the Hebrew family to dwell in (see v.11).—7. Joseph introduces his father to Pharaoh,—an impressive and dignified scene.—blessed], i.e. 'saluted' on entering (cf. 1 Sa. 1310, 2 Ki. 429, 2 Sa. 1325 1940), but recorded, no doubt, with a sense that "the less is blessed of the better" (Heb. 77).—9. few and evil] The expression shows that P must have recorded Jacob's long exile with Laban and his protracted sorrow for the loss of Joseph; it is still more interesting as showing that that writer could conceive a good man's life as spent in adversity and affliction.—11. the land of Ra`mses] The name only here and G 4628 (see on 4510), so called from the city built by Ramses II. (Ex. 111) and named after him 'the house of Ramses,' in the E of the Delta (Erman, LAE, 48). The situation is still uncertain; Naville (Goshen, 20) was inclined to identify it with Ṣafṭ el-Ḥenneh (see p. 488); but Petrie now claims to have discovered its site at Tel er-Reṭabeh, in the middle of W. Ṭumīlāt, 8 m. W of Pithom (Hyksos and Israelite Cities, 1906, p. 28 ff.)—12. Probably from E 27a (J).
XLVII. 13-27.—Joseph's Agrarian Policy (J?).
Joseph is here represented as taking advantage of the great famine to revolutionize the system of land-tenure in
(
Hebrew characters)) G reads 6b; then (Greek characters)
(= (Hebrew characters));
then 5a (repeated) 5b. 6a. 7ff.. It will hardly be disputed
that the text of G is here the original, and that P's narrative commences
with the additional sentences quoted above. The editor of MT
felt the doublet to be too glaring; he therefore omitted these two sentences;
and then by transposition worked the two accounts into a single
scene. A further phase is represented by Hex. Syr., where 5b and 6a are
omitted. We have here an instructive example of the complex process
by which the sources were gradually worked into a smooth narrative, and
one which deserves the attention of those writers who ridicule the minute
and intricate operations which the critical theory finds it necessary to
attribute to the redactors.—6b. (Hebrew characters)] See G-K. § 120 e. The (Hebrew characters) of
[E] is certainly not preferable (Ba.).—11. (Hebrew characters)] v.6, Ex. 224, 1 Sa. 15{9. 5† }.
The identification of (Hebrew characters) with the 'land of Ramses' probably rests
on a misunderstanding of E's (Hebrew characters) (see on 4518), and a combination of
it with J's (Hebrew characters).—12. (Hebrew characters)] apparently including here the women: cf. 5021.
