Abraham dwelt.—If Ḥavîlah has been rightly located on p. 202 above,
J fixes the eastern limit of the Ishmaelites in the neighbourhood of the
Ǧōf es-Sirhān, while the western limit is the frontier of Egypt (on Shûr,
see on 167). This description is, of course, inapplicable to P's Ishmaelites;
but it agrees sufficiently with the statement of E (2121) that their home
was the wilderness of Paran; and it includes Lahai-roi, which was
presumably an Ishmaelite sanctuary. Since a reference to Assyria is
here out of place, the words (
Hebrew characters) must be either deleted as a gloss
(We. Di. Mey. al.), or else read (Hebrew characters); (Hebrew characters) being the hypothetical N
Arabian tribe supposed to be mentioned in 253 (so Gu.; cf. Homm.
AHT, 240 f.; Kön. Fünf Landsch. 11 ff.), a view for which there is
very little justification.—18b is an adaptation of 1612b, but throws no light
on that difficult sentence. Perhaps the best commentary is Ju. 712,
where again the verb (Hebrew characters) has the sense of 'settle' (= (Hebrew characters) in 1612).
Hommel's restoration (Hebrew characters), 'in front of Kelaḥ' (a secondary gloss
on (Hebrew characters)), is a brilliant example of misplaced ingenuity.
