Copyright © 2000 by Andrews University
Press; Cited with permission.
TERMINOLOGICAL PATTERNS
AND GENESIS 38
WILFRIED WARNING
Schulzentrum Seminar Marienhohe
In recent studies a detailed analysis of the
narrative outline of the
and Tamar episode has been presented.1
These analyses interpret Gen 38 as a
literary whole possessing a distinct structural
unity and design, a narrative in
which the “analysis of structure or ‘form’ has
brought to light the ‘content’”;2
and concerning the position of Gen 38 in the extant
text and its linguistic and
thematic interrelation with the Joseph story it
has been concluded:
1 E. M. Menn
proposes that "since the motifs of birth and naming appear earlier in the
narrative as well (Gen 38:3-5), Genesis 38 may be
viewed as a double tale of procreation, in
which initial biological and social discontinuity is
twice overcome, first in Gen 38:1-5 and next
in Gen 38:6-30" (Judah and Tamar [Genesis 38] in Ancient Jewish Exegesis: Studies in
Literary
Form and Hermeneutics, Supplements to the Journal
for the Study of Judaism 51 [
Brill, 1997], 15). The second part of the
narrative, vv. 6-30, is subdivided by her as follows: vv.
6-11; 12-19;20-23; 24-26;
27-30 (19-28). A. J. Lambe, considering Gen 38
"one of the best examples
of ... the Bible's `smaller literary
wholes,"' presents a different and somewhat chiastic outline
consisting of "five phases of
development" ("Genesis 38: Structure and Literary Design," in The
World of Genesis:
Persons, Places, Perspectives, JSOTSup 257, ed. P.
R. Davies and D. A. J. Clines
[Sheffield:
structure are: (1) equilibrium (vv. 1-6), (2)
descent (vv. 7-11), (3) disequilibrium (v. 12a), (4) ascent
(vv. 12b-26), and (5) equilibrium (vv. 27-30) (103).
Furthermore, he maintains that each of the five
sections has been chiastically structured (109-119). It should be noticed,
however, that the
postulated chiasms are mainly based on conceptual
and only partly on
terminological considerations.
2 Lambe, 102. Cf. J. A. Emerton, "Some Problems in Genesis 38," VT 25 (1975): 338-361;
idem, "An Examination of a Recent Structuralist Interpretation of Genesis 38," VT 26 (1976),
79-98;
idem, "Judah and Tamar," VT
29 (1979), 403-415; C. Westermann, Genesis, BKAT 1/3
(Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1982), 42; Chr. Levin, Der Jahwist,
FRLANT 157
(Gottingen: Vandenhoek & Ruprecht, 1993),271; G. J. Wenham,
Genesis 16-50, WBC 2 (
Word,
1994), 363-365. E. Blum considers Gen 38 to be "eine
uberlieferungsgeschichtlich
einheitliche Erzahlung,
die zudem als ursprunglich selbstandige Einzelerzahlung vom Kontext
der Josephgeschichte
abzuheben ist"(Die Komposition der Vatergeschichte, WMANT 57
[Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1984],224). Th. Kruger
raises anew objections to the
literary coherence of this story', claiming that
"Gen 38 seine vorliegende Gestalt im
Zusammenhang der
nachexilischen Diskussion
fiber die Moglichkeit eines
Konnubiums nut
Nicht judaern bzw. Nicht
Juden erhalten hat"
("Genesis 38-EM ‘Lehrstuck’ alttestamentlicher
Ethik,"
in Konsequente Traditionsgeschichte. Festschrift furKlaus
Baltzerzum 65. Geburtstag,
OBO
126, ed., R. Bartelmus, Th. Kruger and H. Utzschneider [
1993],
205-226).
293
294 SEMINARY
STUDIES 38 (AUTUMN 2000)
of the common designation
of these chapters as the "Joseph Story."
