[b-hebrew] Mowledeth
JimStinehart at aol.com
JimStinehart at aol.com
Fri Nov 2 16:58:03 EST 2007
One key to understanding whether the Patriarchal narratives portray the
Hebrews as being indigenous to Mesopotamia is to analyze the 9 occurrences of the
word MWLDT ("mowledeth") in the Patriarchal narratives.
In my last post, we saw that at Genesis 32: 10, Jacob/"Israel" interprets a
divine command to "return to thy land and to thy MWLDT ("mowledeth)" to mean
"to return to thy land and to thy father's descendants", rather than meaning
"to return to the land of thy birth". As noted in that post, when the words
"land" and MWLDT are separated by the word "and" in the Patriarchal
narratives, the vast majority of standard English translations translate MWLDT to mean
"kindred" or some other term referencing the person's "father's descendants",
rather than translating MWLDT to mean "birth" or "nativity" or "native
(land)".
In this post, we will examine the first of two statements by YHWH that Jacob
interpreted at Genesis 32: 10. In the first such statement by YHWH, at
Genesis 31: 3, MWLDT and "land" are separated by "and". As usual, we will see
that MWLDT must mean "father's descendants" or "kindred" there, and cannot mean
"the geographical place of one's birth".
GENESIS 31: 3
"And the LORD [YHWH] said unto Jacob: 'Return unto the land of thy fathers,
and to thy MWLDT; and I will be with thee.'" Genesis 31: 3
1. We see here that the words MWLDT and "land" are separated by the word
"and". For this reason, most standard English translations correctly translate
MWLDT here as "kindred", which means "father's descendants". All 6 of the
following 6 standard translations use the word "kindred" here for MWLDT: King
James Version, JPS1917, Darby, Young's Literal Translation, Revised Standard
Version, English Standard Version.
The question is whether YHWH is saying the same thing twice here, or rather
whether YHWH is saying two separate things to Jacob. Moreover, even if
Genesis 31: 3 in isolation were viewed as being slightly ambiguous, Genesis 32: 10
clarifies its meaning.
2. Here at Genesis 31: 3, the phrasing itself suggests that MWLDT means
"father's descendants", not "the geographical locale of one's birth". Jacob is
told both to return to the land of Jacob's fathers, and also to return to
Jacob's MWLDT. The phrase "land of your fathers" lets us know that it's Canaan,
and that turn of phrase strongly suggests the meaning of "homeland". But in
addition to being told to return to Canaan, Jacob is also being advised to
return to Jacob's MWLDT. That must mean that Jacob is being told to return to
his "father's descendants", Jacob's MWLDT. Jacob must deal with his
potentially hostile older twin brother Esau. And, in many ways more importantly,
Jacob should, as will now be discussed, go back to Canaan so that Jacob's sons,
who are becoming teenagers at this point, will for the most part be able to
marry Jacob's MWLDT/"father's descendants".
3. Who should most of Jacob's sons marry? The implicit answer here, based
on YHWH's admonition that Jacob should return to Jacob's MWLDT/Jacob's
father's descendants, is that for the most part, Jacob's sons should marry Isaac's
female descendants (by Isaac's children other than Esau and Jacob). We know
that there are certain exceptions to this general rule. Each of Judah and
Joseph marries a foreigner. Yet as to Jacob's other 10 sons, each of whom has
a "normal" marriage not involving strange circumstances like the marriages
of Judah and Joseph, it seems likely that each main wife #1 of Jacob's other
10 sons may have been a blood descendant of Isaac by a child of Isaac other
than Esau and Jacob, i.e. was one of Jacob's MWLDT/"father's descendants". We
see this indirectly when one minor wife of one of Jacob's sons is a Canaanite
(rather than being a descendant of Jacob's father), which is considered so
usual that it is specifically noted:
"And the sons of Simeon: Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and
Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanitish woman." Genesis 46: 10
The implication there seems to be that Simeon's main wife #1 was, as usual,
a descendant of Isaac, who bore Simeon five sons. In addition, Simeon also
had a minor wife, a Canaanite, who bore Simeon one son: Shaul.
CONCLUSION
Jacob has been divinely advised at Genesis 31: 3 (and Genesis 31: 13) to
return to Jacob's father's descendants (Jacob's MWLDT). That means that Jacob
can count on YHWH to protect Jacob and Jacob's family from any hostility that
Jacob's older twin brother Esau may have (since Esau is a prominent member of
Jacob's MWLDT/Jacob's father's descendants). And it also arguably implies
that most of Jacob's sons should marry female descendants of Jacob's father
Isaac (who are likewise Jacob's MWLDT), namely such females who are descendants
of Isaac's children other than Esau and Jacob.
One key to understanding the Patriarchal narratives is to understand how the
word MWLDT ("mowledeth") is used in the Patriarchal narratives. If we
understand how the Patriarchal narratives use the word MWLDT, we will see that the
Patriarchal narratives do not portray the Hebrews or the pre-Hebrews as
being indigenous to Mesopotamia. On the contrary, in accord with the most
recent "discoveries" of modern historians, the Patriarchal narratives view the
Hebrews and the pre-Hebrews as being indigenous to Canaan or greater Canaan, not
to Mesopotamia. As we keep on seeing in these posts on the 9 occurrences of
the word MWLDT in the Patriarchal narratives, the word MWLDT in the
Patriarchal narratives refers to "father's descendants", not to "the geographical
locale of one's birth". Once we understand how the author of the Patriarchal
narratives uses the word MWLDT, we will see that Abraham's brother Haran is not
portrayed as being born in Ur, and Abraham is not portrayed as being born in
Harran. Rather, the Patriarchal narratives view all of those people as
having been born in Canaan or greater Canaan, not in Mesopotamia.
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois
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