Notes on the text of the book of Genesis : with an appendix online

the \>'^^r\'0.

^^2^ ^^ ^V' On ^:3""iy in a temporal sentence, cf. Dav.,
S., § 145 f.; Ges., § 155. 2 c; 26, 13 ha ^D ny; 41, 49 "^ ^V
ijin; 2 Sam. 23, 10 IT nyr ""D ny; and ib^k ly in 27, 44.

D^^>^ nnp^ IT'V nnip^ with the dag. forte dirimens;
see Ges., § 20. 2 b; Dav., § 7, 4. note; Stade, § 138 a;
so ^?^y, ver. 17; ^33y, Deut. 32, 32; Vnh^i^, Is. 5, 28;
i'nr'i?f'n, Is. 57, 6.

nnp*^ . The meaning ' obedience', which is also adopted
by Onq. (see above), agrees with Prov. 30, 17 (where it also
has dag. dirimens), the only other passage where the word
occurs, and is corroborated by the Arabic DJ ^to obey' The
A.V. iQndtvs,' ga(he?'ifig of the people' (but K.Y.' obedie?ice'), fol-
lowing Aq. {avaTrjfjLo), Tanchuma (9th cent.), and Rashi (D''l?yi^



384 GENESIS,



nS''pS). The Sam. Vers., Heb.-Sam., and Saadiah render nnp''
similarly, possibly connecting the word with niip3 , njpp.

II. H'VV ]0A ''^ID^^. nox, the construct state with the
binding vowel '^^, so ''23; cf. 31, 39 and the note on that
passage. On the cstr. state before a prep., see note on
24, 21 ; so (with the archaic connecting vowel ''-;-) Is. 22, 16
V^Dn ^piph; Obad. 3 vV\i.2nn ^:±;; Mic. 7, 14 ^7?i) ••jsb^;
Ps. 123, I D^gK^? "^^'^n.

ni*^y. On the archaic orthography n (for i), see the note
on 9, 21. rii>V is for h'T'J; (the abs. state is "^'.V); cf. n% Sr\%
W, and i'\^ ; so Tiy in Is. 10, 17 makes ^n^^, not in''K^; see
Stade, § 100; Ewald, § 255 b, who also cites ^t^^"^, Deut. 25, 4,
as though from K^^ ; but itJ'"'! may be inf. cstr. of ^^'^. . Onq.
and the Sam. Vers, and Heb.-Sam. take 1"\''y as = '^z> a'/yf

rTp"^\2). 'T/ie sorek vine' so called from the red colour
(i^LL) of the grapes. Both the grapes and the wine were of
a specially choice kind. In the territory of Judah the vine
flourished; cf Joel i, 7 flf. 4, 18. 2 Chron. 26, 10, and Num.
13, 23 f, where the vineyards near Hebron, and Song of
Songs I, 14, where those of En-gedi, are mentioned.

DID. Cf. the use of }*nn in Job 29, 6. Di. considers
this a continuation of the part, nox ; cf. Ges., § 116. 5. Rem.
7; Driver, § 117. In this construction the second verb is
usually connected with the part, by waw conv., or simple
waw and the perfect, the perfect being separated from the
waw by some word or words : cf. ver. 1 7 7a''1 ♦ ♦ . ^K^Jn. It
seems more natural to disconnect DD3 and ''^D^ to S.'

which would express the meaning ' ifi the direction of^ more

clearly than py. According to Jos. (Ant.,\. i. 22 ; Bel.fud.,

iii. 3. i) Zebulun inhabited the district from the lake of

Gennesareth to Mount Carmel on the Mediterranean, and

in support of this Tuch compares Josh. 19, 11 with Matt.

4, 13. Di. also conjectures that as the boundary between

Asher and Zebulun in Josh. 19, 14 f. is not very clearly

defined, it is not impossible that Zebulun might have possessed

a strip of land, bordering on the Mediterranean Sea.

n''^^^ ^Tv7 t^ini. On the rendering 'he himself see
Ewald, § 314 b (Nini added in a new proposition, with special
force, as the subject). Cf. 2 Sam. 17, 10, where further
emphasis is produced by the addition of DJ.
14, 15. 'Issachar is a strong ass,

Lying dowfi between the sheep folds :

And he saw a restifig-place, that it was good^



CHAP. 49, VERS. T3-I5. 387

Atid the landi that it was pleasant ;

So he bowed his hack to bear,

A fid became a servant in bondage!

14. "CTS^ "^t^n, lit. ^ an ass of bone ^ i.e. a strongly built,
powerful ass ; so Aq. 6Vos oa-rcoS?;? , Vulg. ' asinus fortis! The
Sam. Vers, has ^/TrSA"?A, reading D''"}?. {^sojourners'^, which
Geiger defends as the correct reading {Urschrift, p. 360),
Issachar being ^ a7i ass of strangers I i.e. bearing the burdens
of strangers, and subject to them. But Del.^ points out that
this rendering destroys the force of the figurative expression
"iDn, and some other word, such as D"'"»T or On^i, would be
expected rather than D^12. The Heb.-Sam. has Onj, which
Tuch punctuates 0^2,= the Arab. !.)^.^ 'bony! The LXX
have TO KoKov ineOvfxT^aev, which presupposcs some such read-
ing as D12 "nm (Geiger) ; see Ps. 119, 20, LXX.

D"^nDU?tDn. This word is only found once again, Judg.
5, 16, though we find D^JnSK' in Ps. 68, 14 = ' sheepf olds.'
D^nasJ'D is probably from n^^ = 'to^x.' Ewald, § 180 a,
explains the word as = ' dotibte pen,' with reference to the
cattle being usually separated into two portions in the pen ;
while Stade, § 340 b, classes the word with those that denote
' instruments or other things consisting of two parts belong-
ing to one another, or standing in pairs, one opposite to the
other; so D^Jlcn;' see also Ges., Thes., 147 1 f. The word in
this verse, and Judg. 5, 16, is used as a proverbial expression
for the easy life of the agriculturist. Onq. renders 5T â– T':iN% cf Is. I, 24 (^N-ic^^ t^n). 49, 26. 60, 16. Ps. 132,



CHAP. 49, VERS. 24, 25. 397

2. 5, where the phrase is borrowed from this passage. ">''?t^
is only found in the cstr. state; Barth, N.JB., p. 51, regards
it as cstr. state of "^^^^j comparing p")3, cstr. state pi?.

I^*^ ny"1 Dtl?^. In the rendering given above, which
seems relatively the best in this difficult clause, nyi is taken
as explaining DE^P, which probably means ^from heaven'
of. Eccl. 3, 17 (?), and "'^"^ pN is a second name for God, in
apposition to nyi. For the term nyi applied to God, of.
48, 15. Pss. 23, I. 80, 2. 19^ must be taken as equivalent to
the common title of God ni^ (Deut. 32, 4. i Sam. 2, 2. Is. 30,
29. Ps. 18, 32); p^C, however, never has this meaning
anywhere else. Another rendering which is possible is that
adopted by Tuch (cf. Ewald, § 332 d), ^whence is the Shepherd
the Stone of Israel:' hm=^mde tihi;' cf. 'l^'O^^ ex quo
tempore', 39, 5. Ps. 76, 8; and the YM\g2i{e,^ inde pastor egressus
est tapis' etc. Ewald renders similarly, but reads p? nyi
PNl'it'^ {^Shepherd 0/ the Stone 0/ Israel'), the allusion being
to 28, 18 f. 22. 35, 14, the phrase practically = the God of
Bethel, 31, 13. Di. approves of this reading as nyi without
the art. or i'Kn'^'' following is awkward, and God is never