Although Joseph receives primary attention,
Genesis 37-50 actually
features two of Jacob's sons,
Judah and Joseph, by describing the events of
their lives after they part
company with their brothers and by portraying
their rise to positions of
leadership, within the family and over
respectively.... Perhaps Genesis 38,
with its focus on
intrusive at least in part
because Gen 37-50 is generally viewed as Joseph's
story. If one broadens one's understanding of the subject of these chapters
to include events
important for
appear intrusive, but rather
of paramount importance.3
While E. M. Menn's
results are in clear contrast to many studies
scrutinizing the provenience and
present position of Gen 38,4 I not only agree
with her conclusions, but I would even hypothesize:
in the context of the
Endgestalt, i.e., the final shape
of the text of Genesis, that this narrative has
been purposefully placed in its present position by
the ancient author, the
term "author" being used and understood as
referring to the person(s)
responsible for the present text, the person(s) who
composed the literary unit
we call, e.g., "Gen 38" or
"Genesis," literary entities which did not exist prior
to their being composed in their present
compositional context, whatever the
prehistory of the respective Vorlagen might have been.
In a recent study carefully and consistently
following R. Rendtorff's
hermeneutic principle that "the understanding
of the biblical text in its present
3 Menn, 79, and n. 134;
cf. U. Cassuto, "The Story of Tamar and
Judah," Biblical and Oriental
Studies, vol. 1 (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1973), 29-40; Wenham, 365.
4 E.g., Westermann,
42, maintains that Gen 38 is "eine in sich abgeschlossene
Einzelerzahlung; ... Die Erzahlung von Judah and Tamar ist nicht, wie bisher gesagt
wurde,
in die Josephgeschichte eingefugt worden, sie hat mit ihr
nichts zu tun, sondern in die
Jakobgeschichte bzw. den Schlull
der Jakobgeschichte (Gn 37 Vorlage and 46-50)"
(his
emphasis). R. Rendtorff
interprets Gen 38 as a Judahite continuation of the
Jacob story
which has been inserted together with Gen 49 (Das Alte Testament. Eine Einfuhrung
[Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1983] 145). Blum, 224, considers
Gen 38 as
"ursprunglich selbstandige
Einzeluberlieferung [die] vom
Kontext der Josephgeschichte
abzuheben ist."
Because of its theology, Kruger, 205-226, prefers an exilic-postexilic date for
Gen
38; H.-Ch. Schmitt maintains: "Somit spricht alles dafur,
dass es sich
bei dem Verfasser
von Gen 38 um einen schriftgelehrten
handelt. Da
er dabei sowohl auf das Deuteronomistische Geschichtswerk
als auch
auf das
Heiligkeitsgesetz Bezug
nimmt, kann durchaus damit gerechnet werden, dass es sich
auch bei
ihm um den in Gen 48-50 beobachteten nachpriesterlichen spatdeuteronomistischen
Redaktor handelt, der Pentateuch and Deuteronomistisches
Geschichtswerk miteinander
verbinden will"("Die Josephsgeschichte and das deuteronomistische Geschichtswerk
Genesis
38 and 48-50," in Deuteronomy and Deuteronomic Literature. Festschrift C. H. W. Brekelmans,
Bibliotheca Ephemeredium
Theologicarum Lovaniensium
133, ed. J. van Ruiten and M.
Vervenne [
Kommentar (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft,
1997), 445-454.
TERMINOLOGICAL PATTERNS AND GENESIS 38 295
form is the preeminent task of exegesis,"5
almost the total vocabulary of
Leviticus
has been scrutinized.6 This analysis shows
that the present text
present itself as a carefully composed literary
entity. In the course of that
study it has been shown that by tabulating the total
vocabulary of a given
passage, the distinct distribution, the relative
frequency, and the structural
positioning of significant terms and/or phrases come
to light, and it is these
structural elements which have been termed
"terminological patterns."
Furthermore,
it has become evident that these terminological patterns create
short-range linkages in a self-contained textual
unit, but at the same time long-
range terminological patterns have been discovered.
Because of the symbolic
significance ascribed by the
ancients to the number "seven" (representing
completion and completeness), it has been
maintained that "in a variable-
length list often the seventh slot and, in case of a longer list, at times the twelfth
position are emphasized by means of some special
term/phrase."7
At this point, two examples taken from the
aforementioned study
should suffice. First, in Lev 11, which
in Pentateuchal studies is often viewed
as consisting of several distinct redactional layers, the hiphil
participle of the
verb hlf "go up"8
and the noun Crx "land"9
appear both for the seventh time
in the unique statement: Myrcm Crxm
Mktx hlfmh ynx yy yk "for I am the
Lord
who brought you up from the
macrostructure, i.e., structural
outline encompassing major parts of the book
of Leviticus, an eleven-part terminological
pattern based on the phrase Crx
Myrcm "the
pattern a carefully construed chiastic structure
crops up, an outline with a
singular seventh position (25:38), where a
cluster of theological tenets can be
detected which is unique in the Hebrew Bible. In
my view it is noteworthy
that in both examples the terminological patterns
clearly cross the boundaries
of "P" and "H" material,
thereby calling into question the validity of these
boundaries.
