Page:A Jewish Interpretation of the Book of Genesis (Morgenstern, 1919, jewishinterpreta00morg).pdf/281

Rh 263

Jacob and Lab an

V. 46. "And they did eat there l)y the heap"; this was the ritual meal hy which the covenant was' ratified cf note to XXVI, 30. Yegar-sahadntha is the Aramaic equivalent of the Hebrew V. 47

.

gal-ed.

V.

48.

Mizpch

is

apparently

represented

here

as

a

secondary

means "watchpost", or "place of Actually the district was called Gilead, while Mizpeh lookout". was probably the name of the particular spot in Gilead where this covenant between Jacob and Laban, was thought to have been made. It probably lay close to the boundary line between Syria and Gilead. As was suggested in the introductory chapter to the Jacob story, this incident of the covenant made between Laban the Aramaean and Jacob the Israelite, by which the boundary line between the territories of the" two peoples was fixed, may very well be based upon some historical compact of similar nature, entered into between Syria and

name

of this heap of stones.

It

most probably during the reign of Ahab (875-854 B. C.). During the greater part of Ahab's reign the hegemony of Israel in the affairs of the numerous little states of western Asia seems to have been nominally acknowledged by Syria; cf. I Kings XX. V. 53. "And Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac"; The compilers probably this is an obscure and difficult expression. meant to designate the God of Israel by this term. Not improbably,

Israel,

in the oldest version of this story the actual name of a (or the) Deity stood here, and the compilers substituted the present non-committal expression in order to avoid the appearance of poly-

however,

theism. a repetition, or a second version, of covenant meal, already referred to in v. 46. Certain forms of sacrifice were accompanied by a ritual meal participated in by the sacrificer and his guests.

V.

the

54.

This

incident

of

is

the

probably \n