The Birth Report Genre in the Hebrew Bible (Forschungen Zum Alten Testament 2.Reihe) [1 ed.] 3161487451, 9783161578427, 9783161487453

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Forschungen zum Alten Testament 2. Reihe Herausgegeben von Bernd Janowski (Tübingen) • Mark S. Smith (New York) Hermann Spieckermann (Göttingen)

12

Timothy D. Finlay

The Birth Report Genre in the Hebrew Bible

Mohr Siebeck

D. FINLAY, born 1964; 1986 B.S. in Mathematics; 1990 B.A. in Theology; 1996 M.A.R. in Biblical Studies; 2005 Ph.D. in Hebrew Bible; is currently Adjunct Professor of Biblical Studies at Azusa Pacific University, California.

TIMOTHY

ISBN 3-16-148745-1 978-3-16-157842-7 Unveränderte eBook-Ausgabe 2019 ISSN 1611-4914 (Forschungen zum Alten Testament, 2. Reihe) Die Deutsche Bibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliographie; detailed bibliographic data is available in the Internet at http://dnb.ddb.de. © 2005 by Mohr Siebeck Tübingen, Germany. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form (beyond that permitted by copyright law) without the publisher's written permission. This applies particularly to reproductions, translations, microfilms and storage and processing in electronic systems. The book was printed by Guide-Druck in Tübingen on non-aging paper and bound by Buchbinderei Held in Rottenburg. Printed in Germany.

Preface This book is a revision of my doctoral dissertation at Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, 2005. The subject arose out of a weekly informal meeting, conducted by Tammi Schneider, in which Hebrew Bible students would read and discuss Genesis. When we came to Gen 21:1-3, we puzzled over the expressions narrating that YHWH "visited" Sarah, that Sarah conceived and bore a son in his old age, and especially the tortuous expression, "And Abraham called the name of his son, the one born to him, the one which Sarah bore to him, 'Isaac'" (Gen 21:3). I volunteered to examine what the standard formulae for these expressions were, and when I reported my initial findings the next week, it was agreed I had a dissertation topic. With regard to the dissertation itself, the research librarian Betty Clements was invaluable, as she had been throughout my studies at Claremont, but my biggest debt of gratitude is to my doctoral committee - Tammi Schneider, Kristin De Troyer, and above all my advisor, Marvin Sweeney - for their help and encouragement throughout. Dr. Sweeney was especially generous with his time for each chapter of my dissertation. I also wish to take this opportunity to thank certain other college instructors at Ambassador College, Azusa Pacific University and at Claremont for their role in my intellectual development: James Herst, Mark Kaplan, Herman Hoeh, David Wainwright, K. J. Stavrinides, Lynn Losie, John Hartley, Leslie Bergson, James Sanders, Stephen Davis, D. Z. Phillips, Zayn Kassam, and James Barr. At Claremont, I have been fortunate to count as classmates and friends Ahuva Ho, Brad Reed, Kevin Mellish, Matt Thomas, David Frisk, and Andrew Purvis, among many others. Claremont Graduate University has been exceptionally generous in awarding me fellowship money; and I have been blessed by the support of the Worldwide Church of G-d, especially the Glendora congregation. Particular thanks are due the Leesons, Hanways, Earles, and Joneses, as well as my sister Cherie and the Fox family. Beyond this, I am most deeply indebted to my first Bible instructors, my mother, Jean Finlay, and my father, David Finlay. In this book, I have used the consonantal forms YHWH, 'LHYM and G-d instead of vocalizing the divine name, even in quotations by other people. As a Christian in Claremont, I have gained immensely from attending the Hillel synagogue and this is one way I can show respect to my Jewish colleagues. I am very grateful to Hermann Spieckermann and Henning Ziebritzki for accepting this work as a volume in the Forschungen zum Alien Testament series. The publishing team at Mohr Siebeck have been wonderful to work with, and I

VI

Preface

especially want to thank Mark Smith who read an earlier manuscript and made numerous valuable comments to improve the work. Last, and most importantly, I wish to thank my long-suffering wife, Eileen, first for her many sacrifices enabling me to complete my dissertation in a timely manner, and second for her enormous help in reformatting the pages of the revised work to produce a camera-ready copy. This book is dedicated to you, my darling.

Claremont, 14 August, 2005 Timothy D. Finlay

Contents Preface Contents 1.

2.

3.

Introduction

V vn l

1. Introduction to Birth Reports 2. The Form-Critical Problem: Determining a Text-Type The Understanding of Gattung by Gunkel and Other Early Form Critics A l t e r ' s Concept of Type-Scene The Program of R. Knierim and the FOTL Series The Approach in This Study 3. Interaction with Newer Approaches Synchronic Approaches to the Text - Especially Narrative Criticism Ideological and Feminist Approaches to the Text 4. Defining the Method

1 3 3 8 10 13 16 16 19 21

Cataloguing the Birth Reports and Their Constituent Elements

23

1. Compiling a List of Birth Notices and Birth Reports 2. Previous Studies Relevant to Birth Reports H. Gunkel J. Fichtner B. Long R. Wilson 3. Our Analysis of Birth Notices 4. Our Analysis of Birth Reports Introduction The Elements of the Birth Reports Proper The Conception Element; The Birth Element; The Naming Element; The Etiological Element The Introductory Settings to the Birth Reports Introduction; The Acquisition Element; The Intercourse Element; The Divine Removal of Infertility Element 5. Conclusions

23 24 24 25 26 29 31 32 32 33

Birth Notices and Reports in Genealogies

43

1. Introduction to Biblical Genealogies Definitions Previous Scholarship on Genealogies M. Noth; M. Johnson; M. Kartveit; R. Wilson;

43 43 44

37

40

VIII

Contents W. Osborne; Y. Levin 2. Genealogies Containing Birth Reports 3. Birth Notices in Which a Man Has Descendants by Multiple Wives Genesis 4:19-22 Translation; Structure; Setting Genesis 36:2-5 Translation; Structure; Setting First Chronicles 2:2-4 Translation; Structure; Setting First Chronicles 2:18-24 Translation (Literal Translation of the MT); Structure; Setting First Chronicles 4:5-7 Translation; Structure; Setting First Chronicles 4:17b-18 (Reconstructed) Translation; Structure; Setting Second Chronicles 11:18-20 Translation; Structure; Setting 4. Birth Notices in Which a Sister Bears an Important Son First Chronicles 2:16-17 Translation; Structure; Setting First Chronicles 7:14-19 Translation; Structure; Setting 5. Birth Notices in Which a Concubine Bears an Important Son Genesis 22:24 Translation; Structure; Setting Genesis 36:12a Translation; Structure; Setting First Chronicles 1:32a Translation; Structure; Setting First Chronicles 2:46-49a Translation; Structure; Setting First Chronicles 7:14 Translation; Structure; Setting 6. Birth Notices in Which a Daughter Carries on the Family Line First Chronicles 2:34-35 Translation; Structure; Setting 7. Birth Notices Which Convey Additional Heritage Information Genesis 41:50-52 Translation; Structure; Setting Genesis 46:19-32 Translation; Structure; Setting Exodus 6:16-25 Translation; Structure; Setting 8. More Complicated Birth Reports in Genealogies Genesis 4 Translation of Genesis 4 : l - 2 a ; Translation of Genesis 4:17; Translation of Genesis 4:25; Structure of Genesis 4 : l - 2 a ; Structure of Genesis 4:17, Structure of Genesis 4:25; Setting First Chronicles 7:23 Translation; Structure; Setting 9. Conclusions

51 53 53 55 56 57

60 60 61 63 63 64 66 66 67 69 70 71 72 72 73 73 74 74 77 77

79 82

Contents

4.

5.

Birth Reports in Annunciation Type-Scenes

IX

85

1. Annunciation Type-Scenes in General 2. Genesis 16:1-16 Translation (Gen 16:15-16) Structure Setting 3. Genesis 21:1-7 Translation Structure Setting 4. Genesis 25:20-26 Translation Structure Setting 5. Genesis 29:31-30:24 Translation Structure Setting 6. Judges 13:2-25 Translation (Judg 13:24-25) Structure Setting 7. First Samuel 1:1-2:21 Translation Translation (1 Sam l:19b-20); Translation (1 Sam 2:21) Structure Setting 8. Second Kings 4:11-17 Translation (2 Kgs 4:17) Structure Setting 9. The "Minor" Annunciation Type-Scenes Genesis 35:16-18 Translation; Structure; Setting First Samuel 4:19-22 Translation; Structure; Setting 10. Conclusions

85 96 96 97 99 104 104 105 107 110 110 Ill 113 115 115 119 126 132 132 132 135 138 138

Birth Reports in Narratives about Prophetic Symbolic Actions

162

1. Discussion of Prophetic Symbolic Actions in General 2. Isaiah 8:1-4 Translation Structure Setting 3. Hosea l : 2 b - 2 : 2 Translation Structure Setting 4. Conclusions

162 167 167 168 170 182 182 183 186 193

139 143 146 146 146 148 151 151 155 159

X 6.

7.

Contents

Miscellaneous Birth Reports

196

1. Introduction 2. Genesis 19:30-38 Translation Structure Setting 3. Genesis 38:1-30 Translation Translation of Genesis 38:1-5; Translation of Genesis 38:27-30 Structure Setting 4. Ruth 4:13-17 Translation Structure Setting Excursus: Birth Reports and the "Ruth-Corpus" 5. The Birth Reports in 2 Samuel 11:1-12:25 Translation Translation of Second Samuel 11:27; Translation of Second Samuel 12:24-25 Structure Structure of Second Samuel 11:27; Structure of Second Samuel 12:24-25 Setting 6. Exodus 2:1-10 Translation Structure Setting 7. Exodus 2:2 l b - 2 2 Translation Structure Setting 8. Conclusions

196 197 197 198 200 203 203

Conclusions

243

1. Comments on Methodology 2. The Form-Critical Task: Establishing the Typical Hebrew Bible Birth Report 3. How Birth Reports Are Modified by the Larger Text-Types Containing Them Genealogical Lists Annunciation Type-Scenes Narratives concerning Prophetic Symbolic Actions 4. The Narrative-Critical Task: Analyzing the Individual Texts 5. Relevance for Feminist Criticism The Standard Pattern Birth Reports in Genealogical Lists Annunciation Type-Scenes Accounts of Prophetic Symbolic Actions Individual Narratives

243 244 245 245 245 246 247 248 248 248 249 250 250

Abbreviations and Signs

251

204 207 209 209 210 213 216 219 219

219

220 230 230 232 234 239 239 239 239 241

Contents

XI

Bibliography

254

Source Index

281

Author Index

289

Subject Index

291

Chapter One

Introduction 1. Introduction to Birth Reports In a 1983 article that proposes "type-scene" as an alternative to the standard form-critical notion of Gattung (usually translated "genre") as the basic approach to recurrent pattern in Biblical narrative, R. Alter illustrates his idea by analyzing what he calls "the annunciation type-scene." 1 According to Alter, the annunciation type-scene is a literary convention of the ancient Hebrews to narrate the birth of a hero through a fixed sequence of three motifs: initial barrenness, divine promise, and the birth of a son. 2 Alter then analyzes the individual annunciation type-scenes that culminate in the births of Isaac, Esau and Jacob, Joseph, Samson, Samuel, and the unnamed son of the Shunammite woman, paying special attention to how the variations in the way these three motifs are worded helps further the narratological aims of that particular typescene. Alter's article successfully demonstrates how a simple literary pattern can be used in inventive ways to produce narratives with a variety of distinct styles and interests. Yet, compared with his discussion of the other two motifs, Alter devotes little attention to how the birth-of-a-son motif is narrated and his analysis is much the poorer for it. Nor is Alter unusual in this respect - indeed, despite considerable scholarly attention to the announcement of birth, 3 there has been a dearth of scholarship regarding the brief reports concerning the births themselves. In this monograph, we shall conduct the first thorough analysis of these "birth reports," as the units are called in form-critical circles. Because birth reports occur not only in annunciation type-scenes but in other genres also, we shall also examine the relationship of birth reports to the larger literary complexes containing them, thereby addressing the original problem tackled by Alter - that of recurrent pattern in biblical narrative. The term "birth report" itself has not been adequately defined within form criticism, and includes units with different levels of complexity. For example, S. De Vries labels as birth reports both "And Epha, the concubine of Caleb, bore Haran, Moza, and Gazez" (1 Chr 2:46a) and "And he went into his wife; and she 1 R. Alter, "How Convention Helps Us Read: The Case of the Bible's Annunciation TypeScene," Proof3 (1983): 115-130. 2 Ibid., 118-120. 3 For a list of scholarship on this subject, see chapter 5 where the topic is discussed at length.

2

Chapter 1: Introduction

c o n c e i v e d and bore a son. A n d he c a l l e d h i s n a m e , ' B e r i a h , ' b e c a u s e disaster w a s o n his h o u s e " (1 Chr 7 : 2 3 ) . 4 D e V r i e s d e f i n e s "notice" as a "very brief report similar to a s i m p l e statement." 5 U n d e r this d e f i n i t i o n , it is better t o g i v e 1 Chr 2 : 4 6 a the m o r e precise label "birth n o t i c e " and reserve the term "birth report" for m o r e c o m p l i c a t e d narratives, s u c h as 1 C h r 7 : 2 3 . W e shall c o m p i l e all the units narrating births in the H e b r e w B i b l e and c a t e g o r i z e them into birth n o t i c e s and birth reports. T h e n w e shall e x a m i n e t h e s e birth n o t i c e s and birth reports to e s t a b l i s h frequent f o r m u l a t i o n s and patterns o f t h e s e narrative units. A n t i c i p a t i n g s o m e o f our results, w e shall s e e that the birth n o t i c e is u s u a l l y s o m e variant o f o n e o f the f o l l o w i n g t w o f o r m u l a e 6 : watteled (PN) (Jo or lePN) 'et-Prf-J or wePN] yaleda 'et-PN2 . Furthermore, w e shall s e e that t h e birth report t y p i c a l l y c o n s i s t s o f an introductory setting and a birth report proper, w h i c h in turn c o n s i s t s o f a c o n c e p t i o n e l e m e n t , a birth e l e m e n t , a n a m i n g e l e m e n t , and an e t i o l o g i c a l e l e m e n t . T h e s e e l e m e n t s are f r e q u e n t l y " n o t i c e s " but s o m e t i m e s t w o e l e m e n t s are c o m b i n e d into o n e n o t i c e . O n other o c c a s i o n s , an e l e m e n t m a y take c o n s i d e r a b l y e x p a n d e d f o r m . T h e patterns and standard f o r m u l a e for e a c h o f t h e s e e l e m e n t s w i l l a l s o be d i s c u s s e d in the next chapter. T h e remainder o f our study is d e v o t e d to e x a m i n i n g the relationship b e t w e e n individual birth notices/reports and the larger narrative t e x t - t y p e s in w h i c h they are e m b e d d e d . T h i s task l i e s at the heart o f the f o r m - c r i t i c a l enterprise: "Language does not merely consist of an innumerable series of literary types with a clear division between each. . . . There are component literary types, which build up into complex literary types. Formulas in particular, which are the smallest units of speech, are nearly always linked to or are part of greater literary types. . . . Each exegesis must therefore not only define the literary type, but also discover whether this literary type is associated with other, perhaps complex, literary types." 9 4 S. De Vries, 1 and 2 Chronicles, (FOTL 11; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989), 37, 79. The first report contains only one finite verb, but the second uses four verbs to describe various actions taken by two different people. 5 De Vries, 432. 6 O. Steck defines a formula as "a short, fixed word association" and gives as one of his examples the clause "I am YHWH (your G-d)" which appears on numerous occasions for the self-presentation of YHWH (Old Testament Exegesis: A Guide to the Methodology [tr. J. Nogalski; SBLRBS 33; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1998], 101). This example shows that there can be a limited amount of variation (the presence or absence of "your G-d") even in a formula. We shall use the term "formula" the way Steck does, and use the term "formulation" for the precise wording of a given instance of a formula. A particular notice, then, can be expressed with one of a number of different formulae, and each of these formulae can vary in the precise formulation. Steck also distinguishes genre from formula, although it is not clear if this is on the grounds of fixity or of size. 7 Here, (PN) refers to the mother if mentioned, (lePN) refers to the father if mentioned, and 'et-Pfrf refers to the child or children born. 8 Here, PN] refers to the mother and PN2 refers to the child or children born. 9 K. Koch, The Growth of the Biblical Tradition: The Form-Critical Method (trans. S. M. Cupitt; New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1969), 23-24. Note that Koch, unlike Steck, sees "formula" as the most basic level of a genre. Our approach regards "notice" as the most basic level of a narrative genre and that a particular notice may be expressed by using a formula.

2. The Form-Critical

Problem:

Determining

a

3

Text-Type

Birth reports can be found in several different genres such as genealogies, narratives discussing prophetic symbolic actions, and annunciation type-scenes. The precise form of any particular birth report is shaped by at least three factors: the basic pattern of the birth report genre, modifications to that pattern caused by the genre of the literary complex within which the birth report is embedded, and the specific concerns of that literary complex itself. 10 It is the second factor - the ways in which a complex genre modifies the form of one of its component genres - that provides a key link between form-criticism and narrative-criticism. Again, we anticipate some of our results: In a genealogical list, a birth report is typically a simple birth notice that combines the birth and naming elements into one formula; in an annunciation type-scene, it typically has an introductory setting in which the deity intervenes to enable a childless woman to conceive; and in a narrative that discusses prophetic symbolic actions, it typically has a birth element in which G-d commands that the child be given a certain name (rather than the mother naming the child) and an etiological element in the form of a prophetic oracle that involves a word play on the child's name. 11 Because our enterprise revolves around the concept of genre or text-type, our first task is to define our approach to this problem.

2. The Form-Critical Problem: Determining a Text-Type The Understanding

of Gattung by Gunkel and Other Early Form

Critics

J. Barton gives a good working definition of how Gattung has been understood by form critics: "A Gattung or genre is a conventional pattern recognizable by certain formal criteria (style, shape, tone, particular syntactic or even grammatical structures, recurring formulaic patterns) which is used in a particular society in social contexts which are governed by certain formal conventions." 1 2

10 Of course, there is a fourth factor than can affect the precise wording of any given birth report: random variations. Even as we "press" the text for maximal meaning by interpreting marked deviations from the standard pattern of birth reports as indicating deliberate authorial shaping of the narrative, we remain aware of the dangers of over interpretation. On some occasions, we shall conclude that a slight deviation from a standard pattern is just random; on other occasions, we shall qualify our contention of authorial shaping with comments expressing the appropriate degree of caution. " Chapters 3, 4, and 5 will be devoted to birth reports in genealogies, annunciation type-scenes, and narratives concerning prophetic symbolic actions, respectively. The birth reports in chapter 6 appear in a variety of larger text-types so that we do not have sufficient data to analyze how those text-types affect the pattern of the birth report. In this chapter, we shall primarily employ narrative criticism, although we shall also use intertextuality and structuralism as methods of approaching certain texts. 12 J. Barton, Reading the Old Testament: Method in Biblical Study, (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1996), 32.

4

Chapter I:

Introduction

A Gattung can refer to oral or literary modes of communication. 13 And it can also refer to patterns that occur in large or small units of communication. For example, G. Lohfink writes: "There are the four Gospels, there are letters and collections of letters, there are books of prophecy and documents of revelation, instructional writings and books of wisdom; there is a whole hymnal - namely, a collection of 150 psalms - and finally there are the so-called historical books. . . . These, in essence, are the genres [Gattungen, throughout] of the books of the Bible. But it is very important to note that these large genres contain within themselves the most varied smaller genres. Thus modern exegesis distinguishes in the Bible between historical account, saga, myth, fairy tale, fable, paradigm, homily, admonition, confession, instructive narrative, similitude, parable, illustrative saying, prophetic utterance, juridical saying, wise saying, proverb, riddle, speech, contract, list, prayer, song."' 4

In practice, early form critics focused on these smaller text units. The discipline of form criticism in biblical studies begins 15 with H. Gunkel. 16 In his commentary on Genesis, Gunkel presupposed J. Wellhausen's literary source division of the Pentateuch into J, E, D, and P, 17 but sought insight into the preliterary stages of the biblical material. 18 Gunkel isolated short, self-contained units that he felt would most closely resemble the oral forms of the individual 13 The term "genre" in literary studies usually refers to written works, beginning with Aristotle's discussion of epic, drama, and lyric as the three basic genres. W. Doty observes that New Testament scholars distinguish Gattungen, which are literary types, from Formen, which are pre-literary ("The Concept of Genre in Literary Analysis," SBL Proceedings 2 (1972): 418. 14 G. Lohfink, The Bible: Now I Get It! (Garden City: Doubleday, 1979), 64. 15 For a survey of work done from Aristotle onwards regarding genres, and of Gunkel's special contribution to the subject of biblical genres, see M. Buss, "The Study of Forms," in Old Testament Form Criticism (ed. J. Hayes; San Antonio: Trinity University Press, 1974), 1 56. See also M. Buss, Biblical Form Criticism in its Context (JSOTSup 274; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1999). 16 W. Klatt divides Gunkel's career into three stages (Hermann Gunkel: Suseiner Theologie der Religionsgeschichte und zur Entstehung der formgeschichtlichen Methode [FRLANT 100; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1969]). In the early period, much of Gunkel's work was tilted toward the New Testament with work on the effects of the Holy Spirit and the significance of apocalyptic literature. This was followed by a religiongeschichtliche period. In Gunkel's major work of this period, Schöpfung und Chaos in Urzeit und Endzeit (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1977), he argues that the protological accounts in Genesis 1 - 3 and the eschatological visions in Revelation both rely on Babylonian mythical traditions that had a long period of oral transmission. Klatt dates the beginning of the literaturgeschichtliche period to Gunkel's commentary on Genesis, and certainly this is where Gunkel develops more consistently his form-critical methodology. However, the emphasis in Schöpfung on the earlier oral transmission was clearly a step in this direction. 17 J. Wellhausen gave the classic formulation of the "documentary hypothesis" (Prolegomena zur Geschichte Israels [Berlin: G. Reimer, 1886]; Die Composition des Hexateuchs und der historischen Bücher des alten Testaments [Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1899]), but he built on the earlier work of J. Eichhorn, W. Leberecht, M. De Wette, K. Graf, and others. For a summary of the history of source criticism, see P. Viviano, "Source Criticism," in To Each Its Own Meaning: An Introduction to Biblical Criticisms and Their Application (eds. S. McKensie and S. Haynes; Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox, 1999), 35-57. We give our own approach to source criticism later in this chapter. 18 H. Gunkel, Genesis (tr. Mark E. Biddle; Macon: Mercer University Press, 1997).

2. The Form-Critical

Problem:

Determining

a

Text-Type

5

stories that circulated among the people before being joined together in longer narrative cycles. Gunkel began categorizing these units into different Gattungen. According to Gunkel, the most important category in Genesis was the Sage, which has been translated in English as both "saga" and "legend."19 The Sage was transmitted orally, frequently included the miraculous and improbable in its subject matter, and its purpose was inspiration and entertainment. Gunkel subdivided the category of Sage into mythological (mainly in Genesis 1-11), patriarchal (mainly in Genesis 12-36), and heroic (mainly in later books). The patriarchal Sage was further subdivided into historical, ethnographic, and etiological types. Individual Sagen became grouped together at the oral level into chains, such as the Abraham-Lot chain or the Jacob-Laban chain, and later written collections added further Sagen or other Gattungen20 (again mainly originally oral genres) so that there was a full-scale saga-cycle around the major figures of Abraham and Jacob. Gunkel's final aim was a history of Israelite literature that would essentially be a history of the genres that were used in ancient Israel.21 It was at this later 19 For a discussion of the debate concerning this term, see R. N e f f , "Saga," Saga, Legend, Fable, Tale, Novella: Narrative forms in Old Testament Literature (ed. G. Coats; JSOTSup. 35; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1985) 17-32. 20 Other genres include the legend (German Legende, as opposed to Sage, which was translated "legend," in the translation of Gunkel's introduction to Genesis) and the novella. The legend originally refers to a story about a saint that was read on the saint's day. Gunkel uses the term a bit more loosely and classifies A b r a m ' s rescue of Lot in Genesis 14 as a legend. The term in Old Testament form-criticism is usually connected with a narrative about a person who performs a deed that is both wonderful and exemplary. The Legende is therefore more oriented toward edification whereas the Sage is oriented toward entertainment. See R. Hals, "Legend," Saga, legend, fable, tale, novella: narrative forms in Old Testament literature, (ed. G. Coats; JSOTSup 35; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1985) 4 5 - 5 5 . The novella - which is primarily exemplified in Genesis by the Joseph narrative - is a longer and more sophisticated genre than the Sage, and Gunkel believed that this genre belonged to a later stage in Israel's history. 21 H. Gunkel, "Die israelitische Literatur," in Die orientalischen Literaturen (ed. P. Hinneberg; Kultur der Gegenwart 1/7; Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1906), 5 1 - 1 0 2 . See also Klatt, 166-191. For a discussion of the subject of genre within literature in general, see K. Hempfer, Gattungstheorie: Information und Synthese (UTB 133; Munich: W. Fink, 1973); A. Fowler, "The Life and Death of Literary Forms," New Literary History 2 (1971): 199-216; idem, Kinds of Literature: An Introduction to the Theory of Genres and Models (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1982); idem, A History of English Literature: Forms and Kinds from the Middle Ages to the Present (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1987); H. Dubrow, Genre (London: Methuen, 1982); J.-M. Schaeffer, "Literary Genre and Textual Genericity," in The Future of Literary Theory (ed. R. Cohen; N e w York: Routledge, 1989); M. Gerhart, "The Dilemma of the Text: How to ' B e l o n g ' to a genre" Poetics 18 (1989): 3 5 5 - 3 7 3 ; T. Beebee, The Ideology of Genre: A Comparative Study of Generic Instability (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004). H e m p f e r discusses genre models as reading or writing conventions within a framework of linguistic competence and performance; Fowler notes, among other things, that literature itself is considered a genre, and that the concept of genre is quite fuzzy; Dubrow gives a brief critical history of the subject; Gerhart tries a non-deconstructive method of avoiding prescriptivism; Schaeffer gives a structural model, as opposed to an essentialist one, of how to determine a text's genre; and Beebee argues that literary genres are merely ways of using texts.

6

Chapter I:

Introduction

stage in his career that Gunkel coined the term Sitz im Leben (setting in life). 22 J. Barton comments, "Form critics discovered that there were Gattungen embedded within the written form of the text that must originally have had a Sitz im Leben in which they would have been spoken. And the form critics contention was that we could not understand such portions of the text properly if we tried to read them within literary conventions; for the conventions within which they were able to have meaning were essentially the conventions of the social life of ancient Israel, with its great variety of speech-forms appropriate to different public occasions, both formal and informal." 23

Gunkel also employed his form-critical methodology, analyzing genre and setting, in the areas of prophetic literature24 and psalms. 25 He then reworked his Genesis commentary and discussed the folktale in the Old Testament. 26 Gunkel's students, S. Mowinckel 27 and A. Alt, 28 emphasized the concept of Sitz im Leben in their work and later generations of form-critical scholars continued this trend, so that in the 1960s, K. Koch was able to proclaim, In this work, we mainly limit our inquiry into understandings of genre within the field of biblical studies. 22 For discussions of the concept of Sitz im Leben, see Koch, 3-5; G. Tucker, Form Criticism of the Old Testament (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1971), 1-9; A. Campbell, I Samuel (FOTL 7; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003), 5-9. 23 Barton, 33. 24 H. Gunkel, "The Prophets as Writers and Poets," in Prophecy in Israel (ed. D. Petersen; Philadelphia: Fortress Press; London: SCM, 1987), 22-73. As in his commentary on Genesis, Gunkel argues for an evolution from short units to extended ones. The oldest units of prophetic style are short enigmatic sayings, the next stage has prophetic statements of a few lines, only later did the prophets learn to compose speeches of about a chapter in length, and coherent organization at the book level begins with Ezekiel. 25 H. Gunkel, Die Psalmen, (HKAT II/2; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1926); Herman Gunkel and Joachim Begrich, Einleitung in die Psalmen, (HKAT supplement; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1933). 26 H. Gunkel, The Folktale in the Old Testament (tr. M. Rutter; Historic Texts and Interpreters in Biblical Scholarship; Sheffield: Almond Press, 1987). See also J. Wilcoxen, "Narrative," in Old Testament Form Criticism (ed. J. Hayes; San Antonio: Trinity University Press, 1974), 57-98 for a discussion of Gunkel's developing understanding of Sage, and of the relationship of Märchen (folk tale) to Sage, in Genesis. 27 S. Mowinckel, Psalmenstudien I-VI (Kristiania: J. Dybwad, 1921-1924); idem, The Psalms in Israel's Worship, 2 vols., (trans. D. W. Ap-Thomas; Nashville: Abingdon, 1962). In volume II of Psalmenstudien and in volume 1 of Psalms in Israel's Worship, Mowinckel argues for a large number of "enthronement psalms" that have their setting in the pre-exilic Autumn festival, drawing parallels initially from the Akkadian literature concerning the Akitu festival and later from the Ugaritic literature concerning similar motifs regarding Baal. 28 A. Alt, "The Origins of Israelite Law," in Essays on Old Testament History and Religion, (trans. R. Wilson; Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1967), 101-171, Alt distinguished two main types of laws, each of which had a different setting. Apodictic law, consisting of categorical commands and prohibitions, was part of the unique religious heritage of the ancient Israelite tribes from their desert origins. Casuistic law, formulated with a protasis stating the nature of the infraction and an apodosis stating the penalty incurred, was common to numerous Ancient Near Eastern societies and had its setting in the secular courts after the Israelites had entered the land of Canaan.

2. The Form-Critical

Problem: Determining a Text-Type

7

"Form criticism is only a few decades old, but already it has made its impact: no biblical text can be adequately understood without a consideration of the setting in life of its literary type. And vice versa: no way of life in ancient Israel and in the early Christian community can be exhaustively detailed without a thorough study of all literary types relating to it." 29 N o r w a s K o c h l i m i t i n g h i s c o m m e n t s to biblical literature. K o c h argues that "all literature f a l l s into g r o u p s w i t h fixed characteristics o f f o r m , " w i t h e a c h g r o u p p e r f o r m i n g a particular f u n c t i o n within a particular setting. 3 0 K o c h further a r g u e s that a l t h o u g h a genre can persist for a short w h i l e after its original lifesetting h a s disappeared, "no literary t y p e r e m a i n s in e x i s t e n c e f o r l o n g after it has b e e n entirely s e v e r e d f r o m its point o f origin." 3 1 A n o t h e r w a y in w h i c h f o r m - c r i t i c i s m d e v e l o p e d after G u n k e l is in the e x t e n s i o n o f the m e t h o d f r o m small i s o l a t e d units t o l a r g e - s c a l e narratives. G . v o n R a d b e g a n b y arguing that D e u t 26:5b—9; 6 : 2 0 - 2 4 ; and Josh 2 4 : 2 b - 1 3 w e r e early creedal s t a t e m e n t s o f Y H W H ' s a c t i o n s o n Israel's behalf; then h e d e s c r i b e d h o w the J author, in a setting in the D a v i d i c court, s u p p o s e d l y e x p a n d e d the c o n t e n t o f t h e s e c r e e d s into a f u l l y - f l e d g e d narrative; and finally h e d e s c r i b e d the further literary d e v e l o p m e n t c u l m i n a t i n g in the " H e x a t e u c h . " 3 2 Similarly, M . N o t h d e v e l o p e d his theory that t h e b o o k s o f D e u t e r o n o m y through K i n g s f o r m e d a s i n g l e unit - w h i c h h e titled the " D e u t e r o n o m i s t i c History" - f r o m an e x a m i n a t i o n o f several short, s e l f - c o n t a i n e d units w i t h similar s t y l e and f u n c t i o n . 3 3 N o t h a l s o c o n t i n u e d G u n k e l ' s attempts t o u n c o v e r early pre-literary tradition in the Pentateuch. H e argued that in a Grundlage, 29

Koch, Growth of the Biblical Tradition, 33. Ibid., 26-27. Koch discusses the advertising circular as having a setting in the commercial realm of modern civilization and whose function is to establish a market for a company. 31 Ibid., 33. A similar view is taken by Fowler: "Genres, like biological species, have a relatively circumscribed existence in space and time" ("Life and Death," 207). 32 G. von Rad, "The Form-Critical Problem of the Hexateuch," The Problem of the Hexateuch and Other Essays, (trans. E. Trueman Dicken; London: SCM, 1984), 1-78. Von Rad's original article appeared in 1938. The "Hexateuch" is a term for the books of GenesisJoshua. In his later Old Testament Theology (trans. D. Stalker; 2 vols.; New York: Harper & Row, 1962-1965), von Rad extends his concept of salvation history, Heilsgeschichte, still further so that in effect it becomes the most important principle in understanding Old Testament theology. This is in contrast to W. Eichrodt, who had made "covenant" the center of his twovolume Theology of the Old Testament (trans. J. Baker; 2 vols.; OTL; Philadelphia: Westminster, 1961). 33 M. Noth, The Deuteronomistic History, (trans. E. W. Nicholson; 2"d ed.; JSOTSup 15; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1981). The original German edition appeared in 1943. Noth, 17-26, observed that at key junctures in this portrayal of Israel's history, an important figure gives a speech which summarizes the history (Joshua 1, 23; 1 Samuel 12; 2 Kings 8) and that the narrator directly gives summaries in Joshua 13, Judg 2:11-23 and 2 Kings 17. These passages contain vocabulary, diction and theological viewpoint reminiscent of Deuteronomy, and Noth postulated that the books of Deuteronomy through Kings formed a united whole. The purpose of this history was to explain why Israel and Judah had been exiled: disobedience to the Deuteronomic law, especially regarding the commands to avoid the Canaanites and their religious practices, to worship only YHWH, and to worship at the one site that YHWH chose (Noth, 134-145). 30

8

Chapter

1:

Introduction

upon which J and E drew independently (and which may have been oral), the five major themes of the Pentateuch - for Noth, these were the promise to the patriarchs, the Exodus, the revelation at Sinai, the guidance in the wilderness, and the guidance into the land - had already been united. 34 But each theme within the Grundlage also contained traditions which developed over time. As Gunkel had developed criteria for determining the Gattung of a unit, Noth now developed criteria for distinguishing early traditions from later ones. 35 In The Promises to the Fathers,36 C. Westermann builds on the work of Gunkel, von Rad and Noth, and examines the interaction between concern or intention and genre by examining the many narratives in Genesis whose main concern is some type of promise - promise of a son, promise of numerous descendants, promise of land, or a combination of these - and raises the question of whether there is a genre of "promise narrative." The form-critical Genesis commentaries of Gunkel, von Rad, 37 and Westermann 38 all provide insights that will inform our study. Alter's Concept of Type-Scene In contrast to the notion of Gattung, Alter's concept of "type-scene" is specifically a literary convention. Alter takes this term from Homeric scholarship where it refers to "certain fixed situations which the poet is expected to include in his narrative and which he must perform according to a set order of motifs - situations like the arrival, the message, the voyage, the assembly, the oracle, the arming of the hero, and some half-dozen others." 39 Alter then describes the pattern of the visit type-scene in Homer's works: "a guest approaches; someone spots him, gets up, hurries to greet him; the guest is taken by the hand, led into the room, invited to take the seat of honor; the guest is 34 M. Noth, A History of PentateuchalTraditions (trans. B. Anderson; Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1972), 3 8 - 6 2 . 35 B. Anderson summarizes these criteria as follows: early traditions occur in small units with concise style; they are attached to places and often conclude with an etiology of the place name; they are "cultic" or "theophanic" in nature; they deal with anonymous, typical characters; they stand out awkwardly in the present form of the text; and they are discrete bracketing of units is secondary ("Introduction: Martin N o t h ' s Tradition-Historical Approach in the Context of Twentieth-Century Biblical Research," A History of Pentateuchal Traditions [trans. Bernhard W. Anderson; Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1972], xxiii-xxv.) For a summary of how form criticism and tradition-historical criticism coalesce in the work of Noth, see R. Di Vito, "Tradition-Historical Criticism," in To Each Its Own Meaning: An Introduction to Biblical Criticisms and Their Application (ed. S. McKensie and S. Haynes; Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox, 1999), 9 4 - 9 7 . 36 C. Westermann, The Promises to the Fathers: Studies on the Patriarchal Narratives (trans. D. Green; Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1979). The German original dates from 1964. 37 G. von Rad, Genesis (trans. John H. Marks; OTL; Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1961). 38 C. Westermann, Genesis 1-11: A Commentary (trans. J. Scullion; Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1984); idem, Genesis 12-36: A Commentary (trans. J. Scullion; Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1985); idem, Genesis 37-50: A Commentary (trans. J. Scullion; Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1986). 39 R. Alter, The Art of Biblical Narrative (New York: Basic Books, 1981), 50.

