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

yli.^, Saadiah ^Is. ^ lilla.. Schr., C. O.T., p. 26 f., says
'Eden, Heb. T^V, has originally nothing to do with f]?^, pi.
t!^yiV "loveliness" but is a word that came over to the Hebrews
from the Babylonians, meaning properly ^^ field," '^ plain;" in
Assyrian z-di-7iu! fJJ^, pointed with .. „ , to distinguish it
perhaps from pV with -,^^, is a pr. n., the name of a district
in INIesopotamia, or Assyria, which, according to 2 Kings 19,
12. Is. 37, 12, came under the rule of Assyria. I'ly has not yet
been identified ; cf. further, Di., pp. 55 and 61 ff.; Del.^, p. 79.



26 GENESIS,



DlpO is local, not temporal (for yt2^l is against this),=
' eastwards^ ' on the east of (a further definition of the position
of Eden; cf. 3, 24. 11, 2. 13, 11), i.e. from the standpoint
of the narrator in Palestine.

9. nO!^''1. The shortened form of the Hif. imperf.; see
Ges., § 65. I c. Rem. 3; Dav., § 37. i, 2.

Vy\ miO nyirr yi^l = ' and the tree of knowledge of
(lit. of the knowing) good and evil ;' i.e. the tree, the partaking
of the fruit of which would cause persons to know good
and evil.

I?l") 2IIO cannot be genitive after nyi, as a word defined
by being in the construct state does not take the article, but
must be regarded as the accusative; cf. Jer. 22, 16 NM i^n
TlX nyin ' was not that the knowing me ?' see Ewald, § 236 a ;
M. R., §110. Rem.; Ges., § 115. i. Rem. 3; Dav., S., § 19.
The article prefixed to an inf. cstr. is very rare.

V^ HIIO. On the pointing of 1 with -^, see on i, 2.

10. ^ And a river was going out of Edeii, to water the
garden; and from thence it separated itself, and became four
branches!

b5!iV. The part, denoting continuous, unintermittent
action; see Ges., § 107. i. Rem. 2 ; Driver, § 21 ; M. R.,
§ 14. 2 a ; cf. Dav., S., § 97. R.

"IID"^ . On the imperf. as a freq. in past time, see Driver,
§ 30 a; M. R., § 6. 2 a ; Dav., S., § 44 b.

n^m ; cf. on npt^^ni, ver. 6.

11. p\!)'^5 =, according to Gesenius, ^streaming! or
^stream! from a root B^IQ 'â– to burst forth' It is not found
again in the Canonical books of the Old Testament, but is



CHAP. 2, VERS. 9-1 1. 27

mentioned in Ecclesiasticus 24, 25, together with the Tigris.
The Arabic of Saadiah has J^Jjl ' the Nile! The other
versions follow the Heb. text. Its position is more closely
defined by the mention of the land (ni'''in) round which it
flows. Joseph. {AjiL, i. i. 3), the Fathers (Euseb., Aug., Hier.),
and others identify it with the Ganges; Reland and others
consider it is the Phasis; Del. and the moderns, the Indus.
n^inn occurs only here with the art.; in 10, 7. 29, it is men-
tioned partly among the Cushites, and partly among the sons
of Joqtan, together with Ophir. It also occurs in the phrase
(25, 18) 'W^ IV ni?''inD; cf. i Sam. 15, 7, and Dr., Sam., p. 94.
Havila in 25, 18 and i Sam. 15, 7 seems to have been the
eastern frontier of the Ishmaelites and Amalekites on the
Persian gulf. The moderns identify the Havila of this verse
with India; according to their view pc^''2 is the Indus. That
one of the rivers here mentioned was an Indian one, was the
view prevalent among the ancients ; and the identification of
n^^in with India, and pK^'^Q with the Indus, is strengthened by
the fact that the products of the land of rh^^n, viz. rbl'!!, 3nT,
DHK', are mentioned by ancient writers as being found in
India ; the gold of the Indus district being celebrated among
classical writers, as that of Ophir was among biblical : cf
Her., iii.io6; Diod. Sic, ii. 36; Curt.,viii. 9. 18. Cf i Kings 10,
II. Ps. 45, 10. Job 22, 24: see further, Del.''', p. 82; Di., p. 6o^
np^in has the article by Ewald, § 277 c; cf ver. 7. It seems
to indicate, as Di. remarks, that the Hebrews had not then
forgotten the original meaning of the word, ' the sand land'
par excellence. The ni?^"in mentioned in 10, 7 (cf i Chron. 1,9)
among the sons of Cush seems to denote a place distinct



^ The name may possibly — ' Sandland^ or ' Layid of golden sand,
connected with bin ^ sand.'



28

from those intended here, and in 25, 18. i Sam. 15, 7.
It is perhaps to be identified with the modern Zeila on
the Abyssinian coast, south of Bab-el-Mandeb. Cf. the note
on 10, 7.

113 Dn ^^n = ' //m/ IS the one encoinpassing the whole land
ofHavila! The article with the predicate, cf. Driver, § 135. 7 ;
see also Ges., §§ 116. 5. Rem. i, 126. 2 i. Rem. ; Dav., S.,
§ 19. R. 3. 35b without the article would ='z> encompassing!
The word ll'O does not of necessity imply a complete
surrounding; cf. Num. 21, 4. Judg. 11, 18. Ps. 26, 6.

On the relative construction ti^ nc'N, cf. Ges., § 138. i.
and R. 2 ; M. R., § 156 d ; Dav., S., § 9. R. i.

12. Unl^. The 1 is pointed 1 by Ges., § 104. 2 c. On the
-^rr- under the T, to emphasize the sibilant, see Ges., § 10. 2.
Rem. A; Stade, § 105. Cf 3, 17 (nab^Nn). 25, 22. 27, 26.
29, 3. 8 (w5'l). ^ is marked with metheg, as in Judg. 5, 12,
n^t^^ : see Ges., § 16. 2, i a; Stade, § 52 d.

t^in in the Pent., with the exception of eleven places, is
of common gender. The punctuators, however, by pointing
it ^