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  • From: Jan Hagen <jan.hagen AT gmx.de>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] The Name "Joseph"
  • Date: Sat, 19 Jan 2008 01:40:20 +0000

Dear Jim,

I understand your position in 1. now. Point 2. seem more a matter of
opinion or statistics. For 3. I need some more time to think about it.

Jan Hagen

On Fri, 18 Jan 2008 17:58:06 EST
JimStinehart AT aol.com wrote:

>
> Jan Hagen:
>
> Let me address your various points in a different order.
>
> 1. You wrote: “But getting back to the Hebrew text to get the grammar
> analysed before the interpretation. For me the sentence Rachel is saying
> יסף יהוה לי בן אחר
> looks like a nounclause ( the way it is vocalized be the Masoretes). Do
> you,
> Jim
> and the others, agree? If so I'd translate it as "YHWH is adding (for) me
> another son". I'm not yet that experienced with the grammar, so please
> bear
> with me taking
> small steps.”
>
> (a) I am not qualified to analyze fine points of Hebrew grammar. I will
> let
> the experts on the b-Hebrew list do that.
>
> (b) I myself have no problem at all with your proposed translation: "YHWH
> is
> adding (for) me another son". I would not see that as a reference to
> Benjamin, though, or as a reference to Rachel hoping that she will bear
> another son
> in the future. No, Rachel is thinking about her precious newborn son at
> this
> moment: Joseph.
>
> Rachel desperately wants Jacob to view Joseph as being “another son”, that
> is, another son of Leah-Rachel as Jacob’s one and only main wife #1. What
> Rachel does not want is for Jacob to view Joseph as being the firstborn son
> of
> Jacob’s main wife #2, Rachel. Because if Jacob views Joseph in that way
> (which
> is in fact what ultimately turns out to be the case), then no matter how
> much
> Jacob favors Joseph, Joseph will end up having Ishmael’s sad fate. Each of
> Joseph and Ishmael is a Patriarch’s favorite son by the Patriarch’s main
> wife
> #2. Each of Joseph and Ishmael is involuntarily separated from his
> father’s
> family at the age of 9½ regular years, marries an Egyptian woman, and has
> no
> realistic chance of being named the leader of the next generation of the
> new
> Hebrews.
>
> 2. You wrote: “Why would a great sounding name further Joseph’s future?”
>
> It worked wonders for Judah. Judah is the one and only son of Jacob who
> has
> a grand name. “Judah” means “praise YHWH”. That’s a great name. And
> Judah
> ends up being the winner.
>
> 3. You wrote: “If indeed this was her thought it proved not that helpful,
> as you mentioned. Jacob loved Rachel and I guess that's the reason he
> Joseph
> was his favourite son and not because his well chosen name.”
>
> Yes, Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah, so it is no surprise that Rachel’s
> son Joseph became Jacob’s favorite son. After Jacob’s disappearance and
> presumed death, Rachel’s other son, Benjamin, became Jacob’s favorite son.
> Unlike
> Joseph, Benjamin had little personal merit. So you are right that the
> favoritism toward first Joseph, and then Benjamin, is primarily reflecting
> the fact
> that Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah.
>
> But note that Jacob’s love for Rachel, and Jacob’s love for Joseph, turned
> out not to be a critical factor. Each Patriarch is a younger son whose
> marriage to a firstborn daughter produces the next leader of the new
> monotheists.
> Nefertiti was a firstborn daughter, and Akhenaten’s successor, Smenkhkare,
> married Akhenaten’s firstborn daughter. Note how the pattern is the same,
> whether
> in the well-documented secular history of the mid-14th century BCE or in
> the
> Patriarchal narratives. The winning candidate is not a firstborn son, is
> not
> his father’s favorite son, does have as his birth mother the original main
> wife
> #1 of the prior leader, does marry a firstborn daughter, and, in every
> case,
> has a very pushy mother. All these objective facts are the same.
>
> J, E, P and D knew nothing, and cared less, about such things. The
> Patriarchal narratives were composed by a northern pre-Hebrew in the
> mid-14th century
> BCE, not by one or more southern Hebrews in the mid-1st millennium BCE.
>
> Jim Stinehart
> Evanston, Illinois
>
>
>
>
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