Page:A critical and exegetical commentary on Genesis (1910).djvu/595

 a list of Jacob's sons and grandsons, originally compiled without reference to the migration to Egypt, on the basis of some such census-list as Nu. 26$5ff.$

That the section belongs in general to the Priestly strata of the Pent. is seen from its incompatibility with the narrative (and particularly the chronology) of JE; from its correspondence with Nu. 26$5ff.$, Ex. 6$14ff.$; and from literary indications (, $8$ [cf. 25$13$ 36$10$];, $15$; $15. 18. 22. 25-27$; , $26$). As regards its relation to the main document of P, three views are possible: (1) That the list was originally drawn up by P, and afterwards accommodated to the tradition of JE by a later editor (Nö. Di. al.). This implies the perfectly tenable assumption that P did not accept the tradition as to the death of Er and Onan, or that of Benjamin's extreme youth at the time of the migration; but also the less probable view that he numbered the sons of Joseph amongst those who 'went down' to Egypt. (2) That the interpolations are due to P, who thus turned an older list of Jacob's children into an enumeration of those who accompanied him to Egypt (Dri.). The only serious objection to this theory is that it makes P (in opposition to Ex. 1$5$) reckon Jacob as one of the 70. It is nevertheless the most acceptable solution. (3) That the whole section was inserted by a late editor of the school of P (We. Kue. Gu. al.). Even on this hypothesis, the original list will have had nothing to do with the migration to Egypt.—The discrepancy in the computation lies in the first section ($8-15$). The 33 of v.$15$ was in the original list the true number of the sons of Leah. The interpolator, whoever he was, had to exclude Er and Onan; to make up for this he inserts Dinah ($15a$), and reckons Jacob amongst the sons of Leah! Another sign of artificial manipulation of the figures appears in the proportions between the number of children assigned to each wife: Leah 32, Zilpah 16, Rachel 14, Bilhah 7 (in all 69); each concubine-wife receiving just half as many children as her mistress. The text of G presents some important variations (v.i.).

8a. The heading is identical with Ex. 1$1a$, except the words, which are obviously interpolated (see introductory note).—8b-15. The sons of Leah: viz. four sons of Reuben (v.$9$), six of Simeon ($10$), three of Levi ($11$), five sons and two grandsons of Judah ($12$), four sons of Issachar ($13$), and three of Zebulun ($14$).—15. thirty-three is thus the correct number of sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons of Jacob by Leah. To preserve this number intact with the omission of Er and Onan, the interpolator was obliged to add Dinah, and to include Jacob himself (see below).

9. Exactly as Ex. 6$14$, Nu. 26$5f.$.— is also a Midianite tribe (25$4$); the Reubenites occupied Midianite territory (Jos. 13$21$).—] and ] also Judahite clans (see v.$12$ and Jos. 7$1$).—10. (= Ex. 6$15$). Nu. 26$12ff.$