Discovery BoxGenesis 12:6
Context12:6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the oak tree 1 of Moreh 2 at Shechem. 3 (At that time the Canaanites were in the land.) 4
Genesis 49:4
Context49:4 You are destructive 5 like water and will not excel, 6
for you got on your father’s bed, 7
then you defiled it – he got on my couch! 8
Genesis 4:26
Context4:26 And a son was also born to Seth, whom he named Enosh. At that time people 9 began to worship 10 the Lord.
Genesis 13:7
Context13:7 So there were quarrels 11 between Abram’s herdsmen and Lot’s herdsmen. 12 (Now the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land at that time.) 13
Genesis 24:41
Context24:41 You will be free from your oath 14 if you go to my relatives and they will not give her to you. Then you will be free from your oath.’
[12:6] 2 sn The Hebrew word Moreh (מוֹרֶה, moreh) means “teacher.” It may well be that the place of this great oak tree was a Canaanite shrine where instruction took place.
[12:6] 3 tn Heb “as far as the place of Shechem, as far as the oak of Moreh.”
[12:6] 4 tn The disjunctive clause gives important information parenthetical in nature – the promised land was occupied by Canaanites.
[49:4] 5 tn The Hebrew noun פַּחַז (pakhaz) only occurs here in the OT. A related verb occurs twice in the prophets (Jer 23:32; Zeph 3:4) for false prophets inventing their messages, and once in Judges for unscrupulous men bribed to murder (Judg 9:4). It would describe Reuben as being “frothy, boiling, turbulent” as water. The LXX has “run riot,” the Vulgate has “poured out,” and Tg. Onq. has “you followed your own direction.” It is a reference to Reuben’s misconduct in Gen 35, but the simile and the rare word invite some speculation. H. Pehlke suggests “destructive like water,” for Reuben acted with pride and presumption; see his “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Genesis 49:1-28” (Th.D. dissertation, Dallas Theological Seminary, 1985).
[49:4] 6 tn Heb “Do not excel!” The Hiphil of the verb יָתַר (yatar) has this meaning only here. The negated jussive is rhetorical here. Rather than being a command, it anticipates what will transpire. The prophecy says that because of the character of the ancestor, the tribe of Reuben would not have the character to lead (see 1 Chr 5:1).
[49:4] 7 sn This is a euphemism for having sexual intercourse with Jacob’s wives (see Gen 35:22).
[49:4] 8 tn The last verb is third masculine singular, as if for the first time Jacob told the brothers, or let them know that he knew. For a discussion of this passage see S. Gevirtz, “The Reprimand of Reuben,” JNES 30 (1971): 87-98.
[4:26] 9 tn The word “people” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation. The construction uses a passive verb without an expressed subject. “To call was begun” can be interpreted to mean that people began to call.
[4:26] 10 tn Heb “call in the name.” The expression refers to worshiping the
[13:7] 13 tn The Hebrew term רִיב (riv) means “strife, conflict, quarreling.” In later texts it has the meaning of “legal controversy, dispute.” See B. Gemser, “The rîb – or Controversy – Pattern in Hebrew Mentality,” Wisdom in Israel and in the Ancient Near East [VTSup], 120-37.
[13:7] 14 sn Since the quarreling was between the herdsmen, the dispute was no doubt over water and vegetation for the animals.
[13:7] 15 tn This parenthetical clause, introduced with the vav (ו) disjunctive (translated “now”), again provides critical information. It tells in part why the land cannot sustain these two bedouins, and it also hints of the danger of weakening the family by inner strife.
[24:41] 17 tn Heb “my oath” (twice in this verse). From the Hebrew perspective the oath belonged to the person to whom it was sworn (Abraham), although in contemporary English an oath is typically viewed as belonging to the person who swears it (the servant).
