Page:A critical and exegetical commentary on Genesis (1910).djvu/546

 definite statement of Joseph's age in $2a$, and leaves us with a wrong identification of the sons of the concubines with the previous. If it be joined to what follows, Gu. has rightly seen that we want a word expressing something that Joseph was or did in relation to the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah. The meaning probably is that Joseph, while shepherding with (all) his brethren, fell out with the four sons of the concubines.

With this change, Di.'s objections to the unity of v.$2$ fall to the ground, and the whole may be safely ascribed to P (note the chronology, the supplementary, and the phrase ).—Short as the fragment is, it shows that P's account was peculiar in two respects: (1) He restricts the hostility to the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, and (2) he traces it to Joseph's reporting their misdeeds to Jacob. It is plain that P is no mere supplementer of the older history, but an independent author, though his account has been sacrificed to the more graphic narratives of J and E.

3, 4 (J). Now Israel loved Joseph] These are evidently the opening words of J's Joseph-story, in which the sole motive of the brothers' hatred is the father's favouritism towards the son of his old age (16$2$ 44$20$ J).—] a shirt or tunic reaching to the extremities, i.e. the wrists and ankles, whereas the ordinary under-garment was sleeveless, and reached only to the knees. That it was an unusual habiliment appears also from 2 Sa. 13$18f.$; but speculations as to its mythological significance (ATLO$2$, 384) have no support in either passage.—4. could not address him peace-*

3. ] [E]. As the tense can hardly be freq., it is best to restore (Ba. Kit.).—] Cf. Jos. Ant. vii. 171: Except G and V (tunicam polymitam [but cf. v.$23$]), all Vns. here support this sense: Aq. ,, S  ('with sleeves'), T$O$ , etc. In 2 Sa. 13, G V and S curiously change sides (, talaris tunica, [= tunica striata]). The real meaning is determined by NH and Aram. [Aramaic: **] (Dn. 5$5. 24$) =, Ezk. 47$3$; see Bevan, Dan. 100.—4. $2$] Heb. MSS [E] G ; S .— On the suff., see G-K. § 115 c. But no other case occurring of with acc. of pers. addressed (Nu. 26$3$ is corrupt), Gu. points ('could not take his matter peaceably'), Kit. em. (the might be omitted: