The Eden Narrative
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To begin our analysis of the Yahwistic document, we start with the first narrative complex of that work, a beginning to what is known as the Primeval History in Genesis 1-11. According to the present interpretation, the genre of this piece is an allegory, highly sexual, and generated by the Israelite wisdom tradition. In this regard, Solomon himself has a strong reputation for being a wise king and we know from the Sayings of the Sages in Proverbs 23ff that the Israelite wisdom school was familiar with the Egyptian wisdom tradition as is shown by the very close reproduction of the Sayings of Amem-em-ope in the “Sayings of the Sages” found in the Book of Proverbs.
The wisdom tradition was also familiar with the genre of allegory as is seen from the use of the allegorical figures of Dame Wisdom and Madam Folly in Proverbs 1-9. We also have a fine allegory regarding old age in the last chapter of Qoheleth (Qoheleth 12:1-7). Therefore, its genre as an allegory, with its penchant to use symbolism, fits well within the Israelite wisdom tradition. As far as its allegedly sexual content, besides the book of Proverbs, the erotic poems of the Song of Songs provide additional evidence that sexuality was a special interest of the sages by the traditional ascription of these erotic poems to Solomon. So both the allegorical genre and the sexual content point to the same social location for the authorship of this narrative--the Israelite wisdom tradition.
Now to some brief commentary on this alleged allegory. It begins with a description of the primeval setting of the story:
At the time when Yahweh God made earth and heaven |
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5 and there was as yet no wild bush on the earth nor had any wild plant yet sprung up, for Yahweh God had not sent rain on the earth, nor was there any man to till the soil. |
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6 when water flowed out of the ground and watered all the surface of the soil. |
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7 then Yahweh God shaped man from the soil of the ground and blew the breath of life into his nostrils, and man became a living being.
In its syntactical structure, the description of the primeval setting is similar to the beginning of the Enuma Elish ("When on high . . ."). The Enuma Elish begins:
When in the height heaven was not named,
And the earth beneath did not yet bear a name,
And the primeval Apsu, who begat them,
And chaos, Tiamut, the mother of them both
Their waters were mingled together,
And no field was formed, no marsh was to be seen;
When of the gods none had been called into being,
And none bore a name, and no destinies were ordained;
Then were created the gods in the midst of heaven,
The similarity of the two introductions indicates that the author was familiar with the Mesopotamian literary tradition and its conventions. The Eden Allegory also shows familiarity with the famous Gilgamesh Epic with its sexual orientation in a primeval setting, notably with connections with the nature man, Enkidu. Here is a summary of the role of Enkidu in the Gilgamesh Epic, which not only shows the central role of Enkidu losing his "natural innocence" through sex with a harlot, but also as a result his alienation from the animal world:
“Enkidu roamed with the beasts of the wilderness. He protected the animals, destroying the hunters' traps, and lurked around the watering holes to protect the game. These actions were much to the chagrin of a local trapper. The trapper went to King Gilgamesh to ask for help. Gilgamesh offered the advice "Trapper, go back, take with you a harlot, a child of pleasure ... he will embrace her and the game of the wilderness will surely reject him." The trapper did what he was told, and hired the temple prostitute Shamhat for acculturation. Enkidu was immediately taken with the harlot and bedded her. The animals begin to avoid him, the bond he once shared with them having been broken. Now "he scattered the wolves, he chased away the lions" and the herders could lie down in peace, for Enkidu was now their watchperson.”
These Mesopotamian motifs in terms of literary conventions and a motif of the loss of innocence support our thesis that this story is the product of an educated class with international literary connections—the Israelite wisdom tradition.
The description of the primeval setting continues, now focusing attention first on the trees for food and then upon the central symbolic tree in the story, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Bad. What it means “to know good and bad” is indicated by 2 Samuel 19:35. This verse shows that this phrase means the loss of vitality during senility, when David has lost his sexual powers and other adult powers due to old age:
I am this day fourscore years old: and can I know good and bad? Can your servant taste what I eat or what I drink? Can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women?
There are in fact two states when human beings do not know sexuality, when they are old as in the example above, and when they are innocence children, for it is only children who do not know they are naked. Indeed, it is a common perception that Adam and Eve where in a state of innocence in the Garden, and that they lost their child-like innocence.. As I shall argue, the Eden allegory pictures the primeval couple at that stage when they entering their sexuality, or puberty. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Bad symbolizes carnal knowledge as the pair is faced with the awakening of their own sexuality at about 11 to 13 years of age. Yahweh's command that they not eat from the tree decodes to the commandment that they not engage in sex just because they "now" can. As such, he is warning them not to "loose" their teen years to teenage parenthood. This is the great crux of the story, and as we all know, the couple failed to resist the sexual temptation.
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8 Yahweh God planted a garden in Eden, which is in the east, and there he put the man he had fashioned. |
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9 From the soil, Yahweh God caused to grow every kind of tree, enticing to look at and good to eat, with the tree of life in the middle of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and bad.
The Tree of Life motif appears to be an addition to the story. It plays no integral part in the story, appearing again at the story’s conclusion where a Cherub with a flaming sword is posted to keep the couple out of the garden. In a fragmented sentence (in the Hebrew), we read:
22 Then Yahweh God said, 'Now that the man has become like one of us in knowing good from evil, he must not be allowed to reach out his hand and pick from the tree of life too, and eat and live forever!'
Note that Yahweh here is suddenly speaking in the plural—“man has become like one of us . . .” This indicates that the Tree of Life motif with Yahweh speaking in the plural is dependent upon Genesis 1:26:
God said, 'Let us make man in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves. . .
This text belongs to the P document, which was produced subsequent to J. Therefore, the presence of the Tree of Life motif in the J account, dependent as it is upon P’s creation account, is an addition to the story. Originally, only one tree was of any special concern, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Bad. Therefore, an interpretation of this story can dismiss the presence of the Tree of Life as a late addition.
The original story has picked up another addition—the four rivers of Eden.
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10 A river flowed from Eden to water the garden, and from there it divided to make four streams. |
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11 The first is named the Pishon, and this winds all through the land of Havilah where there is gold. |
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12 The gold of this country is pure; bdellium and cornelian stone are found there. |
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13 The second river is named the Gihon, and this winds all through the land of Cush. |
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14 The third river is named the Tigris, and this flows to the east of Ashur. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
One may note that if this section is removed, v 9 continues smoothly at v 15. The naming of these four streams is mythological, for we know for certain the Tigris and the Euphrates do not actually have a common source. Like the insertion of the Tree of Life motif, this addition seems intended to dress up the narrative with its description of the primeval situation. Its “information” does not significantly or intrinsically contribute to the articulation of the story’s message.
The basis for the drama of this story is laid in this scene where Yahweh commands Adam not to eat of the Tree of Good and Bad. The story will decode the symbolism here to mean that Adam is not to engage in sexual relations.
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15 Yahweh took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden to cultivate and take care of it. |
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16 Then Yahweh gave the man this command, 'You are free to eat of all the trees in the garden. |
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17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and bad you are not to eat; for, the day you eat of that, you are doomed to die.'
Although this allegory was written primarily for those dealing with the new urges of puberty, the story has been given a universal context due to it primordial setting. Adam and Eve are both teenagers dealing with a common problem but also do so as the first human pair. One may say that the common danger of pre-mature parenthood was made the issue for the first human beings and writ large by placing that problem in a primeval setting. Accordingly, the story can address the larger, universal question, “Why do human beings die?”
Here now we come to the creation of woman. This section may have once circulated in independent form, as it is a complete episode in itself. However, it is perfectly integrated into the Eden Narrative as a whole, for the story needs a young man and a young woman to have sex and so violate Yahweh God's commandment.
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18 Yahweh said, 'It is not right that the man should be alone. I shall make him a helper.' |
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19 So from the soil Yahweh fashioned all the wild animals and all the birds of heaven. These he brought to the man to see what he would call them; each one was to bear the name the man would give it. |
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20 The man gave names to all the cattle, all the birds of heaven and all the wild animals. But no helper suitable for the man was found for him. |
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21 Then, Yahweh God made the man fall into a deep sleep. And, while he was asleep, he took one of his ribs and closed the flesh up again forthwith. |
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22 Yahweh God fashioned the rib he had taken from the man into a woman, and brought her to the man. |
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23 And the man said: This one at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh! She is to be called Woman, because she was taken from Man.
The episode concludes with the naming of woman, which is actually a popular etymology in that linguistically speaking, 'ish and 'issah are not from the same Hebrew root. But because of assonance, or similar sounds, the popular etymology was created. Note here that Yahweh has Adam insect the other animals in the garden to learn for himself that he is not fit to have sex with any of them. A special creation is needed to produce a being "that corresponds to him," that is, "a helper."
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24 [This is why a man leaves his father and mother and becomes attached to his wife, and they become one flesh. ]
This verse appears to be a gloss, explaining the institution of marriage. As such, it seems out of place in this primeval context.
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25 Now, both of them were naked, the man and his wife, but they felt no shame before each other. |
Here we have the statement that the two created humans were like innocent children. The only people who do not know they are naked are children. It is clear that the idea of Adam and Eve not knowing they are naked comes from the observation of children’s consciousness. Like children, the first couple was unaware of the nakedness, completely unselfconscious. These motifs anticipate that after they do have sex, they have adult sexual consciousness injected into them, and instantly become adults. Indeed, in this respect, they become "like God,” for God is anything but naïve and childlike.
