahanaim may have existed in popular tradition. At any rate, in their present form, the angelic appearances provide a literary framework for the Jacob and Laban cycle of stories, which constitutes a distinct unit within the larger biography of the patriarch.<\/p>\n
1. his sons That is, his grandsons, as in 31:28, 43.<\/p>\n
3. God\u2019s camp In 1 Chronicles 12:22 this phrase connotes a vast throng.<\/p>\n
Mahanaim The form is not necessarily dual, but the \u201ctwo camps\u201d of verses 8\u20139 and 11 seem to be a play on the word. The site of Mahanaim has not been identified. It later played a significant role in Israelite history.1 It was one of the Levitical cities of refuge; Ishboshet, son of Saul, was crowned king there; David fled thither during the revolt of Absalom; and in Solomon\u2019s day, it became a district capital. Mahanaim may well have housed a sacred shrine, the founding of which popular legend associated with Jacob.<\/p>\n
Jacob and Esau Once Again (32:4\u201333:20)<\/p>\n
Va-Yishla\u1e25<\/p>\n
Freed from anxiety about Laban, Jacob resumes his homeward journey. But his relief is short-lived. Long-suppressed memories from his ignoble past intrude upon his consciousness. The specter of a vengeful Esau looms before him.
\nThe action divides itself into two main parts: 32:4\u201322 describe Jacob\u2019s preparations for his encounter with Esau; 33:1\u201317 relate the story of the actual meeting of the two brothers. In between is the strange narrative of the struggle between Jacob and a powerful assailant (32:23\u201333).<\/p>\n
JACOB\u2019S PREPARATIONS (vv. 4\u201322)<\/p>\n
Jacob, ever a man of action, takes precautionary measures. First he gathers intelligence, then he prepares a stratagem of escape in the event of battle. This is followed by a prayer and, finally, by the dispatch of a handsome gift.<\/p>\n
INTELLIGENCE GATHERING (VV. 4\u20137)<\/p>\n
4. Seir This presupposes that Esau-Edom had by this time migrated east of the Jordan and had either dispossessed the Horites from Seir or was in the process of so doing.2<\/p>\n
Seir, the country of Edom The three Hebrew words se\u02bfir, sadeh, and \u02beedom are deliberately used to evoke memories of the hostile relations with Esau, the one covered with hair (se\u02bfar), a man of the outdoors (sadeh), of ruddy complexion (\u02beadmoni), who came in from the field (sadeh) and begged for the red stuff (\u02beadom), and whose hairiness (sa\u02bfir) played a crucial role in the deception that precipitated Jacob\u2019s flight to Laban.3<\/p>\n
5. \u2018To my lord Esau\u2019 This \u201cprescriptio,\u201d or introductory prepositional phrase identifying the recipient, is part of the message.4 It conforms to the standard epistolary style of the ancient Near East.<\/p>\n
lord \u2026 servant This mode of address, normally formal and deferential, becomes ingratiating in the mouth of Jacob, who repeatedly refers to Esau as \u201cmy lord\u201d and to himself as Esau\u2019s \u201cservant.\u201d This language, used by a vassal to his lord, is motivated by fear and intended to be conciliatory. Rabbinic sources are divided in criticism or in defense of Jacob\u2019s servility.5<\/p>\n
I stayed with Laban Here the Hebrew verb g-w-r connotes both temporary residence and deprivation of protection, as explained in the Comment to 12:10. Jacob is tactfully silent on his reasons for going to Laban in the first place.<\/p>\n
and remained until now This explains why he had not contacted Esau previously.6<\/p>\n
6. I have acquired Jacob obliquely hints that he has the wherewithal to pay off his brother, if need be.7 He cleverly lists each item in the singular, which functions as a collective. He omits mention of the camels, the most valuable of all his livestock, even though they are listed in verse 8 and part of the gift in verse 16. His purpose is to understate his possessions so that the present will be all that much more of a delightful and spectacular surprise to Esau.<\/p>\n
7. The messengers report back that Esau\u2014his \u201cbrother,\u201d not his \u201clord\u201d\u2014seems to have obtained independent intelligence about Jacob\u2019s movements. He is \u201ccoming to meet\u201d him, a phrase that can convey either amity or enmity8 and so underlines the inability to decipher Esau\u2019s intentions.<\/p>\n
four hundred men To judge from such passages as 1 Samuel 22:2, 25:13, and 30:10, 17, this seems to have been the standard size of a militia. The number is therefore ominous.<\/p>\n
DEFENSIVE MEASURES (VV. 8\u20139)<\/p>\n
Jacob\u2019s troubled conscience and the memory of Esau\u2019s terrible resolve (27:41) lead him to imagine the worst. His fear is intensified by his awareness that retreat would violate his pact with Laban. Flight is impractical because he is encumbered with small children and much livestock. In the event of an attack, the most he can do is to minimize his losses.<\/p>\n
two camps See Comment to verse 3.<\/p>\n
PRAYER (VV. 10\u201313)<\/p>\n
The prayer, an expression of absolute faith in a living God, comprises an invocation, a confession, a supplication, and a recollection.<\/p>\n
10. The invocation skillfully combines quotations from 28:13\u201315 and 31:3, the divine declarations at Bethel and Haran, which mark the beginning and end of Jacob\u2019s twenty-year exile.<\/p>\n
I will deal bountifully with you This phrase has no parallel in the divine promises. It is clearly an interpretation of 31:3, \u201cI will be with you.\u201d<\/p>\n
11. The confession acknowledges God\u2019s bounteous fidelity in the past and humbly asserts the personal unworthiness and undeserving nature of the recipient.<\/p>\n
this Jordan Standing on the banks of the Jabbok, he can point to the Jordan clearly visible in the distance.<\/p>\n
12. The supplication lays bare the overwhelming terror that seizes Jacob at this moment, a terror doubtless exacerbated by his tormented conscience.<\/p>\n
13. The prayer ends with a recollection of divine promises still to be redeemed. The desperate appeal is thereby grounded in God\u2019s steadfast fealty, not in the petitioner\u2019s merit. At the moment of crisis it is a concern with posterity that is uppermost in Jacob\u2019s mind.<\/p>\n
THE GIFT (VV. 14\u201322)<\/p>\n
A diplomatic initiative aimed at softening Esau\u2019s anticipated hostility is the final tactic. A munificent gift that bears the stamp of paying tribute is so arranged that the manner of presentation, a series of increasingly agreeable surprises, achieves the greatest psychological impact through its incremental effect. Esau is bound to be overwhelmed by it all.<\/p>\n
14. spending the night there At Mahanaim.<\/p>\n
presents Hebrew min\u1e25ah may mean a gift in expression of friendship and respect and also a tribute in recognition of the donor\u2019s subordinate status.9 The ambiguity in its repeated use here is intentional. Esau is free to interpret it as he wishes.<\/p>\n
15\u201316. There are 550 beasts in all, an extraordinarily lavish presentation.<\/p>\n
17. drove by drove Esau just has time to scrutinize and admire the animals and to interrogate the men when the next drove arrives, and so forth.<\/p>\n
21\u201322. The repeated use of Hebrew panim, obscured in the translation, and the mention of the night effect the transition to the next scene: the night encounter at Peniel.<\/p>\n
THE MYSTERIOUS ASSAILANT (vv. 23\u201333)<\/p>\n
The story of Jacob\u2019s encounter with Esau is suddenly interrupted. The restless Jacob gets up during the night and promptly decides to transfer his entire camp to the other side of the Jabbok. Left utterly alone, he is attacked by a mysterious assailant who wrestles with him until daybreak when, in desperation, he wrenches Jacob\u2019s hip. The patriarch, however, stubbornly holds on to extract a blessing, whereupon the stranger changes Jacob\u2019s name to Israel. Refusing to reveal his own name, he vanishes as the sun\u2019s rays shed their first light on a limping Jacob. In commemoration of the night\u2019s events, the site of the encounter is named Peniel, and a dietary restriction is instituted.
\nFor an interpretation of the narrative see Excursus 24.<\/p>\n
23. his eleven children Only the principal actors in the evolution of the nation are specified because Jacob is about to become Israel, the personification of the tribal confederation. That is why Dinah and the rest of his household are not mentioned.<\/p>\n
the ford of the Jabbok This river, called by the Arabs Nahr ez-Zarqa (\u201cblue river\u201d), is one of the most important east of the Jordan. Flowing through a deep ravine on a meandering course, it joins the Jordan River at right angles about 20 miles (32 km.) north of the Dead Sea. Before the construction of bridges, flat stepping-stones or timber would be laid across the shallowest and narrowest part to afford passage. To cross at night with a vast entourage is a difficult and dangerous operation, to be undertaken only by moonlight and only as a matter of great urgency. By moving from the northern to the southern side of the river, Jacob is placing himself all the more quickly in the path of Esau, who is advancing from Seir in the south. His tactic, apparently, is to reduce the interval between Esau\u2019s encountering the gifts and his own arrival heralded by his messengers, each in turn. He can thereby better exploit the immediate psychological advantage gained from the mollifying effect of the tribute and at the same time enhance his claim actually to be on his way to meet his brother. He does not want to convey the impression that he is trying to avoid or delay a face-to-face meeting.<\/p>\n
25. Jacob was left alone He made repeated crossings of the river until all persons and goods had been safely transported. Now utterly alone in the dead of night, with no one to come to his aid, he must rely solely on his own resources.<\/p>\n
a man In verses 29 and 31 the person is described as \u201ca divine being\u201d (\u02beelohim). In Hosea\u2019s account he is identified as an angel (Hos. 12:4). The interchangeability of these terms is frequent in passages dealing with angels. See Excursus 10.<\/p>\n
wrestled The Hebrew stem \u02be-v-k, which is peculiar to this story, creates a word play with the names Jabbok and Jacob. There may have existed a popular etymology connecting the name of the river with this incident.10<\/p>\n
26. As the dawn approaches, the assailant becomes desperate to disengage himself. Unable to overcome Jacob by sheer force, he delivers a sudden, powerful blow to the \u201chollow of Jacob\u2019s hip,\u201d that is, to the acetabulum, the cup-shaped socket in the hipbone that receives the head of the thighbone. But Jacob still refuses to let go.<\/p>\n
was strained Not dislocated, for then Jacob would have been unable even to limp (v. 32).<\/p>\n
27. for dawn is breaking Only now does Jacob realize the supernatural nature of his opponent.<\/p>\n
28\u201329. What is your name? A rhetorical question that affords opportunity for \u201cJacob\u201d and \u201cIsrael\u201d to be counterposed, thus bringing to mind the contrasting connotation of the names. Since names in the Bible are inextricably intertwined with personality and destiny, the change here signifies a final purging of the unsavory character traits with which ya\u02bfakov has come to be associated.<\/p>\n
Israel It is the bestowal of the new name that constitutes the essence of the blessing and the climax of the entire episode. Jacob had feared for his posterity; now he is tacitly assured that he will become the patriarch of a nation named Israel.
\nThe meaning of the name Israel is discussed in Excursus 25.<\/p>\n
with beings divine and human The humans would have been Esau and Laban, or the term may refer to incidents in the patriarch\u2019s life that have not been preserved but once had popular currency. Judges 9:13 suggests that, alternatively, the phrase may be a fossilized expression, a merism meaning \u201call and sundry.\u201d11<\/p>\n
and have prevailed The innovation of the name \u201cIsrael\u201d in the Bible is associated with struggle and triumph in the face of overwhelming odds. Curiously and instructively, the earliest extrabiblical document to mention Israel, the victory hymn of King Merneptah of Egypt (ca. 1207 B.C.E.), reports that \u201cIsrael is laid waste, his seed is not,\u201d while the second, the victory inscription of King Mesha of Moab (ca. 830 B.C.E.), declares \u201cIsrael has perished forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
30. In the preexilic period all angels remain anonymous. The story in Judges 13:17\u201318 again illustrates how any attempt to discover the identity of a divine being is turned aside.<\/p>\n
31. Peniel Literally, \u201cFace of God.\u201d The name may already have belonged to the site due to some grotesque rock formation. A promontory on the Phoenician coast that contained the profile of a monstrous face was called \u201cGod\u2019s Face.\u201d Whatever the origin of the name, in our text it is invested with new meaning derived from Jacob\u2019s experience.
\nPeniel is most plausibly identified with Tulul adh-Dhahab, which stands on the Jabbok a few miles from where it flows into the Jordan. It was a place of strategic importance.<\/p>\n
meaning Hebrew ki. See Comment to 4:25.<\/p>\n
a divine being Hebrew \u02beelohim. In Judges 13 the one repeatedly called \u201can angel\u201d is also referred to as \u02beelohim (v. 22).<\/p>\n
I have seen \u2026 face to face Two idioms are combined here, both inherently ambiguous. To \u201csee the face\u201d may describe an experience of either cordiality or hostility. \u201cFace to face,\u201d used only of divine-human encounters, may be an adversary confrontation or an experience of extraordinary intimacy. The deliberate ambiguity simultaneously portrays the perilous and the auspicious nature of the furious struggle.<\/p>\n
yet my life has been preserved The idea behind this statement forms a recurring theme in the biblical narratives. At the burning bush Moses hides his face, \u201cfor he was afraid to look at God.\u201d Gideon and Manoah both fear death after experiencing God\u2019s self-manifestation. God explicitly tells Moses, \u201cMan may not see Me and live!\u201d This is the biblical way of expressing the intensity of the experience of the individual encounter with the Divine Presence\u2014the utterly overwhelming nature of the mysterious contact with the awesome majesty of the transcendent yet immanent God.<\/p>\n
32. The sun rose Jacob\u2019s ignominious flight from home was appropriately marked by the setting of the sun; fittingly, the radiance of the sunrise greets the patriarch as he crosses back into his native land. In light of Malachi 3:20, the rising sun may also betoken the healing of Jacob\u2019s injury.<\/p>\n
33. Appended to the narrative is a historical note tracing the origin of an Israelite dietary abstention to the previously described episode.<\/p>\n
the children of Israel This is the first biblical usage of this phrase, which here refers to the entire people, not to Jacob\u2019s sons.12<\/p>\n
to this day This is written from the perspective of a later age.<\/p>\n
the thigh muscle Venerable Jewish tradition identifies this unique and cryptic term gid hanasheh with the sciatic nerve (nervus ischiadicus).<\/p>\n
CHAPTER 33<\/p>\n
Reunion and Return (vv. 1\u201320)<\/p>\n
The final act of the drama now unfolds. It comprises two parts: Verses 1\u201311 cover the actual reconciliation of the brothers; verses 12\u201317 depict the process of disengagement. Verses 18\u201320 constitute a sort of epilogue that also forges a connection with chapter 34.<\/p>\n
RECONCILIATION (vv. 1\u201311)<\/p>\n
No sooner does the patriarch emerge from the night\u2019s ordeal than he sees Esau approaching with his troop. His immediate fears are soon dissipated as Esau takes the initiative in effecting a reconciliation.<\/p>\n
1\u20132. The \u201cfour hundred men\u201d are a reminder of possible aggressive intentions. What was earlier merely a report is now stark reality. Yet this time there is no mention of fear on Jacob\u2019s part.<\/p>\n
He divided The earlier division of his personnel and effects, mentioned in 32:8, was a tactical precaution in case of flight. Nothing is said there of the members of Jacob\u2019s immediate family. The present act is solely a matter of arranging mothers with their respective children for formal presentation to Esau.<\/p>\n
3. bowed low \u2026 seven times The Hebrew verb denotes the full-length proneness of the body as a symbol of submission to a superior authority. The practice is illustrated by the royal correspondence from Tell el-Amarna, in which the conventional formula of the vassal writing to Pharaoh is, \u201cSeven times and seven times I fall at the feet of the king, my lord\u201d\u2014that is, in both prone and supine position. Occasionally, as here, a single sevenfold prostration is mentioned.1
\nThere is a measure of irony in the situation, for it is the exact reversal of the blessing that Jacob extracted from his father and that led to his flight from Esau\u2019s wrath: \u201cBe master over your brothers,\/And let your mother\u2019s sons bow to you\u201d (27:29).<\/p>\n
4. Esau apparently is genuinely moved by Jacob\u2019s extravagant gesture, and the dramatic denouement swiftly follows. Just as the account of the initial breach between the two brothers was characterized by an unparalleled succession of five short Hebrew verbs (25:34), so the story of their final reconciliation is correspondingly described through a unique concentration of five amplified verbs.2<\/p>\n
he kissed him Esau\u2019s kiss, undoubtedly sincere, appropriately signals the final resolution of the chain of tragic events precipitated by that other kiss, Jacob\u2019s deceitful kiss, that played a crucial role in the original blessing scene (27:26).3<\/p>\n
and they wept Jacob wept too. His tears are a release from the emotional tension, even though his anxieties are not wholly relieved.<\/p>\n
5. your servant Jacob continues to address his brother in terms of an inferior in the presence of a superior.4<\/p>\n
6\u20137. The wives are presented in ascending order of social status and affection.<\/p>\n
8. all this company The servants and droves who had gone on ahead.<\/p>\n
9. The etiquette of the East requires Esau to make a show of refusing the gift and Jacob to press it on him. To all outward appearances, the recipient accepts it reluctantly.<\/p>\n
my brother In contrast to Jacob\u2019s mode of address.<\/p>\n
let what you have remain yours Beneath the surface meaning lies, perhaps, Esau\u2019s final concession of the birthright.5<\/p>\n
10. gift See Comment to 31:14.<\/p>\n
like seeing the face of God This rhetorical extravagance yields, perhaps intentionally, several possible meanings: encountering you, Esau, is like a pilgrimage to a shrine, which one does not make empty-handed; I have been admitted to your august presence; you have been graciously indulgent of me; my encounter with you is like that with a divine being. This last would be an artfully astute reference to 32:31.6<\/p>\n
11. accept my present By a change of terminology from Hebrew min\u1e25ah, previously used five times, to berakhah, \u201cblessing, gift,\u201d Jacob signals to Esau that the present is in a way a reparation for the purloining of the paternal blessing twenty years earlier.7 On that occasion both Isaac and Esau had used the identical Hebrew phrase now employed by Jacob (27:35, 36), but in the other sense of taking away the blessing.<\/p>\n
he accepted Esau does not reciprocate, thereby intimating that what takes place is the settlement of an old score, not an exchange of civilities.<\/p>\n
DISENGAGEMENT (vv. 12\u201317)<\/p>\n
The verbal exchange that now ensues betrays Jacob\u2019s lingering misgivings, as though he is uncertain about the durability of Esau\u2019s amiable mood. He therefore delicately disengages himself from Esau\u2019s presence, and the two brothers part in peace, each going his separate way.<\/p>\n
12. Esau assumes that Jacob had been on his way to pay him a visit, so he suggests that they travel together.<\/p>\n
at your pace Literally, \u201ccorresponding to you.\u201d<\/p>\n
14. while I travel The Hebrew verb n-h-l probably means to travel from one watering place to another8 with the cattle.9<\/p>\n
Seir Jacob encourages Esau to think that his destination is Seir so as to get him to return home as soon as possible. On Seir, see the Comments to 14:6, 25:25, and 32:4.<\/p>\n
16. So Esau started back He now fades from the scene of recorded history, reappearing briefly for Isaac\u2019s funeral (35:29). Esau\u2019s genealogies are given in chapter 36.<\/p>\n
17. Succoth No sooner has Esau departed southward for Seir than Jacob turns northward, recrossing the Jabbok. Judges 8:5, 8 show that Succoth was quite near Penuel, but much closer to the Jordan. Jacob obviously wishes to position himself on the east-west road that connected Canaan with the major north-south artery that led from Damascus.
\nA large tell, Deir \u02bfAllah, situated in the center of the fertile Jordan Valley, is now identified with Succoth. This location is supported by a tradition in the Palestinian Talmud (Shev. 9:2 [38d]) associating Succoth with Tr\u02bflh, that is Deir \u02bfAllah, as well as the impressive size of the mound. Only a large city would have lent its name to the entire valley, the \u201cValley of Succoth\u201d mentioned in Psalms 60:8 and 108:8.<\/p>\n
a house \u2026 stalls This act signifies an intentionally prolonged stay at this place before crossing the Jordan into Canaan. Jewish tradition fixes the period at eighteen months.10 Jacob\u2019s purpose may have been to utilize the natural resources of this fertile valley in order to recoup what he gave away to Esau.<\/p>\n
JACOB\u2019S RETURN TO CANAAN (vv. 18\u201320)<\/p>\n
After a stay at Succoth, Jacob finally returns to his native land. This momentous event is recorded with a minimum of detail, but the names mentioned effect the transition to the next episode.<\/p>\n
18. arrived Hebrew va-yavo\u02be is the appropriate verb with which to conclude the account of Jacob\u2019s odyssey that commenced with its antonym va-yetse\u02be, \u201che departed\u201d (28:10).
\nWithout doubt, the patriarch crossed the Jordan by the ford near the biblical city Adam of Joshua 3:16, the modern Tell ed-Damieh, situated about 16 miles (27.75 km.) up the river from Jericho, from which a road leads to Shechem.<\/p>\n
safe Hebrew shalem has generated varying interpretations. It may mean \u201csafe and sound\u201d and would thus resonate with 28:21, \u201cIf I return safe (be-shalom).\u2026\u201d11 It could also denote \u201cin friendship\u201d toward the inhabitants, a rendering echoed in 34:21 and illustrated by the next verse. The ancient versions and some medieval exegetes take shalem to be a place-name referring to the village of Salim, about 4 miles (6.5 km.) east of Shechem.<\/p>\n
the city of Sbechem The next verse and chapter 34 make clear that Shechem is here a personal name. Abraham similarly made this city of Shechem his first goal when he entered the land. There he built the first altar, and there he received the first divine promise that his offspring would inherit the land (12:7). The city and its history are discussed in Excursus 26.12<\/p>\n
encamped before the city This conforms to the practice of the patriarchs in generally sticking to the fringes of the cities, entering them only rarely.<\/p>\n
19. Also, like Abraham before him, Jacob, now Israel, purchases a plot of ground, his first acquisition in the future Land of Israel. This is an expression of faith in God\u2019s promises that his descendants would inherit the land. Ibn Ezra comments: \u201cThis text informs us that the Land of Israel possesses a singular excellence and that whoever owns a portion therein has, as it were, a portion in the Hereafter.\u201d
\nJacob\u2019s objective is not stated. It can hardly have been for the purpose of building an altar, for none of the other patriarchal altars required purchase of the ground on which it stood. More likely, he intended settling here permanently, a plan thwarted by the development related in the next chapter. Like Abraham, he may have had in mind establishing a family burial ground. This suggestion is supported by Joshua 24:32, which records that Joseph was eventually buried on this plot.<\/p>\n
the children of Humor Since the sale involves the permanent alienation of their ancestral estate, the entire clan needs to be involved in the transaction. (See the Introduction to chap. 23.)<\/p>\n
Shecbem\u2019s father This note, like the seemingly intrusive \u201cHam, the father of Canaan\u201d in 9:22, anticipates the next episode.<\/p>\n
a hundred kesitahs The exact price is given, as in the case of the purchase of Machpelah in chapter 23, because the real estate is to be acquired in perpetuity and the sale must be final and incontestable.
\nThe kesitah, mentioned again only in Job 42:11, is an unknown unit of weight. It is not a coin, for coinage does not appear in the Bible until after the period of the monarchy. According to a widespread tradition, kesitah means \u201ca lamb.\u201d The extensive use of cattle as a medium of commercial exchange in ancient times survives in the word \u201cpecuniary\u201d from Latin pecus, \u201ccattle.\u201d Another tradition takes the kesitah as a piece of jewelry of fixed weight.13<\/p>\n
20. He set up an altar Unlike the other patriarchal altars, this one neither responds to a theophany nor is used for worship. Rather, it constitutes a pillar celebrating the safe arrival home after a prolonged absence filled with ever-present peril and recurring crises and commemorating the change of name from Jacob to Israel. The Hebrew verb va-yatsev is connected with matsevah, \u201ca pillar,\u201d and is never used of the erection of altar for sacrifice.14 Altars with purely commemorative or testimonial functions were also built by Moses after the war with the Amalckites and by the Trans-jordanian tribes in Gilead, as described in Exodus 17:15 and Joshua 22:10, 24:26.<\/p>\n
El-elohe-yisrael Literally, \u201cEl\/God, God of Israel.\u201d Although it may seem strange to give such a name to an altar, the several similar examples show this to have been unexceptional.15 The use of Israel in this name refers to the patriarch.<\/p>\n
CHAPTER 34*<\/p>\n
The Ravishing of Dinah (vv. 1\u201331)<\/p>\n
The aged patriarch has returned to his native land after a prolonged absence filled with trials and tribulations, no doubt looking forward to spending his remaining years in calm and comfort. But his serenity is shattered by a fresh series of misfortunes, the first of which is the ravishing of his only daughter Dinah by the infatuated prince of the neighboring city-state of Shechem. In retaliation, the city is assaulted by Jacob\u2019s sons. The attack threatens the survival of the patriarch\u2019s clan.
\nThis narrative exemplifies, once again, a major theme of the patriarchal stories: the sexual depravity of the inhabitants of the land. This has been illustrated by the accounts of Lot and the men of Sodom and by the repeated threats to the matriarchs Sarah and Rebekah. The \u201cHelen of Troy\u201d motif, discussed in the Comment to 12:11, is here vividly represented.
