Page:A critical and exegetical commentary on Genesis (1910).djvu/350

 seems to take us down to the bed-rock of Hebrew folklore.—9. to the Negeb] The 'dry' region between the Judæan highland and the wilderness of et-Tīh, extending from 10 or 12 m. N of Beersheba to the neighbourhood of Ḳadesh (v.i.). It is still a suitable pasture ground for camel-breeding Bedouin, and the remains of buildings and irrigation works prove that it was once much more extensively cultivated than at present.—10. the famine was severe (lit. 'heavy')] emphasising the fact that the visit to Egypt was compulsory. The Nile valley, on account of its great fertility and its independence of the annual rainfall, was the natural resort of Asiatics in times of scarcity; and this under primitive conditions involved an actual sojourn in the country. The admission of Semites to the rich pastures of Egypt is both described and depicted in the monuments (see Guthe, GI, 16). The purchase of corn for home consumption (42$b$) was possible as a temporary expedient at a somewhat more advanced stage of culture.—11-13. The speech of Abram to his wife is an instructive revelation of social and moral sentiment in early Israel. The Hebrew women are fairer than all others, and are sure to be coveted by foreigners; but the marriage bond is so sacred that even a foreigner, in order to possess the wife, will kill the husband

9. ] Dav. § 86, R. 4; G-K. § 113 u. The idea of continuous journeying lies not in (see on 11$b$), but in  (cf. Ju. 14$1ff.$).—] G 'dry,' occurs as a proper name of S Palestine (Ngb) in a document of the reign of Thothmes (Müller, AE, 148; Mey. ZATW, vi. 1). Its use to denote the S direction is rare in JE, and apparently confined to later additions (13$2$ 28$9$, Jos. 18$14$). The geographical limits of the region can, of course, only be roughly determined, chiefly from the list of its cities in Jos. 15$14$: on this, and its physical characteristics, see Che. EB, 3374 ff.; Palmer, Desert of the Exodus, ii. 351 f. (1871).—10. (Jer. 42$5$)] properly 'dwell as a client or protected guest' ( = Ar. ǧār: cf. OTJC$21-32$, 342$15ff.$). The words, however, are often used in the wider sense of temporary sojourn (15$2$, Jer. 14$1$), and this may be the case here.—11. ] 16$13$ 18$8$ 19$2$ 27$27. 31$ (all J). The free use of (c. 40 t. in Gen.) is very characteristic of J (Ho. Einl. 110).—13. ] oratio obliqua without, G-K. § 157 a. G, on the contrary,
 * Aq. : Σ. . The word, from a [root] meaning