Genesis 25:1-25:18

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TOLDOT KETURAH


25:1: VA YOSEPH AV-RAHAM VA YIKACH ISHAH U SHEMAH KETURAH

וַיֹּסֶף אַבְרָהָם וַיִּקַּח אִשָּׁה וּשְׁמָהּ קְטוּרָה

KJ (King James translation): Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah.

BN (BibleNet translation): And Av-Raham took another wife, and her name was Keturah.


VA YOSEPH: Nothing to do with Ya'akov's son Joseph; but anyone reading the Yehudit version will inevitably do word association when they hear this word - this technique of prefiguration or foreshadowing is used constantly in the Tanach. LEHOSIPH means "to add" or "to increase", and yes, it is the root of the name Yoseph (Joseph).

KETURAH (קטורה): from the root KATAR (קטר) = "to offer odours" or "burn incense" in honour of the deity; specifically "pagan"; MEKATROT (מקטרות) = "the altars on which the incense is burned" (cf Deuteronomy 33:10 et al); so the wife he takes may well have religious rather than social connotations here, as some kind of alliance or confederation with the priestess - but which priestess? Can we work this out from the children below? (see also 1 Chronicles 1:32).

The marriage, on the other hand, could be seen as the description of Av-Raham's territory or domain; the "sons" being the tribes under his patronage. He was, after all "father of a great nation": or perhaps simply the key figure in a loose confederacy of tribes who had come together for the purposes of trade. And that domain turns out to be the whole of Arabia, everywhere that Av-Ram, or Av-Raham, or Ibrahim, or Abi-Ramu, and quite probably Brahma too, were regarded as the founding patriarch.

Treated literally the story is absurd. He is a phenomenally old man by now; about 120 at the time. He thought himself too old to father Yitschak more than twenty years before this, and now here he is fathering children like Ouranos - a statement that of course takes us back to the suggestion that the original Av-Ram and Av-Raham, like Hindu Brahma and Rama their namesakes, were a variation on the god of Creation; and by now he has relinquished the leadership of the tribe to Yitschak anyway. Unless we take it, as seemed likely, that the sheikh of Be'er Lechi Ro’i/Be'er Sheva was always and only Yitschak, while Av-Raham lived at Chevron, and the only family connection, like the ones with Ya'akov and then the 12 tribes, was the one the Redactor invented to superimpose a chronological history on a multifarious set of tribal identities.

1 Chronicles 1:32 makes Keturah a concubine, not a full wife.

Having said which the reference to Ouranos is not entirely accidental. At the god-level, Av-Raham is precisely the Ouranos figure in the Beney Yisra-El patriarchal trinity, with Yitschak as Chronos and Ya'akov as Zeus - worth a short essay perhaps, but what is worth a longer essay is a comparison with what became the Hindu trinity, the trimurti, with Av-Raham in the much more linguistically logical role of Brahma. Brahma the Creator, as we have seen; Vishnu the Sustainer, which we will see is all that Yitschak will do from now on, struggling to maintain Av-Raham's wells; and then Shiva, the Destroyer and Regenerator, bearer of the sacred number seven within his very name. And will any of Keturah's children reflect the other Hindu gods? Rama, Krishna, Ganesh,  Parvati, Lakshmi, Sarasvati, Kali, Garuda, Ohm, making twelve in all, as you would have guessed by now. Kali as Yisaschar may or may not be; see the notes - if we accept Yisaschar as a dialect variation of Yah-Shachur, the Black Madonna, then the link to Kali the black-faced goddess is straightforward; but acceptance is questionable. Rama as Sagittarius, on the other hand, is almost too easy; the bow and arrows he always carries give him away... an interesting activity for a middle or upper school class: follow through the names of the 12 principal gods of Hinduism and the twelve tribes of the Beney Yisra-El: where do they overlap? The Sanatan society website is an excellent source; or here.


25:2: VA TELED LO ET ZIMRAN VE ET YAKSHAN VE ET MEDAN VE ET MIDYAN VE ET YISHBAK VE ET SHU'ACH

וַתֵּלֶד לוֹ אֶת זִמְרָן וְאֶת יָקְשָׁן וְאֶת מְדָן וְאֶת מִדְיָן וְאֶת יִשְׁבָּק וְאֶת שׁוּחַ

KJ: And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah.

BN: And she bore him Zimran and Yakshan and Medan and Midyan and Yishbak and Shu'ach.


Note that this makes twelve, as we have come to expect from the mythologies; and of course the same will apply to the sons of Yishma-El (Ishmael) in verses 13ff, below.

ZIMRAN (זמרן): meaning unclear. The root seems to be connected with ZAMAR (זמר) = "to sing"; normally ZAMRAN (זמרן) should be a singer; although there is also the root ZAMAR (זמר) which is a species of deer or antelope referred to in Deuteronomy 14:5, the name coming from its leaping motions, and thus connected to the PI'EL form of ZAMAR = "to dance to music".

YAKSHAN (יקשן): or possibly YOKSHAN, as noted below, the ancestor of the Sabaeans and the Dedanim. The root is YAKASH (יקש) = "to lay snares", specifically for catching birds. Yakshan may be the same as Yoktan (Genesis 10:27/8) who is Qahtan in Arabic; both words meaning "small", the Sheen (ש) and Tav (ת) frequently interchanged between Yehudit and Aramaic.

MEDAN (מדן): these two brothers are difficult to work out; the text appears to be confused, with MEDAN (מדן) and MIDYAN (מדין) actually the same; and if not the same, then twins perhaps. In Genesis 37 they are represented as traders with Mitsrayim (Egypt). Two possible explanations:

(i) (the first assumes that they are unconnected) it comes from the root MADAY (מדי) = "the Medes", the Persians of King Koresh (Cyrus), under whose patronage Zeru-Bavel brought the exiles home in 536 BCE (cf Isaiah 21:2, Esther 1:3, 2 Kings 17:6 and 18:11, Jeremiah 25:25, 51:11 and 51:28); but all these would suggest a late addition to the text, as all the references are exilic or post-exilic; it may thus be that the confusion of MEDAN and MIDYAN is indeed a late addition, seeking to include King Koresh's family within the Yehudit Toldot in the way that Shakespeare acknowledged the Earl of Southampton as his patron; cf Genesis 10:2. There is a logic to this reading, as it would be immensely flattering to Koresh's successor Artaxerxes, who supported Ezra when he returned, and appointed Nechem-Yah as governor of Yeru-Shala'im, at a time when the Yehudim were dependent on his help, both financial and military, in their return to Tsi'on, to discover that not only was he ruling the land from which Av-Raham's ancestors first came, but was himself a direct descendant!

(ii) MIDIN (מדין): = "measures", a town in the plains of Yehudah (Joshua 15:61). The name would suggest a market-town.

MIDYAN (מדין): from the root DIN (דין) = "to judge", in the Hiphil or Causative form = "strife, contention". The Midyanites were an Arabian tribe; their domain appears to have included Mount Sinai, whence the connection with Mosheh's family in the Exodus story; Genesis 37:25 however sees them as Yishma-Elites.

YISHBAK (ישבק): from the root SHEVAK (שבק), which is not Yehudit and only appears in Dani-El, and is therefore presumably Chaldean (several occasions; try Daniel 4:12, though most Christian versions reorganise the text, so you may have to go to Daniel 4:15). It means "to leave".

SHU'ACH ((שוח): = "a pit; one of Iyov's (Job's) friends is described as a Shuchite (Job 2:11).

It would be tempting to suggest that AV-RAHAM only had four and not the six sons given here, and that two were added later, to give a Chaldean flavour; interestingly the other four sons all have hunting connections; Zimran with deer, Yokshan with birds, Shu'ach with traps for larger animals, and the fourth perhaps with the market where they were sold.

Either way we can conclude that any fertility issues in the marriage with Sarah were not on Av-Raham's side.


25:3: VE YAKSHAN YALAD ET SHEVA VE ET DEDAN U VENEY DEDAN HAYU ASHURIM U LETUSHIM U LE'UMIM

וְיָקְשָׁן יָלַד אֶת שְׁבָא וְאֶת דְּדָן וּבְנֵי דְדָן הָיוּ אַשּׁוּרִם וּלְטוּשִׁים וּלְאֻמִּים

KJ: And Jokshan begat Sheba, and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, and Letushim, and Leummim.

BN: And Yakshan fathered Sheva, and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Ashurim and Letushim and Le'umim.


Presumably Zimran had no children.

SHEVA (שבא): any connection to Be'er Sheva? No, because the latter has an Ayin (ע) and this an Aleph (א). Probably the Sabaeans of Arabia, rich in frankincense, gold, spice and gems, and the land from which a famous queen came to marry Shelomoh (Solomon). This SHEVA is referred to in Genesis on 3 occasions; as the grandson of Kush and a son of Ra'amah (Genesis 10:7); as a son of Yaktan (Genesis 10:28); and here. In Genesis 10:7 he is again identified as the brother of Dedan.