The next section introduces the serpent and tells of his conversation with Eve. Note that nothing evil is said of the serpent--only that he is the "most subtle" of all the wild animals." There is no statement that he is Satan or some evil creature. On the contrary, he is praised implicitly for his subtlety. The reason why he wishes the couple to eat of the fruit does not actually stem from his evil nature, but rather from what is “normal” but has to be controlled. In this allegory, the serpent is an allegorical representative for the penis of Adam. That the snake or serpent should represent the male organ is ubiquitous in the ancient Near East and even also in modern times. The subtlety of the serpent signifies his seemly sole desire to have sexual intercourse, all his wiles, and so forth. Males have many wiles intended to "get laid," and the serpent here is represented as "scamming" on the woman," and "trying to get into her pants." We have a proverb which notes the subtle ways of male sexuality in its efforts to satisfy itself:
There are three things beyond my comprehension, four, indeed, that I do not understand: the way of an eagle through the skies, the way of a snake over the rock, the way of a ship in mid-ocean, the way of a man with a girl. (Prov 30:18-19)
Here again we note Israelite wisdom tradition’s fascination with sexuality and its peculiar and interesting behaviors. The serpent here is seen as acting in "the way of a man with a girl."
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1 Now, the snake was the most subtle of all the wild animals that Yahweh God had made. It asked the woman, 'Did God really say you were not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?' |
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2 The woman answered the snake, 'We may eat the fruit of the trees in the garden. |
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3 But of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden God said, "You must not eat it, nor touch it, under pain of death." ' |
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4 Then the snake said to the woman, 'No! You will not die! |
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5 God knows in fact that the day you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, knowing good from bad.'
Note the snake's approach here. He says that he finds it incredible that God should forbid that they have sex. "Whatever can be wrong with having sex? God could have hardly said that, could have he?"
Boldly interpreted, we should see here in this conversation, what Eve is feeling and thinking as she looks upon Adam’s erect member. As the serpent’s punishment is that the he must crawl on the ground and eat dust, we may deduce that the serpent original somehow was erect in his posture. As she continues her "peter-gazing," she convinces herself that indeed, there can be absolutely nothing wrong with sex. Note how she here reasons to herself about this matter:
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6 The woman saw that the tree was good to eat and pleasing to the eyes and that it was enticing for the wisdom that it could give.
Note here the "wisdom" is now identified with "knowing good and bad," (another indication that this story stems from the wisdom tradition). "What is wrong with being a wise adult?" "Having entered puberty, they are able to have sex, so this must mean that it is alright to do so. After all, God gave them the power to have sex. Can anything be wrong with it?" Furthermore, we are apparently led to think that the couple observed the animals engaging in sex as Adam had to observe them to learn that there was not a suitable mate among them.
Convinced by the attraction of Adam's member, she succumbs to her self-justification and allows Adam to penetrate her:
So she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.
Again, as in Israel's wisdom tradition, fruit is an apt symbol for the sexual act. One need only read The Song of Songs to know how conventional it was to associate fruit and pastoral imagery with sexuality. The same sort of imagery is also known from Egyptian love poetry.
The sex act has an immediate effect upon the young couple.
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Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they realized that they were naked. So they sewed fig-leaves together to make themselves loin-cloths.
Having engaged in sex, the couple is instantly changed into adult, sexual consciousness. Immediately, they lose their child-like innocence and become self-conscious of their own nakedness. This radical change is signaled by the fact that they now are ashamed of their nakedness as adults are, and so make close to cover their genitals. Here is the fateful act, and the great mistake of tempted teens entering puberty. They prematurely become adults and prematurely lose their innocence, and so lose the bliss of the teen years. The story here draws upon the common human experience of losing one's virginity and telescopes that change of innocent, child-like consciousness to adulthood. They are forever changed and must now bear the consequences of having engaged in sex too soon.
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8 The man and his wife heard the sound of Yahweh God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from Yahweh God among the trees of the garden. |
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9 But Yahweh God called to the man. 'Where are you?' he asked. |
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10 'I heard the sound of you in the garden,' he replied. 'I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.' |
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11 'Who told you that you were naked?' he asked. 'Have you been eating from the tree I forbade you to eat?' |
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12 The man replied, 'It was the woman you put with me; she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.' |
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13 Then Yahweh God said to the woman, 'Why did you do that?' The woman replied, 'The snake tempted me and I ate.'
Yahweh God here is presented in human form. It appears to be his custom to come and walk with the couple as the sun is going down and the day cools off. But Yahweh today finds something wrong. The couple is missing from their usual rendezvous. And so he has to call out to locate them. Their strange behavior informs Yahweh that they have indeed engaged in sex and disobeyed his stern warning. Adam blames Eve for seducing him and Eve blames the serpent (Adam's member) for tempting her. All of this is to say that it is Yahweh's fault, for he created the sex drive and they plead that they cannot be blamed for engaging in sex. What they miss is that Yahweh had explicitly forbid them from doing so. In the final analysis, they are guilty of violating Yahweh’s direct and sole command.
Next follows the punishment for the offending parties:
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14 Then Yahweh God said to the snake, 'Because you have done this, Accursed be you of all animals wild and tame! On your belly you will go and on dust you will feed as long as you live.
Here we have a clever explanation of the current posture of the snake. He shall be deprived on an upright posture and be condemned to crawl on its belly, with it mouth close to the ground and so seemly "eat dust."
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15 I shall put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; it will bruise your head and you will strike its heel.'
Here we have what appears to be another gloss, noting the motif of the persistent hostility between human beings and snakes. In the original story, the snake being condemned to eat dust seems to be an adequate punishment. This verse introduces the additional idea of human-snake enmity as though the first punishment was not sufficient.
As I am suggesting, the content of these verses is informed by the ills of teenage marriage. Indeed, the story assumes that Eve became pregnant and now will have to bear up under the evil consequences:
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16 To the woman he said: I shall give you intense pain in childbearing, you will give birth to your children in pain. You’re your yearning will be for your husband, and he will dominate you.
As noted, the terrible consequences of teens engaging in se are put in a primeval, universal context. As a result of her having sex with Adam, Eve will indeed get pregnant and have a child in great pain. Not only will the child be a great burden to the teen parents, but the very act of child-birth will be extremely painful.
This is not the only terrible consequence for Eve. She will have to adopt a subordinate, submissive and abused stance toward her teen husband. Gone will be the carefree days when she can live out her teen years in a carefree, blissful way, so generally characteristic of teenage years. She is now shackled to her husband, forced to be submissive to him, and now cheated of the teen years of her life.
In this way, the sexual interpretation of the passages best explains the particular nature of the punishments. Yahweh tells of her pain in childbirth because she has had sex and will become pregnant. So also, Adam’s punishment makes sense when seen as the consequences of teenage parenthood:
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17 To the man he said, 'Because you listened to the voice of your wife and ate from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat, Accursed be the soil because of you! Painfully will you get your food from it as long as you live. |
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18 It will yield you brambles and thistles, as you eat the produce of the land.. |
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19 By the sweat of your face will you earn your food, until you return to the ground, as you were taken from it. For dust you are and to dust you shall return.'
Adam’s punishment for his premature sex will be backbreaking work and finally death. While Yahweh’s cursing the ground and the introduction of death give the story its primeval and universal setting, we may still perceive that the story of two over anxious teenagers has also informed the composition of the story. One of the main bad consequences of premature fatherhood was that the young teen was forced to go to work to support his family. This is what happened to Adam on a “cosmic” scale.
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20 [The man named his wife 'Eve' because she was the mother of all those who live.]
This brief statement may be a gloss, in which the primeval woman is given a name. The meaning of the name is given as well, highlighting Eve’s status and contribution to humanity. In the context of Eve’s actions and of her condemnation by Yahweh, the statement seems odd in this context. It is, in fact, a popular etymology of the meaning of Eve’s name.
Yahweh’s attitude toward these errant young people is conveyed in this line:
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21 Yahweh God made tunics of skins for the man and his wife and clothed them.
The couple made a mistake and so it is necessary to deal with the consequences as well as one can. For Yahweh’s part, that is the making of fitting clothes for them in their new state of adult consciousness. This verse is likely the conclusion of the original story. The remainder of the story concerns the motif of expulsion from the garden. There are indications that it is an addition.
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22 [Then Yahweh God said, 'Now that the man has become like one of us in knowing good from evil, he must not be allowed to reach out his hand and pick from the tree of life too, and eat and live forever!' |
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23 So Yahweh God expelled him from the garden of Eden, to till the soil from which he had been taken. |
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24 He banished the man, and in front of the garden of Eden he posted the great winged creatures and the fiery flashing sword, to guard the way to the tree of life.]
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As the last verse shows, this section is concerned with the couple’s possible access to the Tree of Life, which until now has played no role in the now complete story. Note also that Yahweh as plural, as Elohim does in Gen 1:25 in the preceding narrative, but not, except here, in the Eden story. This also indicates that we have here an addition to the story since the creation story of Genesis 1 comes from a later time than that of J.
The interpretation of the Eden narrative offered here holds that it is a highly sexual allegory that drew upon the idea of the problems of teenage sex to create a story about the beginning of humankind. While its main message is that disobedience to Yahweh will be punished, the problem of two young people trying to resist newly emerging sexual urges has informed the essential features of the story. It is an allegory because its author did not wish to be explicit about the symbolism he was employing, rather leaving the decoding of his story to the perceptive reader. In this regard, the author’s cloaked symbolic approach to sexual content is probably to be expected. One might say its strategy is euphemistic. However, once the sexual symbolism is recognized and how it is put to use in the story, the Eden narrative makes excellent sense by explaining features in the story that are only inadequately explained without recognizing the story’s oblique but deeply sexual content.
Cain and Abel
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The Yahwist's narrative is made up of originally separate, discreet units of tradition. In the second episode, we come to the tradition of Cain and Abel. We shall see, however, that this story continues on into J's flood story and that it is fragmented at some points. But there are clear indications of a continuous theme, finally having to do with a customary replacement of the practice of blood vengeance with a practice of intra-tribal capital punishment. In is unfortunate that we do not have the complete account. Yet, it is still possible to make a reasonable reconstruction.
The first two verses are transitional and most probably supplied by the Yahwist himself:
1 The man had intercourse with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain. 'I have acquired a man with the help of Yahweh,' she said. |
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2 She gave birth to a second child, Abel, the brother of Cain. Now Abel became a shepherd and kept flocks, while Cain tilled the soil.
At this point, the older tradition begins. We have here a sample of a type of legend of antipayour between groups of different life-styles. Cain is a farmer while Abel is a shepherd. However, this may not enough to explain Cain's antipayour toward Yahweh and Abel. Later on, Yahweh says to Cain:
7 If you are do right, surely you ought to hold your head high! But if you do not do right, Sin is crouching at the door hungry to get you. You must master him.'
This verse suggests that it was the act of sacrifice that was at moral issue. “If you do right” seems to assume that a moral issue comes up for Cain. While the reason is not stated for Yahweh’s rejecting Cain sacrifice, the fact proved to be problematic and in fact a dangerous thing for Cain.
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3 Time passed and Cain brought some of the produce of the soil as an offering for Yahweh, |
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4 while Abel for his part brought the first-born of his flock and some of their fat as well. Yahweh looked with favor on Abel and his offering.
Cain and Abel want the same thing—to secure Yahweh’s favor. They pursue the same method to do so—sacrifice. The same fundamental concern is prominent in J. The Yahwist places great value upon Yahweh’s being “with” someone so that his beneficent presence can be enjoyed. Equally, one will avoid Yahweh’s punishment should Yahweh become displeased and withdraw his presence. The two brothers, portrayed as practicing Yahwists, both seek their god’s beneficent favor and presence though offering sacrifice. Yet, a tension is introduced into the story:
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5 But he did not look with favor on Cain and his offering, and Cain was very angry and downcast. |
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6 Yahweh asked Cain, 'Why are you angry and downcast? |
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7 If you are doing right, surely you ought to hold your head high! But if you are not doing right, Sin is crouching at the door hungry to get you. You can still master him.'
Enraged by jealousy, Cain should have performed moral duty under Yahweh to “master” Sin. It is nearby to Cain because of his psychological state that resulted from how Yahweh oppositely treated the brother’s sacrifices. This is metaphorically expressed by picturing Sin like a crouching, wild animal, ready to spring and consume him. Yahweh warns Cain that he is in a dangerous situation. But even with the warning, Sin overcomes Cain as shown by his next act. |
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8 Cain said to his brother Abel, 'Let us go out'; and while they were in the open country, Cain set on his brother Abel and killed him. |
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9 Yahweh asked Cain, 'Where is your brother Abel?' 'I do not know,' he replied. 'Am I my brother's guardian?' |
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10 'What have you done?' Yahweh asked. 'Listen! Your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground. |
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11 Now be cursed and banned from the ground that has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood at your hands. |
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12 When you till the ground it will no longer yield up its strength to you. A restless wanderer you will be on earth.'
With Cain’s moral failure, comes Yahweh’s punishment. It is the polluted ground, polluted by Abel’s shed blood that calls out for Cain’s punishment. Ironically, Cain himself destroyed his means of subsistence by polluting the very ground upon which he depended as a farmer. As a resulting punishment, he is forced by his own deed to a new occupation—that of a wander. Yahweh banishes Cain. This story here reflects the view that a murder is to be banished from his people and their god.
But the story does not end there. There is a problem with Yahweh’s sentence. Cain complains that it is unfairly a virtual death sentence. Banishment and death are not the same. Someone banished should not be killed. Such would exceed a fit punishment for this crime. |
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13 Cain then said to Yahweh, 'My punishment is greater than I can bear. |
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14 Look, today you drive me from the surface of the earth. I must hide from you, and be a restless wanderer on earth. Why, whoever comes across me will kill me!' |
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15 'Very well, then,' Yahweh replied, 'whoever kills Cain will suffer a sevenfold vengeance.' So Yahweh put a mark on Cain, so that no one coming across him would kill him.
From Yahweh’s response, we learn that Cain is correct. The punishment is such that it may well lead to an excessive punishment—death. Yahweh agrees that the murderer should not be killed. Rather, he should live out his punishment to wander unmolested. To have to hide his face from Yahweh is punishment enough! Yahweh agrees with Cain and so puts some kind of mark on Cain to display Yahweh’s will that no one kill him should be threatened while he served his sentence as a banished wanderer.
This turn in the plot raises the question, will Cain be killed or not? Will his mark be respected? As we discuss below, there is evidence that Cain was killed. |
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[Cain left Yahweh's presence and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.]
This verse sounds like a conclusion to the story. However, there are indications that it is an addition to the story that sought to end it there when in fact it continues. It knows the story of the Garden of Eden and it makes wordplay between Cain’s fate and the place where he settled. Nod means “wandering.” The addition could have well come from the Yahwist in an effort to arrange his material.
The Descendants of Cain
If the story of Cain does indeed continue, then the presence of a Kenite genealogy at this point would be an interruption. It is probable that the genealogy pre-existed the Yahwist and served as a source and material from which to make a longer and his more “complete” story of ancient Israel.
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17 Cain had intercourse with his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch. He became the founder of a city and gave the city the name of his son Enoch. |
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18 Enoch fathered Irad, and Irad fathered Mehujael; Mehujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech. |
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19 Lamech married two women: the name of the first was Adah and the name of the second was Zillah. |
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20 Adah gave birth to Jabal: he was the ancestor of tent-dwelling herdsmen. |
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21 His brother's name was Jubal: he was the ancestor of all who play the harp and the pipe. |
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22 As for Zillah, she gave birth to Tubal-Cain: he was the ancestor of all who work copper and iron. Tubal-Cain's sister was Naamah.
One of the noteworthy features of this genealogy of Cain is that it treats Cain and his descendant in a positive way. In this regard, it stands in contrast to the story regarding blood vengeance where Cain is treated as a banished murderer of Abel. Furthermore, this positive tradition is very much at home among the Kenite Yahwists who indeed practiced the trade of metallurgy in southern Palestine. The Yahwist included it simply because he thought it was relevant to a discussion of Cain. His method of composition often consists of lumping together tradition simply on the basis of a same name. The Yahwist was unconcerned about coordinating his content beyond such minimal associations. When we compare these two Kenite traditions, we see that this positive tradition has the most importance historically as the story of blood vengeance has to do with a change in custom that treats Cain as evil and is therefore quite biased regarding the descendants of Cain. We might call the Yahwist work, therefore, a loose collection of often minimally associated traditions. Due to its method of composition as a collection, J in uneven in the degree to which it is coherent. Still, the Yahwist attempt to create a continuous story beginning from creation to the acquisition of the promised land marked a significant achievement in the history of Israelite literature. His work successfully both compiles and coordinates varied traditions into a more comprehensive and greater story of Israel’s past.
Here we pickup the story of blood vengeance with two fragments that have been juxtaposed. The first fragment reads:
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23 Lamech said to his wives:
Adah and Zillah, hear my voice,
wives of Lamech,
listen to what I say:
I killed a man for wounding me,
a boy for striking me.
The fragment is in poetic form, employing parallel members, a device that is very common in Hebrew poetry. A good case can be made that this poetic fragment, and many others that are found throughout the Pentateuch and beyond, come from a poetic work that underlies the parallel strands of J and E. It has been called a Grundschrift, or "foundation document." This theory attempts to explain the recurring presence of poetic texts now found in narrative contexts such as the one above. Scholars theorize that this poetic epic was developed in the 12th to the 11th century and became the basis for J and E. We shall encounter additional examples of this poetry embedded in the mostly prose work of the Yahwist and of the Elohist. Although one cannot prove that all of the embedded poetic texts come from a poetic epic, it is a reasonable attempt to account for their presence.
When we read this fragment without regard to context, we hear that someone is addressing the wives of Lamech and boasting about killing someone. Who is that someone? Since the boast is directed toward the wives of Lamech, the natural conclusion is that someone is boasting about Lamech himself. So originally, it was not Lamech who said these words. He, in fact, was the victim. Furthermore, the speaker says that Lamech attacked him, but that the slayer of Lamech found him to be a mere boy in battle and easily killed him.
Can we deduce anything else from this fragment? What was Lamech's motivation for attacking the unnamed speaker? Here we link up with the previous story of Cain, where Cain himself is worried about being slain by Abel's blood avenger. It is an easy deduction that Cain's fears were indeed realized, that he was killed by Abel's avenger, and that Lamech, out of the duties of blood vengeance, attacked his unnamed slayer. All of this is not as conjectural as it might seem, for we are seeking to account for connections of themes that are certainly there in the extant, fragmented story. What we have here is a story where blood vengeance has run amok, where killing is being multiplied due to this ancient custom. One can easily understand how this would happen. How is the cycle of feuding blood vengeance to stop? This comes to the heart of this section of the Yahwist's story.
And also this second fragment: |
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24 Sevenfold vengeance for Cain,
but seventy-sevenfold for Lamech.
This fragment confirms what we have so far deduced. It presupposes that Cain has indeed been murdered just as he feared--that someone violated the mark that Yahweh had set upon him. It further proclaims that sevenfold vengeance had been enacted on Cain's behalf, something that is not reported in the present form of the story and yet clearly presupposed in the fragment quoted above.
And that is not all. We have just noted that Lamech himself was killed by an unnamed slayer who boasted to his grieving wives. And so the second line of this fragment has yet another unnamed person vowing to avenge Lamech's death, even to a greater degree than Cain's death had been avenged! Although much has been left out of the story, we see the story contains warring parties locked in a feud of spiraling blood vengeance. This, according to the alleged original story, is the problem that it dealt with originally. How this problem was finally solved by Yahweh himself is found at the end of J's flood story.
