Page:A critical and exegetical commentary on Genesis (1910).djvu/387

Ishmaelite nomads and the explication of their relation to Israel. The point of the story is obscured by a redactional excrescence (⁹), obviously inserted in view of the expulsion of Hagar at a later stage. In reality ch. 16 (J) and 22^8-21 (E) are variants of one tradition; in the Yahwistic version Hagar never returned, but remained in the desert and bore her son by the well Lahai Roi (We. Comp.² 22).—The chapter belongs to the oldest stratum of the Abrahamic legends (J^b), and is plausibly assigned by Gu. to the same source as 12^10-20. From the main narrative of J (J^h) it is marked off by its somewhat unfavourable portraiture of Abram, and by the topography which suggests that Abram's home was in the Negeb rather than in Hebron. The primitive character of the legend is best seen from a close comparison with the Elohistic parallel (see p. 324). Analysis.—Vv.^{1a. 3. 15. 16} belong to P: note the chronological data in ^{3. 16}; the naming of the child by the father ¹⁵ (ct. ¹¹); (Hebrew characters), ³; and the stiff and formal precision of the style.—The rest is J: cf. (Hebrew characters), ^{2. 5. 7 9. 10. 11. 13}; (Hebrew characters), ^{1. 2. 5. 6. 8} (also ³ [P]); (Hebrew characters), ².—The redactional addition in ^9f. (v.s.) betrays its origin by the threefold repetition of (Hebrew characters), a fault of style which is in striking contrast to the exquisite artistic form of the original narrative, though otherwise the language shows no decided departure from Yahwistic usage (Di., but see on v.¹⁰). 1-6. The flight of Hagar.—1. Hagar is not an ordinary household slave, but the peculiar property of Sarai, and therefore not at the free disposal of her master (cf. 24⁵⁹ 29^{24. 29}: see Benzinger, Arch.² 104 f., 126 f.).^[1]—an Egyptian] so v.³ (P), 21⁹ (E); cf. 21²¹. This consistent tradition points to an admixture of Egyptian blood among the Ishmaelites, the reputed descendants of Hagar.^[2]—2. peradventure I may

1a is assigned to P partly because of (Hebrew characters) (cf. v.³), and partly because the statement as to Sarai's barrenness supplies a gap in that document, whereas in J it is anticipated by 11³⁰.—1b. (Hebrew characters)] (from the same [root] as (Hebrew characters)) is originally the slave-concubine; and it is a question

1. "Some wives have female slaves who are their own property, generally purchased for them, or presented to them, before their marriage. These cannot be the husband's concubines without their mistress's permission, which is sometimes granted (as it was in the case of Hagar); but very seldom" (Lane, Mod. Egypt. i. 233 [from Dri.]).—On the resemblance to Cod. Ḫamm. § 146, see Introduction, p. xvii.]
2. The instance is one of the most favourable in Gen. to Winckler's theory that under (Hebrew characters) we are frequently to understand the N Arabian land of Muṣri (Gu.; cf. Che. EB, 3164; KAT³, 146 f.). Yet even here the case is far from clear. An Egyptian strain among the Bedouin of Sinai would be easily accounted for by the very early Egyptian occupation of the Peninsula; and Burton was struck by the Egyptian physiognomy of some of the Arabs of that region at the present day. (Dri. DB, ii. 504^a).]