25:18 So Abigail quickly took two hundred loaves of bread, two containers 6 of wine, five prepared sheep, five seahs 7 of roasted grain, a hundred bunches of raisins, and two hundred lumps of pressed figs. She loaded them on donkeys
43:11 Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Take some of the best products of the land in your bags, and take a gift down to the man – a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachios and almonds.
16:1 Now Sarai, 8 Abram’s wife, had not given birth to any children, 9 but she had an Egyptian servant 10 named Hagar. 11 16:2 So Sarai said to Abram, “Since 12 the Lord has prevented me from having children, have sexual relations with 13 my servant. Perhaps I can have a family by her.” 14 Abram did what 15 Sarai told him.
18:16 A person’s gift 16 makes room for him,
and leads him 17 before important people.
1 tn Heb “sons of worthlessness” (see 2:12).
2 tc In place of the MT (“and it was like one being silent”) the LXX has “after about a month,” taking the expression with the first part of the following chapter rather than with 10:27. Some Hebrew support for this reading appears in the corrected hand of a Qumran
3 tn Heb “officer of the thousand.”
4 tn Heb “and your brothers, observe with respect to welfare.”
5 tn Heb “and their pledge take.” This probably refers to some type of confirmation that the goods arrived safely. See R. W. Klein, 1 Samuel (WBC), 177. Cf. NIV “bring back some assurance”; NCV “some proof to show me they are all right”; NLT “bring me back a letter from them.”
5 tn Heb “skins.”
6 sn The seah was a dry measure equal to one-third of an ephah, or not quite eleven quarts.
7 tn The disjunctive clause signals the beginning of a new episode in the story.
8 sn On the cultural background of the story of Sarai’s childlessness see J. Van Seters, “The Problem of Childlessness in Near Eastern Law and the Patriarchs of Israel,” JBL 87 (1968): 401-8.
9 tn The Hebrew term שִׁפְחָה (shifkhah, translated “servant” here and in vv. 2, 3, 5, 6, and 8) refers to a menial female servant.
10 sn The passage records the birth of Ishmael to Abram through an Egyptian woman. The story illustrates the limits of Abram’s faith as he tries to obtain a son through social custom. The barrenness of Sarai poses a challenge to Abram’s faith, just as the famine did in chap. 12. As in chap. 12, an Egyptian figures prominently. (Perhaps Hagar was obtained as a slave during Abram’s stay in Egypt.)
9 tn Heb “look.” The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) introduces the foundational clause for the imperative to follow.
10 tn Heb “enter to.” The expression is a euphemism for sexual relations (also in v. 4).
11 tn Heb “perhaps I will be built from her.” Sarai hopes to have a family established through this surrogate mother.
12 tn Heb “listened to the voice of,” which is an idiom meaning “obeyed.”
11 sn The Hebrew term translated “gift” is a more general term than “bribe” (שֹׁחַד, shokhad), used in 17:8, 23. But it also has danger (e.g., 15:27; 21:14), for by giving gifts one might learn how influential they are and use them for bribes. The proverb simply states that a gift can expedite matters.
12 sn The two verbs here show a progression, helping to form the synthetic parallelism. The gift first “makes room” (יַרְחִיב, yarkhiv) for the person, that is, extending a place for him, and then “ushers him in” (יַנְחֵנּוּ, yakhenu) among the greats.