Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Robert Heard <Christopher.Heard AT pepperdine.edu>]

Ben, Dora, et al.,

It seems to me that the drawings Ben mentions below would actually cut 
in favor of the "long-sleeved tunic" reading, because Joseph's coat is 
supposed to be _atypical_. If you take the drawing as indicating that 
colored dress was _typical_ for Semites, then there is nothing special 
about Joseph's coat. But if the normal Semitic working attire is a 
sleeveless tunic with a short skirt, and Jacob gives Joseph a 
long-sleeved tunic with a long skirt (going to the PS of his hands and 
his feet), then giving the coat is like exempting Joseph from work 
(because you couldn't do the manual labor as well tangled up in those 
sleeves). Thus Joseph being at home later in the chapter while his 
brothers were shepherding the flocks. There's nothing definitive about 
this, but I think things tend to tip this direction.

Ben Crick wrote:


>On Sun  7 Aug 2005 (16:49:07), villandra AT austin.rr.com wrote:
>> The lessons for this Sunday included the story of the sale of Joseph
>> into slavery by his brothers.
>> 
>> MInister said that the "coat of many colors" is a translation error and
>> it was actually a "coat with sleeves".
>> 
>> I understood that the coat of many colors was a typical Canaanite
>> garment. 
>> Which actually was it?
>
> According to Genesis 37:3, Jacob gave Joseph a "coat of many colours"
> K:ToNeT PaSSiYM as a mark of special favour. The same phrase denotes a
> royal robe in 2 Samuel 13:18. Some commentators prefer to translate 
this
> "a long robe with sleeves"; but WF Albright, in /The Archaeology of
> Palestine/, Pelican Books, 1949, p 209, shows a reproduction of the
> Beni Hassan Tomb painting, circa 1890 BC. A 20" frieze depicts a group
> of Semitic itinerant tinkers (men, women and children) visiting Egypt
> with their goats and donkeys (compare Genesis 43:24). They are carrying
> weapons for protection, a lyre for entertainment, and the tools of 
their
> trade. Most are dressed in longer or shorter *sleeveless* "coats of 
many
> colours", whereas the Egyptians in the picture have short white kilts. 
>
> HTH
> Ben
>-- 
> Revd Ben Crick, BA CF                                       ZFC Hf
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-------------------------------
--
R. Christopher Heard
Assistant Professor of Religion
Pepperdine University
Malibu, CA 90263-4352
http://www.heardworld.com
http://www.iTanakh.org