subj.—set it on high as a maẓẓebāh] see 2818. 22. The monolith
may have stood on an eminence and formed a conspicuous
feature of the landscape (Di.).—46 (J). And he
(Laban) said, etc.] Here (
Hebrew characters) is certainly wrong, for Laban
expressly says that the cairn was raised by him (51).—a cairn]
(Hebrew characters) means simply a heap of stones (v.i.), not a rampart (We.
Di.). The idea that the (Hebrew characters) was originally the mountain range
of Gilead itself, Laban and Jacob being conceived as giants
(We. Gu. Mey.), has certainly no support in the text.—they ate upon the cairn] The covenant feast, which may very well
have preceded the covenant ceremony; see 2630.—47. In
spite of its interesting and philologically correct notice, the
v. must unfortunately be assigned to a glossator, for the
reasons given below.—48 (J). Laban explains the purpose
of the cairn, and names it accordingly: cairn of witness.]
The stone heap is personified, and was no doubt in ancient
times regarded as animated by a deity (cf. Jos. 2427). (Hebrew characters)
is, of course, an artificial formation, not the real or original
pronunciation of (Hebrew characters).—49 (E). And [the] Miẓpāh, for he said] The text, if not absolutely ungrammatical, is a very
(Greek characters) (fr. v.50).—46. (Hebrew characters)] G (Hebrew characters).—(Hebrew characters)] From [root] (Hebrew characters) 'roll' (stones, 293,
Jos. 1018, 1 Sa. 1433, Pr. 2627). On sacred stone-heaps among the Arabs,
see We. Heid.2 111 f. (with which cf. Doughty, Ar. Des. i. 26, 81, 431);
Curtiss, PSR, 80 (cairn as witness); on the eating upon the cairn,
Frazer, Folklore in OT, 131 ff.—47. (Hebrew characters) is the precise Aramaic
equivalent of Heb. (Hebrew characters), 'heap of witness.' The decisive reasons for
rejecting the v. are: (1) It stands out of its proper place, anticipating 48b;
(2) it contradicts 48b, where the Heb. name (Hebrew characters) is given by Laban;
(3) it assumes (contrary to the implication of all the patriarchal
narratives) that the Naḥorites spoke a different dialect from the
ancestors of the Hebrews. It may be added that the Aram. phrase
shows the glossator to have taken (Hebrew characters) as const. and gen., whereas the
latter in 48b is more probably a sent. 'the heap is witness' (see Nestle,
MM, 10 f.). The actual name (Hebrew characters)[(Hebrew characters)] is usually, but dubiously, explained
by Ar. ǧal'ad 'hard,' 'firm.'—48. (Hebrew characters)] so 119 1922 2934f. (all J),
2530 (J?).—49. (Hebrew characters)] [E] (Hebrew characters), which We. thinks the original name of
the place, afterwards changed to (Hebrew characters) because of the evil associations
of the word maẓẓebāh. He instances the transcription of G (Greek characters),
as combining the consonants of the new name with the vowels of the old
(Comp.2 441). The argument is precarious; but there seems to be a word-play
between the names; and since the opening is evidently corrupt, it
is possible that both stood in the text. Ball's restoration (Hebrew characters)] (Hebrew characters)
