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  • From: "George F. Somsel" <gfsomsel AT juno.com>
  • To: hholmyard AT ont.com
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Kadeshah & Zonah in Genesis 32 + More
  • Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2004 11:10:24 -0400

On Thu, 15 Jul 2004 20:36:16 -0500 "Harold R. Holmyard III"
<hholmyard AT ont.com> writes:
> Dear George,
>
> >Personally, it makes no difference to me whether the report is
> >historically accurate or not. I think there is too little to
> support a
> >claim that it was, but that is beside the point. So long as one
> is
> >solely interested in attempting to explain why they consider it to
> be
> >historical or whether the words are accurately reported, one is
> not
> >concentrating on the purpose for which it was written. Why are
> these
> >stories written as they are? Was there some importance to the
> story of
> >Judah and Tamar? If so, what? These are what should be sought.
> >Otherwise we are majoring in minors.
>
> HH: One thing the story in Genesis 38 shows is the tendency of Judah
>
> to mix with the Canaanites and adopt Canaanite practices. This may
> have been one reason why God led the Israelites into Egypt. The
> Canaanites were to mature in their wickedness during the Israelite
> years in Egypt (v. 16 below):
>
> Gen. 15:13 Then the LORD said to him, "Know for certain that your
> descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they
> will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.
> Gen. 15:14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and
> afterward they will come out with great possessions.
> Gen. 15:15 You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be
> buried at a good old age.
> Gen. 15:16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back
>
> here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full
> measure."
>
> When Israel came out of Egypt, the Canaanite evil would have matured
>
> to the point of divine judgment. The story of Judah suggests that
> Israel might have been sucked into that evil had they stayed in the
>
> land. Judah's friend Hirah was an Adullamite. Adullam was a
> Canaanite
> royal city, so Hirah was evidently a Canaanite. Then Judah married a
>
> Canaanite woman (Gen 38:2), something Abraham and Isaac would have
> blanched at. Judah next sought Tamar, thinking she was a prostitute.
>
> She was sitting at the entrance to Enaim, so he probably thought she
>
> was a Canaanite prostitute.
>
> By the way, I liked the idea that someone presented about the veil
> being used in unusual situations. The person compared it to Rebekah
>
> putting on a veil when she approached Isaac. It seems plausible that
>
> a veil might mark out a woman as a prostitute, if women did not
> ordinarily wear them and it was not a marital situation. Anyway,
> Judah met her on his way to see Hirah, who lived in Timnah. Enaim
> was
> on the road to Timnah, so Judah met her before he saw Hirah.
>
> Therefore, when he sent Hirah to get his pledge back from the woman,
>
> he must have identified her to Hirah as a shrine prostitute (QD&H),
>
> because that is the information Hirah used to seek for her.
> Remember,
> he had to depend on the information given by Judah, since Hirah was
>
> not there when the incident occurred. So we see Judah getting sucked
>
> into the depravity of Canaan.
>
> Yours,
> Harold Holmyard
> _______________________________________________

Harold,

You seem to rely to a considerable degree on supposition. It seems
better to me to simply go with what is indicated in the text.

george
gfsomsel




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