DEDAN (דדן): the Dodanim or Dedanites, already encountered at least twice before, and very much a matter of scholarly dispute. Genesis 10:7 (and also 1 Chronicles 1:9) give Dedan as a son of Ra'amah the Kushite. Josephus however makes him the son of Shu'ach, and denotes him as a north Arabian tribe from Teyma and Buz (presumably he is sourcing this from Jeremiah 25:23). Ezekiel 27:15-20 has them supplying saddle-rugs until Edom or Esav hassled their caravans (Isaiah 21:13/15, Jeremiah 49:7 ff, Ezekiel 25:13) - though you may find some translations, as the one here, share my conviction that Dodanim and Dedanim are different people, and the Dodanim are a scribal error for Rodanim, the inhabitants of the Greek island of Rhodos; though they may be neither, but rather the good citizens of Dodona, a very important oracular shrine.

ASHURIM (אשורים): also encountered before under different parentage. The god of the city of Ashur ,and later of Assyria. Nabataean incriptions give Ashuru and Latashu as personal names.

LETUSHIM (לטשם): root LATASH (לטש) = "to hammer/forge"; see note on Ashurim above.

LE'UMIM (לאמים): is this a tribe or simply, like GOYIM (גוים), a general word meaning countries or tribes or nations? Most likely the former, though both have come to be used to mean the latter. BANK LE'UMI, for example, is the name of the "National Bank" of modern Israel.

Linking all this to Av-Raham is absurd; unless the suggestion is that, at his time, this was the make-up of the known world; this seems unlikely. More likely, the Redactor wanted to make Av-Raham important, and had a list of names, and attached it.


25:4: U VENEY MIDYAN EYPHAH VA EPHER VA CHANOCH VA AVI-DA VE EL-DA'AH KOL ELEH BENEY KETURAH

וּבְנֵי מִדְיָן עֵיפָה וָעֵפֶר וַחֲנֹךְ וַאֲבִידָע וְאֶלְדָּעָה כָּל אֵלֶּה בְּנֵי קְטוּרָה

KJ: And the sons of Midian; Ephah, and Epher, and Hanoch, and Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah.

BN: And the sons of Midyan: Eyphah and Epher and Chanoch and Avi-Da and El-Da'ah.


Presumably Medan had no children, unless Medan is Midyan. See note above.

And of course most of these names have appeared in previous lists; and they are not just any names, but hugely significant ones in the tale. Epher, for example, who is almost certainly Ephron - Phoroneus now absorbed into the genealogy of Keturah! Chanoch (Enoch) too!

EYPHAH (עיפה): Gesenius reckons it connects with UPH (עוף) = "to cover in darkness", but that doesn't make any sense. It would seem on sight to connect with AYEPH (עיף) = "to be tired, to faint, to languish"; but that also makes no sense (perhaps we are looking for sense where none is called for!). Perhaps it connects to OPH (עוף) = "a bird" or "winged fowl". The Septuagint gives Gephar (גפר) instead of Eyphah, but that may just be a factor of the Egyptian pronunciation of Ayin (ע), which to this day is much closer to a G or Gimmel (ג). Isaiah 60:6 has them with Midyan as a camel-owning tribe that brought gold and incense from Sheva, which might have been feasible in Yesha-Yahu's (Isaiah's) time, but was not in Keturah's - my notes on the anachronism of the camel can be found in Genesis 24. Inscriptions of Sargon of Assyria refer to Khayapa, today Ghwafa, east of the Gulf of Aqaba on the Red Sea. But the Ayin-Gimmel first-letter variation and the Hey-Reysh final-letter variation, both seem to lead to Epher.

EPHER (עפר): = "a calf" or "young animal", especially the fawn of a deer, goat or gazelle. Ophrah (עפרה), which is a tribe of Bin-Yamin connected to Shu'al, means "a fawn". EPHRON (עפרון) of course connects back to the cave of Machpelah, as well as to a town of the same name on the borders of Bin-Yamin, and the mountain of the same name between Yehudah and Bin-Yamin; however, connecting EYPHAH to EPHRON as brothers seems linguistic only. The Septuagint, as noted above, gives Opher as Gapher, reflecting Egyptian inscriptions giving Eperu and Apuriu; possibly the Banu Ghifar of the Hejaz, who converted to Islam to avoid the genocide that befell their fellow Jews of Yatrib. But just as possibly Eperu and Apuriu lead to Hapiru and Habiru, making Epher a dialect variant of Ever, and the root of "Hebrew". Worth reading the University of Chicago piece here; though, as a spoiler, he begins by saying that the theory has been generally rejected.

CHANOCH (חנך): A name we have already encountered several times. Possibly al-Hanakiya, north of Medina. Known in English as Enoch, the book attributed to him is of some significance in the world of obscure Christian cults.

AVI-DA (אבידע): more correctly AVI-YEDA (אבי ידע) = "father of knowledge". Possibly the Ibadidi, mentioned in inscriptions of Sargon II. Sabaean and Minaean inscriptions mention both Abida and El-Da'ah.