\nThe juxtaposition of the present narrative with the previous one creates an impression of rapid chronological sequence, although the text gives no time indication. However, it is clear that Jacob must have spent several years in the neighborhood of Shechem prior to this incident; otherwise, Dinah and her two brothers would have been far too young to have played the roles here assigned to them.1<\/p>\n
THE ASSAULT (vv. 1\u20137)<\/p>\n
1. Dinah The information about her parentage, already known from 30:21, is repeated here to clarify the singular role of Simeon and Levi (v. 25): They were her full brothers.2<\/p>\n
went out Girls of marriageable age would not normally leave a rural encampment to go unchaperoned into an alien city. The text casts a critical eye upon Dinah\u2019s unconventional behavior through use of the verbal stem y-ts-\u02be, \u201cto go out.\u201d Like its Akkadian and Aramaic equivalents, the verb can connote coquettish or promiscuous conduct.3<\/p>\n
the daughters of the land This phrase too carries undertones of disapproval, as is clear from 24:3, 37, among other passages.4<\/p>\n
2. Shechem son of Humor Both 33:19 and Joshua 24:32 refer to \u201cthe children of Hamor.\u201d Judges 9:28 indicates that in the period of the judges the Hamorites were regarded as pure-blooded aristocrats, the remnant of the ancient Shechemite nobility. The term \u1e25amor means \u201cass.\u201d As was noted in the Comment to 15:9, \u201cto kill a donkey foal\u201d means \u201cto conclude a covenant\u201d in the Mari texts. Hence, \u201csons of Hamor\u201d may be a term for \u201cthose bound together by treaty\u201d or \u201csons of a confederacy.\u201d The city-state of Shechem appears to have had a mixed population. It may well have originated through a confederacy of various clans.<\/p>\n
the Hivite See Comment to 10:17.<\/p>\n
chief of the country Not \u201cthe city,\u201d because the city-state of Shechem in pre-Israelite times extended its control over a vast area that at one time included the central hill country as far as the borders of Jerusalem and Gezer to the south and Megiddo to the north, a domain of about 1,000 square miles. Egyptian and Akkadian texts reflect this situation. Thus the inscription of Khu-Sebek about the Asiatic campaign of Sen-Usert III (Sesostris III, ca. 1880\u20131840 B.C.E.) reports: \u201cHis majesty reached a foreign country of which the name was Shechem (Sekmem).\u201d An El-Amarna letter similarly refers to \u201cthe Land of Shechem.\u201d5
\nHamor is called \u201cchief\u201d (nasi\u02be), whereas the head of a Canaanite city-state is generally termed \u201cking.\u201d Hamor\u2019s unusual title reflects political and historical reality. The ruler of Shechem has dominion over rural\u2014that is, tribal\u2014territory as well as the urban center, in this case a confederacy of various ethnic elements. Such a complex situation does not permit absolute power. Indeed, Hamor does not act like a king. He has to call a town meeting in order to present his plans before the citizens, and he obtains approval by means of persuasive argument rather than by coercion or fiat.<\/p>\n
took \u2026 lay \u2026 force Three Hebrew verbs of increasing severity underscore the brutality of Shechem\u2019s assault on Dinah.6<\/p>\n
3. drawn \u2026 love \u2026 spoke Three expressions of affection correspondingly describe his feelings after the deed. Unlike the case of Amnon, whose spent passion quickly turns into intense hatred of his victim (2 Sam. 13:15), Shechem is hopelessly enamored of Dinah.<\/p>\n
4. to his father Marriage arrangements were customarily negotiated by a parent on behalf of the son.7<\/p>\n
\u201cGet me\u201d Literally, \u201ctake for me.\u201d The same Hebrew stem, l-k-\u1e25, is used in verse 2 for the abduction. This \u201ctaking\u201d is to make amends for the other.8<\/p>\n
5. that be had defiled The subject is Shechem of verse 4. The dastardly act is now defined in religio-moral terms, a judgment reiterated in verses 13 and 27.
\nEven more terrible than the offense against the person and dignity of the girl and the assault upon the honor of the family is the pollution of the moral environment. The entire community becomes infected by such wanton deeds.<\/p>\n
Jacob kept silent The need to exercise restraint, pending the arrival of his sons, is understandable, but his passivity throughout the entire incident is remarkable.<\/p>\n
6. Apparently, Hamor arrives before the brothers and is left cooling his heels until they come home. Shechem has accompanied his father but judiciously remains in the background until it is opportune for him to enter the picture.<\/p>\n
came out The same verbal stem used for Dinah\u2019s action in verse 1, this second \u201cgoing out\u201d is intended to ameliorate the disastrous consequences of the first.<\/p>\n
to speak to him To enter into negotiations leading up to marriage.9<\/p>\n
7. having heard the news It seems that Jacob urgently summoned his sons.10<\/p>\n
an outrage Hebrew nevalah is a powerful term describing offenses of such profound abhorrence that they threaten to tear apart the fabric of Israelite society.11 For society\u2019s own self-protection, such atrocities can never be tolerated or left unpunished.<\/p>\n
Israel This is an anachronism. The idea is that those sacred, inviolable norms that constituted the moral underpinnings of the later people of Israel were already operative at this time.<\/p>\n
a thing not to be done Not in Israel, not in any civilized society.12<\/p>\n
THE SPEECHES OF HAMOR AND SHECHEM (vv. 8\u201312)<\/p>\n
The legal situation is unclear, and the ancient Near Eastern law collections offer little help. Only the Middle Assyrian laws (A, par. 55) deal with the rape of an unbetrothed virgin. The offender must compensate her father a fixed amount in silver over and above the bride-price for virgins, and the father can decide whether or not to let his daughter marry her violator. This is practically identical with the law of Exodus 22:15\u201316, which prescribes that the ravisher must take his unbetrothed victim to wife unless her father decides otherwise. Either way, he must pay the bride-price for virgins. In the present instance, the question arises whether Jacob, an alien seminomad, could claim redress against the ruler of the city. Hamor deals with the family only on account of his son\u2019s amorous and matrimonial interests. He omits any mention of the crime; it is as though nothing has happened! Actually, the terms offered by Hamor are unrelated to the immediate and stated purposes of his visit; they are clearly a cunning appeal to avarice as a means of placating Jacob and his sons, purchasing their docility, and inducing them to let the incident be forgotten. The effectiveness of the strategy is reinforced by the grim fact that Dinah is still being held in Hamor\u2019s house within the city (vv. 17, 26). When Hamor is through, the aggrieved family is considered to be sufficiently mollified for Shechem to present himself. He too ignores his crime and offers neither apology nor regrets. He does, however, intimate a willingness to pay generous compensation.<\/p>\n
10. move about This seems to be the basic meaning of the stem s-\u1e25-r. It would imply unlimited grazing rights. But the term could just as well be used in its developed sense of \u201cto trade, barter,\u201d which is how the ancient versions render it.13<\/p>\n
acquire holdings This last is the most valuable of the privileges offered, even as it is also a subtle and pointed reminder to Jacob of his present alien and disadvantaged position.<\/p>\n
12. bride-price \u2026 gifts Hebrew mohar, mattan, From Exodus 22:16 and 1 Samuel 18:25, it is clear that mohar can only be a technical term for the payment made by the prospective husband in return for the bride. It would correspond to the Akkadian tir\u1e2batum, discussed in the Comment to 24:53. The amount is usually fixed by custom. Shechem\u2019s indicated readiness to pay far beyond that constitutes a tacit recognition of the need to make reparations. The second term would appear to correspond to the Akkadian biblum, the ceremonial gifts made to the bride\u2019s family, called migdanot in 24:53. Thus an Akkadian marriage document from Alalakh records: \u201cIn accordance with the custom of the city of Aleppo, he [the groom] brought him [the bride\u2019s father] a betrothal gift (nidnu).\u201d Hebrew mattan is the cognate of nidnu and probably here refers to the same thing.<\/p>\n
THE BROTHERS\u2019 RESPONSE (vv. 13\u201317)<\/p>\n
Although outwardly polite, Hamor, in effect, has besmirched the characters of Jacob and his sons. By inference, he has attributed to them a sordid, mercenary concern that outweighs all other considerations, thus adding insult to injury. Accordingly, in their reply, the brothers first address themselves to the business at hand: Shechem\u2019s desire to marry Dinah. They make clear that the prerequisite of circumcision is more important to them than all material allurements.<\/p>\n
13\u201314. The brothers\u2019 response is introduced by three expressions of speech as counterpoint to the three terms used for Shechem\u2019s assault on Dinah and the three terms of affection (vv. 2\u20133).<\/p>\n
with guile The Narrator informs us at once that the brothers\u2019 seeming acceptance of intermarriage with the Shechemites is merely a ruse. No moral judgment is intended and would, in fact, be gratuitous. The victim of the assault is still being held by the perpetrator (vv. 17, 26), who has not even admitted to a crime, let alone expressed regret. There is no way that Dinah can be liberated by a tiny minority in the face of overwhelming odds\u2014except by the exercise of cunning.<\/p>\n
he had defiled This reminder of the enormity of the offense places the \u201cguile\u201d in proper perspective.<\/p>\n
their sister So again in verse 27, in contrast to verses 1 and 5, which describe Dinah as Jacob\u2019s daughter. The phrase functions both to dissociate Jacob from their plans and to stress the special obligation that devolves upon brothers in this type of society.<\/p>\n
14. uncircumcised Although the institution of circumcision is here used as a device by which to immobilize the males, there can be no doubt that the stipulation reflects normative practice among the tribes of Israel. Genesis 17:9\u201314 makes circumcision the indispensable precondition for admittance into the community of Israel, and Exodus 12:43\u201349 logically forbids an uncircumcised male to participate in the passover sacrifice. It should be noted that the speech of the brothers is heavy with irony: The part of the body used by Shechem in his violent passion will itself become the source of his own punishment!<\/p>\n
17. we will take our daughter Once again the stem is l-k-\u1e25, as in verses 2 and 6. Its use here has an ominous ring.14<\/p>\n
RESPONSE OF THE SHECHEMITES (vv. 18\u201324)<\/p>\n
For his son\u2019s personal gratification, Hamor has unilatcrally agreed to conditions that make grueling demands upon his fellow citizens. He must therefore win their approval, which he does by insisting that his proposals are only meant to advance the material well-being of the city. Of course, Hamor and Shechem do not disclose their private, selfish interest in the matter.<\/p>\n
19. lost no time The text is anticipating developments in order to indicate Shechem\u2019s furious ardor. He could hardly have appeared at the public assembly had he just been circumcised.<\/p>\n
the most respected He served as a role model for the others, who were soon influenced by his initiative.<\/p>\n
20. public place Literally, \u201cthe gate,\u201d which served as the civic center. See the Comments to 19:1 and 23:10.<\/p>\n
their fellow townsmen Literally, \u201cthe men of their city,\u201d the popular assembly of free citizens who must rule on major items of public business such as the granting of special privileges to an alien group. Similar urban political institutions with the same name are well documented in the El-Amarna texts for several city-states in the Syro-Canaanite area.<\/p>\n
21. our friends The reference may well be to some existing treaty arrangement between the city of Shechem and the clan of Jacob. City-states that dominated a wide area usually regulated their relationships with the nomadic groups within their domain by means of formal treaties.<\/p>\n
23. Hamor has conveniently omitted the promise of landed property rights for the newcomers and has perfidiously inserted the assurance of dispossessing them of their belongings. As the occasion is a formal, public ratification of the agreement, Hamor is clearly guilty of double dealing.<\/p>\n
24. The citizens who comply with the terms are described as \u201call who went out of the gate of his town.\u201d In the case of Abraham\u2019s negotiations with the Hebronites, reported in 23:10, 18, the involved citizenry is designated as \u201call who entered the gate of his town.\u201d The distinction, if any, is unclear. Each phrase may be an ellipsis for \u201call who go out and enter \u2026,\u201d that is, all free citizens. Another, more probable, suggestion is that \u201cgo out\u201d is short for \u201cgo out to war.\u201d The verb y-ts-\u02be is used in such a context in 2 Kings 5:2 and Amos 5:3. This would encompass the males of military age, the group available for intermarriage with Jacob\u2019s clan. Support for this interpretation may be found in verses 25 and 29, which show that only adult males were slain. Incidentally, the use of y-ts-\u02be forms an associative link with verses 1 and 6, extending the chain of events that issued from Dinah\u2019s original \u201cgoing out.\u201d<\/p>\n
THE PUNITIVE ACTION (vv. 25\u201329)<\/p>\n
The ruse works. The able-bodied males are incapacitated. Two of Dinah\u2019s brothers slaughter them and rescue their sister. The other brothers plunder the city.<\/p>\n
25. On the third day By now all the males have been circumcised.15<\/p>\n
Simeon and Levi These were Dinah\u2019s full brothers, who would feel her molestation and humiliation all the more keenly.<\/p>\n
took each his sword To avenge the violence of Shechem, who \u201ctook\u201d Dinah (v. 2).<\/p>\n
unmolested Hebrew beta\u1e25 may connect with the verb, with the sense of \u201cmeeting no resistance\u201d or \u201cconfidently\u201d; or it may refer to the state of the city, with the sense of \u201cunsuspecting, caught off guard.\u201d16<\/p>\n
26. took Dinah \u2026 went away The entire affair began with Dinah \u201cgoing out\u201d and being \u201ctaken\u201d (vv. 1, 2). It concludes with the same two verbs, but in reverse order. As far as Simeon and Levi are concerned, the account is settled. These two take no part in the plunder of the city.<\/p>\n
27. The other brothers had desisted from carnage but now seize the opportunity to pillage. The city itself is not destroyed.<\/p>\n
because The Narrator is at pains to stress that the brothers were stirred to action because of the defilement of their sister, not simply for the love of booty.<\/p>\n
28\u201329. The passage balances verse 23. Instead of the Hivites appropriating the possessions of the sons of Jacob, their possessions pass into the hands of their intended victims.<\/p>\n
JACOB\u2019S REACTION (vv. 30\u201331)<\/p>\n
Jacob now intervenes for the first time and berates Simeon and Levi for recklessly jeopardizing by their actions the very survival of the entire clan. There is no indication as to how Jacob relates to the larger moral issue that innocent people are punished for the crimes of a few. On his deathbed Jacob strongly censures Simeon and Levi for acts of violence and cruelty: \u201cSimeon and Levi are a pair; \/ Their weapons are tools of lawlessness. \/ Let not my person be included in their council, \/ Let not my being be counted in their assembly. \/ For when angry they slay men, \/ And when pleased they maim oxen. \/ Cursed be their anger so fierce, \/ And their wrath so relentless. \/ I will divide them in Jacob, \/ Scatter them in Israel.\u201d (Gen. 49:5\u20137) It seems probable that the text is referring to the assault on the city of Shechem, as well as to excesses on the part of the two brothers that are not recorded in the present narrative.<\/p>\n
30. brought trouble The Hebrew phrase, literally an ellipsis for \u201cmuddy the waters,\u201d is figuratively used for \u201cdisturb the peace, cause trouble.\u201d17<\/p>\n
making me odious Ellipsis for \u201cmaking my breath to stink.\u201d18<\/p>\n
the Perizzites See Comment to 13:7. According to Joshua 11:3 and 17:15, this people occupied the central hill country, that is, the region of Shechem.<\/p>\n
31. The two brothers have the last word. As with the Book of Jonah, the closing rhetorical question provides an irresistible argument. The women of Israel are not to be regarded as objects of abuse. They cannot be dishonored with impunity.<\/p>\n
CHAPTER 35*<\/p>\n
The Bethel Tradition (vv. 1\u201315)<\/p>\n
This chapter completes the cycle of independent traditions about Jacob, the subsequent recorded episodes of his life all being intertwined with the biography of Joseph. The events recounted here are unusually varied, and some extremely fragmentary. We appear to have an assortment of isolated data about the patriarch and his family. Generally, however, the literary components of the chapter enjoy an inner cohesiveness.
\nThe connection with the previous chapter can be established in several ways. Jacob\u2019s departure from Shechem is conditioned by the fears he expresses in 34:30; verse 5 of the present chapter is in direct response to them. The idols mentioned in verses 2 and 4 most likely derive largely from the looting of Shechem. The theme of sexual offense is shared by both chapters, and in both cases Jacob maintains his silence, which is expressed by means of the Hebrew verb sh-m-\u02bf, \u201cto hear.\u201d In both instances, as is clear from 49:3\u20137, sons of Jacob forfeit their place in the line of leadership succession. Chapter 34 is dominated by the theme of defilement; this chapter opens with the subject of purification. Finally, both narratives exhibit a consciousness of Israelite distinctiveness. This is expressed through sexual purity and the rite of circumcision in the preceding story and through the renunciation of idolatry in the present one.<\/p>\n
THE PILGRIMAGE TO BETHEL (vv. 1\u20137)<\/p>\n
Jacob is seized with panic after his sons\u2019 massacre of the Shechemites, and he fears reprisals from the neighboring peoples, who may well have been bound to Shechem by treaty obligations. God\u2019s intervention transforms ignominious flight into a dignified pilgrimage to Bethel.<\/p>\n
1. Arise, go up The phrasing indicates both the character of the trek\u2014a pilgrimage1\u2014and the nature of the locale\u2014about 1,000 feet (300 m.) higher than Shechem.<\/p>\n
remain there Jacob, in fact, continues his journeying southward and does not stay at Bethel. The directive has added meaning if taken as a reminder of his flight from Esau, for it echoes 27:43\u201344: \u201cFlee at once to Haran, to my brother Laban; stay with him a while, until your brother\u2019s fury subsides.\u2026\u201d Jacob is reminded of the reversal of his fortunes; now he no longer needs to flee, and he may remain at Bethel, without fear, as long as he chooses.<\/p>\n
build an altar The building of altars by the patriarchs is in each case an act of homage and loyalty to God. It is of special significance when performed at a site known to be sacred to pagans, meaning that the patriarch deliberately disdains the existing cultic appurtenances and dissociates the sanctity of the site from its pagan antecedents. As explained in the Comment to 12:8, Bethel had a long Canaanite prehistory.<\/p>\n
the God Hebrew \u02beel, and not the regular \u02beelohim, is purposefully used here because it evokes Bethel, as in 31:13. Jacob is reminded that he has not yet fulfilled the vow made at Bethel (28:20\u201322).<\/p>\n
2. Jacob vowed at Bethel that if he returned from his exile safe and sound, \u201cthe LORD shall be my God.\u201d Hence, before embarking on the pilgrimage to that city, he makes formal renunciation of \u201calien gods.\u201d For the first time in the Bible, there now appears a recognition of tension between the religion of Israel and that of its neighbors.<\/p>\n
all who were with him Including the captives taken at Shechem.<\/p>\n
Rid yourselves The use of this formula is usually connected with some specific public ritual symbolizing rededication to the God of Israel.2<\/p>\n
alien gods Hebrew nekhar, \u201cforeignness,\u201d invariably connotes non-Israelite. The idols are probably household gods found among the spoils of Shechem or carried by the captives. The phrase may also include the terafim that Rachel stole, as mentioned in 31:19.3<\/p>\n
purify yourselves It is not clear whether this act, together with the clothes-changing, belongs to the rite of renunciation of idols and reflects the widespread biblical notion of the polluting effect of contact with them.4 The purpose could as well be to expel the bodily impurity acquired through contact with corpses at Shechem. It is also possible that the two rites are attendant upon the impending pilgrimage to Bethel, in which case purification, certainly by means of immersion in water, would effectuate the passage from profane to sacred space. Or the purification might be in preparation for an experience with God, as required at Sinai (Exod. 19:10) and also before the crossing of the Jordan under Joshua (Josh. 3:5).<\/p>\n
change your clothes Laundering is the usual precondition of purification. This is a stricter requirement, signifying a transition from one state to another.5<\/p>\n
3. who answered me when I was in distress In addressing his entourage, Jacob omits the unlovely specifics of verse 1 and generalizes. The language is poetic, in fact liturgical, as befits the occasion\u2014a grateful acknowledgment of God\u2019s beneficence. Compare Psalms 20:1: \u201cMay the LORD answer you in time of trouble, \/ the name of Jacob\u2019s God keep you safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
4. the rings These are no ordinary pieces of jewelry but talismans adorned with pagan symbols.6<\/p>\n
buried them This procedure is unparalleled in the laws and narratives relating to the disposal of pagan cultic images.7 The method prescribed in Deuteronomy 7:5, 25 is utter destruction, especially incineration. That is how Moses handled the golden calf. Behind Jacob\u2019s extraordinary interment of the idols intact under the tree may be an intention to neutralize veneration of the terebinth. This cultic object, discussed in the Comment to 12:6, could not henceforth be used by a monotheist.<\/p>\n
5. Jacob\u2019s fears proved groundless. The surrounding city-states are themselves petrified.<\/p>\n
6. Luz The earlier name of the city, according to 28:19.<\/p>\n
7. the site Hebrew makom, as often, means \u201csacred site.\u201d See Comment to 12:6.<\/p>\n
El-bethel Literally, \u201cthe God of Bethel,\u201d that is, the One whose associations with Jacob were repeatedly bound up with Bethel.8 For the naming of an altar after God, see Comment to 33:20.<\/p>\n
God had revealed Himself Atypically, the Hebrew has the verb in the plural suggesting that, as in 3:5, \u02beelohim means here \u201cdivine beings\u201d and refers to Jacob\u2019s dream of angels ascending and descending.9 The unresolved difficulty is that these angels did not \u201creveal\u201d themselves, that is, address him, unless the present text represents some tradition not told in 28:12.<\/p>\n
THE DEATH OF DEBORAH (v. 8)<\/p>\n
Three deaths are recorded in this chapter. The account of the passing of Deborah is puzzling since the demise of a woman is reported only in exceptional cases in the Torah; even the deaths of the matriarchs Rebekah and Leah are passed over in silence. Why, then, should Deborah warrant special mention, particularly since nothing of her life is told other than the brief note in 24:59, and she has no known connection with Jacob?
\nJewish exegetes tried to solve the riddle by reference to 27:45.10 Since Rebekah had promised to send for Jacob when Esau\u2019s anger subsided, they surmise that she had recently sent Deborah to Jacob in fulfillment of this pledge. However, at age 130, Deborah would have been an unlikely candidate for such a mission. Clearly, the present notice is not in its proper chronological sequence, which makes the intrusive nature of verse 8 all the more perplexing.
\nThe presumption seems unavoidable that traditions about Deborah, which would make the context of the present notice intelligible, were widely known to reader and Narrator alike in biblical times, but they were not included in the Torah. One such must have related to her association with a site south of Bethel where there was a prominent tree known as Allon-bacuth. This name was popularly interpreted to mean \u201cthe oak of weeping,\u201d and folklore connected it with Deborah\u2019s death because she was buried close by. Since Jacob arrived at the spot, and due to the similarity of fact and phrase\u2014the burials \u201cunder the oak\u201d (Heb. ta\u1e25at ha-\u02beallon) and \u201cunder the terebinth\u201d (Heb. ta\u1e25at ha-\u02beelah)\u2014the notice is inserted here. There may be a deeper purpose as well. With the purging of idolatry and the arrival at Bethel, the contacts with Mesopotamia, maintained by each of the patriarchs, are finally and decisively severed. The mention of the death of Deborah thus becomes appropriate here for she was a living symbol of that connection.<\/p>\n
THE THEOPHANY AT BETHEL (vv. 9\u201315)<\/p>\n
Jacob has executed the divine charge given in verse 1. God, for His part, now fulfills the prayer offered by Isaac in 28:3\u20134, as Jacob departs for Haran. That invocation reads: \u201cMay El Shaddai bless you, make you fertile and numerous, so that you become an assembly of peoples. May He grant the blessing of Abraham to you and your offspring, that you may possess the land where you are sojourning, which God assigned to Abraham.\u201d
\nThe reference is to the divine promises recorded in 17:1\u20138. It is not merely by coincidence that Jacob follows Abraham\u2019s initial itinerary, first stopping at Shechem and then proceeding to the Bethel area, building altars at both sites. The journey, in fact, has symbolic meaning. The wording and content of God\u2019s blessings to Jacob are directly dependent on the Abrahamic prototype. Other links with chapter 17 are the change of name, the blessings, and the law of circumcision. The first two elements appear here too, while the institution of circumcision was central to the preceding narrative.<\/p>\n
9\u201310. Jacob\u2019s name is changed to Israel for the second time. In 32:28\u201329 it was not God personally but an angelic being, most likely the celestial patron of Esau, who made the pronouncement. Moreover, it was made on the other side of the Jordan. Therefore, the new name \u201cIsrael\u201d needs to be confirmed and validated by God Himself in the promised land. The fact that God is said to appear \u201cagain\u201d and that, remarkably, no rationale for the new name is given here, shows a dependency on the earlier narrative.