2. The Form-Critical

Problem:

Determining

a

Text-Type

9

enjoined to feast; the ensuing meal is described." 40 Alter claims that this approach is relevant for biblical studies because "there is a series of recurrent narrative episodes attached to the careers of biblical heroes that are analogous to Homeric type-scenes in that they are dependent on the manipulation of a fixed constellation of predetermined motifs." 41 In addition to the annunciation typescene, Alter lists the following: "the encounter with the future betrothed at a well; the epiphany in the field; the initiatory trial; danger in the desert and the discovery of a well or other source of sustenance; the testament of the dying hero." 42 Alter deliberately contrasts his approach with that of Gunkel: "Through the hypothesis of Gattung Gunkel and his followers have sought to determine the socalled life-setting of the various biblical texts, a line of speculation that six decades of investigation have shown to be highly problematic - just as problematic as the concomitant enterprise of dating the texts by identifying an evolution from simple to elaborate versions of the Gattungen. In contrast to a Gattung, a literary convention may in some instances reflect certain social or cultural realities but is bound to o f f e r a highly mediated, stylized image of such realities: in the literary convention, culture has been transformed into text, which is rather different from form-criticism's tendency to insist on the function performed by text in culture." 4 3

Alter points to some definite weaknesses regarding how form criticism has been practiced: the assumption that every Gattung must have a Sitz im Leben\ and the assumption that only small, simple units can yield early tradition. Alter also accuses form criticism of being too preoccupied with "a drive to identify common formulas in different texts" compared to recognizing the individuality of the narratives: "One of course needs to recognize the formulas if they are there in order to see what is going on in the text, but as I shall try to illustrate, what is finally more significant is the inventive freshness with which formulas are recast and redeployed in each new instance." 4 4

Alter's attention to the individuality of each narrative - and especially its relationship to its larger literary context - yields many excellent insights and can be applied to text-types other than annunciation type-scenes. However, his own approach has limitations as well. His acknowledgment of the need to recognize formulae is rarely accompanied by a comparison of the relevant texts to establish what those formulae are. Another difficulty is that Alter seems to 40

Ibid., 51. Ibid. 42 Ibid. This emphasis on themes and motifs contrasts with the genre analysis of many biblical scholars. For example, Doty writes, "Generic definitions should focus upon the formal, structural composition of literary works rather than upon thematology. It may be necessary to keep characteristic motifs in view, but identifications of subject matter are of dubious value, since related subjects may be expressed in several different genres" ("Concept of Genre," 439). Our approach on this question contrasts with Doty and is closer to the views of Alter, and also S. Chapman, in considering content and themes relevant to the discussion of genre. 43 Alter, "Convention," 119. 44 Ibid. 41

10

Chapter

I:

Introduction

have merely replaced Sitz im Leben with literary convention as a universal tool. But even if we grant that all of the various type-scenes Alter postulates are the result of literary conventions, this only accounts for a portion of the narrative books, and a considerably lower proportion of the entire Hebrew Bible. It would certainly be possible for some other text-types to be primarily shaped by the conventions of the social life in ancient Israel. The Program of R. Knierim and the FOTL Series Alter's point regarding the Sitz im Leben had been anticipated within the discipline of form criticism itself. In 1973, R. Knierim stated, "After a genre has been identified with great effort on morphological grounds, those studies continue to look for a setting at any cost, postulating, creating, fabricating one even if sometimes admittedly - there is no evidence for it; and all that simply because the methodology demands a setting without which a genre would be unthinkable." 4 5

Knierim recognizes that the coherence of genre and setting "can no longer be upheld in the sense form criticism has done" and advocates that "the relationship between genre and setting must remain an open one." 46 Knierim further comments that "there is reason to believe that individual texts are dependent not only on typical settings, but at least as much on the specific situations to which they owe their existence." 47 With regard to Alter's point about the evolution from simple to elaborate genres, the work of A. Parry48 and A. Lord49 made untenable the earlier formcritical assumption that oral compositions were necessarily short, learned by memory and recited, and form-critics appropriately included these findings in later studies. 50 Further, Knierim challenged the practice of assuming that the

45

R. Knierim, "Old Testament Form Criticism Reconsidered," Interpretation

2 7 (1973),

448. 46

Ibid., 449. Ibid., 465. 48 A. Parry, The Making of Homeric Verse (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1971). This volume contains articles by Parry from the 1920s onwards. At first, Parry argues that standard Homeric epithets were traditional and formulaic rather than original to Homer. Parry later learned that when Yugoslavian guslars performed long poems before live audiences, each performance was improvised by combining standardized verse-units within an open-ended overall structure. Parry saw similarities between these standardized verse-units and the Homeric epithets and concluded that H o m e r ' s poetry was oral in nature. 49 A. Lord, The Singer of Tales (New York: Atheneum, 1970). Lord had done field work with Parry in Yugoslavia, and after Parry's death, Lord continued doing field work there and published the material that he and Parry had gathered. Lord also refined Parry's method for determining whether a piece of poetry had its origin in oral literature. 50 See, for example, B. Long, "Recent Field Studies in Oral Literature and their bearing on OT Criticism," VT 26 (1976): 187-98; M. Floyd, Oral Tradition as a Problematic Factor in the Historical Interpretation of Poems in the Law and the Prophets, (Ph.D. diss., The Claremont Graduate School, 1980). 47

2. The Form-Critical

Problem:

Determining

a

Text-Type

11

biblical literature was dependent on oral tradition and therefore identifying genres "on the basis of a supposed oral language." 51 Instead, he argued, "Form-critical methodology must take the literary character of our texts seriously. The literary versions are the only ones we possess. If these texts, or some of them, rest on oral traditions, then this fact must be specifically demonstrated. Furthermore, the relationship or distinctly different typicalities between written and oral versions must be explained." 5 2

As we saw earlier, another very important point raised by Alter is form criticism's tendency to stress the typical sometimes at the expense of the individual. 53 To some extent, this issue is addressed by W. Richter, whose method in Exegese als Literaturwissenschaft describes his method for establishing the form or structure of an individual passage, 54 and only then examines how to discern the Gattung of a passage. 55 Richter notes that "Gattung" is a theoretical abstraction because in the actual literature there are only the individual "Formen." For Richter, Gattung is nothing more than an approximate structural model for a group of Formen.5 Richter also distinguishes the Sitz im Leben from the Sitz in der Literatur, the literary setting in which a passage is situated. 57 The procedure in the FOTL series 58 has 51

Knierim, 457. Ibid., 4 5 7 - 4 5 8 . A l t e r ' s virtue in appreciating the esthetic value of the individual texts has, regrettably, not always been very noticeable in form criticism. Yet the introduction to Gunkel's commentary on Genesis, where the author sets out in detail his methodology, Gunkel devotes considerably more space to "the artistry of the legends in Genesis" than to any other issue. 54 W. Richter, Exegese als Literaturwissenschaft: Entwurf einer alttestamentlichen Literaturtheorie und Methodologie (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1971), 7 2 - 1 2 5 . Important form-critical theory in German scholarship since Richter includes the following: C. rhetorischen Funktion der Hardmeier, Texttheorie und biblische Exegese: Zur Trauermetaphorik in der Prophetie (BEvT 79; Munich: Kaiser, 1978); H. Schweizer, Metaphorische Grammatik: Wege zur Integration von Grammatik und Textinterpretation in der Exegese (St. Ottilien: EOS-Verlag, 1981); K. Berger, Einführung in die Formgeschichte (UTB 1444; Tübingen: Francke, 1987). Nevertheless, M. Rösel notes an ongoing decline of the usage and importance of the form-critical method in Germany and cites several reasons for this: the reaction to the concept of Sitz im Leben after Mowinckel's autumn festival setting for so many psalms was rejected; a shift of interest away from preliterary stages of the text; and the realization that form critics often downplayed the tension between their idealized forms and the actual individual texts ("Inscriptional Evidence and the Question of Genre," in The Changing Face of Form Criticism for the Twenty-First Century [ed. M. Sweeney and E. Ben Zvi; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003], 107-108). With regard to the last point, Rösel argues that K n i e r i m ' s "Old Testament Form Criticism Reconsidered" article did not receive adequate attention in Germany. A. Campbell, "Form Criticism's Future" in The Changing Face of Form Criticism for the Twenty-First Century (ed. M. Sweeney and E. Ben Zvi; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003), 2 0 - 2 1 , places more of the blame on the overreaching claims of K. K o c h ' s Growth of the Biblical Tradition mentioned above. 55 Ibid., 125-152. 56 Ibid., 132-133. 57 Ibid., 121. The text's present form is thus stressed more than had been the case. 58 For an account of the original plan of this series, see R. Knierim and G. Tucker, editors' foreword to Wisdom Literature: Job, Proverbs, Canticles, Ecclesiastes and Esther by Roland E. 52 53

12

Chapter

1:

Introduction

likewise been to examine the structure of the individual text before discussing genre, 59 and in many later volumes of the series, the Sitz in der Literatur has been stressed along with the possible Sitz im Leben in the setting section. Even though Knierim points out that structure is not always the overarching principle in determining genre, 60 the FOTL series has also often run into trouble by ignoring content 61 and focusing too much on issues of structure and Sitz im Leben.62 Consider, for example, A. Campbell's FOTL volume on 1 Samuel. After giving a reasonably lengthy discussion of the genre "story," Campbell defines "story about curse" as simply "a story specified by content; it is not a separate genre" and gives similar definitions to "story about a hero" and "story about/of prophet(s)." 63 Of particular interest to this book is Campbell's definition of "story of birth": "A story specified by content, i.e. birth. Usually involves need or distress, whether before or after the birth, resolution of the need by the promise of a child, and realization of this in the birth of the child, naming, etc." 64 Campbell omits the customary "it is not a separate genre" here. Moreover, Campbell's definition of "report of battle" contains neither the remark, "a report specified by content" nor "it is not a separate genre." These inconsistencies show the difficulty of considering genre as a structural issue solely, divorced from the question of content. Again, Knierim comments,

Murphy (FOTL 13; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981), ix-xi. The editors note that there will be some differences of approach among the different volumes of the series. 59 Knierim writes, "Not only must the structural analysis of the individuality of texts be included into the form-critical method, it must, in fact, precede the analysis of the typical structure if the claim that such a typicality inherently determines an individual text is to be substantiated" ("OT Form Criticism," 461). As the prime mover behind the FOTL series, Knierim insists that this principle be followed there. 60 Knierim comments, "Structural models can but do not have to be genres, and a tension between them is entirely possible. Conversely, a genre is not always constituted by one and the same structure" ( " O T Form Criticism," 453—454). 61 On the relationship between form and content in a discourse, see S. Chatman, "On Defining ' F o r m ' " New Literary History 2 (1971): 2 1 7 - 2 2 8 . Chatman argues against those, such as W. Wimsatt and R. Barthes, who see form and content as ultimately indistinguishable. 62 A classic example is G. Coats' definition of genealogy in the FOTL Genesis commentary: "Builds on a system of enumeration rather than narration. It is more nearly akin to list, but can incorporate story in its scope. It derives ultimately from tribal circles as a means for the history and validation of tribal units" (Genesis: With an Introduction to Narrative Literature [FOTL 1; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983], 318). Something that does not build on narration but that can include story is ill-defined as a structural category. R. Wilson is surely much closer when he defines genealogy as "a written or oral expression of the descent of a person or persons from an ancestor or ancestors" Genealogy and History in the Biblical World, (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1977), 9. What constitutes a genealogy is its content - the same genealogy can be expressed in different ways and perhaps the most common way of expressing a genealogy today is the genealogical chart, which employs extralinguistic factors such as lines and equals signs. 63 Campbell, 1 Samuel, 348. 64 Ibid., 349.

2. The Form-Critical

Problem:

Determining

a

Text-Type

13

"If we expand genre to include a diversity of possible typicalities by which texts can be constituted, it would be a departure from the main-stream of the form-critical tradition. We could no longer expect to determine a genre on the basis of a morphological investigation of language alone. But at the same time, we would be forced to concentrate on whatever typicality governs a text, regardless of which one it might be. This task must remain the overriding concern of form criticism whether we ultimately agree on a concept of genre or not." 6 5

The "report of battle" genre described by Campbell is actually an intersection of the categories of "report" and "battle narrative." Both categories contribute to the set of characteristics that define this genre. It is this understanding of genre as an intersection of categories that lies at the center of our own approach. The Approach in This Study We shall make the following assumptions. First, the form-critical method of analyzing the structure of a text and then discussing the genre of the structural units can be applied to all texts, but with greater usefulness to some text-types than others. We mentioned above G. Lohfink's comment that the books of the Bible "contain within themselves the most varied genres." Lohfink implies a contrast between books of the Bible and other books. 66 It is our belief that such a contrast is only one of degree - it is still possible to do a structural analysis on a novel, and literary units of any given novel would likely include genres such as "speech," "character description," "report of dream," "instruction," etc.67 Second, the Sitz in der Literatur is one of the typicalities of a portion of text. For example, a literary unit might be considered as both, "section of novel" [or even more specifically "section of Buddenbrooks"] and "dialogue." And sometimes the contribution of the Sitz in der Literatur is the most important typicality of a particular unit. This likewise applies to texts in the Hebrew Bible. For example, Gen 1:3-31 is an account of G-d's creation that is very clearly broken down into six units, each containing certain common features (introductory speech formula, naming formula, evaluation formula, concluding day formula). Although it is certainly possible to isolate one of these units and consider what other types of literature it is most similar to, it is obvious that its closest generic identity is with other units of the same six-part account. 68 Third, although structure has been the most important constituent in defining genre within form criticism, the discipline still lacks a consistent hierarchy of 65 Knierim, " O T Form Criticism," 456. For an example of Knierim's form-critical methodology in practice, see R. Knierim, Text and Concept in Leviticus 1:1-9 (FAT 2; Tübingen: J. C. B. Möhr [Paul Siebeck], 1992). 66 Lohfink explicitly comments, "Normally books contain only one single genre. If you go into a bookstore and buy Thomas M a n n ' s Buddenbrooks, you get a book which is a novel and nothing else from start to finish" (63). 67 Obviously, there are some genres, such as the telephone directory, where this type of analysis is less useful but this applies to the Bible also. Some sections of Proverbs are an almost endless series of units of the same literary type with a clear division between each. 68 The same point can be made regarding the töledöt sections in Genesis, which contain several of the annunciation type-scenes we shall examine in chapter 4.

14

Chapter

I:

Introduction

terms to describe the complexity of the various form-critical units. At least, this is the case regarding narrative genres. We propose the term "notice" for the most basic of the structural categories of narrative, and define it as "a simple unit that narrates one fact and which uses at most one finite verb." The next greater69 category is that of "report." S. De Vries defines a report as "a brief, self-contained prose narrative about a single event or situation in the past."70 Although reports are brief in nature, they can contain several elements. 71 Immediately above "report" in the hierarchy of narrative genres is "account." M. Sweeney defines this term as follows: "A term nearly synonymous with report. Generally longer and more complex than a simple report, an account may consist of several briefer reports, statements, descriptions, and so on, organized according to a common theme. Accounts aim at some degree of explanation rather than simple narration of events. Like reports, accounts employ a 3 r d -person narrative style." 7 2

We shall adopt De Vries' definition of report and Sweeney's definition of account. If our approach is extended to include all units in the Hebrew Bible, then we would need definitions for macro-account, series of reports, supermacro-account etc. The method would also work from the other direction, by considering units such as "biblical book," "toledot section" etc. 73

69 For the purposes of this study, the category of "report" includes that of "notice." This is partly a matter of convenience - we can then accurately say that the topic of our study is the birth reports in the Hebrew Bible rather than the birth reports and the birth notices. But it is also the way that the term "report" has been used in the FOTL series. 70 De Vries, 434. De Vries mentions battle reports, building reports, theophany reports, birth reports and death reports as subcategories of reports that occur in Chronicles. 71 For example, De Vries states that the battle report is "a schematic recounting of a military encounter typically containing (1) the confrontation, (2) the battle, and (3) the consequences" (428), and that the death report is "a special kind of report in which all interest is focused on a violent death according to the pattern (1) causes, (2) the death, (3) the effects" (429). 72 M. Sweeney, Isaiah 1-39: With an Introduction to Prophetic Literature, ( F O T L 16; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996), 512. Sweeney, 536, also has an important definition of report: rd "A brief, self-contained prose narrative, usually in 3 -person style, about a single event or situation in the past. In contrast to story or legend, a report has no developed plot or imaginative characterization. Insofar as there is action, report differs from statement or description. Varying in length from a very short notice to a longer, even composite account, reports can carry diverse content." Sweeney's definition seems to include both notice and account as subcategories of report, albeit at opposite ends of the complexity spectrum. Our approach is to include "notice" as a subcategory of report - even though a report will often consist of several notices - but to consider "account" a higher level category. S w e e n e y ' s observation regarding 3 r d -person style fits all the birth reports apart from one - Isaiah 8 : 1 - 4 contains an autobiographical birth report. Significantly, Sweeney's definition of "theophany report" begins, "A genre that" (541) and Sweeney speculates about the Sitz im Leben of "theophany report" but not about the more generalized category "report." This method approximates our own approach. 73 See E. Ben Zvi, "The Prophetic Book: A Key Form of Prophetic Literature" in The Changing Face of Form Criticism for the Twenty-First Century (ed. M. Sweeney and E. Ben Zvi; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003), 276-297.

2. The Form-Critical

Problem:

Determining

a

Text-Type

15

Fourth, the content of the passage contributes to its text-type. The features of a typical birth report differ from those of a battle report or a death report including structural features such as the typical number of elements in the texttype. Moreover, larger texts frequently have mixed contents. We are now ready to give a definition of "literary genre." Our approach is similar to J. Collins, whose definition includes texts of varying lengths: "By 'literary genre' we mean a group of written texts marked by distinctive recurring characteristics which constitute a recognizable and coherent type of writing. The texts which make up the genre must be intelligible as independent units. This does not necessarily mean that they have ever existed as independent works. In many cases recognizable units are embedded in larger works and we cannot be sure whether they ever circulated independently. If they constitute coherent wholes which are intelligible without reference to their present context, they can qualify as members of a genre." 7 4

The problematic phrase here is "intelligible without reference to their present context." Units such as the "day units" in Gen 1:3-31, are certainly a group of written texts marked by distinctive recurring characteristics. They are coherent wholes within their present context yet it is arguable to what extent they could be considered intelligible outside it. For our purposes, such units will be considered as members of a genre, regardless of their intelligibility outside their Sitz in der Literatur. We therefore define a literary genre as follows: "A group of written texts marked by distinctive recurring characteristics, whether these characteristics are structural, stylistic, or of content. The texts which make up the genre must be intelligible as coherent units within the present context." 5 We can now specify the topic of this study as the intersection of three categories: the structural category "report," the content category "material concerning birth," and the Sitz in der Literatur category "Hebrew Bible." 76 This book could have been given the more accurate, if unwieldy, title The Hebrew Bible Birth Report Genre.

74

J. Collins, "Introduction: Towards the Morphology of a Genre," Semeia 14 (1979): 1. A. Campbell defines "genre" in terms of its properties: "1. A tag that an interpreter can put on a text after its secrets have been explored. 2. A name that helps situate a text within a general class so that it can be more easily understood. 3. A summary of observations about a given text validating an initial intuition as to its nature" ("Form Criticism's Future," 24-25). Our definition would seem to be compatible with Campbell's. 76 For comparative purposes, we shall on occasion examine other birth reports in the literature of the Ancient Near East and in the New Testament. We shall focus upon the Hebrew Bible, though. Again, that the Sitz in der Literatur is relevant for text-type is readily seen by the fact that birth reports in modern American local newspapers would likely include material such as notices about the weight of the baby and the time of delivery - concerns wholly alien to birth reports in the Hebrew Bible. For a discussion of how to analyze Israelite genres within the context of the Ancient Near East, and for a warning against the dangers of "parallelomania," see T. Longman III, "Israelite Genres in their Ancient Near Eastern Context" in The Changing Face of Form Criticism for the Twenty-First Century (ed. M. Sweeney and E. Ben Zvi; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003), 177-198. 75

16

Chapter

1:

Introduction

3. Interaction with Newer Approaches Synchronic Approaches

to the Text - Especially

Narrative

Criticism

Form-critical studies do not take place in a vacuum but interact with other disciplines. Earlier form critics such as Gunkel, Noth, von Rad and Westermann, integrated their form-critical work with source criticism, redaction criticism, and tradition-historical criticism among others, all of which involve a basically diachronic approach. Our analysis of many of the passages containing birth reports is heavily indebted to these scholars and likewise interacts with diachronic methods such as source criticism where appropriate.77 In recent years, however, form criticism has also had to engage with a number of primarily synchronic approaches such as rhetorical criticism, 78 canon 77

It should be mentioned at this point that the old scholarly consensus of neatly dividing the Pentateuch into four sources, J, E, D, and P has long since collapsed. The D source has no relevance to the present monograph, because there are no birth reports in Deuteronomy or in any of the passages in Genesis through Numbers that are occasionally assigned to the D source. The material assigned to E is hardly sufficient to constitute an independent document. This led H. Wolff to speak of Elohistic fragments that nevertheless point to an earlier composition that had as its theme "the fear of ' L H Y M " ("Zur Thematik der elohistischen Fragment im Pentateuch" EvT 20 [1969]: 5 9 - 7 2 ) and many other scholars from at least the time of P. Volz and W. Rudolph to question the existence of an E source entirely (Der Elohist ais Erzahler ein Irrwegder Pentateuchkritik? [BZAW 68; Berlin: Topelmann, 1938]). R. R e n d t o r f f - in The Problem of the Process of Transmission in the Pentateuch (tr. J. Scullion; J S O T S u p 89; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1990), whose German edition appeared in 1977 - produced a more thorough critique of the documentary hypothesis itself. Before arguing that the non-P material in the patriarchal stories developed separately from the material in the primeval and Exodus traditions, Rendtorff observed that even advocates of the documentary hypothesis basically agreed only that there was a priestly layer in the Pentateuch, besides which lay one or more other sources or layers (101-106). D. Petersen makes a similar judgment: " M o s t scholars adjudge that some form of the source-critical hypothesis still serves well to explain certain features of the Pentateuch, i.e. that there are at least two originally independent literary traditions of significant scale that have been combined in the tetrateuch" ("The Formation of the Pentateuch," in Old Testament Interpretation: Past, Present, and Future [eds. J. Mays, D. Petersen and K. Richards; Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1995], 38). And although A. R o f e largely defends the documentary hypothesis against recent challenges, he still only speaks of the nonpriestly material in the tetrateuch as "a series of stories that combined to form a single narrative describing the history of humanity and Israel, from the creation of the world until the Conquest. In scientific research this series came to be described as the work of J and E. But the evidence of non-uniformity that I found, such as the uniqueness of the stories about Joseph (Gen. 3 7 - 5 0 ) and Balaam (Num. 2 2 - 2 4 ) , demonstrates that it is preferable to describe this ancient historical work as made up of assorted links" (Introduction to the Composition of the Pentateuch; [Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1999], 133). In this study, although we present the views of form-critical scholars who discuss J 1 , J 2 , E etc., we shall take the position only that there is priestly and non-priestly material in the tetrateuch. Indeed, we shall see differences between how birth reports and annunciation type-scenes are narrated in the priestly and non-priestly literature. 78 The beginning of rhetorical criticism as a sub-discipline of biblical criticism is usually dated to J. Muilenberg's article, "Form Criticism and Beyond," JBL 88 (1969): 1 - 1 8 , which

3. Interaction

with Newer

Approaches

17

criticism, 79 intertextuality, 80 and structuralism.81 While we shall employ all of these methods on occasion, the synchronic method most frequently used in this monograph is narrative criticism. Important narrative-critical studies of the Hebrew Bible include Journal for the Study of the Old Testament and related publications emanating from the was initially given as his presidential address at the S B L ' s annual meeting in 1968. Muilenburg wanted to extend the scope of form criticism to analyze larger units according to stylistic criteria such as repetition of key words, chiasms, identification of strophes and refrains, inclusios, rhetorical questions and other evidence of skill and artistry in the writing of Biblical literature. For further reading on rhetorical criticism of the Hebrew Bible, see J. Jackson and M. Kessler, ed., Rhetorical Criticism: Essays in Honor of James Muilenburg (PTMS 1; Pittsburgh: Pickwick, 1974); and P. Trible, Rhetorical Criticism: Context, Method, and the Book of Jonah (GBS; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1994). For a more New Testament perspective on rhetorical criticism, see S. Porter and D. Stamps, Rhetorical Criticism and the Bible (JSNTSup 195; London: Sheffield Academic Press, 2002). The discipline of narrative criticism has taken up many of the concerns expressed by Muilenburg and his students. 79 This approach is primarily identified with B. Childs, The Book of Exodus: A Critical, Theological Commentary (OTL; Philadelphia: Westminster, 1974); idem, Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1979); idem, The New Testament as (London: SCM Press, 1984); idem, Old Testament Theology in a Canon: An Introduction Canonical Context (London: SCM Press, 1985); idem, Biblical Theology of the Old and New Testaments: Theological Reflection on the Christian Bible (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993). For an extended critique of Child's method, see J. Barr, The Concept of Biblical Theology: An Old Testament Perspective (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1999), 3 7 8 - 4 3 8 . J. Sanders, "Cave 11 Surprises and the Question of Canon," in New Directions in Biblical Archeology (ed. D. Freedman and J. Greenfield; Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1969), 101-18; idem, Torah and Canon (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1972); idem, Canon and Community: A Guide to Canonical Criticism (GBS; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1984); idem, From Sacred Story to Sacred Text: Canon as Paradigm (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987), has also emphasized canon but is more concerned with canonical process than with an authoritative, synchronic method of reading biblical texts in light of the whole canon. 8 The concept of intertextuality comes from M. Bakhtin, The Dialogic Imagination (ed. M. Holquist; trans. C. Emerson and M. Holquist; Austin: University of Texas Press, 1981), who argues that the communication process is not a uniform line from text to reader but that in reading a text, other texts are called to mind, and that the reader can also be regarded as a text. For an examination of how Bakhtin's dialogical understanding of texts has been adopted and adapted by various biblical scholars, and for a partial critique of Bakhtin's methodology on feminist grounds, see B. Green, Mikhail Bakhtin and Biblical Scholarship: An Introduction (Society of Biblical Literature Semeia Studies 38; Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2000). 81 See R. Polzin, Biblical Structuralism: Method and Subjectivity in the Study of Ancient Texts (Semeia Supplements; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1977); A. Johnson, Structuralism and Biblical Hermenutics: A Collection of Essays (PTMS 22; Pittsburgh: Pickwick, 1979); E. Leach and A. Aycock, Structuralist Interpretations of Biblical Myth (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983). Biblical structuralists frequently draw either on the actantial analysis of A. Greimas, which in turn depends on the Russian formalist V. P r o p p ' s examination of folk tales, or upon the work of C. Lévi-Strauss, especially Structural Anthropology (trans. C. Jacobson and B. Schoepf; N e w York: Basic Books, 1963). This method emphasizes the universal aspects of language and communication and at times finds common features in texts from radically different backgrounds. For a critique of structuralism as applied to biblical studies, see D. Greenwood, Structuralism and the Biblical Text (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1985), especially pages 107-122.

18

Chapter

1:

Introduction

University of Sheffield, 82 the extensive narrative-critical studies of J. Fokkelman 83 and R. Polzin, 84 and The Literary Guide to the Bible, edited by R. Alter and F. Kermode. 85 The theory of narrative criticism as it relates to the Hebrew Bible has been expounded by R. Alter, Adele Berlin, M. Bal, and M. Sternberg. 89 The concerns of narrative criticism include plot development, characterization, irony, whether the reader is given privileged information vis-àvis the character or vice versa, ideology, gaps and ambiguity, structures of repetition, agency of different characters, reliability of the narrator, and effectiveness of rhetorical appeal. While the emphasis in form criticism is upon the typical features, the emphasis in narrative criticism is upon the unique formulations. 90 Our approach integrates form criticism and narrative criticism 91 by first establishing the 82 D. Clines, D. Gunn and P. Davies founded this journal in 1976. Together with various monograph series published at different presses (JSOT Press, Sheffield Academic Press, Almond Press, and others) based in Sheffield, JSOT has been the home for countless contributions to narrative criticism of the Hebrew Bible. 83 J. Fokkelman, Narrative Art in Genesis: Specimens of Stylistic and Structural Analysis (SSN 17; Assen: Van Gorcum, 1975); idem., Narrative Art and Poetry in the Books of Samuel: A Full Interpretation Based on Stylistic and Structural Analysis. Vol. 1: King David (II Sam. 9 20 and I Kings 1 - 2 ) (SSN 20; Assen: Van Gorcum, 1981); idem, Narrative Art and Poetry in the Books of Samuel: A Full Interpretation Based on Stylistic and Structural Analysis. Vol. II: The Crossing Fates (1 Sam. 13-31 and II Sam 1) (SSN 23; Assen: Van Gorcum, 1986); idem, Narrative Art and Poetry in the Books of Samuel: A Full Interpretation Based on Stylistic and Structural Analysis. Vol III: Throne and City (II Sam. 2-8 & 21-24) (SSN 27; Assen: Van Gorcum, 1990); idem, Narrative Art and Poetry in the Books of Samuel: A Full Interpretation Based on Stylistic and Structural Analysis. Vol. IV: Vow and Desire (I Sam. 1-12) (SSN 31; Assen: Van Gorcum, 1993). 84 R. Polzin, Moses and the Deuteronomist: A Literary Study of the Deuteronomic History. Part One: Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges (New York: Seabury Press, 1980); idem, Samuel and the Deuteronomist: A Literary Study of the Deuteronomic History. Part Two: I Samuel (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1989); idem, David and the Deuteronomist: A Literary Study of the Deuteronomic History. Part Three: 2 Samuel (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993). 85 R. Alter and F. Kermode, The Literary Guide to the Bible (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1987). 86 In addition to The Art of Biblical Narrative and studies on the poetry of the Hebrew Bible, Alter has also written The World of Biblical Literature (New York: Basic Books, 1992). 87 A. Berlin, Poetics and Interpretation of Biblical Narrative (Sheffield: Almond, 1983). 88 M. Bal, Narratology (Toronto: Univerity of Toronto Press, 1985); idem, On Storytelling: Essays in Narratology (ed. D. Jobling; Sonoma, Calif.: Polebridge, 1991) 89 M. Sternberg, The Poetics of Biblical Narrative: Ideological Literature and the Drama of Reading (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1985). 90 R. Melugin discusses the problem of the relationship between the typical and the unique for form criticism ("Recent Form Criticism Revisited in an Age of Reader Response" in The Changing Face of Form Criticism for the Twenty-First Century [ed. M. Sweeney and E. Ben Zvi; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003], 47-52). 91 Our approach is primarily a literary approach that seeks to arrive at an understanding of the text itself rather than any outside world the text might refer to. In chapter 5, where there are outside historical sources, we have attempted to reconstruct the historical situation referred to in the text, but even here the primary emphasis is on the literary setting.

3. Interaction with Newer

Approaches

19

standard patterns and f o r m u l a e for e a c h e l e m e n t in the birth report, and e v e n t u a l l y p e r f o r m i n g a narrative-critical study o n the v a r i o u s p a s s a g e s , p a y i n g particular attention to m a r k e d d e v i a t i o n s f r o m p r e v i o u s l y e s t a b l i s h e d patterns. Ideological

and Feminist

Approaches

to the

Text

R e c e n t b i b l i c a l c r i t i c i s m h a s s e e n an e m p h a s i s o n i d e o l o g i c a l critique o f the c o n c e p t s u n d e r l y i n g the text - u n m a s k i n g the p o w e r structures that the biblical authors s e e k to install or to perpetuate. T h e subject matter o f this m o n o g r a p h the portrayal o f w o m e n g i v i n g birth to children - m a k e s it m o s t suitable to i d e o l o g i c a l critique f r o m a f e m i n i s t p e r s p e c t i v e . F e m i n i s t c r i t i c i s m o f the B i b l e has operated in a variety o f w a y s . C. O s i e k 9 2 d e s c r i b e d f i v e h e r m e n e u t i c a l approaches w i t h i n the general rubric o f f e m i n i s t criticism: the h e r m e n e u t i c o f rejection, w h i c h rejects the authority o f the B i b l e for w o m e n ; 9 3 the h e r m e n e u t i c o f loyalty, w h i c h m a i n t a i n s that it is not the B i b l e that d i s c r i m i n a t e s against w o m e n but its androcentric interpreters; 9 4 the h e r m e n e u t i c o f r e v i s i o n w h i c h d i s t i n g u i s h e s the d i v i n e nonpatriarchal m e s s a g e (kernel) f r o m its present f o r m shaped b y patriarchal writers; 9 5 the h e r m e n e u t i c

92 C. Osiek, "The Feminist and the Bible: Hermeneutical Alternatives," in Feminist Perspectives on Biblical Scholarship (ed. A. Collins; SBLCP 10; Chico, Calif.: Scholars Press, 1985), 93-105. See also M.-T. Wacker for a list of German scholarship in each of these approaches ("Feminist Exegetical Hermeneutics," in Feminist Interpretation: The Bible in Women's Perspective [ed. L Schottroff, S. Schroer, and M.-T. Wacker; tr. Martin and Barbara Rumscheidt; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1998], 37—48). 93 Most rejectionists understandably spend little time doing biblical studies. In modern feminist scholarship of the Hebrew Bible specifically, the rejectionist position is perhaps most consistently represented by E. Fuchs ("Who is Hiding the Truth? Deceptive Women and Biblical Androcentrism," in Feminist Perspectives on Biblical Scholarship [ed. A. Collins; SBLCP 10; Chico, Calif.: Scholars Press, 1985), 137-144; "Structure and Patriarchal Functions in the Biblical Betrothal Type-Scene," JFSR 3 [1987]: 7-13; "The Literary Characterization of Mothers and Sexual Politics in the Hebrew Bible" in Feminist Perspectives on Biblical Scholarship [ed. A. Collins; SBLCP 10; Chico, Calif.: Scholars Press, 1985], 117-136). C. Exum has moved in this direction (Fragmented Women: Feminist (Sub)versions of Biblical Narratives [JSOTSup 163; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1993]; "Second Thoughts about Secondary Characters: Women in Exodus 1:8-2:10" in A Feminist Companion to Exodus to Deuteronomy [Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1994], 75-87). One problem with rejectionist criticism is that it can provide - often unwittingly - material for the strand of anti-Judaism (whether Christian, atheist, or goddess-worshiping) in certain feminist circles. On anti-Judaism in feminism, see J. Plaskow, "Feminist Anti-Judaism and the Christian G-d," JFSR 7 (1991): 9 9 109; idem, "Anti-Judaism in Feminist Christian Interpretation," in Searching the Scriptures. I. A Feminist Introduction (ed. E. Schussler-Fiorenza; New York: Crossroad, 1993), 117-129; K. von Kellenbach, Anti-Judaism in Feminist Religious Writings (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1994). 94 Osiek counts herself as a loyalist. She defines "feminism" as "concern for the promotion and dignity of women in all aspects of society" (97). Rejectionist feminists would dispute that certain biblical norms accepted by Osiek and other loyalists indeed display such a concern. 95 Examples of this approach include P. Trible ("DePatriarchalizing in Biblical Interpretation," JAAR [1973]: 30-48; G-d and the Rhetoric of Sexuality [OBT ; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1978]; and Texts of Terror: Literary-Feminist Readings of Biblical Narratives [OBT

Chapter 1:

20

Introduction

o f sublimation w h i c h p l a c e s greater importance on t h o s e virtues and

abilities

s t e r e o t y p i c a l l y attributed t o w o m e n , w i t h t h e result that e x e g e s i s b e c o m e s t h e a logically motivated;96 and the hermeneutic o f liberation w h i c h e m p h a s i z e s texts using universal language to describe human dignity and future f r e e d o m . 9 7 H. M c K a y categorizes the hermeneutics o f loyalty, revision, sublimation and l i b e r a t i o n a s r e a c t i v e a p p r o a c h e s . 9 8 M c K a y a r g u e s that t h e p r o a c t i v e a p p r o a c h e s are t h e h e r m e n e u t i c o f r e j e c t i o n a n d t h e h e r m e n e u t i c o f i n c l u s i v i s m , t h e latter b e i n g e x e m p l i f i e d b y the w o r k o f A . Brenner and F. v a n D i j k - H e m m e s . Brenner frequently

uncovers

material

in t h e

Hebrew

Bible

that

portrays

women's

c o n c e r n s in a p o s i t i v e light, e v e n i f t h i s m e a n s r e a d i n g b e t w e e n t h e l i n e s . 9 9 V a n D i j k - H e m m e s a r g u e s that t h e d u a l h e r m e n e u t i c o f P. S c h w e i c k e r t 1 0 0 w i t h regard t o literature w h i c h , a l t h o u g h patriarchal, r e m a i n s a d m i r a b l e in o t h e r r e s p e c t s applies

to

most

and

perhaps

all

biblical

texts.101

Van

Dijk-Hemmes

thus

a t t e m p t s b o t h t o e x p o s e patriarchal b i a s a n d f i n d p o s i t i v e i n t e r p r e t a t i o n s f o r w o m e n in h e r a n a l y s i s o f b i b l i c a l t e x t s . W e a d o p t a s i m i l a r p e r s p e c t i v e h e r e .

13; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1984]) and M. Heister (Frauen in der biblischen Glaubensgeschichte [Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1984]). 96 For example, G. Weiler argues that the original religion of Israel was matriarchal - with a Goddess and a son/lover who dies and whom the Goddess must give birth to again each year and that a return to this religion is what is needed to solve the world's problems (Ich verwerfe im Alten Testament [Munich: Verlag im Land die Kriege: Das verborgene Matriarchat Frauenoffensive, 1984]; Das Matriarchat im Alten Israel [Stuttgart: Verlag W. Kohlhammer, 1989]; Ich brauche die Göttin [Basel: Mond-Buch, 1990]). See also J. Engelsman, The Feminine Dimension of the Divine (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1979). 97 R. Ruether stresses the prophetic message of the Bible as applied in a universal fashion ("Feminist Interpretation: A Method of Correlation," in Feminist Interpretation of the Bible [ed. L. Russell; Philadelphia: Westminster, 1985], 111-124). In New Testament studies, E. Schüssler-Fiorenza pursues a liberationist perspective in In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins (New York: Crossroad, 1983). Both SchüsslerFiorenza and Ruether acknowledge the earlier work of L. Russell (Human Liberation in a Feminist Perspective [Philadelphia: Westminster, 1974]). 98 H. McKay, "On the Future of Feminist Biblical Criticism" in A Feminist Companion to Reading the Bible: Approaches Methods and Strategies (ed. A. Brenner and C. Fontaine; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997), 61-83. 99 A. Brenner, "Women's Traditions Problematized: Some Reflections" in On Reading Prophetic Texts: Gender-Specific and Related Studies in Memory of Fokkelien van DijkHemmes (ed. B. Becking and M. Dijkstra; Leiden: Brill, 1996), 11-27. See also A. Brenner and F. van Dijk-Hemmes, On Gendering Texts: Female and Male Voices in the Hebrew Bible (Biblical Interpretation 1; Leiden: Brill, 1993). 100 P. Schweickart claims that certain but not all male texts "merit a dual hermeneutic: a negative hermeneutic that discloses their complicity with patriarchal ideology, and a positive hermeneutic that recuperates the Utopian moment - the authentic kernel from which they draw a significant portion of their emotional power" ("Reading Ourselves: Toward a Feminist Theory of Reading" in Gender and Reading: Essays on Readers, Texts and Contexts [ed. E. Flynn and P. Schweickart; Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986], 43-44). ,0 ' F. van Dijk-Hemmes, "The Great Woman of Shunem and the Man of G-d: A Dual Interpretation of 2 Kings 4:8-37," in A Feminist Companion to Samuel and Kings (ed. A. Brenner; FCB 5; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1994), 222.

4. Defining

the

Method

21

Of course, many important figures in feminist criticism of the Hebrew Bible - such as P. Bird, 102 D. Fewell, 103 and C. Fontaine 104 - do not fit easily and consistently into one category. 105 The most important recent development in feminist scholarship of the Hebrew Bible is the Feminist Companion to the Bible [FCB] now in its second series, which contains articles from most of these approaches. Numerous articles in the FCB concern passages involving birth reports and will therefore also inform our study. The fact that many of these adopt a narrative-critical approach further enhances their usefulness.

4. Defining the Method The book will proceed as follows. In chapter 2, we shall define precisely what we mean by birth report and then catalogue all the birth reports that occur in the Hebrew Bible. We shall then discuss what elements typically occur in a 102 P. Bird, "Images of Women in the Old Testament," in Religion and Sexism: Images of Women in Jewish and Christian Traditions (ed. R. Ruether; N e w York: Simon & Schuster, 1974), 4 1 - 8 8 ; idem, "The Harlot as Heroine: Narrative Art and Social Presupposition in Three Old Testament Texts," Semeia 46 (1989): 119-139; idem, "Poor Man or Poor Woman: Gendering the Poor in Prophetic Texts" in On Reading Prophetic Texts: Gender-Specific and Related Studies in Memory of Fokkelien van Dijk-Hemmes (Leiden: Brill, 1996), 3 7 - 5 1 ; idem, Missing Persons and Mistaken Identities: Women and Gender in Ancient Israel (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1997). 103 D. Fewell, "Feminist Criticism of the Hebrew Bible: Affirmation, Resistance, and Transformation," JSOT 39 (1987): 6 5 - 7 5 . See also D. Fewell and D. Gunn, Compromising Redemption: Relating Characters in the Book of Ruth (Literary Currents in Biblical Interpretation; Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1990); idem, Gender, Power and Promise: The Subject of the Bible 's First Story (Nashville: Abingdon, 1993). 104 C. Fontaine, "A response to ' H o s e a ' " in A Feminist Companion to the Latter Prophets (ed. A. Brenner; FCB 8; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1995), 60-69; "The Social Roles of Women in the World of Wisdom" in A Feminist Companion to Wisdom Literature (ed. A. Brenner; FCB 9; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1995), 2 4 - 4 9 . 105 For further information regarding the theory of feminist criticism, see A. Bach, ed., The Pleasure of Her Text: Feminist Readings of Biblical and Historical Texts (Philadelphia: Trinity, 1990); idem., "Reading Allowed: Feminist Biblical Criticism Approaching the Millennium," Cur BS 1 (1993): 191-215; M. Bai, ed., Lethal Love: Feminist-Literary Readings of Biblical Love Stories (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987); idem, ed., Anti-Covenant: Counter-Reading Women's Lives in the Hebrew Bible (Bible and Literature 22; J S O T S u p 81; Sheffield: Almond, 1989) A. Brenner and C. Fontaine, A Feminist Companion to Reading the Bible: Approaches Methods and Strategies (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997); E. Cheney, She can Read: Feminist Strategies for Biblical Narrative (Valley Forge, Pa.: Trinity, 1996); A. Collins, Feminist Perspectives on Biblical Scholarship (SBLCP 10; Chico, Calif.: Scholars Press, 1985); H. Shanks, ed., Feminist Approaches to the Bible: Symposium at the Smithsonian Institution, September 24, 1994 (ed. H. Shanks; Washington D.C.: Biblical Archaeology Society, 1995); L. Schottroff, S. Schroer, and M.-T. Wacker, Feminist Interpretation: The Bible in Women's Perspective (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1998); H. Washington, S. Graham, and P. Thimmes, Escaping Eden: New Feminist Perspectives on the Bible (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1999).

22

Chapter 1: Introduction

"Hebrew Bible birth report," and what the structure of the typical Hebrew Bible birth report is. We shall also discuss if there are any standard formulae associated with particular elements within the Hebrew Bible birth report. Finally, we shall see if an analysis of all this material sheds any light on a possible Sitz im Leben associated with the Hebrew Bible birth report. In chapters 3 through 5, we shall examine how the birth report functions within a variety of different larger text-types in which they appear. Chapter 3 deals with birth reports in Hebrew Bible genealogies, chapter 4 deals with birth reports in Hebrew Bible annunciation type-scenes, and chapter 5 deals with birth reports in Hebrew Bible narratives that describe prophetic symbolic actions. Our contention that the typical structure of the Hebrew Bible birth report is modified by being included within a larger narrative of a certain genre is central to our analysis of these chapters. In each of these chapters, we first discuss the nature of the larger text-type. Then for every birth report that occurs within that larger text-type, we provide a translation including textual notes, 106 then a structural outline of the passage with related notes, and discuss the setting 107 of the birth report. We are particularly interested in analyzing how the markedly different formulations of certain birth reports - thus using the results from our analysis in chapter 2 - help further the particular narratological aims of the larger texts containing them. Then we present conclusions concerning how birth reports function within that larger text-type generally. These conclusions also include feminist concerns. In chapter 6, we consider all the birth reports not discussed in chapters 3 through 5 so there will not be a discussion of a larger text-type. However, we do use the same method for analyzing each birth report - translation with textual notes, structural outline and related notes, and discussion of setting. Finally, in chapter 7 we synthesize the conclusions of the previous chapters and suggest avenues for further research.

106 The emphasis is on establishing the text rather than a history of the versions. The method in K. De Troyer's article, "Septuagint and Gender Studies: The Very Beginning of a Promising Liaison," in A Feminist Companion to Reading the Bible: Approaches, Methods and Strategies (ed. A. Brenner and C. Fontaine; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997), 326-343, would undoubtedly be applicable to a further study on birth reports and provide insight into how the Septuagint, Peshitta, Vulgate etc. regarded certain gender issues but this text-critical enterprise lies beyond the scope of the present study. 107 Although this section will often include discussion of a variety of settings, including social and historical settings, the emphasis will be on the Sitz in der Literatur.

Chapter Two

Cataloguing the Birth Reports and Their Constituent Elements 1. Compiling a List of Birth Notices and Birth Reports In Gen 4:25, we read about the birth of Adam's son, Seth: "And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, 'For G-d has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed." And in 1 Chr 7:23, we find a short narrative concerning the birth of Ephraim's son, Beriah: "Ephraim went in to his wife, and she conceived and bore a son; and he named him Beriah, because disaster had befallen his house." These two verses have many features in common: A man engages in sexual activity with his wife, the woman bears a son, a parent names the child and there is an explanatory clause which involves a word play, in the Hebrew, upon the child's name. 1 Of course, there are also differences between these two reports: the particular formulations for the act of intercourse are different; a note that the woman conceived appears in one report but not in the other; the mother names the child in one report but the father does the naming in the other; and the wordplay occurs in a speech by the woman in one report and directly by the narrator in the other. Despite these differences, the number of features in common between these two passages satisfies Richter's requirement 2 that two similar units are a necessary foundation in any attempt to identify a genre. Both passages fit De Vries' definition of report, mentioned in the last chapter, namely "a brief selfcontained prose narrative about a single event or situation in the past." 3 A report is thus a subcategory of the term "narrative." De Vries does not include "narrative" in his glossary of genres and genre elements, but Sweeney does: "A broad generic designation for an account of action communicated directly. It includes various subgenres, such as etiology, fable, history, legend, myth, novella, report, saga, story, and tale. Narrative is concerned with action or movement, and it includes the interplay of emotions and ideas. It is informative, in that it is not primarily concerned with moving the audience to action, creating an attitude in it, or developing an idea for it. Narrative may be historical, insofar as it communicates activity that is plausible within the normal realm of 1 The Hebrew word for "appointed" plays on the name " S e t h " and the Hebrew word for "disaster" plays on the name Beriah. A fuller explanation will be given when these two birth reports are analyzed individually. 2 Richter, 138-139. 3 De Vries, 434.

24

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the Birth

Reports

human experience; or it may be nonhistorical, insofar as the action communicated transcends, precedes, or follows normal human experience." 4

A birth report clearly "communicates activity that is plausible within the normal realm of human experience" and thus is a subcategory of historical narrative text-types. For De Vries, a birth report is a report involving "the recording of a birth in narrative style, with special notice of the mother." 5 This raises the question as to what counts as "special notice." For the purposes of our study, a birth report specifically narrates that a woman bore a child, i.e., the woman is the subject of the verb yld or the report otherwise describes the woman in the act of childbearing. Under our definition, "And the sons of Helah: Zereth, Zohar, Ethnan" (1 Chr 4:7) is not a birth report even though the mother, Helah, is mentioned. However, "And Naarah bore to him Ahuzzam, Hepher, Temeni and Haahashtari" (1 Chr 4:6) does fall under our definition of birth report. Many of the passages we define as "birth reports" have a conception element, a naming element and an etiological element, but all of them have a birth element which is thus the most important typicality of each of these passages. The list of such passages is as follows: Gen 4:1, 2, 17, 19, 21, 25; 16:15; 19:37, 38; 21:1-7; 22:24; 25:2, 25, 26; 29:31-32, 33, 34, 35; 30:1-6, 7-8, 9-11, 12-13, 14-18, 19-20, 21, 22-24; 35:16-18; 36:4, 5, 12, 14; 38:2-3, 4, 5, 29, 30; 41:5052; 46:20; Ex 2:1-2, 21-22; 6:20, 23, 25; Judg 13:24; 1 Sam 1:19-20; 2:21; 4:19-22; 2 Sam 11:27; 12:24-25; 2 Kgs 4:17; Isa 8:3-4; Hos 1:3-5; 6-7; 8-11; Ruth 4:13-17; 1 Chr 2: 3, 4, 17, 19, 21, 29, 35, 48, 49; 4:4, 6, 18; 7:23; and 2 Chr 11:19, 20. All of these occur in the narrator's voice. 6

2. Previous Studies Relevant to Birth Reports H.

Gunkel

Although no form-critical analysis has been done on this group of passages, there have been studies which discuss considerable numbers of them. In the introduction to his commentary on Genesis, H. Gunkel discussed etiological legends, accounts whose purpose is to explain why a certain feature in the world 4

Sweeney, Isaiah 1-39, 525. 1 bid., 428. 6 In Gen 22:20b-22; 44:27; and 1 Kgs 3:17-18, birth reports occur within direct speech. In Gen 22:20b-22, there is a birth notice with the formulation: hinneh yaleda PNi gam-hi' banlm lePN2 'ahika followed by a list of eight sons. This is in an anonymous report to Abraham. In Gen 44:27, Judah gives a speech to Joseph in which he quotes his father as saying the following: 'attem yeda'tem ki snayim yaleda-li 'isti. In 1 Kgs 3:17-18, an unnamed woman tells Solomon that she and another unnamed woman gave birth. The formulations of both birth reports omit the object of the verb "to give birth": wa 'eled 'immah babbayit{\ Kgs 3:17) and watteled gam-ha 'issa hazzo't (1 Kgs 3:18). 5

2. Previous Studies Relevant to Birth Reports

25

is the way it is.7 One subclass of such legends contained etymological motifs, legends "concerning the origin and true meaning of the names of peoples, mountains, wells, sanctuaries, and cities." 8 Among the examples Gunkel cites are the biblical etymologies for the personal names Isaac, Jacob, Cain and Reuben, 9 but he never made a systematic study of these etymological etiologies. On one occasion, he mentions that the mother usually names the child in the J source and that the father names the child in the P material, but he never develops this thought. 10 J. Fichtner J. Fichtner examined the naming and etymological elements used in etiological narratives and proposed two principal forms that combined these elements." He gives as an example of the first form, the naming and etymology of Moses' son Gershom (Ex 2:22). The formulation in this verse is wayyiqra' 'et-semo PNki 'amar followed by the direct speech involving an etymology on the personal name. (If a woman does the naming, the verb form wattiqra' occurs instead.) Fichtner notes that 'amar is frequently missing, so that ki alone introduces the etymological element. He also observes that instead le 'mor is used in Gen 5:29; Judg 6:32; and 1 Sam 4:21, and that wayyo 'mer ki is used in Gen 26:22. 12 Fichtner's second form is used mainly for place names, and involves the narrative giving a reason for the name, followed by the phrase ca]-ken qara' sem hammaqom hahu' PN, in several places accompanied by the addition of 'ad hayyom hazzehP As an example, Fichtner cites Josh 7:25-26, where the etymological element is contained in the phrase meh 'akartanu ya 'karka YHWH (v. 25); and the passage ends with an etiology: 'aI-ken qara' sem hammaqom hahu' 'emeq 'akor 'ad hayyom hazzeh (v. 26). 14 Citing the tower of Babel episode (Gen 11:9), Fichtner also notes that the concluding phrase can be expanded by the addition of kisam followed by an etymological element. 15

7

Gunkel, Genesis, xviii-xxi. Ibid., xix. 9 Ibid., xix-xx. 10 Ibid., 42. It is difficult to know what Gunkel counted as evidence for naming. For example, the birth reports in Gen 36:4, 5 combine the birth and naming elements into one formula of which the mother is subject, yet Gunkel assigns these verses to P (Genesis, 376). P certainly contains numerous examples of formulae such as PNi begat PN 2) where the male PN| could implicitly be said to name the child, but the more explicit data in birth reports is fairly scanty. Abraham names Ishmael and Isaac, Joseph names and gives etiological speeches concerning Manasseh and Ephraim, but otherwise there are not many birth reports in P. 11 J. Fichtner, "Die Etymologische Ätiologie in den Namengebungen der Geschichtlichen Bücher des Alten Testaments," Kr (1956): 372-396. 12 Ibid., 379. 13 Ibid. 14 Ibid, 379-380. 15 Ibid., 380. 8

26

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Reports

According to Fichtner, the provenance of this second form is exclusively place names, with the event being mentioned in the foreground of the biblical exposition and this event is "captured" in its naming.16 The first form is not always associated with a similarly distinct subject, but is usually associated with the etymologies of personal names, either on the occasion of a birth or when someone is given a new name.17 Of particular relevance to us, Fichtner discerns three schemes into which the etiological stories with a birth report fall: A. birth, naming and explanation; B. birth, statement of special characteristics and naming; and C. birth, proclamation of the mother and naming.18 Scheme C presents a problem for Fichtner, because three of the reports in that scheme - Gen 29:34, 35; 30:6 - conclude by using c al-ken qare 'a semo rather than wattiqra' 'et-semo. In other words, they use Fichtner's second form rather than his first.19 B. Long B. Long takes up Fichtner's ideas in a monograph investigating the formal structure and function of the two forms isolated by Fichtner by analyzing them in relation to their narrative contexts.20 He limits his study to the books of Chronicles and Genesis through Kings. Long's conclusions are as follows: "The study of etymological formulae and their associated narrative contexts has yielded a fundamental distinction between Fichtner's Form I and II. The former is in no constitutive way linked with narrative material, and the latter shows a basic narrative structure organically related to the name formula as is premise to conclusion. A large body of material shares in varying degrees characteristic of both Form I and II." 21

None of Long's form II passages involve birth reports. However, of the form I passages, Gen 4:25; 29:32, 33; 30:8, 11, 13, 18, 20, 24; and 41:51, 52 involve birth reports while only Gen 3:20; 5:29; 26:32-33a; 1 Sam 7:12 and 1 Chr 4:9 do not. Long divides Fichtner's form I into a (3 element and a y element. The (3 element is wayyiqra ' 'et-semo /Wand the y element is ki 'amar plus the direct speech.22 Long states that although the y element, when it occurs, follows the (3 16

Ibid. " i b i d . , 380-381. 18 Ibid., 381, fn. 2. Fichtner mentions Gen 29:32; 41:51, 52; and Ex 2:10, 22 in the first category; Gen 25:25-26; 3 8 : 2 7 - 3 0 in the second category; and the birth reports in Gen 2 9 - 3 0 in the third category. 19 Fichtner, 82, accounts for this by claiming that in the older J and E strands - and for the most part in Joshua, Judges and Samuel - both forms remain pure, while in supposedly later complexes such as Genesis 2 9 - 3 0 , mixing of the formulae associated with these f o r m s occurs. He further comments that the deuteronomic writings have no name-giving with a clearly marked etymological etiology, and the priestly material uses different formulations entirely, but the Chronicler reverts back to the older formulations. 20 B. Long, The Problem of Etiological Narrative in the Old Testament, (BZAW 108; Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1968). 21 Ibid., 56. 22 Ibid., 5.

2. Previous Studies Relevant to Birth Reports

27

element, "occasionally a quotation or short statement which provides the motivation for the name, precedes the element, which stands alone in such cases." 23 Moreover, "The y element always contains a key word which is assonant with the name given. When the y element is missing, a word play (not always assonance) is clear in an immediately preceding speech (e.g. Gen 29:33). Thus the causal relationship between the name and an event or utterance is implicit in the waw conversive form of the verb and the accompanying word play, or explicit in the full y element."24

Long accepts Fichtner's division of the birth reports into schemes A, B and C, adding the important point that in all three schemes, the conception is often narrated along with the birth. 25 In this schematization, the birth reports in Gen 4:25; 29:32; 41:50-52 are examples of scheme A; and the birth reports in Gen 29:33; 30:8, 11, 13, 18, 20, 24 are examples of scheme C. However, the two cases of scheme B - Gen 25:21-26; and 38:27-30 - Long assigns to etymology of a mixed type, rather than of form I type. 26 This is clearly the case in Gen 38:27-30, where there is an example of form II in v. 29 and of form I in v. 30,27 but Gen 25:25, 26 both conform to form I. In fact, the etymologies of mixed form pose a consistent problem for Long. Next, Long points to a potentially important difference between scheme A and scheme C. Scheme C omits the y element and "the saying uttered at the time of birth is reported alongside other narrative material in a simple coordinate style. This means that the causal link between speech and name is not explicit in the syntax. It is clear only in the word play." 28 In scheme A, however, the y element comes after the naming but refers to the event which gives rise to the name itself, and this event is logically prior to the act of naming. Moreover, in addition to the assonance between a word in the y element and the name, the causal link is made explicit by a subordinating expression such as k'i 29 Despite this difference, Long observes that the narrative setting of the birth reports in both schemes A and C is "And so and so conceived and bore a son (daughter)," which is occasionally elaborated by other events or details. Therefore, in all form I type etymologies the narrative setting - whether it be the report of a conception and birth or material of an entirely different nature contains nothing that suggests the name to be given. Long summarizes his analysis of the etymologies of type form I as follows:

23

Ibid. Ibid., 6. 25 Long also generalizes the scheme to include material other than birth reports by replacing the "conception and birth" part of each scheme with the more general "narrative setting." 26 Long, Problem, 38-39, 49-50. 27 In fact, Gen. 38:27-29 is another problem for Fichtner's position that form II is concerned only with place names. 28 Long, Problem, 33. 29 Ibid., 32-33. 24

28

Chapter 2: Cataloguing the Birth Reports

"The simplest and clearest examples of Form I appear simply as formulae (Gen 3:20; 1 Chr 4:9) structured so as to report a naming, a name, and its reason. The creation of a Form I report alters this structure in no essential way. A commensurate setting is provided for the name to be given. The latter is narrated and its reason reported, but is never suggested by the narrative setting itself. Put most sharply, Form I shows no functional connections with the narrative material surrounding it."30

This is why Long assigns Gen 25:21-26 to etymology of a mixed type. Although he recognizes it as a birth report of scheme B, a form I etymology with no y element, he notes: "the assonantal word play is narrated prior to the formula. One feels, therefore, something of the inferential force of the formulation. There is also evident a dramatic development." 31 According to Long's thesis, these features should only occur in form II etymologies. In fact, what this shows is that some birth reports do have their etymologies linked to the narrative setting. The major difficulty with Long's position is the sheer number of etymologies of a mixed type that he has to adduce. For example, 1 Chr 7:21-23 is a scheme A birth report in which the narrative setting clearly provides the motivation for the etymology; 1 Sam 4:19-22 is a scheme A birth report with an additional speech that clearly relates to the earlier narration; after the birth and naming of Solomon in 2 Sam 12:24-25, there is an additional naming in a version of scheme A, but the name has assonance with a note in the narrative setting; and the birth reports in Gen 29:34, 35; and 30:5-6 all have the 'al-ken qare'a semo associated with form II but contain no more connection between the name and the narrative setting than the birth reports in Genesis 29-30 that are written with form I.32 This list does not include the numerous examples of non-birth reports that Long assigns to etymology of a mixed type. Another weakness is Long's exclusion of certain passages from his analysis. Gen 21:1-7 is a birth report with a modified [3 element in verse 3 and a modified y element in verse 6, but the larger narrative setting anticipates the name in two different passages (Gen 17:15-21; 18:9—15).33 He also assigns to an appendix Ex 2:1-10, where the naming of Moses uses form I but the y element has probable links with the main narrative; Ex 2:11-22, which also uses form I with a y element that is a comment on Moses' general situation, and to that extent links to the preceding narrative even though it does not have assonance with any particular word in it; and 1 Sam 1:1-20, a fully developed birth story whose analysis is indeed quite complicated. 34 30

Ibid., 37. Ibid., 50. 32 See Long, Problem, 38-55, for his analysis of these passages. 33 Ibid., 28, where Gen 21:1-7 is one of the "cases eliminated from the discussion," in this case because "the verses less the P strains present a fragmentary birth report with an etymological etiology, but this only as a composite literary piece comprising vv. 1, 2, 6 - 7 which no longer has preserved a simple report of birth. A smooth, early stage of tradition is not forthcoming." 34 Ibid., 56-60. 31

2. Previous Studies Relevant to Birth

Reports

29

The results from Long's own analysis throw into question some of the distinctions he and Fichtner make between form I and form II. As Long writes, "There are a surprising number of mixed cases (twenty-one in all). The mixing occurs in both old and very young literary strata, and is nearly equally distributed among person and place name traditions." 35 Nevertheless, their analysis points toward some important results. First, Fichtner has shown that the variation in order between naming and etymology that we find in the birth reports is not a unique feature of that genre but is found in other etiological narratives. Second, in their study of etiological narratives, Fichtner and Long have elucidated the more common formulations of the naming and etiological elements of birth reports. Third, although there are exceptions which he has perhaps dismissed too easily, Long has demonstrated that the etiological element of the birth report is frequently not anticipated in the narration of events up to that point. The last point raises the question as to the role these etymologies play in the narratives as a whole. What we propose here is that the etymological speeches give the speaker a chance to give her - the speaker is nearly always a woman interpretation of what this birth means. This has implications for the Sitz im Leben associated with the birth report genre. The fact that a woman usually names the child, combined with the fact that on two occasions in which the present text has the father naming the child there is evidence of an earlier narrative in which the mother names the child, 36 already suggests a social setting in which women typically named the children. But this becomes all the more likely when we consider that of the 24 etymological speeches in the birth reports, 21 of them are spoken by women. Two etymological speeches are given by Eve, two by Sarah (both concerning Isaac), eight by Leah (plus an additional one in the setting to the birth report of Issachar), four by Rachel (2 concerning Joseph), one by the midwife to Tamar, one by Pharaoh's daughter, one by Hannah and two by the wife of Phinehas (both concerning Ichabod).37 R. Wilson The analyses of Fichtner and Long have been helpful in understanding the naming and etiological elements only, but R. Wilson's study of the birth reports in Gen 29:31-30:24 involves the conception and birth elements also. Wilson first comments that this passage is a series of birth narratives, each beginning with the formula wattahar (cod) (PN) watteled ben (leya'aqob) "and (PN) (again) conceived and bore a son (to Jacob)." The exceptions are Gen 30:10, 12, 21 which lack wattahar "and she conceived." 38 35

Ibid., 37. We shall examine the Ishmael and Isaac birth reports in detail in chapter 4. 37 The exceptions are Joseph naming Manasseh and Ephraim and giving etymological speeches after each (Gen 41:51, 52) and Moses who names Gershom and gives the etymological speech concerning the name (Ex 2:22). We shall discuss these exceptions in chapters 3 and 6 respectively. 38 Wilson, 184-185. 36

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Chapter 2: Cataloguing

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Actually, the formula in Gen 30:21 is significantly different: we'ahar yalda bat "and after, she bore a daughter." Not only is the conceiving omitted and "daughter" naturally substituted for "son," because it is the birth report of a girl, Dinah, but the waw-consecutive imperfect is replaced by a waw + preposition + perfect construction. There are other deviations from Wilson's suggested formula. All these occur in the birth reports of Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar and Zebulun - the six reports which inlude the leya 'aqob phrase. In the cases of Naphtali, Asher, Issachar and Zebulun, an ordinal is added to convey which number son that woman bore to Jacob (Gen. 30:7, 12, 17, 19). In the birth formulae of Dan, Gad and Issachar, the phrase leya'aqob precedes rather than follows ben (Gen. 30:5, 10, 17). Further, the identifying phrase siphatrahel is added after Bilhah's name in 30:7 and the similar phrase siphatle'a follows Zilpah's name in Gen 30:10, 12. Wilson's decision to include what we have called "the conception element" as part of the birth formula raises the question of whether the typical birth report truly does have a conception element with its own identity, or whether wattaharis simply part of the birth element. Wilson argues that the formula wattahar watteled ben occurs, with slight modifications, in Gen 4:1, 17, 25; 19:37; 38:3-5 and suggests it as a standard formula for the YHWHist. 39 As we shall see later, even in J or the non-priestly parts of the Pentateuch, the "modifications" are more significant than what Wilson implies. Indeed, when we consider the whole range of birth reports in the Hebrew Bible, we are justified in speaking of a distinct "conception element." After discussing the conception and birth formula, Wilson turns his attention to the next element in the birth reports of Gen 29:31-30:24: "This initial formula is usually followed by an etymology beginning with the phrase watto 'mer (PN)."40 Wilson notes that in Gen 29:32, the etymology is introduced by ki 'amra, "because she said," and follows the name-giving rather than preceding it,41 but he fails to mention that in the Dinah birth report (Gen 29:21) the etymology is entirely missing and that there is an additional etymological speech after the name-giving in the Joseph birth report. Wilson completes his analysis: "The final component of the narrative is the actual giving of the child's name. The naming is done by means of the formula wattiqra' ('et-) semo PN or the formula cal-ken qar'a semo PN."42 He points out that the second formula occurs in Gen 29:34, 35; 30:6, and the first formula in Gen 29:32, 33; 30:8, 11, 13, 18, 20, 24; and in a modified form, alken qar'a semah / W i n Gen 30:21.43 Wilson's method of exploring the formulas for different elements of the birth reports in Gen 29:31-30:24 is very helpful, but he never fully exploits the 39 40 41 42 43

Ibid., Ibid., Ibid., Ibid., Ibid.,

139 n. 3. 185. 185 n. 104. 185. 185 n. 105.

3. Our Analysis of Birth

Notices

31

results of his own analysis. For example, he never explores such questions as why these formulas are used and not others ("and she bore PN," for example); whether the slight deviations from the standard patterns contribute anything to narrative development (these must be judged on a case by case basis); or what the relationship between the narrative settings and the series of birth reports following them is. Instead, Wilson's primary interest is in the grouping of sons at different status levels. He argues that this narrative places Joseph, as the son of Rachel, in the most favored position, followed by the six sons of Leah, then by the two sons born by Bilhah, Rachel's maid, with the two sons of Zilpah, Leah's maid, having the lowest status.44 Wilson claims that this interpretation cannot be obtained from analyzing Gen 29:31-30:24 alone, but that it depends on knowing that Rachel was the favored wife (Gen 29:l-30). 4 5 In chapter 4, we argue that many of Wilson's claims concerning the status of different groups of children can be derived directly by analyzing individual elements in the birth report and especially the settings to which Wilson pays little attention.

3. Our Analysis of Birth Notices Having examined the contribution of Fichtner, Long and Wilson to our understanding of certain aspects of birth reports, we shall now conduct our own analysis of all the birth reports listed on page 2. Reading the verses in this list, it is immediately evident that there are a large number of birth reports consisting of little more than a note that PNi bore PN2, while other reports usually contain elements such as conception or the reason for the name of the child in addition to narrating the birth and the naming in syntactically separate units such as "and she bore a child" and "and she called its name PN." We shall begin by analyzing the possible formulae that encapsulate the first category. The formula watteled (PN) (lo or ¡¿PN) 'et-PN accounts for many of these forms. The various examples can be separated into the following categories: watteled PN, et-PN2 (Gen 4:20); watteled 16 'et-PN {Gen 25:2; Ex 6:20, 23, 25; 1 Chr 2:19, 21, 29, 35; 2 Chr 11:20); watteled lePNi 'et-PN2 (Gen 36:12, 14); and watteled PN, lePN2 'et-PN} (Gen 36:4). Closely related to this formula are watteled PN (1 Chr 2:49), where the direct object marker is missing; watteled loPNi 'ct-PN2 (1 Chr 4:6), where there is an inversion of lo and PN, watteled lo banim followed by a list of sons (2 Chr 11:19); and watteled gam hi'et-PN (Gen 22:24), where the phrase gam hi' becomes marked. 44 Ibid., 185. Wilson further speculates that the narrator may have been making some distinction between Leah's first four sons and her last two sons, because he groups them separately. 45 Ibid., 185-186

32

Chapter 2: Cataloguing the Birth Reports

Most other birth notices use the 3fs perfect form, yaleda. The most popular formula is wePNi yaleda 'et-Pfy (Gen 36:4, 5; 1 Chr 2:17; and, in slightly expanded form, in 1 Chr 4:18; 7:18). Also attested are wePNi gam-hi'yaleda et-PN2 (Gen 4:22), yaleda 'et-PN (1 Chr 7:14), and wePN, kallato yaleda lo et-PN2(\ Chr 2:4). Slightly anomalous are the birth notices in Gen 4:2; 46:20; and 1 Chr 2:3, 48. Genesis 4:2 immediately follows the birth report of Cain and reads: wattosep laledet 'et- 'ahiw 'et-PN. Here the infinite construct of yld is used, after the 3fs waw-consecutive imperfect of the verb ysp. Genesis 46:20 and 1 Chr 2:3 both primarily discuss the sons born to a man but mention that a particular woman bore them in either a dependent clause or an explanatory addition. In Gen 46:20, which discusses the births of Manasseh and Ephraim to Joseph, the dependent clause takes the form 'aser yaleda-16 PN". In 1 Chr 2:3, which states that the sons of Judah were Er, Onan, and Shelah, the explanatory addition takes the form selosa nolad lo miPhf. Finally, in the MT of 1 Chr 2:48, there is a confusion of gender where Maacah, the concubine of Caleb, is the subject of a 3ms perfect form of yld.