Genesis 1-9 is a particularly good section of the Bible to study the sources contained therein. The detection of sources originally began with observations about composition on this section. Our study of the Yahwist here illustrates the compositional techniques that he used. As we have seen, J contains not only the sophisticated Eden Allegory but also relatively more primitive material. Besides the fragmentary story of the unholy marriage of the sons of God and the daughters of men, we also have a Kenite genealogy and even a brief statement about when Yahwism begun (Gen 4:26).
As it turns out, J's flood story is partially represented, as this story is, we think, about Yahweh's solution to rampant, cycling violence due to the practice of banishing a murderer, and his death as a result of the custom of blood vengeance. To solve it, Yahweh makes it the tribe's prerogative to now execute a murderer in their midst. He is no longer to be banished. He is to be executed.
That the flood story should be part of a larger narrative cycle is not surprising, for we find that flood stories such as Attrahasis and Gilgamesh have the flood account set within a larger narrative context as well. In Attrahasis, the problem was one of overpopulation. Here it is the problem of a vicious cycle of violence. In both cases, a problem is solved in which a flood is a temporary solution. This leads to the conclusion that the Yahwistic material in Genesis 1-9 has been fragmented by the Yahwist himself (or by later editorial activity.) It would appear that the Yahwist chose only those parts of his story that would serve his point, namely to show that the world was under divine curse due to human wickedness. Therefore, he retained those portions of his source that highlighted this negative view of the human condition, not specifically concerned about the particular plot and message of the source he used.
The Sons of God
3 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them,
4 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
5 [And Yahweh said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.]
6 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men,
7 And they bare children to them, the same became mighty men, giants, which were of old, men of renown.
For the most part, this short story tells of the origin of “mighty men,” olden mighty men of renown. Read apart from its present context, it does seem to condemn these hybrid beings but rather seems to stand in awe and admire them. This impression, however, is disturbed by a quote from Yahweh who clearly does not approve. As a result, he announces that the life-span will be shortened, not to exceed 120 years. The statement seems based upon and aimed at the very long life spans that are found in Genesis 5. It therefore may be a gloss. Even so, it would agree with a negative assessment and representation of this tradition by the Yahwist. As with the Cain-Abel-Lamech material, this story was meant to convey the wicked situation that brought about the flood. If this correct, that the Yahwist took a positive or at least neutral tradition about the Sons of God and by putting them in the context of his story, transformed the story into a negative portrayal.
The Flood
1 And Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth,
2 And that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
3 And it repented the Yahweh that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
4 And Yahweh said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth;
5 Both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it makes me regret that I have made them.
6 But Noah found grace in the eyes of Yahweh.
7 And Yahweh said to Noah, Come you and all your house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.
8 Of every clean beast you shall take to thee by sevens, the male and his female:
9 And of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.
10 Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.
11 For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights;
12 And every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.
13 And Noah did according to all that Yahweh commanded him.
14 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
15 And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
16 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. And Yahweh shut him in.
17 And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bore up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth.
18 And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters.
19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, which were under the whole heaven, were covered.
20 Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.
21 All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.
22 And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground,
23 Both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth:
24 And Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.
25 And the rain from heaven was restrained; And the waters returned from off the earth continually.
26 And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made.
And sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth.
32 So Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.
33 And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again to him anymore.
34 And Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry.
35 And Noah built an altar to Yahweh; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
36 And Yahweh smelled a sweet savor; and Yahweh said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake;
37 For the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more everything living, as I have done.
38 While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed.
The beginning and the ending of J’s flood story highlight its main concern. It begins with an divine assessment of the human condition:
1 And Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth,
2 And that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
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As we have seen, the continual evil imaginations of the human heart had been illustrated in a fragmented story that reaches back to Cain and Abel and also includes the character of Lamech. Piecing the story together, we find that a cycle of blood vengeance was initiated by Cain’s murder of Abel and by his subsequent divine sentence to become a wanderer. The problem of murder emerges again in the final line of the Yahwist’s account—“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed.”
What this story appears to be teaching in that the banishment of a murderer like Cain is no longer to be practiced. That led to more violence when someone murdered the marked Cain just as Cain feared. Nor does Yahweh find it practical, due to the inherent violence of human nature, to repeatedly destroy the world by a catastrophe such as the flood. Instead, he promises that the natural cycle will henceforth remain stable. The solution to the problem of murder is now to be the execution of the murderer by human beings. P’s parallel statement is more explicit than J’s:
And surely your blood of your lives will I require.
At the hand of every beast will I require it at the hand of man.
At the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man.
Accordingly, a new custom is being advocated here—capital punishment rather than banishment. The old custom was found to lead to rampant violence due to the condition of the human heart. The violent expression of the human heart, first illustrated by Cain and his fate, only led to the wholesale destruction of humankind by means of a catastrophic flood. Therefore, Yahweh is now requiring the people to execute a murderer to deal with the human heart’s propensity toward violence. This is the new, post-flood solution to this social problem. The story, therefore, is not simply one that has Yahweh destroying wickedness in a general sense. The episode regarding Cain, and the fragments about Lamech, as well as the final statement of the story, show that the story was originally more specific. Banishment of a murderer like Cain was to be replaced by capital punishment, presumably by the murderer’s own people as the phase, “At the hand of every man’s brother,” indicates. Still, an understanding of the original, pre-Yahwistic tale helps us understand why the Yahwist chose this story to emphasize, primeval, pre-Abramic wickedness. The conviction articulated in this source, that human wickedness was incorrigible in the human heart, perfectly served his purpose in this first section of his story. Human beings were under Yahweh’s judgment/curse.
The original context and teaching of the Cain-Lamech-Noah story again indicates that the Yahwist was not overly concerned with the original teachings of his sources. By creating or following genealogical relationships, he created a story that was loosely unified. When we examine the smaller units of tradition contained in J, we find that their original intentions are quite diverse and do not contribute to the making of a work that is tightly integrated. This shows that the Yahwist was more a compiler and arranger of tradition more than he was an author. One the other hand, his method of composition shows his respect and his need to incorporate many popular traditions that circulated orally before he composed his work. Not every tradition he used stemmed from popular oral tradition, only most of it.
Another example of popular tradition employed by the Yahwist is the story of the Cursing of Ham. |
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The Cursing of Ham
The special interest of this tale is in the cursing of Canaan, Ham's son. But as we shall see, it is probably Ham, not his son Canaan, who was originally cursed. The first statement functions to relate this story to the preceding flood account. It would come from the Yahwist himself in his effort to relate the distinct units of traditions that he incorporated into his work. Special mention is made that Canaan was the son of Ham.
18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth-Ham being the father of Canaan. |
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20 Noah, a tiller of the soil, was the first to plant the vine. |
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21 He drank some of the wine, and while he was drunk, he lay uncovered in his tent. |
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22 Ham, father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside. |
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23 Shem and Japheth took a cloak and they both put it over their shoulders, and walking backwards, covered their father's nakedness; they kept their faces turned away, and they did not look at their father naked. |
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24 When Noah awoke from his stupor he learned what his youngest son had done to him, |
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25 and said: Accursed be Canaan he shall be his brothers' meanest slave. |
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26 He added: Blessed be Yahweh, god of Shem, let Canaan be his slave! |
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27 May God make space for Japheth, may he live in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his slave!
As we have it, this story betrays certain tensions that are not easily resolved. For example, why is Canaan cursed when Ham is portrayed as the culprit? The story as we now have is certainly directed against the Canaanites as Canaan’s status as a slave is repeated three times. The tension in the story is most easily resolved by the view that Ham, not his son Canaan, was the one who was cursed in the original form of the story.
Be that as it may, in its present form, it primary interest is to regard the Canaanites as divinely appointed to be slaves. This particular interest indicates that the story circulated at a time when Israel was forming its identity over against the Canaanites during the 12th to 11th century BCE. Clearly this Israel regarded themselves as superior to one of their closest neighbors. Such nationalism is a repeated theme, often implicit, of the Yahwist who likewise was concerned with a distinct national identity under the United Monarchy. This ideology would eventually give rise to the view that Israel was Yahweh’s “chosen people.”
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The Tower of Babel
This story is fundamentally etiological in the sense that it purports to explain the origin of something. Here the issue is to explain the diversity of people, each with their own language. Etiological tales and motifs are common in J and elsewhere in ancient literature.
The story, however, is far from being neutral in its attempt to account for the diversity of the known world. It central intention is to condemn humankind just as does the previous stories found the Yahwist’s Primeval History. The story’s tone is one of mock. Note that the portrayal of Yahweh seems primitive. Yahweh is portrayed as “concerned” about humanity’s unbridled potential. |
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2 Now, as people moved eastwards they found a valley in the land of Shinar where they settled. |
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3 They said to one another, 'Come, let us make bricks and bake them in the fire.' For stone they used bricks, and for mortar they used bitumen. |
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4 'Come,' they said, 'let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top reaching heaven. Let us make a name for ourselves, so that we do not get scattered all over the world.' |
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5 Now Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower that the people had built. |
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6 'So they are all a single people with a single language!' said Yahweh. 'This is only the start of their undertakings! Now nothing they plan to do will be beyond them. |
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7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language there, so that they cannot understand one another.' |
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8 Yahweh scattered them thence all over the world, and they stopped building the city. |
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9 That is why it was called Babel, since there Yahweh confused the language of the whole world, and from there Yahweh scattered them all over the world.
