Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Nir cohen - Prof. Mat." <nir AT ccet.ufrn.br>]

dear jim,

On Tue, 22 Mar 2011 17:29:05 EDT, JimStinehart wrote

>>> Never once is there any suggestion, much less statement, in 
the text that Esau is providing meat for the community.  

i was equating "ish ohalim" to "ish sadeh". if "ish ohalim" means 
"provider for the community" (a pure phantasy) maybe 
"ish sadeh" means the same thing (also a phantasy). 

that was exactly my point, to say that it's all in the interpretation. both
your version and mine are two phantasies on the same theme. i purposely
exaggerated in some places (clearly i agree with you that esau was a hunter,
not a farmer), but my version was as exaggerated as yours.

>>> It is absolutely clear that the well-being of the community 
>>>>>>>              of which Isaac is the leader...   !!!!!!!!!
>>> ...is almost entirely dependent on the well-being of the 
>>>>>>>              large flock of sheep and goats,    !!!!!!!!!
>>> not on hunting (or, for that matter, farming).

both descriptions of jacob as a shephard and as a leader are anachronistic.
we were discussing the case of the soup bowl (chapter 25), which occurred 
may years before jacob became a shephard, and many more (14, to be exact)
years before he became a leader. in chapter 25 he was just a teenager, and
so was esau.

from the later chapters, you can see that as jacob became a leader of his
community, esau also became leader of his respective community. but 
in your version, isaac is a leader and esau is the bad guy.

>>> Your item #2 above is actually quite helpful in starting to make 
sense of Genesis 25: 27.

i am glad i was helpful in any way... i am aware that my point of view 
may be contradicting many of the scholars.

nir cohen