Discovery BoxGenesis 35:8
Context35:8 (Deborah, 1 Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried under the oak below Bethel; thus it was named 2 Oak of Weeping.) 3
Genesis 35:2
Context35:2 So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have among you. 4 Purify yourselves and change your clothes. 5
Genesis 2:4-5
Context2:4 This is the account 6 of the heavens and
the earth 7 when they were created – when the Lord God 8 made the earth and heavens. 9
2:5 Now 10 no shrub of the field had yet grown on the earth, and no plant of the field 11 had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. 12
Genesis 21:12-14
Context21:12 But God said to Abraham, “Do not be upset 13 about the boy or your slave wife. Do 14 all that Sarah is telling 15 you because through Isaac your descendants will be counted. 16 21:13 But I will also make the son of the slave wife into a great nation, for he is your descendant too.”
21:14 Early in the morning Abraham took 17 some food 18 and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He put them on her shoulders, gave her the child, 19 and sent her away. So she went wandering 20 aimlessly through the wilderness 21 of Beer Sheba.
[35:8] 1 sn Deborah. This woman had been Rebekah’s nurse, but later attached herself to Jacob. She must have been about one hundred and eighty years old when she died.
[35:8] 2 tn “and he called its name.” There is no expressed subject, so the verb can be translated as passive.
[35:8] 3 tn Or “Allon Bacuth,” if one transliterates the Hebrew name (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV). An oak tree was revered in the ancient world and often designated as a shrine or landmark. This one was named for the weeping (mourning) occasioned by the death of Deborah.
[35:2] 4 tn Heb “which are in your midst.”
[35:2] 5 sn The actions of removing false gods, becoming ritually clean, and changing garments would become necessary steps in Israel when approaching the
[2:4] 6 tn The Hebrew phrase אֵלֶּה תּוֹלְדֹת (’elle tolÿdot) is traditionally translated as “these are the generations of” because the noun was derived from the verb “beget.” Its usage, however, shows that it introduces more than genealogies; it begins a narrative that traces what became of the entity or individual mentioned in the heading. In fact, a good paraphrase of this heading would be: “This is what became of the heavens and the earth,” for what follows is not another account of creation but a tracing of events from creation through the fall and judgment (the section extends from 2:4 through 4:26). See M. H. Woudstra, “The Toledot of the Book of Genesis and Their Redemptive-Historical Significance,” CTJ 5 (1970): 184-89.
[2:4] 7 tn See the note on the phrase “the heavens and the earth” in 1:1.
[2:4] 8 sn Advocates of the so-called documentary hypothesis of pentateuchal authorship argue that the introduction of the name Yahweh (
[2:4] 9 tn See the note on the phrase “the heavens and the earth” in 1:1; the order here is reversed, but the meaning is the same.
[2:5] 10 tn Heb “Now every sprig of the field before it was.” The verb forms, although appearing to be imperfects, are technically preterites coming after the adverb טֶּרֶם (terem). The word order (conjunction + subject + predicate) indicates a disjunctive clause, which provides background information for the following narrative (as in 1:2). Two negative clauses are given (“before any sprig…”, and “before any cultivated grain” existed), followed by two causal clauses explaining them, and then a positive circumstantial clause is given – again dealing with water as in 1:2 (water would well up).
[2:5] 11 tn The first term, שִׂיחַ (siakh), probably refers to the wild, uncultivated plants (see Gen 21:15; Job 30:4,7); whereas the second, עֵשֶׂב (’esev), refers to cultivated grains. It is a way of saying: “back before anything was growing.”
[2:5] 12 tn The two causal clauses explain the first two disjunctive clauses: There was no uncultivated, general growth because there was no rain, and there were no grains because there was no man to cultivate the soil.
[21:12] 13 tn Heb “Let it not be evil in your eyes.”
[21:12] 14 tn Heb “listen to her voice.” The idiomatic expression means “obey; comply.” Here her advice, though harsh, is necessary and conforms to the will of God. Later (see Gen 25), when Abraham has other sons, he sends them all away as well.
[21:12] 15 tn The imperfect verbal form here draws attention to an action that is underway.
[21:12] 16 tn Or perhaps “will be named”; Heb “for in Isaac offspring will be called to you.” The exact meaning of the statement is not clear, but it does indicate that God’s covenantal promises to Abraham will be realized through Isaac, not Ishmael.
[21:14] 17 tn Heb “and Abraham rose up early in the morning and he took.”
[21:14] 18 tn Heb “bread,” although the term can be used for food in general.
[21:14] 19 tn Heb “He put upon her shoulder, and the boy [or perhaps, “and with the boy”], and he sent her away.” It is unclear how “and the boy” relates syntactically to what precedes. Perhaps the words should be rearranged and the text read, “and he put [them] on her shoulder and he gave to Hagar the boy.”
[21:14] 20 tn Heb “she went and wandered.”
[21:14] 21 tn Or “desert,” although for English readers this usually connotes a sandy desert like the Sahara rather than the arid wasteland of this region with its sparse vegetation.