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It is noteworthy that Yahweh and his cohorts are worried about wicked human potential, and so much take action to stop them from realizing their hubris. "Babel" means "confused" and so the story seeks to provide a reason for the name of this famous city. Inasmuch as it was the Babylonians who destroyed Judah and exile its people, the story may have been edited and included rather late, possible during the Exile or the Persian period. It also seems to know P, an exilic composition, with its portrayal of Yahweh with divine cohorts. If this is so, we cannot ascribe it to the Yahwist but rather to later collectors of the tradition. Even so, it is thematically fitting that the tradition should have been edited in the Primeval History, set as it is in primeval times when diverse languages are thought to have originated. It is explained as Yahweh’s judgment against humanity’s hubris.
It seems to be an intentional irony that the builders of the Tower wish to make a “name” for themselves. The story precedes Yahweh’s great promise to Abram that he will make his name great. In this way, the ancestors of the Babylonians are seen as trying to do without Yahweh. It is as if the teller of this story wishes to degrade the accomplishments of Babylon by comparing it to the yet-to-be-great nation of Israel. Because it will essentially be built by Yahweh, it will be far greater than that of Babylon. |
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The Promised Blessings
1 Yahweh said to Abram, 'Leave your country, your kindred and your father's house for a country which I shall show you; 2 and I shall make you a great nation, I shall bless you and make your name famous; you are to be a blessing! 3 I shall bless those who bless you, and shall curse those who curse you, and all clans on earth will bless themselves by you.' |
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This is the first articulation of the Patriarchal Promises that are often repeated in J. There are seven promises: |
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I shall make you a great nation.
I shall bless you.
I will make your name famous.
You will be a blessing.
I shall bless those who bless you.
I shall curse those who curse you.
All clans on earth will bless themselves by you.
Abram was not the first human being. He was chosen from among men to have a special destiny. In Yahweh choosing Abram, it is implicit that Abram was worthy it. Abram is therefore portrayed as an obedient and pious Yahwist who embraced his new destiny and lived up to its high calling.
When we ask concerning the intended audience of this scene, it appears that a nation is being addressed. From this perspective, the story of Abram is the beginning of a national story that as a nation-to-be-great was intended to hear. One might call it cultural education with a political aim. The Yahwist addressed what was perceived to be an important need of the people. Abram and the promises that Yahweh gave him provide that Israel will become an exalted national entity. It was an ambitious attempt to teach who Israel was by recounting its past. Israel could not have a higher destiny or a higher calling.
The character of Abram also seems to function as the ideal type of what it means to be a devoted Yahwist, or what it meant to be a devoted Yahwist in his day. The seven promises are all directed at Abram. This teaches that Yahweh rewards his followers.
Because of the special role that Abram plays in Israel’s national identity, his good fortune bodes well for his descendants. While the promises directly bless Abram, they also hold the greatest significance and relevance for a nation that wishes to be great, and which is also has a real possibility of becoming great. In this regard, J is very optimistic. He certainly believes that his work will contribute to that lofty promise. He is not only publishing the promises, he is also providing stories regarding Abram and his immediate descendants. And what applies to his immediate descendants—Abram, Isaac, Jacob, Jacob’s twelve sons, and the Hebrews of the exodus, also applies to Abram’s distant descendants, the intended audience of J.
It is our contention that considering the method of composition, J does possess a loose but real thematic unity based upon the repeated motif of the Patriarchal Promises. The Primeval History serves as a preface. Just how the Yahwist chose his material and tried to unify it requires that one examine the individual episodes and try to detect how this or that given story contributes to his overall design. |
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The Two Sanctuaries
In this section, it is actually the places that Abram visits and sacrifices to Yahweh that are of primary importance. Abram is portrayed here as visiting the two most cultic sites of the North, Shechem and Bethel. His visits there are likely fictional, for the reason this tradition exists was to associate Yahwism, and its great patriarch Abram, with the northern sanctuaries. The purpose of such associations was to try to meld the Yahwistic tradition of the South with the Elistic traditions of the North. Bethel means, “Temple of El” and Shechem contained the Temple of El Berith. This strongly indicates that El was the traditional high god of these cities. Here now, the Yahwist has Abram building altar for a new kid in town—Yahweh. This was one mechanism that the Yahwist used to create a corporate identity between two initially distinct peoples and their religious traditions.
4 So Abram went as Yahweh told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. |
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5 Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had amassed and the people they had acquired in Haran. They set off for the land of Canaan, and arrived there. |
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6 Abram passed through the country as far as the holy place at Shechem, the Oak of Moreh. The Canaanites were in the country at the time. |
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7 Yahweh appeared to Abram and said, 'I shall give this country to your progeny.' And there, Abram built an altar to Yahweh who had appeared to him. |
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8 From there he moved on to the mountainous district east of Bethel, where he pitched his tent, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built an altar to Yahweh and invoked the name of Yahweh. |
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9 Then Abram made his way stage by stage to the Negev.
Besides finding a home for Yahweh in two of the most northern sanctuaries, this passage features an appearance of Yahweh to Abram who delivers what appears to be a summary of the Patriarchal Promises. As such, it indicates that s core concern is here revealed. The land in which they are dwelling is to become theirs. It is as if Abram were planting flags, claiming the territory for Yahweh and therefore also for himself, for his descendants and for his distant descendants. |
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The Endangering of the Descendants
This story was included by the Yahwist because he saw Yahweh's blessing as coming through the family line Abram. From this perspective, Yahweh is protecting his promise by maintaining Sarai as the woman who would bear Abram's descendant. It also shows how Yahweh fulfilled his promise to bless Abram, a concept that in this culture included material wealth. Thus the story concludes with Sarai restored safely as Abram's wife and with him leaving with many material gifts from the Egyptians.
10 There was a famine in the country, and Abram went down to Egypt to stay there for a time, since the famine in the country was severe. |
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11 When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, 'Look, I know you are a beautiful woman. |
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12 When the Egyptians see you they will say, "That is his wife," and they will kill me but leave you alive. |
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13 Therefore please tell them you are my sister, so that they may treat me well because of you and spare my life out of regard for you.' |
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14 When Abram arrived in Egypt the Egyptians did indeed see that the woman was very beautiful. |
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15 When Pharaoh's officials saw her they sang her praises to Pharaoh and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's household.. |
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16 And Abram was very well treated because of her and received flocks, oxen, donkeys, men and women slaves, she-donkeys and camels. |
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17 But Yahweh inflicted severe plagues on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram's wife Sarai. |
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18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram and said, 'What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me she was your wife? |
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19 Why did you say, "She is my sister," so that I took her to be my wife? Now, here is your wife. Take her and go!' |
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20 And Pharaoh gave his people orders about him; they sent him on his way with his wife and all his possessions.
As Abram was blessed by Yahweh with material wealth, so also David could claim that Yahweh was with him because of his own political (and) success. In Israelite culture, the idea that the poor were blessed is foreign. Quite to the contrary, blessedness included wealth, which was a sure sign of being blessed by Yahweh. Because Yahweh fulfilled his near promise that Abram would prosper, his distant promise that Israel will be blessed with national wealth is a “real” expectation, or so he wishes his audience to believe, based on their past good fortune under Yahweh. |
Lot's choice
The story of Abram’s movements often could be called something like “The Adventures of Abram." While I do hold that there was a historical Abram, I do not think that we can know much more about him than the facts that he was a likely a Bedouin Yahwist who early on ventured into the land of Canaan. Thought of as a forerunner of later migrations, he became famous and legends grew up around him.
Contrary to the official story, it was not Abram’s Yahwism that made him famous. Rather, it was pioneering migration to the land of Canaan. He is remembered as the earliest and most famous Yahwist to succeed in settling in the land. As with the figure of Moses, local legends grew up and persisted in oral tradition. This episode opens with him dwelling in his traditional home territory, the Negev. He is blessed by Yahweh with much wealth.
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From Egypt Abram returned to the Negev with his wife and all he possessed, and Lot with him. |
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2 Abram was very rich in livestock, silver and gold. |
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3 By stages he went from the Negev to Bethel, where he had first pitched his tent, between Bethel and Ai, |
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4 at the place where he had formerly erected the altar. There Abram invoked the name of Yahweh. |
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5 Lot, who was travelling with Abram, had flocks and cattle of his own, and tents too. |
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6 The land was not sufficient to accommodate them both at once, for they had too many possessions to be able to live together. |
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7 Dispute broke out between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and those of Lot. (The Canaanites and Perizzites were living in the country at the time.) |
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8 Accordingly Abram said to Lot, 'We do not want discord between us or between my herdsmen and yours, for we are kinsmen. |
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9 Is not the whole land open before you? Go in the opposite direction to me: if you take the left, I shall go right; if you take the right, I shall go left.' |
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10 Looking round, Lot saw all the Jordan plain, irrigated everywhere -- this was before Yahweh destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah-like the garden of Yahweh or the land of Egypt, as far as Zoar. |
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11 So Lot chose all the Jordan plain for himself and moved off eastwards. Thus they parted company: |
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12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan; Lot settled among the cities of the plain, pitching his tents on the outskirts of Sodom. |
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13 Now the people of Sodom were vicious and great sinners against Yahweh. |
The main intention of this episode is to provide the setting for the tale of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, while noting Abram’s generous spirit. We learn that before these cities were destroyed, their location was in a beautiful land, so much so that Lot chose it. In anticipation of the story of its destruction, we are also told that the people of Sodom were exceedingly wicked against Yahweh, or better, against what Yahweh wishes. Because of this, and because Yahweh is “taking over,” these sinners must be removed.
The Promises Repeated
Because the promise of a land with numerous inhabitants is central to the Yahwist's message, it is here repeated. We know from historical retrospect that the height of Israel and Judah's political power was the Solomonic monarchy. From that perspective, that is, the one from which the Yahwist wrote, the prosperity of the Solomonic monarchy was seen as the fulfillment of the promise to Abram. The promise would also be repeated to Abram immediate descendants. Thus, the Yahwist used a promise-fulfillment scheme to apply his message that Solomon's monarchy was sanctioned by Yahweh. How else could that prosperity be explained? Religion was put into the service of the state, and it is this essentially political message that motivated the Yahwist and explains J.