EL-DA'AH (אלדעה): possibly from the unused root DA'AH (דעה) = "to call"; but if we discount the final Hey (ה) it would be an alternate form of AVI-DA (אבידע) above, AVI (אבי), like EL (אל) being a king and god name, as with AV-RAHAM (אברהם).

Can we read the above as being the late conquest or assimilation of a tribe or set of tribes into Av-Raham's orbit?


25:5: VA YITEN AV-RAHAM ET KOL ASHER LO LE YITSCHAK

וַיִּתֵּן אַבְרָהָם אֶת כָּל אֲשֶׁר לוֹ לְיִצְחָק

KJ: And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac.

BN: And Av-Raham gave everything that he had to Yitschak.


And nothing to Yishma-El, or indeed to Eli-Ezer. The law of ultimogeniture again. Note that all children were Av-Raham's, regardless of how many different mothers there may have been. But he also gave nothing but whatever "gifts" amounted to (see next verse) to any of the sons of Keturah either. Or at least, not in this version of history.



25:6: VE LIVNEY HA PIYLAGSHIM ASHER LE AV-RAHAM NATAN AV-RAHAM MATANOT VA YESHALCHEM ME AL YITSCHAK BENO BE ODEYNO CHAI KEDMAH EL ERETS KEDEM

וְלִבְנֵי הַפִּילַגְשִׁים אֲשֶׁר לְאַבְרָהָם נָתַן אַבְרָהָם מַתָּנֹת וַיְשַׁלְּחֵם מֵעַל יִצְחָק בּנוֹ בְּעוֹדֶנּוּ חַי קֵדְמָה אֶל אֶרֶץ קֶדֶם

KJ: But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country.

BN: And to the sons that Av-Raham had with his concubines, Av-Raham gave gifts. And while he was still alive, he sent them away from Yitschak his son, eastward, to the land of Kedem.


Why did he send them away? To avoid tribal squabbling? Because all the other sons were native Kena'ani (Canaanites) but Yitschak's mother (and indeed father) was a foreigner? Probably neither of these. Probably because they would have counted among the "property" and "possessions" that Yitschak was about to inherit, and in this way he protected the concubines from becoming Yitschak's bedfellows too; cf Av-Shalom taking over David's harem in 2 Samuel 16:22.

But who are these sons, and who these concubines? They have never been mentioned before. Indeed, it was clear that Av-Raham had no sons at all until Yitschak, besides Yishma-El, which is why Sarah gave him Hagar; so all must have come later.

KEDEM: "east", or the land named KEDEM (Kadmea)? Any connection to KEDMAH (קדמה) in verse 15? We cannot help but notice that those sent away went in the same direction as Kayin and Yishma-El previously, and as Esav will do later: "east of Eden", otherwise known as "the land of Nod", which itself is rooted in LINDOD = "to wander". So can we in fact read all these easterly departures as simply a description of nomadism?


25:7: VE ELEH YEMEY SHENEY CHAYEY AV-RAHAM ASHER CHAI ME'AT SHANAH VE SHIV'IM SHANAH VE CHAMESH SHANIM

וְאֵלֶּה יְמֵי שְׁנֵי חַיֵּי אַבְרָהָם אֲשֶׁר חָי מְאַת שָׁנָה וְשִׁבְעִים שָׁנָה וְחָמֵשׁ שָׁנִים

KJ: And these are the days of the years of Abraham's life which he lived, an hundred threescore and fifteen years.

BN: And the total number of years that Av-Raham lived were a hundred and seventy-five.


Any significance in that number? Genesis 21:5 has Av-Raham 100 when Yitschak was born, and Genesis 25:26 has Yitschak 60 when Ya'akov and Esav were born; which means Ya'akov and Esav were 15 when Av-Raham died, around the time of the purchase of Esav's birthright; yet Av-Raham is never mentioned in the Ya'akov stories.


25:8: VA YIGVA VA YAMAT AV-RAHAM BE SEYVAH TOVAH ZAKEN VE SAVE'A VA YE’ASEPH EL AMAV

וַיִּגְוַע וַיָּמָת אַבְרָהָם בְּשֵׂיבָה טוֹבָה זָקֵן וְשָׂבֵעַ וַיֵּאָסֶף אֶל עַמָּיו

KJ: Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people.

BN: And Av-Raham breathed his last, dying at a venerable old age, as an old man, but still vigorous; and he was gathered to his people.


25:9: VA YIKBERU OTO YITSCHAK VE YISHMA-EL BANAV EL ME'ARAT HA MACHPELAH EL SEDEH EPHRON BEN TSOCHAR HA CHITI ASHER AL PENEY MAMRE

וַיִּקְבְּרוּ אֹתוֹ יִצְחָק וְיִשְׁמָעֵאל בָּנָיו אֶל מְעָרַת הַמַּכְפֵּלָה אֶל שְׂדֵה עֶפְרֹן בֶּן צֹחַר הַחִתִּי אֲשֶׁר עַל פְּנֵי מַמְרֵא

KJ: And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre;

BN: And Yitschak and Yishma-El his sons buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron ben Tsochar of the Beney Chet, which is before Mamre.


Note that Yishma-El was present too, apparently as an equal, and that no enmity between the two is ever mentioned; but not, equally apparently, any of Keturah's sons, seeming toconfirm, once again, the artificiality of that list and the falsity of that legend.


25:10: HA SADEH ASHER KANAH AV-RAHAM ME ET BENEY CHET SHAMAH KUBAR AV-RAHAM VE SARAH ISHTO

הַשָּׂדֶה אֲשֶׁר קָנָה אַבְרָהָם מֵאֵת בְּנֵי חֵת שָׁמָּה קֻבַּר אַבְרָהָם וְשָׂרָה אִשְׁתּוֹ

KJ: The field which Abraham purchased of the sons of Heth: there was Abraham buried, and Sarah his wife.

BN: The field which Av-Raham purchased from the Beney Chet, there was Av-Raham buried, alongside Sarah his wife.


25:11: VA YEHI ACHAREY MOT AV-RAHAM, VA YEVARECH ELOHIM ET YITSCHAK BENO VA YESHEV YITSCHAK IM BE'ER LECHI RO'I

וַיְהִי אַחֲרֵי מוֹת אַבְרָהָם וַיְבָרֶךְ אֱלֹהִים אֶת יִצְחָק בְּנוֹ וַיֵּשֶׁב יִצְחָק עִם בְּאֵר לַחַי רֹאִי

KJ: And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac; and Isaac dwelt by the well Lahairoi.

BN: And it came to pass after the death of Av-Raham, that Elohim blessed Yitschak his son, and Yitschak dwelt by Be'er Lechi Ro'i.


BE'ER LECHI RO'I: Not Be'er Sheva, where we had been told Av-Raham was living, but here, at a well connected with the Hejira of Hagar and Yishma-El; a Hejira whose cause was his own birth. It seems there are as many alternative settings in these tales between these two wells, as there are alternations between YHVH and Elohim - presumably two different sets of tribal legends, and both needed to be included. I can't help wondering if this isn't connected with the absorption of the tribe of Shim'on into Yehudah, which seems to have happened very early on after the Joshuaic conquest.


Pey break; end of sixth fragment.


Genealogy of Yishma-El - Genesis 25:12-18

Note that Yishma-El, like Yitschak's son Ya'akov, like Nachor, was the father of a nation made up of twelve tribes - and for precisely the same reason that the Greek amphictyony was comprised of twelve city-states, Robin Hood had twelve "merry men", Jesus 12 disciples, the Hindu world 12 principal deities, et al.

Judges 8:24 names Midyanites as Yishma-Elites, though verse 1 of this chapter ranks Midyan as Yishma-El's half-brother by Keturah. Both Midyanites and Yishma-Elites will be involved in the kidnapping and trafficking of Yoseph. Look at a map and it will not be difficult to see why the two are mistaken for each other.






25:12: VE ELEH TOLDOT YISHMA-EL BEN AV-RAHAM ASHER YALDAH HAGAR HA MITSRIT SHIPHCHAT SARAH LE AV-RAHAM

וְאֵלֶּה תֹּלְדֹת יִשְׁמָעֵאל בֶּן אַבְרָהָם אֲשֶׁר יָלְדָה הָגָר הַמִּצְרִית שִׁפְחַת שָׂרָה לְאַבְרָהָם

KJ: Now these are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's handmaid, bare unto Abraham:

BN: This is the family tree of Yishma-El, Av-Raham's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's handmaid, bore to Av-Raham.


Once again she is denoted as a SHIPHCHAH and not a PILEGESH, distinguishing her offspring from his "other" sons. Clearly being a handmaiden made her more important than a concubine. See earlier notes on the Hammurabic Law.

Many of these names appear in Assyrian and Arabian inscriptions.


25:13: VE ELEH SHEMOT BENEY YISHMA-EL BI SHMOTAM LE TOLDOTAM BECHOR YISHMA-EL NEVAYOT VE KEDAR VE AD'BE-EL U MIVSAM

וְאֵלֶּה שְׁמוֹת בְּנֵי יִשְׁמָעֵאל בִּשְׁמֹתָם לְתוֹלְדֹתָם בְּכֹר יִשְׁמָעֵאל נְבָיֹת וְקֵדָר וְאַדְבְּאֵל וּמִבְשָׂם

KJ: And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebajoth; and Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam,

BN: And these are the names of the sons of Yishma-El, by their names, according to their generations; the first-born of Yishma-El: Nevayot, and Kedar and Ad'be-El and Mivsam.