4. Our Analysis of Birth Reports Introduction The rest of the birth reports include additional material, such as an introductory setting, a conception element and an etiological element that either gives an etymology for the name of the child or describes the child's significance. Table 1 lists all the birth reports not discussed above and notes which elements occur in that birth report, and whether or not they have introductory settings. Table 1: Birth Reports with Additional Elements Birth Report

Elements

Gen Gen Gen Gen Gen Gen Gen Gen Gen Gen Gen Gen

setting; conception, birth-naming, etymology setting; conception, birth-naming, significance setting; birth, naming, etymology setting ; conception , etymology , birth, naming setting ; conception , birth, naming, significance setting ; conception , birth, naming, significance setting; conception, birth, etymology, naming setting ; conception*, birth, etymology, naming conception , birth, etymology, naming setting; conception, birth, naming, etymology conception, birth, etymology, naming conception, birth, etymology, naming

4:1 4:17 4:25 16:15 19:37 19:38 21:1-7 25:25 25:26 29:31-32 29:33 29:34

Included

4. Our Analysis of Birth Reports

Birth Report

33

Elements Included

Gen 29:35 conception, birth, etymology, naming Gen 30:4-6 setting; conception, birth, etymology, naming Gen 30:7-8 conception, birth, etymology, naming Gen 30:9-11 setting; birth, etymology, naming Gen 30:12-13 birth, etymology, naming Gen 30:16-18 setting; conception, birth, etymology, naming Gen 30:19-20 conception, birth, etymology, naming Gen 30:21 birth, naming Gen 30:22-24 setting; conception, birth, etymology, naming, etymology Gen 35:17-18 birth, naming Gen 38:2-3 setting; conception, birth, naming Gen 38:4 conception, birth, naming Gen 38:5 birth, naming Gen 38:29 setting ; conception , birth, etymology, naming Gen 38:30 birth, etymology, naming Ex 2:1-2 setting; conception, birth, naming, etymology Ex 2:21-22 setting; birth, naming, etymology Judg 13:24-25 birth, naming, significance setting; conception, birth, naming, etymology 1 Sam 1:19-20 1 Sam 2:21 setting; conception, birth birth, naming, etymology 1 Sam 4:19-22 2 Sam 11:27 setting*; conception , birth 2 Sam 12:25 setting; birth, naming, etymology, naming 2Kgs4:17 conception, birth Isa 8:3—4 setting; conception, birth, naming, etymology Hos 1:3-5 setting; conception, birth, naming, etymology Hos 1:6-7 conception, birth, naming, etymology Hos 1:8-11 conception, birth, naming, etymology Ruth 4:13-17 setting; conception, birth, naming, significance 1 Chr 7:23 setting; conception, birth, naming, significance Indicates that this element was included earlier, rather than in the birth report itself. The Elements of the Birth Reports Proper 1. The Conception Element We now address the individual elements in these reports. First, we consider the question of whether there is a separate conception element or whether the word wattahar, "and she conceived," is simply part of the birth formula. The main formula for the conception element is the simple wattahar ('ód) (PN or ha'issá). The breakdown of the subcategories is as follows: wattahar (Gen 4:1, 17; 16:4; 21:2; 30:17, 23; 38:3; 1 Sam 2:21; Isa 8:3;

34

Chapter 2: Cataloguing

the Birth

Reports

Hos 1:3, 8 and 1 Chr 7:23); wattahar PN (Gen. 29:32; 30:4); wattahar ha'issa (Ex 2:2; 2 Sam 11:5; 2 Kgs 4:16); wattahar od(Gen 29:33, 34, 35; 30:7; 38:4; Hos 1:6); and wattahar odPN (Gen 30:19). Closely related formulations include wattahar lo (Gen 38:18); and wattahar PN 'isto (Gen 25:21). In four of these cases, the conception element is not followed immediately by a birth element (Gen 16:4; 25:21; 38:18; 2 Sam 11:5). In addition to the above-mentioned birth notices in genealogies that combine the birth and naming elements and contain no conception or etymological elements, there are several other birth reports that have no conception element: Gen 30:10, 12, 21; 38:5; Ex 2:22; Judg 13:24; and 2 Sam 12:24. The birth reports of Benjamin (Gen 35:16-18) and Ichabod (1 Sam 4:19-22) begin with the woman in a difficult labor, and therefore also have no conception element. Sometimes the conception element deviates considerably: wattahareyna setey benot-PN me 'abihen (Gen 19:36); way hi litqupot hayyamim wattahar PN (1 Sam 1:20); and wayyitten YHWHlah herayon (Ruth 4:13). Several pieces of evidence point to regarding the conception as a separate element, rather than just part of a birth formula. In four birth reports, it is separated from the birth element because there is a chain of events between conception and birth. On other occasions it is omitted, and in at least some of these the omission is narratologically significant. 46 On three other occasions this element is more fully developed than normal and contributes directly to plot development. Even in the more standard formulations, there is more variation than one would expect if it were just a static feature in a larger formula. 2. The Birth Element The usual formula is watteJed (PN') (/dor lePN) ben. The breakdown of the subcategories is as follows: watteledben (Gen 4:25; 29:32, 33, 34, 35; 30:23; 38:3, 4; Ex 2:2, 21; 1 Sam 1:20; 2 Sam 12:25; 2 Kgs 4:18; Isa 8:3; Hos 1:8; Ruth 4:13; 1 Chr 7:23); watteledPN' ben (Gen. 19:37; Judg 13:24); watteled lo ben (2 Sam 11:26; Hos 1:3); watteled lePN ben (Gen 30:5); and watteledPN, lePN2 ben (Gen 16:15); and watteledPN' lePN2 ben (Gen 30:10). Closely related to this formula are the following: watteled PN/ lePN ben lizqunayw (Gen 21:2); watteled PN,* ben seni lePN2 (Gen 30:7, 12); watteled lePN ben hamisi (Gen 30:17); watteled bcn-sissi lePN (Gen 30:19); watteled selosa banim usete bandt{\ Sam 2:21) and watteled bat (Hos 1:6). Genesis 38:5 uses the 3fs waw-consecutive imperfect of ysp in combination with watteled: wattosep 'od watteled ben. The birth reports using the 3fs perfect form of yld are the following: wePNt gam- hi' yaleda ben (Gen 19:38); and we'ahar yaleda bat (Gen 30:21). Both of these occur in series of birth reports. In all of the above cases, the birth elements where the woman is named or otherwise designated are either preceded 46 See the analysis of the birth reports in Gen 30:21, Ex 2:22, and 2 Sam 12:24 contained in chapters 4 and 6.

4. Our Analysis of Birth Reports

35

by a conception element in which there is no designation of the woman or there is no conception element at all in the birth report proper. Other reports use the root ys': wayyese' han 'son (Gen 25:25); we'ahare-ken yasa' 'ahiw (Gen 25:26); wehinnehyasa' 'ahiw (Gen 38:29); and we'ahar yasa' 'ahiw (Gen 38:30). In all these birth reports, the etymology follows Fichtner's scheme B. Finally, there are also two reports of difficult births. The first begins wayhi behaqsotah belidtah (Gen 35:17) and immediately continues with the midwife telling the woman not to fear because she has a son. Although the act of parturition is not specifically narrated, we can describe this as a birth element. The second report uses the expression wattikra' watteled ki-nehepku 'aleyha sireyha (1 Sam 4:19). In this case, women attending the woman tell her not to fear because she has given birth to a son. 3. The Naming Element First, we consider the occasions when the biological mother names the child. The following formulae are used: wattiqra '('el)-scmo /W(Gen 4:25; 19:37, 38; 29:32, 33; 30:18, 20, 24; 34:18; 38:4, 5; Judg 13:24; 1 Sam 1:20; 2 Sam. 12:25 Qere); wattiqra''et-semah PN (Gen 30:21); wattiqra'lanna'arPN (1 Sam 4:21); and cal-ken qare 'a semo PN (Gen 29:35; 30:6). In the MT of Gen 29:34, there is the problematic 'al-ken qara' semo PN in a context that seems to demand that the mother name the child. On three occasions a woman adopting the child names him, using the following formulae: wattiqra' ('et-) semo PN {Gen 30:8, 11, 13; Ex 2:10); and 'al-qen qare 'a semo PN (Gen 30:6). In Ruth, the neighboring women name Ruth's child using the formula wattiqre'na semo /W(Ruth 4:17). When the father names the child, the formula is usually the simple wayyiqra' ('et-) semoPN(Gen 25:26; 38:3, 29, 30; 41:51; Ex 2:22; 2 Sam. 12:25 Ketib; 1 Chr 7:23). A comparison with the versions shows that a number of these - Gen 25:26; 38:3, 29, 30; 2 Sam 12:25 - may not represent the original text (details will be given in the respective chapters that these birth reports are analyzed more extensively). The formulation we'abiw qara - / o / W ( G e n 35:18) is used to rename a child and the formulation we'etsem hasseni qara ' PN (Gen 41:52) is used for the second of two children. When Abraham names his sons, more complicated expressions are used: wayyiqra' PNi ('et-) sem-bend (hanndlad-io) 'aser-yaleda (-16) PN2 PN3 (Gen 16:15; 21:3). In Gen 25:25, both parents name the child and the expression used is wayyiqre 'u semo PN. All four birth reports in the Latter Prophets involve G-d commanding the prophet to give the child a certain name. The general formulation is a statement that G-d said to the prophet, followed by the command in the form qera ' (semo or semah) i W ( I s a 8:3; Hos 1:4, 6, 9). In Isa 8:3 and Hos 1:4, it is explicit that YHWH speaks to the prophet ("to me" in Isaiah, and "to him" in Hosea),

36

Chapter 2: Cataloguing the Birth Reports

whereas in Hos 1:6, 8, the text just says "And he spoke (to him)," but YHWH is the implicit subject. Finally, there are two birth reports in which the child is given no name (2 Sam 11:27; 2 Kgs 4:17). 4. The Etiological

Element

The most common form the etiological element takes is in an etiological speech by the person naming the child. Such a speech precedes the naming element in Gen 29:33, 34, 35; 30:6, 8, 11, 13, 18, 20, 23; 38:29. It is introduced by the following formulae: watto 'mer (Gen 29:33, 34, 35; 30:23 [although there is a speech following the naming also]; 38:29 [although this introduces a speech by the midwife, whereas the father names the child]); watto 'merPN (Gen 30:6, 8, 11, 13, 18, 20). These are the examples of Fichtner's scheme C. The following formulae introduce etymological speeches that occur after the naming element: watto 'mer (Gen 4:1; Ex 2:10; 1 Sam 4:22); ki 'amera (Gen 29:32); ki '¿mar {Ex 2:22); ki (Gen 4:25; 41:51, 52; 1 Sam 1:20); le'mór{ Gen 30:24; 1 Sam 4:21). In Gen 21:6, Sarah gives an etymological speech about Isaac beginning with watto / n e r / W a n d in the following verse gives another one beginning watto 'mer. There is also an etymology immediately after the naming element introduced by ki in 1 Chr 7:23, but there it introduces a comment by the narrator rather than a direct speech. These are the examples of Fichtner's scheme A. Of the four birth reports that have Fichtner's scheme B (Esau, Jacob, Perez, Zerah), only Perez has an etymological speech (Gen 38:29), as mentioned above. The etymology regarding Jacob is clear: wéyadó 'ohezet ba 'aqeb 'esaw (Gen 25:26). There is no word play on the name "Esau" specifically but Gen 25:25 uses the terms 'admóniand se'ar.; wordplays on Edom and Seir which are both associated with Esau. There was probably a similar association between the scarlet thread and the name "Zerah" in Gen 38:30, but this is now obscure. In the four birth reports in the Latter Prophets, after YHWH has commanded the prophet to give the child a particular name, he then gives the reason in an oracle, introduced by the particle ki, which includes a word play on the child's name (Isa 8:4; Hos l:4b-5, 6b-7, 9 b - l l ) . In other cases, the etiological element is not conveyed by means of an etymological speech, but instead there is a notice regarding the ancestral significance of the figure just named: "He is the father of Moab until this day" (Gen 19:37); "He is the father of the Ammonites until this day" (Gen 19:38); and "He is the father of Jesse, the father of David" (Ruth 4:17). Finally, the birth report of Enoch concludes with a statement that Cain built a city and called it "Enoch" after the name of his son (Gen 4:16). This last example has some affinity with both types of etiological element.

4. Our Analysis

of Birth

37

Reports

The Introductory Settings to the Birth Reports 1. Introduction The introductory settings47 narrate the actions leading up to the conception, although whenever there is a series of birth reports, there is only an introductory setting before the first report in the series.48 These settings typically include one or more of the following three categories of material: statements regarding the man acquiring a woman for sexual purposes; statements referring to an act of sexual intercourse; and statements referring to G-d enabling a woman to bear children. Each of these types of statements can be conveyed via a number of different formulae. The following table lists which formulae occur in the various introductory settings to birth reports. Table 2: The Settings in the More Developed Birth Reports Setting

Acquisition

Intercourse

Gen Gen Gen Gen

Previous

He He He He

4:1 4:17 4:25 16:3-4

Previous Wife gave maid to him

Gen 19:33

Divine Removal of Infertility

knew her knew her knew her came to her

She lay with him; he did not know She lay with him; he did not know

Gen 19:35 Gen 21:1

Previous

Gen 25:

He took her

20-21

Gen 29:31

Previous

Gen 30:1-4

Wife gave maid to him

He came to her

YHWH visited her; did as he had spoken He prayed to YHWH for her; YHWH heeded YHWH saw she was hated; YHWH opened her womb Dialogue concerning wife's lack of children

47 There are also often introductory settings to birth notices in genealogical lists. These settings take a variety of forms and are discussed at length in the following chapter. Briefly, the setting usually yields a clue as to why the following birth notice is included within the genealogy: a man has several wives, each bearing children; in addition to his legitimate children, a man has a concubine who gives him children, etc. 48 This explains why there are no introductory settings to the birth reports in Gen 25:26; 29:33, 34, 35; 30:7, 12, 19, 21; 38:4, 5, 30; Hos 1:6, 8.

38

Chapter 2: Cataloguing the Birth Reports

Setting

Acquisition

Gen 30:9

Wife gave maid to him Previous; bargain over mandrakes Previous

Gen 30: 14-17 Gen 30:22

Gen 38:2 Gen 38:18 Ex 2:1 Ex 2:21

He took her

1 Sam 1:19 1 Sam 2:21 2 Sam 11:4

He took her Father-in-law gave daughter to him Previous Previous He took her

2 Sam 12:24

Previous

Isa 8:3 Hos 1:3 Ruth 4:13

He took her He took her; she became his wife

1 Chr 7:23 2. The Acquisition

Intercourse

Divine Removal of Infertility

He lay with her

'LHYM heard her

'LHYM remembered her, 'LHYM heard her, opened her womb He came to her He came to her

He knew her

YHWH remembered her YHWH visited her

She came to him; he lay with her He comforted her; he went to her; he lay with her I drew near to her He came to her He came to her

Element

When the man "takes" a woman, the formulations are as follows: wayyiqqaheha (Gen 38:2; 2 Sam 11:4); wayyiqqah 'et-Prf (Ex 2:1; Hos 1:3); an introductory phrase followed by beqahto lo le'issa (Gen 25:20); and a compound expression: wayyiqqah PNi 'et-Pfy wattehi-lo le'issa (Ruth 4:13). There are three cases where a wife gives her husband a woman to have children with: wattitten 'otah IcPN "isah 161c 'issa (Gen 16:3); wattitten lo 'etPNsiphatah le'issa (Gen 30:4); wattitten otah lePN le'issa (Gen 30:9). The other occasion on which the Hebrew root ntn is used is when Reuel gives his daughter to Moses: wayyitten 'et-PNi bitto lePN2 (Ex 2:21). There is enough data to suggest a woman/wife-giving formula consisting of the waw-consecutive of ntn, followed by a designation of the woman to be given, followed by lo or lePN, usually followed by le 'issa .

4. Our Analysis of Birth Reports

39

On several occasions, the man and woman have been introduced as a couple long before the birth reports: Adam and Eve (introduced in Genesis 2; birth reports in Genesis 4); Abraham and Sarah (introduced in Genesis 11; birth report in Genesis 21); Jacob and Leah (married in Gen 29:23; birth reports begin in Gen 29:31); and Jacob and Rachel (married in Gen 29:28; birth reports begin in Gen 30:1). In three birth stories - involving Manoah and his wife (Judg 13), Elkanah and Hannah (1 Samuel 1-2), and the Shunammite woman and her husband (2 Kings 4) - the couple are married before the narrated action takes place. 3. The Intercourse

Element

In the category concerning acts of intercourse, one of three Hebrew expressions-yd' + direct object, skb + 'im or 'et ("with"), or bo' + 'el— is used, or sometimes a combination of them. The settings using yd' are as follows: wePNi yada' 'et-PN2 'isto (Gen 4:1); wayyeda'PN 'et-'isto (Gen 4:17); wayyeda ' PN 'od 'et- 'isto (Gen 4:25); and wayyeda'PN 'et-PN 'isto (1 Sam 1:20). It is interesting that all four use 'isto also. This enables us to speak of a "knowledge formula," consisting of the verb yd', the name of the man, and the word 'isto . If the wePNi yada ' form of the first formula is due to the narrator indicating a strong disjunctive break at the beginning of a new chapter, then we could argue for a standard formula of wayyeda 'PN ('od) 'et-(PN) 'isto. The skb constructions are as follows: wattiskab 'et- 'abiha (Gen 19:33); wattiskab 'immo (Gen 19:35); and wayyiskab 'immah ballayla hu' (Gen 30:16). The paucity of data and the variations within what data there is (twice a woman is subject, once a man; twice the preposition 'im is used and once the preposition et) argue against a set formula. The constructions with bo'art as follows: wayyabo' 'el-PN (Gen 16:4); wayyabo' elehaPN {Gen 30:4); wayyabo' eleha (Gen 38:2, 18; 2 Sam 12:25; Ruth 4:13); and wayyabo' 'el- 'isto (I Chr 7:23). Here we can perhaps speak of a "came to" formula consisting of wayyabo' 'el-PN*. Less usual forms include wa 'eqrab 'el-hannebi'a (Isa 8:3) and the compound form wattabo' 'elayw wayyiskab 'immah (2 Sam 11:4). 4. The Divine Removal of Infertility Element There are seven occasions that refer, explicitly or implicitly, to the Deity enabling the woman to have a son or sons. The expressions used differ considerably and we shall simply list them: waYHWHpaqad 'et-PN ka'aser 'amar wayya'as YHWH lePN ka'aser dibber (Gen 21:1); wayye'tar PN leYHWH lenokah 'isto ki 'aqara hi' wayye'ater lo YHWH (Gen 25:21); wayyar' YHWH ki-senu'a PN wayyiptah 'et-rahmah (Gen 29:31); wayyisma ' 'LHYM lePN (Gen 30:17); wayyizkor 'LHYM et-PN wayyisma' eleyha 'LHYM wayyiptah 'et-rahmah (Gen 30:22); wayyizkereha YHWH (1 Sam 1:19) and kl-paqad YHWH 'et-PN (\ Sam 2:21). All of these occur in what Alter calls "annunciation type-scenes."

40

Chapter 2: Cataloguing the Birth Reports

5. Conclusions We have established that the typical birth report consists of a setting and a birth report proper (or a birth notice), unless that birth report is part of a series of birth reports, in which case there is one setting followed by a series of birth reports proper. The birth notices are usually in the form of watteled PN] et-Pfy or wePNi yaleda 'et-Pfy or some close variant of one of these. These notices are most common in genealogical lists and shall be examined more extensively in the next chapter, including the settings that precede these birth notices. The more developed birth reports proper typically consist of a conception element, a birth element, a naming element, and an etiological element. The conception element is often the single word wattahar, but there are more developed forms. The birth element typically consists of the formula watteled (Prf) (lePN*) ben, with some variations in word order and sometimes including an ordinal relating which number son was born. There are two occasions where the perfect form yaleda is used, and when the mother is in a difficult labor or giving birth to twins the verb yld is not used at all. The naming element usually involves the mother, either biological or adopted, naming the child. The most common formula is wattiqra' ('et-) semoPN. In the writing prophets, there is no actual narrating of someone naming the child but YHWH commands that the child be named, and the formula qera ' (semo or semah) / W i s used. Finally, the etiological element is usually conveyed in an etymological speech by the mother, either preceding or following the naming element, typically introduced by the formula watto'mer (PN). The etiological element in the prophetic narratives becomes an oracle concerning Israel and/or Judah, with the etiology being conveyed via a word play on the child's name. In a few other passages, there is no etymology and the etiological element is conveyed by a statement of the (usually tribal) significance of the child. The introductory setting for these more developed birth reports, or for a series of such reports, normally narrates the actions leading up to the conception. It typically includes one or more of the following: material regarding the man acquiring a woman as a wife or for sexual purposes, usually using either the formula wayyiqqah (PN'j ',et-PN' (le'issa), or the formula ntn PNi lePNi' (le'issa)-, material referring to an act of sexual intercourse, usually using the formula wayya bo' 'el Pl^f or wayycda ' PN ( od) 'et-(PN) 'isto, or some expression involving skb, and material referring to G-d enabling a woman to bear children, all of which occur in annunciation type-scenes, and which are too varied in expression for us to label as a formula. Discussion of a possible Sitz im Leben for the birth report text-type is by nature speculative, and depends to a large extent upon fitting the literary data

J.

41

Conclusions

with preexisting reconstructions of ancient Israelite society. 49 Although these reconstructions differ considerably in many of their details, we can be reasonably certain that the basic unit of society in ancient Israel was the bet 'ab, a term that can denote a nuclear family but more often denotes an extended family. 5 0 The social unit consisting o f several bet

'abot was the mispaha

or

"clan." Ideally, marriage was expected to be exogamous with respect to the bet 'ab and endogamous with respect to the mispaha.51 It was the clan rather than the tribe or the nation that was the most important social unit for the social, juridical, and religious identity of the Israelite in premonarchic and early monarchic times. 52 As in other ancient Near Eastern societies, an Israelite wife increased her prestige by producing children, preferably sons. 53 In Mesopotamian society, there was a notion that birth goddesses helped ensure a successful delivery, and some passages in the Hebrew Bible also speak of divine help at birth. 54 Israelite children seem to have been named shortly after they were born, although some children may have been renamed a few years later.55 Against this background, we now examine the data from the birth reports in the Hebrew Bible. First, it is striking that the woman usually names the child and that even when a father names the child or the namer is ambiguous, any etymological speech is almost always given by the woman. In the story of the first human family, a story full of etiological significance for the ancient

49 For a discussion of the difficulties involved in this project, as well as a survey of work in the field, see P. McNutt, Reconstructing the Society of Ancient Israel (Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox, 1999). 50 K. van der Toorn, Family Religion in Babylonia, Syria, and Israel: Continuity and Change in the Forms of Religious Life (Leiden: Brill, 1996), 194-197. Van der Toorn comments, "When the archaeological evidence is added to the ethno-archaeological evidence and the biblical descriptions, it becomes very likely that the Israelite bet 'ab was often, in fact, an expanded family. Though its members did not live in the same house, they lived in close proximity to each other. Many activities were performed in common; the residents of the multiple family compound formed a unit; they were 'one flesh'" (196-197). The early Iron Age attests to regular clusters of two or three houses, and Van der Toorn thus deduces that the average bet 'ab contained about fifteen people. 51 Ibid., 200-201. 52 Ibid., 201-204. 53 K. van der Toorn, From Her Cradle to Her Grave: The Role of Religon in the Life of the Israelite and the Babylonian Woman (JSOT Biblical Seminar Series 23; trans. S. DenningBolle; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1994), 77. Some Mesopotamian cultures may even have killed newborn girls on occasion to check overpopulation (Van der Toorn, Cradle, 77). For a more general discussion on the role that women played at different times in ancient Israelite society, see C. Meyers, Discovering Eve: Ancient Israelite Women in Context, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988); P. McNutt, 94-96, 171-172, 202-206. 54 Van der Toorn comments, "Apart from the highly doubtful reference in Ps. 68:6, there are no traces to be found in the Old Testament of birth goddesses" {Cradle, 88). He does mention Ps 22:10, 71:6 and 110:3 (both slightly emended), and 139:13-16 as illustrating the Deity's help during the birth process, even using midwife imagery. 55 Van der Toorn, 22-23.

42

Chapter 2: Cataloguing

the Birth

Reports

Israelite audience, the woman names the sons (Gen 4:1-2, 25). All this suggests a setting in ancient Israel where the mother often named the child. Second, the sheer number of birth reports in the Hebrew Bible contrasts markedly with other ancient Near Eastern literature, including genealogies. Again, this suggests a setting in which the woman's role in bearing children was highly appreciated - and this should be noted as a contributing factor to the angst of the barren woman in Israel, in addition to whatever economic or other factors may have been relevant. Third, the important role played by midwives in six of the birth reports likely reflects that the midwife had a respected place within Israelite society. The honor given the midwives Puah and Shiphrah in Exodus 1, a passage not involving birth reports, is also worth noting. 56 Finally, the emphasis in the introductory setting section of a birth report on material such as how a man came to acquire a woman as a wife and material narrating an act of intercourse, together with the fact that the conception element is a standard element of the birth report, suggests a social setting in which people were interested in how certain figures of the past came to be born. They are rather different, in this respect, from birth reports in modern local community newspapers which typically say nothing about the conception but include details such as the weight of the baby, date and perhaps time of birth, and the present health of mother. This may partly reflect that the biblical birth reports are usually written a long time after the birth they record. This is an example where the written genre almost certainly differs from the oral reports by which people would have told their neighbors that so-and-so had just borne a child.57 This is seen most clearly in the cases where instead of an etymology there is a notice describing the later tribal significance of the child. Ultimately, what is more important than speculations about the Sitz im Leben of the birth report is how the Sitz in der Literatur modifies the form of the birth report. Birth reports in genealogical lists are usually simple birth notices, containing only the birth and naming elements; birth reports in annunciation type-scenes have settings in which YHWH enables the woman to bear children; and birth reports in narratives discussing prophetic symbolic actions have YHWH command the prophet to name the child. We shall further discuss the interaction between individual birth reports and these respective genres in chapters 3, 4, and 5. The remaining birth reports are examined in chapter 6.

56 Van der Toorn discusses the role of Israelite midwives and their Mesopotamian counterparts (Cradle, 84-86). 57 The closest example of this type of report is Jer 20:15. It is not a birth report, according to our definition, because no mention is made of the mother.

Chapter Three

Birth Notices and Reports in Genealogies 1. Introduction to Biblical Genealogies Definitions As mentioned in the first chapter, a genealogy is a genre whose primary characteristic is content rather than form. R. Wilson's definition of genealogy as "a written or oral expression of the descent of a person or persons from an ancestor or ancestors" 1 allows that the expression of the genealogical content take the form of a list, chart, account, story etc. A birth notice or report itself is almost always an expression of the descent of a person from an ancestor or ancestors. Unless the child and/or its parents are not named (the birth of the unnamed boy to the Shunamite woman in 2 Kgs 4, for example), a birth report necessarily conveys genealogical information. This does not imply, however, that a larger literary unit containing a birth report is automatically a genealogy. The designation "genealogy," as a term for the genre of a unit, 2 should surely be reserved for written or oral units whose main purpose is to express the descent of a person or persons from an ancestor or ancestors. A unit such as 1 Sam 1:12:21, for example, is hardly a genealogy. On occasion, a unit may have two or more main purposes, one of which is genealogical in nature, and thus may be classified as a genealogy or as some other type of literature, according to the particular aims of the classifier. For example, Gen 29:31-30:24 is a unit which could be classified as a genealogical account, but it also has characteristics found in annunciation type-scenes. We shall analyze that particular unit in the following chapter on annunciation type-scenes but we shall note there that its commonalities with genealogies distinguish it from the other annunciation typescenes. Before we discuss previous scholarship on genealogies, we shall give some more definitions regarding genealogical features, from R. Braun's commentary on Chronicles: 1

Wilson, Genealogy, 9. Wilson does not always use it in this way, but speaks about the genealogy within a unit. In practice, Wilson also uses the term "genealogy" to refer to the genealogical content behind the expression as well as the expression itself. For example, on pages 183-195, he has a section called "The Genealogy of the Twelve Israelite Tribes" that discusses various versions, or expressions, of this genealogy. 2

44

Chapter 3: Birth Notices and Reports

in

Genealogies

"Genealogies may display breadth ("These are the sons of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah,... " 1 Chr 2:1) and depth ("The sons of Solomon: Rehoboam, Abijah his son, Asa his son,... " 1 Chr 3:10). „If a genealogy displays depth alone, it is termed linear.... If a genealogy displays breadth as well as depth, it is termed segmented. Due to their more complex nature, segmented genealogies are normally more restricted in depth than are linear genealogies.... Genealogies may proceed from parent to child, in which case they are termed descending (cf. 1 Chr 9:39—44), or from child to parent, termed ascending (cf. 1 Chr 9:14—16)." 3

Notice that the definitions of "breadth," "depth," "linear," and "segmented" all refer to the content of the genealogy but that the terms "descending" and "ascending" refer to the form or structure of the genealogy. By necessity, all birth notices will occur in descending genealogies. Previous Scholarship on Genealogies Considering the number of genealogies in the Hebrew Bible, there have been relatively few studies that examine biblical genealogies as a whole. J. Wellhausen tackles the question of chronology given by some of the genealogies, concluding that the chronology of the historical books dates at the earliest to the exile, and that of the Pentateuch must be later still.4 He also argues on other grounds that the genealogy in Genesis 5 (Priestly Code) is later than that of Genesis 4 (JE).5 l.M

Noth

M. Noth devotes a chapter of A History of Pentateuchal Traditions to genealogies. He labels genealogies which connect figures who were independent subjects of previous narratives as "secondary genealogies," reserving the label of "authentic genealogies" for those genealogies whose names belonged exclusively to the collections in which they appear. 6 Noth states that the many lists of twelve-tribe or six-tribe systems are examples of authentic genealogies, 7 whereas the genealogy in Genesis 4 ties together the figures of Cain and Lamech who were subjects of previously existing narrative traditions. 8 On this point, R. Wilson agrees with the general usefulness of Noth's distinction between "authentic" and "secondary" genealogies but proposes some refinements. "Primary" genealogies must have existed as genealogies - rather than as lists of names without kinship relationships specified - outside of their present context. "Secondary" genealogies can be subclassified as follows: 1) genealogies that take both names and kinship relationships from earlier narratives; 2) genealogies that take the names from earlier narratives and have 3

Ibid., 1 - 2 . J. Wellhausen, Prolegomena to the History of Ancient Israel (tr. Black and Menzies; N e w York: Meridian, 1957), 308-309. 5 Ibid. 309. 6 Noth, Pentateuchal Traditions, 214-219. 7 Ibid., 2 1 4 - 2 1 5 . See also M. Noth, Das System der zwölf Stämme Israels, (B W A N T 4, 1; Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1966). 8 Ibid., 2 1 8 - 2 1 9 . 4

1. Introduction

to Biblical

Genealogies

45

the kinship relationships supplied by the compiler; and 3) genealogies that take the names from previous independent lists and have the kinship relationships supplied by the compiler. 9 2. M. Johnson In a monograph discussing genealogies in Matthew and Luke, M. Johnson devotes considerable attention to genealogies in the Hebrew Bible also and makes the following conclusions: 10 1) The J source often uses genealogies to demonstrate existing relations between Israel and neighboring tribes (Gen 19:36-38; 22:20-24; 25:1-6); 2) some genealogies link previously isolated traditions; 3) similarly, some genealogies bridge over periods not covered in the traditions (Genesis 5; 11; Ruth 4:18-22); 4) genealogies are used for chronological speculation (Genesis 5; 1 Chr 5:27-41; 6:1-15); 5) genealogies in 1 Chronicles 2 - 8 for tribes no longer existent were created from census lists that originally had military uses; 6) genealogies were used to legitimize individuals or provide connections to worthy families; 7) in Ezra-Nehemiah, genealogies establish and preserve the homogeneity of the race; 8) the genealogical scheme of "all Israel" in 1 Chronicles 1-9 asserts the continuity of the post-exilic community with the Israel of the monarch; and 9) the priestly genealogies, including Chronicles-Ezra-Nehemiah, "reveal the conviction that the course of history is governed and ordered to a pre-arranged plan." 11 Of the genealogies containing birth notices, Johnson's most important contribution is his analysis of 1 Chronicles 1-9. W. Rudolph had performed a source-critical work of these chapters and labeled as "das ursprüngliche chroniste Werk" the following passages: 1 Chr 1 : 1 4 a , 24-31; 34b-42; 2:1-17, 25-33, 42-5Oaa; 4:24-27; 5:1-3; 6:1-9, 14-15; 7:l-2a, 3, 12-19; and 9:1a.12 The rest of the material is labelled as "Zutaten," and although the remarks made by Rudolph throughout the commentary indicate that these additions were not all made at the same time 13 , he does not attempt to compile what was added at what stage. Birth notices occur in both Rudolph's "Zutaten" and his "ursprüngliche chroniste Werk." Johnson argues for fewer later additions and that we should "consider chapters 1 - 9 of I Chronicles an integral part of the Chronicler's work, although 9

Ibid., 2 0 1 - 2 0 2 . See M. Johnson, The Purpose of the Biblical Genealogies with Special Reference to the Setting of the Genealogies of Jesus (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1969), 3 - 8 2 , for the full analysis and pages 7 7 - 8 2 for the summary. 11 Ibid., 82. 12 W. Rudolph, Chronikbucher (HAT; Tubingen: J.C.B. Mohr, 1955), 1 - 2 . 13 A previous influential commentary by W. Rothstein and J. Hanel had labelled the earlier layer of Chronicles as Ch p , because of its supposed affinities with the Priestly stratum of the Pentateuch, and the final redactor as Ch R . See W. Rothstein and J. Hanel, Das Erste Buch der Chronik (KAT; Leipzig: A. Deichertsche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1927), 7 0 - 7 5 , 189-195, for details of their source-critical analysis of 1 Chronicles 1 - 9 . The linking of strata in Chronicles to Pentateuchal sources has not found much favor in recent years. 10

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the hand of later editors is to be admitted at several points." 14 His argument is based in large part on a number of themes common to both sections (the interest in "all Israel," the downplaying of the Exodus, and the particular military terminology employed). Nevertheless, when Johnson divides the contents of 1 Chronicles 2 - 9 into three types - core material of each tribal genealogy, geographical data and assorted historical notes - the first category is largely similar to the material Rudolph assigns to the original layer of Chronicles. Johnson identifies as the core: 1 Chr 2:3-17, 25-33, 42-50a; 3:1-24; 4: 24-27; 5:1-3; 5:27-6:38; 7:l-2a, 3, 6, 13-21a, 25-27, 30-37; and 9:1b—3. As geographical data he classifies: 1 Chr 2:22b-23, 50b-55; 4:28-33, 5:8b-9a, 11-17, 23-26; 6:39-66; 7:28-29; 8:28b, 31b; and 9:4-34. And to miscellaneous data he assigns 1 Chr 2:18-22, 24, 34-40; 4:1-23, 34—43; 5:4-8a, 9b-10, 18-22; 7:2b, 4-5, 7-11, 21b-24, 3 8 40; and 8:l-28a, 2 9 - 3 l a , 32-40. 15 More important than the division itself - which is not source-critical - is Johnson's discussion of the purpose of each type of material and of the unit as a whole. Johnson accepts R u d o l f s claim that 1 Chr 2:1-9:la forms a unified section beginning, "And all Israel was enrolled by genealogies; and these are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel" (1 Chr 2:1) and ending, "These are the sons of Israel" (1 Chr 9:1a). 16 The Chronicler's basic purpose was thus to summarize the members of "all Israel," and this is most obviously attested in the core material of the tribal genealogies. The geographical material in Chronicles exhibits the related concern that "all the land of Israel should be populated with Israelites or allotted to them. This concern is expressed in several ways, among them the use of place-names as eponyms; the assigning of a tribe to the territory allotted to it in the book of Joshua; and the assigning of clans to a general area." 17

With regard to the miscellaneous data, Johnson notes a similar style of interpolations in the genealogies found in the Safaitic inscriptions, but also observes that the emphasis in much of the Chronicles miscellaneous data is of a military nature. Using Num 26 to show that census lists were organized in genealogical form, Johnson argues that the Chronicler may have had no other type of material for certain tribes other than these military lists. 18

14

Johnson, 55. Ibid., 56. Ibid., 57. See also Rudolph, 83. Rothstein and Hänel considered 1 Chr. 9:1a the conclusion of Ch p in 1 Chronicles 1 - 9 (195). 17 Johnson, 58. 18 Ibid., 60-68. He does, however, raise the possibility that the Chronicler "intended to sketch a blueprint for a holy war such as that planned in detail by the author of the well-known Qumran scroll," 68. 15 16

I. Introduction

to Biblical

Genealogies

47

3. M. Kartveit M. Kartveit picks up on Johnson's discussion of the geographical material in 1 Chr. 1 - 9 and studies the theology of the land of Israel in these chapters. 19 Unlike Johnson, however, Kartveit offers a detailed source-critical analysis of the text. The base source of the text consists of 1 Chr 1; 2:1-8, 9b-17, 21-24; 4:5-7, 2 4 - 4 2 a a , 4 2 a y - ^ 3 ; 5 : l a a , 3b-9a, 11-17, 23-26; 6:1-38; 7:1-5, 14aa, 14b, 15aa, 15b, 16-21a, 25-40; 8 : l - 6 a , 7b-14a; and 9 : l a a , l b ß - 3 8 a , 39-44 to the base source of the text. The earliest additions were 1 Chr 2:9a, 25-33; 3 : 1 9a; 4 : l a - b a ; 5:9b-10, 41; 7:6-12a, 14aß, 15aß, 21b-24; and 8:6b-7a, 14b-40. These were followed by 2:42-50aoc; 5:18-22, 26; and 6:39-66. Later still came 2:18-20, 50aß-55; and 4 : l b ß , 2, 4. 20 Kartveit apparently could not find a principle by which to classify 1 Chr 4:3, 8-23. 2 1 One very interesting thing for the perspective of our inquiry is that birth notices in the Chronicler's work (1 Chr 1:32; 2:5, 17, 19, 21, 29, 35, 48, 49; 4:6, 17, 18; and 7:14, 16, 18, 23) are attested in Rudolph's "ursprüngliche chroniste Werk" and his "Zutaten," in Johnson's "core" and "other notes," and in all four of Kartveit's main textual strata. 22 Birth notices, then, occur in both J and P genealogies and in all strata of the genealogies in 1 Chronicles 1-9. 4. R. Wilson After surveying the previous scholarship on biblical genealogies, 23 R. Wilson examines the form and function of both oral genealogies as used in several living societies today and written genealogies in the ancient Near East 24 before discussing the form and function of genealogies in the Hebrew Bible. He makes a very important point regarding oral genealogies: "Even though oral genealogies are not created or preserved for strictly historiographic purposes, the genealogies that are accepted by a society are nevertheless considered to be accurate statements of past domestic, political, and religious relationships. A society may knowingly manipulate a genealogy, and rival groups within the society may advance conflicting tendentious genealogies, but once the society agrees that a particular version of the genealogy is correct, that version is cited as historical evidence to support contemporary social

19 in 1 Chronik 1-9, (ConBot 28; M. Kartveit, Motive und Schichten der Landtheologie Stockholm: Almquist & Wiksell International, 1989). 20 See Kartveit, 19-107, for the details. A summary is provided on pages 107-110. 21 Kartveit, 5 0 - 5 4 . 22 The same is also true of Ch p and of Ch R in Rothstein-Hänel. 23 R. Wilson, "The Old Testament Genealogies in Recent Research," JBL 94 ( 1 9 7 5 ) : 1 6 9 189. 24 Wilson acknowledges his debt in this respect to A. Malamat. See in particular A. Malamat, "King Lists of the Old Babylonian Period and Biblical Genealogies," JAOS 88 (1968): 163—173. For a perspective that minimizes the connections between biblical genealogies and ancient Near Eastern parallels, see G. Hasel, "The Genealogies of Gen 5 and 11 and Their Alleged Babylonian Background," AUSS 16 (1978): 3 6 1 - 3 7 4 .

