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  • From: JimStinehart AT aol.com
  • To: J.Read-2 AT sms.ed.ac.uk, b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Abraham's origin: MWLDT
  • Date: Mon, 25 May 2009 09:14:17 EDT


James Christian:

In evaluating the expression )RC MWLDTN at Genesis 31: 13, we must consider
the context. As we will see, context mandates a meaning of “kindred” for
MWLDT here, and forbids a meaning of “birth”.

There are many indications in the text that after bearing twins Esau and
Jacob, Rebekah bore more sons, and also daughters. With the exception of Esau
(who by this point is living in the Transjordan), all of Jacob’s brothers
and sisters (and Jacob’s half-brothers and half-sisters as well), and all of
their many descendants, live in the land of Canaan.

At Genesis 31: 13, YHWH tells Jacob to return to “the place were most of
your brothers and sisters and their descendants live” -- )RC MWLDTN. That is
an obvious reference to Canaan. Canaan is where most of Jacob’s siblings
and their descendants were living.

After moving to Gerar, Isaac never goes back to where Jacob had been born:
Beer-lahai-roi. Rather, Isaac and his large family live in Gerar for
years, and then move to the Patriarchs’ Hebron. Most of Jacob’s brothers and
sisters and their descendants (Jacob’s MWLDT] are living in Canaan, but none
of them are living in the place where Jacob was born [Beer-lahai-roi].

YHWH does n-o-t tell Jacob to go back to the place where Jacob was
b-o-r-n. Jacob was born at Beer-lahai-roi, southwest of the Patriarchs’
Hebron,
and Jacob n-e-v-e-r goes back to Beer-lahai-roi! In fact, Jacob refuses
to go back to live where his father was living -- the Patriarchs’ Hebron --
until his father is on his deathbed. (No early monotheist was willing to
live in the same place where either his father or his father’s firstborn son
lived: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Akhenaten.)

Thus considering the context, it is clear that )RC MWLDTN at Genesis 31: 13
means “the place where most of your brothers and sisters and their
descendants [MWLDT] are living” [Canaan, but not necessarily anywhere near
Beer-lahai-roi], and does n-o-t mean “the place where you were born”
[Beer-lahai-roi]. Jacob is not told by YHWH to go back to the place where
Jacob had been
born, Beer-lahai-roi, and Jacob never goes back to such place. Rather,
YHWH tells Jacob to go to the place where most of Jacob’s siblings and their
descendants are living, that is Canaan, but not Beer-lahai-roi, the place
where Jacob had been born. Thus MWLDT at Genesis 31: 13 means “kindred”, in
the narrow sense of being Jacob’s father’s descendants (descendants of a
common ancestor), and MWLDT does not mean “birth” or “birth place”.

MWLDT has the same meaning at Genesis 11: 28 and Genesis 12: 1 and Genesis
24: 4. In the Patriarchal narratives, MWLDT means “kindred”, and does not
mean “birth” or “birth place”. The Patriarchal narratives, historically
accurately, portray the Hebrews as being indigenous to Canaan.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois

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