NEVAYOT (נבית): = "high places". Incorrectly linked by some scholars to the Nabateans of northern Arabia; like the Pelishtim, the latter did not arrive until very much later. Yesha-Yahu notes that the Nevayot were abundant in flocks (Isaiah 60:7). There has to be some connection with the unused root NEVO (נבו) = Nebo, the Babylonian equivalent of Roman Mercury, whence NEVI (נבי) = "prophet" and Mount Nevo, where Mosheh went to die, which may simply be HAR HA NEVI = "the mountain of the Prophet", except that the word NEVAYOT, and its meaning, and the indication in the ancestry of something decidedly troglodytic, means that the "high places" probably preceded the cenotaph.

See also Terach's wife, who was a BAT NEVO (בת נבו), which suggests that he too may have "married out"!. Mostly though we encounter the NEVAYOT in their literal form, as shrines to whichever god or goddess, on hilltops or mountain peaks, which is to say in "high places".

Genesis 28:9 also names a Nevayot as the sister of Yishma-El, with another sister named Machalat, who Esav marries.

KEDAR (קדר): = "to be dirty, black" et al, whence KEDAR (קדר) = "a black-skinned man". Cf "Song of Songs 1:5" where "the tents of Kedar" are referred to as a metaphor for blackness. Pliny refers to the Cedrei; eastern Jews use the term KEDARIM (קדרים) to refer to the Arabs generally: Kedar's territory is reckoned to be in the Syrian desert north of Nevayot, itself to the east of the Dead Sea. Records of Ashurbanipal refer to Kedar as having a king named Ammuladi (Amu-Ladin is more likely). Not to be confused with Kedarlaomer (כדרלעמר) who fought with Av-Raham in the war of the five kings; the name there begins with a Kaf (כ), not a Kuf (ק).


AD'BE-EL (אדבאל): The pointing appears to be wrong; it should be ADAV-EL (אדב אל), from the root ADAV (אדב) = "to pine away". Records of the Assyrian King Tiglath-Pileser III (8th century BCE) refer to Idiba'ilites, Mas'a and Tema, all as Arab tribes (see Masa and Teyma below). Records of Ashurbanipal (7th century BCE) refer to Su-mu'-il, which may well be Yishma-El, under a king Iaut'e. A general named Idibi'lu was charged by Tiglath-Pileser with controlling the Egyptian frontier: he conquered the Pelishtim and captured 25 of their cities (which is 20 more than anyone previously thought they even had! So presume it included villages).

MIVSAM (מבשם): = "sweet odour" (why?). 1 Chronicles 4:25 has a Mivsam and a Mishma (see below) as grandsons of Shim'on (Simeon).


25:14: U MISHMA, VE DUMAH, U MASA

וּמִשְׁמָע וְדוּמָה וּמַשָּׂא

KJ: And Mishma, and Dumah, and Massa,

BN: And Mishma and Dumah and Masa.


MISHMA (משמע): obviously similar to Yishma-El (ישמעאל) but with the god name dropped, possibly because he was not the tribal chief (there is an entire PhD thesis to be written on this if somebody is interested: variations on the roots of names, where the prefixes or suffixes are clan-related - AVI = "my father", ACHI = "my brother", AMI = "my people" - or deity-related - EL, YAH, RAM, etc. The question for your doctorate is: are these a complex structure for denoting status within the tribe? and if so, which come where in whatever hierarchy?)

DUMAH (דומה): = "silence", "place of silence", and usually the Yehudit equivalent of Hades, in so far as the Beney Yisra-El had such a concept, beyond She'ol - but this is not that anyway. There is a town on the edges of the Arabian and Syrian deserts of some antiquity called Dumah; possibly Adumatu, an oasis in the Syrian desert conquered by Sennacherib, and which, by interesting coincidence, was a Nabatean city (though, being closer to Saudi Arabia, that may actually be a second, different Adumatu).

MASA (משא): from LASET (לשאת) = "to bear, carry". Is this an Aramaic error for MASH (מש) in Aram? Or indeed for Mesha in Arabia, which would be spelled the same as Masa, in an unpointed text - the difference is a Seen (שׂ) in Masa and a Sheen (שׁ) in Mesha for the latter, the use of the Aleph (א) in the Aramaic but not in the Yehudit, which is characteristic and commonplace.


25:15: CHADAD VE TEYMA YETUR NAPHISH VA KEDMAH

חֲדַד וְתֵימָא יְטוּר נָפִישׁ וָקֵדְמָה

KJ: Hadar, and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah:

BN: Chadad and Teyma, Yetur, Naphish and Kedmah.