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configurations. Only the fact that genealogies are considered to be accurate historical records permits them to be used as charters." 2 5

This is a similar statement to what we said in previous chapters regarding birth reports and notices, i.e., that they were considered to convey actual facts. Wilson also notes that oral genealogies may contain much accurate information, that even though they are fluid they do not change capriciously but "on the basis of contemporary information or disputed and poorly remembered historical information," and that even tendentious genealogies may contain some accurate information (which, admittedly, is likely not easy to isolate). 26 The question of historicity must be addressed with respect to each individual genealogy and not to the genre as a whole. 27 Wilson notes that the genealogies of the ancient Near East are usually linear. When we examine the birth notices in the genealogies of the Hebrew Bible later in this chapter, we shall find that they nearly all occur in segmented genealogies. Therefore, the lack of birth notices in ancient Near Eastern genealogies supports the empirical evidence from the biblical material that birth notices seem best suited to segmented genealogies. One similarity between biblical genealogies and those of the ancient Near East, however, is that neither type was usually created specifically for historiographic reasons but functioned in domestic, politico-juridicial or religious spheres. 28 An exception is to be found in the genealogies in the Mesopotamian king lists, which do not contribute to the overall function of the lists but seem to be additional information included either because they were part of the source material used in constructing the list or because the compilers wanted to add historical notes to the list. 29 In either case, these genealogies were later understood as preserving accurate historical records, as were many royal inscriptional genealogies in Mesopotamia and priestly genealogies in Egypt, and in this respect, they resemble oral genealogies. 0 Likewise, Genesis 36 may have been incorporated into the rest of the Genesis material for largely historiographic reasons. 31 Another area of similarity between biblical and extrabiblical genealogies is that of formal fluidity: additions or omissions of names from parallel versions of genealogies, changing of the kinship relationship between people in the genealogy, and telescoping of the material. 32 Wilson divides his discussion of each biblical genealogy into three sections: genealogical form, genealogy and narrative, and genealogical function. In the 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32

Wilson, Genealogy, Ibid., 55. Ibid. Ibid., 132, 199. Ibid., 132-133. Ibid., 133. Ibid., 199. Ibid.

54-55.

1. Introduction to Biblical

Genealogies

49

genealogical form sections, Wilson examines the precise formulae used in different genealogies, and his analysis of the birth, etymological, and naming formulae in Gen 29:31-30:24 discussed in the previous chapter is a good example. The genealogy and narrative section discusses whether or not the content in the genealogy was drawn from independent narrative traditions; and the genealogical function section first describes how the genealogy functions in its present literary setting but sometimes also speculates as to how it may have functioned earlier in a different setting. 5. W.

Osborne

W. Osborne builds on the work of Johnson and Wilson. 33 Like Johnson, Osborne argues for the unity of the genealogical and narrative sections of Chronicles. 34 Like Wilson, Osborne devotes considerable attention to oral genealogies in today's world and to the written genealogies in the Ancient Near East, and reaches similar conclusions concerning fluidity and function. Osborne then argues for the following units in the Israelite social structure: tribe [Hebrew: sebet\, phratry [Hebrew: mispaha\, extended family [Hebrew: bet 'ab\, immediate family [often represented by a patronymic in the Hebrew Bible], and individual. 35 Osborne sees all five levels in the ascending genealogy of Achan: "Achan, son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah" (Josh 7:18), following the previous search for the guilty party first into tribes, then into phratries, then into extended families. 36 The core of Osborne's work is his detailed analysis of the form and function of the individual genealogies in 1 Chronicles 1-9. But he also notes that the structure of 1 Chronicles 1 - 8 contains several similarities to that of the Assyrian King List known as AKL-A: 1) There is no introduction; 2) there is no kinship term used between the first 13 names in 1 Chr 1:1-4 and for the first 17 names in AKL-A; 3) there is then a short section of genealogy with the proper kinship terms included; 4) another list of names without kinship terms follows; 5) the remainder of the documents include kinship terms (and both documents employ segmented and linear genealogies in this section, and they both use various types of notes among the genealogies). 37 Because one copy of AKL-A ends with the reign of Shalmanezer V (726-722 B.C.E.), and Samaria became an Assyrian

33 W. Osborne, The Genealogies of 1 Chr. 1-9 (Philadelphia: The Dropsie University Press, 1979). 34 Osborne concludes, "In view of the detailed, imaginative literary techniques, as well as the creative use of genealogies to give theological unity and motival consistency, it appears very likely that a single author is responsible for the two distinguishable and yet coherent sections of Chronicles" (94-95). 35 Ibid., 147-8. 36 Ibid. Osborne finds further support for his claim in the divisions listed in Num 26:4-62 and in the judicial units of 1000, 100, 50, 10 and 1 mentioned in Ex 18:23. 37 Ibid., 313-315.

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province shortly afterwards, Osborne argues that a copy of AKL-A could have been sent to Samaria and found its way to Judah. 38 Osborne also addresses the question of whether some of the genealogies had an oral prehistory. He comments, "Many genealogies would appear to fit the category of oral genealogies which were intended for a specific purpose. They should have faded into oblivion except that they were written down and preserved. These include the genealogies of Ishmael, Esau and Seir, Achan, Caleb, Jerahmeel, and can be seen by the various functions which have been assigned to them as well as the fact that they are tribal genealogies. They could not have been transmitted orally from generation to generation since then they would have become non-functional. Their preservation can be accounted for by their being written down during the functional period." 39

As we examine the genealogies containing birth notices in 1 Chronicles 1-9, we shall see that birth notices frequently serve functions that are typical of tribal genealogies - such as establishing the precise nature of kin relationships between certain clans, or showing that one branch of descendants was less legitimate than another. 6. Y. Levin Y. Levin emphasizes the importance of context (or Sitz in der Literatur) in determining the meaning of a biblical genealogy. 4 Hence, the function of the genealogy in Genesis 5 is to place Noah into the proper position within the primary history, and most of the short, linear genealogies in the historiographic books introduce a central character into the narrative. 41 Regarding the genealogies in Chronicles, Levin argues that the tribal structure they reflect was similar to the Chronicler's situation in fourth century Judah. 42 Like Osborne, Levin notes the numerous similarities between oral genealogies and those in 1 Chronicles 1 - 9 but he argues that the Chronicler has transformed them into a literary composition: "These genealogies were adapted from the 'living' oral traditions of the people of Judah, Benjamin, Levi, Ephraim, Manasseh, and (southern) Asher in the late Persian period and were intended to reflect the situation of those tribes' clans at the time." 4 3

38 Ibid., 315-316. Osborne offers an alternative suggestion that the compiler of the Chronicles may have come across the AKL-A in Babylon during the exile. He states that if the Chronicler did not know of a copy of AKL-A, then either he followed a known literary pattern of which we have no other examples or the structural similarities are purely coincidental. 39 Ibid., 311. 40 Y. Levin, "Understanding Biblical Genealogies" CR. BS 9 (2001): 33. 41 Ibid., 33-34. 42 Ibid., "Who was the Chronicler's Audience? A Hint from His Genealogies" JBL 122 (2003): 238-242. 43 Ibid., 243-244. See also Y. Levin, "From Lists to History: Chronological Aspects of the Chronicler's Genealogies" JBL 123 (2004): 601-636.

2. Genealogies

Containing

Birth

Reports

51

2. Genealogies Containing Birth Reports Most of the birth reports in this chapter occur in genealogical lists. In these lists, the birth report typically omits the conception and etymological elements and combines the birth and naming elements into one clause such as watteled (PN) (lo or lePN) et-PNor wePN, yaleda et-PN2. The birth reports in Gen 29:31-30:24 - a unit which is at least largely motivated by narrating which sons of Jacob were descended from which woman and therefore counts as a genealogy - nearly all contain conception elements and etymological elements. In the FOTL commentary on Genesis, G. Coats defines "list" as "a serial document, organizing the items in the serial in a representative, functional order." 44 In the Ezekiel commentary on the same series, R. Hals defines list in the following manner: "A simple recounting in writing of names or items assembled according to a certain perspective or heading. While an elementary list ignores any ordering system, a developed list seeks to arrange its contents in an order which reconstructs an aspect of existence in reality." 45

The definition given by Coats corresponds to what Hals calls a "developed list." The crucial point about a list is that it omits everything that is non-essential to its perspective and is thus an exceptionally terse way of assembling data. It is this aspect of "list" and not any aspect standard to "genealogy" that gives the birth reports in genealogical lists their distinctive shape. In principle, birth reports could occur in other types of lists. For example, a book could have contained a list of the children who were born in Hebron during the third year of King Ahaz, and such a list could have included numerous birth reports. The only birth reports that appear in lists in the Hebrew Bible, however, occur in genealogical lists. In the FOTL commentary on Chronicles, S. De Vries gives a definition of "genealogy" that will serve as a starting point for our understanding of a genealogical list: "a list enumerating individual and tribal descent from the originating ancestor. A linear genealogy traces a single line from father to son, but a collateral genealogy branches out to siblings." 46 What De Vries calls a "collateral genealogy," most other commentators label as a "segmented genealogy," and we shall follow that usage here. All these definitions will help us in our analysis of the genealogical lists containing birth reports. The genealogies containing birth reports are Gen 4:1-25, Gen 22:20-24; 25:1-6, 29:30-30:24, 36:1-4; 36:9-14; Ex 6:14-25 ; 1 Chr 2:2-4, 10-17, 1824, 25—41, 42-50; 4:5-7, 17-18; 7:14-19, 20-27; and 2 Chr 11:18-21. We shall now discuss these genealogies in terms of the concepts listed above. As mentioned above, birth reports only occur in descending genealogies, because a report that a woman bore a son is by its very nature, descending rather than 44 45 46

Coats, Genesis, 318. R. Hals, Ezekiel, (FOTL 9; Grand Rapids: Eerdmann's, 1989), 350. De Vries, 430.

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ascending. It can readily be verified that all the above mentioned genealogies are descending. We shall therefore only discuss their other characteristics, such as depth, breadth, and whether they are linear or segmented. These are all questions that concern the content of the genealogy, not its formal expression. One fact stands out immediately: all these genealogies are segmented. When we discuss the various reasons for including birth reports within genealogies, we shall see that several of them - children by two wives, children by a wife and a concubine, sisters included along with their brothers because they bore important children - require a segmented genealogy. However, other functions performed by birth reports, such as recording the lineage through a daughter when a man has no sons or preserving information about the mother of an important ancestor, could theoretically be done in linear genealogies. In the Hebrew Bible, they just happen not to do so. There are many linear genealogies in the Bible that do not contain birth reports. Nevertheless, as R. Wilson notes, the presence of so many segmented genealogies distinguishes the Hebrew Bible from genealogical material in the ancient Near East which is almost always linear. 47 Wilson also argues that biblical segmented genealogies differ from the oral segmented genealogies found in many cultures, because the former exhibit no correlation between the breadth and the depth of segmented genealogies. In the segmented genealogies examined by Wilson, breadth varied from two to thirteen names at the same level but depth rarely exceeded three generations. 48 Wilson comments, "If segmented genealogies ever had sociopolitical functions in Israel, those genealogies must have been far more extensive than the ones that have been preserved. Certainly they must have included the living people who were related by means of the genealogies." 49 Wilson did not include the genealogies of Exodus 6 or 1 Chronicles 1-9 in his analysis, and, as we have seen, the length of certain segmented genealogies here is considerably greater. Even so, the maximum breadth does not increase appreciably as the genealogies' length increases. This is surely because, to use another term by Braun, most biblical segmented genealogies are mixed 50 - they are segmented in only one or two generations. Biblical genealogies rarely list all of the fourth generation descendants, say, of the ancestor but only those in one or two key lines. It is not immediately obvious, however, that this prevents the genealogies from being used with a socio-political function. In any case, we must now consider more 47 Wilson, Genealogy, 196. Wilson attributes this difference to the tribal organization of premonarchic times in Israel compared to the centralized government in Mesopotamia. It could be argued that Genesis 36 represents an oral genealogy of the ancient Near East as well as a genealogy of the Hebrew Bible. In that case, if Wilson is right, this reflects the similarities between the tribal organizations of Edom and Israel in distinction to the Mesopotamian systems. 48 Ibid. 49 Ibid. 50 Braun, 2.

3. A Man Has Descendents by Multiple

Wives

53

precisely the way biblical genealogies function in order to understand how the birth reports within genealogies contribute to those functions.

3. Birth Notices in Which a Man Has Descendants by Multiple Wives Genesis

4:19-22

1. Translation And Lamech took for himself two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other was Zillah. And Adah bore Jabal - he became the father of tent-dwellers and livestock-owners. And the name of his brother was Jubal - he became the father of all who play the lyre and pipe. And Zillah, she also bore Tubal-Cain, sharpener of all cutting implements of bronze and iron, and the sister of Tubal-Cain was Naamah. 2. Structure I. Setting: Lamech has two wives - Adah and Zillah (19) II. List of children of these wives (20-22) A. Children of Adah (20-21) 1. Jabal (20) a. Birth notice (20a) b. Significance (20b) 2. Jubal (21) a. Mentioned as Jabal's brother (21a) b. Significance (21b) B. Children of Zillah (22) 1. Tubal-Cain (22a) a. Birth notice (22aa) b. Significance (22a(3-y) 2. Naamah: Mentioned as Tubal-Cain's sister (22b) This passage describes the children of Lamech by his two wives, Adah and Zillah. The main break occurs between v. 19, which states the situation that Lamech had two wives, and vv. 20-22 which then list the children by these two wives. Within Gen 4:20-22, the main division is between vv. 20-21, which list the children by Adah, and v. 22, which lists the children by Zillah. Only the first child of each of the wives is listed through the use of a birth notice. The birth notice of Jabal has a watteledPN] 'et-PNi formulation, but Jubal is introduced by the note that "the name of his brother was Jubal." The birth notice of Tubal-Cain has a wePNj gam hi' yaleda 'et-Pfy formulation, but

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Naamah is introduced by the note that "and the sister of Tubal-Cain was Naamah." 3.

Setting

This passage is part of Gen 4:17-22, a genealogy with a depth of seven generations. This genealogy is linear for the first six generations but is segmented in the seventh generation, where it has a breadth of four. Within its present setting of Gen 4:1-25, 5 1 it is part of a still larger genealogy that is eight 51 For various positions regarding the redaetional history of this passage, see Gunkel, Genesis, 4 0 - 5 5 ; I. Lewy, "The Beginnings of the Worship of Y H W H : Conflicting Biblical Views," VT (1956): 4 2 9 - 4 3 5 ; G. von Rad, Genesis, (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1961): 9 9 - 1 0 9 ; Johnson, 7 - 1 4 ; Noth, History of Pentateuchal Traditions, 12; M. Miller, "The Descendents of Cain: Notes on Genesis 4," ZAW 86 (1974): 164-174; Wilson, Genealogy, 138158; Coats, Genesis, 6 8 - 6 9 ; R. North, "The Cain Music," JBL 83 (1964): 3 7 3 - 3 8 9 ; D. Bryan, "A Reevaluation of Gen 4 and 5 in Light of Recent Studies in Genealogical Fluidity," Z A W 99 (1987): 180-188; R. Hess, "The Genealogies of Genesis 1 - 1 1 and Comparative Literature," Bib 70 (1989): 2 4 1 - 2 5 4 . Most of these scholars accept that the numerous similarities in names between Gen 4 : 1 8 - 2 2 and Gen 5:12-27 are evidence that they ultimately go back to the same genealogy. Lewy thinks that the Kenites, a tribe of smiths who wandered the deserts of the southern Levant, worshiped Y H W H and attributed it to their ancestor Cain. In J ' s narrative, it was the repentant Cain who first began to worship Y H W H , but the P editor placed the note about Y H W H worship to Gen 5:26 to connect it with the Sethite line. Johnson argues that the original purpose of the genealogy in Gen 4 : 1 7 - 2 2 was to glorify the Kenite tribe, and that Jabal, Jubal, and Tubal-Cain represent the three classes of the steppe-dwellers: shepherds, musicians, and smiths. The J editor then related this genealogy to the paradise-fall story by interpolating the account of Cain murdering Abel (which originally served a different function) so that the genealogy became pessimistic by its context. The J editor also added a transition t o the flood narrative, of which all that remain are Gen 4 : 2 5 - 2 6 ; 5:29, a view also found in Gunkel and von Rad. The P editor used the J materials to construct his genealogy in Gen 5:3-27. On the other hand, North postulates that the alleged Cain genealogy in Gen 4 : 1 7 - 2 2 may be a Kenite adaptation of an earlier Sethite genealogy in order to create legitimacy of their tribe. M. Noth claims that there is no earlier parallel to Gen 5 : 1 - 3 2 and that Gen 4 : 2 5 - 2 6 is merely to smooth out the problem with both Cain and Seth otherwise being A d a m ' s firstborn son. Miller claims that there was a "stock genealogy" comparable to the genealogies preserved in the Hammurabi genealogy and the Assyrian King List. When the Cain and Abel story became attached to the genealogy, it required the YHWHist "to split the list into two family lines if it was t o continue to serve as the c o m m o n ancestry of all mankind." Wilson sees the differences and similarities between Genesis 4 and 5 as explainable by genealogical fluidity. The Priestly writer would not have been bothered by the contradictions between these genealogies because they performed different functions and had consequently different forms. Bryan uses methodology developed by Wilson and argues that two originally distinct genealogies were partially conflated. Hess argues that Gen 4 : 2 5 - 2 6 is not a genealogy in itself because the parallels between v. 25 and Gen 4:1 make clear that it is a conclusion to the record of A d a m ' s immediate children. He argues that if Genesis 4 "is to be understood as a genealogy, it is a segmented one beginning with v. 1 and interrupted by lengthy notes." H e s s ' s point is that Gen 4 : 2 5 - 2 6 is not a genealogy in itself but part of a larger genealogy, something that "is not true of the genealogy in Gen 4:18 which may stand on its own, with a repeated pattern of a genealogical relationship which does not appear elsewhere." H e s s ' s argument fits our own contention that Gen 4 : 1 8 - 2 2 and part of the genealogy in Gen 5 : 3 - 3 2 may well have derived from the same stock genealogy, but that in their present form Gen 4 : 1 8 - 2 2 and Gen 4:26 are notes to a segmented genealogy that employs

3. A Man Has Descendents

by Multiple

Wives

55

generations deep, with a breadth of three in the second generation, two in the third generation, and one in succeeding generations until the eighth, where it has a breadth of four. Throughout Genesis 4, there is an emphasis on the activities and occupations of the major figures (Cain tills the ground, Abel keeps sheep, Cain builds a city, Enosh calls upon the name of YHWH) and Gen 4:19-22 reflects this in the notes concerning the occupations of Jabal, Jubal, and TubalCain. Given the emphasis on male progeny, the note concerning Naamah is surprising, especially considering that there is no accompanying note explaining her significance. Genesis

36:2-5

1. Translation Esau took wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah, daughter of Elon the Hittite; and Oholibamah, daughter of Anah the son 52 of Zibeon the Hivite; and Basemath, daughter of Ishmael, sister of Nebaioth. And Adah bore to Esau Eliphaz; and Basemath bore Reuel; and Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are the sons of Esau which were born to him in the land of Canaan. 2. Structure I. Setting: Esau has three wives - Adah, Oholibamah and Basemath (2-3) II. Series of birth notices of sons by these wives (4—5a) A. Birth notice of Eliphaz by Adah (4a) B. Birth notice of Reuel by Basemath (4b) C. Birth notice of Jeush, Jalam and Korah by Oholibamah (5a) III.Summary statement (5b) The core of this passage is the series of birth notices of Esau's sons by his three wives: Adah, Basemath, and Oholibamah (vv. 4-5a). Preceding this material is a setting which notifies us that Esau has three wives 53 and following it is a summary statement that these were the sons born to Esau in Canaan. The first birth notice, concerning Adah, follows a watteledPNi lePfy 'et-PNi formulation (Gen 36:4a) and the second and third notices, concerning Basemath

full birth reports with settings consisting of the "knowledge formula" of the intercourse element and with birth reports proper typically containing the conception element and etymological element in addition to the birth and naming elements to establish a pattern describing how births come about and what their significance is. 52 MT and Vulgate read "daughter" but LXX, SP and Syr read "son," and there is an Anah the son of Zibeon mentioned in Gen. 36:24. E. Speiser argues that the substitution of n~ for ] 3 is caused by the immediately preceding phrase ¡1313 P I , (Genesis, 278). Of interest is the fact that the order of the names in Gen 36'.2—3 is not the same as in the series of birth reports in Gen 36:4-5a.

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and Oholibamah respectively, have the wePNI yaleda 36:4b-5a).

Genealogies

et-PN2* formulation (Gen

3. Setting The genealogy in Gen 36:2-5 is segmented, with a depth of two generations and a breadth of five in the second generation. It is introduced by the toledot formula, "And these are the generations of Esau, that is Edom" (Gen 36:1), and the entirety of Genesis 36 concerns the descendants of Esau. This is in keeping with the pattern in the latter part of Genesis where the toledot section of the less important character is given first. The traditions concerning the names of the wives of Esau are quite confusing, and may point to the genealogies having been written at an early stage when there was still considerable genealogical fluidity. 54 First Chronicles

2:2-4

1. Translation The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, and Shelah; three born to him by the daughter of Shua the Canaanite. And Er, the firstborn of Judah, was evil in the eyes of YHWH, and he slew him. And Tamar, his daughter-in-law, bore to him Perez and Zarah; Judah had five sons in all. 2. Structure I. Judah's three sons by the daughter of Shua (2-3) A. Birth report of Er, Onan, and Shelah (2) 1. List of sons (2a) 2. Birth notice (2b) B. Parenthetical remark that YHWH put Er to death (3) II. Birth report of Perez and Zarah by Tamar (4) A. Birth notice (4a) B. Statement that Judah had five sons in all (4b) In this passage, there is no setting which introduces the two women by whom Judah has sons. Instead, the text divides into two main sections, one dealing with the daughter of Shua's sons and one with Tamar's sons. The formulation of 54

In Gen 26:34, Esau marries Judith, daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, daughter of Elon the Hivite (so LXX, Syr and SP; MT has "Hittite"); and in Gen 28:8-9, Esau sees that his father is displeased with his Canaanite wives and so marries Mahalath, daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth. SP has Mahalath instead of Basemath throughout Genesis 36, which partially harmonizes the two traditions but still leaves the differences between the other names unresolved. Wilson argues that Gen 26:34 and Gen 28:9 were Esau traditions before Esau became associated with Edom, and that Gen 36:1-5 is a result of distributing the names of the wives in the Edom genealogies of Gen 36:9-19 with the ethnic designations in Gen 26:34 and 28:9, (Genealogy, 174-176).

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Wives

57

the birth notice of Perez and Zarah is typical for that of a second wife: wePN] yaleda I0PN2 (1 Chr 2:4a). However, the formulation in 1 Chr 2:2 is a hybrid of a list of sons and a birth notice. This formulation begins with the bene PN formula, followed by the list of three sons and then an additional clause: selos nolad 16 miPN'. If the narrator had omitted this phrase altogether, the conventional reading would be that these three sons were by Judah's legitimate and unproblematic wife. Later, we shall see examples where a man has sons by a legitimate wife (narrated using a son list via bene PN) in which the wife is not mentioned, but then additional sons by a concubine (narrated using a birth notice) name the concubine. 3. Setting The genealogies of most of the tribes of Israel are given in 1 Chr 2:2-9:1 and the first tribe mentioned is that of Judah (1 Chr 2:2-4:23). The vast majority of this genealogy concerns the descendants of Perez. It is only in 1 Chr 4:21-23 that we find a genealogy concerning one of the sons of Judah by the daughter of Shua, namely Shelah. The additional clause in 1 Chr 2:2b — which is a birth notice because it notes that the daughter of Shua gave birth to three sons actually functions in a way to discredit these sons by noting that Judah's wife is a Canaanite. The note concerning YHWH killing Er serves a similar function. First Chronicles

2:18-24

1. Translation (Literal Translation of the MT) And Caleb, son of Hezron, begat Azuba, a woman, and Jerioth; and these were her sons: Jesher and Shobab and Ardon. And Azuba died and Caleb took for himself Ephrath and she bore to him Hur. And Hur begat Uri and Uri begat Bezalel. And afterward, Hezron came to the daughter of Machir the father of Gilead and he took her and he was sixty years old, and she bore to him Segub. And Segub begat Jair. And he had twenty-three cities in the land of Gilead. And Geshur and Aram took Havvoth-Jair from them, Kenath and its villages, sixty cities. All these are the sons of Machir the father of Gilead. And after the death of Hezron in Caleb Ephrathah; and the wife of Hezron was Abijah and she bore to him Ashkur the father of Tekoa. For this text, we depart from our usual practice and give a literal translation of the MT to illustrate the problematic nature of the text, and to consider possible alternate translations of certain verses relating to birth notices. Azuba seems to be Caleb's wife rather than his daughter, and 1 Chr 2:18 is likely better rendered, "And Caleb begat sons from Azuba his wife daughter of Jerioth" 55 or

55 E. Curtis and A . M a d s e n , The Books of the Chronicles 1910), 90.

(ICC 11; E d i n b u r g h : T. & T. Clark,

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"Caleb begat, by his wife Azuba, Jerioth," 56 or "Caleb begat by his wife Azuba and by Jerioth," 57 in each case followed by a list of sons. In none of these possible translations, would 1 Chr 2:18 be a birth notice as we have defined it. However, there is a birth notice in 1 Chr 2:19 concerning another wife of Caleb after one wife died. There is also a textual problem in v. 24. Curtis and Madsen emend bekaleb to ba' kaleb and 'abiyya to 'abihu, giving a reading "After Hezron died, Caleb went in unto Ephrath the wife of his father." 58 Williamson accepts the first emendation, but believes the phrase "and the wife of Hezron was Abijah" is a gloss on v. 21, thereby leaving v. 24 to read, "After the death of Hezron, Caleb went into Ephrath, and she bore him Ashkur." 59 This would perhaps be a parallel tradition to v. 19, concerning another wife of Caleb. However, the verse could instead refer to Hezron's wife, Abijah bearing him a son after he had died in Caleb-Ephrathah. In either case, this is a birth notice concerning an additional wife. 2. Structure I. Caleb's sons and related genealogical notes (18—20) A. Caleb's sons (18-19) 1. Caleb's sons by Azuba [and Jerioth?] (18) 2. Caleb's son by Ephrath (19) a. Introductory setting (19a-ba) 1) Death notice of Azuba (19a) 2) Caleb takes Ephrath as wife (19ba) b. Birth notice of Hur (19b{3) B. Related genealogical notes (20) II. Hezron's sons and related genealogical notes (21-24) A. Hezron's son by the daughter of Machir and related genealogical notes (21-23) 1. Hezron's son by the daughter of Machir (21) a. Introductory setting (21a) b. Birth notice of Segub (21b) 2. Related genealogical notes (22-23) B. Hezron's son by Abijah (24) 1. Introductory setting (24a-ba) 2. Birth notice of Ashkur (24bp) On the assumption that v. 24 concerns Hezron's son, the passage divides into material concerning Caleb's sons and related genealogical notes (vv. 18-20) and 56 57 58 59

H. Williamson, 1 and 2 Chronicles (NCBC; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982), 52. The RSV and NRSV take this line. Curtis and Madsen, 92. Williamson, 53-54.

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59

material concerning Hezron's sons and related genealogical notes (vv. 21-24). All three birth notices have the form watteled lo 'et-Prf. In the other passages where two wives are mentioned, this is one variant of the standard formula for a birth notice concerning a first wife and therefore fits the birth notice of the daughter of Machir but not the birth notices concerning Ephrath and Abijah. Our options for interpreting this data are as follows: the variations listed here demonstrate that there is no distinction between formulas concerning first wives and second wives, and the differences observed in the other passages concerning multiple wives are purely coincidental; the constructions are used in connection with the prominent wife at a given time, so that in the case of a wife dying, a later wife would not be considered a secondary wife (there is an example later in 2 Chronicles 11 where the watteled formula is used for a woman who is the second wife mentioned but who is favored and whose son is favored, suggesting that she is the prominent wife); the compiler of this passage used the standard form watteled for a birth element, perhaps being unaware that there was a more precise convention for distinguishing between two wives; different pieces of once separate tradition have been bracketed together awkwardly in this passage and the watteled lo 'et-Phf constructions may not have originally concerned second wives; or there has been stylistic leveling (the consistent use of lo points to this possibility). Given the difficulties in this passage and the fairly clear data in some passages yet to be examined, we are inclined to reject the first option but choosing between the other options is not easy. 3.

Setting

R. Kittel considers the whole passage to belong to the latest phase of redaction,60 and so does Rudolph. 1 Galling claims that an earlier account about Hezron has been displaced in vv. 18-20 by the Caleb material.62 Japhet similarly argues that originally Hur, Jerahmeel, and Caleb had the same status as the sons of Hezron, and that vv. 19-20 represent the Chronicler's restructuring of the genealogy.63 This passage is complex and disturbed enough that any convincing reconstruction may be impossible.

60 R. Kittel, The Books of the Chronicles: A Critical Edition of the Hebrew Text Printed in Colors Exhibiting the Composite Structure of the Book with Notes (tr. B. Bacon; Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1895), 2. 61 Rudolph divides the passage into 1 Chr 2 : 1 8 - 2 0 , 24 (which belong with 2 : 5 0 - 5 5 and its further addendum in 4:5—8) and 2:21—23 (an addendum to 2:9), but considers all of these sections to be later than the Chronicler's work (1, 12-18). 62 K. Galling, Die Bucher der Chronik, Ezra, Nehemiah ( A T D 12; Gottingen: A. Topelmann, 1928), 24. 63 Japhet, Chronicles, 7 8 - 7 9 .

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First Chronicles

4:5-7

1. Translation And Ashchur, father of Tekoa, had two wives: Chelah and Naarah. And Naarah bore to him Achuzzam and Chepher and Temeni and Haachashtari. These are the sons of Naarah. And the sons of Chelah: Zereth and Zochar and Ethnan. 2. Structure I. Setting: Ashchur has two wives - Chelah and Naarah (5) II. List of the sons of these wives (6-7) A. Sons of Naarah (6) 1. Birth notice of Ahuzzam, Hepher, Temeni, and Haahashtari (6a) 2. Summary statement (6b) B. Sons of Chelah: Zereth, Izhar, and Ethnan (7) Here, the structure of this passage is fairly obvious. A change of content, from the note that Aschur had two wives to listing the sons of those wives, marks the major division between v. 5 and vv. 6-7. Likewise, the division between the sons of Naarah (v. 6) and the sons of Chelah (v. 7) is easily observed. The birth notice concerning Naarah's sons follows the watteledlo PN] 'etPN2 pattern. The genealogical information concerning Helah's sons follows, not in a birth notice but through the pattern ubnePN, followed by a list of children. This is functionally equivalent to a birth notice with the wePNj yaleda 'et-PN2 formulation. Just as in Gen 36:2-5, the order of the wives when originally presented differs from the order given in the lists of the sons. 3. Setting This genealogical fragment has a depth of two generations and has a breadth of seven in the second generation. First Chronicles 4:17b-18

(Reconstructed)

1. Translation And these are the sons of Bithiah, the daughter of Pharaoh, whom Mered took: and she bore Miriam, Shammai, and Ishbah, the father of Eshtemoah. And his Jewish wife bore Jered, the father of Gedor, Heber, the father of Soco, and Jekuthiel, the father of Zanoah. 64 64 The MT for this passage reads, "And she conceived Miriam, Shammai and Ishbah, the father of Eshtemoa. And his Judean wife bore Jether the father of Gedor, Heber the father of Soco, and Jekuthiel the father of Zanoah. And these are the sons of Bithia the daugher of Pharaoh which Mered took." There are several problems with this version: there is no obvious referent to "she;" "conceived" is not a transitive verb so "bore" should either be added or substituted for "conceived;" the phrase "his Jewish wife" presupposes the mention of some other wife; and the statement concerning Bithia seems to have no connection to any of the

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61

2. Structure I. Birth notice of Miriam, Shammai, and Ishbah (18b—17b) A. Formula to introduce sons of Bithia (18b) B. Birth notice of Bithia's sons (17b) II. Birth notice of Jered, Heber, and Jekuthiel (18a). If our textual reconstruction is accurate, the structure is fairly straightforward. The passage divides into two sections concerning Mered's sons born by the daughter of Pharaoh and by his Jewish wife respectively. The formula used to introduce the sons of Pharaoh's daughter - we'elleh bene Pit - we would expect to be followed by a straight list of sons but in fact what follows is a birth notice with a watteled Pit formula. 65 This suggests that even in our reconstructed text, there are anomalies. At least the birth notice of Jered, Heber, and Jekuthiel is a straight-forward wePNi yaleda PN2 . Comparing these formulae with our results from the previous three birth notices, we see that the birth-report formula connected with Bithiah is similar to the standard formula for the first of two wives, and the birth-report formula connected with the Judean wife is similar to the standard formula for the second of two wives. Osborne comments that "Bithia, a daughter of Pharaoh, is given a higher social position than his Jewish wife who is left unnamed." 66 3. Setting This passage is preceded by the statement, "And the sons of Ezra: Jether and Mered and Epher and Jalon" (1 Chr 4:17a). Therefore, the genealogical fragment in 1 Chr 4:17-18 has a depth of four generations, with a breadth of four in the second generation, six in the third generation, and four in the fourth generation (all the fourth generation individuals being named through the "father o f ' designation). Second Chronicles

11:18-20

1. Translation And Rehoboam took to himself a wife: Mahalath daughter 67 of Jerimoth, son of

surrounding material. Rearranging 1 Chr 4:18b so that it comes immediately before v. 17b solves the first, third, and fourth problems, and is a generally accepted reconstruction (see Japhet, / and 2 Chronicles, 114-115). We have chosen to solve the second problem by replacing "and she conceived" with "and she bore," because it is not standard to have a birth report with a conception element in a genealogical list. 65 There is a similar construction in 1 Chr 1:32, which we will deal with later in this chapter. 66 Osborne, 241. 67 Following the Qere and LXX, rather than the Ketib's reading, "son," which is impossible in the context.

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David, and of Abihail, 6 8 daughter of Eliab son of Jesse. And she bore him sons: Jeush, Shamariah, and Zaham. And after her, he took Maacah, daughter of Absalom; and she bore to him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. 2. Structure I. Rehoboam's sons by Mahalath (18-19) A. Setting: Rehoboam takes Mahalath as a wife (18) B. Birth notice of Jeush, Shamariah and Zaham (19) II. Rehoboam's sons by Maacah (20) A. Setting: Rehoboam takes Maacah as wife (20a) B. Birth notice of Abiah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith (20b) The basic structure of the passage, once again, is straightforward, with the main division occuring between Rehoboam's sons by Mahalath (18-19) and his sons by Maacah (20). The birth notice of Jeush, Shamariah and Zaham is preceded by the formula wayyiqqah-lo PNi 'issa 'et-PN. The birth notice itself takes the form watteledlo banim followed by a list of sons. The statement introducing Rehoboam's later wife has a related but somewhat different formula: we 'ahareha laqah 'et-PN. This is followed by a birth notice with the pattern watteled 16 'et-PN. 3. Setting The genealogy in 2 Chr 11:18-20 has a depth of two generations and a breadth of seven in the second generation. Immediately following our passage, the text states that Rehoboam loved Maacah more than his other wives and concubines (v. 21). This note likely gives the motivation for the next verse: "Rehoboam appointed Abijah son of Maacah as chief prince among his brothers, for he intended to make him king" (v. 22). The only other biblical example of a king designating a successor is David's appointment of Solomon (1 Kgs 1:32-35). In that case also, the successor is elevated above sons who were born before him. In context, the unique formulation regarding Mahalath's sons, watteled lo banim, may be suggesting that what follows is a list of sons but not of prime importance. The fact that the formula introducing Maacah's sons, watteled lo 'etPN, is the standard formula for birth notices concerning the first or most important of several wives adds to this likelihood.

68 MT has awkward syntax, in which "Abihail" immediately follows "David." One possibility is that Rehoboam took Abihail also as wife, but this would make the referent to "and she bore" in the next verse ambiguous.

