below). In J, Jacob is dwelling in the vale of Hebron; the sons have gone to Shechem. If the incident of ch. 34 belonged to the same cycle of tradition, the brethren would perhaps hardly have ventured into the neighbourhood of Shechem so soon (see p. 418); though it has been argued that this very circumstance accounts for Jacob's solicitude. In E we find no indication of either the starting-point or the goal of the journey. 14a suggests that the flocks were at some distance from Jacob's home: possibly the narrative is based on a stratum of E in which Jacob's permanent residence was at Bethel (see on 351).—15-17. The man who directs Joseph to Dothan is not necessarily a neighbour of the family who knew Joseph by sight (Gu.); nor is the incident a faded version of a theophany (Ho. Ben.): it is simply a vivid description of the uncertainty of Joseph's persistent search for his brethren.—Dôthān (2 Ki. 613ff., Jth. 39 46 718) is the modern Tell Dōthān, near Ǧenīn, about 15 miles N of Shechem. Some local legend may have connected it with the history of Joseph.
15-17 would be a sufficiently natural continuation of 14b (J), and Gu.'s
conjecture (above) establishes no presumption to the contrary. They
may, however, be from E: in this case it is probable that E did not
mention Shechem at all, nor J Dothan.
18-30. The plot to murder Joseph frustrated by Reuben (E), or Judah (J).—18a, 19, 20 E ‖ 18b J.
Common to both sources is the proposal to kill Joseph; E
develops it most fully, revealing the motive of the crime and
- cation, but a variant, of 13a, continuing 13b. 14b obviously follows 13a.—12.
(
Hebrew characters)] with puncta extraordinaria, because for some reason the text was
suspected.—14. (Hebrew characters) (232. 19)] The words might be a gloss based on
P (3527 4929ff. 5013); but Steuernagel's proposal to remove them (Einw. 36)
takes too little account of the fragmentariness of J's narrative in ch. 35;
and Gu.'s argument that the journey was too long for a young lad is
weak.—17. (Hebrew characters)] [E]G (Hebrew characters).—(Hebrew characters), (Hebrew characters)] The form with (Hebrew characters) is the older
(cf. Eg. Tu-ti-y-na, Müller, AE, 88), the other an accommodation to a
common nominal termination. The ending [Language: **] is not dual, but an old
(Aram. ?) locative corresponding to Heb. (Hebrew characters) (see pp. 342 f.; Barth,
NB, 3195; G-K. § 88 c).
18a and 18ba are obviously doublets; the analysis adopted above
gives the simplest arrangement.—(Hebrew characters)] 'acted craftily,' only found in
late writings (Nu. 2518, Mal. 114, Ps. 10525†), but the [root] occurs in Aram.