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14 Yahweh said to Abram after Lot had parted company from him,
'Look all round from where you are, to north and south, to east and west, |
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15 for all the land within sight I shall give to you and your descendants for ever. |
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16 I shall make your descendants like the dust on the ground; when people succeed in counting the specks of dust on the ground, then they will be able to count your descendants too! |
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17 On your feet! Travel the length and breadth of the country, for I mean to give it to you.' |
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18 So Abram moved his tent and went to settle at the Oak of Mamre, at Hebron, and there he built an altar to Yahweh. |
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As he has done before, Abram is said to have worshipped Yahweh in a location in the land. As it turns out, Hebron, Abram’s home, was a city inhabited by the Kenites. They were respected as one of the oldest and greatest clans of Yahwism. Abram's strongest associations are with Hebron and David himself ruled from Hebron for 7 years. By choosing Hebron, David associated himself with Abram just as the Yahwist used the Abramic reputation and traditions to draw a link between a promise to Abram and its fulfillment in the Davidic dynasty.
This articulation of Patriarchal Promises has a narrower focus than those given to Abram. The motif of blessing is gone. Instead, these promises focus on the acquisition of an extensive territory with a numerous population. In short, it is more pragmatic. One may well ask if the bottom line is expressed here, that Israel was primarily interest in acquiring land that was not theirs. This would make the Yahwist a mere ideologue, promoting a massive rationalization for the fact that Israel was an outsider that ended up possessing a land that was not theirs. After all, one must believe that Yahweh really spoke to Abram to conclude that valid promises were made. Because that is problematic, it is better to understand these promises as the ideal and political goals of the Yahwist and of his time. Still, the promises and their social function are not unlike the American ideology of Manifest Destiny. In Israel’s case, it was clear who made Israel’s destiny manifest, how that destiny became known and how Israel’s past illustrated it at work.
Abram and Melchizedek |
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1 When Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedor-Laomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of the Goiim, |
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2 made war on Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar), |
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3 all the latter joined forces in the Valley of Siddim (now the Salt Sea). |
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4 For twelve years they had been under the yoke of Chedor-Laomer, but in the thirteenth year they revolted. |
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5 In the fourteenth year Chedor-Laomer arrived and the kings who had allied themselves with him. They defeated the Rephaim at Ashteroth-Carnaim, the Zuzim at Ham, the Emim in the Plain of Kiriathaim, |
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6 the Horites in the mountainous district of Seir near El-Paran, which is on the edge of the desert. |
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7 Wheeling round, they came to the Spring of Judgement (that is, Kadesh); they conquered all the territory of the Amalekites and also the Amorites who lived in Hazazon-Tamar. |
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8 Then the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim and Bela (that is, Zoar) marched out and engaged them in the Valley of Siddim: |
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9 Chedor-Laomer king of Elam, Tidal king of the Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar and Arioch king of Ellasar: four kings against five. |
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10 Now there were many bitumen wells in the Valley of Siddim, and in their flight the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fell into them, while the rest fled into the hills. |
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11 The conquerors seized all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and made off. |
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12 They also took Lot (the nephew of Abram) and his possessions and made off; he had been living at Sodom.. |
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13 A survivor came to tell Abram, and Aner the Hebrew, who was living at the Oak of the Amorite Mamre, the brother of Eshcol; these were allies of Abram. |
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14 When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, he mustered his retainers born in his own household, numbering three hundred and eighteen, and gave chase as far as Dan. |
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15 He and his retainers deployed against them under cover of dark, defeated them and pursued them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus.. |
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16 He recaptured all the goods as well as his kinsman Lot and his possessions, together with the women and people. |
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17 When Abram returned from defeating Chedor-Laomer and the kings who had been on his side, the king of Sodom came to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the Valley of the King). |
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18 Melchizedek king of Salem brought bread and wine; he was a priest of God Most High. |
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19 He pronounced this blessing: Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High for putting your enemies into your clutches. |
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20 And Abram gave him a tenth of everything. |
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21 The king of Sodom said to Abram, 'Give me the people and take the possessions for yourself.' |
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22 But Abram replied to the king of Sodom, 'I swear by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth: |
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23 not one thread, not one sandal strap, will I take of what is yours, for you to be able to say, "I made Abram rich." |
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24 For myself, nothing -- except what the troops have used up, and the share due to the men who came with me, Eshcol, Aner and Mamre; let them take their share.'
Genesis 14 is regarded as a special source that the Yahwist incorporated into his work because it has no integrated context. But we have seen that that is true of the work as a whole. It is comprised of smaller components of tradition. Its interest for the Yahwist lies especially in the concluding exchange between Abram and Melchizedek. Melchizedek himself was a priest of Salem, which is most likely Jerusalem. His priestly order was resident at Jerusalem before David took the city and established it as his capital. At that time, the priest was Zadok, whom David established as one of his own priests.
According to this episode, the relationship between Abram and Melchizedek was mutual. Abram tithed to Melchizedek who in turn granted his blessing upon Abram. In so doing, the intention of the story is clear--Abram's descendants were to tithe to the Zadok priesthood in return for Zadok's priestly blessing, just as their former high priest, Melchizedek had done for Abram. In this way, David and the Yahwist sought to consolidate relations with the traditional priesthood of Jerusalem, urging that the people tithe to it. The tradition also shows that Yahweh is here related to 'el elyon or El Most High.
How that relationship was defined is contained in other early traditions. In Deuteronomy 32:8ff we read:
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8 When the Most High gave the nations each their heritage, when he partitioned out the human race, he assigned the boundaries of nations according to the number of the sons of El, |
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9 but Yahweh's portion was his people, Jacob was to be the measure of his inheritance. |
In this passage, ('el) 'elyon is portrayed as dividing upon various peoples and assigning a different god among the "sons of El" to each one. These sons of El are subordinate deities to the high god El as known from Canaanite and Israelite traditions. So as say Baal was given to the Canaanites, so Yahweh was given to Jacob as a divine inheritance. This initial placing of Yahweh as a subordinate god to El is also found in Psalm 29:
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Give Yahweh his due, sons of El, give Yahweh his due of glory and strength, |
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2 give Yahweh the glory due to his name, adore Yahweh in the splendor of holiness. |
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3 Yahweh's voice over the waters, the God of glory thunders; Yahweh over countless waters, |
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4 Yahweh's voice in power, Yahweh's voice in splendor; |
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5 Yahweh's voice shatters cedars, Yahweh shatters cedars of Lebanon, |
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6 he makes Lebanon skip like a calf, Sirion like a young wild ox. |
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7 Yahweh's voice carves out lightning-shafts, |
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8 Yahweh's voice convulses the desert, Yahweh convulses the desert of Kadesh, |
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9 Yahweh's voice convulses terebinths, strips forests bare. In his palace all cry, 'Glory!' |
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10 Yahweh was enthroned for the flood, Yahweh is enthroned as king for ever.
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It has long been recognized that this psalm is actually an adaptation of Canaanite tradition to Yahwism. In it, Yahweh plays the role of the Canaanite storm god, Baal. What I wish to point out here is that Yahweh is portrayed as among the "sons of El" who witness his majesty in the storm and who end up praising him in his newly acquired temple. As in the Deuteronomistic text quoted above, Yahweh is portrayed as subordinate to El. He is one of his "sons." Thus, in the early reign of David, Yahweh was not yet identified with El but made a member of his pantheon. The high god, El, is the god of Melchizedek, the traditional god of Jerusalem. These ideas reflect the conceptual theological world at the time the Yahwist was composing his epic.
We have another early tradition that illustrates the importance of the relationship between priest and king in Psalm 110. The two speakers are the Zadok priest, perhaps Zadok himself, and the king, perhaps David or Solomon:
The Priest:
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Yahweh declares to my Lord, 'Take your seat at my right hand, till I have made your enemies your footstool.' |
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2 Yahweh will stretch out the scepter of your power; from Zion you will rule your foes all around you.. |
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3 Royal dignity has been yours from the day of your birth, sacred honor from the womb, from the dawn of your youth.
The King: |
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4 Yahweh has sworn an oath he will never retract, you are a priest for ever of the order of Melchizedek...
The Priest: |
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5 At your right hand, Lord, he shatters kings when his anger breaks out. |
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6 He judges nations, heaping up corpses, he breaks heads over the whole wide world. |
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7 He drinks from a stream as he goes, and therefore he holds his head high.
While the priest blesses the king with victory in battle, backed by Yahweh himself, the king in return recognizes the sanctity of the priestly order of Melchizedek. Thus we see the importance of the Melchizedek tradition in Genesis where Abram encounters this venerable priest of pre-Davidic Jerusalem. As one of two high priests (Abiathar was the other), Zadok's line and priesthood was of supreme political importance to David. For Zadok was the priest of none other El, Elyon, the high god who at this time ruled over Yahweh and his other divine sons.
Abram and Hagar
This story relates to the theme Abram's descendants who were promised to one day be numerous. But it is also primarily interested in distinguishing the Israelites from the Ishmaelites.