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4. Birth Notices in Which a Sister Bears an Important Son First Chronicles

2:16-17

1. Translation And their sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail. And the sons of Zeruiah: Abishai and Joab and Asahel - three. And Abigail bore Amasa; and the father of Amasa was Jether the Ishmaelite. 2. Structure I. Introduction setting: Zeruiah and Abigail are sisters of Jesse's sons (16a) II. The sons of Zeruiah and Abigail (16b—17) A. The sons of Zeruiah: Abishai, Joab, and Asahel (16b) B. The son of Abigail: Amasa (17) 1. Birth notice of Amasa (17a) 2. Statement concerning Amasa's father (17b) The passage divides into two parts: an introductory setting and then lists of sons from different women. However, on this occasion the setting mentions two sisters rather than two wives, using the formula we'ahyotehem Genealogical information concerning Zeruiah's sons is given via the formula ubnePN followed by a list of sons and a concluding number (v. 16b). This is not a birth notice, as we have defined it. However, the genealogical information immediately following regarding Abigail's son is a birth notice, using the formula waPNi yaleda 'et-Pty, followed by a note about the father of the child. This formula is the same one used for the second of two wives. Hence, the genealogical note concerning Zeruiah's children likely has the same function as if it were written using the birth report formula watteled PNi et-PN2, and is another example of where a birth notice and a genealogical note are functionally equivalent. 3. Setting 1 Chr 2:13-15 lists seven sons of Jesse, culminating with David. The next phrase, "and their sisters were Zeruiah and Asahel," may indicate that the reason for including Zeruiah and Abigail in the genealogies is to establish the kinship relationship between David, Joab and Amasa (important figures in the David story). 69 The genealogy in 1 Chr 2:13-17 is thus a segmented genealogy of three generations with a breadth of nine in the second generation and four in the third generation. It is preceded by a linear genealogy seven generations deep, 69 In the MT of 2 Sam 17:25, Abigail and Zeruiah are the daughters of Nahash rather than Jesse but the kinship relations of Amasa and Joab are otherwise the same. The preserved Greek manuscripts of this section of Samuel, which are Lucianic, have Jesse instead of Nahash but it is difficult to ascertain what the pre-Lucianic text read.

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culminating in Jesse (vv. 10-12). Therefore, the entire genealogy in 1 Chr 2:1017 has a depth of nine generations, with a maximum breadth of eight in the eighth generation. First Chronicles

7:14-19

1. Translation The sons of Manasseh: Asriel, whom she bore; 70 his Aramean concubine bore Machir the father of Gilead. And Machir took a wife for Huppim and for Shuppim. And the name of his sister was Maacah and the name of the second was Zelophehad, and Zelophehad had daughters. And Maacah the wife of Machir bore a son, and she called his name Peresh; and the name of his brother was Sheresh; and his sons were Ulam and Rekem. And the sons of Ulam: Bedan. These were the sons of Gilead son of Machir son of Manasseh. And his sister Hammolecheth bore Ishdod, Abiezer and Mahlah. And the sons of Shemida were Ahian, Shechem, Likhi and Aniam. 2. Structure There are so many difficulties in this passage, which we shall discuss in the setting section, that we shall not attempt a structural outline here. We shall note the structural patterns of a birth report and a birth notice both involving sisters of a male figure. Maacah is first mentioned as a sister, although it is not abundantly clear whose sister she is, but in the birth report concerning her she is called "Maacah the wife of Machir." The birth report involving Maacah contains a relatively elaborate birth element: watteled PN\ 'eset-Pfy ben. Moreover, Maacah names the son, the naming formula used being wattiqra' semo FN. In the birth notice of Hammolecheth's children, there is no setting but just the brief birth-notice wa 'ahoto PNi yalda 'et-Pfy • 3. Setting The whole passage is full of difficulties: 1) the mention of Asriel as a son of Manasseh whereas Numbers 26 lists him as a great-grandson; 2) the unusual names Huppim and Shuppim in 1 Chr 7:15 appeared three verses back in a Benjaminite genealogy; 3) the problem of whether Maacah is the sister of Machir, Huppim or Shuppim; 4) the meaning of "the second" in v. 15, when a first has not been mentioned; 5) a list of Machir's descendants is followed by a note identifying them as Gilead's descendants; 6) the problem of whether Hammolecheth is the sister of Machir or Gilead; and 7) the kinship relationship of Shemida to the other Manassites in the genealogy. 71 70 The MT athnach, marking the major division of the sentence, appears after the word "bore." The NRSV puts the break after "Aramaic concubine" and reads "Asriel, whom his Aramean concubine bore; she bore Machir, the father of Gilead." 71 See Michaeli, 60; Braun, 110-112

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65

By contrast, in the Manassite genealogy of Numbers 26:29-33, the line of descent is clear. Manasseh is the father of Machir, who is the father of Gilead, who is the father of six sons: Iezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Shemida, and Hepher. Hepher had a son named Zelophehad who had no sons but five daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. Here, Shemida's kinship relationship is clear. No wives, sisters or concubines are mentioned and there are no birth reports or notices, but Zelophehad's daughters are named. 72 W. Rudolph sees the Chronicles passage as completely corrupt and makes a wholesale reconstruction to make it more parallel to Numbers 26, which he believes to be a more accurate genealogy. 73 Osborne argues against this approach, because the genealogies in Chronicles - just as other biblical genealogies - display considerable genealogical fluidity. 74 Almost all scholars make some revisions to the text, however: the clause concerning Huppim and Shuppim is usually regarded as a gloss; 75 and often either the name "Asriel" or the following phrase 'aseryalda is deleted due to dittography. The resulting genealogical trees from the various reconstructions of 1 Chr 7:14-19 differ widely. Despite the difficulty in reconstructing the precise genealogical tree envisioned by 1 Chr 7:14-9, we can say something about the function of the birth reports within it. The birth notice concerning Hammolecheth has a similar function to the one concerning Abigail (and the genealogical note concerning Zeruiah), in that she is a sister of important members of the tribe who also bore important members of the tribe. The husbands of Hammolecheth and Zeruiah are not even named, and that of Abigail is mentioned in a parenthetical note following the birth report, rather than in the setting before the birth report. The situation is somewhat different with Maacah. Her role is primarily as the wife of an important tribal figure, Machir, rather than as a sister. Indeed, many commentators argue that "the name of his sister was Maacah" is either part of the gloss involving Huppim and Shuppim, or that "sister" should be changed to "wife," or that it should read "the name of his sister was Hammolecheth." 76 D. Edelman offers a different reconstruction: "And Machir took a wife. The name of one was Ma'acah and the name of the second was Zelophehad," based on emending 'ahto ("his sister") to ha 'ahat ("the first").77 72 De Vries argues that the omission of names for Z e l o p h e h a d ' s daughters in the Chronicles account, combined with the fact that that account is "a veritable scramble of random ethnological information," makes it the more primitive version of the genealogy (78). 73 Rudolph, Chronikbucher, 68-70. 74 Osborne, 2 9 1 - 2 9 8 . 75 Osborne, 292, is an exception. He reads "a w i f e from Huppim and Shuppim," which goes against the standard usage of the preposition b. Osborne also regards Maacah as the sister of both Huppim and Shuppim, reading " i n n s as having a plural s u f f i x . " Strangely, Osborne does not cite the targum or the Lucianic recension, both of which say "their sister." 76 See Braun, 110; De Vries, 77; and Japhet, 176. 77 D. Edelman, "The Manassite Genealogy in 1 Chronicles 7:14-19: Form and Source," CBQ 53 (1991): 187-190. Edelman credits F. Movers, Kritische Untersuchungen iiber die

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If the MT is correct, then the passage either functions to establish the kinship relationship between Machir and Huppim and/or Shuppim or to show that Machir married his own sister. In neither case is Maacah an important sibling in her own right, as Zeruiah, Abigail, and Hammolecheth seem to be. Nevertheless, as the subject of a fuller birth report in which she names her own child, she is definitely of interest to us. The textual difficulties make it impossible to be certain, but the genealogy in these verses seems to display a depth of five generations with a maximum breadth of eight.

5. Birth Notices in Which a Concubine Bears an Important Son Genesis 22:24 1. Translation And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebach and Gacham and Tachash and Maacah. 2. Structure I. Introductory setting: Nahor has a concubine, Reumah (24a) II. Birth notice of Tebach, Gacham, Tachash, and Maacah (24b) Here we have the structure typical of birth reports or birth notices: an introductory setting followed by the birth report or notice itself. In this case, the introductory setting is upilagso usemah PNand the birth notice is watteled gamhi' et-PN'. Obviously, the gam-hi' construction indicates that another woman has also borne children. This will be discussed in the setting. 3. Setting In Genesis 22:20, there is an unusual construction of wayyuggad lePN le'mor followed by a direct speech in order to have an announcement made to Abraham that Milcah had borne sons to Nahor. The direct speech consists solely of the formula hinneh yaleda PNi gam-hi' banim lePN2 'ahlka followed by a list of eight sons, one of whom is further qualifed as "father of Aram." This speech is followed by the narrator adding that the eighth mentioned son, Bethuel, begot Rebekah and that "these eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham's brother" (v. 23). It is at this point that the narrator adds the birth notice concerning the concubine: upilagso usemah PNi watteled gam-hi' 'et-PNi (v. 24) where the biblische Chronik. Ein Beitrag zur Einleitung in das Alte Testament (Bonn: T. Habicht, 1834), 89, as first proposing this emendation.

5. A Concubine

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Son

67

'et-PN2* stands for four sons. The genealogy in Gen 22:20-24, then, has a depth of three generations with a breadth of twelve in the second generation and two in the third generation (Aram and Rebekah). As we shall see, in the other genealogies where the sons of a concubine are listed in distinction from an ancestor's other sons, the wife is not named nor are her sons listed via a birth notice or report. The deviation from this pattern in Gen 22 is probably due to the fact that the birth notice involving Milcah occurs in a speech. The speech to Abraham concerning Milcah was probably a piece of tradition that the narrator decided to include in his account and to which he added comments to complete the genealogy. The result is a rather awkward construction. 78 The phrase, "Indeed, Milcah she also has borne children to Nahor your brother" (Gen 22:20) also seems out of place in its current setting.79 If the genealogy was used at one time 80 to elevate a set of eight tribes over a set of four tribes, 1 then the term Milcah, "princess," is an eminently suitable name for the primary wife. 82 Genesis

36:12a

1. Translation And Timnah was a concubine of Eliphaz, son of Esau. And she bore to Eliphaz Amalek. 2. Structure I. Introductory setting: Timnah is Eliphaz's concubine (12aa) II. Birth notice of Amalek (12aß)

78 Gunkel notes that it would have been premature to speak of Bethuel's daughter at the time Abraham receives the report of Bethuel's birth for the first time (Genesis, 240). 79 C. Westermann argues that this once followed Gen 2 1 : 1 - 7 , and that an earlier version of the Abraham cycle began with Gen 11:27-32 and ended with Gen 2 1 : 1 - 7 ; 2 2 : 2 0 - 2 4 ; and 2 5 : 1 8 (Genesis 12-36 [tr. J. Scullion; Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1985]), 3 6 6 - 3 6 7 . Unlike many commentators, Westermann maintains that the genealogy was originally connected with the history of a family, and through the course of oral transmission it became expanded and eventually designated a group of tribes. For a study that makes sense of the present location of Gen 2 2 : 2 0 - 2 4 , see T. Schneider, Sarah: Mother of Nations (New York: Continuum, 2004), 111-113. 80 In its current setting, the genealogy functions primarily not as a tribal genealogy but as a method of introducing Isaac's future wife, Rebekah. D. Jericke takes a different perspective and claims that the passage is part of a large-scale 5 th century prophetic redaction which enlarged the geographical horizon of the Abraham cycles to include the frontiers of the Neobabylonian empire ("Die Liste der Nahoriden Genesis 22, 2 0 - 2 4 , " ZAW 111 [1999]: 4 8 1 - 4 9 7 ) . 81 Gunkel sees the northern border of the Syro-Arabian desert as the provenance for the legitimate tribes, and perhaps the Syrian farmland as the provenance for the illegitimate tribes, so that the background to the genealogy may be a migration of tribes from the desert to more fertile land (Genesis, 241). 82 Noth, History, 150.

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This has the same basic structure as the previous example. The introductory setting here uses a wePNi hayeta pileges lePN2 formulation. The birth notice uses a watteled lePNi et-PN2 formula. 3.

Setting

This birth notice is part of a genealogy in Gen 36:9-14 that is three generations deep and has a breadth of five in the second generation and ten in third generation. Gen 36:10 lists the main sons of Eliphaz - Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam and Kenaz - via the formula wayyihyu bene PN. This is followed by the birth notice of Amalek through the concubine Timna. We shall find that the pattern of listing an ancestor's legitimate children through some variation of the bene PN formula followed by a birth notice narrating the birth of sons through his concubine recurs several times. The fact that Amalek was a particular enemy of the Israelites likely indicates that the mention of his mother as a concubine is polemical in nature. G. Wenham writes "Amalek is well known as one of Israel's most bitter foes, but usually it is not viewed as part of Edom (e.g. Ex 17:8-15; Num 24:20). That this text traces Amalek's ancestry to Esau through a concubine rather than through a full wife may indicate that Amalek joined the Edomite league relatively late and was despised by the Israelites." 83

Gunkel argues that the notes concerning Amalek in vv. 12, 16 should be excised, saying "there are twelve tribes in all if one omits the bastard Amalek."84 Wilson points out that the Edomite genealogy in Gen 36:15-19 contains 14 divisions and there is a list of 11 clans of Edom in vv. 40-43, so that it is by no means clear that the Edomites had a 12-tribe structure.85 Wilson suggests that these three genealogies function in different spheres. The genealogy in vv. 15-19 functions in the politico-military sphere (the 'allupe in v. 15 may refer to leaders of politico-military units of about 1,000 people). Gen 36:40—43, which also employ the term 'allupe, function in the politicogeographical sphere because of the references to localities in vv. 40, 43.86 And Gen 36:9-14 "may express status relations among the Edomite lineage segments. This genealogy, more than any of the others, attempts to specify exactly the relations among the various persons listed."87 Taking as his starting point the notion that making Amalek the son of a concubine automatically confers inferior status, Wilson argues that because Timna is mentioned as the sister of Lotan, one of the Horites who inhabited the land of Edom, assigning Timna concubine status might indicate that the Horites 83 G. Wenham, Genesis 16-50 (WBC 2; Waco, Tex.: Word, 1994), 338. Wenham cites as a parallel the story of the incestuous births of Moab and Ammon being an Israelite polemic against the Moabites and Ammonites. 84 Gunkel, Genesis, 377. 85 Wilson, Genealogy, 171 n. 82. 86 Ibid., 177-178. 87 Ibid., 178.

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Bears an Important

Son

69

had an inferior position among the Edomites. 88 Wilson adduces further evidence for this claim from two facts: Esau's sons by Oholibamah are not mentioned along with his sons by Adah and Basemath in v. 10, but only after Esau's grandsons by Adah and Basemath have been listed; and Oholibamah has Horite connections in v. 25. 89 First Chronicles

1:32a

1. Translation And the sons of Ketura, the concubine of Abraham: She bore 90 Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. 2. Structure I. Introduction to list of Keturah's sons (32aa) II. Birth notice of Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah (32a(3) The introductory formula ubne PNj pileges PN2 would lead us to expect a list of sons next without using a birth notice. However, what follows 91 is a birth notice using the yaleda 'et-PNformula. 3. Setting The genealogy of Abraham is given in 1 Chr 1:28-34. This passage begins, "The sons of Abraham: Isaac and Ishmael" (1 Chr 1:28), again using the formula bene PN, followed by a list of Ishmael's sons (vv. 29-31). Then, instead of continuing with a list of Isaac's sons, it contains the birth notice of Keturah's sons (v. 32a). The genealogy continues by listing two sons of Jokshan and five sons of Midian (i.e. Keturah's grandchildren) before mentioning Isaac's sons. The whole genealogy is three generations deep with a breadth of eight in the second generation and twenty-one in the third generation (twelve through Ishmael, seven through Keturah, and two through Isaac). The scheme in 1 Chronicles 1 is to give the genealogy of the most important son last. The genealogies of Japheth (vv. 5 - 7 ) and Ham (vv. 8-16) are followed by the genealogy of Shem (vv. 17-23); and the genealogy of Esau (vv. 35-54) is followed by the genealogy of Israel (1 Chronicles 2-9). Therefore, the placement of Isaac as the last genealogy of Abraham's sons makes sense, because he is the ancestor of the Israelites.

88

Ibid. Ibid. 90 The Hebrew syntax is rather unusual at this point and may be a result of combining the phrase "The sons of Keturah" with "Keturah, the concubine of Abraham, bore." See Japhet, Chronicles, 61. 91 The M T does have a pause before yaledä, so it cannot read "Keturah, the concubine of Abraham, bore." 89

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1 Chr 1:28-33 makes an unusual distinction between Ishmael and Abraham's sons through Keturah. It omits Keturah's sons in the list of Abraham's sons in v. 28, and it specifically mentions Keturah, whereas the mothers of Ishmael and Isaac are not mentioned. The listing of Abraham's sons by Keturah as on the same level as the Abraham's grandsons through Ishmael likely suggests the inferiority of Keturah's sons. 92 In Gen 25:1-2, regarding Abraham, it states wayyiqqah 'issa usemah qetura, "and he took a wife and her name was Keturah," followed by the birth report formula watteled lo 'et-PN. So here Keturah is called a wife ('issa), but in vv. 5-6, it contrasts Isaac with the sons of Abraham's concubines, which presumably relegates Keturah to the status of pTleges. Moreover, after Abraham dies, "his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him," which implies that Keturah's sons have a lesser status than either Isaac or Ishmael. It seems that Chronicles follows Genesis in its scheme of valuation for Abraham's sons. 93 First Chronicles

2:46-49a

1. Translation And Epha, the concubine of Caleb, bore Haran, Moza, and Gazez. And Haran begat Gazez. And the sons of Jahdai: Regem, Jotham, Geshan, Pelet, Ephah, and Shaaph. The concubine of Caleb, Maacah, bore 94 Sheber and Tirchana. And she bore 5 Shaaph, father of Madmannah and Shewa, father of Makbenah and father of Gibeah. 2. Structure I. Caleb's descendants through Epha (46-47) A. Birth notice of Haran, Moza and Gazez (46a) B. Various genealogical notes (46b-47) II. Caleb's descendants through Maacah (48-49a) A. Birth notice of Sheber and Tirchana (48) B. Birth notice of Shaaph and Shewa (49a) The main division here is between the birth notice concerning the children Epha bore, introduced by the formula wePNi pileges PN2 yaleda 'et-PN} , and between the birth notices concerning the children Maacah bore. Both birth notices concerning Maacah use awkward expressions. The first one reads 92

Osborne, 180. Curtis and Madsen offer two possible explanations for Keturah being mentioned as Abraham's concubine in 1 Chronicles: the descendants of Keturah were considered as less close kin to Israel than the Ishmaelites were, and the Chronicler considered Sarah alone as the true wife of Abraham and so Keturah is relegated to the status of concubine (72). 94 The MT has yalad, which makes no sense in context. 95 The direct object marker is missing in the MT but it needs to be supplied to make good sense of the verse. 93

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pileges PNi PN2 yaleda (actually yalad in the MT) and the second one simply watteled followed by a list of names, the first of which is not preceded by the definite object marker. See the textual notes accompanying the translation for likely explanations. 3. Setting The larger passage, 1 Chr 2:42-50, follows the same pattern we have seen several times. A list of the descendants of Caleb in 1 Chr 2:42-45 - using the formula bene PN- in which no wives are mentioned is followed by birth reports concerning Caleb's concubines Ephah and Maacah. S. Japhet sees this as an implying that the descendants in vv. 42-45 are from Caleb's chief, although unnamed, wife. 96 Although Japhet does not address the issue, this could mean that the figures in vv. 46-49 are considered less important than those in vv. 4 2 45. The genealogy in 1 Chr 2:42-50 is seven generations deep, and has a maximum breadth of nine in the second generation. Another point of interest in this passage is that it ends with the note "and the daughter of Caleb was Achsah." First Chronicles 7:14 1. Translation His Aramean concubine bore Machir, father of Gilead. 2. Structure This birth notice follows a PNi* yaleda PN2* pattern. 3. Setting In 1 Chr 7:14, an unnamed Aramaic concubine of Manasseh bears Machir and possibly Asriel. If we do decide to delete 'aser yaleda in 1 Chr 7:14a on the grounds of dittography, as explained above, then the verse follows precisely the same pattern as the other birth reports involving concubines. It begins with the formula bene PN, followed by the legitimate son, Asriel, 97 with no mention of the mother. Then comes the birth report involving the concubine. If this is the case, then the descendants of Asriel may have had superior tribal status at one time compared to the Gileadites descended from Machir. 98

96

Japhet, 87. There are numerous instances in 1 Chr 1-9 where the formula "the sons o f ' is followed by just one son. 98 A. Lemaire, "Asriel, sr'l, Israel et l'origine de la confédération israélite," VT 23 (1973): 239-243, argues that this Asriel may have been the original Israel. 97

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6. Birth Notices in Which a Daughter Carries on the Family Line First Chronicles

2:34-35

1. Translation And Sheshan had no sons, only daughters, and Sheshan had an Egyptian servant and his name was Jarcha. And Sheshan gave his daughter to Jarcha, his servant as a wife. And she bore to him Ittai. 2. Structure I. Problem: Discussion of Sheshan's situation (34) A. He has no sons, only daughters (34a) B. He has an Egyptian servant (34b) II. Solution: Sheshan gives his daughter to his servant as a wife (35a) III.Result: Birth notice of Ittai (35b) This passage has a three-part structure of problem, solution, result. The last two parts of this structure are the standard introductory setting and birth notice proper that we have seen many times in our analysis of birth notices in genealogies. The preceding prefatory remarks about Sheshan having no sons, however, indicates the reason why this information is being included: not because of some intrinsic interest in Sheshan's descendants through his daughter (as opposed to other descendants) but because these are his only descendants. The narration of Sheshan giving his daughter in marriage uses a wayyitten PNj 'et-bitto lePN2 'abdo le'issa formulation that repeats the servanthood of Jarcha. The birth notice is standard: watteled lo ben. 3. Setting A fourth possible function of a birth report is when a man has no sons but only daughters who then have sons to carry on the family line. The only example of this function is 1 Chr 2:34-35. The larger setting of this birth report is 1 Chr 2:25-41, which states that Ahlai was the son of Sheshan. This genealogy is twenty generations deep, with a maximum breadth of six. It has a breadth of six in the second generation, five in the third generation, four in the fourth generation, six in the fifth generation, and one in generations six through twenty. However, 1 Chr 2:33 ends, "These are the sons of Jerahmeel," which seems to conclude a segmented genealogy with a depth of seven generations and a maximum breadth of six. The genealogy in 1 Chr 2:34-41 may have circulated as a separate piece of tradition as a linear genealogy of 14 generations. If so, then we have here an example of a birth report at the beginning of a linear genealogy, similar to what we shall find in Gen 4:17.

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Heritage

Information

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7. Birth Notices Which Convey Additional Heritage Information Genesis 1.

41:50-52

Translation

And to Joseph were born two sons, which Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On bore to h i m , " before the year of famine came. And Joseph called the name of the firstborn "Manasseh" because " ' L H Y M has made me forget all my labor and all the house of my father." And the name of the second he called "Ephraim" because " ' L H Y M has made me fruitful in the land of my oppression." 2. Structure I. Birth notice of Manasseh and Ephraim (50) II. Naming of Manasseh (51) A. Naming (51a) B. Etiological speech (51b) III.Naming of Ephraim (52) A. Naming (52a) B. Etiological speech (52b) The birth notice is actually a genealogical notice concerning Joseph followed by a dependent clause that is a birth notice concerning Asenath: aser yalédd-ló Apart from this dependent clause, Joseph remains the subject and therefore he names his two sons. The naming formulae are wayyiqra ' FN) 'et-sem habbékór PN2 and we'et-sem hasseni qara' FN. In both cases, the naming is followed by an etiological speech which from the content obviously is given by Joseph but which the narrator introduces only by the term ki. 3. Setting According to G. Coats, this passage likely belongs to P or a priestly redaction. 100 It has a similar construction to another P passage in Gen 5:28-29. In that passage, Lamech begets a son ( wayyóled ben), and then names him Noah ( wayyiqra ' et-semó FN) and gives an etiological speech introduced by le \'mot: It thus contains the same elements as a standard birth report but is not one because it does not mention the mother giving birth to the child. Gen 41:50 is a birth report, however, even if the mother giving birth to the child is mentioned in a parenthetical clause. The function of this clause can only be to provide additional information about the mother of Manasseh and Ephraim.

99

In the MT, the phrase "which Asenath ... bore to him" actually occurs after "before the year of famine came." We have rearranged the order, purely to make the English read more smoothly. 100 Coats, Genesis, 260.

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Genesis

46:19-22

1. Translation The sons of Rachel, the wife of Jacob: Joseph and Benjamin. And born to Joseph in the land of Egypt - whom Asenath daughter of the Priest of On bore to him - were Manasseh and Ephraim. And the sons of Benjamin: Bela, Beker, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard. These are the sons of Rachel which were born to Jacob, fourteen in all. 2. Structure I. Introductory Setting: the Sons of Rachel (19) II. The sons of Joseph and Benjamin (20-21) A. Birth notice of Manasseh and Ephraim (20) B. Sons of Benjamin (21) III.Concluding summary (22) This passage lists the descendants of Rachel. The divisions are clearly marked by content. It begins with listing Joseph and Benjamin as Rachel's sons (19), then lists the sons of Joseph and the sons of Benjamin (20-21), and concludes with a summary statement (22). The birth notice of Ephraim and Manasseh is awkwardly phrased. It is a genealogical notice, "And born to Joseph in the land of Egypt were Ephraim and Manasseh" with a dependent clause interrupting it. This dependent clause is a birth notice: aseryaleda-lo PN'. 3. Setting The specific setting for this text is the genealogy in Gen 46:8-27, probably another P passage.1 1 Among the wives of Jacob's sons, only Asenath is named in this genealogy, perhaps raising her to the status of the four mothers of the sons of Israel (who are likewise all named). In the larger literary setting, this would foreshadow Jacob adopting Manasseh and Ephraim as his own sons (Genesis 48). In the immediate setting, the additional phrase that Asenath is the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, provides further information about the heritage of Manasseh and Ephraim, the same function as performed by the parallel birth report in Gen 41:50. Exodus 6:16-25 1. Translation And these are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. And the years of Levi's life were a hundred and thirty-seven years. The sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimei according to their clans. And the sons of Kohath: Amram and Izhar and Hevron and Uzziel. And 101

Speiser, Genesis, 346.

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the years of Kohath's life were a hundred and thirty-three years. And the sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the clans of the Levites according to their generations. And Amram took Jochebed his aunt as a wife for himself; and she bore to him Aaron and Moses. And the years of Amram's life were a hundred and thirty-seven years. And the sons of Izhar: Korah and Nepheg and Zikri. And the sons of Uzziel: Mishael and Elzaphan and Sithri. And Aaron took Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab, sister of Nahshon as a wife for himself; and she bore to him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. And the sons of Korah: Assir, and Elkanah, and Abiasaph. These are the clans of the Korahites. And Eliezer, son of Aaron took for himself one of the daughters of Putiel as a wife for himself; and she bore to him Phinehas. These are the chiefs of the fathers of the Levites according to their clans. 2. Structure I. First generation of Levi's (male) descendants (16) A. List of Levi's sons (16a) B. Levi's length of life (16b) II. Second generation of Levi's descendants (17-19) A. Series of lists of the sons of Levi's sons (17-19a) 1. List of the sons of Gershon (17) 2. List of the sons of Kohath (18) a. List of sons (18a) b. Length of Kohath's life (18b) 3. List of the sons of Merari (19a) B. Concluding formula concerning the clans of Levi (19b) III.Third generation of Levi's descendants through Kohath (20-22) A. Amram's sons (20) 1. Introductory setting: Amram takes Jochebed as wife (20aa) 2. Birth notice of Aaron and Moses (20a(3-y) 3. Length of Amram's life (20b) B. Izhar's sons (21) C. Uzziel's sons (22) IV.Fourth generation of Levi's descendants (23-24) A.Aaron's sons (23) 1. Introductory setting: Aaron takes Elisheba as wife (23a) 2. Birth notice of Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar (23b) B. Korah's sons (24) 1. List of sons 2. Concluding formula concerning clans of the Korahites V. Fifth generation (25a) 1. Introductory setting: Eleazor takes one of Putiel's daughters as wife (25aa) 2. Birth notice of Phinehas (25a(3).

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This is a complicated segmented genealogy that is structured according to the sons in each generation of Levi's descendants. The first generation is mentioned in v. 16, vv. 17-19 cover the second generation, vv. 20-22 the third generation, and vv. 24-25a the fourth generation. The genealogy in Ex 6:14-25 contains three examples of birth notices which seem to have none of the previously mentioned functions of birth notices in genealogies. These are best explained as providing additional information about the ancestry of an important figure. 102 In Ex 6:20, the setting to the birth notice of Moses and Aaron takes the form wayyiqqah FN/ 'et-PN2 dodato lo le 'issa. Ex 6:23 is similar, with bat- 'amminadab 'ahotnahson replacing dodato as the further designation for the woman after her name has been given. The birth report of Phinehas has a rather different formulation: wePN ben- 'aharon laqah lo mibbenot puti'ello le'issa (Ex 6:25). There are four differences between this setting and the two previous settings: there is a further description of the man; the perfect tense of lqh is used rather than the waw-consecutive imperfect; there is an additional and somewhat unnecessary 16 placed before the woman is mentioned; and the woman is not named, only described as "from the daughters of Putiel." However, the actual birth notice formula used is identical in all three cases: watteledlo 'et-PN(Ex 6:20, 23, 25). 103 3.

Setting

This genealogy of Levi has a depth of six generations with a breadth of three in the second generation, eight in the third generation, eight in the fourth generation, seven in the fifth generation, and one in the sixth generation. It is interesting to note that the birth report of Moses in Ex 2:1-10 does not give the name of his mother, even though she is the subject of 11 verbs in Ex 2:2-3, 9. By contrast, although the mother in the birth notice of Moses 104 and Aaron in Exodus 6 is the subject of just one verb, her name - Jochebed - is given. The genealogy has its focus on Aaron's descendants culminating in Phinehas 105 and all three birth notices pertain to direct ancestresses of Phinehas. These birth notices seem superfluous with regard to establishing the kinship relationships of the males listed in the genealogy. This, combined with the fact that two of these birth notices give not only the name but additional information about the mother, suggests that the purpose was to give as much information about the lineage of Phinehas as possible.

102 A. Marx notes that the additional information concerning the mothers that occurs in the lineage of Phinehas is not typical of genealogies, and further observes the stereotyped form used to impart this information ("La Généalogie d'Exode 6:14-25: Sa Forme sa Fonction," VT 45 [1995]: 318-336). 103 Coats does not distinguish between birth reports of this formula and between lists of sons that begin with bénê PN, describing both as "lists of sons" (Exodus 1-18, 55). 104 Moses is the only character in the Hebrew Bible to have two birth reports or notices. 105 Marx, 321.

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8. More Complicated Birth Reports in Genealogies Genesis 4 la. Translation of Genesis

4:l-2a

And the man knew Hava, his wife; and she conceived and bore Cain; and she said, "I have acquired a man with YHWH." And again she bore his brother, Abel. lb. Translation of Genesis 4:17 And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived and bore Enoch. And it happened that he built a city and he called the name of the city by the name of his son, Enoch. lc. Translation of Genesis 4:25 And Adam again knew his wife. And she bore a son, and she called his name, "Seth," because "'LHYM has appointed for me other seed instead of Abel, because Cain slew him." 2a. Structure of Genesis 4:1 2a I. Introductory setting (la) II. Births of Cain and Abel (lb-2a) A. Birth report of Cain (lb) 1. Conception notice (lba 1 ) 2. Birth notice (lba 2 ) 3. Etymological speech (lb(3-y) a. Speech formula (lbfi) b. Speech (1 by) B. Birth notice of Abel (2a) This passage divides into a setting, consisting solely of an intercourse element using the knowledge formula weha'adam yada' 'et-PN 'isto (v. la), and a narrative about the births of Cain and Abel. The birth of Cain is narrated via a complete birth report. This consists of the following elements: a conception notice wattahar, a birth notice, watteled 'etPN, that combines the birth and naming elements combined; and an etymological speech introduced by wattomer (Gen 4:1b). The formulations of the birth notice and the etymological speech conform to the standard elements in the fuller birth reports we shall examine in chapters 4-6. The birth of Abel contains no conception element or etymological element but is a simple birth notice that combines the birth and naming elements: wattosep laledet 'et- 'ahiw 'et-PN(v. 2a).

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2b. Structure of Genesis 4:17 I. Birth report of Enoch (17a) A. Introductory setting: Cain knew his wife (17aa) B. Birth report proper (17aP) 1. Conception (17a(3') 2. Birth (17a(32) II. Building of a city called Enoch (17b) This passage divides, according to content, into a birth report of Cain's son Enoch, and a note that Cain (presumably) built a city and named it after his son, Enoch. As in Genesis 1:1, the birth report of Enoch has a setting consisting solely of an intercourse element using the knowledge formula: wayyeda ' PN 'et'isto (v.l6aa). It has precisely the same pattern for the conception element wattaharand the combined birth and naming formula watteled 'et-PNas did the birth report of Cain (v. 16a{3). However, instead of an etymological speech relating to Enoch's name, there is a note of Cain building a city and calling it after his son, Enoch (v. 16b). 2c. Structure of Genesis 4:25 I. Introductory setting: Adam knew his wife (25acx) II. Birth report of Seth (25a|3-b) A. Birth (25a(3) B. Naming (25ay-b) 1. Naming formula (25ay) 2. Etymological speech (25b) a. Introductory conjunction (25ba l a ) b. Direct speech (25bcclb-P) This passage has the same pattern of a setting in which the man knows the woman 106 followed by a birth report. The knowledge formula wayyeda ' PN cod 'et- 'isto (Gen 4:25aa) is used for the setting. In this birth report, there is no conception element, and the birth element watteled ben (25a(i) and naming elements wattiqra' 'et-semo PN (25ay) are separate. The etymology is contained in a speech introduced by the conjunction ki (25b). 3. Setting In its present form, Gen 4:1-25 contains the following material: A series of birth reports (Cain and Abel), followed by an account in which Cain kills his brother Abel; the birth report of Cain's son, Enoch, followed by a five generation linear 106 Wilson notes the similarities between the first parts of Gen 4:1, 17, 25, although he combines the knowledge formula, conception element and the birth and naming formula into one formula (Genealogy, 139).

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genealogy of Enoch culminating in Lamech; a two generation segmented genealogy of Lamech involving birth reports, followed by a song of Lamech; and the birth report of Seth, followed by a note that to Seth was born a son whom he named Enosh, followed by a note that then they began to call on the name of YHWH. Even if sections of the genealogy in Genesis 4 were originally separate, this threefold use of a birth report whose setting consists solely of the knowledge formula serves as a superstructure to bind them together. Although the birth report of Cain is part of a genealogy - hence, the birth and naming elements are joined - this is also the first birth report in the Hebrew Bible and therefore by specifically narrating that the man knew his wife and that she conceived, it sets up the archetype of how children come to be born. Hava, the mother of all, then names Cain and gives an etymological speech, and does the same with Seth. Given the general etiological setting of Genesis 2-4, this strongly suggests that the woman has the role of naming of children and giving the accompanying etymological speeches. The report that Cain had a son is narrated through a birth report, even though this involves the sudden introduction of Cain's wife in the intercourse element of a birth report. This woman is not named, nor mentioned again after the birth report. There is no genealogical purpose served by having a birth report here instead of a simple notice that Cain begot Enoch. The purpose is more etiological - coming immediately after Genesis 3, with its nexus of etiologies, these early birth reports have prescriptive force. The birth report of Seth, which is followed shortly by a notice concerning people beginning to call on the name YHWH, is the first birth report in which the birth and naming elements are not combined into one clause and thus sets the pattern for birth reports in the YHWHist's account. The birth report of Abel differs significantly from the others in the superstructure, for reasons of developing the narrative. Abel's name (Hebrew: hebel, meaning "evanescence"), together with the lack of an etymology for him is a sign of foreboding. A few verses later, he is killed without having given a recorded speech or left any progeny. First Chronicles

7:23

1. Translation And he went into his wife; and she conceived and bore a son. And he called his name, "Beriah," because disaster was on his house. 2. Structure I. Introductory setting: "Went into" formula (23aa) II. Birth report of Beriah (23a£-b) A. The mother conceives and bears a child (23a(3) 1. Conception notice (23ap')

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2. Birth notice (23a(32) B. The father names the child (23b) 1. Naming (23ba) 2. Reason for name (23bj3) The main division of the passage occurs between the setting, in which the man has intercourse with his wife, and the birth report proper. In this instance, there is a further important division because the father, rather than the mother names the child. The setting employs a simple version of the "went into" formula: wayyabo' 'el-'isto (23aa). The conception element is wattahar and the birth element is watteled ben, both as standard as possible formulations for a full birth report. The naming element is wayyiqra' 'et-semo PN, which only differs from the standard pattern in that it is a masculine subject. The etymological element uses a kl + direct speech construction, similar to Gen 4:25. 3.

