owing partly to uncertainty of text, and partly to the
obscurity of the (
Greek characters) (Hebrew characters) (v.i.). The rendering above
gives a good sense, and Ba.'s objection, that daggers are
necessarily implements of violence, has no force.—6a. council . . . assembly] The tribal gatherings, in which deeds of
violence were planned, and sanguinary exploits gloated over.
The distich expresses vividly the thought that the true ethos
of Israel was not represented in these bloody-minded gatherings.—6b.
men . . . oxen] The nouns are collectives.—slaughter . . . hough] Perfects of experience. The latter
operation (disable by cutting the sinew of the hind-leg) was
occasionally performed by Israelites on horses (Jos. 116. 9,
2 Sa. 84); to do it to a domestic animal was evidently considered
inhuman. No such atrocity is recorded of the
assault on Shechem (see 3428).[1]—7b. in Jacob . . . in Israel]
The speaker is plainly not the individual patriarch, nor the
Almighty (Land), but the personified nation.
and the latter 'pits' (cf. (Hebrew characters), Zeph. 29); but neither (Hebrew characters) (Ba.)
nor (Hebrew characters) ['knavery and violence are their pits'] (Gu.) is so
good as the ordinary interpretation. Ba., however, rightly observes that
(Hebrew characters) yields a better metre than (Hebrew characters)—(so Siev.).—6a. (Hebrew characters)] Read with
G (Hebrew characters), 'my liver,' the seat of mental affections in La. 211 (cf. Ps. 169
3013 579 1082: MT (Hebrew characters)): cf. kabittu, 'Gemüth,' in Ass.—(Hebrew characters)] [E] (Hebrew characters).
Since (Hebrew characters) is masc., rd. (Hebrew characters).—6b. (Hebrew characters)] 'self-will,' 'wantonness'; cf. Neh.
924. 37, Est. 18 95 etc.—(Hebrew characters)] On certain difficulties in the usage of the
word, see Batten, ZATW, xxviii. 189 ff., where it is argued that the
sense is general—'make useless.'—(Hebrew characters)] Aq. ΣVSTO read (Hebrew characters), 'wall,'
perhaps to avoid the supposed contradiction with 3428f.. Hence the
correct (Greek characters) of G is instanced in Mechilta as a change made by the
LXX translators (see p. 14).—7. (Hebrew characters), (Hebrew characters)] [E] (Hebrew characters), (Hebrew characters).—(Hebrew characters)] Here
pausal form of (Hebrew characters) (ct. v.3).
- ↑ Zimmern (ZA, vii. 162 f.) finds in 6b a reminiscence of the mutilation
of the celestial Bull by Gilgameš and Eabani in the Bab. Gilgameš-Epic.
Simeon and Levi, like Gilgameš and Eabani, represent the Gemini of
the Zodiac; and it is pointed out that the Bull in the heavens is (
Greek characters), i.e. only its fore-half appears as a constellation. The (Hebrew characters) then corresponds
to the tyrant Ḫumbaba, who was slain by Gilgameš and Eabani;
and Jacob's curse answers to the curse of Ištar on the two heroes for
mutilating the Bull.—Whatever truth there may be in this mythological
interpretation, it does not relieve us of the necessity of finding a historical
explanation of the incidents.
