Page:A critical and exegetical commentary on Genesis (1910).djvu/627



The section on Judah lacks the unity of the first two oracles, and is very probably composed of strophes of diverse origin and date. V.$8$ opens with a play on the name, like vv.$16. 19$, while v.$9$ starts afresh with an animal comparison, like vv.$14. 17. 27$ (see Introd. Note, p. 510). The impression of discontinuity is partly confirmed by the poetic form; v.$8$ being an irregular tristich, and the remainder a series of 7 perfect trimeter distichs. The dekastich $10-12$ seems distinct from what precedes (note the repetition of the name in $10$), but is itself a unity. The proposal to remove v.$10$ as a late Messianic interpolation, and to make v.$11$ the continuation of v.$9$, does not commend itself; and the excision of the third line in v.$10$ (Meier, Fripp) merely avoids an exegetical difficulty by sacrificing the strophic arrangement.

13-15. Zebulun and Issachar.

$13$ Zebulun shall dwell by the shore of the sea, And shore of ships (?), And his flank is on Ẓidon.

$14$ Issachar is a bony ass Crouching between the panniers (?): $15$ And he saw that rest was good, And that the land was sweet; So he bent his shoulder to bear, And became a labouring drudge.

13. shall dwell] An allusion to the etymology in 30$20$. It is plausibly conjectured that has been substituted by mistake for the original  (Gu. al.).—The second and third lines are unintelligible, and the text is probably corrupt. The comparison of Zebulun to a recumbent animal, with 'itself' towards the sea-coast, and its hind-parts towards Ẓidon (Di. Gu. al.), is unsatisfying and almost grotesque. Dt. 33$19b$ shows that it is the advantageousness of Zebulun's geographical position which is here celebrated.—Ẓîdôn] may be a name for Phœnicia, in whose commercial pursuits it has been surmised that Zebulun became more and more involved (Sta. GVI, i. 171).—14. bony] i.e. strong-*

13. ] Ju. 5$17$; cf. , Dt. 1$7$, Jos. 9$1$, Jer. 47$7$, Ezk. 25$16$ † : is never found with any other gen. except in the next line.—] One is tempted to construe prosaically thus: 'And that a shore for ships, with its flank on Ẓidon'; but this would entail elision of, to the detriment of the rhythm: besides, the repetition of and the unique combination are suspicious. Ba. reads for  (after Ju. 5$17$), and deletes the last line.—] [E]GVST$OJ$ .—14. ] [E], 'ass