In the present bipartite study we shall begin by
searching for short-range
terminological patterns within the
narrow confines of Gen 38, and it is only
in a second step that long-range terminological
linkages will be looked for,
structures seemingly interlinking major parts of
the present book of Genesis.
5 R. Rendtorff, Leviticus,
BK.AT 3, 1 (Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener
Verlag, 1985), 4.
6 W. Warning, Literary Artistry in Leviticus, Biblical
Interpretation Series 35 (
Brill, 1999).
7 Ibid.,
32.
8 Vv. 3, 42, 5, 6, 26, 45; cf.
Warning, 52-53.
9 Vv. 2, 21, 29, 41, 42, 44,
45, 46; cf. Warning, 53-54.
10 Lev 11:47; 18:3; 19:34, 36;
22:33; 23:43; 25:38, 42, 55; 26:13, 45; cf. Warning, 139-142.
296 SEMINARY
STUDIES 38 (AUTUMN 2000)
Terminological Patterns Within
Genesis 38
The
Verb Ntn
The eight occurrences of the common verb Ntn "give" (2011/150)11
in Gen 38 have probably been employed as a
structural device in outlining
the content of the narrative. Whereas the first and
last occurrences of the
verb have not been thematically integrated in the
following structure, the
other six members have been chiastically
arranged, and in my opinion the
close verbal and conceptual connection of the
corresponding parts can
hardly be contradicted. In v. 14 it is stated that
"she had not been given
to him as a wife," and correspondingly
not given her to my son Shela";
v. 16 makes mention of Tamar's question,
"What
will you give me, if you come into me" and v. 18b reports, "and
he gave [them to] her and came into her"; v.
17 refers to her terms, "if you
will give me a pledge until you send it" and v.
18a makes mention of
9 VYTXL
frz Ntn ytlbl
14 A hwxl vl hntn xl xvhv hlw ldg yk
htxr yk
16 B ylx xvbt
yk yl Ntt hm rmxtv
17 C jHlw df Nvbrf Ntt Mx rxmtv
18a C jl Ntx rwx Nvrrfh
hm rmxyv
18b B
vl
rhtv hylx xvbyv hl Ntyv
26
A ynb
hlwl hyttn xl Nk lf yk
28 dy Ntyv htdlb
yhyv
The distinct terminological patterns presented
in this table support
the thematic coherence of the narrative,
emphasizing the "not-giving" of
Tamar
as a wife for Shela and the bargaining about what to
give/receive
11 The numbers given in
parentheses are to be understood in the following way:
according to A. Even-Shoshan,
ed., the verb occurs 2,011 times in the Hebrew Bible and 150
times in Genesis (A
New Concordance of the Old Testament [Jerusalem: Kiryat
Sepher, 1990]).
TERMINOLOGICAL PATTERNS AND GENESIS 38 297
as a pledge prior to having sexual intercourse.
The
Verb xvb
By means of intricately interrelating the six
occurrences of the verb xvb
(lx) "come (into)" (2,565/150) in each case denoting
"to have intercourse
with," with two of the five occurrences of the
verb hrh "conceive, be
pregnant" (54/22),12 an
impressive inclusion has been created. The inclusio,
being based both on terminological and thematic
correspondence, is construed
by the verbatim statement rhtv hylx
xbyv "and he came into her and she
became pregnant" (vv. 3, 18). In a similar vein
as in the preceding structure the
thematic interrelation of statements made in vv.
8 and 9 and in v. 16a and b
cannot be contradicted. "Go into your brother's
wife" (v. 8) is matched by
v.
9, "so whenever he went into his brother's wife," and
"please let me come into you" (v. 16a), is countered by
Tamar in v. 16b,
"What
will you give me to come into me?"
2-3 Nb
dltv rhtv hylx xbyv hHqyv
8 jyHx twx lx xb Nnvxl hdvhy rmxyv
9 vyHx twx lx xb Mx hyhv
16a jylx xvbx xn hbh rmxyv
16b ylx xvbt yk yl Ntt
hm
rmxtv
18 vl rhtv hylx xbyv hl Ntyv
By way of deliberately distributing the two
"procreative verbs"13 xvb
lx and hrh, the ancient author construes two portentous sexual
encounters
in
Whereas
the first one turns out to be a failure, at least in the long run because
of Er's untimely death,
which his forefathers, Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham, had
to face before,
childlessness. Furthermore, Judah's
and Tamar's intimate encounter not only
results in the birth of twins, but Tamar thus
secures for
becoming the progenitor of King David. The
significance of the twins' birth
is further underscored by the following
terminological pattern, which is based
on the noun "name."
12 This verb also occurs in
38:4, 24, 25.
13 Menu,
17.
298 SEMINARY
STUDIES 38 (AUTUMN 2000)
The
Noun Mw
It is a well-known fact that in ancient
genealogies the seventh slot
has at times been reserved for a highly honored
person (cf. Gen 5:21-24/
Jude
14; Ruth 4:18-22).14 In view of this fact it may be more than
accidental that the seventh time the noun Mw "name"
(864/103) appears,
the name of Perez, the ancestor of the Davidic
dynasty, is given. In my
opinion, Menn
correctly maintains that the significance of the detailed
description of the "double event of birth and
naming in comparison with
the formulaic description of the three single
births in the first birth
narrative attests to the relative significance of
the twins."15
1 hryT vmwv ymldf wyx df Fyv
2 fvw vmwv ynfnk wyx tb
hdvhy Mw xryv
3
rf vmw tx xrqyv
4
Nnvx vmw tx xrqtv
5
hlw vmw tx xrqtv
6
rmt hmw
29 Crp vmw xrqyv
30 Hrz vmw xrqyv
If it is true that this story is aiming at the
climactic birth of twins, with
Perez
as the more important of the two sons,16 the author has obviously
attained his objective by placing Perez's name in
the seventh position.
Each of the three preceding terminological
patterns, being based on
the two verbs Ntn and xvb and the noun Mw, supports the notion of
literary unity. The first terminological pattern
extends from vv. 2 to 18,
the second from v. 9 as far as v. 28; and the last
one, reaching from vv. 1
to 30, encloses the whole narrative from its very
beginning to the end.
While
Gen 38 thus turns out to be a fine example of Hebrew narrative art,
it is certainly even more amazing to detect the
author's adroit artfulness
in interlinking Gen 38 with what precedes and
follows.
14 J. M. Sasson,
"Generation, Seventh," The
Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible
Supplement (1976), 355.
15 Menn, 28.
16 Cf. Menn, 82.
TERMINOLOGICAL PATTERNS AND GENESIS 38 299
Terminological Patterns Beyond
Genesis 38
In the aforementioned study on terminological
patterns in Leviticus, no
less than twenty-one macrostructures have been
pointed out, each structural
outline encompassing a major part of the present
book of Leviticus. In a very
similar way the ancient author of Genesis has
seemingly created long-range
terminological patterns interlinking
Gen 38 with the preceding patriarchal
stories and even the Urgeschichte.
There can be no doubt that in the Judah-Tamar
narrative the
development of the plot depends very much on Tamar's
artfulness in beguiling
her father-in-law. In order not to be recognized
and thus to have her scheme
wrecked, she has to put aside, i.e., to take off
(rvs) her widow's clothes
(v.
14);
and in order to hide behind anonymity, she had better cover (hsk) her
face with a veil (v. 14). After having recovered
from mourning his wife's
death,
notices a veiled woman, and considering her to
be a prostitute,
(hFn) to her and in plain
terms inquires about her price for venal love (v. 16).
Following
this portentous intercourse--in the word's double meaning--with
her father-in-law, Tamar returns home and again
puts on her widow's clothes
(dgb) (v.
19).
According to many commentators, Gen 38 should be
seen as an
originally independent narrative standing clearly
outside of the Joseph story.17
Whatever
the oral and/or written prehistory of this episode might have been,
each of the terms pointed out, which are
indispensable to the plot of the story,
appears in this very narrative for the seventh
time in Genesis. Did the author
of the extant text possibly attempt to convey the
"completeness" and
"perfection" of this encounter, a sexual encounter
during which the ancestor
of David was conceived, by means of using each of
the above-mentioned terms,
in the extant text of Genesis for the seventh
time? In order to bring home the
distinct differences between a diachronic
interpretation as, for example,
presented by Chr. Levin
in his redaction-critical study on the "Jahwist,"
and
the exclusively synchronic approach taken in the
present study, the following
has been done: in the right margin of each of the
following tables Levin's
results have been inserted, and in each case his sigla have
been used,18 whereas
17 E.g., Rendtorff,
Einfuhrung,
145; Blum, 224; Soggin, 452-453; cf. C. Paap, Die
Josephsgeschichte Genesis 37-50: Bestimmungen ihrerliterarischen GattunginderzweitenHalfte
des 20. Jahrhunderts,
(Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1995).
18 Levin, 51: JQ
= pre-Jahwistic sources ("vor)ahwistische Quellen");
JR = Jahwist redaction
("jahwistische Redaktion");
Js = post-Jahwistic additions ("nachjahwistische Erganzungen); P
=
Priestly Source ("Priesterschrift"); R =
final redaction ("Endredaktion"); Rs = "post-final-
redaction" additions ("nachendredaktionelle Erganzungen").
If we cast a glance at the respective
commentaries, Levin's assigning
texts to different redactional layers turns out to be
one of many
300 SEMINARY
STUDIES 38 (AUTUMN 2000)
the sigla have not been
added to the terminological patterns presented above,
since Levin considers Gen 38 in toto to be the result of what he calls
"post-
Jahwistic
additions."
The
Verb rvs
The distribution of the verb rvs "turn aside; take off" (300/11) in
Genesis
is seemingly of significance because of the seventh position.
Tamar's
taking off her widow's clothes and covering herself with a veil in
order not to be recognized in the encounter with her
father-in-law
constitutes the first indispensable move in order to
achieve her objective,
i.e.,
to be impregnated by
8:13 hbth hskm
tx Hn
rsyv JR
19:2 Mkdbf tyb
lx xn
vrvs yndx
xn hnh JQ
3
vtyb
lx vxbyv vylx vrsyv JQ
30:32 xvlFv dqn
hw lk Mwm rsh JR
35
tx
xvhh Mvyb Mydqfh Mywyth rsyv JR
35:2 Mkktb rwx rknh yhlx
tx vrsh JS
38:14 hylfm htvnmlx
ydgb rstv JS
Jlfttv
Jyfcb sktv
19
htvnmlx
ydgb
rstv jltv Mqtv JS
wbltv
hlfm hpyfc
41:42 vdy lfm
vtfbF tx
hfrp rsyv JS
48:17
Myrpx
wxr lfm htx ryshl JS
49:10 hdvhym Fbw rvsy xl RS
possibilities proposed by
commentators. Therefore, we should be cognizant of two sobering
statements, the first one made by R. N. Whybray concerning the present state of Pentateuchal
studies: "There is at the present moment no
consensus whatever about when, why, how, and
through whom the Pentateuch reached its present
form, and opinions about the date of
composition of its various parts differ by more than
five hundred years" (Introduction to
the
Pentateuch [
Blenkinsopp
remarks: "The contribution, even the existence, of a final redactor is one
of the
fuzziest issues in the study of the formation of
the Pentateuch. One thing does seem clear,
however, though not always acknowledged: the
final redaction was not the work of P" U.
Blenkinsopp,
"P and J in Genesis 1:1-11:26: An Alternative Hypothesis," in Fortunate the Eyes
That See: Essays in
Honor of David Noel Freedman in Celebration of His Seventieth Birthday,
ed. A. B. Beck, A. H. Bartelt,
P. R. Raabe and C. A. Franke
[
TERMINOLOGICAL PATTERNS AND GENESIS 38 301
Having taken off her widow's clothes, she has to
take the second step in
disguising herself by covering her face with a veil
and it is the distribution of
the verb hsk "cover" in
Genesis which will be discussed next.
The
Verb hsk
The seventh occurrence of the verb hsk "cover" (156/8) in Genesis
is likewise found in Gen 38:14a. Because it seems
rather unlikely that the
seventh occurences of
the two verbs, rvs and hsk, would appear
accidentally in a single sentence, "She
took off [rstv)] her widow's
clothes, and covered [sktv] herself with a veil to
disguise herself" (v.
14ax),
we should reckon with some author's deliberate structural design:
7:19 Myhbgh
Myrhh lk vskyv Crxh
lf dxm dxm vrbg Mymhv P
20 Myrhh vskyv hmx hrWf wmH P
Mymh vrbg
hlfmlm
9:23 Mhybx tvrf tx vskyv JR
18:17 Mhrbxm ynx hskmh rmx yyv RS
24:65 skttv Jyfch
Hqtv JS
37:26 vmd tx vnyskv JR
38:14 Jlfttv Jyfcb sktv hylfm htvnmlx ydgb
rstv JS
15
hynp htsk yk hnvzl
hbwHyv hdvhy hxryv JS
Having completed her part by carefully
disguising herself, she has
now to wait for
As
soon as the widower looks upon the putative prostitute, his sexual
desire seems to be aroused, because he
(instantaneously) turns to her, and
it is the verb hFn "turn" which
will be considered next.
The
Verb hFn
The overall distribution of
the verb hFn
"turn aside; bend down
low; spread out, pitch [a tent]" (185/9) in
Genesis gains in momentum
because of its seventh position in Gen 38:16.
Having turned toward the
"prostitute," Judah immediately comes down to business:
"He turned
[Fyv] to her by the roadside and said, ‘Please let me come into
you’, for he
did not know that she was his daughter-in-law"
(38:16):
302 SEMINARY
STUDIES 38 (AUTUMN 2000)
12:8 hlhx Fyv JQ
24:14 htwxv jdk
xn yFh JR
26:25 vlhx Mw Fyv JS
33:19 vlhx Mw hFn rwx ... RS
35:21 hlhx Fyv lxrWy fsyv JR
38:1 hryH vswv
ymldf wyx Fyv JS
df
16 jylx
xvbx xn hbh Fyv JS
rmxyv
jrdh lx hylx
39:21 dsH vylx Fyv Jsvy
tx yy
yhyv JR
49:15 lbsl vmkw Fyv RS
The five preceding structures based on the verbs
Ntn, xvb, rvs, hsk,
and hFn have possibly been used
by the ancient author to depict both the
piquantness and pointedness
of this portentous encounter. Following the
sexual intercourse with her father-in-law, Tamar
returns to her father's house
and puts on her widow's clothes again, and it is
the noun dgb "clothes;
garment" we shall look at next.
The
Noun dgb
The seventh occurrence of the noun dgb "garment" (215/14) in Genesis
is closely related to the two preceding
structures. Whereas the seventh
occurrences of the verbs rvs and hsk describe Tamar's taking off her
widow's clothes and covering herself with a
veil, the noun dgb is used for the
seventh time in depicting the reversal:
"And she rose, went away and she took
off her veil and put on her widow's clothes [htvnmlx ydgb]
again" (38:19):
24:53 hqbrl Ntyv Mydgbv ... dbfh
xcvyv JR
27:15 vWf ydgb tx
hbqr Hqtv JQ
27
vhkrbyv vydgb Hyr tx Hryv JQ
28:20
wbll dgbv lkxl
MHl yl Ntnv JS
37:29 vydgb tx
frqyv RS
TERMINOLOGICAL PATTERNS AND GENESIS
38 303
38:14 sktv hylfm htvnmlx ydgb rstv JS
Jlfttv Jyfcb
19 htvnmlx ydgb hpyfc rstv JS
wbltv hylfm
39:12a vdgbb vhwpttv JQ
12b hdyb vdgb bzfyv JQ
13 hdyb vdgb bzf yk htvxrk RS
yhyv
15 ylcx vdgb bzfyv RS
16 hlcx vdgb Hntv JQ
18 ylcx vdgb bzfyv RS
41:42 dbr
Mwyv ww ydgb vtx wblyv JS
vrxvc
lf bhzh
There can be no doubt that the ancient author
aptly includes the
taking off (v. 14) of her widow's clothes and the
re-dressing (v. 19) in
significant terminological patterns.
Furthermore, as can be gathered from the
preceding table both in
Gen
38 and the Joseph story, the "garment motifs19 seemingly plays
a
19 V. H. Matthews,
"The Anthropology of Clothing in the Joseph Narrative," JSOT 65
(1995), 28. Cf. Warning, 86-88, who calls attention
to the striking dgb-structure in Lev 16.
Whereas
the majority of scholars view this chapter as composite, a close reading of the
extant
text reveals an impressive seven-part chiastic
structure, by means of which Lev 16 shows itself
as a creatively composed literary whole:
4 A Mh wdq ydgb
23 B
dbh ydgb tx Fwpv
24 C vydgb tx
wblv
26 C
vydgb sbky lzxzfl ryfwh
tx Hlwmhv
28 C vydgb sbky Mtx Jrwhv
32b« B dbh ydgb tx wblv
32bp A wdqh ydgb
304 SEMINARY
STUDIES 38 (AUTUMN 2000)
significant role. Six occurrences of the nominal
form vdgb(b) ("his
garment") in Gen 39 are capped by the seventh
ww ydgb
"linen garment"
in 41:42: "Then Pharaoh ... dressed him in
robes of fine linen and put a
gold chain around his neck." In view of
Joseph's reply to Potiphar's wife,
"How
could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?" (39:9b), this
subtle and surprising structure seemingly corroborates
the significant
statement, "the Lord was with Joseph"
(39:2, 21). Are we to understand
this structure as a subtle authorial hint pregnant
with theological
meaning? Because of his being faithful to the
Lord and leaving vydgb "his
clothes" in the hands of the mendacious
seductress, Joseph is finally
"rewarded" by being dressed in "fine robes of
linen" and is made "second-
in-command" in
structure at face value, we cannot help but admit
that by means of the
noun dgb the author of the
extant text of Genesis has created a perfect
terminological pattern by means of
which a major section of the present-
day book of Genesis has been structured."
Conclusion
The search for terminological patterns has
seemingly proven
profitable. Both within the narrow confines of Gen
38 and the framework
of the book of Genesis, the structuring function
of terminological
patterns has been brought to light. Hence there
can be hardly any doubt
that by having scrutinized the structure, i.e., the
"form," the "content" has
been elucidated. If it is true to fact that in
"literature the form is
meaningful ... ; in literature the form creates
meaning ... ; in literature
the meaning exists in and through form,"21
then the terminological
patterns presented above should be evaluated as
exquisite examples. In
view of the fact that in scrutinizing the structure
of a given biblical text
"our option consists of the alternative between more or less
substantiated
hypotheses, not between a hypothesis and no
hypothesis,"22 we ought to
be mindful that "the reliability of theories
is conditioned by their degree
20 Further terminological and
thematic links between Gen 38 and its immediate context have
been pointed out, for example, by Cassuto, 30-31; Blum, 245; Wenham, 363-365; Menn, 75-78.
21A. Alonso-Schokel,
"Hermeneutical Problems of Literary Study of the Bible," VTSup
Congress Volume 28.
22 R. Knierim,
Text and Concept in Leviticus 1:1-9: A
Case in Exegetical Method,
Forschungen zum Alten Testament 2 (Tubingcn: J. C. B. Mohr, 1992), 2.
TERMINOLOGICAL PATTERNS AND GENESIS 38 305
of explanatory power."23 Since it
is of course self-evident that in matters
like these "all one can aspire to is to elevate
a possibility into a serious
probability or, in other words, to propose a better
hypothesis,"24 the
reader is called upon to weigh the evidence and then
to decide for herself
or himself, whether in Pentateuchal
studies a systematic synchronic
approach should at last be taken more seriously.
In my opinion the message conveyed through the
distinct
terminological patterns enables us to
better understand the eminent role
that
that his (royal) descendants have held throughout
the history of
And
in case the foregoing observations are true to the authorial
intentions, we may conclude that by means of dexterous
structural designs
the biblical writer subtly promulgates profound
theological tenets.
23 A. G. van Aarde, "Historical Criticism and Holism: Heading Toward a New
Paradigm?," in Paradigms
and Progress in Theology, ed. J. Mouton et al. (NP: HSRC Studies
in Research Methodolo ,
1988), 54.
24 Blenkinsopp,
1.
This material is cited with gracious
permission from:
SDA Theological
Berrien Springs
http://www.andrews.edu/SEM/
Please report any errors to Ted
Hildebrandt at: