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The Separation Between Abram and Lot Reflects the Deuteronomic Law Prohibiting Ammonites and Moabites

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The Separation Between Abram and Lot Reflects the Deuteronomic Law Prohibiting Ammonites and Moabites 36 Gershon Hepner The Separation Between Abram and Lot Reflects the Deuteronomic Law Prohibiting Ammonites and Moabites By Gershon Hepner (1561 Reeves Street, LA, CA 90055, USA) After Abram and his wife Sarai return from Egypt where they had been forced to go on account of a famine Abram asks Lot to separate from him (Gen 13,9). The language the biblical author uses to describe the way that Abram asks Lot to separate from him (Gen 13,6–9) paral- lels that which describes the separation of Jacob from Esau (Gen 36,6–8). However, although the two narratives are linked by several verbal resonances, the verb drp, separate, which Abram uses when he asks Lot to separate from him (Gen 13,9) does not appear in the nar- rative of the separation of Jacob and Esau in Genesis 36 or in the earlier description of the separation of Jacob from Esau in Genesis 33, even thought it appears in the oracle that predicts to Rebekkah before the birth of her twins that they would vdrpy, separate (Gen 25,23). The difference between the behavior of Abram towards Lot and Jacob towards Esau reflects the following: although Lot is the ancestor of David, descended from Ruth to Moabite and Solomon who was de- scended from an Ammonite mother, Naamah1 Lot is cursed whereas Esau is not. The name of uvl, Lot, a keyword in Genesis 13, appearing 7 times (Gen 13,5.7.8.10.11 [2].12), is cognate with the Aramaic word meaning »curse« and is therefore a bilingual wordplay2, implying that Lot is cursed. The narrative in which Abraham pleads for Lot contains 1 A Midrash says: »And YHWH spoke to me: Do not harass the Moabites and do not contend with them in battle« (Deut 2,9) … The Holy One blessed be He said to him [Moses]: I have two tvdyrp, mules, to bring forth from them, Ruth the Moabite and Naamah the Ammon- ite (B. T. Baba Qama 38b). The word drph, separate (Gn 13,9) may have inspired this Midrash since it resonates with the word hdrp describing the »she-mules« from whom Ruth and Naamah would emerge. The Midrash implies that God countermands Abram’s command of drph, separate, in order to ensure that two tvdyrp, mules, would join the people of Israel. 2 The phenomenon of bilingual wordplay implies that the biblical narratives are in- tended for sophisticated people, since the common people did not understand Aramaic (II Reg 18,26 = Isa 36,11). ZAW 117. Bd., S. 36–52 © Walter de Gruyter 2005 Separation Between Abram and Lot Reflects 37 the word ylvX, maybe, 6 times (Gen 18, 24. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32), and ytlXvh, I have undertaken (Gen 18, 27. 31), which both resonate with the word hlX, curse, implying in a bilingual wordplay that Lot is sub- ject to a curse.3 Being cursed links Lot to Canaan whom Noah had termed rvrX, damned (Gen 9,26), and excluded from the land of Canaan except as a slave (Gen 9,27). The biblical author contrasts Abram with Lot when God tells him he is a hkrb, blessing (Gen 12,2–3). The Deuteronomist warns the Israelites that they must choose between hllqhv hkrbh, the blessing and the curse: I call to witness against you today the heavens and the earth, I have given you life and death, hllqhv hkrbh, the blessing and the curse, trxbv, and you shall choose, life so that you live, you and your seed (Dtn 30,19). Abram, who is a hkrb, blessing, gives Lot whose name means »cursed« a choice between hllqhv hkrbh, the blessing and the curse, when he allows him to choose the part of the land where he wishes to dwell. The biblical author says: uvl vl=rxbyv, and Lot chose for himself, all the plain of the Jordan, and Lot traveled east. And they separated, each from his brother (Gen 13,11). The word rxbyv, and he chose, echoes the Deuteronomist’s com- mand of trxbv, and you shall choose, life so that you live, you and your seed (Dtn 30,19). However, Lot does not choose life because Sodom is doomed. The bilingual wordplay involving the name of Lot implies that Lot’s choice of Sodom is due to the fact that he is cursed in accordance with the meaning of his name. Lot is the paradigm of people who are cursed, and while Abraham is able to rescue him from captivity (Gen 14,14–16) and from destruction in Sodom (Gen 18,23–33) he is unable to make him blessed. As a result, he has