reinforcement of the Aramæan element in the Hebrew stock, as in the kindred story of Jacob and his wives (see Steuernagel, Einw. 39 f.). But if such a historical kernel existed, it is quite lost sight of in the graphic delineation of human character, and of ancient Eastern life, which is to us the main interest of the passage. We must also note the profoundly religious conception of Yahwe's providence as an unseen power, overruling events in answer to prayer. All these features seem to indicate a somewhat advanced phase in the development of the patriarchal tradition. The chapter belongs to the literary type most fully represented in the Joseph-narrative (cf. Gu. 220).
Source and Unity of the Narrative.—From the general character of
the style, and the consistent use of the name (
Hebrew characters), critical opinion has
been practically unanimous in assigning the whole chapter to J. It is
admitted, however, that certain 'unevennesses of representation' occur;
and the question arises whether these are to be explained by accidental
dislocations of the text, or by the interweaving of two parallel recensions.
Thus, the servant's objection that the maiden may not be willing
to follow him (5. 39), is met by Abraham in two ways: on the one hand
by the confident assurance that this will not happen (7. 40), and on the
other by absolving him from his oath if his mission should miscarry
(8. 41). In 29f. Laban twice goes out to the man at the well (29b 30b; 28
speaks of the mother's house, 23b of the father's: in 50 the servant
negotiates with Laban and Bethuel, in 53. 55 with the brother and mother
of the bride; in 51 the request is at once agreed to by the relatives without
regard to Rebekah's wish, whereas in 57f. the decision is left to
herself; in 59 Rebekah is sent away with her nurse, in 61a she takes her
own maidens with her; her departure is twice recorded (61a 61 b). These
doublets and variants are too numerous to be readily accounted for
either by transpositions of the text (Di. al.) or by divergences in the
oral tradition (SOT, 96); and although no complete analysis is here
attempted, the presence of two narratives must be recognised. That
one of these is J is quite certain; but it is to be observed that the
characteristically Yahwistic expressions are somewhat sparsely distributed,
and leave an ample margin of neutral ground for critical
ingenuity to sift out the variants between two recensions.[1] The
problem has been attacked with great acuteness and skill by Gu.
(215-221) and Procksch (14 f.), though with very discordant results. I
agree with Procksch that the second component is in all probability
E, mainly on the ground that a fusion of Jh and Jb (Gu.) is without
parallel, whereas Jb and E are combined in ch. 21. The stylistic
criteria are, indeed, too indecisive to permit of a definite conclusion;
but the parallels instanced above can easily be arranged in two series,
one of which is free from positive marks of J; while, in the other,
- ↑ (
Hebrew characters), 1. 3. 7. 12. 21. 26. 27. 31. 35. 40. 42. 44. 48. 50. 51. 52. 56; (Hebrew characters), 10 (against
P's (Hebrew characters)); (Hebrew characters), 4 (121); (Hebrew characters) 1 (see on 1811); (Hebrew characters), 16 (267, cf.
1211); (Hebrew characters), 16 (see on 41); (Hebrew characters) with suff. and ptcp. 42. 49; (Hebrew characters), 15. 45; (Hebrew characters),
21. 40. 42. 56 (392. 3. 23); (Hebrew characters), 12 (2720); (Hebrew characters), 17 (see 182); 2. 12. 14. 17. 25. 42.
43. 45.]