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1 Abram's wife Sarai had borne him no child, but she had an Egyptian slave-girl called Hagar. |
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2 So Sarai said to Abram, 'Listen, now! Since Yahweh has kept me from having children, go to my slave-girl.. Perhaps I shall get children through her.' And Abram took Sarai's advice. |
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3 Thus, after Abram had lived in the land of Canaan for ten years, Sarai took Hagar her Egyptian slave-girl and gave her to Abram as his wife. |
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4 He went to Hagar and she conceived. And once she knew she had conceived, her mistress counted for nothing in her eyes. |
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5 Then Sarai said to Abram, 'This outrage done to me is your fault! It was I who put my slave-girl into your arms but, now she knows that she has conceived, I count for nothing in her eyes. Yahweh judge between me and you!' |
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6 'Very well,' Abram said to Sarai, 'your slave-girl is at your disposal. Treat her as you think fit.' Sarai accordingly treated her so badly that she ran away from her. |
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7 The angel of Yahweh found her by a spring in the desert, the spring on the road to Shur. |
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8 He said, 'Hagar, slave-girl of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?' 'I am running away from my mistress Sarai,' she replied. |
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9 The angel of Yahweh said to her, 'Go back to your mistress and submit to her.' |
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10 The angel of Yahweh further said to her, 'I shall make your descendants too numerous to be counted.' |
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11 Then the angel of Yahweh said to her: Now, you have conceived and will bear a son, and you shall name him Ishmael, for Yahweh has heard your cries of distress. |
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12 A wild donkey of a man he will be, his hand against every man, and every man's hand against him, living his life in defiance of all his kinsmen. |
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13 Hagar gave a name to Yahweh who had spoken to her, 'You are El Roi,' by which she meant, 'Did I not go on seeing here, after him who sees me?' |
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14 This is why the well is called the well of Lahai Roi; it is between Kadesh and Bered. |
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15 Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave his son borne by Hagar the name Ishmael. |
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16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.
This episode is the first of two regarding Hagar and Ishmael. It teaches that although Ishmael is not of the chosen line, as a son of Abram he is nevertheless important as he is related to the patriarch. Because he is the son of Abram, Yahweh cares for him.
The Ishmaelites were desert dwelling people, located in the desert of Paran, the traditional home of Yahwism. When Yahwism moved into the land of Canaan, there were still Yahwists who inhabited the desert regions and who could claim to be Yahwists of old. The Yahwist himself, writing from Jerusalem, knew this and respected the place of the Yahwists origins. Indeed, I have argued that the historical Abram was originally from this region as well. The word, "Hebrew," may well mean something like "migrant," "those who crossed over [into the land]." Or it may mean, "Bedouin." Yahwism itself changed in character when it migrated from its desert homeland. As I noted above, it adapted itself to the religion of Canaan, Yahweh himself becoming of the sons of El Elyon.. So we can distinguish "Desert Yahwism' from "Canaanite Yahwism." Abram was the forerunner of this great transition of the Shasu.
This story has some incidental features that stand outside of the main plot. First, it has Hagar call Yahweh, "El Roi," which means, "El sees." This seems to show that the Yahwist was not content with Yahweh being merely as "son of El." Here he is identifying El and Yahweh. However, it is also possible that because the motif is not well integrated into the story, that the identification is later than the Yahwist's composition, a conclusion that makes better sense. The story is also localized to have taken place by a well-known well with a reference to the word, "roi."
Yahweh Visits Abram
In the Yahwist's epic, Yahweh often takes human form. In the garden of Eden, it was his custom to talk walks in the cool of the evening with Adam and Eve. On Mt. Sinai, Moses sees Yahweh walking away. In this story, he appears with two other men who remain silent while he does the talking.
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1 Yahweh appeared to him at the Oak of Mamre while he was sitting by the entrance of the tent during the hottest part of the day. |
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2 He looked up, and there he saw three men standing near him. As soon as he saw them he ran from the entrance of the tent to greet them, and bowed to the ground. |
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3 'My lord,' he said, 'if I find favor with you, please do not pass your servant by. |
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4 Let me have a little water brought, and you can wash your feet and have a rest under the tree. |
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5 Let me fetch a little bread and you can refresh yourselves before going further, now that you have come in your servant's direction.' They replied, 'Do as you say.' |
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6 Abraham hurried to the tent and said to Sarah, 'Quick, knead three measures of best flour and make loaves.' |
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7 Then, running to the herd, Abraham took a fine and tender calf and gave it to the servant, who hurried to prepare it. |
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8 Then taking curds, milk and the calf which had been prepared, he laid all before them, and they ate while he remained standing near them under the tree. |
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9 'Where is your wife Sarah?' they asked him. 'She is in the tent,' he replied. |
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10 Then his guest said, 'I shall come back to you next year, and then your wife Sarah will have a son.' Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent behind him. |
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11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well on in years, and Sarah had ceased to have her monthly periods. |
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12 So Sarah laughed to herself, thinking, 'Now that I am past the age of childbearing, and my husband is an old man, is pleasure to come my way again?' |
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13 But Yahweh asked Abraham, 'Why did Sarah laugh and say, "Am I really going to have a child now that I am old?" |
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14 Nothing is impossible for Yahweh. I shall come back to you at the same time next year and Sarah will have a son.' |
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15 Sarah said, 'I did not laugh,' lying because she was afraid. But he replied, 'Oh yes, you did laugh.'
The tale is quite simple and its point is clearly articulated--nothing is impossible for Yahweh. In this case, it is conception in a woman who is past child-bearing years, namely, Sarai. Although it is nowhere stated that either Abraham or Sarai recognized the speaker as Yahweh, their actions indicate that they did. Abraham was quick to be hospitable and Sarai was afraid when confronted about her doubting laughing. The story continues in the account below when Sarai does indeed conceive and give birth to Isaac.
Sodom and Gomorrah
As noted above, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah has been anticipated in the story of Lot's choice. Note that here, the central theme of the Yahwist is again repeated--the promise of his descendants becoming a great nation. It actually has nothing to do with the story, thereby providing another indication of its status as a central theme in the Yahwist's work: |
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16 From there the men set out and arrived within sight of Sodom, with Abraham accompanying them to speed them on their way. |
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17 Now Yahweh had wondered, 'Shall I conceal from Abraham what I am going to do, |
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[18 as Abraham will become a great and powerful nation and all nations on earth will bless themselves by him? |
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19 For I have singled him out to command his sons and his family after him to keep the way of Yahweh by doing what is upright and just, so that Yahweh can carry out for Abraham what he has promised him.']
This articulation of the promise is of interest because of its conditional nature. As a matter of fact, this conditional ingredient may relate it to the Deuteronomistic tradition. This is made more likely by the fact that it is extrinsic to the story and so may well be a Deuteronomistic insertion. This would not be the only place in Genesis where such an insertion is found. The main narrative continues: |
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20 Then Yahweh said, 'The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin is so grave, |
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21 that I shall go down and see whether or not their actions are at all as the outcry reaching me would suggest. Then I shall know.' |
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22 While the men left there and went to Sodom, Yahweh remained in Abraham's presence. |
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23 Abraham stepped forward and said, 'Will you really destroy the upright with the guilty? |
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24 Suppose there are fifty upright people in the city. Will you really destroy it? Will you not spare the place for the sake of the fifty upright in it? |
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25 Do not think of doing such a thing: to put the upright to death with the guilty, so that upright and guilty fare alike! Is the judge of the whole world not to act justly?' |
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26 Yahweh replied, 'If I find fifty upright people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place because of them.' |
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27 Abraham spoke up and said, 'It is presumptuous of me to speak to Yahweh, I who am dust and ashes: |
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28 Suppose the fifty upright were five short? Would you destroy the whole city because of five?' 'No,' he replied, 'I shall not destroy it if I find forty-five there.' |
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29 Abraham persisted and said, 'Suppose there are forty to be found there?' 'I shall not do it,' he replied, 'for the sake of the forty.' |
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30 Abraham said, 'I hope the Lord will not be angry if I go on: Suppose there are only thirty to be found there?' 'I shall not do it,' he replied, 'if I find thirty there.' |
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31 He said, 'It is presumptuous of me to speak to Yahweh: Suppose there are only twenty there?' 'I shall not destroy it,' he replied, 'for the sake of the twenty.' |
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32 He said, 'I trust my Lord will not be angry if I speak once more: perhaps there will only be ten.' 'I shall not destroy it,' he replied, 'for the sake of the ten.' |
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33 When he had finished talking to Abraham Yahweh went away, and Abraham returned home
The conversation between Yahweh and Abraham has a simple point. While Yahweh is tolerant, the situation is so grave morally in Sodom and Gomorrah that not ten righteous people are found. In this way, the utter depravity of the cities is illustrated. What that depravity consists of is told below. The cities are overrun with homosexuality. | |
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1 When the two angels reached Sodom in the evening, Lot was sitting at the gate of Sodom. As soon as Lot saw them, he stood up to greet them, and bowed to the ground. |
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2 'My lords,' he said, 'please come down to your servant's house to stay the night and wash your feet. Then you can make an early start on your journey.' 'No,' they said, 'we shall spend the night in the square.' |
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3 But he pressed them so much that they went home with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking unleavened bread, and they had supper. |
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4 They had not gone to bed when the house was surrounded by the townspeople, the men of Sodom both young and old, all the people without exception. |
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5 Calling out to Lot they said, 'Where are the men who came to you tonight? Send them out to us so that we can have intercourse with them.' |
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6 Lot came out to them at the door and, having shut the door behind him, |
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7 said, 'Please, brothers, do not be wicked. |
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8 Look, I have two daughters who are virgins. I am ready to send them out to you, for you to treat as you please, but do nothing to these men since they are now under the protection of my roof.' |
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9 But they retorted, 'Stand back! This fellow came here as a foreigner, and now he wants to play the judge. Now we shall treat you worse than them.' Then they forced Lot back and moved forward to break down the door. |
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10 But the men reached out, pulled Lot back into the house with them, and shut the door. |
