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  • From: "Jan-Wim Wesselius" <jww AT xs4all.nl>
  • To: "Jonathan D. Safren" <yonsaf AT beitberl.beitberl.ac.il>
  • Cc: "Biblical Hebrew" <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: `ad hayom hazeh
  • Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2000 10:22:54 +0100



-----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----


Van: Jonathan D. Safren <yonsaf AT beitberl.beitberl.ac.il>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Niels Peter Lemche <npl AT teol.ku.dk>
>To: Biblical Hebrew <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
>Cc: <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
>Sent: Tuesday, February 08, 2000 5:07 PM
>Subject: RE: `ad hayom hazeh
>> A remarkable sequence of ladies in that family, however. Tamar
>> (maybe a Canaanite woman) becoming pregnant with her father-in-law
>> pretending to be a whore. Ruth, a Moabite woman getting close to the
noble
>> Boaz in the middle of the night, and Bathsheba--married to a Hittite, if
>not
>> herself a Hittite, starting an afair with David. Midrash or not Midrash,
>> there seems to be a lind of narrative pattern here.
>>
>
>Perhaps we learn that the Israelites were very diverse in their origins,
>including Canaanite and other ethnic elements, immigrants from Northern
>Mesopotamia and Transjordan, former slaves from Egypt, etc.?
>Jonathan D. Safren
>
>
Two notes about this interesting exchange:
a) We learn that the biblical authors, especially that of Primary History
(Gen - 2 Kings), want the reader to understand that the tribe of Judah and
the dynasty of David have absorbed foreign females while having an
impeccable lineage in the male line. What the historical reality underlying
this may be is much more difficult to say. Maybe it indicates what Jonathan
suspects, maybe not.
b) NP is right about this remarkable series of women. Wonderful sermons can
be and are preached about them, whether with or without Rahab. But Bathseba
is described as impeccably Israelite, one of the very few women in the
Hebrew Bible with both her father's name (Eliam) and her grandfather's
(Ahithophel from Gilo, see 2 Sam 23:34) mentioned. In fact, I would say that
the key to understanding Nathan's story in 2 Sam 12 is the position of Uriah
the Hittite as a foreigner in Israelite society, married into an Israelite
family (I wrote about it in Vetus Testamentum of 1990). The Gospel of
Matthew apparently intends to stress the surprising aspect of Jesus'
genealogy, for whereas in the case of the other women their names are
sufficient, B. is specifically called 'Uriah's wife', without her own name!

Jan-Wim Wesselius, Hoekenes 26A, 1068 MT Amsterdam
Tel. 020 - 619 1535; fax 020 - 619 1636; e-mail jww AT xs4all.nl






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