Biblical Hebrew Forum

["George Athas" <gathas AT mail.usyd.edu.au>]

> Peter, you make the comment below in your post that Toldot signifies the 
> beginning of
> an accounting. Have you seen P.J. Wiseman's research (from his book "New
> Discoveries in Babylonia about Genesis") in which he describes the Toldot 
> passages
> as ENDS of accounts, where Toldot signifies a sort of a colophon, which were
> commonly placed at the end of Akkadian and Sumerian documents?

Very interesting suggestion. However, this would seem to go against the 
content of the
various toledot in Genesis. Eg, Gen 6:9 refers to the 'Toledot' of Noah. 
Noah's account
comes after this little statement, so perhaps Genesis uses it differently to 
Akkadian.
However, there is a case to be made that Gen 37:2 is a colophon at the end of 
the Jacob
narratives rather than a superscription to the Joseph narratives. I'm not 
sure whether it
would work, but it's worth looking into.

Best regards,George Athas
 Dept of Semitic Studies,
 University of Sydney
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< gathas@ mail.usyd.edu.au >