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11 And they dazzled those who were at the door of the house, one and all, with a blinding light, so that they could not find the doorway. |
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12 The men said to Lot, 'Have you anyone else here? Your sons, your daughters and all your people in the city, take them away, |
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13 for we are about to destroy this place, since the outcry to Yahweh against those in it has grown so loud that Yahweh has sent us to destroy it.' |
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14 So Lot went off and spoke to his future sons-in-law who were to marry his daughters. 'On your feet!' he said, 'Leave this place, for Yahweh is about to destroy the city.' But his sons-in-law thought he was joking. |
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15 When dawn broke the angels urged Lot on, 'To your feet! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.' |
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16 And as he hesitated, the men seized his hand and the hands of his wife and his two daughters -- Yahweh being merciful to him -- and led him out and left him outside the city. |
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17 When they had brought him outside, he was told, 'Flee for your life. Do not look behind you or stop anywhere on the plain. Flee to the hills or you will be swept away.' |
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18 'Oh no, my lord!' Lot said to them, |
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19 'You have already been very good to your servant and shown me even greater love by saving my life, but I cannot flee to the hills, or disaster will overtake me and I shall die... |
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20 That town over there is near enough to flee to, and is small. Let me flee there-after all it is only a small place -- and so survive.' |
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21 He replied, 'I grant you this favor too, and will not overthrow the town you speak of. |
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22 Hurry, flee to that one, for I cannot do anything until you reach it.' That is why the town is named Zoar.. |
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23 The sun rose over the horizon just as Lot was entering Zoar. |
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24 Then Yahweh rained down on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire of his own sending. |
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25 He overthrew those cities and the whole plain, with all the people living in the cities and everything that grew there. |
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26 But Lot's wife looked back, and was turned into a pillar of salt. |
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27 Next morning, Abraham hurried to the place where he had stood before Yahweh, |
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28 and looking towards Sodom and Gomorrah and the whole area of the plain, he saw the smoke rising from the ground like smoke from a furnace. |
This story appears to be based upon the extremely desolate regions surrounding the Dead Sea. We recall that when Lot chose this region, it was because it was extremely plush, indeed, like the "garden of Yahweh." An explanation of how it became so desolate seems to be the primary intention of the story. Within that framework, it shows Yahweh to be merciful but just and Abraham to be compassionate. The motif of Lot's wife turning into a pillar of salt is also likely based upon salt formations at the Dead Sea that appear to be like human forms. It might also be noted that the wickedness of the city is illustrated by the practice of homosexuality, which was detested by Israelite culture:
"You will not have intercourse with a man as you would with a woman. This is a hateful thing. (Lev 18:22)
Lot's Daughters
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30 After leaving Zoar Lot settled in the hill country with his two daughters, for he dared not stay at Zoar. He lived in a cave, he and his two daughters. |
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31 The elder said to the younger, 'Our father is an old man, and there is no one here to marry us in the normal way of the world. |
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32 Come on, let us ply our father with wine and sleep with him. In this way we can preserve the race by our father.' |
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33 That night they made their father drunk, and the elder slept with her father though he was unaware of her coming to bed or of her leaving. |
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34 The next day the elder said to the younger, 'Last night, I was the one who slept with our father. Let us make him drunk again tonight, and you go and sleep with him. In this way we can preserve the race by our father.' |
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35 They made their father drunk that night too, and the younger went and slept with him, though he was unaware of her coming to bed or of her leaving.. |
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36 Both Lot's daughters thus became pregnant by their father. |
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37 The elder gave birth to a son whom she named Moab; and he is the ancestor of the Moabites of our own times. |
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38 The younger also gave birth to a son whom she named Ben-Ammi; and he is the ancestor of the Bene-Ammon of our own times.
This simple tale is intended to account for the origins of two trans-Jordan peoples, the Moabites and the Ammonites. The story is far from being flattering as these two peoples are said to be the result of seduction and incest. This negative tradition likely arises from the fact that David made war on both Moab and Ammon. The Yahwist inclusion of such a tradition certainly reflects hostility toward them and by civilized standards appears to be rather ugly.
However, it may be that this story presents Lot’s daughters in a positive light. In Israelite culture, a primary purpose of a woman was to bear children. The attitude of Lot’s daughters reflects a legitimate concern. Sarai attached great importance to it as did Tamar, Naomi and Ruth. In the case of these last three, their stories praise them for the shrewdness they used to obtain a family. Lot’s daughters were not wrong, only abnormal due to their dire straits. Accordingly, we may be reading modern values into the story of Lot’s daughters in condemning their actions. If this is so, then the Yahwist may be seeking a reconciliatory position toward Moab and Ammon by insisting that they are distant relatives of Israel.
Sarah Conceives
1 And Yahweh visited Sarah as he had said, for Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age,
2 And she said, Who would have said to Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born him a son in his old age.
Here the Yahwist resolves a tension in one of his plot lines. The story left off where Sarai, or Sarah, laughed when Yahweh said she would conceive in her old age. Now Yahweh's promise is fulfilled and his word is vindicated. Given that Yahweh had made promises regarding Abram’s descendants, it is crucial to the story that Sarah conceive. That she does in her old age illustrates that Yahweh will use supernatural powers to see that his promise fulfilled.
Nahor's Children
3 And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying,
4 Behold, Milcah, she hath also born children to your brother Nahor;
5 Huz his firstborn, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram,
6 And Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel.
7 And Bethuel begat Rebekah: these eight Milcah did bear to Nahor, Abraham's brother.
8 And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, she bare also Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah.
The promise to Abraham regarding his descendants imbued him with such importance that all who related to him to some degree shared in that status. So we have here listed the children of Abraham's brother, Nahor. This list of Nahor’s descendant indicates again that the Yahwist had sources at his disposal that he chose to loosely incorporate into his story. He had no interest in developing these characters. They were including simply because tradition told him that Nahor was related to Abraham.
A Wife for Isaac
We come now to a comparatively sophisticated narrative. It may have even belonged originally to the Jacob-Esau-Jacob-Laban cycle of stories as they all seem well integrated. It show some marks of being a late addition to the Yahwist's epic. Yahweh himself is not the son of El as we have found in material dating from the early monarchy. Here he is "the God of Heaven and the God of Earth." Furthermore, Abraham's homeland is said to be upper Mesopotamia, which as I have urged, is a late conceptualization. These considerations lead me to think that this story may not originally belong to the Yahwist but was incorporated late in the tradition process, probably during the post-Exilic period. This was a time when the Judeans were very aware of the ethnic distinction and strongly maintained it. Thus the story has Abraham concerned that his son Isaac should not have a foreign wife.
One the other hand, this concerned with ethnic identity may have produced these traditions during the early period of Israel’s history, prior to the formation of the United Monarchy. From its beginnings, Israel seemed to have defined itself as a distinct and divinely privileged people over against its Canaanite neighbors. It would appear that if Israel was to received distinctive promises for its distinctive god, would need to define itself with a distinctive ethnicity. Do these cycles of tradition therefore reflect an early attempt at ethnic definition or are they the product of an attempt to reassert a distinctive ethnicity at a time when it was threatened?
The Yahwistic motif regarding Yahweh’s blessing Abraham with great wealth is repeated.
1 And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and Yahweh had blessed Abraham in all things.
2 And Abraham said to his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, your hand under my thigh:
3 And I will make thee swear by Yahweh, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth,
4 That you shall not take a wife to my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell:
5 But you shall go to my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife to my son Isaac.
6 And the servant said to him, Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me to this land:
7 Do I need to bring your son again to the land from whence you came?
8 And Abraham said to him, Beware you that you bring not my son thither again.
9 Yahweh God of heaven, which took me from my father's house, and from the land of my kindred,
10 And which spoke to me, and that swore to me, saying, To your seed will I give this land;
11 He shall send his angel before thee, and you shall take a wife to my son from thence.
12 And if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then you shall be clear from this my oath: only bring not my son thither again.
13 And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning that matter.
The central concern of the above section is that a suitable wife be found for Isaac. The servant is made to swear an oath to that end.
14 And the servant took ten camels of the camels of his master, and departed; for all the goods of his master were in his hand:
15 And he arose, and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor.
16 And he made his camels to kneel down without the city by a well of water at the time of the evening, even the time that women go out to draw water.
17 And he said, O Yahweh God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this day, and show kindness to my master Abraham.
18 Behold, I stand here by the well of water; and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water:
19 And let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down your pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink;
20 And she shall say, Drink, and I will give your camels drink also:
21 Let the same be she that you have appointed for your servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that you have shewed kindness to my master.
22 And it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold,
23 Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder.
24 And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her:
25 And she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, and came up.
26 And the servant ran to meet her, and said, Let me, I pray thee, drink a little water of your pitcher.
27 And she said, Drink, my lord: and she hasted, and let down her pitcher upon her hand, and gave him drink.
28 And when she had done giving him drink, she said, I will draw water for your camels also, until they have done drinking.
29 And she hasted, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again to the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels.
30 And the man wondering at her held his peace, to wit whether Yahweh had made his journey prosperous or not.
Here the story has the servant asking for a sign from Yahweh. Predictably, the sign is fulfilled immediately with the appearance of Rebekah, who just happens to be a distant relative. In this way, the story advocates "inter-racial" marriage by having Yahweh sanction Abraham's wishes that a suitable wife be found for his son.
31 And it came to pass, as the camels had done drinking,
32 That the man took a golden earring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold;
33 And said, Whose daughter art thou? Tell me, I pray thee: is there room in your father's house for us to lodge in?
34 And she said to him, I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, which she bare to Nahor.
35 She said moreover to him, We have both straw and provender enough, and room to lodge in.
36 And the man bowed down his head, and worshipped Yahweh.
37 And he said, Blessed be Yahweh, God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth:
38 I being in the way, Yahweh led me to the house of my master's brethren.
39 And the damsel ran, and told them of her mother's house these things.
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