CHADAD (חדד): Not to be confused with HADAD (הֲדַ֔ד), a king in 1 Chronicles 1:50 and elsewhere a Kena'anite deity; Hadad has a first-letter Hey (ה), Chadad a Chet (ח), and comes from the root (חדד) = "to be sharp". It may, however, be a misreading for CHADAR (חדר) in the Yemen, the final letter intended as a Reysh (ר) rather than a Dalet (ד) - this is how the King James version has elected to read it.

TEYMA (תימא): TEYMAN in the Arabic was "a desert", in the sense of an area of untilled land; from it comes the Yehudit word YAMAN (ימן) or YAMIN (ימין) = "right" (the direction); but it is not clear (another PhD thesis available here!) why the word for "right" came to indicate "south", or indeed if the word for "south" came first, and later came to mean "right" (after all, depending on whether you are travelling from Cairo, say, to Mecca, or from Mecca to Cairo, the south could just as well be on your left, and the fertile land on your right) - whatever the explanation, the two coalesce, and from it we get BIN-YAMIN (בן ימין), which may be "the son of the right hand", as most Bible translators prefers, or it could be a reference to the tribe known from other sources as the Bene Jamun; the same with the country still to this day named the YEMEN (ימן); the most southerly point of Arabia.

However - there is always another, and still another however - eastern Jews also refer to Arabia as a whole as Teyman, and Eastern Arabs as Teymanim, to this day. There is a town called Teman to the east of Eden – c.f. also Esav's grandson TEYMAN in Genesis 36:11 and 15 who is the ancestor of Edom; a town in northern Arabia still bears the name Tayma and is worth exploring at this link, just for the gorgeous photograph of grey-brown desert on the website; it lies on the trade-route between Yemen and Syria and has some archaeologically significant wells.

YETUR (יטור): the Itureans, of the foot of Mount Chermon, north-east of the Sea of Galilee, which the Romans called the province of Iturea. Probably from the root TIRAH (טירה) = "an enclosure" or "an encampment of nomads"; i.e. a caravanserai, which later grew into a proper town. 1 Chronicles 5:19 has Yetur, Naphish, Nodav and Hagarites (!) as the tribes against whom Re'u-Ven, Gad and Menasheh made war. 1 Chronicles 5:21 has Hagarites as camel-breeders and shepherds. Josephus and Luke (3:1) mention Itureans as bordering on Edom, the latter pairing Iturea with Trachonitis. It was annexed by Aristobulus I the Hasmonean in 104 BCE, followed by forced conversion; those who avoided conversion fled north and settled around Mount Chermon on the Syrian side. Virgil and Cicero ("Philippica Secunda") both note that they served in the Roman army as archers and auxiliaries, and Cicero calls them "the most savage race on Earth". Psalm 83:7 also refers to the Hagarites.

NAPHISH (נפיש): connected to the root NEPHESH (נפש) = "soul" or "spirit", although the Syriac gives "refreshment", which is pleasing, because it adds weight to my comments about the meaning of Utnapishtim.

KEDMAH (קדמה): See note to KEDEM (קדם) above. Kedem = "east". This latter seems the most significant in the context of the passage, because in verse 5 above it is precisely to Erets Kedem, the land of Kedmah, that Av-Raham sent all his servants and sons etc. So perhaps a re-reading of that is necessary. To Yitschak one inheritance, but to Yishma-El apparently another.



25:16: ELEH HEM BENEY YISHMA-EL VE ELEH SHEMOTAM BA CHATSREYHEM U VE TIYROTAM SHENEYM-ASAR NESIYIM LE'UMOTAM

אֵלֶּה הֵם בְּנֵי יִשְׁמָעֵאל וְאֵלֶּה שְׁמֹתָם בְּחַצְרֵיהֶם וּבְטִירֹתָם שְׁנֵים עָשָׂר נְשִׂיאִם לְאֻמֹּתָם

KJ: These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their towns, and by their castles; twelve princes according to their nations.

BN: These are the sons of Yishma-El, and these are their names, by their villages, and by their encampments; twelve princes according to their nations.


SHENEYM-ASAR (שנים עשר): twelve princes, just as Ya'akov will father twelve tribes, and as we saw with Av-Raham's brother Nachor; it is simply a recognition of the tribal amphictyony based on the mesocosm: twelve constellations of the heavens, and the belief that the gods having created Humankind in their image, it was right to establish the earthly realm as a theocracy, with the king surrogating for the father-god and his consort for the mother-goddess, with twelve tribes, or counties or states in our modern demographics (twelve knights around the round table, twelve disciples at the last supper, twelve principal gods in the Hindu, Norse, Greek, Roman pantheons...), each representing one constellation, each serving one lunar period in the temple - the same reason why our clock has twelve hours and our year twelve months. The Greek amphictyony operated in exactly the same manner. The likelihood is that the Yisra-Eli Confederation was established by King David, and did not endure beyond the civil war after the death of his son Shelomoh (Solomon); and indeed, several of the tribes, including Re'u-Ven and Shim'on, may already have disappeared by David's time, so that what he brought together in confederation was more in name and aspiration and in symbolism than in demographic reality.