no title to the land of Canaan whose gift to Abraham is associated with a blessing. The narrative in which Abraham pleads for Lot contains the word ylvX, maybe, 6 times (Gen 18,24.28.29.30.31.32), and the word 3 There are several bilingual wordplays in Genesis involving non-Israelite protagonists. In the well narrative involving Abraham and Abimelech the word tv>bk, ewes (Gen 21,29), is a bilingual pun because in Aramaic the word is ]vprx in Aramaic, which res- onates with rpx, dig, a verb that Abraham uses to indicate that the ewes with which he makes a covenant with Abimelech prove that he has dug the well (Gen 21,30) (see Gershon Hepner, »Abimelech’s Seizure of the Wells of Abraham and Isaac and the Oaths and Treaties they Make With Him Violate Biblical Laws«, ZABR 2005 (in press). There are also many examples in the Laban narratives (see R. C. Steiner, »The »Aramean« of Deuteronomy 26:5: Peshat and Derash,« in Tehillah le-Moshe: Biblical and Judaic Studies in Honor of Moshe Greenberg, ed. M. Cohen, B. Eichler, J. H. Tigay, 1997, 137, fn. 137). 38 Gershon Hepner ytlXvh, I have undertaken (Gen 18,27.31), both these words alluding to the word hlX, curse, because Lot means »cursed,« as explained. The Midrash draws the same conclusion regarding Abraham’s servant from this word, deducing that he is cursed and therefore not allowed to marry into Abraham’s family4. Abraham’s servant says to Rebekkah’s family: And I said to my master: ylX, perhaps, the woman will not go after me (Gen 24,39). The Midrash says: Eliezer had a daughter and he was looking around for an excuse that would cause Abraham to tell him to marry off his daughter to him. Abraham said to him: My son is blessed and you are cursed, and one who is cursed cannot cling to one who is blessed5. A close reading of the narrative of Abram and Lot indicates that the reason Abram asks Lot to put a distance between himself and Abram reflects his unwillingness to have Lot marry into his family in the same way that he does not want his servant to become his son-in-law. The fact that Jacob never asks Esau to separate from him in the way that Abram asks Lot to do so is an anomaly that the biblical author per- haps redresses when Moses and Joshua help the Israelites to defeat the Amalekites in ,ydypr, Rephidim (Ex 17,8). Amalek is a descendant of Esau, his firstborn by his concubine Timna (Gen 36,12.16) and ,ydypr resonates anagrammatically with ,ydyrp, separated, as Kli Yakar (Eph- raim Solomon ben Haim of Luntschitz, 1550–1619), points out on Ex 19,20. The author of the Exodus narrative felt that the separation of Amalek from Israel was necessary before the Sinai theophany, demon- strating antipathy to at least one branch of the Edomites. However, the way that the Genesis narratives are more tolerant towards Esau reflects the way that the Deuteronomist is more tolerant towards Edomites and 4 Gn. R. 59:9. The biblical author makes another wordplay involving the word ylvX, maybe, in the narrative of the purloined blessing, where Jacob says to Rebekkah: ylvX, maybe, my father will feel me and I will be in his eyes like one who mocks and bring upon myself hllq, a curse, and not a blessing (Gn 27,12). The word ylvX, maybe, anticipates the word hllq, a curse, because it resonates with the word hlX, curse. If a curse had fallen on Jacob he would not have been able to receive the blessing in the same way that the curse implied by Lot’s name precludes him from receiving one. 5 Gn. R. 59:9. The biblical author makes another wordplay involving the word ylvX, maybe, in the narrative of the purloined blessing, where Jacob says to Rebekkah: ylvX, maybe, my father will feel me and I will be in his eyes like one who mocks and bring upon myself hllq, a curse, and not a blessing (Gn 27,12). The word ylvX, maybe, anticipates the word hllq, a curse, because it resonates with the word hlX, curse. If a curse had fallen on Jacob he would not have been able to receive the blessing in the same way that the curse implied by Lot’s name precludes him from receiving one. Separation Between Abram and Lot Reflects 39 Egyptians than he is towards Ammonites and Moabites (Dtn 23,3–9). Lot becomes the ancestor of the Ammonites and Moabites as the result of his incestuous union with his daughters following the destruction of Sodom, because his older daughter gives birth to Moab and his younger one to Ammon (Gen 19,30–38), thus producing children who have the category of rzmm, bastard, forbidden in Dtn 23,36.
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