[b-hebrew] Abraham's origin: MWLDT

JimStinehart at aol.com JimStinehart at aol.com
Mon May 25 16:14:34 EDT 2009


Karl:
 
Please pardon the typos in my prior post.  I mean to compare )RC MWLDT at 
Genesis 11: 28 with )RC MWLDTK at Genesis 31: 13.
 
At Genesis 11: 28, we are immediately given the city name “Ur” after )RC 
MWLDT.  If MWLDT meant “birth”, it would not be “land” of birth, but rather 
the “place” of birth, namely the city of Ur.
 
Thus at Genesis 31: 13, if MWLDTK meant “your birth”, then we would expect 
)RC MWLDTK to mean “place” of your birth, not “country” of your birth.
 
If YHWH meant to tell Jacob at Genesis 31: 13 that Jacob should proceed to 
the place of Jacob's birth, then we would expect Jacob to follow that divine 
order, and head out for Beer-lahai-roi, near the Patriarchs’ Hebron, since 
Jacob was born at Beer-lahai-roi.  Or perhaps Jacob would go to the 
Patriarchs’ Hebron, which is near Jacob’s birthplace, Beer-lahai-roi.
 
But No, Jacob goes nowhere near Beer-lahai-roi or the Patriarch's Hebron.  
Rather, Jacob goes to Shechem, which is not near either Beer-lahai-roi or 
the Patriarch’s Hebron.  Jacob doesn’t leave Shechem until several years 
later, and only when Jacob has become fearful that Shechem’s neighbors may kill 
Jacob and all of Jacob’s family.  Even then, Jacob refuses to go to Hebron 
to live where his father Isaac is living!  Rather, Jacob sojourns in various 
locales in Canaan for additional years.  Jacob only finally moves to Hebron 
when his father is on his deathbed.
 
Therefore, Jacob did not interpret what YHWH said at Genesis 31: 13 as 
meaning that Jacob should go to the place of Jacob’s birth.  Jacob goes nowhere 
near the place of Jacob’s birth for many years.  Rather, in returning from 
Harran, Jacob goes to Shechem.  Jacob understands YHWH to be saying that 
Jacob should go to the place where most of Jacob’s MWLDT are:  Canaan.
 
Jacob's siblings and half-siblings and their descendants (excluding Esau 
and his descendants), being Jacob's MWLDT, are living at various locales 
within Canaan.  Thus the place where Jacob’s MWLDT are would be Canaan.  It is 
unlikely that any of Jacob’s MWLDT are living at Beer-lahai-roi, where Jacob 
was born, since Isaac left Beer-lahai-roi so long ago.
 
Jacob did not defy YHWH.  No way.  YHWH told Jacob to go to the place where 
most of Jacob's MWLDT were, namely Canaan, and Jacob did precisely that.  
In fact, Jacob spends some considerable time just east of the Jordan River, 
at Succoth.  Perhaps some of Jacob’s MWLDT, not just Esau, were living just 
east of the Jordan River in central Transjordan, so that part of the 
Transjordan might also qualify as a place where Jacob’s MWLDT are.
 
Genesis 11: 28 and Genesis 31: 13 are so similar in form that they would 
seem to have the same meaning.  “Place of birth” simply will not work at 
Genesis 31: 13, as we have seen in this post (and in my prior post), since Jacob 
never returns to the place of his birth.  “Land of birth” does not work at 
Genesis 11: 28, because we are immediately given the name of a city, Ur.  
But in both verses, “place where the man’s MWLDT/kindred are at the time” 
works perfectly.  Haran’s MWLDT/kindred are at Ur when Haran dies at Ur.  Jacob
’s MWLDT/kindred are in Canaan when YHWH tells Jacob to leave Harran and go 
to the place where most of Jacob’s MWLDT are.
 
*       *       *
 
Karl, let me close by quoting Prof. Mark G. Brett, at p. 50 of his book “
Genesis”.  Although Prof. Brett’s views differ greatly from mine, Prof. Brett 
does note the unusual and significant presence of the word MWLDT when 
dealing with Abraham’s relatives in Mesopotamia:
 
“What is intriguing about [Genesis] 12.1, however, is that it deviates from 
the normal kinship terminology:  rather than instructing Abram to leave ‘
your land, your mishpachah […“a term normally translated as ‘clan’…”] and 
your father’s house’, the text has another term instead of mishpachah;  
moledet.  This latter word [MWLDT] is rather uncommon, but it appears again, 
significantly, in the narratives of Genesis 24 where Abraham instructs a 
servant to go back ‘to my land and my kin (moledet)’ to find a wife for Abraham 
and Sarah’s son Isaac (24.4).  …Using this apparently insignificant term 
moledet, the editors [i.e., the author(s) of the Patriarchal narratives] have 
linked the two chapters [12 and 24]”.
 
Mishpachah [clan] and am [people] always include ancestors.  By sharp 
contrast, MWLDT never includes ancestors, but rather is limited to the 
descendants of a common ancestor (while excluding the common ancestor himself).  That 
is the real significance of the notable fact that Abraham’s relatives in 
Mesopotamia are always referred to as MWLDT, never anything else.  Abraham’s 
only ancestor who ever set foot in Mesopotamia was his father, Terakh.  
Abraham has MWLDT in Mesopotamia (Abraham’s brother Nahor, and Nahor’s 
descendants), but Abraham does not have ancestors, in the plural, in Mesopotamia.  That
’s because the Hebrews are indigenous to Canaan.
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois

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