Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

Hi Doug,

So does the Hebrew. That's just the point. In theory, the reference coud be 
to daughters-in-law, his sons' wives. Statistically, it would be reasonable 
for a man with 12 sons to have more than one daughter, but since only Dinah 
"got into trouble" she's the only one mentioned. But the midrash makes each 
of those daughters a twin of each of Jacob's sons, and assume that they all 
married their half-brothers, since, as I wrote, the sons "could not" have 
married Canaanitesses. In fact, even when Gen. 46:10 specifically says that 
one of Simeon's sons is "Shaul son of the Canaaitess" the midrash explains 
that this is actually Dinah, who is called a "Canaanitess" because she had 
been "taken" by the Canaanite Hamor of Shechem.
As I wrote, I don't think that the rabbis meant for such midrashim to be 
taken "literally".

Yigal
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Revdpickrel AT wmconnect.com 
  Hi Yigal, 

  I checked the Septuagint and it says, all the sons and the daughters.  
Plural sons and daughters. 


  Rev. Doug Pickrel, Litt.D. 
  Tejas Valley 
  San Antonio, Texas