Page:A critical and exegetical commentary on Genesis (1910).djvu/460

 We. Kue. Cor. KS. Ho. Dri. al.), while others (OH. Gu. SOT. Pro.) assign it to E because of the allusion in 27$36$. That reason is not decisive, and the linguistic indications are rather in favour of J (, $30$; , $32$ [We. Comp.$2$ 36];, $30$).

19, 20. Isaac's marriage.—P follows E (31$20. 24$) in describing Rebekah's Mesopotamian relatives as Aramæans (cf. 28$5$), though perhaps in a different sense. Here it naturally means descendants of 'Ărām, the fifth son of Shem (10$23$). That this is a conscious divergence from the tradition of J is confirmed by 28$2$: see Bu. Urg. 420 ff.—On Bĕthû'ēl, see p. 247 above.—Paddan 'Ărām] (28$2. 6. 7$ 31$18$ 33$18$ 35$9. 26$ 46$15$ [ alone 48$7$]: G  is P's equivalent for 'Ăram Nahăraim in J (24$10$); and in all probability denotes the region round Ḥarran (v.i.).

21-23. The pre-natal oracle.—21. With the prolonged barrenness of Rebekah, compare the cases of Sarah, and Rachel (29$31$), the mothers of Samson (Ju. 13$2$), Samuel (1 Sa. 1$2$), and John the Baptist (Lk. 1$7$).—Isaac prayed to Yahwe] Cf. 1 Sa. 1$10ff$. No miraculous intervention is

19. ] commonly regarded as the heading of the section (of Gen. or) of P ending with the death of Isaac (35$29$); but see the notes on pp. 40 f., 235 f. The use of the formula is anomalous, inasmuch as the birth of Isaac, already recorded in P, is included in his own genealogy. It looks as if the editor had handled his document somewhat freely, inserting the words in the original heading ] (cf. v.$12$).—20. ] Syr. , Ar. faddān = 'yoke of oxen'; hence (in Ar.) a definite measure of land (jugerum: cf. Lane, 2353 b). A similar sense has been claimed for Ass. padanu on the authority of II R. 62, 33 a, b (Del. Par. 135). On this view would be equivalent to = 'field of Aram' in Ho. 12$13$. Ordinarily, padanu means 'way' (Del. Hwb, 515 f.); hence it has been thought that the word is another designation of Ḥarran (see 11$31$), in the neighbourhood of which a place Paddānā (vicus prope Ḥarran: PSm. Thes. 3039) has been known from early Christian times: Nöldeke, however, thinks this may be due to a Christian localisation of the biblical story (EB, i. 278). Others less plausibly connect the name with the kingdom of Patin, with its centre N of the Lake of Antioch (Wi. KAT$3$, 38).

21. ] peculiar to J in Hex.: Ex. 8$4. 5. 24. 25. 26$ 9$28$ 10$17. 18$. In Ar. 'atr and 'aiīrat mean animals slain in sacrifice; hence Heb. (Hiph. may everywhere be read instead of Qal) probably referred originally to sacrifice accompanied by prayer, though no trace of the former idea survives in Heb.: "Das Gebet ist der Zweck oder die Interpretation