Setting

In its present literary context, this passage is part of "the genealogies of the sons of Joseph" in 1 Chr 7:14-29, which divides into a genealogy of Manasseh (vv. 14-19), a genealogy of Ephraim (vv. 20-27), and a list of the possessions of Ephraim and Manasseh (vv. 28-29). The genealogy of Ephraim is eleven generations deep and has a maximum breadth of five persons in the second generation. We have already seen the complexity of 1 Chr 7:14-19, and 1 Chr 4:20-27 is no less interesting. S. Japhet points out that, whatever its implications for the history of the tribe of Ephraim, the story as a literary unit places Ephraim the individual, the son of Joseph, and his descendants living in the land of Israel in contrast to the traditions of Genesis where Ephraim and his immediate descendants live and die in Egypt. 107 Japhet observes that 1 Chr 7:14-19 does the same thing for Manasseh, 1 Chr 2:21-23 and 4:21 for Judah, and 1 Chronicles 8 for Benjamin. She postulates that this fits in with the Chronicler's omission of the Exodus throughout his work. 108 D. Edelman argues that the Beriah in 1 Chr 7:23 is the same Beriah as both the son of Asher mentioned in v. 30 as well as the head of a Benjaminite ancestral household in Aijalon in 1 Chr 8:13: "all three enumerations are to be associated with the Asherite enclave in the southern Ephraimite hill-country adjoining Benjamin, and not with the traditional tribe of Asher in northeastern Galilee." 109 N. Na' aman disputes this, claiming that 1 Chr 9:3lb—39 was a pre107

S. Japhet, "Conquest and Settlement in Chronicles," JBL 98 (1979): 2 1 3 - 2 1 4 . Ibid., 2 1 6 - 1 8 . Japhet gives a list of passages in Chronicles that expunge mention of the Exodus in their parallels in The Ideology of the Book of Chronicles and Its Place in Biblical Thought, Beiträge zur Erforschung des Alten Testaments und des Antiken Judentums, (Frankfurt am Main: Verlag Peter Lang, 1989), 3 7 9 - 3 8 6 . 109 D. Edelman, "The Asherite Genealogy in 1 Chronicles 7:3—40," Biblical Research 33 (1988): 13. 108

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Chronistic source pertaining to the inhabitants of part of the hill country of Ephraim, and that the Chronicler arbitrarily identified the Heber of this genealogy with Heber the son of Beriah and grandson of Asher (Gen 46:17) in order to create a genealogy for a tribe of which he had no independent sources. 110 Na'aman, who argues that the pre-Chronistic source in 1 Chr 7:2029 was 1 Chr 7:21ay-25aa, suggests that 1 Chr 7:21ay-25aa together with 1 Chr 7:3 lb—39 may have been a document pertaining to "the settled area of the sons of Ephraim both in the northern Shephelah and the hill country." 111 The difficulties do not end with which tribe is being discussed but also include how the genealogies in 1 Chr 7:20-29 are organized. W. Osborne sees the passage as "a segmented narrative genealogy of Ephraim in linear form which reaches a depth of nine generations through two separate lineages." 112 Osborne argues that Ezer and Elead in v. 21 are sons of the Shuthelah mentioned in that verse, and that Ephraim in the following verse is to be understood as this Shuthelah. According to Osborne, it is Rephah in v. 25 that is Ephraim's other son, and vv. 25-27 constitute a linear genealogy of eight generations, which with Ephraim make a depth of nine generations for the whole genealogy. 113 P. Hooker takes the MT at face value, and sees Beriah as Ephraim's son after Ezer and Elead had been killed by the Gittites, but he does not speculate on the relationship of Ezer and Elead to Ephraim (they can hardly have been seven generations later, on this understanding). 114 For Hooker, the genealogy culminating in Joshua in vv. 25-27 is from the line of Beriah. 115 R. Hoffmann argues that vv. 20-21 and vv. 23-27 are two separate genealogies 116 but sees parallels between 1 Chr 7:20-29 and the two different versions of the prose framework of Job proposed by A. Alt (A: Job 1 and 42:11-17; and B: Job 2 and 42:7-10), and thus argued for a common Vorlage of all three accounts. 117 A more common view - held by Hogg, Rudolph, Johnson, Braun, Williamson, Kartveit and Michaeli, for example - is that 1 Chr 7:20-2la, 25-27 once formed a single linear genealogy and that 1 Chr 7:21b-24 came from a different source. 118 De Vries is uncertain about this, because it entails Joshua 110 N. Na'aman, "Sources and Redaction in the Chronicler's Genealogies of Asher and Ephraim," JSOT 49 (1991): 100-104. 111 Ibid., 107. 112 Osborne, 298. 113 Ibid., 298-299. 1.4 P. Hooker, First and Second Chronicles, (Westminster Bible Companion; Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001), 39. 1.5 Ibid. 1.6 R. Hoffmann, "Eine Parallele zur Ramenerzählung des Buches Hiob in 1 Chr. 7:20-29?", ZAW92 (1980): 128. " 7 Ibid., 120-132. 1,8 Rudolph, 71-73; Johnson, 56; Braun, 113; Williamson, 80; Kartveit, 146-147; and Michaeli, 62. Earlier Hope. W. Hogg, "The Ephraimite Genealogy" JQR 13 (1900), 147-154, essentialy reduced the genealogy up to Ammihud to three sets of variations on Shutelah, Tahath and Eleadah, by also bracketing out vv. 21b-24.

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living sixteen generations from the patriarchs. 119 This is an even greater problem for G. Rendsburg, who argues that the genealogies of characters appearing in Exodus-Joshua display a remarkable degree of internal consistency, with the characters of the exodus-conquest generations being about 3 - 6 generations distant from one of Jacob's sons. 120 Similarly, Japhet supposes that 1 Chr 7:2527 form a separate genealogy. 121 However, Curtis-Madsen, Rothstein-Hanel and Na'aman all follow Hogg et al., with minor variations as to where the Beriah unit begins and ends. 122 Certainly, 1 Chr 7:21b-23 is a unit, and v. 24 is likely attached to this, although it is uncertain as to whether Sheerah is the daughter of Beriah or Ephraim, and this unit is a birth report with a setting and a birth report proper. The general setting shows Ephraim mourning the loss of his sons and his brothers comforting him. This motif of a death followed by a mention of the word "comfort" and a birth report also occurs in 2 Samuel 11-12. After David and Bathsheba's child dies, David comforts Bathsheba and she gives birth to another son, Solomon. The same theme may be alluded to in Genesis 37 where Jacob refuses to be comforted after his son's death. In Genesis 38, where after the period of mourning for his wife is over, Judah goes up to the sheep shearing festival and engages in sexual activity that leads to the birth of his sons, Perez and Zarah, which is narrated with birth reports. From these parallels, it is evident that 1 Chr 7:21b-23 uses the full standard form of a birth report. It is only by its inclusion into the larger literary structures of 1 Chr 7:20-29 and of 1 Chronicles 1-9 as a whole, where the shorter birth notices predominate, that this form becomes anomalous.

9. Conclusions We have seen five settings in which birth reports appear in genealogies: a man has children by more than one wife; a sister of a male descendant bears important children of her own; a man has children by a concubine in addition to his more legitimate children; a daughter carries on the line of inheritance of a man with no sons; and to give information about the mother of an important figure. The first three of these necessarily occur in segmented genealogies; the last two could apply to segmented or linear genealogies. 1,9

De Vries, 80-81. G. Rendsburg. "The Internal Consistency and Historical Reliability of the Biblical Genealogies." VT 40 (1990): 185-204. Rendsburg admits that the genealogy of Joshua in 1 Chronicles 7:20-27 is a problem as it stands and suggests identifying Tahan in v. 25 with Ephraim's son Tahan in Numbers 26:35, making Joshua 7 generations from Joseph, 194-195. 121 Japhet, Chronicles, 180-4. 122 Curtis and Madsen, 153, and Na'aman, 106, include the names of Ezer and Elead at the beginning of the Beriah pericope. Rothstein and Hanel, 146-148, end the unit after "Upper Beth-horon" (v. 24ba), and Na'aman, 106-107, ends it after "Rephah was his son" (v. 25aa). 120

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With regards to how these various settings - i.e. the functions they perform affect the form of the birth notice, we can make the following tentative remarks. In the cases involving more than one wife, the birth notice involving the more prominent wife tends to use some form of watteled construction. Conversely, the birth notices pertaining to the other wives typically use some form of wePN yaleda construction. On some occasions, all the wives are introduced before the actual birth reports are narrated; on other occasions, the second wife is not introduced until after the birth reports concerning the first wife. There do not seem to be any specific formulae associated with a sister bearing important children. With regard to genealogical function, the primary motivation of birth reports involving sisters and those involving multiple wives seems to be of establishing kinship relations. In the cases where a concubine is the subject of a birth report, there does seem to be a pattern: the legitimate children of the man are listed previously using some variant of the formula bene PN, without giving the name of the wife, and then there is a birth report involving the concubine. This function of the birth report likely fits in with relative claims of status within the tribe. 123 We have only one example of a birth report where the lineage is kept going through a daughter, so it is difficult to draw many conclusions from this. It likely has a similar social setting to the story of Zelophehad's daughters being able to receive their father's inheritance and carry on his line in Josh 17:3-4. 124 Finally, the three birth notices in the lineage of Phinehas seem to have been included to provide additional information concerning his illustrious ancestors, male and female, thus endowing him with further legitimacy. These birth notices have a common pattern: they tend to give the name, where known, plus additional kinship information about the woman; and the birth notice itself follows the precise formulation watteled lo 'et-PN. The birth notice of Manasseh and Ephraim in Gen 46:20 also gives the name plus additional kinship information about the woman, yet it is narrated in a dependent clause with the formulation 'user yaleda 16 PN. The common pattern to the birth notices in Exodus 6 may reflects the stylistic preferences of the author rather than being a standard convention for a birth report with a certain function. Our analysis of the birth notices within genealogies also enables us to make some comments concerning the historicity of the genealogical material. First, the phenomenon of "genealogical fluidity" is confirmed. This can be seen by the varying names of Esau's wives or the differences in the Manassite genealogies in Numbers 26 and 1 Chronicles 7. Therefore, as scholars have long recognized, the biblical genealogies cannot simply be assumed to be historical. Second, the functions performed by birth notices within genealogies would certainly fit well with the functions of genealogies in general argued by Johnson and others. The 123 For a study that links the status of the children to the status of the mother, extending beyond the categories of just wife and concubine, see Terry J. Prewitt, "Kinship Structures and the Genesis Genealogies," JNES 40 (1981): 8 7 - 9 8 . 124 See also Num 26:33.

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categorization of which descendants came from which wife of the ancestor, and which came from a concubine, would be of prime importance to tribal claims. The continuation of a family line through a daughter would be relevant for inheritance rights. Third, there is evidence to further substantiate Wilson's claim that these genealogies were considered to be accurate statements. The birth notices in Exodus 6 seem to have been included for no other reason than to give additional information regarding the ancestry of an important figure. Yet, in contrast to the other two birth reports in the genealogy, the name of Phinehas's mother is omitted and she is simply described as "one of the daughters of Putiel." This likely reflects that this name had been forgotten and the compiler of Exodus 6 would not introduce invented details in what was regarded to be an accurate genealogy. In short, then, our examination of birth notices in genealogies has confirmed the analysis of earlier scholars: biblical genealogies were primarily used for tendentious tribal and socio-political purposes rather than for historiographical ones; and although these genealogies may include valuable historical information, determining precisely what data in a given genealogy is historically accurate is far from easy. Given that the function of genealogical lists is to record just the pertinent genealogical information, the shorter form of the birth notice is more suited to this task than the fuller birth report. This point, combined with the fact that fuller birth reports do occur in Genesis 4, 1 Chr 7:16 and 1 Chr 7:20-29, makes it far more likely that the standard convention for the birth report in ancient Israel was the fuller form and that this was usually modified in genealogical lists, rather than the original form being a birth notice and this being expanded in the same fashion within very different genres including genealogies. This being the case, we have an excellent example of how a form is modified by the text-type within which it occurs. The material in this chapter also confirms that there is a patriarchal ideology underlying the biblical texts. As with other ancient Near Eastern genealogies, the principle concern is male progeny from male ancestors. Nevertheless, the birth notices and birth reports in genealogies also demonstrate that having the right mother was considered crucial to domestic and tribal claims. 125 Moreover, the highly etiological and programmatic Genesis 4 highlights Hava rather than Adam. Even Maacah, who gave birth to a son and named him "Peresh" (1 Chr 7:16), can emerge as a symbol of all those women who played the primary role in bringing forth and nurturing children, thus fulfilling the first divine command (Gen 1:28). So far, the birth notices and reports examined occur mainly in genealogical lists and contribute to the larger passage little more than their genealogical function. In the next three chapters, the birth reports will often play an important and usually under-appreciated role in the plot development and characterization of the larger literary settings containing them. 125

This same theme recurs in the annunciation type-scenes, discussed in chapter 4.

Chapter Four

Birth Reports in Annunciation Type-Scenes 1. Annunciation Type-Scenes in General In the first chapter, we mentioned Alter's argument that the basic pattern of the annunciation type-scene consists of three motifs: initial barrenness, divine promise, and the birth of a son.1 The same pattern of initial barrenness, divine promise, and birth of a son is followed by E. Fuchs, who observes that in the annunciation type-scenes, there is "a growing emphasis on the figure of the potential mother" and that "the presence of the potential husband progressively decreases in the annunciation type-scene." 2 J. Williams takes a different approach and divides the birth narratives into two different type-scenes: the contest of the barren wife and the promise to the barren wife. 3 The contest of the barren wife is exemplified by the narratives 1

Alter, "Convention," 119-120. E. Fuchs, "Literary Characterization," 129. Paradoxically, Fuchs does not perceive this as positive from a feminist viewpoint, even though in another article she denounces the decreasing roles of women in betrothal type-scenes as demonstrating the androcentric strategies of the narrator ("Structure, Ideology, and Politics," 2 7 3 - 8 1 ) . Instead, Fuchs argues that the annunciation type-scene is simply another vehicle to define motherhood as a patriarchal institution. Her main points are the following: "There is no instance in the biblical narrative in which an unmarried barren woman is visited by G-d or a divine emissary and miraculously released from her barrenness" (129); that these scenes consistently portray w o m e n ' s greatest desire as having children; and that the frames of the stories are always dominated by males. F u c h s ' s third point is important and uncontestable, and there is no doubt that patriarchal ideology underlies biblical narrative as a whole. The question is whether what is narrated in the main body of some of these annunciation type-scenes undermines that ideology to a greater or lesser extent. F u c h s ' s second point is definitely true of Hannah and Rachel, although arguably R a c h e l ' s need for children is not portrayed positively which would presumably make it less valuable as a tool for promoting the patriarchal concept of motherhood. Neither the w i f e of Manoah nor Rebekah are specifically portrayed as wanting children, and when Rebekah has a difficult pregnancy, she wonders if it is worth the effort. Moreover, the Shunammite woman may not have wanted to have the child that is thrust upon her by Elisha's announcement. With regard to F u c h s ' s first point, the annunciation to the unmarried Hagar in Genesis 16 is left out of Fuchs's analysis of annunciation type-scenes. Admittedly, Hagar is not barren but pregnant at the time of the annunciation, but the scene still complicates F u c h ' s basic case. More importantly, the underlying philosophical tenet - that any institutional discouragement of premarital or extramarital sex is harmful to the wellbeing of women - is highly disputable. 2

3 J. Williams, Women Recounted: Almond Press, 1982), 48.

Narrative

Thinking and the G-d of Israel, (Sheffield: The

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involving Sarah (Gen 16:1-6; 21:1-7), Rachel (Gen 29:31-30:24), and Hannah (1 Samuel 1) as the favored wives. This paradigm contains five elements: "1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

The favored wife is barren. The husband has another woman who is a rival. The rival woman is fertile, bears a son for the husband. Rival woman belittles the barren wife, bring about conflict. The barren wife is eventually heard by G-d, has a son." 4

According to Williams, the promise to the barren wife type-scene is exemplified in Gen 18:1-15, Judg 13:2-24, 2 Kgs 4:8-17, and Luke 1:5-25. This type-scene also contains five elements: "1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

The wife is barren. A messenger from G-d appears to the woman. The messenger promises a son. The event is confirmed in spite of human doubt. The promised son is born and given a significant name." 5

Williams is certainly right that the favored wife theme begs for specific comparison between the Hagar-Sarah, Leah-Rachel, and Peninnah-Hannah stories, 6 but Williams's treatment of annunciation-scenes has problems. It does not include the annunciations to Hagar (Gen 16:7-14) or Rebekah (Gen 25:2026). Gen 21:1-7, which Williams regards as completing the contest of the barren wife type-scene in Gen 16:1-6, could equally have been regarded as completing the promise to the barren wife type-scene in Gen 18:1-15. And Eli's words to Hannah wishing that YHWH would grant her request constitute, in effect, a promise of a son by a messenger of YHWH, so that 1 Sam 1 is also a combination of the two schemes. The first four elements in the contest of the barren wife type-scene could be collected under the title, "depiction of the plight of the woman," of which the barrenness element is the most essential. Similarly, elements two through four of Williams' second paradigm can be grouped under the heading of annunciation scene proper. 7 The fifth element in both of Williams' paradigms is the birth and naming 8 of a son. Actually, these narratives conclude with birth

4

Ibid., 48-49. Ibid., 52. 6 For a comparison of these stories, see P. Kramer, "Biblical Women that Come in Pairs: The Use of Female Pairs as a Literary Device in the Hebrew Bible," in Genesis (ed. A. Brenner; FCB 2/1; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1998), 218-232. Kramer observes that these pairs are usually rivals and that - with the possible exception of Lamech's wives in Gen 4 there are no examples of "women who are peers and equals and enjoy harmony and companionship ("Women that Come in Pairs," 229). This fact is surely an implicit critique of polygamy, one of the manifestations of patriarchy, as a system. 7 We shall discuss even more elaborate paradigms for the annunciation scene in due course. 8 Although Williams does not include it, naming is equally important in the contest of the barren wife episodes where Isaac, Joseph, and Samuel are named respectively. 5

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reports, which, as shown in the second chapter of this book, typically include birth and naming elements. The analyses of Alter, Fuchs and Williams can be combined into a paradigm of "depiction of the plight of a barren woman," "annunciation scene proper," and "birth report," but acknowledging that these motifs may consist of several elements themselves. A. Brenner describes the full "birth of the hero" paradigm as follows: "A woman, preferably of noble origin, is barren until quite an advanced age. Variations on the theme are possible, as long as they deal with pre-conception difficulties. The woman (and sometimes the prospective father) has a divine revelation in which the future birth is announced, and sometimes the son's fate in early or later years is alluded to. The ensuing response of the recipients varies according to personal temperament from unquestioning acceptance to incredulity and to attempts to influence the future by various means. In due course the child is born, and manages to attain maturity and fulfill his destiny despite dangers which would have conquered a lesser mortal." 9

Brenner divides these narratives into those involving two mothers and those involving only one and then subdivides these categories to arrive at the following four sub-models: la) Two mothers produce at least two heroes, the first one born usually being a false hero; lb) two mothers produce between them one hero (Naomi and Ruth producing Obed or Jochebed, Miriam and Pharaoh's daughter producing Moses); 2a) one mother producing two or more sons (Eve, Rebekah); and 2b) one mother producing one son. 10 Brenner concentrates her attention on paradigms la), where the women tend to be at enmity with each other and which might reflect a male-oriented judgment on female sociability, and lb), where the women cooperate and which might reflect a more femaleoriented background. These categories include many narratives that have neither a barrenness motif, or even any variation on it, nor an annunciation scene. Such narratives can hardly be called annunciation type-scenes. However, Brenner's remark concerning variations with the barrenness motif may permit the inclusion of the Ishmael narrative as an annunciation type-scene, especially given its developed annunciation scene proper." Neither Alter nor Williams include the Ishmael birth narrative as an annunciation type-scene, presumably on the grounds that Hagar is not barren. Nevertheless, other scholars have included it in their analysis of annunciation scenes 12 and, as we shall see, elements in the 9 A.Brenner, "Female Social Behavior: Two Descriptive Patterns within the "Birth of the Hero" Paradigm," 258. 10 Ibid., 2 5 8 - 2 5 9 . 11 Furthermore, in Luke 1-2, the account of Gabriel's annunciation of a son to Mary and of the subsequent birth and naming of Jesus is undoubtedly patterned on the annunciation typescenes in the Hebrew Bible, even though Mary is depicted as a virgin rather than a barren woman. 12 R. Neff, The Announcement in Old Testament Birth Stories (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1969), 90-108; R. Brown, Birth of the Messiah, (New York: Doubleday, 1979), 154-158; U. Simon, Reading Prophetic Narratives (tr. L. Schramm; Bloomington: Indiana University

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annunciation scene and birth report concerning Ishmael have numerous similarities to their counterparts in the Isaac narrative. Moreover, the episode occurs as an attempt to overcome the problem of Sarah's childlessness. 13 U. Simon sees the plot of the annunciation type-scene has having five basic parts: "the affliction, the annunciation, the destiny, the miracle, and the interpretation of the name." 14 Typical announcements in annunciation typescenes include both an announcement of a son and a description of that son's destiny, so they are standard parts of what we have labeled as annunciation scene proper. Simon's "miracle" element consists of formulae such as "YHWH opened PN's womb," formulae which in chapter 2 we analyzed as being part of the setting in a birth report. Likewise, the interpretation of the name is the etymological element within a birth report. Simon's broadening of "depiction of the plight of the barren woman" to "the affliction" enables the Hagar story in Gen 16 to be included as an annunciation type-scene, but beyond this, Simon has not elucidated any aspects of the annunciation type-scene that are not elements of our three part scheme mentioned above. R. Jarrell analyzes the birth narratives in Genesis 16, 18, 25, Judges 13, 1 Samuel 1, 2 Kings 4, Matthew 1 and Luke 1 (two narratives: John the Baptist and Jesus). 15 Jarrell discerns six standard elements: mother status, protest, offer of contract, son's future forecast, YHWH naming and acceptance of the contract. A seventh element, a poem, is present in the narratives concerning Samuel, John the Baptist and Jesus (Lukan version). At the heart of Jarrell's paradigm is the idea that " Y H W H does not make covenants with women; Y H W H instead makes contractual relationships that are expressed in the literary form known as the birth narrative. It is Y H W H ' s contractual connection with Hagar, formulated and established in Gen 16:7-15, that serves as the foundation and prototype for all future associations between Y H W H and potential child-bearing women - which eventually culminates in the N e w Testament pericope of the impregnation of Mary." 1 6

The concentration on Hagar and Mary in Jarrell's article explains the replacement of the barrenness motif with "mother status." The categories of Press, 1997), 1 - 1 2 ; R. Jarrell, "The Birth Narrative as Female Counterpart to Covenant," JSOT 97 (2002):3-18. 13 The majority opinion is that Sarah's intention is to solve the problem through adopting H a g a r ' s child, but for the view that S a r a h ' s action is an attempt to increase her own fertility see S. Kardimon, "Adoption as a Remedy for Infertility in the Period of the Patriarchs," JSS 3 (1958): 123 and P. Reis, "Hagar Requited," JSOT 87 (2000): 7 7 - 8 0 . 14 Simon, Reading Prophetic Narratives, 43. 15 Jarrell, 3 - 1 8 . 16 Ibid., 4. The use of New Testament passages is questionable in establishing a paradigm for the annunciation scenes in the Hebrew Bible, the topic of our study. Of course, establishing that paradigm by analyzing the texts of the Hebrew Bible may be of great help in interpreting the N e w Testament passages also. Indeed, it is our hope that this chapter will aid future studies on the birth narratives in Matthew and Luke. These comments also apply to R. B r o w n ' s paradigm for the birth announcement itself, discussed later, where three out of the seven passages he analyzes derive from the N e w Testament.

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"protest," "offer of contract," and "son's future forecast" are similar to certain elements in the annunciation scene proper, as understood by R. Neff and R. Brown. In particular, the "offer of a contract" is similar to Neff s announcement of the birth element in the annunciation scene,17 the "son's future forecast" is clearly similar to his announcement of the child's destiny element, and Jarrell's protest element is similar to Brown's "objection by the visionary" element. In due course, we shall examine how both Neff and Brown understand the annunciation scene. For the moment, we merely note that Jarrell's categories of "protest," "offer of contract," and "son's future forecast" can be subsumed under annunciation scene. It is the categories of "YHWH naming" and "acceptance of the contract" that constitute what is novel about Jarrell's analysis. According to Jarrell, "The name of YHWH is invoked by the woman or her contractual surrogate as a symbol of the binding nature of the contract.... In all instances of the genre, with the exception of Genesis 16 and 25, YHWH Naming occurs adjacent to the acceptance of the contract in the texts." 18 However, it is not clear that the examples Jarrell gives of these categories in the narratives she examines perform the same function. The examples of "YHWH naming" include YHWH's own question, "Is anything too hard for YHWH?" (Gen 18:14), the statement that Rebekah went to inquire of YHWH concerning the children struggling within her (Gen 25:22), Manoah's inquiry as to the messenger of YHWH's name (Judg 13:17), Hannah's reason for naming her son Samuel, "because I asked YHWH for him" (1 Sam 1:20) and the Shunnamite woman's address to Elisha, "O man of 'LHYM" (2 Kgs 4:16). Likewise, the examples of "acceptance of contract" include Sarah's denial that she laughed, the introductory phrase "When the time came for [Rebekah] to give birth" (Gen 25:24) and the Shunammite woman's retort "Don't lie to your servant" (2 Kgs 4:16). 19 Although Jarrell's notion of YHWH naming seems forced with regard to certain birth narratives, it does point to a motif of prayer in several annunciation 20

type-scenes. In the Sarah story, the birth report of Isaac occurs immediately after Abraham has successfully prayed that the women in Abimelech's house would be healed of barrenness, and this seems to have included Sarah. On this occasion, the formulation wayyitpallel PN 'el-ha'LHYM is used (Gen 20:17). When Isaac prays directly for his wife, Rebekah, the formulation is wayye'tar PN laYHWH 17 Jarrell counts as offers of contracts statements in Gen 16:10, 18:14, 25:23 and Judg 13:4 that refer to the announcement of a son or descendants. 18 Ibid., 7. 19 These examples are all taken from a chart given by Jarrell on page 16 of her article. 20 Alter discusses this feature in the Rebekah and the Hannah narratives, and in the Rachel narrative he analyzes Rachel's plea to Jacob to give her children and Jacob's responding question "Am I instead of G-d?" against "a background of recurrent stories about barren wives who entreat an oracle or are visited with good news by an angel" ("Convention," 123).

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(Gen 25:21). In the Samson birth story, neither Manoah nor his wife prays regarding his wife's barrenness. However, Manoah prays in response to the initial annunciation scene promising a son and requests another such encounter. The formulation here is wayye'tar PN 'el-YHWH wayyo'mar (Judg 13:8). Hannah, after Elkanah has done nothing to help but mouthed self-centered platitudes, prays herself and the formulation used vividly phrases Hannah's desperation: wattitpallel 'al- YHWH ubakoh tibkeh wattiddor neder watto 'mar (1 Sam 1:10-1 laa). The Shunnamite woman does not pray for a child but the motif is made conspicuous by its absence when in the next episode she asks Elisha: "Did I ask my lord for a son?" (2 Kgs 4:28). It is also the expectation of prayer by a husband on behalf of his barren wife that imbues the exchange between Rachel and Jacob with meaning. Rachel demands children from Jacob, and Jacob responds by asking whether he is in the place of G-d who has made her barren (Gen 30:1-2). It can be argued that Rachel should have asked Jacob to pray for her, or that Jacob should have taken her emotional outburst with a bit more sensitivity and prayed for G-d to remove her barrenness, or both. The Hannah annunciation scene shows that the woman herself can successfully pray, if her husband has proved no help, and although no prayer of Rachel is recorded the narrative does state that G-d listened to her and opened her womb (Gen 30:22), indicating this possibility. The likelihood that prayer is a typical element of the biblical annunciation type-scene is increased when we consider ancient Near Eastern parallels. Simon B. Parker notes that the main structural elements of this genre - as represented in the Ugaritic poems Keret and Aqhat, the Egyptian Tale of the Doomed Prince, and the Hurrian Tale of Appu - are as follows: "1) the introduction of the hero as childless; 2) the appeal to the god; 3) the god's favorable response; 4) conception and birth." 21 Parker sees the biblical birth stories involving Rebekah, Rachel, and Hannah as also conforming to this pattern. Parker further comments: "All the examples mentioned suggest that the underlying narrative structure represents a standard interpretation of a birth to a childless couple following an appeal to the deity. It is possible that stories developed around this interpretation of experience had an independent existence in the communities of ancient East Mediterranean societies. Their purpose would have been to give hope to the childless by showing that the gods have granted offspring to those who have turned to them. They are to be contrasted with those narratives in the Bible in which the childless couple is approached by divine initiative. Such stories, issuing in the birth of e.g. Isaac, Samson, John the Baptist, use many of the same elements, but for a different purpose: to introduce one who will be a significant divine agent." 2 2

Parker's distinction of purposes within the biblical annunciation type-scenes is hard to maintain. Jacob, Joseph, and Samuel are no less significant divine agents

21

S. Parker, The Pre-Biblical

104. 22

Ibid., 106.

Narrative

Tradition

( S B L R B S 24; Atlanta: Scholars, 1989),

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than Isaac and Samson. 23 The one figure who is clearly not such an agent is the son of the Shunnamite woman in 2 Kings 4 - a story in which the prayer element is conspicuous by its absence. More plausible is the notion that within the Bible, the genre has been adapted to a new function, i.e., introducing a significant divine agent, as Parker rightly suggests. As a consequence, the prayer element is not as essential to the biblical annunciation type-scenes as it had been to its ancient Near Eastern predecessors. Any proposed formula for the prayer motif would have to be fairly loose. Expressions such as ('tr or pll) el-PN are standard throughout the Hebrew Bible, and there is no special formula associated with prayer in annunciation type-scenes. One final feature common to many of these annunciation type-scenes is a concluding statement after the birth report. This statement usually speaks about the son growing up, but is occasionally a reference to the age of the patriarch or a combination of these two forms. The Hagar annunciation type-scene concludes with the formulation wePNi ben-semonim sana weses sanim beledet-PNi etPNs lePNi (Gen 16:16). The Sarah narrative concludes wayyigdal hayyeled wayyiggamal (Gen 21:8), although this is the concluding statement after the etymological speeches and there is an earlier concluding statement after the naming and circumcision that has the formulation wePNi ben-me'at sana behiwwaled lo et PN2 bend (Gen 21:5). The Rebekah scene concludes with the combined formulation wePNi ben-sissim sana beledet 'otam wayyigdelu hanna'arim (Gen 25:26-27). There is no concluding statement in Gen 29:31— 30:24, perhaps because the son-bearing contest will not be over until Rachel dies giving birth to Benjamin in Gen 35:16-18. The rest of the annunciation type-scenes all use variations of the "growing-up" formula: The wife-of-Manoah scene concludes wayyigdal hanna car wayebarekehu (Judg 13:24);24 the Hannah scene concludes wayyigdal hanna ar PN Cim-YHWH (1 Sam 2:21); and the Shunammite woman scene concludes wayyigdal hayyaled {2 Kgs 4:18). There is enough evidence to distinguish two formulae: a wayyigdal {hayyaled or hanna car) formula and a formula beginning wePNi ben-NUM sana and followed by be, then some form of yld and then a designation for the child or children being born. Neither formula is typically associated with birth reports outside annunciation type-scenes. Our analysis has shown that five different content-units are standard parts of an annunciation type-scene: plight-of-the-woman, prayer, annunciation scene proper, birth report, and concluding statement. Of the seven annunciation type-scenes, four - the ones concerning Sarah, Rebekah, Manoah's wife, and Hannah - contain all five motifs of barrenness, prayer, annunciation, birth report, and concluding statement. The type-scene 23 Parker acknowledges that Samuel is a significant agent of the deity but argues that "his mission is initiated not by the birth story but by the later call narrative" (106). 24 In this case, the concluding statement continues with the spirit of YHWH coming upon Samson in v. 25.

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concerning Hagar omits the barrenness motif and the prayer; the one concerning Rachel omits the annunciation and the concluding statement; and the one concerning the Shunammite woman omits the prayer motif and the concluding statement. The above analysis shows that Gen 29:31-30:24, concerning the birth of sons to Leah and Rachel, has the most awkward fit as an annunciation typescene, and, indeed, it could also be described as a genealogical account. We shall now examine how some of these motifs play out within the individual type-scenes, concentrating most of our attention on the birth report. Alter mentions one formula connected with the barrenness motif ( w e h i ' 'aqara welo' yelada [our transliteration scheme throughout], and another formula with the annunciation motif ( l a m m o ced hazzeh ka 'et hayya ulePN ben)?5 He cautions, however, that "the fixed motifs of the type-scene are not strictly tied to verbal formulas; the reinforcing or defining use of such formulas ... seems to have been optional." 26 In fact, the motif of barrenness is not expressed in a uniform fashion in these type-scenes. In Gen 11:30, the expression is wattehi PN 'aqara 'en lah walad, in Gen 29:31, the expression is wePN caqara", in Gen 25:21, it is ki 'aqara hi\ in Judg 13:2, it is we'isto 'aqara welo' yalad~a\ in 1 Sam 1:2, it is ulePN 'en yeladim; and in 2 Kgs 4:14, it is 'abal ben 'en lah we'isah zaqen. The evidence from all these texts argues against there being a standard expression for the barrenness motif in an annunciation type-scene. The annunciation scene proper is more complicated and has been subject to the most extensive analysis. Perhaps the most elaborate description of this genre is that given by R. Brown: "1. The appearance of an angel of the Lord (or appearance of the Lord) 2. Fear or prostration of the visionary confronted by a supernatural presence 3. The divine message: a. The visionary is addressed by name b. A qualifying phrase describes the visionary c. The visionary is urged not to be afraid d. A woman is with child or is about to be with child e. She will give birth to a (male) child f. The name by which the child is to be called is revealed g. An etymology interprets the name h. The future accomplishments of the child are indicated. 4. An objection by the visionary as to how this can be, or a request for a sign 5. The giving of a sign to reassure the visionary." 2 7

The passages analyzed by Brown are limited to the annunciation scenes connected with the births of Ishmael, Isaac and Samson in the Hebrew Bible, and John the Baptist and Jesus in the New Testament. R. N e f f s dissertation, "The Announcement in Old Testament Birth Stories," discusses a wider range of passages in the Hebrew Bible - Gen 16:11-12, 17:19, Judg 13:5-7, 1 Kgs 13:2, 25 26 27

Ibid., 119. Ibid. Brown, Birth 156.

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Isa 7:14-17 and 1 Chr 22:9-1. However, he limits the discussion to just the message part of the scene. Neff calls this message the ABND (the announcement of birth, name and destiny) and argues that it contains three basic elements: "(1) the announcement of birth, (2) the designation of name, (3) the specification of the child's destiny." 28 Neff further argues for a specific formula for the first element consisting of hinneh + participial form of yld + ben?9 Neither the naming element nor the destiny element have particular formulae associated with them, but the naming is usually done by a woman in the J texts and a man in the P texts. 30 Several of these birth announcements occur in genres other than annunciation type-scenes. Indeed, the pattern of the birth announcement is likely affected by the genre of the larger literary unit in which it is set, but a full analysis would require another book. The following table examines which of Brown's elements a through h occur in the various birth announcements, including several not listed by Brown or Neff (Gen 25:22; 35:17; 1 Sam 4:20; 2 Kgs 4:14-16). Table 3: Elements within Birth Announcements Birth Announcement

Elements included

Gen 16:11-12 Gen 17:15-22 Gen 18: 9-15 Gen 25:22 Gen 35:17 Judg 13:3-7 1 Sam 4:20 1 Kgs 13:2 2 Kgs 4:15-16 Isa 7:13-17 1 Chr 22:8-10

d, e, f, g, h e,f,h e, g e, h c, e d (twice), e (twice), h c, e a, e, f, h e b, d, e, f, h b, e, f, g, h

From this chart, we see that elements b, c, d, e, f, g, and h all occur at least twice but that elements e, f, and h occur far more frequently than the others. This gives some support to both Brown and Neff. Brown's elaborate structure cannot be maintained as typical - a birth announcement typically contains between two and five elements, not eight. However, it reasonably expresses the spectrum of elements that may be included within a report. Likewise, the birth announcements are more varied than is suggested by Neff s paradigm but he is right that the three most common elements are those of birth, naming, and destiny. When we restrict our focus to the birth announcements in annunciation 28

N e f f , Announcement Ibid. 30 Ibid., 149. 29

148.

