Page:A critical and exegetical commentary on Genesis (1910).djvu/367

 account leaves much to be supplied by the imagination. The repetition of and  in two consecutive sentences is a mark of inferior style; but the phrase, which anticipates the introduction of Abram in v.$13$, is probably a gloss (v.i.).

13-16. Abram's pursuit and victory.—The homeward march of the victorious army must have taken it very near Hebron,—Engedi itself is only about 17 m. off,—but Abram had 'let the legions thunder past,' until the intelligence reached him of his nephew's danger.—13. Abram the Hebrew] is obviously meant as the first introduction of Abram in this narrative. The epithet is not necessarily an anachronism, if we accept the view that the Ḫabiri of the Tel Amarna period were the nomadic ancestors of the Israelites (see on 10$21$); though it is difficult to believe that there were Ḫabiri in Palestine more than 600 years earlier, in the time of Ḫammurabi (against Sellin, NKZ, xvi. 936; cf. Paton, Syria and Pal. 39 ff.). That, however, is the only sense in which Abram could be naturally described as a Hebrew in a contemporary document; and the probability is that the term is used by an anachronistic extension of the later distinction between Israelites and foreigners.—Mamrē' the Amorite] see on 13$18$. In J (whose phraseology is here followed) is the name of the sacred tree or grove; in P it is a synonym of Hebron; here it is the personal name of the owner of the grove. In like manner Eškōl is a personal name derived from the valley of Eshcol ('grape-cluster,' Nu. 13$23f.$); and Anēr may have a similar origin. The first two, at all events, are "heroes eponymi of the most unequivocal character" (Nö. Unters. 166),—a misconception of which no contemporary would have been capable. —

noted also that Lot is elsewhere called simply the 'brother' of Abram ($14. 16$).—The last clause is awkwardly placed; but considering the style of the chapter, we are not justified in treating it as an interpolation.

13. ] Ezk. 24$26$ 33$21$ (cf., 2 Sa. 15$13$). For the idiom, see G-K. § 126 r.—] G (only here), Aq. .—] [E]