Page:A critical and exegetical commentary on Genesis (1910).djvu/473

 and so he blessed him must have been followed by the words of blessing.—24-27 bring the parallel narrative (J) up to the same point.—27a. The smelling of the garments seems to have a twofold significance: on the one hand it is a final test of Esau's identity (otherwise the disguise v.$15$ would have no meaning), on the other it supplies the sensuous impression which suggests the words of the blessing $27b$ (so Gu.).

The section, we have seen, is composite (perhaps $18. 19a. 21-23. 28$ = E || $19b. 20. 24-27$ = J); in the primary documents the interview was less complicated, and the movement quicker, than it now appears: but since neither has been preserved intact, we cannot tell how long Isaac's hesitation and Jacob's suspense lasted in each case. In J as it stands, it would seem that Isaac's suspicions are first aroused by the promptness of the supposed hunter's return, and perhaps only finally allayed by the smell of Esau's garments. In E it is the voice which almost betrays Jacob, and the feel of his arms which saves him from detection. For details, see the footnotes.

27b-29. The blessing is partly natural ($27b. 28$), partly political ($29$), and deals, of course, not with the personal history of Jacob, but with the future greatness of Israel. Its nearest analogies are the blessings on Joseph, Gn. 49$22ff.$, Dt. 33$13ff.$; and it is not improbable that its Elohistic elements (v.i.) originated in N. Israel.—27b (J). the smell of a rich field] cf.

struction, avoiding the division of documents, in Dri. T. § 75. The narrator is supposed to "hasten at once to state briefly the issue of the whole, and afterwards, as though forgetting that he had anticipated, proceed to annex the particulars by the same means" ([H] cons.). Ew. and Hitz. applied the same principle to several other passages (see ib.); but the explanation seems to me not very natural.—24. ] [E] .—25. ] G ; but see v.$31$.

27b-29. The critical analysis of the blessing, precarious at the best, depends on such considerations as these: $27b$ points decisively to J; $28$, less certainly, to E, which is confirmed by  (cf. $37$). $29a$ (to ) is J because of the last word (25$23$); and $29b$ because of the resemblance to 12$3$. $29a$ (from ) is E (cf. $37$): (so Gu.). KS. and Ho. differ first in treating $29ab$ as wholly || $29a$, thus assigning $29a$ to E and $a$ to J (thus far Pro. agrees with them); then in the inference that $37$ is J; and, lastly, in the reflex inference that $28b$ is E.—The metrical structure is irregular. Parallelism appears in $28a$ and in $29$ throughout. $27b$ falls into three trimeters; but $29$ (also J) can only be scanned in tetrameters. In E trimeters and tetrameters are combined. See Sievers, i. 405, 577, ii. 79, 316.—27b. ] [E] (ungrammatically). The, how