dealing with the life of Abraham. That is wholly improbable. It is
likely enough that a heading ((
Hebrew characters)) has been somewhere omitted
(so We. Bu. Ho. al.); but the truth is that from this point onwards
no consistent principle can be discovered in the use of the formula. The
hypothesis that an originally independent book of Tôledôth has been
broken up and dislocated by the redaction, is as plausible a solution as
any that can be thought of. See, further, on 2519.
27. On the name Abram, see on 175; on Nāḥôr, v.22
above.—Haran begat Loṭ] A statement to the same effect
must have been found in J (see 124a). Haran has no significance
in the tradition except as expressing the relationship
of Lôṭ above and Lot below], Milkah, and Yiṣkah within the Hebraic group.
That (Hebrew characters) is formed from (Hebrew characters) (v.i.) by a softening of the initial guttural
(We. Pr.6 313) is an improbable conjecture (see Bu. 4432). The name
occurs elsewhere only in (Hebrew characters) (Nu. 3236: cf. (Hebrew characters), Jos. 1327)[1] in the
tribe of Gad: this has suggested the view that (Hebrew characters) was the name of a
deity worshipped among the peoples represented by Lot (Mez: cf. Wi.
AOF, ii. 499).—The name (Hebrew characters) is also etymologically obscure (? Ar. lāṭ
= 'cleave to'). A connexion with the Ḥorite clan (Hebrew characters) in Gn. 3620. 22. 29
is probable.
28. The premature death of Haran (which became the
nucleus of some fantastic Jewish legends) took place in the land of his nativity; i.e., according to the present text,
Ur of the Chaldees, where his grave was shown down to
the time of Josephus (Ant. i. 151; Eus. OS], 285, 50 ff.).
(Hebrew characters) (v.31 157, Neh. 97: G (Greek characters)) is now almost
universally identified with the ancient S Babylonian city of Uru, whose
remains have been discovered in the mounds of 'el-Muḳayyar, on the
right bank of the Euphrates, about 25 miles SE from Erech and 125
from Babylon (see Hilp. EBL, 172 ff.). The evidence for this view is
28. (Hebrew characters)] is coram (G (Greek characters)), rather than ante (V: so Tu.), or 'in
the lifetime of' (S (Syriac characters); cf. Nu. 34: see BDB and G-B. s.v.
(Hebrew characters).—(Hebrew characters)] so 247 (J), 3113 (E); cf. Jer. 2210 4616, Ezk. 2315, Ru. 211.
A commoner phrase in Pent. is (Hebrew characters), 121 244 313 3210, Nu 1030 (all J).
From the way in which the two expressions alternate, it is probable
that they are equivalent; and since (Hebrew characters) alone certainly means 'kindred'
(437 [J], cf. Est. 210. 20 86), it is better to render 'land of one's parentage'
than 'land in which one was born' [S here and 121] (cf. Bu. 4192). P
has the word, but only in the sense of 'progeny' (486, Lv. 189 [H]).
- ↑ Though Wi. (AOF, ii. 499) contends that both names are corruptions
of (
Hebrew characters).
