- Text of the passage in Nawat
If that is the case, then there was originally hardly any thematic change at all, because ch. 13 ended with God's promises to Abram and his command (13:17, JPS): qum hithalekh ba'áretz l'orkah ul'roxbah ki l'kha ett'nénna 'Up, walk about the land, through its length and it breadth, for I give it to you' and the notice in 13:18 that Abram, who doesn't actually seem to have literally walked about the land at that point, or at least we don't hear about it, took up residence at what would be his habitual home thereafter: Mamre near Hebron.
The only detail which seems potentially relevant to the time-frame is that unlike ch. 13, here in Abram's reaction to God's new assertion of his promise Abram expresses a worry which had not previously been mentioned, effectively asking: Am I not too old for this?? The feeling we get is that when Abram arrived in Canaan two chapters ago, he was driven on by God's promise that his descendants would be as numerous as the dust of the earth and would inherit the land he could see from the heights of Bethel; whereas now time has passed, he is too old to have children any more (15:2: ma titten li w'anokhi holekh ‛ariri 'What can You give me, seeing that I shall die childless?') and his blood line has apparently come to an end. This is a different tone from that struck in the brief ch. 13 scene, even though we don't know for sure because in it only God spoke and Abram simply listened.
Abram's complaint, repeated in 15:3: hen li lo natátta zára‛ 'Since you have granted me no offspring...' - despite God's reassurances that he is going to have an heir (15:4) and have as many descendants as there are stars in the sky (15:5), which Abram is said to have believed (15:6) - certainly introduces a new element of major dramatic tension into the plot of the Abraham cycle, namely his anxiety to pass on his inheritance despite his advanced age and the apparent contradiction, if he fails to do so, with God's blessings, promises and covenant. It will take nothing short of a miracle for that to happen now. Not a problem! God insists that he knows what he is doing, asks Abram to trust him, and between the two of them they solemnise their pact with a strange dream-like ritual. With Abram in a trance, God spells out his promise to Abram's future descendants, ending with a listing of all the indigenous ethnic groups of ancient Canaan whose territory will one day be included in their nation (15:19-21).
15:2 adonay YHWH
The H words אֲדֹנָי יְהוִה which occur here were unexceptional in the original text: they say 'my lord YHWH' (lit. 'my lords...' with the customary use of the plural, seemingly to express greater respect). There is a problem when this is read out loud, however, since it is forbidden to pronounce the name of God, YHWH, and the custom developed of saying adonay (my lord(s)) in its place, whence the usual pointing of YHWH as if it were adonay (יְהוָה); as we have seen, that is the origin of the mistaken reading in European languages as "Jehovah", a word that doesn't really exist. But in this combination of words, that would result in having to pronounce this as adonay adonay (the first adonay being the actual word for 'my lord', and the second the euphemistic substitute for the name of God). Therefore in this case YHWH is not pronounced adonay, instead it is pronounced elohim. This is indicated, again, in the distinctive pointing of YHWH in such instances. This is not "Jehovih", of course, just as the other spelling is not "Jehovah"! The same combination also occurs, in this passage, in 15:8.
uven mésheq...
All commentaries agree that the second half of this verse is unintelligible as it stands, although the general gist is clear, and is clarified in the next verse, which restates the point: I am childless so my home-born servant (ben beti) will have to inherit from me.
15:4 mimme‛ékha
The noun me‛e (מעה) means 'bowels, entrails, body, belly, etc.' It occurs in one other place in Gen., in 25:23.
15:6 w'he'emin bYHWH
The expression consisting of the hiphil of the verb '-m-n with the preposition b- marking the complement, as here, means 'to put trust in' according to CHALOT and EAS. Speiser remarks that 'believe', used in many translations, "does not do justice to the original" and continues: "The basic sense of the form is 'to affirm, recognize as valid.' In other words, the result is not so much a matter of objective faith as of absolute fact." Acc. to EK, the root meaning of אמן is 'to be firm, be trustworthy.' Among its many derivatives are amen 'surely' (in formulaic usages, whence Eng. etc. amen via Greek and Latin), omnam 'surely' (adv.) and emet 'truth.'
