Page:A critical and exegetical commentary on Genesis (1910).djvu/245

 in these relations. The guilt is wholly on the side of the angels; and consists partly, perhaps, in sensuality, partly in high-handed disregard of the rights of God's lower creatures.—It is to be noted, in contrast with analogous heathen myths, that the divine element is exclusively masculine.

3. A divine sentence on the human race, imposing a limit on the term of man's life.—My spirit shall not

3. ] G .—] There are two traditional interpretations: (a) 'abide': so G, VST$O$; (b) 'judge' (Σ. : so T$J$). The former is perhaps nothing more than a plausible guess at the meaning, though a variant text has been suspected (,, etc.). The latter traces the form to the [root] ; but the etymology is doubtful, since that [root] shows no trace of med. [H] in Heb. (Nö. ZDMG, xxxvii. 533 f.); and to call it a juss. or intrans. form is an abuse of grammatical language (see G-K. § 71 r). A Jewish derivation, mentioned by IEz. and Calv., connects the vb. with, 'sheath' (1 Ch. 21$27$),—the body being compared to the sheath of the spirit. The Ar. dāna (med. w) = 'be humbled' or 'degraded,' yields but a tolerable sense (Tu. Ew. al.); the Egypt. Ar. dāna, which means 'to do a thing continually' (Socin; see G-B. s.v.), would suit the context well, but can hardly be the same word. Vollers (ZA, xiv. 349 ff.) derives it from [root], Ass. danânu = 'be powerful'; the idea being that the life-giving spirit shall no longer have the same force as formerly, etc. It would be still better if the vb. could be taken as a denominative from Ass. dinânu, 'bodily appearance,' with the sense "shall not be embodied in man for ever."—] G, whence Klostermann restores = 'this humanity,' as distinguished from that originally created,—an impossible exegesis, whose sole advantage is that it gives a meaning to the in  (v.i.).—— (thus separated)] here = 'not for ever,' as Jer. 3$12$, La. 3$31$; elsewhere (Ps. 15$5$ etc.) the phrase means 'never.'—] so pointed in the majority of MSS, is inf. const. of, 'err,' with suff. This sense is adopted by many (Tu. Ew. Bu. Ho. al.), but it can hardly be right. If we refer the suff. to, the enallage numeri ('through their erring he is flesh') would be harsh, and the idea expressed unsuitable. If we refer it to the angels, we can avoid an absurdity only by disregarding the accents and joining the word with what precedes: 'shall not (abide?) in man for ever on account of their (the angels') erring; he is flesh, and,' etc. The sentence is doubly bad in point of style: the first member is overloaded at the end by the emphatic word; and the second opens awkwardly without a connecting part. Moreover, it is questionable if the idea of (inadvertent transgression) is appropriate in the connexion. Margoliouth (Expositor, 1898, ii. 33 ff.) explains the obscure