Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] daughters jacob never spoke of
Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2006 07:15:27 +0200
----- Original Message -----
From: "sujata" <shevaroys AT yahoo.com>
Gen 46:15 refers to 33 sons and daughters beside Dinah through Leah, but
the sons and grandsons listed in Gen 46:8-14 total to 33. Is the
translation "sons and daughters" correct?
Best,
sujata
Not quite. You are probably using a "politically correct" translation like
NRSV. The Hebrew says: "These are the SONS of Leah which she bore Jacob in
Paddan-aram, and Dinah his daughter, all souls, his sons and his daughters,
thirty-three". Note "and his daughters". Even though the list does actually
list 33, making it clear that no more than Dinah are counted, it still uses
the plual "his daughters" in exactly the same way as it does in 37:35.
This means one of two things. Either either the plural is used losely, "sons
and daughters" meaning "children", no matter what the actual ratio is, or
there WERE other daughters, which were simply not "counted". Remember, we're
discussing a patriarchal society, in which women did not "count", unless
they were remarkable in their own right (there were such women), or unless
they got their brothers into trouble, as in the case of Dinah. Since she had
already been mentioned, the text continues to count her.
I would not object to either interpretation, as long as it fit the context
of the text.
Yigal
Re: [b-hebrew] daughters jacob never spoke of
, (continued)