15:7 ani YHWH asher hotzetíkha me'ur kasdim
The literal meaning is crystal-clear: 'I am YHWH who brought you out of Ur-Kasdim.' But on the textual level, this invites some comment. For one thing, this simple statement is clearly reminiscent of another one which is reported twice in the Torah (Ex. 20:2 and Deut. 5:6), namely anokhi YHWH elohékha asher hotzetíkha me'éretz mitzráyim mibbet ‛avadim (JPS) 'I the Lord (= YHWH) am your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage.' This, then, is a way in which God announces himself at moments in the (pre)history of the Israelite nation, and once we have foreknowledge of this, the present moment takes on a more solemn and awe-inspring aura. The parallels as well as the differences between the statements are also instructive: "I brought you out of Ur-Kasdim" / "I brought you out of Egypt." Egypt was the house of bondage, but Ur-Kasdim wasn't, though perhaps some would say that perhaps it was: bondage because of the servitude of idols, other gods. I bring these matters in here because I think they are likely to have been in the minds of early readers or listeners. Another question is about God revealing himself to Abram as YHWH. The earlier narrative of God's promise to Abram (ch. 12) referred to God by the name YHWH, i.e. the narrator of the passage (considered to have been J) uses that name, as is characteristic of J of course; but neither Abram had spoken the name, nor had God spoken of himself before using it. In a work where names are so important and the names of God are clearly a thing, this is the place in the story where God clearly tells Abram (unless he already had done so, and is reminding him now) who he is and what he is called - at least in the source document from which this passage originates.
15:9 ff.
See my discussion of covenants here. Regarding the ritual Speiser, like other commentators, thinks the ceremony is based on conventional rites to solemnize a treaty, and says, among other things: "The contracting parties... passed between the sections of the dismembered animals... and thus left themselves open, by extension, to the fate of the sacrificed victims in the event of future violation. The specified age of the animals was a matter of ritual maturity... The choice of the animals used for the purpose was governed by ritual custom and economic conditions."
15:12 tardema
Cf. 2:21. In this context Speiser translates as 'trance', while JPS sticks with 'deep sleep' like KJV and others.
15:13-16
What follows now is God's speech to Abram in which he predicts the future of his zéra‛ or seed, the future Israelites, foretelling their slavery in Egypt to be followed at last by liberation. Says Speiser: "There can be no doubt... about the significance of the contents in Israelite historical thought. The covenant between God and Israel was the charter on which Israel's national position was founded."
15:15 b'shalom
Speiser: "But shalom seldom means 'peace' in the usual sense of the term; the emphasis is rather on security, satisfaction, or fulfillment; in other words, here 'in peace of mind, untroubled.'"
15:16 ha'emori
Not specifically the historic Amorites (as e.g. in v. 21) in this case, according to the unanimous opinion of the commentaries, who agree that sometimes, as here, the term refers generically to all the "pre-Israelite population of Canaan" (EAS).
15:17
The mystical action of this verse is believed to symbolize that God, through these manifestations, went through the motions of "cutting" the covenant with Abram, conventionally consisting as we have seen of walking between the two halves of the sacrificed animals to signify commitment to observe the terms of the agreement. This may be seen as an anthropomorphism comparable to others for which the J source has a strong propensity, as we have seen elsewhere.
15:18 minn'har mitzráyim ‛ad hannahar haggadol n'har p'rat
Here the land that God promises to give Abram's descendants is defined as 'from the river of Egypt to the great River Euphrates.' This is a gross exaggeration, perhaps admissible as a form of poetic licence (or of ardent optimism). However, the Nile is called y'hor in BH, so this "river of Egypt" must be some other, lesser waterway, perhaps that which marks the beginning of the desert lands east of Egypt. But p'rat is unambiguously the Euphrates.
15:19 et haqqeni w'et haqq'nizzi w'et haqqadmoni
The Kenites (etymologically related to qáyin 'Cain') and the Kenizzites were southern tribal groups eventually absorbed into Judah. Some commentators suspect that qadmoni may mean 'easterners', the people from the East such as the Aramaeans.
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