narrative at all. In the latter, Noah's sons are married men who take their wives into the ark (so expressly in P, but the same must be presumed for J); here, on the contrary, they are represented as minors living in the 'tent' with their father; and the conduct of the youngest is obviously conceived as an exhibition of juvenile depravity (so Di. Bu. al.). The presumption, therefore, is that vv.20-27 belong to a stratum of J which knew nothing of the Flood; and this conclusion is confirmed by an examination of the structure of the passage.
First of all, we observe that in v.24 the offender is the youngest son
of Noah, and in v.25 is named Canaan; while Shem and Japheth are
referred to as his brothers. True, in v.22 the misdeed is attributed to
'Ham the father of Canaan'; but the words (
Hebrew characters) have all the appearance
of a gloss intended to cover the transition from 18f. to 20ff.; and
the clause (Hebrew characters) in 18b can have no other purpose. Now 18a is
the close of J's[1] account of the Flood; and 19 points forward either to
J's list of Nations (ch. 10), or to the dispersion of the Tower of Babel.
Vv.20-27 interrupt this connexion, and must accordingly be assigned to a
separate source. That that source is, however, still Yahwistic, is shown
partly by the language ((Hebrew characters), v.26 [in spite of (Hebrew characters) in v.27]; and (Hebrew characters), v.20);
and more especially by the connexion with 529 (see pp. 3, 133 f.). It is
clear, therefore, that a redactor (RJ) has here combined two Yahwistic
documents, and sought to reduce the contradiction by the glosses in
18b and 22.
18, 19. Connecting verses (see above).—Noah's sons are
here for the first time named in J, in harmony, however,
with the repeated notices of P (532 610 713). On the names
see on ch. 10 (p. 195 f.).—20. Noah the husbandman was the first who planted a vineyard]—a fresh advance in human
civilisation. The allusion to Noah as the husbandman is
19. (Hebrew characters)] 'the whole (population of the) earth was scattered.'
For the construction cf. 105.—(Hebrew characters)] hardly contracted Niph. from [root] (Hebrew characters)
[= (Hebrew characters)] (G-K. § 67 dd); but from [root] (Hebrew characters), whether this be a secondary
formation from [root] (Hebrew characters) (G-B.14 465 f.), or an independent word (BDB,
659). Cf. 1 Sa. 1311, Is. 1112 333.—20. (Hebrew characters)] cf. 426 61 108 116 4412 (J)
4154 (E). The rendering 'Noah commenced as a husbandman' (Dav.
§ 83, R. 2) is impossible on account of the art. (ct. 1 Sa. 32): to insert
(Hebrew characters) (Ball) does not get rid of the difficulty. The construction with [H]
cons., instead of inf., is very unusual (Ezr. 38); hence Che. (EB, 34262),
- ↑ Comp. (
Hebrew characters) with 1018 114. 8. 9; and (Hebrew characters) (= the population of the earth) with 111. 9. (Bu.); (Hebrew characters) with 1029 2223 254 (Ho.).]