\nThe significance of the new name emerges from the succeeding blessing, which is national in scope and consists of the promise of fertility, nationhood, kingship, and territory. Jacob, by becoming also Israel, is the true heir to the Abrahamic promises, the one through whom the nation of Israel is to come into being.<\/p>\n
11. I am El Sbaddai The same as in 17:1.<\/p>\n
Be fertile and increase Compare 17:2, 6: \u201cI will make you exceedingly numerous \u2026 I will make you exceedingly fertile.\u201d<\/p>\n
A nation, yea, an assembly of nations Compare 17:4, 5, 6: \u201cYou shall be the father of a multitude of nations.\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Kings shall issue from your loins Compare 17:6: \u201cKings shall come forth from you.\u201d<\/p>\n
12. The land \u2026 Compare 17:8: \u201cI assign the land you sojourn in to you and your offspring to come.\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
13. God parted from him Literally, \u201cGod ascended from upon him,\u201d that is, the theophany came to an end. This phrase also is influenced by chapter 17, in which verse 22 reads, literally: \u201cAnd when He was done speaking with him, God was gone from Abraham.\u201d<\/p>\n
14. To commemorate the experience, Jacob sets up a stone pillar, just as he had on the earlier occasion. The object and its anointing are discussed in the Comment to 28:18\u201319. The text does not clarify whether this is the rededication of the original pillar of 28:18 or the erection of a new one. On this occasion, unlike the earlier, Jacob pours upon it a libation. Hebrew nesekh usually means a wine offering and is nowhere else found in Genesis. Moreover, it is here poured on the pillar, not on the altar. This combination of anomalies indicates that the ceremony Jacob here performs is not simply a duplication of the earlier one but has an added dimension. He is rehabilitating the original stela, which is now invested with new meaning. An interesting parallel may perhaps be drawn from an inscription by Sennacherib, king of Assyria and Babylonia (704\u2013681 B.C.E.): \u201cWhen that palace shall have become old and ruined, may some future prince restore its ruins, look upon the stele with my name inscribed [on it], anoint it with oil, pour out a libation upon it, and return it to its place.\u201d11<\/p>\n
15. Bethel No interpretation of the name is given. As was explained in the Comment to 28:17\u201319, a bethel was a specific type of stone pillar, one that commemorated the Divine Presence in the capacity of monitor and witness.<\/p>\n
Family Affairs (vv. 16\u201329)<\/p>\n
THE DEATH OF RACHEL; THE BIRTH OF BENJAMIN (vv. 16\u201320)<\/p>\n
Jacob moves south from Bethel. For the second time since his homecoming, tragedy strikes: His beloved Rachel dies in childbirth. He first set eyes on her when he arrived at Haran after the theophany at Bethel. Just as, at the beginning of their relationship, he had been separated from her by a cruel ruse of Laban, so at the end a cruel ruse of fate separates her from him in the grave.
\nIn 48:3\u20137, when Jacob is on his deathbed, he repeats in the same order the events here recorded: the blessing at Bethel and the demise of Rachel while giving birth to Benjamin. The juxtaposition reflects a reality apart from the time sequence. The blessing contained a promise of kingship, which first found fulfillment in the person of King Saul, a Benjaminite.<\/p>\n
16. some distance Hebrew kivrat ha-\u02bearets is of uncertain derivation and meaning. Other than 48:7, which is a citation from this passage, it appears again only in 2 Kings 5:19, where it must designate a distance short enough for a runner to catch up with a chariot on the move.12<\/p>\n
Ephrath The problem of locating the site is discussed in Excursus 27.<\/p>\n
17. Have no fear Rachel is comforted in her death agony by the knowledge that God answered the prayer she had uttered after the birth of Joseph: \u201cMay the Lord add another son for me.\u201d13<\/p>\n
18. Ben-oni The name has been almost universally understood to mean \u201cson of my sorrow.\u201d It could also be \u201cson of my vigor,\u201d a euphemism for \u201cson of my debility\u201d\u2014that is, \u201chis birth drained my strength.\u201d14<\/p>\n
Benjamin Jacob either reinterprets ben-\u02beoni or replaces it by a more auspicious name. The meaning could be, \u201cson of my right hand,\u201d the right being a symbol of dexterity, power, protection.15 Another rendering is \u201cson of the south,\u201d that is, \u201cthe one born in the south.\u201d Such a meaning, suggested by Rashi, finds analogy in the Mari texts, which refer to tribal confederations of DUMU Me\u0161-yamina, \u201csons of the south, Southerners,\u201d as opposed to DUMU Me\u0161-sim\u02beal, \u201csons of the north, Northerners.\u201d A third possibility, put forward by Rashbam, takes yamin for yamim, \u201cdays,\u201d so that Benjamin would mean \u201cson of my old age.\u201d In 44:20 he is called \u201ca child of his old age.\u201d This is the interpretation given in the Testament of Benjamin 1:16 of Second Temple times. In the Samaritan Pentateuch the name is regularly written \u201cMinyamin.\u201d
\nBenjamin is the only son born in Canaan. In terms of tribal history, this means that it was the last to become part of the Israelite tribal league. The traditions represented by the account of Benjamin\u2019s birth must be very ancient and not retrojections from later history for the simple reason that here Joseph and Benjamin are brothers, \u201cRachel tribes,\u201d whereas after the settlement period Benjamin was adjacent to, and its fortunes politically bound up with, Judah, rather than with his fraternal Joseph tribes.<\/p>\n
THE TOMB OF RACHEL (VV. 19\u201320)<\/p>\n
The text tells of the death and burial of Rachel and of a stone memorial marker set up over her grave. It is clear from 1 Samuel 10:2 that in the time of Samuel, about 1020 B.C.E., \u201cthe tomb of Rachel\u201d was a famous landmark. The traditional site, presently so-called, lies about 4 miles (6.5 km.) south of Jerusalem and 1 mile (1.6 km.) north of Bethlehem. It is repeatedly described in Christian, Jewish, and Muslim sources since the fourth century C.E. Through the ages it has served as a place of pilgrimage for Jews on New Moons, during the month of Elul, and on the fourteenth of Mar\u1e25eshvan, the traditional anniversary of Rachel\u2019s death. The present small, square-shaped, domed structure, which was featured on the pictorial stamp issued for Palestine by the British government between 1927 and 1948, is relatively modern. In 1841 the tomb was renovated through the generosity of Sir Moses Montefiore. In 1948 it was taken over by Jordanian invaders, Jews were excluded from it, and the area was converted into a Muslim cemetery. It was liberated by Israel in 1967.<\/p>\n
REUBEN\u2019S WANTON CHALLENGE (vv. 21\u201322a)<\/p>\n
Jacob continues his journey. At one encampment his first-born son Reuben cohabits with Bilhah. She was Rachel\u2019s maid, whom she had given to her husband as a co-wife and who had borne him Dan and Naphtali. The account of Reuben\u2019s incest is succinct to the point of obscurity.
\nThis incident is directly linked to the foregoing because it is Rachel\u2019s demise that presents the occasion for Reuben\u2019s act. By violating Bilhah, Reuben makes sure that she cannot supplant or even rival his mother\u2019s position of chief wife now that Rachel is dead. As a statement in Shabbat 55b expresses it, \u201cHe resented his mother\u2019s humiliation. He said, \u2018If my mother\u2019s sister was a rival to my mother, must the maid of my mother\u2019s sister be a rival to my mother?\u2019\u00a0\u201d In this connection, it is interesting that Reuben had earlier been involved in the attempt to get his father to restore the conjugal rights of his mother (30:14\u201316). As a result of Reuben\u2019s cohabitation with Bilhah, she would thereby acquire the tragic status of \u201cliving widowhood,\u201d as happened to David\u2019s concubines whom he left behind when he fled Jerusalem and who were possessed by his son Absalom, as recounted in 2 Samuel 15:16, 16:22, and 20:3.
\nWhy did Reuben choose to accomplish his purpose by the particular means reported? The Torah legislation of Leviticus 18:8 and 20:11, reinforced by the curse of Deuteronomy 27:20, forbids a sexual relationship between a son and the wife of his father. The proscription probably reacts against the widespread practice of the eldest son inheriting the wives of his father along with the estate. Such was customary among pre-Islamic Arabs until outlawed by the Koran (4:19), and the practice may have existed in contemporary Canaanite society in Jacob\u2019s time. As the first-born son, Reuben, in effect, prematurely lays claim to an inheritance that he would have expected to be his eventually.
\nThis leads to a third consideration that is crucial to the understanding of the Reuben-Bilhah episode. It is apparent from several biblical stories and from ancient Near Eastern texts that in matters of leadership, possession of the concubine(s) of one\u2019s father or of one\u2019s vanquished enemy on the part of the aspirant or usurper bestowed legitimacy on the assumption of heirship and validated the succession. That is why Ish-bosheth, son of Saul, was so alarmed when Abner lay with his father\u2019s concubine and why the accused had to defend his loyalty (2 Sam. 3:7\u20138). This same principle explains why Nathan\u2019s censure of David when he took Bathsheba included this sentence: \u201cThus said the Lord, the God of Israel: \u2018It was I who anointed you king over Israel and it was I who rescued you from the hand of Saul. I gave you your master\u2019s house and possession of your master\u2019s wives \u2026\u2019\u00a0\u201d (2 Sam. 12:7\u20138). The same explains Absalom\u2019s actions in the passages cited above, and that is why King Solomon, in 1 Kings 2:13\u201325, could interpret the request of Adonijah for Abishag as proof of treasonable intentions.
\nAll this leads to the conclusion that Reuben\u2019s bid to promote his mother\u2019s rights is at the same time a calculated challenge to his father\u2019s authority. His move is more political than lustful. The summary account in this verse hides an attempt to usurp the leadership of the Israelite tribes. Its failure is reflected in Jacob\u2019s rebuke of 49:3\u20134, in which he removes Reuben from hegemony over the tribes. In 1 Chronicles 5:1 the text explicitly relates that Reuben was \u201cthe first-born of Israel, but when he defiled his father\u2019s bed, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph.\u201d It is not unlikely that the involvement of Reubenites in the wilderness rebellion against Moses, recorded in Numbers 16, also is in some way connected with that tribe\u2019s loss of status.
\nFor further information on the history of the Reubenites, see Comment to 49:3\u20134.<\/p>\n
21. Migdal-eder The name means \u201cherd-tower\u201d and designates a structure built to provide protection against raiders of the flocks.16 On its location, see Excursus 27.<\/p>\n
22. Reuben went The verb suggests a calculated act.<\/p>\n
concubine Only here is Bilhah so called. The term has sociolegal implications within the context of the situation described above.<\/p>\n
Israel found out Literally, \u201cheard.\u201d The same phrase occurs in Numbers 12:2 in connection with the slandering of Moses: \u201cThe Lord heard it.\u201d It suggests impending reaction to the offense, but none occurs here. Instead, the received Hebrew text has a piska\u02be be-\u02beemtsa\u02bf pasuk, \u201ca paragraph [that ends] with the middle of a verse.\u201d The exact significance of this device is unclear. It may here draw attention to the anomaly. At any rate, there is certainly much more to the story than is here revealed. This kind of sensitivity to the unlovely details is reflected in the rule in Mishnah Megillah 4:10: \u201cThe story of Reuben is read [in public in the synagogue] but not rendered [into Aramaic].\u201d<\/p>\n
THE LIST OF JACOB\u2019S SONS (vv. 22b\u201326)<\/p>\n
With the birth of Benjamin, the family of Jacob is complete, and it is appropriate to list it in full, particularly since the next chapter is to feature the genealogies of Esau. The roster also indicates that, despite Reuben\u2019s misdeed, the unity of the family remained intact. The listing also specifies through whom the blessing of verse 11, \u201cBe fertile and increase,\u201d is to be realized and through whom the people of Israel come into being. Each son listed is the eponymous ancestor, or founding father, of a tribe. In short, the list constitutes a fitting conclusion to the cycle of independent Jacob narratives.
\nThe sequence of names follows a pattern. There are four lists of names divided according to matriarchal origin, each beginning with a formula. First mentioned are the two wives in order of seniority, then come the two handmaids in reverse order to form a chiasm:<\/p>\n
The entire list is encased in a general formula.<\/p>\n
in Paddan-aram The reader is expected tacitly to exclude Benjamin, who was not born there.<\/p>\n
THE DEATH OF ISAAC (vv. 27\u201329)<\/p>\n
This report of Isaac\u2019s death does not appear in chronological order.17 It is placed here because it gives the opportunity to reintroduce Esau, thus providing a connective with the next chapter.<\/p>\n
27. Hebron The family moved here from Beer-sheba (28:10).<\/p>\n
29. For the formula used here, see Comment to 25:8. The place of interment is not mentioned, but 49:29\u201332 make clear that it was the Cave of Machpelah, where Rebekah had been buried.<\/p>\n
Esau and Jacob The names are in order of seniority. However, in the account of Abraham\u2019s burial, given in 25:9, the order is reversed because Ishmael was the son of a handmaid.18<\/p>\n
CHAPTER 36*<\/p>\n
The Line of Esau (vv. 1\u201343)<\/p>\n
In the preceding chapter, the list of Jacob\u2019s offspring marks the completion of the series of independent narratives about Jacob; in the present chapter all mention of Esau in the Book of Genesis is brought to a conclusion with the listing of Esau\u2019s descendants. The notice of Abraham\u2019s death in 25:7\u201310 was followed by the detailing of the line of his elder son; the report of Isaac\u2019s demise conforms to the same pattern. In both cases the genealogy functions as a connective that links two series of narratives in which one generation gives way to the next. The architectonic unity is cemented by the double formula, \u201cThis is the line of \u2026 These are the names of \u2026,\u201d in both 25:12\u201313 and verses 9\u201310 of this chapter, a stylistic device that occurs nowhere else in the book.
\nThe genealogical tables here also serve a theological purpose. Esau was the subject of a divine oracle and the recipient of a patriarchal blessing (25:23; 27:39\u201340), and the data now given show how these were fulfilled in history. The rise and development of the Edomite tribes, like the fortunes of Israel, are determined by the workings of God\u2019s Providence and are part of His grand design of history.
\nFinally, the close connection with the previous chapter is reinforced by the list of Edomite kings given in verses 31\u201339. \u201cKings shall issue from your loins,\u201d God promised Jacob, and a major theme of chapter 35 is the birth of Benjamin, whose tribe supplied the first king of Israel. The present chapter appropriately details \u201cthe kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the Israelites.\u201d
\nThe chapter divides into seven units. It is reasonable to assume that the information they contain was originally derived from Edomite literary traditions or archival materials.<\/p>\n
ESAU\u2019S WIVES AND SONS IN CANAAN (vv. 1\u20135)<\/p>\n
The text provides a detailed list of Esau\u2019s three wives and the five sons they bore him in Canaan, indicating a confederation of three basic tribal groupings (see the chart of Esau\u2019s wives and descendants, below). On the surface, the raw data are presented objectively. In actuality, the epithet \u201cCanaanite women\u201d is undoubtedly derogatory, as a glance at 26:3, 7, 27:46, and 28:1, 6, 8 shows. Esau\u2019s marriages violated the conventions of his family and flouted their values, a verdict discussed in the Comment to 26:34\u201335. This explains why the order of wives in verses 2\u20133 differs from that in all subsequent lists in this chapter. Adah and Oholibamah are here grouped together in order to emphasize their Canaanite\u2014and hence unacceptable\u2014origins. A daughter of Ishmael cannot be so described, as 28:8\u20139 makes clear. Historically, of course, the marriage notices reflect ethnic interrelationships and register the absorption of Canaanite clans into the Edomite sphere.<\/p>\n
A. ESAU\u2019S WIVES<\/p>\n
1. (Gen. 36:1\u20133)
\nAdah
\nOholibamah
\nBasemath
\ndaughter of
\ndaughter of Anah
\ndaughter of Ishmael
\nElon the Hittite
\ndaughter of Zibeon the Hivite
\nsister of Nebaioth
\n2. (Gen. 26:34; 28:9)
\nJudith
\nBasemath
\nMahalath
\ndaughter of Beeri
\ndaughter of Elon
\ndaughter of Ishmael
\nthe Hittite
\nthe Hittite
\nsister of Nebaioth<\/p>\n
B. THE DESCENDANTS OF ESAU<\/p>\n
(Gen. 36:9\u201314)<\/p>\n
C. THE \u02beAllufim<\/p>\n
(Gen. 36:15\u201319)<\/p>\n
D. THE EDOMITES<\/p>\n
(Gen. 36:40\u201343)<\/p>\n
Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, Magdiel, Iram<\/p>\n
A glance at the earlier information about Esau\u2019s marriages, given in 26:34 and 28:9, indicates at once that two separate traditions have been preserved (see chart, section A.2). The only name common to both is Basemath, but her parentage and ethnic identification differ in each source. Traditional commentators attempted to resolve the difficulties by postulating double names for each person or by assigning Esau five or six wives in all.<\/p>\n
1. This is the line of \u2026 For the \u02beelleh toledot formula, see Comment to 2:4.<\/p>\n
Edom The name is repeated another ten times in this chapter, variously functioning as a personal name, as the name of a people, and as the designation for its national territory. On Edom, see the Introduction to Toledot (p. 177) 25:19\u201334 and Comment to 25:25, 30.<\/p>\n
2. Adah This is also the name of Lamech\u2019s first wife (4:19\u201320).<\/p>\n
Elon the Hittite According to 26:34, he had a daughter Basemath.<\/p>\n
Oholibamah The first element of her name signifies a \u201ctent, tent-shrine\u201d; the second, a \u201cshrine, cult place.\u201d The compounding of names from the element \u02behl is widespread in the regions of southern Arabia and Phoenicia.1<\/p>\n
Anah The element \u02bfn appears in several Near Eastern personal names and seems to belong to a god.2<\/p>\n
daughter of Zibeon Here and in verse 14, the Samaritan, Septuagint, and Syriac versions read \u201cson of.\u201d<\/p>\n
the Hivite The problem of the Hivites is discussed in the Comments to 10:17 and 14:6.<\/p>\n
3. Basemath The name, like that of Ishmael\u2019s son Mibsam and of Abraham\u2019s second wife Keturah, means \u201cspice,\u201d and, like them, suggests an involvement of the clan in the spice trade of the ancient Near East, as explained in the Comment to 25:1, 13.<\/p>\n
sister of Nebaioth In 28:9 the daughter of Ishmael whom Esau married, and who has this same description, is named Mahalath. In Aramaic, the stem \u1e25-l-\u02be means \u201csweetness,\u201d which is more appropriate than \u201csickness,\u201d the usual understanding derived from the Hebrew.<\/p>\n
5. born to him in the land of Canaan The formula corresponds to that used of Jacob in 35:26.<\/p>\n
THE MIGRATION TO SEIR (vv. 6\u20138)<\/p>\n
We are now told that, for social and economic reasons, Esau pulls up stakes and transfers his entire household and all his livestock out of Canaan and into the hill country of Seir. This territory, which lay southeast of the Dead Sea alongside the Arabah, is described in the Comment to 25:25. Seir henceforth becomes the national territory of Esau\/Edom. Deuteronomy 2:5, and later Joshua 24:4, have God declaring, \u201cI give Esau the hill country of Seir as his possession.\u201d
\nThe migration to Seir is noted in other texts. Deuteronomy 2:12, 22 record the dispossession and extermination of the Horites by \u201cthe descendants of Esau\u201d prior to the Israelite conquest of Canaan. In Abraham\u2019s day only Horites were in this region, as is apparent from Genesis 14:6. The one source that connects Esau\u2019s migration with Jacob is the present verse. The difficulty is that the narrative presupposes the presence of Esau in Seir already earlier, independently of Jacob\u2019s return from his exile. This is abundantly clear from the incidents mentioned in 32:4 and 33:14, 16. On the other hand, Esau is present in Hebron for Isaac\u2019s burial and is not said to have come there especially for the occasion.
\nJewish exegetes, such as Bekhor Shor and Ramban, envisaged Esau as a nomad wandering over an area that covered both Canaan and Seir, until his permanent settlement in Seir after Jacob\u2019s return.<\/p>\n
6. went to another land The word \u201canother\u201d is not in the Hebrew text but is supplied by the Aramaic Targums.3 The Syriac renders, \u201cto the land of Seir.\u201d<\/p>\n
because of his brother Jacob Esau recognizes Jacob\u2019s right to Cisjordan; otherwise, he could have insisted that Jacob be the one to leave.<\/p>\n
7. Esau\u2019s migration is determined by social and economic factors\u2014overcrowding and the insufficiency of natural resources. This recalls the separation of Lot from Abraham, as told in 13:7\u20138.<\/p>\n
ESAU\u2019S DESCENDANTS IN SEIR (vv. 9\u201314)<\/p>\n
This second genealogy of Esau repeats the data of the preceding one but continues the line to the third generation for Adah and Basemath (see chart, p. 247, section B). As for Oholibamah, only her sons are listed, and they are placed on a par with the grandsons of the other wives. This suggests that her group endured a lower social status than the others. Further, only in this list is Amalek noted to be the son of a concubine and, as such, of inferior station. These facts raise the possibility that this genealogy functions to express status relationships.
\nThe sequence of wives is given according to the number of their respective offspring in descending order of magnitude\u2014five, four, and three. Excluding the inferior Amalek, there are twelve legitimate descendants in all, intimating the existence of a twelve-tribe confederation, just like that of the Nahorites (22:20\u201324), the Ishmaelites (17:20; 25:13\u201316), and, of course, the Israelites, as recounted in 35:22\u201326.<\/p>\n
11. Of the five names associated with Eliphaz, only Teman and Kenaz are otherwise familiar. The first is also a place-name, one of the most important in Edom.4 It sometimes designates the country as a whole. It has been identified with Tawilan, northeast of the Arab village of Elji on the eastern outskirts of Petra. A considerable amount of Edomite pottery has been found there, reaching back to the Early Iron Age. Another view locates it in Shobak, northeast of Petra. The identity of a personal and geographical name indicates a close connection between the tribe and a particular territory. Verse 34 makes reference to \u201cthe land of the Temanites,\u201d leading to the possibility that Teman was a designation for southern Edom. The name has nothing to do with Hebrew teiman for Yemen.
\nKenaz appears in the gentillic form \u201cthe Kenizzites\u201d in the register of pre-Israelite inhabitants of Canaan in Abraham\u2019s day. They are discussed in the Comment to 15:19.<\/p>\n
12. Timna \u2026 Amalek Behind this parenthetical note lies social and political history. According to verse 22, Timna was \u201cthe sister of Lotan,\u201d an indigenous Horite. This means that the Edomites who migrated to Seir began to intermarry with the natives but that such alliances were not socially acceptable, which explains Timna\u2019s inferior status here as a concubine rather than as a wife. It also means that, at some period, the Amalekites joined the Edomite tribal confederation and attached themselves to the Eliphaz clans in a subordinate relationship.
\nThe obviously intrusive character of this item, which breaks the connection between the preceding data and the following clause, suggests that its purpose is to draw attention to the Amalekites not being genuine Edomites. This is important because Deuteronomy 23:8\u20139 forbids an Israelite to \u201cabhor an Edomite,\u201d \u201ca kinsman\u201d of Israel. His progeny of the third generation may be admitted to the fellowship of Israel. Not so the Amalekites. They are to be punished for their treacherous, unprovoked aggression against a defenseless Israel at the moment of its national liberation, as described in Exodus 17:8\u201316 and Deuteronomy 25:17\u201319.<\/p>\n
THE \u02beALLUFIM OF ESAU (vv. 15\u201319)<\/p>\n
This is the third genealogy of Esau (see chart, section C). This time each name is designated an \u02bealluf. The word recurs in Exodus 15:15, also in association with Edom.5 It is undoubtedly connected with Hebrew \u02beelef, which signifies a social unit, a subdivision of a tribe, most likely a clan. The term was very meaningful in the premonarchic period before the breakdown of the tribal organization. It is not certain whether \u02bealluf is a variant of \u02beelef or means the \u201cchief\u201d of a clan. In verses 19, 40, and 43, \u201cclan\u201d seems to fit the context better.
\nThe names of the \u02beallufim are identical with those of the previous list except that there are now two Korahs, one a grandson who appears as part of the lineage of Eliphaz, and the other a son as before. Also, Amalek is no longer in limbo but is on a par with the other sons of Eliphaz, albeit in last place. The most likely explanation for the differences is that the present list reflects a political development in Edomite tribal history, deriving from a time when a section of the Korahites split off from the Oholibamah group and attached itself to the Eliphaz confederation, into which Amalek too was incorporated.<\/p>\n
THE INDIGENOUS HORITES OF SEIR (vv. 20\u201330)<\/p>\n
As noted above, the territory of Seir was taken over by Esau. The information given in this chapter, taken in conjunction with the report of Deuteronomy 2:12, adds up to a picture of a violent invasion by the newcomers followed by a process of gradual absorption of the native Horites into the \u201cdescendants of Esau.\u201d We are now given a genealogy of Seir, who is regarded as the personified eponymous, or name-giving, patriarch of the leading native clans, numbering seven in all. The genealogy extends to a depth of three generations and is somewhat more detailed than the preceding lists.<\/p>\n
20. the Horite This ethnic term is discussed in the Comment to 14:6.<\/p>\n
22. Lotan\u2019s sister was Timna She is the concubine of Eliphaz of verse 12.<\/p>\n
24. Aiah The Hebrew has \u201cand Aiah\u201d (ve-\u02beayyah) with no antecedent for the conjunction. The parallel list in 1 Chronicles 1:40 omits the vav, as do the Samaritan and the ancient versions here. Most medieval commentators attach no importance to it. However, Joseph Kimhi took it as evidence of some missing information.<\/p>\n
Anah The memoir presupposes knowledge of the adventure on the part of the reader. There was obviously once a widely known tale about this person.<\/p>\n
the hot springs Hebrew ha-yemim is unique and of unknown meaning. The present rendering is that of the Vulgate and has no philological support. The most ancient and widespread Jewish interpretation is \u201cmules,\u201d but this apparently rests on nothing more than a similarity of ha-yemim to Greek h\u0113mionos. This tradition makes Anah a culture hero, the first to crossbreed the horse with the donkey to produce the hybrid mule.6<\/p>\n
25. Anah\u2019s daughter Oholibamah This apparently superfluous note serves to differentiate this Oholibamah from Zibeon\u2019s granddaughter of the same name who married Esau.<\/p>\n
28. Uz See Comment to 10:23.<\/p>\n
THE EDOMITE KINGS (vv. 31\u201339)<\/p>\n
This list is not a genealogy. It details eight kings who reigned in Edom prior to the establishment of the monarchy in Israel. The register bristles with difficulties, which are discussed in Excursus 28.<\/p>\n
31. in the land of Edom Not necessarily over all Edom.7<\/p>\n
before any king reigned over the Israelites That is, before the reign of Saul, first king of Israel, through whom the divine promises of kingship for Israel, recorded in 17:6 and 35:11, were first fulfilled. This development was critical for the history of Edom because it was then that the ancient prophecy to Rebekah of 25:23\u2014\u201cThe older shall serve the younger\u201d\u2014and Isaac\u2019s blessing to Esau in 27:40\u2014\u201cYou shall serve your brother\u201d\u2014began to materialize. According to 1 Samuel 14:47, Saul waged war against the Edomites. David reduced Edom to vassaldom, all but wiped out the royal house, and placed Israelite garrisons and governors in the land, as narrated in 2 Samuel 8:2, 13\u201314 and 1 Kings 11:14\u201317.<\/p>\n
32. Dinhabah This site has not been located, and it is unclear whether it is Bela\u2019s royal residence or his family seat.<\/p>\n
33. Jobab The Greek translation of Job carries an addendum identifying that personality with this Jobab, a tradition known to but rejected by Ibn Ezra.<\/p>\n
Bozrah This was a city of such major importance that it is sometimes equated with Edom as a whole.8 It is identified with modern Buseirah, some 20 miles (35 km.) south-southeast of the Dead Sea and 35 miles (56 km.) north of Petra. Excavations have revealed a well-fortified town covering nearly twenty acres that flourished in the eighth century B.C.E.<\/p>\n
34. of the land of the Temanites See above, verse 11.<\/p>\n
35. Hadad The name of an ancient Semitic storm-god later identified with Baal, head of the Canaanite pantheon.<\/p>\n
Midianites This nomadic people, descendant of Abraham according to 25:2, spread out in a wide are stretching from the Sinai Peninsula through the Negeb and northwestern Arabia. The stories of Balaam and Baal-peor give evidence of Midianite clans in the region of Moab.9<\/p>\n
Avith An unknown place.<\/p>\n
36. Masrekah The name seems to indicate a grape-growing region. It may be the site known today as Jebel el-Mushrak, about 22 miles (35 km.) south-southwest of Ma\u02bfan.<\/p>\n
37. Rehoboth-on-the-river Usually \u201cthe river\u201d in the Bible is the Euphrates, but this is very far from Edom. Here it may refer to Wadi el-Hesa, the natural border between Edom and Moab.10<\/p>\n
38. Baal-hanan He is the only king whose place-name is not given. Apparently, the Edomite source used by the writer was defective here.<\/p>\n
39. Hedar The parallel list in 1 Chronicles 1:50\u201354, as well as the Samaritan, Syriac, and numerous Hebrew manuscripts, read here Hadad, as in verses 35\u201336, above. The Septuagint reads Adad. On the graphic confusion of resh and dalet, see Comment to 10:4 on Dodanim.
\nThis eighth Edomite king could well have been an older contemporary of King Saul. The usual note that he died is here omitted. By the time of David, Saul\u2019s successor, dynastic kingship existed in Edom. This emerges from the story in 1 Kings 11:14\u201322, according to which Hadad of the royal house is heir presumptive to the throne. He may have been the grandson of the eighth king listed here.<\/p>\n
Pau An unknown place.<\/p>\n
his wife\u2019s name His own father is not named, but his wife\u2019s mother and grandmother are, indicating a very distinguished ancestry for her.<\/p>\n
EDOMITE \u02beALLUFIM (vv. 40\u201343)<\/p>\n
This list (see chart, section D) is apparently arranged by localities that are identical with the clan names. There are eleven in all, of which four, or possibly five, have been mentioned in the previous registers. The list may reflect Edomite administrative arrangements. The parallel passage in 1 Chronicles 1:54 seems to interpret it as describing the state of leadership after the death of the last king.<\/p>\n
41. Elah Most likely Elath on the Gulf of Akaba. According to Deuteronomy 2:8, this place marked the southernmost boundary of Edom.<\/p>\n
Pinon Undoubtedly Punon, mentioned in Numbers 33:42\u201343 as one of the stations of the Israelites during the wilderness wanderings. It is identified with Feinan, an important copper-mining area on the slopes of the hills of Edom, east of the Arabah, about 20 miles (35 km.) south of the Dead Sea.<\/p>\n
42. Mibzar The name means \u201cfortification\u201d and is probably the same as Bozrah in verse 33. It parallels Edom in Psalms 108:11.<\/p>\n
43. which they hold Esau\u2019s death is not recorded, but his story closes on this note. The use of the Hebrew stem \u02be-\u1e25-z, \u201cto hold,\u201d is quite likely an artful echo of the story in 25:26 that describes Esau\u2019s heel as being held (\u02be-\u1e25-z) by Jacob at their birth.<\/p>\n
CHAPTER 37*<\/p>\n
Prologue to the Joseph Story (vv. 1\u201336)<\/p>\n
Va-Yeshev<\/p>\n
The rest of the Book of Genesis is devoted to the story of Joseph\u2014except for the abrupt and puzzling intrusion of the episode of Judah and Tamar (chap. 38) and Jacob\u2019s moving last testament (chap. 49). The present section and the preceding chapter are linked by their depiction of the contrasting fortunes of Esau and Jacob. Esau has already attained peoplehood and has established kingship and tribal territory in the hill country of Seir, to which his clan had migrated (36:6\u20138, 43; cf. Deut. 2:5). But Jacob must go down to Egypt where his offspring will become enslaved, as foretold in the covenant God made with Abraham: \u201cYour offspring shall be strangers in a land not theirs\u201d (15:13). This same picture of contrasting destinies appears as an explicit element in Joshua\u2019s farewell speech to the tribal confederation delivered at Shechem: \u201cI gave Esau the hill country of Seir as his possession, while Jacob and his children went down to Egypt\u201d (Josh. 24:4). Both events belong to God\u2019s scheme of history; from now on, however, it will be the fortunes of Israel alone that will engage the attention of the biblical Narrator.
\nThe importance of the Joseph story lies in the fact that it initiates the chain of events that leads to the descent to Egypt; it is the prelude to the drama of oppression and redemption that constitutes the overriding motif of biblical theology. Joseph\u2019s experience is the culmination of a series of episodes set in motion by causes that were often temporal, petty, sordid, and mundane. A father\u2019s favoritism, tittle-tattle, sibling jealousies, egotistic boyish dreams\u2014all these are elements of a family situation that culminates in explosive tragedy.
\nThe story of Joseph and his brothers differs markedly from the preceding patriarchal narratives. By far the longest and most complete narrative in Genesis, it is set forth by a master storyteller who employs with consummate skill the novelistic techniques of character delineation, psychological manipulation, and dramatic suspense. Another unique feature is the outwardly \u201csecular\u201d mold in which the narrative is cast, the miraculous or supernatural element being conspicuously absent. There are no direct divine revelations or communications to Joseph. He builds no altars. He has no associations with cultic centers. God never openly and directly intervenes in his life. No wonder that Joseph is not included among the patriarchs (cf. Exod. 2:24) and that Jewish tradition restricts that category to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Ber. 16b). Nevertheless, the secularity of the story is superficial, for the narrative is infused with a profound sense that God\u2019s guiding hand imparts meaning and direction to seemingly haphazard events: when Joseph is lost he meets \u201ca man\u201d who knows exactly where his brothers are (37:15); the caravans of traders happen to be going to Egypt (37:25, 28); the Lord is with Joseph in Potiphar\u2019s house (39:2) and in prison (39:21f.). It is significant that the name of God comes readily to Joseph\u2019s lips at critical moments: when he is confronted by Potiphar\u2019s wife (39:9); when he interprets dreams (40:8; 41:16 et seq.); and when he tests his brothers (42:18). The ultimate interpretation of events is given by Joseph himself at the dramatic conclusion of the narrative: \u201cGod has sent me ahead of you to ensure your survival on earth, and to save your lives in an extraordinary deliverance. So, it was not you who sent me here, but God\u201d (45:7, 8).<\/p>\n
THE BEGINNING OF HOSTILITY (vv. 1\u20134)<\/p>\n
1. Now Jacob was settled in the land In contrast to Esau, who had migrated.1<\/p>\n
where his father had sojourned That is, the land of Canaan, which only Isaac, of the three patriarchs, had never left. More specifically, the reference is to the Hebron region (v. 14), where Jacob had gone to visit his aged father and where his father had died (35:27). Actually, according to the Genesis chronologies, Isaac was still alive when the events in this chapter took place. This may be calculated as follows:2 to the 13 years Joseph spent in slavery must be added the 7 years of plenty and the 2 years of famine that elapsed before Jacob\u2019s migration. To these 22 years must then be added the 17 Jacob spent in Egypt before he died, at age 147. If one deducts the resultant 39 years from the 147, Jacob would have been 108 when Joseph was sold by his brothers. Since Isaac was 60 when Jacob was born, and died at 180, Jacob must have been 120 at the time of Isaac\u2019s death. Hence, Isaac lived on another 12 years after the sale of Joseph (see Comment to v. 35).<\/p>\n
2. This, then, is the line of Jacob Contrary to usage, no genealogy follows this formula.3 Mention of Joseph and his brothers is here, in effect, an abbreviated genealogy, the full version of which was already listed in 35:22\u201326.<\/p>\n
tended \u2026 with his brothers Hebrew ro\u02bfeh \u02beet may carry a subtle suggestion of what is to follow since it can also be translated, \u201che used to lord it over his brothers.\u201d4<\/p>\n
as a helper Hebrew na\u02bfar is also used in this sense in describing Joshua\u2019s relationship to Moses.5<\/p>\n
sons of \u2026 That is, he fraternized, in particular, with Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.<\/p>\n
Bilhah and Zilpah The order of the wives is here reversed6 since Joseph would have been naturally closer to Bilhah, his late mother\u2019s maid. The concubines were until now referred to as \u201cmaidservants\u201d when mentioned together with Rachel and Leah. The use of \u201cwives\u201d here, as Ramban suggests, may indicate a new status acquired after their mistresses had both died.<\/p>\n
bad reports of them This is the first of the several causes of enmity between Joseph and his brothers. The nature of the \u201creports\u201d is not given.<\/p>\n
3. Israel loved Joseph best This is the second cause of enmity. Jacob\u2019s favoritism was perhaps understandable, for Joseph was the son of his beloved wife Rachel, born after so many years of heartbreak and frustration. It is quite clear from 30:25 that the patriarch looked upon Joseph\u2019s birth as signaling the beginning of a new period in his life. Jacob\u2019s undisguised partiality intensified the hostility caused by his son\u2019s behavior.<\/p>\n
Israel Throughout the narrative the two names of the patriarch interchange indiscriminately.<\/p>\n
the child of his old age He was the last of Jacob\u2019s sons to be born in Paddan-aram.7<\/p>\n
an ornamented tunic The precise meaning of Hebrew ketonet passim remains unclear. In 2 Samuel 13:18\u201319 the garment is mentioned as the distinctive dress of virgin daughters of royalty. Josephus describes it as \u201ca long-sleeved tunic reaching to the ankle.\u201d8 In Aramaic and rabbinic Hebrew pas means the palm of the hand and the sole of the foot. Radak took passim to mean \u201cstriped.\u201d The Septuagint and Vulgate rendered the Hebrew \u201ca robe of many colors.\u201d
\nAncient Near Eastern art may shed some light on the subject. An Egyptian tomb painting at Beni-hasan from about 1890 B.C.E. features a Semitic clan with the men and women wearing multicolored tunics draped over one shoulder and reaching below the knees. Another Egyptian tomb has a representation of Syrian ambassadors bringing tribute to Tutankhamen. They are dressed in elaborately designed long robes wrapped around the body and over the shoulders. A mural fresco in the palace of King Zimri-lim at Mari, in southeast Syria, shows figures dressed in garments made of many small rectangular panels of multicolored cloth. The discovery of a \u201cpas garment\u201d (lb\u0161 psm) in a list of various articles of clothing from the town of Ugarit, dated not later than the thirteenth century B.C.E., provides a parallel to the biblical phrase but little clarification.9
\nIt may well be that the tunic was a sign of high social standing. It plays a key role in the narrative both because of the jealousy it aroused and because it was the only means by which Jacob could have been convinced that Joseph had been killed (vv. 31ff.).<\/p>\n
4. loved him The Hebrew places the object \u02beoto in an emphatic position before the verb: \u201cIt was he whom his father loved.\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
speak \u2026 to him Hebrew dabbero is unique. Usually the suffix attached to this verb carries a possessive sense, meaning \u201chis speech.\u201d The passage would then be translated, \u201cThey could not abide his friendly speech.\u201d In other words, they rebuffed every attempt by Joseph to be friendly.10<\/p>\n
JOSEPH\u2019S DREAMS (vv. 5\u201311)<\/p>\n
The third and most menacing source of discord was Joseph\u2019s dreams. This situation is easily understood when we view it against the cultural background of the times. Everywhere the dream was recognized as a means of divine communication. In the dreams previously described in Genesis, the revelation is straightforward and the message is conveyed verbally. In the case of Joseph\u2019s dreams, however, the language of communication is symbolic. God does not figure explicitly in the content of the dream; yet it is taken for granted that He is the source of the message being conveyed. The predictive aspect of dreams was universally assumed in the ancient world, and this was reason enough for the brothers to take Joseph seriously. However, since the dream was also recognized to be inseparable from the personality of the dreamer, reflecting his own needs and wishes, Joseph bore, in the eyes of his brothers, a measure of responsibility for his highly egocentric vision of superiority and lordship. Joseph\u2019s aspirations raised such hostility in his brothers as to inspire a conspiracy to murder (vv. 19\u201320).<\/p>\n
THE FIRST DREAM (VV. 5\u20138)<\/p>\n
5. to his brothers Not to his father, who does not figure in the first dream.<\/p>\n
7. binding sheaves The documents found at Mari mention that pastoralists, although they were all shepherds, were employed to bring in the harvest. The agricultural motif here hints at the circumstances that will occasion Joseph\u2019s rise to greatness (chap. 41).<\/p>\n
stood up \u2026 bowed low A clear assertion of authority by Joseph and of acquiescence on the part of his brothers.<\/p>\n
8. Joseph\u2019s dreams are self-explanatory in contrast to those of the Egyptians, who need an interpreter to extract meaning from their enigmatic imagery (40:5\u201313; 41:1\u20138). The same need is present in the case of Nebuchadnezzar\u2019s dreams in the Book of Daniel (chaps. 2, 4). There is no record of an Israelite ever requiring the skill of an interpreter of dreams.<\/p>\n
And they hated him The threefold repetition of this phrase (vv. 4, 5, 8) suggests an ever-increasing intensity of hostile emotions.11<\/p>\n
for his talk about his dreams That is, for his boastful narration of them. Since the phrase is, literally, \u201cfor his dreams and for his words,\u201d the latter may refer to his reports of their bad conduct.<\/p>\n
dreams The plural is odd at this point. It either anticipates the second dream or implies a previous, unreported history of similar vainglorious dreams.12<\/p>\n
THE SECOND DREAM (VV. 9\u201311)<\/p>\n
9. another dream Throughout the Joseph narratives, dreams come in pairs13 in order to demonstrate their seriousness, as noted in 41:32. The possibility of an idle dream was recognized by the ancients. From the literature of the ancient Near East we have accounts of double, triple, and even sevenfold repetition of dreams in which one symbol is successively substituted for another, although the basic meaning and central theme remain the same throughout the series.<\/p>\n
the sun \u2026 This time the dream has a celestial setting and reproduces Joseph\u2019s secret thoughts and aspirations in a more obvious manner. The dream now includes his parents among those who are to be subservient to him.<\/p>\n
stars This symbolism for the brothers is perhaps suggested by the repeated image comparing Israel to the stars of the heaven.14<\/p>\n
10. and brothers Joseph now recounts his dream a second time, in the presence of his father as well. The brothers\u2019 silence on both occasions is ominous.<\/p>\n
berated him Publicly, hoping thereby not only to relieve the tension, but also to curb Joseph\u2019s sense of self-importance.15<\/p>\n
your mother Since she was long dead (35:19), this is either a distortion, which is not an uncommon element in dreams, or a reference to Joseph\u2019s stepmother, Bilhah.16 Some scholars believe that this verse, along with 44:20, betrays an earlier version of the narrative in which Rachel was still alive at this time. However, if this were so, ten stars, not eleven, would be expected, since Benjamin would not yet have been born.<\/p>\n
to the ground Joseph has not uttered this phrase. In adding it, Jacob subconsciously echoes the manner in which he himself had made obeisance to his brother Esau (33:3). Its use here is an intimation of future developments, for it appears in the narrative each time the brothers bow to Joseph in Egypt.17<\/p>\n
11. The repetition of the dream has established the authenticity and seriousness of the message. Jacob muses upon it. The brothers now look upon him with passionate hatred.<\/p>\n
THE SALE OF JOSEPH (vv. 12\u201336)<\/p>\n
12. his brothers In contrast to the report in verse 2, Joseph was not with them, probably because he was now exempt from labor (see Comment to v. 2).<\/p>\n
at Shechem See Comment to 12:6. Being pastoral nomads, the brothers periodically move to temporary centers in order to secure pasturage for their livestock. The area around Shechem is blessed with an adequate water supply and fertile soil, and the city itself holds rich associations for Jacob and his family. The patriarch encamped there after returning from his long exile abroad, bought a plot of land, and set up an altar to the \u201cGod of Israel\u201d (33:18\u201320). Joseph\u2019s remains were to be later interred in that very plot (Josh. 24:32).<\/p>\n
13\u201314. In view of the relationship between Joseph and his brothers, Jacob\u2019s action is surprising and Joseph\u2019s ready response no less so. Clearly, the brothers had hitherto successfully disguised their true feelings and, indeed, there is no record of their having uttered any threats against Joseph. Shechem had been the site of a bloody massacre carried out by the brothers, who had apparently captured the city (chap. 34). This incident must have occurred very recently since Dinah was about the same age as Joseph (30:21\u201324) and could hardly have been younger than about fifteen at the time. Joseph is now seventeen (v. 2). The danger inherent in the brothers\u2019 presence in the vicinity of Shechem (cf. 34:30) may have been the source of Jacob\u2019s anxiety.18<\/p>\n
14. how \u2026 are \u2026 word Hebrew shalom \u2026 davar, the same two words, but in reverse order, as used in the hostile context of verse 4. The verbal association suggests the underlying tragedy of the situation.<\/p>\n
valley of Hebron A name found nowhere else. Hebron itself was located on a hill (see Comment to 13:18), but the Cave of Machpelah, in which Abraham was buried, was located in a field outside the city and the text may well refer to this area.19 One midrash sees in the extraordinary mention of this place a hint that the first stage in the fulfillment of the prophecy made to Abraham (15:13) is about to begin.<\/p>\n
Hebron \u2026 Sbechem A distance of some 50 miles (80 km.). The south-north watershed road that traversed the central hill country connected these two cities. It split into two at Shechem, one branch turning northwest to Dothan (v. 17).<\/p>\n
15\u201317. The entire journey must have taken about five days by foot. Joseph here exhibits a dogged persistence, undoubtedly a quality that later earned him the confidence of his Egyptian masters during his captivity.
\nThe exchange between Joseph and the man is reported only in briefest outline. To be of help, the stranger surely must have asked for the identity of the brothers.<\/p>\n
17. Dothan An ancient fortress town about 13 miles (21 km.) northwest of Shechem, lying in a valley known for its rich pastureland.20<\/p>\n
18. The brothers are now far from their father\u2019s restraining presence. The mere sight of Joseph ignites their hatred and murderous passions.<\/p>\n
20. kill him Hebrew h-r-g, which connotes ruthless violence, is the same verb that is used when Cain slays Abel.<\/p>\n
one of the pits These would be cisterns hewn out of rock intended for gathering and storing water in the rainy season. Large numbers of such cisterns have been found in excavations all over the Land of Israel. They vary in depth from six to as much as twenty-four feet. Dried out cisterns were occasionally used as temporary places of detention.21 Murderers seem to have deliberately slaughtered their victims near such pits in order to dispose of the corpses there. One has only to bear in mind that lack of proper burial was considered to be the supreme dishonor in order to imagine something of the frenzied intensity of the brothers\u2019 hatred for Joseph. His wearing of the special tunic at the time probably was an added provocation.<\/p>\n
21. The approach of Joseph galvanizes Reuben into action. On an earlier occasion he had impetuously asserted his rights as the first-born by taking his father\u2019s concubine (35:22); now he desperately asserts the authority that belongs to that status. His being under a cloud sharpened his sensitivity to the fact that he would surely bear the main share of blame for any misfortune. Perhaps he also hoped to regain his father\u2019s favor. There is no need, however, to question Reuben\u2019s sincerity. Still troubled by his failure to save Joseph (42:22), he is willing to go to extreme lengths in order to convince his father to let him be the protector of Benjamin (42:37).<\/p>\n
he tried to save him Hebrew va-yatsilehu, which normally means \u201che saved him,\u201d has the sense of \u201che came to the rescue.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLet us not\u201d Rather, \u201cWe shall not!\u201d The statement is made with a decisiveness that tolerates no opposition. The use of the first person plural makes clear that this is to be their collective decision.22 Indeed, the brothers do not say another word, either of assent or dissent (contrast v. 27).<\/p>\n
22. After leaving suitable pause for his words to take effect, Reuben presses his psychological advantage.<\/p>\n
\u201cShed no blood!\u201d Now he uses the second person plural to emphasize his own loathing for the idea.<\/p>\n
out in the wilderness Hebrew midbar here refers to the extensive, uninhabited pastureland in the region of Dothan. The brothers believe that Joseph will die of hunger and exposure, while Reuben thinks he can rescue him somehow without their noticing.<\/p>\n
23. the ornamented tunic The explanatory comment is necessary in light of verse 33.<\/p>\n
24. cast him into the pit The narrative is abbreviated here, as in verse 28, for it says nothing of Joseph\u2019s reactions to their deeds. It is clear from 42:21 that the boy was no silent participant in his own misfortune but pleaded to be released.<\/p>\n
no water in it Since such pits were dug largely for water storage, the observation is necessary.23<\/p>\n
25. sat down to a meal In callous indifference to their brother\u2019s anguished pleas. The action allows time for further discussion of Joseph\u2019s fate in the absence of Reuben. At the same time, it provides an interlude until a fresh and final opportunity for vengeance develops.
\nThere is something portentous about this meal, as there is about the merchandise of the caravaneers, for later in the narrative both reappear, and in the same language, as symbols of the reversal of fortunes between Joseph and his brothers.24<\/p>\n
a caravan of Ishmaelites The wandering traders are again so described in verse 27, and it is apparently they who buy Joseph, take him down to Egypt (v. 28), and sell him to Potiphar (39:1). However, Midianite traders are mentioned in verse 28, and these (or \u201cMedanites\u201d) are also said to be responsible for selling Joseph to Potiphar (v. 36).
\nThe discrepancy in names has been variously explained by traditional commentators. Genesis Rabba 84:20, followed by Rashi, postulates that Joseph was traded several times. Ibn Ezra identifies the Ishmaelites with Midianites on the basis of Judges 8:24, which relates that Midianites possessed golden earrings \u201cbecause they were Ishmaelites.\u201d This passage suggests that the term \u201cIshmaelite\u201d was used as an epithet for \u201cnomadic traders\u201d rather than in an ethnic sense. \u201cMidianite,\u201d on the other hand, indicates a specific ethnic affiliation. Even if the two names are indicative of originally distinct narrative strands that have here been interwoven, it must have been the close connection between Ishmael and Midian in biblical tradition\u2014both being offspring of Abraham (25:1\u20132, 12)\u2014that led to their fusion.
\nThe fact that all those who had a hand in the sale of Joseph into foreign slavery were his own kinsfolk serves to heighten the tragedy.<\/p>\n
from Gilead The central mountainous region east of the River Jordan (see Comment to 31:21). Spices and perfumes probably formed an important source of income for its inhabitants.25 The caravaneers would have traveled from Gilead by way of the Valley of Beth-Shean (Beisan). The road southward passed by Dothan and then turned westward to link up with the route to Egypt.<\/p>\n
camels See Comment to 12:16.<\/p>\n
gum \u2026 Gums and resins played an important role in the economy of Egypt as they constituted the ingredients of perfumes, cosmetics, and medicines, all of which were put to a wide variety of uses in the cult of the gods, in embalming the dead, as sanitizing and deodorizing agents, as insect repellents, and, above all, for cleansing and conditioning the body in the absence of soap. The identification of the products mentioned in this verse is not at all certain, and there is no unanimity of translation among the ancient versions and traditions. The term translated here \u201cgum\u201d (Heb. nekh\u02beot) is generally taken to be \u201cgum tragacanth,\u201d a sticky substance that exudes from the bark of shrubs of the genus Astragalus, which is native to arid high mountainous regions in the Near East. \u201cBalm\u201d (Heb. tse\/ori) may be either a fragrant plant or a resin (Ker. 6a) derived from Commiphora opobalsamum. Its medicinal properties were widely recognized, as shown by Jeremiah 8:22 and 51:8. \u201cLa(b)danum\u201d for Hebrew lot is similarly uncertain. If correct, it would refer to the oleoresin that exudes from the cistus shrub.
\nThe uncommonly detailed account of the fragrant wares, which the brothers could not possibly have spotted from the distance, is explained in Genesis Rabba 84:16 as indicating a providential amelioration of Joseph\u2019s suffering on the road to Egypt in that, at least, he was not subject to the usual malodors that characterized nomadic caravans.<\/p>\n
26. Judah He now assumes leadership, a role he is later to take once again in the protection of Benjamin.26 The text leaves unclear whether Judah\u2019s suggestion is a desperate compromise to save Joseph\u2019s life, or whether his \u201cWhat do we gain?\u201d is an expression of sordid hostility. At any rate, this narrative reflects the history of the Israelite tribes. Reuben\u2019s authority is on the decline while Judah rises to prominence. In consonance with this is Jacob\u2019s acceptance of a proposal by Judah (43:11\u201314) after having previously rejected the same advice from Reuben (42:37f.).<\/p>\n
killing By leaving him to die in the pit. It is also possible that in Reuben\u2019s absence (v. 29) the idea of murdering Joseph had been revived.<\/p>\n
covering up his blood In the biblical idiom, the blood of a murder victim was said to \u201ccry out\u201d for justice (see Comment to 4:10). Uncovered blood thus served as a constant reminder of a crime and as an incitement to revenge.27<\/p>\n
27. flesh Used figuratively for kinship relationship.28<\/p>\n
agreed Literally, \u201cheard.\u201d The Hebrew verb here is neutral. It may connote listening in stony silence as well as willing assent.29<\/p>\n
28. Midianite See Comment to verse 25.<\/p>\n
they pulled \u2026 sold The subject of the two Hebrew verbs is ambiguous. On the basis of 45:5, it is generally taken to be the brothers. However, if the Midianites and Ishmaelites are not identical, then it might be assumed that, to avoid hearing Joseph\u2019s cries, the brothers had removed themselves some distance from the pit while they ate their meal. In the meantime, the Midianites chanced by and kidnapped Joseph. In 40:15 Joseph describes himself as having been kidnapped.<\/p>\n
twenty pieces of silver The price of a slave would, of course, fluctuate with the market. The sum mentioned here corresponds to the monetary value of a male aged between five and twenty, as stated in Leviticus 27:5, presuming that the standard shekel is referred to in both instances. Twenty shekels is the average price of a slave in the laws of Hammurabi.30<\/p>\n
to Egypt In order to sell him in the slave market. Although war with foreign countries provided the main source of slaves in Egypt, commercial slave-trafficking was well established with both Syria and Canaan. This particular type of trade in human misery is well illustrated in Egyptian documents. One such document is the last will and testament of King Amen-em-het III (end of the 19th cent. B.C.E.), in which he provides for the disposal of four Asian slaves he had received as a gift from his brother. More interesting is a papyrus (BAP 35.1446) from ca. 1740 B.C.E., which contains an inventory of servants on an estate. Thirty-seven of the ninety-five slaves listed are Asian. The document derives from an age when there was no known military activity in Canaan and Syria and when there was active commerce between these two countries. There is thus evidence for a brisk trade with Egypt in Asian slaves. The sale of Joseph into Egyptian slavery accords well with what is known about the importation of slaves into that country from Canaan.<\/p>\n
29. he rent his clothes Clearly, Reuben knows nothing about the sale and believes Joseph to be dead (cf. 42:22). This token of grief, called keri\u02bfah in Hebrew, may have replaced an earlier custom of gashing the flesh.31 Keri\u02bfah has remained a traditional sign of mourning among Jews to the present time. Before the funeral, a rent of at least four inches in length is made in the lapel of the mourner\u2019s jacket, on the left lapel for parents and on the right for the other five relatives for whom formal mourning rites are obligatory (cf. Lev. 21:1\u20133). The mourner stands while the keri\u02bfah is performed (cf. Job 1:20) and then recites a blessing acknowledging divine justice. Until modern times it was customary for the mourner himself to make the rent in his garment (YD, par. 340:1).<\/p>\n
30. to his brothers Who had removed themselves from the scene after the sale (see Comment to v. 28).<\/p>\n
is gone! Or, \u201cis no more!\u201d32\u2014perhaps meaning that Joseph must be dead.<\/p>\n
what am I to do? An agonized cry. Literally, \u201cas for me, whither do I go?\u201d\u2014to escape my father\u2019s grief.33<\/p>\n
31. The brothers now use the alibi they had originally planned (v. 20).<\/p>\n
tunic Compare verse 23.<\/p>\n
a kid There is a touch of subtle irony here since years before, a kid and the garment of his brother had played key roles in Jacob\u2019s deception of his father, as told in 27:9, 15, 16. Now his own sons deceive him through the instrumentality of a kid and their brother\u2019s garment.<\/p>\n
32. ornamented Its distinctive feature is mentioned because that is what establishes for Jacob the identity of its owner.<\/p>\n
had \u2026 taken Literally, \u201cThey sent \u2026 and they brought,\u201d preserving a separate subject for each verb. Hoping to avoid any suspicion of involvement in Joseph\u2019s fate, the brothers apparently sent the bloodstained tunic to their father by way of others who pretended they had found it.34 This interpretation overcomes the difficulty of the brothers\u2019 harsh and unlikely statement about \u201cyour son\u2019s tunic\u201d when speaking to their father about their brother.<\/p>\n
33. The full horror of the situation penetrates Jacob\u2019s consciousness only in stages. First he recognizes the tunic; then its bloody and tattered state leads to the inference that a wild beast had devoured his son; then he has a vivid mental image of his beloved Joseph actually being torn to pieces.35 Jacob has been trapped into uttering the very words the brothers had originally planned to say (v. 20).<\/p>\n
34. rent his clothes See Comment to verse 29.<\/p>\n
sackcloth Another symbol of grief,36 a coarse material probably made of goat hair or camel hair.<\/p>\n
many days His inconsolable grief was perhaps intensified by feelings of guilt at having sent Joseph alone on such a long and perilous journey.37<\/p>\n
35. daughters That is, Dinah and his daughters-in-law.38<\/p>\n
go down mourning That is, never cease to mourn until the day of his death.<\/p>\n
Sheol The most frequently used term in biblical Hebrew for the abode of the spirits of the dead. The region was imagined to be situated deep beneath the earth and to be enclosed with gates. There is no concept of \u201cheaven\u201d and \u201chell\u201d in the Hebrew Bible. The underworld received all men\u2014good and bad, great and small\u2014and all are equal there. It was a place of unrelieved darkness and gloom and of complete silence. None who entered it could return.39 The etymology of the word \u201cSheol\u201d is uncertain, and the term is unknown in other ancient Semitic languages.<\/p>\n
his father bewailed him The slight ambiguity of the pronouns gave rise to the notion that Isaac wept over his grief-stricken son Jacob.40 Isaac, in fact, was still alive at this time, according to the biblical chronologies (see Comment to v. 1).<\/p>\n
36. The real fate of Joseph (v. 28), the main theme of the narrative, is repeated after the digression (cf. 39:1).<\/p>\n
the Midianites See Comments to verses 25, 28. In 39:1, the ones who sell Joseph are termed \u201cIshmaelites.\u201d<\/p>\n
Potiphar The name of Joseph\u2019s master is almost identical with that of his future father-in-law, Potiphera (41:45). This latter name has been explained as the Egyptian Pa-di-pa-re, meaning \u201che whom Re (the sun-god) has given.\u201d It may be conjectured that Potiphar, a form not otherwise known, has been deliberately abbreviated in our narrative in order to avoid confusion of the two persons.<\/p>\n
courtier Hebrew saris, from Akkadian \u0161a-r\u0113\u0161i, \u201cthe one at the head,\u201d that is, an officer of the realm. Because of the practice of castrating court officials, the term acquired the sense of \u201ceunuch.\u201d However, this meaning cannot be applied indiscriminately, for Akkadian texts show that not all who held the title were emasculated, especially if they did not need to come into contact with the harem. Moreover, there does not seem to be evidence of eunuchs as an institution in ancient Egypt. Potiphar\u2019s wife plays a crucial role in Joseph\u2019s fortunes (chap. 39)<\/p>\n
chief steward Hebrew tabba\u1e25 yields the possibility of either \u201ccook\u201d or \u201cslaughterer,\u201d that is, executioner.41 The title \u201cchief cook\u201d would correspond to the Egyptian wdpw, which originally also meant \u201ccook,\u201d but which came to be a general designation for persons attached to the services of nobles, princes, and kings.<\/p>\n
CHAPTER 38*<\/p>\n
Judah and Tamar (vv. 1\u201330)<\/p>\n
The story of Joseph\u2019s fortunes is abruptly interrupted by a narrative about Judah that seems to be entirely unconnected to what precedes and follows it. Judah separates himself from his brothers, marries, and has three sons. In time, he finds a wife for his first-born son. She dies childless soon after his marriage. The second son refuses to follow what was then the common procedure and marry his dead brother\u2019s wife. Then he, too, dies. When the widowed Tamar realizes that her claim for a husband is unlikely to be satisfied even through the third son of Judah, she deceives her father-in-law. Oblivious of her identity, Judah is intimate with her. Tamar gives birth to twins.
\nThis digression heightens the reader\u2019s suspense at a critical moment in the Joseph narrative, but the skillful blending of the chapter into the larger story shows that the digression is deliberate and the result of careful literary design, as noted in Genesis Rabba 85:3.
\nThe concluding statement of chapter 37, about the sale of Joseph to Potiphar, is repeated in the first verse of chapter 39, thus providing continuity after the intervening diversion. The recurring use of certain key words also forges verbal links between chapter 38 and its preceding and following chapters. Thus the Hebrew root y-r-d appears in 37:35 (\u02beered, \u201cI will go down\u201d), 38:1 (va-yered, lit. \u201che went down\u201d), and 39:1 (hurad, \u201cwas taken down\u201d); the root n-kh-r is found in 37:32 (hakker, lit. \u201crecognize\u201d), verse 33 (va-yakkirah, \u201che recognized it\u201d), as well as in 38:25 (hakker) and verse 26 (va-yakker); the root n-\u1e25-m is used twice in 37:35 (le-na\u1e25amo, \u201cto comfort him\u201d; le-hitna\u1e25em, \u201cto be comforted\u201d) and in 38:12 (va-yinna\u1e25em, \u201cwas comforted\u201d); while the root \u02bf-r-v is employed in 38:17, 18, and 20 (\u02bferavon, \u201ca pledge\u201d) and in 43:9 (\u02bee\u02bfervennu, lit. \u201cI will pledge myself for him\u201d) and 44:32 \u02bfarav (\u201chas pledged himself). A kid from the flock plays a role in the Joseph story (37:31) as well as in this one (vv. 17, 20). Deception occurs in both narratives; a point is proved through the production of tangible evidence (37:32\u201333; 38:25\u201326); the theme of female temptation is central to this and the following chapter; and the genealogy of Judah is repeated in 46:12 in a way that requires knowledge of 38:3\u201310, 29\u201330 in order for it to be understood.
\nAll this shows that the story of Judah and Tamar serves a function that is more complex than a simple suspenseful pause. It cannot be an accident that all the places mentioned\u2014Adullam, Chezib, Timnah, and Enam\u2014are contained within the later territory of the tribe of Judah. Nor can it be coincidental that Adullam is connected with incidents in the life of David, that Bath-shua and Tamar are names similarly linked with the biography of that king, and that the episode here recounted closes with the birth of Judah\u2019s sons, of whom Perez attained preeminence among the Judahite clans and became the ancestor of King David. This chapter, then, is replete with certain historic associations that place Judah, and by inference Joseph too, in a context far wider than that of their own individual personalities.
\nReuben is the first-born of Jacob; yet it is not he but Judah, the fourth son, who rises to prominence in the Joseph narrative. It was Judah who suggested the sale of Joseph to the caravaneers (37:26f.), and it is he who will soon become the spokesman for his brothers to their father (43:3\u20135, 8\u201310). It is Judah who assumes a position of leadership when the delegation runs into trouble in Egypt (44:14\u201316) and who negotiates on behalf of the family for the release of the youngest brother (44:18\u201334). Finally, it is Judah whom Jacob selects to spearhead the migration to Egypt (46:28). So these narratives, while they recount the rise of Joseph, subtly register as well the ascendancy of Judah. The stage is being set for the future fulfillment of the divine promise to Abraham\u2014\u201ckings shall come forth from you\u201d (17:6)\u2014and to Jacob\u2014\u201cKings shall issue from your loins\u201d (35:11). Two kingdoms resulted from these divine promises to the patriarchs: Judah became the name of the southern kingdom, while the northern kingdom of Israel was known as Joseph (cf. Zech. 10:6). The present chapter, then, provides a foil to the Joseph-centered episodes. It hints, ever so obliquely, at the future Joseph-Judah polarity in the history of the people of Israel.
\nThere is much in the narrative that testifies to great antiquity. Judah\u2019s wanderings take place in the border regions of the future tribe, not in its main area of settlement. He is not portrayed as a conqueror or even as a settler. He is still a pastoral nomad, not a city dweller. There is no hostility or tension between him and the Canaanites; later tradition would hardly have invented the uncomfortable account about his marriage to one. Thus the image of the tribe of Judah reflected here is, in general, not that of the postconquest situation. As regards the social situation, the head of the family still has the power of life and death over its members. Moreover, the levirate institution here, unlike that of Deuteronomy 25:5\u20139, presupposes that the main obligation rests upon the father-in-law, allowing no possibility of voluntary renunciation by the brother-in-law. Finally, both the fact that no stigma is attached to what would, in later times, be the offspring of an incestuous marriage and the Narrator\u2019s need to offer an apologia for Judah\u2019s behavior (see Comment to v. 15f.) combine to confirm an early date for the details of the action.<\/p>\n
JUDAH\u2019S MARRIAGE (vv. 1\u20135)<\/p>\n
1. About that time The phrase clearly intends to connect, in time, the sale of Joseph with the marriage of Judah.1 However, the events here described can be compressed into the twenty-two years that elapsed between the sale of Joseph and the descent to Egypt, only on the assumption that Er was born about a year after Judah\u2019s marriage and that Onan and Shelah followed in successive years. Er would then have been about eighteen when he married Tamar and died soon after, and Onan about seventeen when he repeated the experience of his brother. If Tamar waited a year in vain for Shelah before taking the initiative, the twins Perez and Zerah would have been born about twenty-one years after Judah\u2019s original marriage, which had taken place soon after the sale of Joseph. Thus they would have been about a year old upon arrival in Egypt. However, this assumption of a close temporal connection between the events of chapter 37 and Judah\u2019s marriage is clearly incompatible with the mention in 46:12 that two sons of Perez were in Jacob\u2019s company when he went down to Egypt. Accordingly, some modern scholars assign this last notice to a different strand of tradition. Others regard the Hebrew phraseology in 46:12 as indicating that Hezron and Hamul were not yet born and were included in the list simply for the sake of completeness (see Comment to 46:12). One or two traditional commentators treat the introductory formula \u201cAbout that time\u201d as a general phrase not meant to be precise, and they suppose that the marriage of Judah had occurred much earlier than the sale of Joseph. Against this is the clear intent of the phrase \u201cAbout that time\u201d in 21:22. Furthermore, the omission of the genealogy of Perez at the end of chapter 38, in contrast to 46:12, shows that no grandsons had been born within the time span encompassed by the events described in the chapter.<\/p>\n
left his brothers Literally, \u201cwent down from \u2026,\u201d that is, from the hill country of Hebron (37:12, 14, 32). One midrash (Tan\u1e25. B., Gen. 183) connects this event with the brothers\u2019 anger at Judah for his unfortunate advice, as given in Genesis 37:26f. The narrative reflects the isolation of Judah from the other tribes in premonarchic times caused by the presence of Canaanite enclaves. Deuteronomy 33:7 also alludes to this isolation: \u201cHear, O LORD, the voice of Judah \/ And restore him to his people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adullamite A man of Adullam, a city in the northern sector of the Judean shefelah (lowland), about 9 miles (14.4 km.) northeast of modern Beit Guvrin. This Canaanite royal city, captured by Joshua and made part of the tribal inheritance of Judah, was also associated with the life of David.2<\/p>\n
2. Canaanite In 1 Chronicles 2:3, this identification is given to the wife herself. Simeon, too, had a Canaanite wife. In both cases it is the foreign woman who is absorbed into the Israelite tribe. Conscious of the later prohibition on intermarriage with Canaanites (Deut. 7:1, 3), Jewish commentators have generally understood Hebrew kena\u02bfani here in the sense of \u201cmerchant.\u201d3<\/p>\n
daughter \u2026 Shua Her name is not recorded. In verse 12 she is termed \u201cthe daughter of Shua\u201d (Heb. bat-shua). In 1 Chronicles 2:3 she is called \u201cBath-Shua the Canaanite woman.\u201d Bath-sheba, David\u2019s wife, also appears in the variant form Bath-shua in 1 Chronicles 3:5.<\/p>\n
3. he named him Some Hebrew manuscripts read here \u201cshe named,\u201d as do the Samaritan version and Targum Jonathan. According to that reading, the mother names all three sons (cf. Comment to v. 29).<\/p>\n
Er No interpretation of the names of Judah\u2019s sons is given. Er was probably understood to mean \u201cwatchful, vigilant.\u201d A midrash and Targum Jonathan connect it with Hebrew \u02bfariri, \u201cchildless.\u201d<\/p>\n
4. Onan Possibly understood to mean \u201cvigorous.\u201d Targum Jonathan and Genesis Rabba 85:5 connect the name with Hebrew \u02beon, \u201cgrief.\u201d4<\/p>\n
5. Shelah Perhaps meaning \u201cdrawn out\u201d (namely, out of the womb).5<\/p>\n
Chezib Doubtless, the city that is elsewhere called Achzib, situated in the territory of Judah, southwest of Adullam. Later the clan of Shelanites6 included a Cozeba among its descendants (1 Chron. 4:22). This clearly indicates that the clan had occupied the city of Chezib, and it explains why Judah\u2019s whereabouts are noted only in connection with Shelah. Because the Hebrew roots used here of clan and city\u2014k-z-v and sh-l-h\u2014both mean \u201cto deceive, disappoint,\u201d some commentators see here a word play referring to the mother\u2019s disappointment at the absence of her husband or a suggestion of Tamar\u2019s subsequent disappointment at not being given to Shelah.<\/p>\n
THE LEVIRATE OBLIGATION (vv. 6\u201311)<\/p>\n
6. Judah, the father, selects a bride for his son, as was the custom in biblical times.7<\/p>\n
Tamar The word means \u201ca palm tree.\u201d As a personal name, it appears in the Bible only in the Davidic family.8<\/p>\n
7. displeasing Hebrew ra\u02bf, a word play on Er. The inversion of consonants may symbolize his disordering of nature (cf. Comment to 6:8). The text does not specify the sin, but as Bekhor Shor notes, it is that he refused to consummate the marriage, perhaps simply wishing to avoid having children. According to a rabbinic tradition, Er did not want Tamar\u2019s beauty to be marred by pregnancy (Yev. 34b).<\/p>\n
8. The death of Er without a son made Onan subject to the levirate law. Marriage between a man and his brother\u2019s wife is strictly forbidden in the Pentateuchal legislation of Leviticus 18:16 and 20:21. The only exception to the prohibition occurs when the brother dies without a son. According to Deuteronomy 25:5, a man has an obligation to his widowed sister-in-law: \u201cWhen brothers dwell together and one of them dies and leaves no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married to a stranger, outside the family. Her husband\u2019s brother shall unite with her: take her as his wife and perform the levir\u2019s duty.\u201d This institution is known in Hebrew as yibbum, or \u201clevirate marriage\u201d (from Latin levir, \u201ca husband\u2019s brother\u201d). The basic root meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain, but it is believed to be \u201cto procreate.\u201d In Deuteronomy 25:7, the brother of the deceased husband is called the yavam (? \u201cprogenitor\u201d) and the widow yevamah (? \u201cprogenitrix\u201d).
\nThe levirate institution long antedated the Pentateuchal legislation. In fact, it is widely documented in one form or another in several extrabiblical sources. The compendium of laws from the Middle Assyrian Empire (15th\u201314th cent. B.C.E.) apparently provides that a widow who has no son should be married off by the father-in-law to the son of his choice (A, par. 33). The text, however, is fragmentary, and its full import and application are matters of scholarly dispute. Far more explicit are the Hittite laws (14th\u201313th cent. B.C.E.), which lay down that if a married man dies \u201chis brother shall take his wife, then [if he dies] his father shall take her\u201d (par. 193). The text does not distinguish between a childless widow and one who has offspring. A contract from the town of Nuzi from the middle centuries of the second millennium B.C.E. specifies that should the daughter-in-law be widowed, she is to be married to the second son and, if necessary, to the others in turn.
\nIt is widely interpreted that the levirate institution had its origin in the notion that the widow had initially been purchased, through marriage, by the head of the family and so became part of the dead husband\u2019s estate. As such, she remained the property of the clan after his death. At the same time, she would be assured of livelihood and protection.<\/p>\n
provide offspring for your brother There was no requirement to name the son of such a union after the dead brother.9 This is evident from verses 29\u201330 and from Ruth 4:5, 10, and 17. Rather, the surviving brother became a surrogate for the deceased husband who posthumously gained a child, socially acknowledged to be his progeny and heir.<\/p>\n
9. would not count as his The callous refusal of Onan to perpetuate the line of his brother may have been due to a lack of a sense of duty to the dead. An even more powerful motivation would have been the fact that with the death of the first-born, Onan inherits one-half of his father\u2019s estate. However, should he provide an heir to his brother, his portion would be diminished.<\/p>\n
let it go to waste Literally, \u201che let it spoil on the ground.\u201d Genesis Rabba 55:5\u20136 understands that he practiced a primitive form of birth control through coitus interruptus. Another tradition (Yev. 34b) interprets the act as unnatural intercourse. Clearly, society at this time had made no provision for voluntary renunciation of the levirate duty as is found in Deuteronomy 25:7\u20139.<\/p>\n
10. What be did was displeasing The text does not make clear specifically why Onan incurs divine wrath. The development of the narrative favors the explanation that it is due to the evasion of his obligation to his dead brother rather than because of the manner in which he acts. By frustrating the purpose of the levirate institution, Onan has placed his sexual relationship with his sister-in-law in the category of incest\u2014a capital offense. The unusual emphasis given to the particular socio-legal background of the story clearly shows that the point at issue is the levirate obligation and not the general topic of birth control.<\/p>\n
11. as a widow in your father\u2019s house She was not free to remarry but could return to live with her parents, although still subject to the authority of her father-in-law (cf. v. 24).10<\/p>\n
for he thought Judah had no intention of ever marrying her to Shelah.<\/p>\n
THE DECEPTION OF JUDAH (vv. 12\u201326)<\/p>\n
12. A long time afterward In accordance with the chronological scheme required by the present position of the narrative (see Comment to v. 1), about a year would have elapsed. In 1 Samuel 7:2, the same Hebrew phrase is defined as twenty years.<\/p>\n
died The death of Judah\u2019s wife is probably mentioned as an extenuating circumstance to account for his consorting with a harlot.<\/p>\n
his period of mourning was over Literally, \u201che was comforted\u201d; the official mourning rites had ended.<\/p>\n
went up In contrast to \u201cwent down\u201d (v. 1).<\/p>\n
Timnah Probably not the locale of the Samson stories in Judges 14:1 but another place in the hill country of Judah, mentioned in Joshua 15:10, 57.<\/p>\n
sheepshearers See Comment to 31:19. The season of shearing was one of joy and revelry.11<\/p>\n
14. her widow\u2019s garb The mode of dress characteristic of a widow in mourning.12 It is not known of what it consisted or the length of time it was worn. In the case of Tamar, she may have continued to wear such clothing beyond the usual period as a symbol of the unfulfilled levirate obligation. At any rate, the presence of the widow\u2019s garb (cf. v. 19) provides a tacit contrast with Judah\u2019s completion of his period of mourning (v. 12). At the same time, it forges a link with the story of Joseph, in which clothing also plays a role in deception.<\/p>\n
a veil See Comment to 24:65. From verses 15 and 19, it is clear that Tamar was not normally veiled and that she simply wanted to conceal her identity (cf. 24:65). Interestingly, the Middle Assyrian laws (A, par. 40) require an unmarried cult prostitute and a harlot never to be veiled. The harlot who contravened this law was to be flogged fifty times, and pitch was to be poured on her head.<\/p>\n
Enaim Probably to be identified with the village Enam in the territory of Judah.13<\/p>\n
Shelah Nothing more is reported of him here, but his clan is mentioned in Numbers 26:20, and one of his sons was named Er, according to 1 Chronicles 4:21.<\/p>\n
she had not been given Apparently, Tamar has no claim against Shelah, only against Judah. It seems that the responsibility for the enforcement of the levirate obligation rested at this time with the widow\u2019s father-in-law, as in the Hittite laws (see Comment to v. 9). The legislation of Deuteronomy 25:5\u201310 modified the existing levirate institution by restricting the duty of yibbum to the brothers of the deceased.<\/p>\n
15ff. The text is very careful to emphasize that had Judah known the identity of the woman, he would never have had relations with her: \u201cshe had covered her face\u201d; \u201che did not know that she was his daughter-in-law\u201d (v. 16): \u201che was not intimate with her again\u201d (v. 26). All this is explication by the Narrator, who is conscious of the contradiction between the moral standards of his own, later age and the fact that the offspring of Judah\u2019s venture with Tamar bore no stigma of illegitimacy.<\/p>\n
17. a kid from my flock The fact that Judah carried nothing at that moment with which to pay for the woman\u2019s services proves that he acted on impulse in \u201cturning aside to her by the road\u201d\u2014another example of the biblical motif of God using human frailty for His own purposes.<\/p>\n
a pledge Security to be held pending the fulfillment of the obligation.<\/p>\n
18. seal \u2026 cord The reference is to the widely used cylinder seal, a small object made of a hard material, engraved with distinctive ornamentation. The center was hollowed out and a cord passed through so that the seal could be worn around the neck. When the cylinder was rolled over soft clay, the resultant impression served as a means of identifying personal possessions and of sealing and legitimating clay documents. It was a highly personal object that performed the function of the signature in modern society, a kind of extension of the personality. Judah leaves part of himself with Tamar when he gives her his seal.<\/p>\n
staff Hebrew matteh can mean either \u201cstaff\u201d or \u201cscepter.\u201d It is attested as the symbol of power and leadership in Isaiah 14:5 and Ezekiel 19:11\u201314, and also of royalty in Psalms 110:2. Numbers 17:17 states that each of the chieftains of the tribes of Israel in the wilderness had his own staff. Judah\u2019s staff must have had some personalized identifying sign. Bronze staffs topped by small lions\u2019 heads have been found in Syria dating from the time of the Assyrian Empire (8th\u20137th cent. B.C.E.). Similar scepter heads, some incised with names, have been discovered over a wide area of the Near East.
\nHerodotus (Histories 1.195) reports that every Babylonian carried a seal and a stick with a carved ornamented top. Whether the same custom prevailed in Canaan in an earlier age is not known.
\nJudah must have been willing to part with these valuable identifying items temporarily only because he was a man of substance; for him the payment of a kid was inexpensive and could have been accomplished with ease in a very short while.<\/p>\n
20. the woman The relationship had been so casual that he had not even bothered to find out her name.<\/p>\n
21. cult prostitute Hebrew kedeshah seems to have referred to a woman who practiced prostitution in the service of a deity, probably in connection with a fertility cult. Deuteronomy 23:18 outlaws such an institution in Israel. The office of qadishtu is known from tablets listing Mesopotamian temple personnel and from Babylonian and Assyrian laws, but the nature of her religious function remains unclear.
\nIt should be noted that the term \u201ccult prostitute\u201d is employed in the dialogue, whereas \u201charlot\u201d appears in the narration (v. 15). Clearly, the use of \u201charlot\u201d reveals the Israelite view of such a perversion of religion (cf. Hos. 4:14). It is possible that Hirah is expressing Canaanite notions or that he is deliberately using the term kedeshah to avoid embarrassment.<\/p>\n
24. Judah was told He had not seen her himself because she had returned to her father\u2019s house (v. 11).<\/p>\n
\u201cBring her out\u201d To the city gate, where justice was administered (see Comment to 19:1). The order has a magisterial ring to it.14 By virtue of his status as head of the family, Judah here exercises his power of life and death (see Comment to 31:32), even though Tamar lives with her parents.<\/p>\n
\u201clet her be burned\u201d The tie between the childless widow and the levir exists automatically from the moment of widowhood. Tamar\u2019s status was thus what is termed shomeret yavam (\u201cawaiting the levir\u201d) in rabbinic parlance, and any extralevirate sexual relationship would have been adulterous. This offense carries the death penalty in biblical legislation, as specified in Leviticus 20:10 and Deuteronomy 22:22, though the particular mode of execution is not stated. In rabbinic tradition, all cases of unspecified capital punishment involve strangulation (Sanh. 52b). In other instances in the Bible, the mode of execution for sexual crimes is stoning by the public (Deut. 22:21, 24; cf. Ezek. 16:40). Death by burning is prescribed only in two cases mentioned in Leviticus 20:14 and 21:9. Judah\u2019s extreme verdict may reflect contemporary Canaanite practice. Ramban raises the possibility that the exceptional severity of the punishment was dictated by Judah\u2019s exalted status, so that the violation of family honor was felt all the more keenly. Another possibility is that the body was to be burned after the administration of death by stoning. An analogous case is that of Achan who was ordered to be burned for violating the ban on Jericho but who, in practice, was first executed by public stoning and then burned. This is related in Joshua 7:15, 25.<\/p>\n
25. The dramatic denouement comes as Tamar, who has sustained her remarkable self-restraint until the very last moment, confronts Judah with the at once overwhelming and unimpeachable evidence. Yet her tactic of indirect accusation assures a minimum of embarrassment and so elicits a noble response.<\/p>\n
26. he was not intimate with her again See Comment to verse 15. There is a distinction between the levirate law of Deuteronomy 25:5 and this incident. There the widow becomes her brother-in-law\u2019s wife; here it would appear that Tamar has only a clear right to conceive a child but no claim on marriage. Again, the narrative reflects a much earlier sociojuridical stratum than the Pentateuchal legislation.<\/p>\n
THE BIRTH OF THE TWINS (vv. 27\u201330)<\/p>\n
27. When the time came \u2026 twins Unlike in Rebekah\u2019s case, as told in 25:24, twins were apparently not expected.15<\/p>\n
twins Perhaps in compensation for Judah\u2019s two deceased sons.<\/p>\n
28. came out first The narrative seems to echo a history of rivalry between the two clans and is to be compared with 25:22\u201323.<\/p>\n
29. she said That is, the midwife.<\/p>\n
breach Hebrew perets. This is a play on Perez, the only name in this chapter for which an explanation is given, a fact that reflects the preeminence of the Perezite clan within the tribe of Judah. David was descended from Perez, according to Ruth 4:18\u201322 and 1 Chronicles 2:5, 9\u201315. The fact that ten generations separate David from Perez\u2014symbolic of a complete and significant unit of time (see Comment to chap. 5)\u2014shows that the birth of Perez is taken to be a historic turning point.<\/p>\n
So he was named Literally, \u201cso he called his name\u201d; that is, Judah did, basing himself on the midwife\u2019s words. Some ancient versions read here \u201cshe called.\u201d16<\/p>\n
30. Zerah No interpretation of the name is given. The Hebrew stem means \u201cbrightness,\u201d which suggests an allusion to the crimson thread. The Zerahites were a clan of Judah.17<\/p>\n
CHAPTER 39<\/p>\n
Joseph in Potiphar\u2019s Household (vv. 1\u201323)<\/p>\n
1. Resuming the story of Joseph, the narrative now recapitulates the concluding verses of chapter 37.<\/p>\n
a certain Egyptian The national identity of Joseph\u2019s master is repeated three times for emphasis (vv. 1, 2, 5), probably because the sale of Joseph into Egyptian slavery sets the stage for the looming enslavement and subsequent redemption of Israel. The prophecy of 15:13 to Abraham is being fulfilled.<\/p>\n
Potiphar So 37:36. The full name and titles are here given to draw attention to the aristocratic nature of the household into which Joseph is sold, a detail essential to the development of the story. Otherwise, the name of the master is of no significance\u2014indeed is not mentioned again.<\/p>\n
2. The LORD The divine name YHVH, used only in this chapter of the Joseph story,1 is confined exclusively to the narrative framework and never used in speech. The preference for this proper name of the God of Israel, as opposed to the generic \u02beelohim, is determined by an underlying intent to emphasize that the unfolding events in the odyssey of Joseph are key elements in God\u2019s plan for the people of Israel. The use of YHVH gives an appropriate nuance to this wider national inflection in the narrative.<\/p>\n
was with Joseph This seminal phrase appears four times in this chapter,2 forming a literary framework within which the narrative is encased. The repetitious use of the phrase imparts coherence and meaning to what superficially appear to be merely random events. The phrase enables the reader to understand how the spoiled lad of seventeen, utterly alone in a foreign land and in dire adversity, suddenly matures and acquires great strength of character. He can rise again and again in situations that would surely have crushed others.<\/p>\n
a successful man The phrase expresses the idea that innate gifts of intelligence and skill cannot achieve fruition without divine support.3<\/p>\n
he stayed in the house The first of four stages in the rise of Joseph. He is not sent to work in the fields. It was not uncommon for slaves in Egypt to be employed in professional tasks such as household management and the administration of property. This situation is illustrated by an Egyptian papyrus (Brooklyn 35.1446) deriving from 1833\u20131742 B.C.E., which lists the names of nearly eighty slaves in an Egyptian household, together with their occupations. Strangely, the Asian slaves clearly enjoyed superior status and performed the skilled jobs while the Egyptian slaves were given the more onerous and strenuous labors in the fields. By working in the house, Joseph has the opportunity to display his administrative talents and to win the favor of his master. But he is also brought into close and constant contact with his master\u2019s wife!<\/p>\n
3. when his master saw Joseph\u2019s competence in fulfilling his duties\u2014not here specified (cf. vv. 11, 22)\u2014is visible proof to the master of divine support for his slave.4<\/p>\n
4. be took a liking Literally, \u201cJoseph found favor in his eyes.\u201d5 He wins the esteem and confidence of his master\u2014the second stage in his rise.<\/p>\n
his personal attendant Compare Exodus 24:13; 2 Kings 6:15. This is the third stage.<\/p>\n
in charge of his household The fourth and final rung on the ladder of success. Joseph is now overseer of the entire estate, a function that conforms to that of the title frequently encountered in Egyptian texts as mer-per, \u201ccomptroller.\u201d<\/p>\n
5. the LORD blessed That is, He brought great prosperity to the master.6<\/p>\n
in the house and outside Literally, \u201cin the house and in the field.\u201d The phrase is a merism, a figure of speech that combines two contrasting elements to express totality.<\/p>\n
6. Joseph has now reached the pinnacle of his career as a servant in the wealthy household, having won his Egyptian master\u2019s complete and unqualified confidence in his ability and integrity.<\/p>\n
He left \u2026 in Joseph\u2019s hands The Hebrew phrase \u02bf-z-v beyad in place of the usual n-t-n beyad, as in verses 4, 8, and 22, is unique, for elsewhere the phrase \u02bf-z-v beyad means \u201cto abandon to the power of\u201d and has a negative connotation, as in Psalms 37:33 and Nehemiah 9:28. The exceptional style here is probably a deliberate literary device to hint at impending evil and to allude to a causc-and-effect connection with verses 12, 13, and 15, which employ the same phrase but in a different association.<\/p>\n
the food that he ate In view of the parallel passage in verse 9, early exegesis understood the term as a euphemism for \u201cwife.\u201d Support for this may be found in Proverbs 30:20: \u201cSuch is the way of an adulteress: \/ She eats, wipes her mouth, \/ And says, \u2018I have done no wrong.\u2019\u00a0\u201d An alternative interpretation sees a connection with the ritual separation said to have been practiced by Egyptians at meals, mentioned in 43:32.7<\/p>\n
well built and handsome No other male is so described in Scripture. The Hebrew phrase also is used of Rachel, Joseph\u2019s mother, in 29:17. Joseph\u2019s physical attractiveness is not mentioned as an element in Jacob\u2019s favoritism or as an additional cause of his brothers\u2019 envy. Its insertion here serves solely to introduce the next episode.<\/p>\n
THE ATTEMPTED SEDUCTION (vv. 7\u201320)<\/p>\n
Has Joseph\u2019s success corroded his moral fiber? His character is about to be put to the test. The picture of Joseph as it emerges from the pages of this narrative is far different from that of the boy back in his father\u2019s home. So skillfully is the story set forth that, in our sympathy and admiration for the hero\u2019s nobility of character, we forget those displeasing traits that alienated us at the outset. Joseph is now the unwitting instrument of God\u2019s providence, and his behavior in the face of temptation demonstrates his worthiness for the role.<\/p>\n
7. After a time Sufficient time has elapsed for Joseph\u2019s relative independence and authority to be accepted as commonplace.<\/p>\n
his muster\u2019s wife She remains nameless throughout the story.8 Her designation serves a dual purpose. It draws attention to Joseph\u2019s dilemma in antagonizing someone so powerful, and it emphasizes the inherent irony of the situation: She, the mistress of the house, is a slave to her lust for her husband\u2019s slave!<\/p>\n
cast her eyes upon With longing,9 lasciviously.<\/p>\n
Lie with me There are no verbal preliminaries, no expressions of love. Her peremptory mode of speech flows from her consciousness of Joseph\u2019s status as a slave. In no other biblical narrative does a woman brazenly proposition a man in this manner.10<\/p>\n
8\u20139. Joseph\u2019s spontaneous response is a categorical no. His moral excellence can be appreciated all the more if one remembers that he is a slave and that sexual promiscuity was a perennial feature of all slave societies. Moreover, an ambitious person might well have considered that the importuning woman had presented him with a rare opportunity to advance his personal and selfish interests.
\nConscious of his subordinate position, Joseph dares not display anger. Nor does he preach. He only explains his personal reasons for refusing her advances, and he presents these in an order that reflects his perception of her hierarchy of values. First he points to the abuse of trust that would be involved, then to the violation of the husband\u2019s proprietary rights over his wife, then to the religious and moral nature of the offense. The second of these reasons reflects pagan legal theory that adultery was largely a private injury, an affront and indignity to the husband. The third line of argument conforms to the distinctive Israelite concept of morality as having its source and sanction in divine will, not in social convention or utilitarian considerations.<\/p>\n
before God Joseph here uses \u02beelohim, not YHVH, because he is speaking to one of another people.<\/p>\n
10. The woman does not reply to Joseph\u2019s arguments. Her tactic is to wear down his resistance by her relentless importuning.<\/p>\n
she coaxed Hebrew ke-dabberah, the verb indicating repeated speech (cf. vv. 17, 19).<\/p>\n
to lie beside \u2026 to be with \u2026 The unique usage of the Hebrew preposition \u02beetsel in this context may indicate that she moderated her demands on him. In that case, as Rashbam suggests, the second clause would mean simply \u201cto be in her company.\u201d Another possibility is that the phrase \u201cto be with her\u201d is a euphemism for sexual intercourse, as in 2 Samuel 13:20, in which case the clauses express successive states of intimacy.<\/p>\n
11. into the house As 43:26 shows, Hebrew ha-baytah means \u201cinto the interior of the house.\u201d11<\/p>\n
to do his work Not here specified (cf. vv. 3, 22), but excluding menial labor. Early exegesis, as reflected in the Targums, has Joseph attending to his master\u2019s accounts. A rabbinic tradition (Sot. 36b) interprets the phrase as a euphemism: Joseph actually succumbed to the woman\u2019s blandishments, but at the critical moment a mental image of his father inhibited him from sinning.<\/p>\n
there inside In that part of the house\u2014not necessarily that no one was around (cf. v. 14).<\/p>\n
12. she caught hold Her verbal assaults having failed to achieve their end, she resorts in desperation and frustration to physical aggression.12<\/p>\n
garment The loose-fitting outer garment of the well-to-do, which was removed on entering the house. The poor usually possessed only one garment (Exod. 22:26; Deut. 24:13). The use of Hebrew beged (six times), a general term for clothing, in place of the regular me\u02bfil, evokes an association with the homonymous Hebrew stem b-g-d employed for marital infidelity.13<\/p>\n
got away and fled Literally, \u201che fled (va-yanos) and went out (va-yetse\u02bf) to the outside.\u201d The first verb describes his spontaneous and abrupt withdrawal from the room; the second suggests the assumption of a normal gait, once outside, in order not to attract attention.<\/p>\n
13\u201318. The turn of events must have left the wife terror-stricken at her vulnerability should the truth get out, while her feeling of anger and humiliation fueled a desire for revenge. Realizing that the abandoned coat can serve as prima facie evidence for a case against Joseph, she loses no time in accusing him of committing the acts she had wanted him to perpetrate.<\/p>\n
13. had fled outside For the sake of brevity, the second verb is omitted in the recapitulation.<\/p>\n
14. and said Hebrew va-to\u02bemer, indicating a succinct report (cf. vv. 7, 10, 17).<\/p>\n
to her servants Literally, \u201cthe people of her house,\u201d who are in another part of the building.<\/p>\n
Look She may have held up the coat for all to see, but, more likely, Hebrew re\u02beu is just a synonym of the demonstrative hinneh, \u201cbehold.\u201d14<\/p>\n
he had to bring us The subject is indefinite, but verse 17 indicates that the sarcasm refers to her husband.<\/p>\n
a Hebrew Whatever the origin of the term (see Comment to 14:13), there seems to be no doubt of a derogatory intent here. In contrast to her report to her husband (v. 17), the woman does not term Joseph a slave. She artfully knows how to adjust her language to the needs of the situation. In addressing her domestics, probably Egyptians, she appeals to their suspicion of foreigners and flatteringly employs the plural \u201cus\u201d (contrast v. 17), as though to imply that Joseph is threatening their common values and that she and they have mutual interests to defend that erase differences in class and status.<\/p>\n
to dally The Hebrew stem ts-\u1e25-k is the same as that used in 26:8, though with a different preposition (here b; there \u02beet). It can also mean simply \u201cto mock us, insult us\u201d (cf. v. 17).<\/p>\n
I screamed The scream was regarded as evidence of resistance to attempted rape and, hence, was a sign of innocence, as is formulated in Deuteronomy 22:24, 27. She well knows that none of those to whom she speaks had been close enough to hear her (v. 11).<\/p>\n
15. with me The same phraseology as in the report to her husband (v. 18), but she subtly avoids mentioning that the garment was left in her hand (vv. 12, 13).<\/p>\n
and fled outside See Comment to verse 12. Again she is cautious in her formulation, just in case anyone might have seen Joseph leaving her room and walking normally.<\/p>\n
16. his master Not \u201cher husband,\u201d since it was in the capacity of slavemaster that she would confront him.<\/p>\n
17. Hebrew slave This time she emphasizes Joseph\u2019s slave status (cf. v. 14).<\/p>\n
into our house Literally, \u201cto us,\u201d as though to say, \u201cThe whole house suffers from him.\u201d Cunningly, however, she goes on to use the singular, \u201cto dally with me,\u201d not \u201cus,\u201d as before\u2014a fine psychological touch designed to arouse her husband\u2019s jealous instincts and sense of outrage. Significantly, she does not repeat to her husband her previously stated charge of attempted rape. This omission was probably a powerful factor in saving Joseph from the executioner. Perhaps she secretly nourishes the hope that, by having Joseph incarcerated, she might be able to break his spirit and finally get him to succumb to her.<\/p>\n
19. he was furious The text does not say at whom, an omission that may hint at an underlying ambivalence in his reaction. He must also have resented losing the services of so accomplished an administrator as Joseph.<\/p>\n
20. had him put Literally, \u201ctook him and put him.\u201d It is known that high administrative officials in the Egyptian government also performed judicial functions.<\/p>\n
in prison Hebrew beit ha-sohar, perhaps deriving from a stem s-h-r, \u201cto be round\u201d (cf. Song 7:3), which appears in postbiblical Hebrew as sahar, \u201cmoon,\u201d \u201cenclosed area.\u201d Employed eight times in this narrative, but nowhere else, beit ha-sohar may then be, literally, \u201ca house of enclosure,\u201d \u201ca prison fortress.\u201d It might also be an as yet unidentified foreign term. At any rate, the prison detail is characteristically Egyptian, for the punishment of imprisonment was unknown in ancient Near Eastern law but is well attested in Egyptian documents. The prison, of which there was one in each town of any size, served as a penal institution for convicted criminals, as a labor camp for those forced into the corv\u00e9e, and as the seat of the criminal court. In the present instance, the prison is under the jurisdiction of Joseph\u2019s master and is housed on his property, as is clear from 40:3, 7 and 41:10; compare Jeremiah 37:15f. This recalls an Egyptian papyrus (Leiden I.368.7\u20139), which tells of slaves who were committed to \u201cthe little prison of the Overseer of the Treasury.\u201d<\/p>\n
where the king\u2019s prisoners \u2026 Being an officer of the court, Potiphar puts Joseph in the section reserved for royal prisoners, a detail vital to the understanding of the next episode. Why does Joseph escape execution, which would certainly have been the fate of a slave who attempted to assault his master\u2019s wife sexually? Is it because of Potiphar\u2019s extreme fondness for him, or because he really doubts the veracity of the woman\u2019s story?15 Support for the latter notion might be sought in the vague description of his reaction upon hearing the accusation in verse 19 and in the unusual fivefold repetition of forms of the Hebrew stem d-b-r (vv. 17, 19; cf. v. 10) as opposed to the previous use of the verb \u02be-m-r (vv. 7, 14); there is an implication here that a profusion of words is needed on the part of the wife to overcome her husband\u2019s reluctance to accept her story. As has already been noted, she did not explicitly report to her husband, as she had to the domestics (v. 14), that Joseph had intended to rape her (v. 17). Furthermore, it must not be assumed that Joseph silently accepted his unjust fate. The narrative is mute on this point; but it also recorded no reaction from Joseph when he was thrown into the pit (chap. 37), while a subsequent incident reveals that he had indeed pleaded with his brothers for his life (42:21). Here, too, it is reasonable to assume that he defends his innocence in a manner that at least raises some doubts about his guilt in his master\u2019s mind. It is also pertinent to mention here that there are many versions in ancient literature of the motif of the blameless accused who honorably repels the amorous advances of a married woman, and that the innocent victim generally escapes death. On this topic, see Excursus 29.<\/p>\n
IMPRISONMENT (vv. 20\u201323)<\/p>\n
20. But even while Literally, \u201cHe was there in prison.\u201d To avoid the apparent redundancy of the clause, Radak took it to mean \u201che remained there,\u201d that is, he had no expectation of release. However, it is better to attach the phrase to the next verse, as is done in this translation, following Shadal. This has the advantage of making verse 21 almost exactly parallel to verse 2.<\/p>\n
21. When Joseph was a slave in Potiphar\u2019s household \u201cGod was with him\u201d and gave him success in his work, thereby enabling him to win his master\u2019s favor. Here in prison he is at the lowest point of his fortunes, forlorn and helpless. According to the tradition in Psalms 105:17\u201318, Joseph\u2019s feet were placed in fetters and an iron collar was put around his neck. God is again \u201cwith him,\u201d but Joseph has no opportunity as yet to prove himself. He first needs divine \u1e25esed (see Comment to 24:12) to gain the prison keeper\u2019s favor.<\/p>\n
22. The chief jailer The jailer, who is responsible to the chief steward (cf. 40:3f.), gives Joseph administrative duties not here specified (cf. vv. 3, 11).<\/p>\n
23. This verse parallels verses 3 and 6.<\/p>\n
CHAPTER 40<\/p>\n
Joseph in Prison (vv. 1\u201323)<\/p>\n
1. Some time later An indefinite statement. See Comments to 15:1 and 21:1. We may calculate that Joseph is now twenty-eight years old, for we know that in another two years, when he appears before Pharaoh, he is then thirty.1 Eleven years have elapsed since his sale into slavery; but we have no way of determining how many of those years he spent in the service of Potiphar and how many in prison.<\/p>\n
the cupbearer \u2026 the baker The next verse identifies them as the respective chief officials of their professions in the royal household. Since the cupbearer is crucial to the narrative, he is always mentioned first.
\nThe cupbearer was an important official in the Egyptian court. Because of the sensitivity of his position\u2014he personally served wine to the king\u2014his loyalty in what was a perpetually intrigue-ridden household had to be beyond reproach. Ready access to the monarch could make a savvy cupbearer a trusted advisor and place him in a position of great influence. Egyptian documents testify to the wealth and power of such officials.<\/p>\n
the king of Egypt This title (so v. 5), in place of the otherwise invariable mention of Pharaoh, takes up the point of 39:20.<\/p>\n
gave offense The details, being irrelevant to the narrative, are ignored.<\/p>\n
2. The specific mention of the two men, following the general statement regarding the officials, may be intended as an indication that the offenses of the two were separate and distinct. This explains why they eventually received different treatment at the hands of Pharaoh.<\/p>\n
3. in custody Hebrew be-mishmar, that is, in temporary detention pending final disposition of their case.2<\/p>\n
4. The chief steward That is, Joseph\u2019s own master, on whose estate the prison was situated. The cupbearer later characterizes Joseph as \u201ca servant of the chief steward.\u201d3<\/p>\n
When \u2026 for some time Literally, \u201cThere were days.\u2026\u201d Hebrew yamim may indicate indefinite time4 or \u201ca year.\u201d In the latter case, as their confinement ended on the royal birthday, their offenses could have been committed in connection with the celebration of the preceding birthday, as Shadal suggests.<\/p>\n
5. both of them For dreams in pairs, see Comment to 37:9. In this case, the two are needed to establish Joseph\u2019s reputation as an interpreter of dreams5 (cf. 41:11\u201313). Joseph\u2019s own dreams caused his misfortunes. Now the dreams of others lead to his prosperity.<\/p>\n
dreamed See Comment to 37:5\u201311.<\/p>\n
each \u2026 own meaning Literally, \u201ceach according to the interpretation of his dream\u201d\u2014the same phrase used by the cupbearer later, in 41:11. The Hebrew can be variously taken to mean that the interpretation turned out to be appropriate to the content or that each dreamed as if his dream were a prediction.<\/p>\n
6. distraught The anxiety normally brought on by the accepted seriousness of dreams is here intensified for the prisoners by the uncertainty as to their fate and by their being denied access to a professional dream interpreter. The coincidence of the two officials having simultaneous dreams doubtless also heightened their tension.<\/p>\n
8. there is no one Here in prison.<\/p>\n
\u201cSurely God can interpret!\u201d Compare 41:16.<\/p>\n
Tell me \u2026 \u201cPerhaps, then, He will reveal the meaning to me,\u201d implies Joseph.<\/p>\n
THE CUPBEARER\u2019S DREAM (vv. 9\u201315)<\/p>\n
9\u201311. The cupbearer seems to find Joseph\u2019s response persuasive, while the baker remains skeptical and hesitant. The dream\u2019s blend of reality and fantasy is recounted in a series of staccato scenes, often without a conjunction between the short clauses. The effect is a telescoping of time in which the grape-growing season, the production process, and the serving of the finished wine each takes place instantaneously, and follow one another in swift succession.<\/p>\n
12\u201313. Joseph deciphers the dream by a scheme of equivalences. The rapidity of the action suggests imminent fulfillment. The recurrence of the number three indicates specifically three days, three branches, three stages of growth, three actions performed; and both \u201cPharaoh\u201d and his \u201ccup\u201d are mentioned three times. It is quite likely that Joseph actually has knowledge of Pharaoh\u2019s impending birthday celebration, as Bekhor Shor and Ibn Ezra suggest. Moreover, he cannot help noting that in the dream the cupbearer is actually performing his duties in the presence of Pharaoh.<\/p>\n
13. pardon you Literally, \u201clift up your head,\u201d that is, you will regain your dignity, honor, and independence. The inability to \u201craise the head\u201d is synonymous with indignity, shame, and a state of subjection.6 In Akkadian, the equivalent idiom na\u0161\u00fb r\u00ea\u0161a may mean \u201cto summon a delinquent, to call someone into the presence of the king.\u201d This meaning admirably fits the context here and in verses 19 and 20.<\/p>\n
14. this place Hebrew bayit, literally \u201chouse\u201d\u2014short for beit ha-sohar, \u201cprison,\u201d or \u201cthe house of my master\u201d (v. 7; 41:10). The professional diviner and dream interpreter expected to be paid for his services, as is illustrated by the case of Balaam in Numbers 22:17f. Joseph therefore feels free to request a personal favor instead, a tactic that also enhances the credibility of his interpretation.<\/p>\n
15. Joseph assures the cupbearer that he would be intervening on behalf of an innocent man.<\/p>\n
kidnapped The reference would be to the development described in 37:28, 36, in which case it would have been the Midianites, not the brothers, who drew Joseph up from the pit. However, Joseph may simply have used this term because he was ashamed to tell his fellow prisoner that his own brothers had sold him into slavery.<\/p>\n
land of the Hebrews That is, the land in which the Hebrews sojourn, either Canaan or the Hebron area in which they were concentrated and were buried. The term is not likely to be an anachronism since the designation was not used in later times. It recalls the description in the Mari documents of the Middle Euphrates region as the \u201cland of Hana,\u201d after the Haneans who wandered and resided there. On \u201cHebrews,\u201d see Comments to 10:21 and 14:13.<\/p>\n
dungeon Hebrew bor, literally \u201cpit,\u201d another term for \u201cprison,\u201d deriving from the subterranean nature of the place of detention7 the same term as used in 37:20\u201329.<\/p>\n
THE BAKER\u2019S DREAM (vv. 16\u201319)<\/p>\n
The baker\u2019s skepticism has vanished. He is now eager to talk because he recognizes the points of similarity between his dream and that of the cupbearer. But, all too humanly, he disregards the crucial differences.<\/p>\n
16. openwork Hebrew \u1e25ori, a term of uncertain meaning. It has variously been connected with \u1e25or, \u201ca hole,\u201d and \u1e25vr, \u201cwhite,\u201d and explained as describing either the nature of the baskets, \u201cperforated,\u201d \u201cwicker-work,\u201d or their contents, \u201cwhite bread.\u201d Another interpretation is \u201ccakes baked on glowing coals\u201d or \u201cthick cakes.\u201d8<\/p>\n
on my head Repeated in verse 17 and of special significance for the interpretation.<\/p>\n
17. uppermost basket Only the contents of this one are described because it is the one accessible to the birds.<\/p>\n
all kinds \u2026 The dream here reflects native Egyptian foods. No less than fifty-seven varieties of bread and thirty-eight different types of cake are known from hieroglyphic texts.<\/p>\n
birds The baker has neither the strength nor the presence of mind to drive them away9\u2014an ominous detail.<\/p>\n
18\u201319. Joseph notes that, unlike the cupbearer, the baker does not prepare the delicacies himself and does not personally serve Pharaoh in his dream. In fact, the food does not even reach Pharaoh, for it is eaten by the birds. This symbolizes the devouring of the baker\u2019s own flesh by the vultures.<\/p>\n
19. will lift off your bead This looks like a grim play on words (see Comment to v. 13). However, since verse 20 uses a single phrase to indicate the fate of both officials, and since the \u201cremoval of the head\u201d is expressed in Hebrew by a different verb (cf. 1 Sam. 17:46), and verse 22 indicates that his punishment was not decapitation but impalement (41:13), many scholars regard the preposition \u201coff\u201d (Heb. me\u02bf-aldkha) as a dittograph, an unintentional scribal insertion influenced by the last word of the verse. As a matter of fact, the word does not appear in all Hebrew manuscripts or in the Vulgate translation. It is quite likely that the idiom \u201cto raise the head\u201d (Heb. n-s-\u02be ro\u02besh) here has the meaning of \u201ccall to account\u201d or \u201cbring to justice.\u201d<\/p>\n
impale you If we hold to the rendering that the baker is, indeed, to be decapitated, then he cannot also be \u201changed.\u201d We must assume that what is meant here is that his corpse is to be publicly exposed after execution by being hung over a spiked pole set in the ground. Impaling, and not hanging, was a widely used mode of execution in the ancient Near East. (Cf. Deut. 21:22f.; Josh. 10:26; 1 Sam. 31:10.)<\/p>\n
pick off your flesh The theological beliefs of the Egyptians motivated them to pay special attention to the preservation of the body after death. Hence, the punishment foretold here is particularly loathsome.<\/p>\n
FULFILLMENT AND DISAPPOINTMENT (vv. 20\u201323)<\/p>\n
20. singled out Literally, \u201clifted the head\u201d (see Comments to vv. 13, 19).<\/p>\n
21\u201322. The narration employs the very words of Joseph to indicate the precision with which his predictions were fulfilled.<\/p>\n
23. did not think of \u2026 forgot The combination of negative-positive formulation has led to varying interpretations: He did not recall Joseph, not out of malice but because he forgot\u2014so Bekhor Shor; he remembered him neither at the time he gained his freedom nor subsequently\u2014so Rashi and Rashbam; neither in speech nor mentally did he recall him\u2014so Ibn Ezra. Actually, the wording is purely idiomatic and means complete forgetfulness.10
\nThe ingratitude of the Egyptian cupbearer prefigures the later national experience of the Israelites in Egypt (cf. Exod. 1:8).<\/p>\n
CHAPTER 41<\/p>\n
Joseph\u2019s Liberation and Rise to Power (vv. 1\u201356)<\/p>\n
Mikkets<\/p>\n
The wheel of fate has turned full circle. Joseph\u2019s misfortunes began with dreams and now end through dreams. Because of their critical role in the subsequent history of Joseph and Israel, Pharaoh\u2019s dreams are narrated immediately and then repeated by Pharaoh himself.<\/p>\n
PHARAOH\u2019S DREAMS (vv. 1\u20138)<\/p>\n
1. After two years\u2019 time Literally, \u201cat the end of two years of days\u201d; that is, two complete years have elapsed since the release of the cupbearer. Possibly the dreams and the events connected with them also took place on Pharaoh\u2019s birthday, as suggested by Shadal.<\/p>\n
the Nile Hebrew ye\u02beor, an Egyptian loan word also found as ya-ru-\u02be\u00fa in Assyrian.1 The Nile as the setting for Pharaoh\u2019s dream is fateful, for the river was literally the lifeline of Egypt, the source of its entire economy.<\/p>\n
2. seven cows This is a touch of local color, for cows were abundant in Egypt and important to the economy. The motif of seven cows is a familiar one from Egyptian paintings and texts.<\/p>\n
reed grass Hebrew \u02bea\u1e25u, from an Egyptian loan word that originally meant the land flooded by the Nile and then came to be used for pastureland in general. From Egyptian it passed into Hebrew and other Semitic languages.2<\/p>\n
3. close behind them That is, in time.<\/p>\n
5. grew Hebrew \u02bfolot, the same word as in verses 2f. for the \u201ccoming up\u201d of the cows.<\/p>\n
on a single stalk A clear symbol of abundance.<\/p>\n
6. scorched by the east wind This is usually taken to refer to the hot, dry, withering wind known as the \u1e25amsin, or sirocco, which is frequently used in the Bible as a symbol of destruction.3 Here, however, as in Exodus 10:13 and 14:21, Hebrew kadim may signify the south wind that blows in from the Sahara since Egypt was oriented southward to the source and headwaters of the Nile.<\/p>\n
7. it was a dream Much to Pharaoh\u2019s surprise, for it all seemed so vivid and real. It should be noted that this phrase is not found in verse 4 after the first dream and that the singular \u201cdream\u201d is used in verses 8, 15, and 25, although the reference is to both dreams. The text hints at the underlying identical nature of the interpretations (cf. Comment to v. 22).<\/p>\n
8. Next morning \u2026 agitated Implying that, following his dreams, Pharaoh spent a sleepless night, anxiously awaiting the dawn.<\/p>\n
magicians Hebrew \u1e25artumim, probably an Egyptian loan word. It appears in the Bible only in connection with Egypt and Babylon.4 Magic was a feature of Egyptian life. It should be noted that although Israel shared with its pagan neighbors a belief in the reality of dreams as a medium of divine communication, it never developed, as did Egypt and Mesopotamia, a class of magicians; quite the contrary, the religion of Israel banished magic and sorcery from its midst (cf. Lev. 19:26; Deut. 18:10f.).<\/p>\n
wise men Hebrew \u1e25akhamim, the first use of the stem \u1e25-k-m in the Bible. Here the term refers to those who possessed a fund of specialized, utilitarian knowledge and skill in the magic arts.<\/p>\n
his dreams Literally, \u201chis dream,\u201d in the singular. See Comment to verse 7.<\/p>\n
none could interpret them for Pharaoh It is inconceivable that the professional dream interpreters are unable to provide \u201cinterpretations.\u201d The key phrase, therefore, is \u201cfor Pharaoh,\u201d that is, their solutions do not satisfy him.5 The fact is that there is nothing in the dreams that relates in a personal way to Pharaoh himself. This, incidentally, is in contrast to all previous dreams in Genesis in which the dreamer plays a central role. It is therefore clear to Pharaoh that his dream experience has a wider, national significance. The customary fawning and flattering expositions of the magicians are therefore unconvincing.
\nThe failure of the Egyptian professional dream interpreters has a significance that reaches far beyond the immediate story. This incident\u2014the first clash recorded in the Bible between pagan magic and the will of God\u2014constitutes a polemic against paganism. The same motif recurs in the contest between Moses and Aaron and the court magicians of Egypt in Exodus 7\u20139, in the rivalry between Daniel and the magicians of Babylon in Daniel 2 and 4, and in the story of Balaam in Numbers 22\u201323.<\/p>\n
THE CUPBEARER REMEMBERS JOSEPH (vv. 9\u201313)<\/p>\n
9. I must make mention Hebrew mazkir, the same stem as used by Joseph in his plea in 40:14 and by the Narrator in reporting the ingratitude of the cupbearer in 40:23. The similarity of language conveys a direct relationship between the events. Hence, he speaks of his \u201coffenses\u201d in the plural, that is, against Pharaoh and against Joseph.<\/p>\n
10. Compare 40:1\u20133.<\/p>\n
11. with a meaning of its own Compare 40:5.<\/p>\n
12. A Hebrew youth \u2026 a servant Rabbinic tradition understood this description as being deliberately derogatory, as though the cupbearer paid his debt to Joseph only reluctantly.6 While there is nothing in the text itself to suggest other than a simple factual statement, it is to be noted that the cupbearer actually stops short of recommending that Joseph be brought to Pharaoh.<\/p>\n
JOSEPH\u2019S DREAM INTERPRETATION (vv. 14\u201332)<\/p>\n
14. The six verbs indicate a series of actions performed in swift succession in the atmosphere of urgency and stress that is created when Pharaoh\u2019s wishes are to be satisfied.<\/p>\n
dungeon Hebrew bor. See Comment to 40:15. The term forges a connection with 37:20\u201329, for Joseph\u2019s misery began in a bor (\u201cpit\u201d) and ends when he is brought out of a bor (\u201cdungeon\u201d).<\/p>\n
his hair cut The Hebrew verb g-l-\u1e25, \u201cto shave,\u201d applies both to the head, as in Numbers 6:9, and to the face, as in Jeremiah 41:5. For hygienic reasons, Egyptian men generally shaved both areas.<\/p>\n
his clothes Clothing has been a constant factor in Joseph\u2019s misfortunes.7 This change of clothing has symbolic meaning as the process of his liberation now begins.<\/p>\n
15. no one can interpret See Comment to verse 8.<\/p>\n
you \u2026 Pharaoh believes Joseph is endowed with innate magical power.<\/p>\n
16. God will see to \u2026 The precise meaning of Hebrew ya\u02bfaneh shalom is unclear. If it is connected with the phrase sha\u02beal shalom (Pss. 122:6), \u201cto pray for the welfare of,\u201d then it implies, \u201cGod will respond [to me and grant] Pharaoh\u2019s welfare.\u201d It is not that Joseph knows the interpretation of the dreams in advance; rather, he is convinced that the sudden turn of events that has brought him from the dungeon into the presence of Pharaoh is providential for him. And he believes that he will receive a dream interpretation from God that will entirely satisfy Pharaoh.<\/p>\n
17\u201324. The recitation of the dreams to Joseph contains a number of expansions of and verbal variations from the original narration. This literary device is a recurring feature of repetitions in biblical discourse.<\/p>\n
19. never had I seen \u2026 This previously unstated personal observation points to the real meaning of the dream.<\/p>\n
21. This entire verse is not in the original narrative. Here, again, it directs attention to the key element (cf. v. 30f.).<\/p>\n
22. In my \u2026 dream Significantly, the phrase (v. 5) \u201ca second time\u201d is omitted, as though Pharaoh himself realizes that the two dreams are really one (cf. Comment to v. 7).<\/p>\n
24. none has an explanation Hebrew maggid, literally \u201ctold,\u201d a verb often used in connection with elucidation of what had been obscure.8 The phrase refers to what was related in verses 8 and 15.<\/p>\n
25. one and the same Both dreams, although separate and successive, form part of a single whole and give expression to the identical phenomenon.<\/p>\n
has told Hebrew higgid, that is, \u201chas disclosed\u201d (see vv. 24, 28).<\/p>\n
27. famine Pharaoh elaborated upon the negative aspects of his dreams (vv. 19, 21) emphasizing the elements that had deeply disturbed him. Joseph, therefore, mentions the famine first, inverting the order of the dream phenomena. In this way, the narrative indicates that it is the famine that causes Joseph\u2019s emancipation and elevation to high office and brings his brothers down to Egypt. It is these events that are the ultimate points of interest in the story.9<\/p>\n
28. just as I have told Compare verses 16 and 25.<\/p>\n
revealed Hebrew her\u02beah expresses the language of vision\u2014that is, of visual imagery\u2014as distinct from verbal articulation.<\/p>\n
31. no trace Hebrew ve-lo\u02be yivvada\u02bf, literally \u201cit will not be known,\u201d echoes and interprets verse 21 (cf. ve-lo\u02be noda\u02bf). The reserves of food set aside for the famine will be completely used up.<\/p>\n
32. the same dream twice See Comment to 37:9.<\/p>\n
determined Hebrew nakhon, a word borrowed from Israelite legal terminology, meaning it is established beyond the shadow of a doubt.10<\/p>\n
soon The seven-year cycle begins at once.<\/p>\n
JOSEPH\u2019S ADVICE (vv. 33\u201336)<\/p>\n
Emboldened, perhaps by some silent gesture of satisfaction on the part of Pharaoh, and desirous of imparting a sense of urgency, Joseph seizes the opportunity to offer unsolicited advice, the tenor of which is concern for the welfare of the people. He suggests that three measures be taken to avert the dreaded menace of famine: the selection of a national commissioner, the appointment of regional overseers, and the institution of urban grain storage.<\/p>\n
33. Accordingly Hebrew ve-\u02bfatah frequently introduces a new episode or development.11 Joseph presents his advice not as part of the dream message but as a personal suggestion.<\/p>\n
34. let Pharaoh Joseph is extremely tactful and cautious. He does not wish to raise any suspicion that he is suggesting the creation of a new, and possibly threatening, focus of ruling power. The repeated emphasis on \u201cPharaoh,\u201d in fact, accords with the ancient Egyptian concept of government, which stressed the ubiquitous, omniscient, and omnipotent nature of the king.<\/p>\n
take steps Hebrew ya\u02bfaseh. Joseph deliberately uses the same verbal stem he has used three times before in connection with the impending divine action (vv. 25, 28, 32), as though to imply that Pharaoh is the human counterpart of God.<\/p>\n
and organize Hebrew \u1e25immesh. This rendering connects the word with \u1e25amush, \u201carmed, equipped, prepared.\u201d An alternative interpretation understands it to be derived from \u1e25amesh, \u201cfive\u201d; that is, the populace is to give a fifth part of the produce to the crown for storage purposes. Support for this view may be found in the analogous shillesh, \u201cto divide into three\u201d; shishsheh, \u201cto set aside a sixth part\u201d; \u02bfisser, \u201cto give\/take a tithe.\u201d It is to be noted that Joseph later institutes a permanent tax of one-fifth on all produce (47:24, 26) and that the number \u201cfive\u201d recurs many times in the Joseph story.12<\/p>\n
35. Joseph sensibly suggests the stockpiling of grain in the plentiful years against the forthcoming years of famine.<\/p>\n
JOSEPH\u2019S APPOINTMENT AS VIZIER (vv. 37\u201346)<\/p>\n
37. Pharaoh and his courtiers recognize at once that Joseph\u2019s interpretation of the dreams is correct and his advice sound. They are impressed by his perception that the two dreams are actually one, by his relating them to national affairs rather than to the king\u2019s personal interests, and by the social concern that he displays in his advice. Not content just to predict disaster, Joseph immediately suggests measures to alleviate the lot of the Egyptian people.<\/p>\n
38. Could we find Pharaoh\u2019s question to his courtiers is rhetorical. He knows at once what he must do. Although they had shown their pleasure at Joseph\u2019s interpretation and advice, the courtiers now make no comment. Perhaps they expected the new appointee to be one of themselves and are disappointed.<\/p>\n
in whom is the spirit of God This is the first biblical mention of one so endowed. In Exodus 31:3 and 35:31, Bezalel is described as another who is endowed with God\u2019s spirit and therefore has \u201cskill, ability and knowledge.\u201d Belshazzar similarly describes Daniel: \u201cI have heard about you that you have the spirit of the gods in you, and that illumination, knowledge, and extraordinary wisdom are to be found in you\u201d (Dan. 5:14). Generally, possession of the \u201cspirit of God\u201d impels one to undertake a mission (Num. 27:18), imparts extraordinary energy and drive (Judg. 3:10; 11:29), and produces uncommon intelligence and practical wisdom.<\/p>\n
39. discerning and wise Pharaoh repeats Joseph\u2019s own words (v. 33).<\/p>\n
40. in charge of my court This function probably refers to the position of \u201cOverseer of the Domain of the Palace,\u201d one of the known Egyptian bureaucratic titles. Most likely, Joseph is given control over the king\u2019s personal estates. A similar title was later employed in the kingdoms of Judah and Israel.13<\/p>\n
by your command \u2026 directed Hebrew ve-\u02bfal pikha yishshak kol \u02bfammi may be rendered literally, \u201con your mouth shall all my people kiss,\u201d perhaps a figurative expression for paying homage. However, none of the ancient versions understood it in this way. The first two words undoubtedly mean \u201cby your order,\u201d as in Genesis 45:21 and Exodus 17:1. Yishshak has been connected with n-sh-k, \u201cto be armed, equipped,\u201d that is, \u201cprovisioned.\u201d14 The context requires a meaning \u201cconduct themselves, be directed.\u201d<\/p>\n
41. Pharaoh further said In contrast to his previous loquacity, Joseph does not utter a word in response to Pharaoh\u2019s announcement. The threefold repetition of the phrase \u201cPharaoh said to Joseph,\u201d in verses 39, 41, and 44, probably indicates that the king pauses after each statement to ascertain the young man\u2019s reaction and then reiterates his decision in order to reassure the dumbstruck Joseph that he really means what he says.<\/p>\n
in charge of all the land The function reflects the Egyptian title \u201cChief of the Entire Land.\u201d<\/p>\n
42. Pharaoh now performs a series of ceremonial acts that, in effect, constitute Joseph\u2019s investiture as \u201cGrand Vizier of Egypt.\u201d<\/p>\n
signet ring Hebrew tabba\u02bfat derives from Egyptian \u01e7b\u02be.t, attested in Egyptian Old Kingdom texts (29th\u201323rd cent. B.C.E.). The transfer of the ring bearing the royal seal from the finger of Pharaoh to that of Joseph signifies the delegation of authority; it enables the new official to validate documents in the king\u2019s name.15 The title \u201cRoyal Seal-Bearer\u201d was well known in the Egyptian bureaucracy.<\/p>\n
fine linen Hebrew shesh is a loan word from Egyptian \u0161\u015b, \u201cbyssus,\u201d used for cloth of exceptional quality. The same material was used in Israel for the Tabernacle furnishings and the priestly vestments. In later Hebrew, shesh was replaced by buts, the term current in the Mesopotamian-Syrian area.
\nJoseph\u2019s new robes bring to mind the passage in the autobiography of Rekh-mi-Re, vizier of Upper Egypt in the days of Thutmose III (15th cent. B.C.E.), where he describes how he \u201cwent forth \u2026 clad in fine linen.\u201d16<\/p>\n
a gold chain This, too, is a well-known Egyptian symbol; the giving of a gold chain was one of the highest distinctions the king could bestow upon his favorites. The three items mentioned here in the investiture ceremony, as well as the one in verse 43, all appear in the report of the seventh-century B.C.E. Assyrian conqueror Ashurbanipal concerning his campaign against Egypt. Describing his installation of Necho as pharaoh, which was performed according to Egyptian custom, Ashurbanipal says that he clad Necho in a garment with multicolored trimmings, placed a golden chain around his neck, put golden rings on his hands, and presented him with chariots.<\/p>\n
43. chariot This is the first reference to a chariot in the Bible. The horse is not mentioned here, but there is little doubt that the horse-drawn chariot is intended, for the ass was not used in Egypt as a draft animal. The Hyksos invasion of Egypt in the eighteenth century B.C.E. first introduced the chariot to that country as an instrument of warfare. The narrative here implies the use of the chariot as a status symbol, as in 2 Samuel 15:1.<\/p>\n
second-in-command This meaning of Hebrew mishneh is established by such texts as 1 Samuel 23:17, 2 Kings 23:4 and 2 Chronicles 28:7; it is so understood by Rashbam, Radak, and Ramban. It would thus be a title corresponding to the Akkadian terdennu (= tartan, Isa. 20:1) and equivalent to viceroy. The ancient versions, such as the Septuagint, Vulgate, and Targums, applied mishneh to the chariot and took it to mean \u201chis second one,\u201d in accordance with the use of mishneh as \u201cdouble\u201d in Genesis 43:12 and Exodus 16:22 and \u201ccopy\u201d in Deuteronomy 17:18 and Joshua 8:32. A similar phrase in 2 Chronicles 35:24, rekhev ha-mishneh, is itself ambiguous in its context.<\/p>\n
they cried before him The practice of having heralds declaim in front of the chariot rider is recorded in Esther 6:9. It seems to have been customary to have runners preceding the chariot of a dignitary in the early days of the Israelite monarchy, as is evidenced by 2 Samuel 15:1 and 1 Kings 1:5.<\/p>\n
Abrek! An exclamation found nowhere else. Its meaning was already lost by rabbinic times. A fanciful interpretation, ab rek (= rex), \u201cfather of the king\u201d (cf. Gen. 45:8), is found in the Targums (cf. BB 4a) and is reflected in the Peshitta, \u201cfather and ruler.\u201d Medieval Jewish commentators took the term to be a verb formed from the noun berekh, \u201cknee,\u201d meaning \u201cbend the knee!\u201d17 In Akkadian, abarakku is the term for a steward of the temple and the chief steward of a private or royal household. The word may well be Egyptian, and \u02beb-r.k, meaning \u201cattention!\u201d, has been suggested.<\/p>\n
44. I am Pharaoh That is, I speak with the full authority of my royal office. See Comment to 15:7.<\/p>\n
lift up hand or foot A figure of speech meaning \u201cno action shall be taken.\u201d<\/p>\n
45. The change of name signifies a new identity and a fresh start in life. See Comment to 17:5. In the case of Joseph, additional factors are involved. The king may have wanted to \u201cEgyptianize\u201d Joseph. An analogy exists in the case of another foreigner, Ben Ozen, who rose to high office at the court of Merneptah (ca. 1224\u20131214 B.C.E.) and was given two Egyptian names by his royal master. The general tendency of foreigners to acculturate in Egypt is well documented. Hyksos rulers adopted Egyptian names, and an eighteenth-century B.C.E. inventory of servants on an estate (see Comment to 39:2) shows that most of the children of the Asians bore local names.
