Page:A critical and exegetical commentary on Genesis (1910).djvu/469

 '''26-33. The treaty with Abimelech.—26. Aḥuzzath'' (v.i.) his friend] his confidential adviser, or 'vizier,'—an official title common in Egypt from an early period, and amongst the Ptolemies and Seleucids (1 Mac. 2$18$ 10$65$; cf. 2 Sa. 16$16f.$, 1 Ki. 4$5$, 1 Ch. 27$33$).—Pîkōl] see on 21$22$.—27. See vv. $14. 16$.—28. The is properly the curse invoked on the violation of the covenant;  refers to the symbolic ceremony (not here described) by which it was ratified (see on 15$17f.$).—29. Abimelech dictates the terms of the covenant: cf. 21$23$.—30, 31. The common meal seems to be a feature of the covenant ceremony (cf. 31$53f.$), though here the essential transaction takes place on the morning of the following day.—32, 33. The naming of the well ($25b$). The peculiar form Šib`āh (v.i.) is perhaps chosen as a compromise between , 'oath' (as Gu. points), and, the actual name of the place.

It is possible to recognise in these imperfectly preserved legends a reflexion of historic or pre-historic relations between nomadic tribes of the Negeb (afterwards incorporated in Israel) and the settled population of Gerar. The ownership of certain wells was disputed by the two parties; others were the acknowledged possession of the Hebrew ancestors. In the oldest tradition (J$b$) the original purpose of the covenant of Beersheba still appears: it was to put a stop to these disputes, and secure the right of Israel at least to the important sanctuary of Beersheba (21$30$). In the later variations this connexion is lost sight

26. ] (for the ending, see Dri. Sam. 107) has sometimes been mistaken for the noun meaning 'possession' (17$8$), taken in the sense of a body holding together (see Ra. ad loc.); so T$O$, 'company of his friends'; Jer. collegium amicorum ejus; Gr.-Ven. (Field).—] a rare word for 'companion,' sodalis (Ju. 14$11. 20$ 15$2. 6$, 2 Sa. 3$8$, Pr. 12$26$ (?) 19$7$† ), whose use in the story of Samson suggested the of G here.—28. ] need not be deleted (GSV, al.). The form (42$23$, Jos. 22$34$, Ju. 11$10$, 2 Sa. 21$7$, Jer. 25$16$, Ezk. 10$2. 6f.$† ) is always two-sided, and is here resolved into the commoner  , exactly as 2 Sa. 21$7$. Hence in the first case "us" means all the parties to the covenant, in the second only the Philistine representatives.—29. ] On the [H], see G-K. § 75 hh.—] [E], G , a more natural order.—32. ] G strangely reads [].—33. ] GS better .— ] G ; but Aq. Σ. , V Abundantiam, S (, Ezk. 16$49$). In spite of the interchange of sibilants, one is tempted to agree with these authorities: Jerome pertinently asks: 'Quæ enim etymologia est, propterea vocari juramentum, quod aquam non (cf. G) invenissent?'—] GS pr. .