Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

George Athas:
 
You wrote:  “Could you please provide some evidence for your claim that 
אהלים ('tents') has the connotation of 'community' -- that is, larger than a 
family clan. There is nothing in the Genesis narrative that I can see which 
necessitates your rendition. Is there any actual linguistic or contextual 
evidence for your claim?”
 
David Kolinsky’s cognates are fascinating.  To them I could add alu, 
meaning “village” in Akkadian.  But much more important here is the usage in 
Hebrew.
 
Prior to reading Genesis 25: 27, we already know that each of Esau and 
younger twin brother Jacob lives in a “tent” [singular]/)HL.  What Genesis 
25: 
27 then tells us is that Esau spends his days where the wild animals roam, 
doing big game trophy hunting.  By contrast, Jacob is living in “tents” 
[plural]/)HLYM, meaning that Jacob, unlike Esau, is spending his days with 
the “
community” of tent-dwellers of whom his father Isaac is the leader.  Now 
that Abraham has died, we know from Genesis 24: 35-36 that Isaac has 
inherited 
a large flock of sheep and goats, shepherds, and servants.  All of the 
humans live in “tents”.  Their livelihood is dependent on the well-being of 
the 
flock of sheep and goats, not on Esau’s hunting, which only benefits Esau’s 
immediate family, not the “community”.  Jacob is well on his way to 
becoming a master shepherd, which is benefiting the entire “community”, that 
is, 
all the people under Isaac’s leadership who are living in “tents” [plural].
 
I have used the word “community” here to refer to all the various peoples 
under Isaac’s leadership, in particular including all of Isaac’s shepherds 
and their families.  If that is what you mean by the term “family clan”, 
perhaps we are just using different nomenclature.
 
I agree with Karl’s explanation of TM.  Jacob is 
TM/well-rounded/complete/upright.  Jacob knows that the “community” of people 
under his father’s 
leadership who are living in “tents” [plural] depend on the all-important 
flock 
of sheep and goats, and Jacob is duly becoming a master shepherd.  Each of 
Esau and Jacob lives in a “tent” [singular], but only Jacob is looking out 
for the general well-being of the “tents” [plural], that is, the “community”
 under Isaac’s leadership.
 
Perhaps you will allow me in a later post to explore  w-h-y  big game 
trophy hunting gets such a bad rap in the Patriarchal narratives.
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois