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Jacob's Blessing JACOB'S BLESSING. 99 Jacob's Blessing~ BY PROF. ]. P. PETERS, PH.D. N studying commentaries on Hebrew prophets and poets I have I often been astonished at the amount of effort expended in the attempt to determine which of two or more permissible renderings of an obscure or equivocal pass:1ge was the correct one. It has seemed to me that the obscurity of the greater number of these passages, and their peculiar constructions,- which are the despair of grammarians, -are due to the intention of the writer to play on words, either say­ ing two things at once, or saying one thing and insinuating another. Such a playing on words is characteristic of Arabic poetry, and, how­ ever frivolous and unworthy it may seem to us, to orientals it appears sufficiently forcible and dignified to be used on the most solemn occasions. New Testament commentators have recognized a large number of such plays on words, but in the Old T estament, where they ·abound probaLly to a far greater extent, and especially in the prophets and poets, they have been, for the most part, disregarded. ""' The first chapter of the prophet Micah is a curious and unmistakable instance of this playing upon words; but, on the whole, the best example of a sustained playing upon words which I have observed in the Old Testament is the so- called Dlessing of Jacob, Gen. xlix. The object of this paper is to point out some of the word-plays in that poem, and to make a few suggestions regarding its elate, as deter­ mined by its allusions to historical events. But, first, it is n eces~a ry to say that the very possibility of such playing on wonb as we have in the Old Testament is conditioned on an unpointed text. A pointed text must, of necessity, adopt one reading to the exclusion of the others. Such passages ought, therefore, to be studied with little or no regard for the .1\Iassoretic pointing,- a rule which I shall apply in the present instance. 3· \j,~ M'~\V~i, I '~M~ r"rMN I '~i~~ j~,Ni ! i~ iM'~, I M~tv iM" 4· iM,M t,~ C'~~~ il""i~ 1"~N '~~~~~ I M~t,~· '~~ t ;-rt,~ '~~,~'~ .tit,t,n i~ I 00 JOURNAL OF THE EXEGETICAL SOCIETY. 3· Reuben- my first-born, thou art my strength, and firstling of my manly power; Superabundance of lifting up, and superabundance of force; 4· Bubbling o\·er like water, abound not; For thou ascendeclst thy father's bed; Then defilcdst thou: my couch he ascended. This is the ordinary translation ; but the second line is quite capa­ ble of another rendering, and the force of the whole is lost unless this second meaning also be perceived. Pointing as nNW. the word which the Massoretes have pointed M~W, ":e can translate lines 2 and 3 thus:- Remnant of destruction, and remnant of violence; Bubbling over like \Vater remain not. This is an interpretation of the consonant text at.least as admissible, in itself considered, as that of the :Massoretes. i,N M"'~\VNi is a phrase for the description of the first-born, used in Deut. xxi. I 7, and to him belong the rights of primogeniture (;""ti~!l ~~\V~). Those rights are there defined as being two shares (C"'~~\V "'1~), a double portion, of all his father's possessions. These two shares are represented in our passage by the repetition of iM"'~; one sha;e being M~'tV ,M\ a_nd the other i:: iM"'~· To the first-born should belong a great blessing, in two portions. In reality, Reuben practi­ cally vanished from among the tribes of Israel. Accordingly, the words used have a double sense, as above pointed out. If we turn to the LXX. we find an evidence in the translation U"KAYJpor; ¢Ipw0at Kat U"KAYJpo• aWJ.olJ'> that the Greek translators perceived in the words another sense than that of blessing. The Peshito r~nders:- Remnant of lifting up, and remnant of might; Thou didst dissolve like water, thou abidest not. This rendering brings out the force of the comparison with water, namely, that Reuben was dissolved like 'vater, which has no cohesion. If now we turn to the history of Reuben, we find primogeniture everywhere ascribed to him, the word i~!l being used over and over with reference to him. In the stories of Joseph, and of Dathan and Abiram, we find a recognition of, or reference to, this same pri­ mogeniture .. In the Song of Deborah (Jud. v. 15) Reuben is repre­ sented as in existence, bpt holding aloof from his brethren; later, the tribe disappears from history. In the Mesha stone (850 B.c.) JACOB'S BLESSING. 101 I we find Reuben's land largely, if not altogether, in the possession of Moab. The same conditions also existed at-the time of Isaiah, if Isa. xv., xvi. reflect the conditions of the time of that prophet. If we tum to the Blessing of Moses (Deut. xxxiii. 6), we read:- Let Reuben live and not die, Nor be his men a few! This seems to show that at the time of the composition of Deut. xxxiii. 6 Reuben had practically ceased to exist, in which that passage is in entire accord with Gen. xlix. 3, 4, as I understand the intention of those verses.1 - 5· c~nN ~,r,, i,~~\V : C:-J'\Mi~~ O~M ~~~ 6. ~\V~j N~n ~N c,o~ ~,:l~ ,nn ~~ c~:-rp~ \V~N ,~,:-r c~~:l ~~ : i,\V ,,i'~ Cj,~i~, 7· i~ ~~ C~N i,iN :-JM\Vj' ~~ CMi~~, ~p~~~ C~~MN : ~Ni\V~:l c~~~N, 5· Simeon and Levi- brethren ; Instruments of oppression their swords. 6. Into their circle enter not, my soul, With their congregation unite not, mine honor; For in their wrath they slew men, And in their kindness hamstrung cattle. 7· Cursed be their anger, for it was violent, And their fury, for it 'Yas harsh. I divide them in Jacob, And scatter them in Israel. 1 With regard to the last two words of v. 4, i1~.V '.V,~\ I feel satisfied neither as to pointing or translation. According to the laws of parallelism, and accord­ ing to Massoretic usage elsewhere, we should expect ·.p1~:, It seems, also, as though we should have a noun following it. In this aml the following passages I have not de-emed it advisable to stop to discuss poetical structure, but have tried to arrange the lines so as best to bring out the \'arious rhymes, both final and medial. 102 JOUR~AL OF THE EXEGETICAL SOCIETY. This translation of v. 5 is a tradition, as to the correctness of which there is much uncertainty; LXX. reads i',~ instead of "!~~' and connects 0:-!"~M,~~ with M,~, to cut, treating the ~ as prepo­ sition prefixed. In this latter respect Peshito agrees with LXX. The whole passage seems to refer to the' story of Dinah (Gen. xxxiv.), and a hostile animus towards Levi is manifest. In v. 6 the word t,np appears to have been chosen with special and sarcastic refer­ ence to the functions of the tribe of Levi, and the Levitical use of the word t,np. The latter half of that verse_ seems to point to the contrast between the murderous conduct of Levi in the story of Dinah, and the priestly function which he claimed among the tribes. Accordingly, ,,'tV ,,i'~ Q~:l,~ seems to me a satirical and bitter reference to the sacrificial functions peculiar to Levi. Their part was in gracious and peaceful worship to sacrifice unto Jehovah,' but instead they slaughtered men in violence, and destroyed their possessions. Similarly: v. 7 gives a satirical and bitter explanation of · the fact that Levi had no inheritance in Israel, connecting it with the bloody deed wrought at Shechem. Throughout these verse's, it will be observed, Simeon is merely a lay-figure; the animosity is directed against Levi. These verses breathe strongly the spirit of the northern kingdom, or Samaria (cf. 1 Kings xii. 31; 2 Chron. xi. IJ-15)· It is interesting to compare with this the corresponding passage in the Blessing of Moses (D~ut. xxxiii. 8-II). That is indeed a blessing. So far as allusions to the past are concerned, it is founded on the incidents recorded concerning Moses and Aaron at Massah and Meribah, and the action of the whole tribe against the worshippers of the golden calf (Ex. xxxii. 2 7, 29). 'Vith relation to the present, it refers to t~e Levites as the guardians of the covenant, the teachers of the law, and the sacrificers for the whole people. In its present form, Simeon is left out of the Blessing of Moses, but Heilprin, in his IJistorica! Poe/Jy of the Ancient Hebrews, following Graetz, who, in his turn, follows Rabbi Eliezer, "a Talmudical authority of the second century of the Christian era," proposes to substitute Simeon for Judah. This would place Simeon in his natural order immediately after Reuben. The verse (Deut. xxxiii. 7) would then contain an .... intelligible word-play on the name Simeon. At present, it reads:- Hear, Jehovah, Judah's voice, And bring him unto his people. JACOB'S BLESSING. 103 This does not seem applicable to Judah, but_is applicable to Simeon. If this amendment be adopted,- and it certainly is an enticing one, -we shall have in both Blessings the same picture of Simeon's con­ dition, namely, that he was a lost tribe. But this change, according to Heilprin, involves a second change in order that Judah be not omitted altogether.
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