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  • From: dwashbur AT nyx.net
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Where Was Jacob's Ladder?
  • Date: Thu, 08 Nov 2007 09:42:47 -0800



On 8 Nov 2007 at 10:24, JimStinehart AT aol.com wrote:

>
> George Athas:
> You wrote: "Jim, is there a specifically Hebrew notion in your
> discussion?
> If not,
> it would be best not to pursue this thread."
> The key issue is how to understand the Biblical Hebrew phrasing of Genesis
> 28: 10-11. My reading is that the reference to the sun going down means
> the
> first time that the sun went down on Jacob's trip out to Harran. It was
> the
> first night that Jacob ever spent alone in his entire life, away from his
> family.
> If Jacob had already been on his trip for one or two or three days
> already,
> why would the narrator be telling us about the sun going down?
> 1. Here is my literal reading of the Hebrew text of Genesis 28: 10-11:
> "And departed Jacob from Beersheba, and went toward Harran, and lighted
> upon
> a place, staying all night there, because went down the sun...."
> Am I misunderstanding what the Hebrew text actually says? To me, the
> clear
> implication is that after leaving Beersheba and heading out in the
> direction
> of Harran, Jacob traveled until the sun started to go down, at which point
> Jacob had to stop traveling any further that first day.

You're reading too much English usage into it. Once again, the Hebrew gives
no time
frame. The subordinate clause simply explains why he stopped at the place
that he did, as
a setup for the encounter that follows. If we follow the Masoretic pointing,
it actually says he
"lighted upon THE place," because it includes the definite article. So,
"the" place. What
place? The place we're going to talk about, of course. He took one of the
rocks from that
place and made a pillow out of it (he was a tougher man than I am!). That
rock figures
prominently in the story a little later. The implications here have nothing
to do with time
frame and everything to do with setting him up for the vision that comes to
him in the night.
We have a fair idea where Bethel/Luz is, and mentioning that the nearby
city's name was
Luz is the only actual locale indicator we have.

Dave Washburn
Why do it right when you can do it again?




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