Page:A critical and exegetical commentary on Genesis (1910).djvu/470

 of, and the covenant becomes a general treaty of peace and amity, which may also have had historic importance for a later period. In E there is no mention of contested wells at all, nor even a hint that Abraham had dug the well of Beersheba; while J$h$ seems expressly to bar any connexion between the covenant and the discovery of the well.

34, 35. Esau's Ḥittite wives (P).—In P, Esau is represented as still living with Isaac at Mamre (35$29$).—Ḥittite for 'Canaanite': see on 23$3$. It is possible, however, that in the case of Basemath the true text was 'Ḥivvite' (so (GS).—On the names, see on 36$2f.$.

XXVII. 1-45.--How Jacob secured his Father's Blessing (JE).

This vivid and circumstantial narrative, which is to be read immediately after 25$34$ (or 25$28$), gives yet another explanation of the historical fact that Israel, the younger people, had outstripped Edom in the race for power and prosperity. The clever but heartless stratagem by which Rebekah succeeds in thwarting the intention of Isaac, and diverting the blessing from Esau to Jacob, is related with great vivacity, and with an indifference to moral considerations which has been thought surprising in a writer with the fine ethical insight of J (Di.). It must be remembered, however, that "J" is a collective symbol, and embraces many tales which sink to the level of ordinary popular morality. We may fairly conclude with Gu. (272) that narratives of this stamp were too firmly rooted in the mind of the people to be omitted from any collection of national traditions.

Sources.—The presence of a dual narrative is rendered probable by the following duplicates (see We. Comp.$2$ 34-36): (a) $33. 34 || 35-38$. In $35$ we are recalled to the same stage as the of $33$; and $34$ (Esau's cry) carries us forward to the same point as $38$.—(b) $21-23 || 24-27a$: here again commences two sections which must be alternative, since both lead up to the blessing .—(c) A less obvious doublet may be discovered in $11-13. 16 || 15$: in the one case Jacob is disguised by the skin of the kids, in the other by wearing Esau's clothes.—(d) $30a || 30b$.—(e) $44b || 45a$ (to ).—The language is predominantly that of J, with occasional traces of E; and that the incident was actually recorded in both these documents appears from chs. 32, 35$3. 7$. In the parallels just en