Page:A critical and exegetical commentary on Genesis (1910).djvu/402

 a mistake. The correct form is either (as 23$6. 11$, etc.: so Di. Dri.), or (better, as 19$2$) : Sirs!—restoring (with [E]) the pl. throughout the v.—The whole of Abraham's speech is a fine example of the profuse, deferential, self-depreciatory courtesy characteristic of Eastern manners.—4. wash your feet] Cf. 19$2$ 24$32$ 43$24$, Ju. 19$21$, 2 Sa. 11$8$, Lk. 7$44$, 1 Ti. 5$10$.—recline yourselves] not at meat (Gu.), but during the preparation of the meal. Even in the time of Amos (6$4$) reclining at table seems to have been a new-*fangled and luxurious habit introduced from abroad: ct. the ancient custom 27$19$, Ju. 19$6$, 1 Sa. 20$5. 24$, 1 Ki. 13$20$.—5. support your heart] with the food, Ju. 19$5. 8$, 1 Ki. 13$7$, Ps. 104$15$; cf. bread the 'staff' of life, Lv. 26$26$, Is. 3$1$.—seeing that, etc.] Hospitality is, so to speak, the logical corollary of passing Abraham's tent.—6-8. The preparation of a genuine Bedouin repast, consisting of hastily baked cakes of bread, flesh, and milk in two forms. On the items, v.i.—8. and they ate] So 19$3$—the only cases in OT where the Deity is represented as eating (ct. Ju. 6$20f.$ 13$16$). The anthropomorphism is evaded by Jos. (Ant. i. 197: ; cf. Tob. 12$19$), T$J$, Ra. al.

9-15. The promise of a son to Sarah.—The subject is introduced with consummate skill. In the course of the conversation which naturally follows the meal, an apparently casual question leads to an announcement which shows

[E] .—5. ([E]GT$OJ$) is the better reading, to which G adds  (cf. 19$2$).— is not to be resolved into and, denn eben desshalb (G-B.$14$, 308 a; De. al.); but is a compound conjunction = quandoquidem, 'inasmuch as' (Tu. Di. Dri.), as usage clearly shows; cf. 19$8$ 33$10$ 38$26$ Nu. 10$31$ 14$43$ (all J), Ju. 6$22$, 2 Sa. 18$20$, Jer. 29$28$ 38$4$[B]; see G-K. § 158 b$3$; BDB, 475 b.— G = (19$2f.$), which is too rashly accepted by Ba.—] G has the sing. wrongly.—6. Three seahs would be (according to Kennedy's computation, DB, iv. 912) approximately equal to 4-1/2 pecks.—] G, [V similæ] which might stand either for (1 Sa. 1$24$) or  (as in every other instance). The latter (the finer variety) is here probably a gloss on .—] (G, V subcinericios panes) are thin round cakes baked on hot stones or in the ashes (Benz. Arch.$2$ 64).—8. is the Ar. laban, milk slightly soured by fermentation, which is greatly esteemed by the nomads of Syria and Arabia as a refreshing and nourishing beverage (see EB, iii. 3089 f.).