CHATSREYHEM: Suggesting that a significant portion of these people continued to be nomadic Bedou.

LE'UMOTAM (לאמתם): cf LE'UMIM (לאמים) above.


25:17: VE ELEH SHENEY CHAYEY YISHMA-EL ME'AT SHANAH U SHELOSHIM SHANAH VE SHEVA SHANIM VA YIGVA VA YAMOT VA YE'ASEPH EL AMAV

וְאֵלֶּה שְׁנֵי חַיֵּי יִשְׁמָעֵאל מְאַת שָׁנָה וּשְׁלֹשִׁים שָׁנָה וְשֶׁבַע שָׁנִים וַיִּגְוַע וַיָּמָת וַיֵּאָסֶף אֶל עַמָּיו

KJ: And these are the years of the life of Ishmael, an hundred and thirty and seven years: and he gave up the ghost and died; and was gathered unto his people.

BN: And the total number of years that Yishma-El lived were a hundred and thirty-seven; and he breathed his last, and died, and was gathered to his people.


Has anybody else ever noted this strange, and actually terribly unlikely, aspect of the narrative of the patriarchal tribes and elders, that none of them, with the single exception of Havel, none of them died in war, were murdered, sacrificed, had a heart-attack at forty, were run down by a chariot while crossing the village square, caught a fatal disease at sixty, got thrown off their camel, were bitten by a snake or scorpion,or suffered from senility, but every single one of them lived to a ripe and healthy old age, and most went on enjoying their concubines, and fathering sons on them, until the very end? Now what is the statistical evidence of history for that being plausible? Now what does that tell us about the concept of "blessings" bestowed by the deity?


25:18: VA YISHKENU ME CHAVILAH AD SHUR ASHER AL PENEY MITSRAYIM BO'ACHAH ASHURAH AL PENEY CHOL ECHAV NAPHAL

וַיִּשְׁכְּנוּ מֵחֲוִילָה עַד שׁוּר אֲשֶׁר עַל פְּנֵי מִצְרַיִם בֹּאֲכָה אַשּׁוּרָה עַל פְּנֵי כָל אֶחָיו נָפָל

KJ: And they dwelt from Havilah unto Shur, that is before Egypt, as thou goest toward Assyria: and he died in the presence of all his brethren.

BN: And their wanderings took them from Chaviylah as far as Shur, which is on the border of Mitsrayim, on the side going towards Ashur; and he died in the presence of all his kindred.


VA YISHKENU: They? The previous verse was telling us about Yishma-El, and the end of this verse will too - NAPHAL is in the 3rd person singular, where YISHKENU is in the 3rd person plural. Given that this is an account of Yishma-El's family and death, I am reading it (KJ does the same, but very few modern translations concur) as a badly-written attempt to say how many of his clan came to his deathbed and funeral, and from how wide a diaspora.

CHAVIYLAH AD SHUR (חוילה עד-שור): check this against previous references. It clearly covers the whole land of Edom, a good deal of Eylam, and the Chaviylah reference links it to Eden (Genesis 2:11) and Aram Naharayim (northern Mesopotamia). Thinking ahead to Yoseph and Mosheh, this becomes significant: it gives a broader sweep to the territory of Midyan, which makes sense of some problems in the Mosheh story; but more importantly it defines the exact land in which the Beney Yisra-El wandered for forty years! But if Yishma-El becomes an Edomite, as we will learn later (and as Kayin did before), then is this an accurate geography of Edom?

BO'ACHAH ASHURAH: The compass directions are surprising. We know where Shur is – Hagar went in that direction in the first version of her banishment. But to get to Shur, while going "in the direction of Ashur", means you must be coming up from Egypt! So was this ever a Beney Yisra-Eli story in the first place? Or was it, like so many of the Mosheh stories, Midyanite – given the Midyanite connections in all the Yishma-Eli names, and the link between those two as explained above...

pey break; end of scroll

Genesis: 1a 1b 1c 1d 2a 2b 2c 2d 3 4a 4b 4c/5 6a 6b 7 8 9 10 11a 11b 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25a 25b 26a   26b 27 28a 28b 29 30a 30b 31a 31b/32a 32b 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44a 44b 45 46 47a 47b 48 49 50


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