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type-scenes, we see that the birth and destiny elements are the most important, followed by the conception and naming elements. We now discuss the expression of "at this season" mentioned by Alter. Alter suggested the formula lammó 'ed hazzeh ka 'et hayyà ùléPN ben. The following variations are witnessed in the annunciation scenes: lammó 'ed hazzeh bassanà ha 'aheret (Gen. 17:21), ka 'et hayyà (Gen. 18:10) and lammó 'ed hazzeh ka 'et hayyà (2 Kgs 4:16). 31 The smaller expressions lammó'ed hazzeh and ka'et hayyà each occur in two of these three verses, but the fact that there is no similar expression in eight of the other eleven birth announcements, argues against there being a set formula. The last part of Alter's suggested formula, ulePN ben, is not attested in any of the birth elements in the announcements. More plausible is another of Alter's suggestions, namely that the expression lammó 'ed hazzeh ka 'et hayyà in 2 Kgs 4 is a deliberate reference to the Isaac birth narrative. 32 Finally, we discuss the elements of the birth report as they occur in the seven annunciation type-scenes. In this material, there is little in the way of particular formulation for most of the elements in the birth reports as they occur in birth narratives. The conception element can be the unadorned wattahar, or a longer expression such as wattahar PNor wattahar ha 'isìà, or omitted altogether. In the Hagar and Rebekah versions, the conception element is separated from the rest of the elements in the birth report because in both cases there are crucial plot developments during the pregnancy. This feature is not peculiar to the annunciation type-scene, because it also occurs in the accounts concerning Tamar and Bathsheba. In contrast to birth reports in genealogies, the birth and naming elements are never combined in birth narratives. Moreover, the birth element never uses the perfect form yalédà, but - with the exception of Gen 25:25, 26 where the verb ys' is used - always uses the imperfect watteled. The straightforward watteled ben is used in Gen 30:23, 1 Sam 1:20, and 2 Kings 4:17 and seems to be the standard phrase. In Judg 13:24, watteled ha 'issa ben is likely used to establish the subject as the unnamed wife of Manoah. Normally, the subject of the birth report is established in either the setting or the conception element but both are lacking in this narrative. The variations with ys' in Genesis 25 are standard when twins are born, as is seen in the parallel case in Genesis 38. The complex formulations of the birth element in the Isaac and Ishmael birth narratives are clearly unusual and call out for interpretation.

31 There is a temporal reference in the Samuel birth narrative, wayhi litqupot hayyamim "and it happened in the completion of days" just before the conception element. However, as there is no birth announcement in this narrative it does not have the same function of witnessing to the veracity of the divine or prophetic message. Alter's own discussion of the Samuel birth narrative, Art, 81-86, does not attempt to make a connection between this phrase and the lammo 'edhazzeh ka 'ethayya style formula in the Sarah and Shunammite woman narratives. 32 Alter, "Convention," 125.

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The naming element always uses an imperfect form of qr\ When the mother names the child, the formula is wattiqra ' 'et-semo PN(Gen 30:24; Judg 13:24; 1 Sam 1:20), and when they both name the child the formula is wayyiqre'u semo PN (Gen 25:25). In Gen 25:26, wayyiqra' semo PN is used but considerably more complicated expressions occur when Abraham names Ishmael and Isaac. These complicated expressions call for interpretation but so, too, does the omission of the naming element in 2 Kings 4. The etiological element is the most varied. It is omitted in the birth report of Genesis 16 because it occurs elsewhere in the narrative, and in 2 Kings 4 because there is no naming element to explain. Its omission in Judges 13 also is more significant from a narratological perspective. The etiology is usually conveyed by a woman giving an etymological speech. Such speeches are given by Sarah and Rachel using the speech introduction formulae watto 'mer PN (Ge,n 21:6) and watto 'mer (Gen 30:23) respectively. In 1 Sam 1:20, there is an etymological speech introduced by ki but the context demands that it be assigned to Hannah. In this speech, the etymology uses the root s 7 instead of the expected sm \ an issue which we shall address when we discuss that narrative in detail. The etiologies regarding Esau and Jacob are contained within the narrated details concerning the birth itself rather than in any speech giving the reason for the name, and in the case of Esau seem to involve the figures of Edom and Seir rather than Esau. In summary, the individual elements of birth reports do not display any particular formulae connected with annunciation type-scenes. The following chart shows that the conception, birth, and naming elements do typically occur in the annunciation type-scene. Table 4: Elements within Birth Reports Occurring in Annunciation Type-Scenes Woman in Type-Scene

Elements Included in Birth Report

Hagar Sarah Rebekah Rachel Manoah's wife Hannah Shunnamite woman

Conception, birth, Conception, birth, Conception, birth, Conception, birth, Birth, naming Conception, birth, Conception, birth

naming naming, etymology naming, etymology naming, etymology naming, etymology

The most distinctive feature of birth reports in annunciation type-scenes concerns the introductory setting immediately preceding the birth report proper. Only these settings include the "removal of infertility" (or "divine aid") element. 33 Moreover, this is the more usual type of formula found in birth report 33 Leah is a problematic case. Immediately after the narrative in which Jacob marries Leah and Rachel, we are told that YHWH sees that Leah is hated and opens her womb. This could

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settings in birth narratives and can reasonably be said to be one of the characteristic features of the birth report in a birth narrative. The variations are

as follows: waYHWH paqad 'et-PN ka'aser ka'aser dibber (Gen 21:1), wayye'ater

'amar waya'as YHWH lePN

lo YHWH (Gen 25:21),

wayyizkor

'LHYM et-PN wayyisma' 'LHYM wayyiptah 'et-rahmah (Gen 30:22) and kipaqad YHWH 'et-PN(1 Sam 2:21). It is clear that there is no standard way to express divine action in removing the barrenness. The only case where some version of intercourse formula is used alone occurs in the Hagar narrative, which reads wayyabo' e/-/W(Gen 16:4). Hagar is, of course, the sole woman in these birth narratives who is not portrayed as having some difficulty bearing children, so this type of formula makes sense. In the birth report of Samuel, a combination of both types of formula is used: wayyeda' PN 'et-PN 'isto followed by wayyizqereha YHWH (1 Sam 1:19). Neither type of formula is used in the birth narratives in Judges 13 or 2 Kings 4. In the chart containing the birth announcements, five of these announcements (Gen 35:17; 1 Sam 4:20; 1 Kgs 13:2; Isa 7:13-17; and 1 Chr 22:8-10) did not occur in annunciation type-scenes. Of these, only the announcements in Gen 35:17 and 1 Sam 4:20 are followed by birth reports and thus of further interest to this study.34 The brief narratives in Gen 35:16-21 and 1 Sam 4:19-22 both contain depictions of the plight of the woman (in these cases, a difficult pregnancy), an announcement of a birth (by a midwife rather than by a prophet or a divine emissary), and a birth report. They can therefore be considered as minor annunciation type-scenes, and will be discussed in this chapter after the seven main annunciation type-scenes.

2. Genesis 16:1-16 Translation (Gen 16:15-16) And Hagar bore to Abram a son; and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore,35 "Ishmael." And Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

imply that Leah also was barren or Leah's suffering could be a variation within a more general "depiction of the plight of a woman" section. If Gen 29:31-35 is read as an abbreviated birth narrative about Leah, then the first two etymological speeches by Leah where she states that YHWH has seen her suffering and heard that she was hated might represent a nod to the concept of entreating YHWH for a son. Note also that, like other birth narratives, this section has a summary or concluding statement after the birth reports, "And she ceased from bearing" (Gen 29:35b). 34 Isa 7:13-17 will be discussed as part of the larger setting for the birth report of Mahershalal-hash-baz in Isa 8:1-4, a different son from Immanuel who is announced in Isaiah 7. 35 The LXX has "whom Hagar bore to him." This makes the parallel between Gen 16:15 and Gen 21:3, which we shall discuss later, even closer.

2. Genesis

16:1-16

Structure I. Scene in Abram's household (1-6) A. Sarai's plan to be built up through Hagar ( l - 2 a ) 1. State of affairs (1) a. Sarai has borne no children (la) b. Sarai has a maidservant, Hagar (lb) 2. Sarai's plan (2a) a. Speech formula (2aa) b. Speech (2aß) 3. Abram's agreement with the plan (2b) B. Execution of plan (3-4a) 1. Sarai gives Hagar to Abram (3) 2. Abram goes in to Hagar (4aa) 3. Hagar conceives (4aß) C. Unforeseen results of plan (4b-6) 1. Hagar despises Sarai (4b) 2. Sarai's response (5-6ba) a. Dialogue between Sarai and Abram concerning Hagar (5-6a) 1) Sarai's complaint to Abram (5) a) Speech formula (5aa) b) Speech (5aß-c) i. Complaint (5aß-b) oc. General statement of complaint (5aß) ß. Specific statement of complaint (5b) ii. Appeal to YHWH for judgment (5c) 2) Abram allows Sarai to deal with Hagar as she pleases (6a) a) Speech formula (óaa 1 ) b) Speech (6aa 2 -ß) b. Sarai afflicts Hagar (6ba) 3. Hagar flees from her (6bß) II. Scene in the wilderness (7-14) A. Initial dialogue between Hagar and the angel of YHWH (7-8) 1. Setting: The angel of YHWH finds Hagar by a spring (7) 2. Dialogue (8) a. The angel of YHWH's question (8a) 1) Speech formula (8aa) 2) Speech (8aß) b. Hagar's response (8b) 1) Speech formula (8ba) 2) Speech (8bß-y) B. Series of three speeches by the angel of YHWH (9-12) 1. First speech: Return and submit to your mistress (9) a. Speech formula (9aa)

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b. Speech (9a£-b) 2. Second speech: I will increase your descendants (10) a. Speech formula (10aa) b. Speech (10a(3-b) 3. Third speech: Annunciation of a son (11-12) a. Speech formula (1 laa) b. Speech ( l l a p - 1 2 ) C. Etiology (13-14) III. Scene back in Abram's household: Birth report of Ishmael (15-16) A. Birth report proper (15) 1. Hagar gives birth (15a) 2. Abram names the child (15b) B. Notice of Abram's age at Ishmael's birth (16) The different locations mark the main divisions of this unit: scene one (Gen 16:1-6) and scene three (vv. 15-16) take place in Abram's household but scene two (vv. 7-14) is set in the wilderness. 36 The scenes also have different protagonists. Sarai is the focus of the first scene, which ends with Sarah afflicting Hagar and Hagar fleeing from her (v 6). The second scene primarily concerns Hagar and begins with the angel of YHWH finding Hagar by a spring in the wilderness (v. 7). The ensuing dialogue between the angel and Hagar contains a command for Hagar to return to her mistress (v. 9), thus anticipating the third scene. The second scene concludes with the naming and location of a certain well (v. 14). The third scene emphasizes Abram. It begins "And Hagar bore to Abram a son" (v. 15a), continues with Abram naming the boy (v. 15b), and concludes with a note about Abram's age at Ishmael's birth. The birth report itself is related through a sequence of two wow-consecutive verbs - the first narrating the giving of birth and the second narrating the naming of the child. This is followed by a notice using a disjunctive waw + subject + predicate structure in v. 16, which is clearly distinct from the previous verse. Within the birth report itself, there is a division marked by the change of subject: Hagar in v. 15a and Abram in v. 15b. The birth element has the form watteledPNi MPN2 ben (Gen 16:15a), and the naming element is wayyiqra' PNi sem-bend 'aser-yaleda PN2 PN3 (v. 15b). 36 H. Seebass, Genesis 11: Vatergeschichte I (11,27-22,24) (Neukirchen-VIuyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1997), 86, argues for the following structure: Exposition and complication (vv. 1-6); action of the angel (vv. 7-12); climax (vv. 13-14); and conclusion (vv. 15-16). If the purpose of the original story was as an etiological legend, then vv. 13-14 do form the climax, and it is entirely possible that an earlier version had Hagar bear and name the child in the wilderness. Yet in the present form of the text, vv. 7-12 and vv. 13-14 are tied together by geographical location, but vv. 15-16 are not. Wenham, Genesis 16-50, 3, is closer to the mark when he argues for an introduction (v. 1), a main account which divides into three scenes (vv. 2-6, 7-14, and 15), and an epilogue (vv. 16). This would yield a structure that had the barrenness motif in the introduction, the conception in scene 1, the annunciation in scene 2, the rest of the birth report in scene 3, and the summary statement in the epilogue.

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16:1-16

99

There is no etiological element in the birth report itself, but there is at least an implied etiology in the announcement in Gen 16:11.37 Likewise, the conception element - a simple watttahar(Gen 16:4a) - occurs earlier than the birth report in this narrative. Immediately after the birth report, there is a notice that Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram. As H. Seebass notes, Gen 16:15-16 mentions three times that Hagar bore Abram a son or bore him Ishmael. 38 We will come back to this phraseology when we compare and contrast the birth reports of Ishmael and Isaac. Setting Gunkel argues that most of Genesis 16 belongs to J, with E's account of Hagar's flight underlying Gen 21:8-21, apart from vv. 9-10 which R IE inserted when combining the accounts and vv. la, 3, 15-16 which derive from P.39 He then attempts to analyze the original legend of Hagar's flight, which has etiological material - how the Ishmaelite tribe came to dwell at Lahoi Roi and to worship El Roi - mixed with "novelistic" elements such as the strife between Sarai and Hagar. 40 Gunkel also suggests that the original legend discussed "how Hagar remained at this well, how she bore and named Ishmael there, how Ishmael grew and became a people at this well and whose god was this 'el" and may have concluded with Gen 25:18. 41 Von Rad accepts much of Gunkel's analysis concerning the original legend, but prefers to focus on the YHWHistic narrative, where the emphasis has shifted from the etiologies to the motif of the heir of promise so that the effect of this episode is "to retard the action of the main narrative and to heighten the suspense." 42 J. Van Seters claims that the legend originally focused on the struggle between the women, and that the etiologies are later additions. 43 In a similar vein, S. McEvenue reduces the significance of the etiological verses to the level of additional information in a narrative primarily concerned with the tension between Sarai and Hagar. 44 P. van Dyk acknowledges that the 37 If M. Dahood is right in emending Gen 16:11 from ki sama' YHWH 'el 'onyekXo ki yisma' YHWH 'L 'anayaki, then this etymological etiology would be very close ("The Name yisma"el in Genesis 16,11" Bib 49 [1968]:87 88). Given how loose some etymologies of personal names are in the Hebrew Bible, this emendation may not be necessary. 38 Seebass, Genesis II: Vatergeschichte I, 91. 39 Gunkel, Genesis, 183. 40 Ibid., 189-192. A radically different take on the original legend is given by H. White in "The Initiation Legend of Ishmael," ZAW 87 (1975): 267-306. White sees the core legend as the death of child through exposure and "his symbolic resurrection through miraculous nourishment" (305). According to White, this hero legend of the Ishmaelite tribes, similar to parallel legends in Greece, was altered when it became a part of a longer Israelite narrative so that it now served only to delay the fulfillment of the promise of a son to Abraham. 41 Ibid., 189. 42 Rad, Genesis, 196. 43 Van Seters, Abraham, 192-196. 44 S. McEvenue, "A Comparison of Narrative Styles in the Hagar Stories," Semeia 3 (1975): 64-80.

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etiological elements in Genesis 16 are not part of the plot, but argues that they still play an important rhetorical function within the narrative: "The names Ishmael and Lahai-roi are 'objective' proof that the events of the narrative really took place. This 'seduces' the listener into believing the narrative as a whole and also makes the narrative more entertaining."45 Van Dyk similarly argues that the threefold repetition of wayyomer ¡ah mal 'ak YHWH need not imply later additions, as many scholars claim, 46 but is a rhetorical devise. 47 C. Westermann claims that Gen 16:1-6 and Gen 21:8-21 belong originally to a more extensive sequence of narratives about rivalry between Sarai and Hagar similar to Genesis 29-30, and that Gen 16:7-14 "belongs to another cycle of motifs, that of the promise of the birth of a son." 48 He then comments: " W h a t makes it possible to join [vv. 1 - 6 and vv. 7 - 1 4 ] together is that the conflict in the first part is not resolved; Sarah's attempt to acquire children by means of the secondary wife has gone amiss. The narrative, therefore, cannot end with the flight of Hagar; it reaches its goal only with the words which the messenger of G-d addresses to her." 4 9

Westermann rightly notes that v. 6 does not conclude the narrative satisfactorily, but v. 14 does no better. The narrative only reaches its goal with the birth and naming of Ishmael in vv. 15-16. This is not to deny the tension between vv. 7 14, in which Hagar is told to name the child Ishmael, and vv. 15-16, in which Abram names the boy. Assigning these verses to P, as Gunkel, von Rad, Skinner, and Westermann all do, makes a great deal of sense. 50 We shall 45 P. van Dyk, "The Function of So-Called Etiological Elements in Narratives," ZAW 102 (1990): 32. 46 In addition to Gunkel, vv. 9 - 1 0 are considered additions by Wellhausen (Composition des Hexateuchs, 19-20) and Skinner (Genesis, 295). Neff instead argues that vv. 11-12 are additions, partly because he regards a Genesis 16 J narrative and a Gen 2 1 : 8 - 2 1 E narrative as being different versions of a common tradition about Ishmael and partly because he rejects the assumption that "the promise" is a necessary part of the birth stories (Announcement, 96-97, 106; see also R. N e f f , "The Annunciation in the Birth Narrative of Ishmael," BR 17 [1972]: 5 1 62). Regarding the first point, there is no longer a consensus that Genesis 16 and Gen 21:8-21 are doublets. N e f f s second objection may be a result of considering only announcements having all three elements of birth, naming and destiny. If one includes the less full announcements in the birth stories of Genesis 25 and 2 Kings 4, the evidence for announcements being a standard part of birth stories is quite substantial. 47 Van Dyk, 30. 48 Westermann, Genesis, 237. Alter's observation that the first recorded speech by both Rachel and Sarai is a complaint about childlessness (Genesis, 67), is a possible indicator that the final redactor of the Pentateuch intended to compare these cycles of stories. 49 Ibid., 236. 50 D. Fewell's synchronic reading acknowledges the problem: " W e are never told how Abram comes to name the boy Ishmael. Does Hagar tell him of her encounter at the well? Does G-d make a separate revelation to Abram? Does Abram simply understand the boy to be the answer to his own petition and thus names him accordingly?" ("Changing the Subject: Retelling the Story of Hagar the Egyptian" in Genesis: A Feminist Companion to the Bible (Second Series) [ed. A. Brenner; FCB 2/1; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1998], 185 n. 7). J. Hartley takes the position that Hagar would have told Abram about the epiphany (Genesis [NIBCOT 1; Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 2000], 167). P. Reis gives a synchronic reading of

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consider this problem more fully in our analysis of Gen 21:1-7, where a similar source-critical problem occurs. G. Coats speaks of a Sarah-Hagar novella with the following sections: Annunciation of Ishmael (Gen 16:1-16), covenant (Genesis 17), annunciation of Isaac (Gen 18:1-15), Sodom (Gen 18:16-19:38), ancestress in danger (Genesis 20), and expulsion of Hagar (Genesis 21). According to Coats, the annunciations of Ishmael and Isaac together with the expulsion of Hagar form a connected narration - even if the transitions are rough - which has been split apart to form a framework for the three other independent sections. 51 Coats comments: "In the present form of the text, these scenes are elements in the larger saga, a redactional piece used for embracing a distinct body of tradition. Behind the saga, however, the subtle interweaving of scenes, which makes the Sarah-Hagar story a convenient piece for redactional framing, identifies the whole as a novella." 5 2

In fact, Coats does not delineate Genesis 16-21 as a unit when he analyzes the structure of the Abraham saga as a whole. 53 And while an earlier, perhaps preliterary, stage of Gen 16:1-16; 18:1-15 and 21:1-21 may have been a discrete piece of tradition, 54 Gen 16:1-21:21 does not function as a literary unit and hence cannot be described as a novella. M. Tsevat points out that although Genesis 16 can be read as a self-contained unit, it resonates with G-d's promise of offspring to Abram in Gen 12:2, and that for its original audience of the descendants of Isaac it would read as "the story of the delay of Isaac's birth, a delay ironically enough occasioned by the impatience of his parents and their precipitous enterprise."5 Gen 16:1-16; 21:8-21, but conspicuously ignores Gen 16:15-16 ("Hagar Requited" JSOT 87 [2000]: 75-109). 51 Coats, Genesis, 127. 52 Ibid., 128. 53 Ibid., 9 7 - 1 0 2 . 54 Many important analyses regarding the characterization of Hagar that have drawn on Genesis 16 and 21: P. Trible, "Hagar: The Desolation of Rejection" in Texts of Terror: Literary-Feminist Readings of Biblical Narratives (OBT 13; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1984), 9 35; R. Weems, "A Mistress, a Maid, and No Mercy (Hagar and Sarah)" in Just a Sister Away: A Womanist Vision of Women's Relationships in the Bible (San Diego: LuraMedia, 1988), 1 - 2 1 ; S. Teubal, Hagar the Egyptian (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1990); D. Mbuwayesango, "Childlessness and Woman-To-Woman Relationships in Genesis and in African Patriarchal Society: Sarah and Hagar from a Zimbabwean W o m a n ' s Perspective (Gen 16:1-6; 2 1 : 8 - 2 1 ) " Semeia 78 (1997): 2 7 - 3 6 ; P. Reis, 75-109; S. Nikaido, "Hagar and Ishmael as Literary Figures: An Intertextual Study," VT 51 (2001): 219-242. P. Drey, "The Role of Hagar in Genesis 16" AUSS 40 (2002): 179-195, examines Genesis 16 only in the setting of Genesis 15-17. Hagar is rightly seen as a positive character by most of these scholars - she is the first woman to receive an annunciation scene, she obeys Y H W H ' s messenger even at the cost of further personal suffering, she gives a name for the deity, and she receives divine aid in the wilderness of Beersheba - but this is not infrequently accompanied with largely negative comments regarding Sarah. On the tendency of some scholars to allow elements of anti-Judaism to enter their discussions of Hagar, see Kellenbach, 89. 55 M. Tsevat, "Hagar and the Birth of Ishmael" in The Meaning of the Book of Job and Other Biblical Studies: Essays on the Literature and Religion of the Hebrew Bible (New York:

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Indeed, Genesis 16 is an episode in a plot line that begins with the note that Sarai was barren and had no children (Gen 11:30) and ends with the birth report of Sarah's son Isaac (Gen 21:1-7). This plot line takes up the bulk of the toledot unit which stretches from Gen 11:27 ("And these are the generations of Terah: Terah begot Abram and Nahor and Haran") to Abraham's burial by his sons, Isaac and Ishmael, and Isaac weeping over his father (Gen 25:11). But the role of the Genesis 16 episode within this larger narrative is not limited to delaying the birth of Isaac; it marks a stage where although Sarai's plans to be "built up" through giving Hagar to Abram have failed, Abram believes he has obtained the son of promise. One of the difficulties in this passage is explaining Sarai's harsh words to Abram in Gen 16:5, when the text does not record any action by Abram that would warrant this. Abram's only actions in Gen 16:1-4 are listening to Sarai's voice, which connotes obeying her, 56 and having intercourse with Hagar, which is what Sarai had told him to do. We need to "read between the lines" in order to discover what may have angered Sarai. Most commentators believe that Sarai intended to adopt Hagar's son as her own, and frequently cite parallels from the ancient Near East. 57 In Genesis 30, where Rachel and Leah give their handmaids to Jacob to have children with, it is Rachel and Leah rather than their handmaids who name the children, 58 indicating some level of identification between these matriarchs and the children of their handmaids. 59 But Sarah only refers to Ishmael as "the son of this Ktav, 1980), 68-69. This is similar to von Rad's comment, mentioned above, regarding the theme of the son of promise. 56 The Sarai/Sarah portrayed in Genesis is a good deal more assertive than the submissive figure portrayed in androcentric commentaries and accepted as a premise by many feminists who seek to challenge the Bible's authority. For a more general discussion of how the matriarchs as portrayed in Genesis differ from the conception that many feminists have of them, see J. Davidson, "Genesis Matriarchs Engage Feminism" AUSS 40 (2002): 169-178. See also J. Nunnally-Cox, Fore-Mothers: Women of the Bible (New York: Seabury, 1981); S. Jeansonne, The Women of Genesis: From Sarah to Potiphar 's Wife (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1990); T. Schneider, Sarah: Mother of Nations (Continuum, 2004). 57 Speiser, Genesis, 117-121; Wenham, Genesis 16-50, 6-7; Westermann, Genesis 12-36, 238-39; J. van Seters, "The Problem of Childlessness in Near Eastern Law and the Patriarchs of Israel," JBL 82 (1968): 401-408; A. Grayson and J. van Seters, "The Childless Wife in Assyria and the Stories of Genesis" Orientalia 44 (1975): 485-486. The last mentioned article refers to a Neo-Assyrian text in which if a childless wife may use a maidservant as a substitute and the resulting sons will belong to the childless wife who may then either keep or sell the maidservant. 58 The fact that Sarah does not name "Ishmael" does not give direct evidence that her relationship with Hagar is different from that of Rachel and Bilhah or of Leah and Zilpah, because in the present text, Abraham names both Ishmael and Isaac. However, the annunciation to Hagar telling her to name her son Ishmael and the etymological speeches of Sarah concerning Isaac suggest that earlier versions of the story had Hagar naming Ishmael and Sarah naming Isaac. 59 The texts later on in Genesis indicate that the sons of the handmaids may not have the same status as the natural sons, but Rachel and Leah must in some sense have considered these

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h a n d m a i d " ( G e n 2 1 : 1 0 ) . 6 0 O n e p o s s i b i l i t y is that the w a y in w h i c h Sarai w a s m a d e light in H a g a r ' s e y e s ( G e n 16:4) i n v o l v e d H a g a r c l a i m i n g her unborn s o n for h e r s e l f thus thwarting Sarai's plan to h a v e a s o n through Hagar. If A b r a m w a s c o m p l i c i t in H a g a r ' s action, it e x p l a i n s Sarai's a n g e r at h i m and Hagar. P. R e i s a r g u e s instead that Sarai g a v e Hagar to A b r a m o n l y as an e x p e d i e n t to increase her o w n fertility. 6 1 R e i s then c l a i m s that the f e m i n i n e singular e n d i n g o n "you" 6 2 in Sarai's cry " M a y G - d j u d g e b e t w e e n m e and b e t w e e n y o u " ( G e n 16:5) i n d i c a t e s that this portion o f the s p e e c h w a s a d d r e s s e d to Hagar and that f r o m "Sarai's directly s u c c e s s i v e s p e e c h e s to her h u s b a n d and t o her m a i d and f r o m her a c c u s a t i o n o f DOI7, w e can d e d u c e that she h a s surprised A b r a m and Hagar not o n l y t o g e t h e r but flagrante delicto,"63 T h i s robs Sarai o f her c h a n c e to c o n c e i v e . R e i s rightly critiques t h o s e w h o a s s u m e that A b r a m d o e s not d e s e r v e Sarai's v e h e m e n t o u t b u r s t 4 and certainly p r o v i d e s an adequate m o t i v e for Sarai's m i s t r e a t m e n t o f Hagar. H o w e v e r , her c l a i m that Sarah, Leah, and R a c h e l did not intend to adopt children is hard to square w i t h R a c h e l ' s p r o c l a m a t i o n s o f struggle and v i c t o r y in s p e e c h e s w h e r e she n a m e s B i l h a h ' s children. T h e s i m p l e r h y p o t h e s i s that Hagar, w i t h A b r a m ' s approval, thwarted Sarai's plan to h a v e a child b y Hagar e x p l a i n s a n u m b e r o f f a c t s w i t h i n the larger c o n t e x t : Sarai's m i s t r e a t m e n t o f Hagar and her a n g e r at A b r a m , the lack o f a children their sons for their etymological speeches to be meaningful. This will be discussed further in the section on Gen 29:31-30:24. 60 For the ancient Near Eastern background to this term, see F. C. Fensham, "The Son of a Handmaid in Northwest Semitic" VT 19 (1969): 312-321. According to Fensham, although the phrase is used in the Hebrew Bible and in Ugaritic texts as a synonym for a slave, in Gen 21 it is used for the son of a second-wife (with low social status) that has a claim on part of the property of his father but who can be disinherited. In any case, Sarah does not identify Ishmael as belonging to her in any way whatsoever. Sarah's expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael has been used in some scholarship to vilify Sarah, but it is entirely possible that her action was well motivated. In the LXX and the Vulgate of Gen 21:9, Sarah sees not just Ishmael "playing" (from shq) but "playing with Isaac her son." Westermann argues that the sense and the rhythm require this reading (Genesis 16-50, 339). What precisely Ishamel did to Isaac is unclear: The apostle Paul calls it "persecuting" in Gal 4:29; J. Kirsch argues from the use of shq in describing sexual activity in Gen 26:8 that Ishmael was sexually abusing Isaac ("What did Sarah See?" BR 14/2 [Oct 1998]: 2, 49); Hartley suggests verbal abuse of Isaac based around his name and that the narrator correspondingly mocks Ishmael by not referring to his name in this text (Genesis, 199). There are enough plausible gap-filling hypotheses to suggest that Sarah was motivated by genuine concerns, and that YHWH backs her up (Gen 21:12). 61 Jewish commentators from the Talmudic and medieval periods argued that Sarai, Leah and Rachel adopted children to increase their own fertility, a view that has been revived by S. Kardimon ("Adoption as a Remedy for Infertility in the Period of the Patriarchs," JSS 3 [1958]: 123-126). Reis differs from this view in that she sees no adoption involved, just a giving of a handmaid to bear children in order for the matriarch to increase her own fertility ("Hagar Requited," 78). 62 The MT itself has an extraordinary point above the yod, suggesting that the reading is doubtful (and does not point the text to read a feminine suffix) and the Samaritan Pentateuch omits the yod entirely. Reis is thus likely putting too much emphasis on this Ketib reading. 63 Reis, 85. 64 Ibid., 83.

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similar disharmony between Rachel and Bilhah or between Leah and Zilpah, the excessive repetition that Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram's continued identification with Ishmael. 65 Certainly, from Sarai's (and YHWH's) viewpoint, the events narrated in Genesis 16 serve to delay the arrival of the promised son, but the wording of the birth report in this chapter suggests that Abram thinks that that moment has already occurred. We shall further discuss the contribution of the Ishmael birth report to the narrative development of Gen 11:27-21:7 after we examine the Isaac birth report in Gen 21:1-7.

3. G e n e s i s 2 1 : 1 - 7 Translation And YHWH visited Sarah as he had said and YHWH did for Sarah as he had spoken. And Sarah conceived and bore to Abraham a son in his 66 old age at the appointed season that 'LHYM 67 had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of his son, the one born to him, 68 the one whom Sarah bore to him, 65 It is also possible that Abram, in addition to approving H a g a r ' s plan of keeping Ishmael as her own son, continued to have intercourse with Hagar, as Reis suggests, or that he ceased having intercourse with Sarah. This would give additional piquancy to the annunciation scene in Genesis 18. Y H W H ' s announcement that Sarah would bear a child thus becomes a command to Abraham to have intercourse with Sarah. Likewise, S a r a h ' s inward laughter in Gen 18:12 could indicate disbelief that Abraham would have intercourse with her some 13 years after he had ceased relations and simultaneous disbelief that Abraham is able to rise to the occasion (Sarah mentions A b r a h a m ' s age also). 66 The L X X has simply "in old age" and the natural referent would be Sarah. In v. 7, the LXX specifically has "in her old age" instead of the M T ' s "in his old age." Despite the intrusive nature of the M T ' s reading, it fits with the fact that A b r a h a m ' s age, not Sarah's, is mentioned in this passage. Alter comments, "In a symmetrical reversal of G - d ' s report in chapter 18 of Sarah's interior monologue, where A b r a h a m ' s advanced age was suppressed, S a r a h ' s postpartum poem, like the narrator's report that precedes it, mentions only his old age. Hers is implied by her marveling reference to herself as an old woman suckling infants, a pointed reversal of her own allusion in chapter 18 to her shriveled body" (Genesis: Translation and Commentary [New York: W. W. Norton, 1996], 98). 67 The L X X has Kupios, as also in v. 6. However, in v. 5 the L X X has O 8EOS, which corresponds with the M T . Perhaps when a birth report involves different divine names in the MT, there is a tendency in the LXX to level the text so that the same name appears throughout (Gen 21:5 would obviously be an exception). See Gen 3 0 : 2 2 - 2 4 for another example. B. Long suggests instead that "fluctuations in a rather limited bit of tradition may point to a complex history of the Hebrew text more than to translation idiosyncrasies in the Greek" (Problem of Etiological Narrative, 28). 68 Although the pointing of the M T indicates the definite article followed by a Niphal perfect, this construction is impossible and a Niphal participle is likely intended (GKC 447). Speiser omits this phrase entirely in his translation (Genesis, 153). Wenham translates "called his newborn son, that Sarah had borne him" (Genesis 16-50, 176-77), but to preserve the Hebrew syntax this should be "called the name of his son, the one newborn to him, that Sarah had borne him." Alter preserves the sense of the original nicely: "And Abraham called the name

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"Isaac." 6 9 A n d Abraham c i r c u m c i s e d 7 0 Isaac his son at eight days old a s ' L H Y M c o m m a n d e d him. A n d Abraham w a s a hundred years o l d w h e n his son Isaac w a s born to him. A n d Sarah said, " ' L H Y M has made m e laugh; all w h o hear will laugh for m e . " A n d she said, " W h o w o u l d have uttered 71 to Abraham that Sarah w o u l d nurse s o n s b e c a u s e I have g i v e n birth to a son in his old a g e ? " Structure I. Report o f the birth and circumcision o f Isaac (1—4) A . Setting: Y H W H f u l f i l l s his promise to Sarah ( 1 ) 1. N o t i c e o f Y H W H ' s visiting o f Sarah ( l a ) a. N o t i c e proper ( l a a ) b. Remark that visitation w a s "as Y H W H had said" ( l a ß ) 2. N o t i c e o f Y H W H ' s acting for Sarah ( l b ) a. N o t i c e proper ( I b a ) b. Remark that action w a s "as Y H W H had spoken" ( l b ß ) B. Report proper ( 2 - 4 ) 1. Sarah's actions: c o n c e i v i n g and g i v i n g birth (2) a. N o t i c e o f conception ( 2 a a ) b. N o t i c e o f birth ( 2 a ß - b ) 1) N o t i c e proper (2aß) 2 ) T i m e setting (2b) 2. A b r a h a m ' s actions: naming and c i r c u m c i s i n g the child ( 3 - 4 ) a. N o t i c e o f n a m i n g (3) b. N o t i c e o f circumcision (4) 1) N o t i c e o f circumcision o n eighth day (4a) a) N o t i c e proper ( 4 a a ) of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac" (Genesis, 97). Alter's translation regards the definite article as having the force of a relative pronoun here (so also GKC, 446447). 69 This name comes from the Hebrew word "to laugh" and thus Sarah's speech in v. 6 contains a double word play on Isaac's name. 70 W. Frerichs notes that "the naming and the circumcision, both credited to Abraham in our text, appear in successive verses but are not necessarily connected" ("The Birth of Isaac: Genesis 21:1-7" Word and World 14 [1994]: 159). In later Jewish tradition, naming is done at the circumcision ceremony and, judging from Luke 1-2, this seems already to be the case by the first century C.E. " The Hebrew term, millel, elsewhere only occurs in Job 8:2; 33:3; and Ps 106:2. The translation calls for an unusual, somewhat poetic word, and R. Alter's suggestion of "utter" (Genesis, 98) seems appropriate. I. Rabinowitz reads the imperfect yemallel on the basis of the LXX and the Vetus Latina and translates "Would that it were told to Abraham" ("Sarah's Wish [Gen. XXI 6-7]" VT 29 (1979): 362-363. Rabinowitz argues that shq in v. 6 should be taken to mean "ridicule," so that "Sarah's wish, finally, predicated upon the realized fact of her and Abraham's renewed fertility, suggests to the Lord a means whereby the attendant ridicule of her and of Abraham might be stilled: if they were to have not just one, but several children" (362). Although the construction is possible, a translation of "rejoice" for shq in v. 6 makes sense at this long-awaited realization of Sarah's hopes.

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b) Time setting (4af5) 2) Reason: YHWH commanded it (4b) II. Reflections upon the birth of Isaac (5-7) A. Narrator's comment regarding Abraham's age at Isaac's birth (5) B. Two speeches by Sarah regarding Isaac (6-7) 1. First speech (6) a. Speech formula (6ao