Page:A Jewish Interpretation of the Book of Genesis (Morgenstern, 1919, jewishinterpreta00morg).pdf/280

Rh 262

Book of Genesis

71ic

reason prohal)h' the story told with considerable gusto not only which were powerless to defend themselves, hut also that she even subjected them to the greatest possible indignity by sitting upon them. In time the use of tcraphim came this

that Rachel stole these gods,

be regarded as inconsistent with

to

was prohibited

(II

Jezvish Encyclopedia,

V.

21.

V.

22).

the

Kings XXII 1, 24; XII,

"The River", "The mountain

pure worship of God, and

cf.

I

Samuel XV,

23).

Cf.

108f. e.

i.

the

Euphrates.

Gilead was the connnon name for that portion of Palestine lying east of the Jordan and north of the Jabbok. Its actual boundaries seem to have been rather un-

and

of Gilead".

have varied at different times. It is a rough, mounVv. 47f. seem to offer a popular tradition, ascribing the origin of the name Gilead to Jacob, who called the heap of stones, which he erected on the lioundary line between Syria and Gilead, gal-ed literally "the heap of the witness". V. 24. The Aramaeans were an important branch of the Semitic race, and closely akin to the Israelites. The kingdom of Damascus, or Syria, during the 9th and 8th centuries B. C. the most powerful and dangerous rival of the northern kingdom of Israel, was the leading Aramaean state. The language of the Aramaean tril^es and states consisted of a great many closely related dialects. After the Babylonian exile Aramaic gradually superseded Hebrew as the vernacular of the Jewish people. Certain portions of the Bible, viz. Jeremiah X, 11, Daniel II, 41)-VII, 28, and Ezra IV, S-VI, 18 and VII, 12-26, are written in Aramaic, as are likewise considerable porcertain,

to

tainous country.

tions

of

rabbinic literature.

Each of Jacob's wives had her own tent, in which she Jacob, of course, had no tent of his own, but abode with whichever wife he chose. As XXX, 16 implies, this was usually Rachel, his favorite. V.

2)i.

lived with her children.

Vv. 38f. Cf. note to XXX, 2,2^. V. 40. In certain parts of the Orient during considerable portions of the year, even though the days may be quite hot, the nights are frequently cold, and frost is not uncommon. Vv. 45ff. The custom of setting up a memorial stone or heap of stones as the permanent reminder of a covenant or of some able event, was common in Semitic practice; cf. Doughty,

Dcserta, 9Sf.

II,

It is

Joshua IV,

538 and

Pierotti,

Ciistoiiis

Arabia and Traditions of Palestine,

occasionally mentioned in the Bible; 3,

20-24;

XXIV,

26f.

memor-

cf.

Exodus XXIV,

4; \n