Dishan, Dishon

דשון\דשן

Genesis 36:21 has two brothers, Dishon and Dishan, unless this is a repetition or variation, because in truth it is hard, even by the normal standards of human stupidity, to imagine a family who would give their sons such inevitably confusing and argument-causingly similar names. The apparent idiot in questions was Se'ir the Chorite; their third brother was called Etser (אצר); but it is also said to be the name of an Edomite district.

Genesis 36:25 makes Dishon a son of Anah, whose sister Ahali-Vamah married Esav; and as such not a son but a grandson of Se'ir.

Genesis 36:30 names him amongst the chiefs of the Edomites. 1 Chronicles 1:38 insists that these really were two brothers, Dishon and Dishan, and names the other siblings as Lotan (לוֹטָן), Shoval (שׁוֹבָל), Tsiv'on (צִבְעוֹן), Anah (עֲנָה) and Etser (אֵצֶר), Dishon being the fifth and Dishan the seventh child.

1 Chronicles 1:42/43 (41/42 in some versions) names the sons of Dishon as Chamran (חַמְרָן), Eshban (אֶשְׁבָּן), Yitran (יִתְרָן) and Cheran (כְרָן), and those of Dishan as Uts ( עוּץ) and Aran (אֲרָן).

Gesenius adds a Yud (י) to make the name(s) Deeshon and Deeshan (דישן), and suggests therefore that the root must be Dush (דוש), which is a species of gazelle of the wild goat variety found to this day at Ein Gedi. I am presuming that he is basing this on either Leviticus 26:5 or Deuteronomy 14:4, for both of which see my notes there.

However without the Yud we have Dashan (דשן), which is how it appears in the Masoretic text. Dashan generally relates to "fatness", both of the physical and the material variety, and as such is a synonym for wealth. Deshen (דשן) on the other hand is specifically the ashes left after making sacrifice upon the altar (Leviticus 1:16 has turtle-doves and young pigeons; 4:12 a whole bullock; and 6:3 any burnt offering; see also 1 Kings 13:3;) or a corpse on a funeral pyre (Jeremiah 31:40).




Copyright © 2019 David Prashker

All rights reserved
The Argaman Press

No comments:

Post a Comment