Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

Hello Jim,

 

While I totally disagree with both your geographical and your historical
reconstruction, and I think that your distinction between "true consonants"
and not, you are undoubtedly correct in your observation that there may be a
double or even triple pun at work here. But this pun is the work of the
author who writes "Leah's words", and does not prove anything about when a
tribe of Reuben existed or not.

 

Yigal Levin

 

  _____  

From: jimstinehart AT aol.com [mailto:jimstinehart AT aol.com] 






 
1.  The substantive content of the text of the Patriarchal narratives
(ignoring the updating of spelling and grammar over the centuries)
definitely appears to long pre-date the formation of any Hebrew tribes.  To
use the example of geography (knowing that Biblical geography is one of your
longest suits), the Patriarchs are never portrayed as sojourning in the part
of Canaan that, centuries later, became part of the later state of Judah.
The Patriarchs' Hebron is not the mountainous city 20 miles south of
Jerusalem, as conventionally thought, because that site fails all 10 of the
key attributes of the Patriarchs' Hebron as set forth in the text.
Moreover, not a single author in the entirety of the Hebrew Bible ever
asserts that King David's mountainous city of Hebron is one and the same
place where Abraham maintained a huge flock of sheep and goats for decades.
Rather, the Patriarchs' Hebron is the lush, low-lying Aijalon Valley, just
northwest of the portion of Canaan that was routinely under the total
control of the later state of Judah.  Likewise, no place named "Gerar" or
"Kadesh-barnea" is attested in the Negev.  Rather those are sites in
Galilee, far north of the subsequent state of Judah, per items #80 and #57
on the mid-15th century BCE Thutmose III list.
 
The point is that the composition of the Patriarchal narratives long
pre-dates, rather than post-dates, the formation of any Hebrew tribes.  
 
2.  As to the name "Reuben"/R)WBN in particular, the author is deliberately
making a series of puns with that name, and is not content with a single
pun.  All three puns are based exclusively on the three true consonants in
the name Reuben:  R-B-N.
 
(a)  The first pun (Pun #1) is the most obvious pun, yet it is not
explicitly stated, but rather is merely implied:
 
"Look, a son!"  "Look" is RESH-aleph-heh.  "Son" is BET-NUN.
 
(b)  Pun #2 is not obvious on its face, but it is explicitly stated.
 
"(YHWH) looks upon my affliction".  RESH-aleph-heh BET ayin-NUN-yod-yod
 
"Look" is RESH-aleph-heh.  "Upon" is BET.  "My affliction" is
ayin-NUN-yod-yod.
 
(c)  But there's still a third pun.  Once again, it's not obvious, but it is
explicitly stated, per the end of this same sentence at Genesis 29: 32:
 
"Look, .he [husband Jacob] loves me."
 
RESH-aleph-heh.yod-aleph-heh-BET-NUN-yod.
 
"Look" is RESH-aleph-heh.  "He loves me" is yod-aleph-heh-BET-NUN-yod.
 
3.  As is the case throughout the Patriarchal narratives, this is clever
Hebrew wordplay at its finest.  If I may be permitted to quote a prior post
of mine here, note how the two explicit puns on the name "Reuben"
beautifully foreshadow Reuben's life story, unlike the obvious, implied pun.
Focusing on the word "affliction" in the first explicit pun foreshadows that
Reuben will have one of Jacob's minor wives in Reuben's tent for one night,
and for that Reuben will receive a final curse from his father Jacob.  Yet
Reuben is retained within the Covenant by Jacob, showing that Jacob "loves"
his somewhat wayward firstborn son, as focused upon by the second explicit
pun.  Finally, the second explicit pun in Reuben's name is that Jacob loves
Leah.  That neatly foreshadows the ending of the Patriarchal narratives,
when Jacob shows his long-delayed love for Leah by naming one of Leah's
sons, namely Judah, as the leader of the next generation of the new Hebrews,
rather than naming Jacob's favorite son Joseph, whose mother was statuesque
Rachel, as such leader.  Thus in a real sense, the second half of the
Patriarchal narratives is largely foretold by the two explicit puns on the
name "Reuben".
 
4.  The scholarly community misses this brilliant Hebrew wordplay, and
ingenious foreshadowing of the second half of the storyline of the
Patriarchal narratives, by erroneously seeking a "tribal name" explanation
for the name "Reuben".  In fact, the name "Reuben" in the Patriarchal
narratives long pre-dates the existence of any Hebrew tribes.
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois

No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 9.0.722 / Virus Database: 270.14.123/2592 - Release Date: 12/29/09
09:47:00