\nThe changing of Joseph\u2019s name is also connected with the key role that his elevation plays within the larger story. For the prophecy of Genesis 15:13f. to be fulfilled and the Exodus accomplished, the Israelites must settle in Egypt. The descent of Joseph\u2019s brothers is the indispensable means to this end, and the external Egyptianization of Joseph is pivotal, for his brothers must not recognize him.<\/p>\n
Zaphenath-paneah Traditional exegesis connects the name with Joseph\u2019s penchant for interpreting dreams, seeing in the first element a derivation from the Hebrew stem ts-f-n, \u201cto hide,\u201d and rendering the second, contextually, \u201celucidate.\u201d The name would thus mean \u201crevealer of hidden things.\u201d18 However, an Egyptian origin is evident, and a widely held view regards it as the transcription of \u1e0fd-p\u02be, -n\u1e6fr-\u02beiw.f-\u02bfn\u1e2b, \u201cGod speaks; he lives.\u201d The Septuagint transcribed it psonthomphanech, which seems to represent the Late Egyptian word psontenpa\u02bfan\u1e2b, which means, \u201cthe creator\/sustainer of life.\u201d This latter interpretation has the advantage of being appropriate to Joseph\u2019s mission as vizier.<\/p>\n
Asenath The form of the name is Hebraic.19 Its origin is Egyptian \u02belw.s-(n)-Nt, meaning \u201cshe who belongs to (the goddess) Neith.\u201d<\/p>\n
Poti-phera For this name, see Comment to 37:36.<\/p>\n
priest of On This city, situated 7 miles northeast of modern Cairo, was the great cultic center of the sun-god Re, called Bet Shemesh in Hebrew (Jer. 43:13) and Heliopolis in Greek. On is derived from Egyptian iwnw, which means \u201ca column.\u201d The name reflects the city\u2019s most outstanding architectural features, which were columns and colonnades. The high priest at On20 held the exalted title \u201cGreatest of Seers.\u201d Joseph thus marries into the elite of Egyptian nobility.<\/p>\n
emerged in charge of Literally, \u201cwent out over.\u201d The precise meaning of the Hebrew is unclear. The present rendering is supported by the force of the preposition \u02bfal in verses 40, 41, and 43, and was so understood by the Targums and by Saadiah. The clause should probably be understood as short for \u201che left Pharaoh\u2019s presence to be in charge of the land of Egypt.\u201d<\/p>\n
46. Joseph \u2026 king of Egypt This parenthetic note, giving Joseph\u2019s age as thirty at the time his sufferings finally ended, corresponds to the recording of his age as seventeen when they began (37:2). This provides a chronological framework for the narrative.<\/p>\n
entered the service of This is the force of the Hebrew expression \u02bfamad lifnei, literally \u201cstood before.\u201d21<\/p>\n
traveled \u2026 Egypt Joseph loses no time in familiarizing himself with local conditions preparatory to his main task of enabling the Egyptians to survive the expected famine.
\nThe elevation of Joseph by the king raises the question of whether a foreigner could really have risen to such high office in the Egyptian government. The cases of the Semitic nomad Yan\u1e2bamu, who became Egyptian commissioner for Canaan and Syria in the days of Akhnaton (ca. 1370\u20131353 B.C.E.), and of Ben Ozen, who came from a place situated east of Lake Tiberias and rose to become the royal herald, or marshal, at the court of Merneptah (ca. 1224\u20131214 B.C.E.) indicate that such elevation of foreigners was indeed possible. In fact, a brother of the same Merneptah was given in marriage by his father Ramses II (ca. 1290\u20131224 B.C.E.) to the daughter of a Syrian sea captain named Ben-Anath. Thus it was not at all extraordinary for foreigners, and Semites in particular, to be welcomed by the court and to rise to positions of responsibility and power in the government of Egypt.<\/p>\n
THE SEVEN YEARS OF PLENTY (vv. 47\u201349)<\/p>\n
47. in abundance Hebrew li-kematsim. The singular komets means \u201ca handful\u201d (Lev. 2:2). It is assumed that \u201cby handfuls\u201d means \u201cbumper crops.\u201d Another tradition takes the kematsim to mean \u201cstorage pits for grain.\u201d22<\/p>\n
48\u201349. From Joseph\u2019s activities it is clear that he holds the well-known Egyptian office of \u201cOverseer of the Granaries of Upper and Lower Egypt,\u201d whose duties were responsibility for the collection of tax payments on field produce (cf. Gen. 47:24), the storage of an adequate supply of food in years of plenty, and the distribution of food during years of famine.
\nIt was a strange quirk of fate that the shepherd boy should have become, in effect, \u201cMinister of Agriculture.\u201d Joseph\u2019s first dream, described in Genesis 37:7, perhaps contained a hint of his future vocation.<\/p>\n
JOSEPH\u2019S TWO SONS (vv. 50\u201352)<\/p>\n
50. years Literally, \u201cyear of famine.\u201d The use of the singular may imply that the sons were born either before the first year of the famine or before the year when its effect first becomes severe\u2014that is, toward the end of the second year of famine, when the migration of Jacob and his family took place. The information is inserted here in order to anticipate and explain the incident in 48:5f.<\/p>\n
became the father of The use of the singular form of the Hebrew verb yullad here and in 46:27 may indicate that the boys were twins, but the same use is found in 35:26, which defies such an explanation.<\/p>\n
whom Asenath \u2026 bore Joseph seems to have remained monogamous.<\/p>\n
51. Manasseh The primary meaning of the name is \u201che who causes to forget.\u201d Such a name would most likely be given to a child born after some misfortune, such as the death of an earlier child or of the father. Joseph here adapts the name to his own situation.23<\/p>\n
meaning Hebrew ki, \u201cbecause.\u201d See Comment to 4:25.<\/p>\n
my hardship and my parental home Since the second son is named in reference to Joseph\u2019s sufferings in Egypt (v. 52), this must refer wholly to his previous experiences in Canaan. Hence, it is best, with Saadiah and Ibn Jana\u1e25, to take the clauses as an instance of hendiadys, a single idea being expressed by two terms. The combination, in effect, means \u201cmy suffering in my parental home.\u201d
\nWith the birth of an heir, Joseph now has founded his own nuclear family. He has achieved physical, social, and psychological security and feels he can forget his miserably unhappy youth or at least not allow it to intrude upon his future.<\/p>\n
52. Ephraim The name originally must have meant either \u201cfertile land,\u201d from the stem p-r-h, or \u201cpastureland,\u201d from \u02beafar, preserved in postbiblical Hebrew.24 Either etymology would aptly describe the future territory of the tribe bearing this name, which was located west of the Jordan in the central region. It was blessed with good soil and rainfall.<\/p>\n
made me fertile Hebrew hifrani, an obvious word play on Ephraim (cf. Hos. 13:12, 15). All biblical Hifil forms of the stem p-r-h refer to the blessing of abundant posterity.25 However, it is curious that such language should be used here after the birth of only the second child. There may be a hint here of the later history of the tribe: Moses bestows upon Joseph a fertility blessing in his farewell address in Deuteronomy 33:13\u201317, and he explicitly refers to \u201cthe myriads of Ephraim\u201d and \u201cthe thousands of Manasseh.\u201d<\/p>\n
my affliction That is, where I spent thirteen years in captivity. The same Hebrew word \u02bfoni is often used of the later Israelite bondage in Egypt,26 and is most likely an intended allusion here to the larger purposes of the Joseph story and to its role in the divine plan of history. This would explain the antithetical usage of \u201caffliction\u201d and \u201cfertility,\u201d even though they do not form natural antonyms.<\/p>\n
THE ONSET OF FAMINE (vv. 53\u201357)<\/p>\n
Lower Egypt, the northern area of the country, is virtually rainless. Its entire economy, of which agriculture was the core in ancient times, has always depended upon the Nile floods caused by the river\u2019s periodic rise during three summer months. The swelling of the river results from the torrential rains in the Upper Nile Basin being carried down to the Delta by the Blue Nile. In ancient times an elaborate series of artificially constructed irrigation works controlled the distribution and utilization of the flood waters. The measurements of the maximum levels of inundation, as recorded by the Nilometers placed at strategic points along the river, were noted in the royal annals.
\nNormally, the floods come with remarkable regularity. But there are years when the rainfall in the southern Sudan provides an insufficient volume of water. A shortfall of only a few inches could deny irrigation to the arid areas of the north, deprive the arable land of its productivity, and bring famine to the inhabitants of Egypt.
\nThe biblical story presupposes a succession of such low annual rises. This phenomenon and the motif of seven-year famines are well documented in Egyptian and other Near Eastern texts. Several pertinent inscriptions, dating from the First Intermediate Period in Egyptian history (ca. 2250\u20132000 B.C.E.), have been discovered. Iti, the treasurer of the town of Imyotru, boasted that he supplied his fellow citizens with barley in years of famine and helped other towns as well. The steward Seneni of Coptus reported in his stela, or inscribed commemorative stone pillar, that \u201cin the painful years of distress\u201d he had rationed out barley to his town. Ankhtify, \u201cthe great chieftain of Nekhen,\u201d recorded a seven-year famine in which the entire south of Egypt is said to have died of hunger and people devoured their own children. He took pride in having foreseen the event, caused by a low Nile, and in having been able to rush grain and grant loans of corn to various towns in order to alleviate the situation. Another famine inscription from this period comes from Ameny, a chief in the days of Senwosre I (ca. 1971\u20131928 B.C.E.), who recalled that in years of famine he had supplied wheat and barley to the people so that no one went hungry \u201cuntil the great Nile had returned.\u201d The most celebrated report of all is a late Ptolemaic inscription purporting to derive from King Djoser (ca. 28th cent. B.C.E.). A great misfortune had befallen the country: the Nile had not inundated the land for seven years. Grain was scarce, seeds had dried up, and all food was in short supply.
\nThe motif of a seven-year famine is present even in fertile Mesopotamia. In the Gilgamesh Epic (6.102\u2013106), the sky-god Anu threatens that \u201cseven years of empty husks\u201d could occur. From the Syro-Canaanite area comes the Ugaritic Epic of Aqht, which mentions the seven-year failure of Baal, the god of rain and thunder (1 Aqht 1.42\u201346). In addition, a copy of a mid-eighth century B.C.E. political treaty from the town of Sfire, about 16 miles (25.6 km.) southeast of Aleppo, has survived; among the curses to be imposed for a breach of its stipulations it includes seven years of famine. Finally, the same motif is found in Israel where the prophet Gad presents David with a choice of punishments, among them seven years of famine, as related in 2 Samuel 24:13. All this demonstrates the existence of a widespread Near Eastern literary convention defining severe famine in terms of a seven-year duration.<\/p>\n
54. in all lands The phenomenon is emphasized three times in this brief section because it is to be the essential factor causing the descent of Joseph\u2019s brothers to Egypt. In actuality, of course, there could not be any natural connection between the famine in Egypt and that in neighboring countries since the two had entirely unrelated causes (cf. Zech. 14:17f.). The situation in Canaan resulted from a prolonged lack of rainfall that had nothing to do with the failure of the Nile to rise.<\/p>\n
55. This verse, too, anticipates the next episode. It explains why the brothers have to appear in person before Joseph (cf. v. 57).<\/p>\n
56. For the sake of clarity and continuity with verse 55, the English has inverted the order of the clauses.<\/p>\n
within Hebrew bahem, literally \u201cin them,\u201d has no antecedent. The ancient versions variously rendered \u201call the granaries\u201d (Septuagint, Vulg., Pesh.), \u201call the granaries in which was grain\u201d (Targs.), and \u201ceverything in which was grain\u201d (Sam.). These either reflect a different text or are attempts to interpret the difficult Hebrew.<\/p>\n
rationed out grain See Comment to 42:1.<\/p>\n
over the whole world Literally, \u201cover all the face of the land,\u201d an inversion of the usual word order.27<\/p>\n
CHAPTER 42<\/p>\n
Joseph and His Brothers-Once Again (42:1\u201343:34)<\/p>\n
Just when Joseph has reached a point in his life where he prefers not to be reminded of his past, he is forced to confront it by the rush of events. Once again he finds himself face to face with his brothers. On the previous, disastrous occasion, Joseph had been sent by his father to them; now it is they whom Jacob sends, unknowingly, to Joseph. Then Joseph had been at the mercy of his brothers; now he is master of the situation, and they come as suppliants.<\/p>\n
THE BROTHERS\u2019 JOURNEY TO EGYPT (vv. 1\u20135)<\/p>\n
1. saw He observed his countrymen returning from Egypt laden with supplies.1<\/p>\n
there were food rations Hebrew yesh shever. The term shever, \u201crations,\u201d and its verbal forms, as in 41:57 and 42:6, derive from a stem meaning \u201cto break,\u201d namely, \u201chunger\/thirst,\u201d2 and are mainly used in emergency situations.<\/p>\n
looking at one another Inactive and helpless. The Hebrew Hitpael verbal form is taken to express reciprocal action. Elsewhere, this form of the verb r-\u02be-h is always followed by panim, \u201cface,\u201d in the sense of \u201cto meet in combat.\u201d Since the Hitpael conjugation frequently expresses affectation,3 the phrase may be rendered, \u201cWhy do you make an outward show\u201d of being well supplied?<\/p>\n
2. When the narrative spotlight last shone on Jacob, we witnessed a pitiable spectacle of an inconsolable father mourning his lost son. Now, after an interval of over twenty years, the old patriarch is once again the man of action, exercising authority and initiative in a critical situation.<\/p>\n
3. ten of Joseph\u2019s brothers Not \u201cJoseph\u2019s ten brothers,\u201d because there were eleven in all. The rations in Egypt must have been available on a limited per capita basis, so that the presence and services of all ten were needed to purchase and transport sufficient supplies for their large households (cf. Gen. 46:7\u201327). Reasons of security may also have dictated the need to travel as a convoy on the journey, which lasted a week each way.
\nThe descriptive \u201cbrothers of Joseph\u201d (so v. 6) in place of the expected \u201csons of Jacob\u201d is a subtle anticipation by the Narrator of the ensuing encounter.<\/p>\n
went down Underlying the phrase (Heb. va-yerdu) is a possible allusion to the reversal of fortunes that has taken place since Joseph was \u201cbrought down\u201d (Heb. hurad) to Egypt (Gen. 39:1).<\/p>\n
4. Joseph\u2019s brother Benjamin The description explains the special status of Benjamin, who has replaced Joseph as his father\u2019s favorite (Gen. 44:20). At the same time, the reader is reminded that the two were full brothers, a fact that will be significant in subsequent developments.<\/p>\n
might meet with disaster Benjamin\u2019s mother, Rachel, and his brother have both met with misfortune in the course of a journey.4<\/p>\n
5. the sons of Israel The change in designation (Heb. benei yisra\u02beel) is significant\u2014an intimation that the journey to Egypt has national import. The brothers come as a unit, as a nation in embryo.<\/p>\n
among those who came Just one among many such groups who came from neighboring countries5\u2014yet they alone attract attention.<\/p>\n
THE FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH JOSEPH (VV. 6\u201317)<\/p>\n
6. vizier This title of Joseph, in addition to \u201cseller of corn,\u201d explains in what capacity he interrogated and accused the brothers. A man who was solely the dispenser of rations would not normally be concerned with matters of state security.
\nThe Hebrew term shallit, \u201cvizier,\u201d is otherwise only found in postexilic Hebrew texts. Nevertheless, it is of interest that the Hyksos founder of the Fifteenth Dynasty in Egypt was King Salitis, a name that seems to reflect the same word. Furthermore, \u0161al\u1e6dum and \u0161\u0101li\u1e6dum appear in Old Assyrian documents.<\/p>\n
bowed low Joseph\u2019s boyhood dreams (Gen. 37:7, 9f.) are being fulfilled.<\/p>\n
7. acted like a stranger Hebrew va-yitnakker, from nokhri, \u201cstranger.\u201d It may also be rendered, \u201che hid his identity from them.\u201d6 The Hebrew not only contains an internal play on words\u2014va-yitnakker\u2014va-yakkirem (\u201che recognized them\u201d)\u2014but also is perhaps playfully allusive to Genesis 37:18\u2014va-yitnakklu, \u201cthey conspired.\u201d Joseph now schemes against the erstwhile schemers.<\/p>\n
to procure food To each question the brothers respond with unsolicited information.<\/p>\n
8. Joseph recognized The repetition of this fact is simply due to the stylistic need for an equipoise to the new fact, \u201cthey did not recognize him.\u201d7<\/p>\n
they did not recognize him Not surprisingly, for since their last meeting over twenty years ago, Joseph has developed from boyhood into mature manhood. In addition, his language, his dress, and even his name have all become Egyptianized.<\/p>\n
9. Recalling the dreams The sight of his brothers prostrating themselves before him suddenly reminds Joseph of those long-forgotten dreams, and he realizes for the first time that they had actually presaged his future. Yet he cannot help but recall as well the hatreds they had engendered. He must have heard his brothers mention those dreams derisively as they threw him into the pit.8
\nJoseph now finds himself caught in a maelstrom of conflicting emotions. His sense of contentment is shaken by his unpleasant memories. The instinctive desire for revenge is tempered by the knowledge that his father and brother back in Canaan may be starving and are depending on the acquisition of provisions in Egypt. He is desperate for news of their welfare but dares not give himself away by overly anxious inquiry. Above all, he feels he must find out conclusively whether or not his brothers regret their actions and have truly reformed themselves. He decides upon a series of tests.<\/p>\n
You are spies They were foreigners and had entered Egypt from the northeast. This was the land\u2019s most vulnerable border. Incursions into Egypt by Asians coming via \u201cthe Way of Horus,\u201d the military highway from Canaan that led through Gaza to El-\u02bfArish, were a recurrent phenomenon. Frontier guards would routinely check every traveler, for the discovery of spies might herald an imminent attack.9 Thus an allegation of espionage provided a convenient pretext under which Joseph could have the brothers arrested and subjected to psychological pressure.<\/p>\n
the land in its nakedness Hebrew \u02bfervat ha-\u02bearets has its analogy in Isaiah 20:4, \u201cthe nakedness of Egypt,\u201d in the sense of \u201cthe shame of Egypt\u201d as a conquered state. Similarly, at the downfall of Jerusalem, peoples are said to \u201chave seen her disgraced\u201d (Lam. 1:8). Thus the figure here means to uncover any defects in its fortifications.<\/p>\n
10. Truly, your servants Hebrew va-\u02bfavadekha. The initial vav is here taken as having affirmative force. It could also be adversative: \u201cto the contrary.\u201d<\/p>\n
11. We are all of us \u2026 We are one family unit and would not jeopardize the lives of all of us by collectively engaging in such a dangerous occupation.10 This refutation of the accusation of espionage is felt to be so compelling as to warrant reiteration (v. 13).<\/p>\n
13. one is no more The phrasing may either reflect their uncertainty as to Joseph\u2019s fate or be a delicate way of saying that he was dead. Later on, Judah explicitly states the latter.11 Joseph does not pursue the point.<\/p>\n
14. Joseph peremptorily rejects their defense in a show of despotic arbitrariness. The burden of disproof is on the brothers.<\/p>\n
15\u201316. by Pharaoh Literally, \u201cthe life of Pharaoh.\u201d This phrase gives the following statement the character of an oath, validated and sanctioned by the awesome power of the king. An oath of this type is found in an Egyptian inscription as early as the twentieth century, B.C.E. In Israel, too, it was the practice to swear by the life of the king (cf. 1 Sam. 17:55; 2 Sam. 14:19) as well as by God (cf. 1 Sam. 25:26; 2 Sam. 15:21).<\/p>\n
16. This is the first of the tests Joseph imposes. How would they stand the strain of imprisonment? What rivalries would surface as a result of their awareness that only one would return to Canaan and that the fate of all others would depend on that one?<\/p>\n
17. guardhouse Hebrew mishmar (so v. 19), the same term as used previously for the place of Joseph\u2019s imprisonment. Its use hints at a sort of retributive justice.<\/p>\n
THE SECOND ENCOUNTER WITH JOSEPH (VV. 18\u201326)<\/p>\n
18. It is not clear whether Joseph originally intended only a three-day incarceration and made his threat (v. 15) in order to exert psychological pressure, or whether he now changes his mind. If the latter is the case, Joseph must have become conscious of the terrible suffering, perhaps fatal in its consequences, that he would be inflicting on his father by detaining nine of the brothers. Furthermore, how would the starving families back home obtain food?<\/p>\n
a God-fearing man Fearing God is the ultimate restraint on perfidy (see Comment to 20:11).<\/p>\n
20. that you may not die Joseph has forced the brothers into a position in which they have no choice but to bring Benjamin in order to avoid dying of hunger.<\/p>\n
And they did accordingly This editorial remark echoes verse 18, \u201cDo this.\u201d It means they agreed to the conditions.<\/p>\n
21. Alas Hebrew \u02beaval apparently has this meaning also in 2 Samuel 14:5 and 2 Kings 4:14. The Targums understood it as having asseverative force, \u201cassuredly.\u201d<\/p>\n
we are being punished Hebrew \u02beashem can mean both guilt and its consequent punishment (cf. Pss. 34:22), the two being inseparable in Israelite thought (see Comment to 4:13). In this moment of common adversity, their long-smoldering, tortured consciences erupt.<\/p>\n
anguish \u2026 distress Hebrew uses tsarah in both clauses, emphasizing again the aspect of retributive justice.<\/p>\n
22. Do no wrong An embellishment of Reuben\u2019s speech as reported in 37:22.<\/p>\n
the reckoning for his blood On this phrase, see Comment to 9:5. Reuben had warned his brothers (37:22), \u201cShed no blood!\u201d Apparently, he believes Joseph is dead (cf. 37:29\u201330).<\/p>\n
23. an interpreter This is the only instance in the patriarchal narratives when free and direct communication is impeded by differences in language.<\/p>\n
between him and them This is the force of Hebrew beinotam.12<\/p>\n
24. and wept Joseph is deeply affected by the genuineness of the contrition behind the exchange of words, but for the present he must hide his emotions and suppress his deep natural sympathy for his brothers.<\/p>\n
Simeon Having overheard that Reuben, the eldest, had tried to save his life, Joseph selects the next in seniority to be detained. Besides, Simeon had a reputation for cruelty13 and may well have been the one who actually led the others in persecuting Joseph.<\/p>\n
before their eyes To show that his threats were to be taken seriously and to test their solidarity.<\/p>\n
25. each one\u2019s money Hebrew kaspeihem. This plural form of kesef, \u201cmoney,\u201d used also in verse 35 and employed nowhere else in biblical Hebrew, indicates the several individual bags of money. Did Joseph mean to test their integrity or intensify the psychological pressure? His motivation here is unclear.<\/p>\n
THE RETURN TO CANAAN (vv. 27\u201338)<\/p>\n
27. one of them The use of the definite article in Hebrew (ha-\u02bee\u1e25ad) led the midrash to identify him with Levi, the next in seniority after Simeon.14<\/p>\n
night encampment Pastoral nomads did not stay in inns but in crude tent encampments.15<\/p>\n
bug Hebrew \u02beamta\u1e25at is employed fifteen times in this story but never elsewhere in the Bible. On the basis of Assyrian mat\u0103\u1e25u, \u201cto bear, carry, lift up,\u201d it must mean \u201ca pack,\u201d and it was so understood by the Targums. It is thus to be distinguished from \u201ca sack.\u201d It should be noted that befi, \u201cat the mouth of,\u201d is used only with \u02beamta\u1e25at, never with \u201csack,\u201d and that the latter term appears only in the narrative framework, never in reported speech, which is concerned with the actual discovery of the money.16 It must be assumed, then, that the \u201cpack\u201d (\u02beamta\u1e25at) was inside a sack.<\/p>\n
28. The unexpected find engenders a sense of foreboding. They know they must return to Egypt, both to secure further supplies and to obtain the release of their imprisoned brother.<\/p>\n
What is this \u2026 Conveys the sense of being completely at the mercy of fate.<\/p>\n
29\u201330. The brothers report to their father with an economy of information, narrating only what is necessary to explain Simeon\u2019s absence and to stress the importance of sending Benjamin next time. They say nothing of the three days in detention, of the shackling of Simeon \u201cbefore their eyes,\u201d or of finding the money.<\/p>\n
33. and take \u2026 households Literally, \u201cand take the starvation of your households.\u201d All the ancient versions render the Hebrew as though a word has dropped out of the text.17<\/p>\n
34. free to move about Or, \u201cto trade in \u2026\u201d; for Hebrew stem s-\u1e25-r, see Comment to 34:10.<\/p>\n
35. It is obvious that all the brothers must have dipped into their packs for food or fodder in the course of their six-day (or so) return journey. Therefore, each must have discovered his money long before reaching Canaan. As a matter of fact, that is what they tell Joseph on the next trip (43:21). We must assume, therefore, that they had prearranged to tell their father nothing of this and to stage the \u201cdiscovery\u201d in his presence.<\/p>\n
saw \u2026 dismayed The Hebrew contains a word play (va-yir\u02beu-va-yira\u02beu).18<\/p>\n
36. It is always me that you bereave The translation is determined by the emphatic position of the accusative particle ahead of the verb. The sense is: \u201cIt is I who suffer; it is my sons who disappear!\u201d<\/p>\n
37. Reuben He assumes leadership for the last time.<\/p>\n
my two sons Since, according to 46:9, Reuben had four sons, the text probably means \u201ctwo of my sons.\u201d19<\/p>\n
38. My son This formulation, instead of \u201cyour brother,\u201d may well imply a rebuke, in that it echoes what the brothers said when they had Joseph\u2019s tunic sent to their father: \u201cIs it your son\u2019s tunic?\u201d (37:32).<\/p>\n
is left That is, from his mother.<\/p>\n
disaster on the journey Father and sons seem to be worried about different things. That is why Reuben\u2019s self-confidence leaves Jacob unimpressed. Deeply concerned about the perils of the journey, the worried father does not see that Reuben is trying to assure him of an ultimate positive outcome\u2014that the viceroy of Egypt will keep his promise.<\/p>\n