22-26. Joseph.
22 A fruitful bough (?) is Joseph—
A fruitful bough by a well (?).
. . . .
23 And . . . dealt bitterly with him,
And the archers harassed him sorely.
24 Yet his bow abode unmoved,
And nimble were the arms of his hands.
Through the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob,
Through the, [name] of the Shepherd of the Israel-Stone,
25 Through thy father's God—may he help thee!
And El Shaddai—may he bless thee!
Blessings of heaven above,
Blessings of Tĕhôm [ ] beneath,
Blessings of breast and womb,
26 Blessings of . . . (?),
Blessings of the eternal, [mountains],
[Produce] of the everlasting hills—
Be on the head of Joseph,
And on the crown of the consecrated one of his brethren.
The section is full of obscurities, and the text frequently quite untranslatable.
Its integrity has naturally not passed unquestioned.
We may distinguish four stages in the unfolding of the theme: (1) The
opening tristich (22), celebrating (as far as can be made out) the populousness
and prosperity of the central double-tribe. (2) Joseph's contest
with the 'archers' (23. 24a). (3) A fourfold invocation of the Deity (24b
25aαβ). (4) The blessing proper (26aγδb. 26), which closely resembles the
corresponding part of the Blessing of Moses (Dt. 3313-16), the two being
probably variants of a common original. Meyer (INS, 282 ff.) accepts
(1), (2), and (4) as genuine, but rejects (3) as a later addition, which has
displaced the original transition from the conflict to the blessing. Fripp
(ZATW, xxi. 262 ff.) would remove (3) and (4) (24b-26), which he holds to
have been inserted by an Ephraimite editor from Dt. 33: Ho. seems in
the main to agree. Sievers also (II. 362) questions the genuineness of
24b-26 on metrical grounds. But we may admit the northern origin of
some of the vv., and the resemblance to Dt. 33, and even a difference
of metre, and still hold that the whole belongs to the earliest literary
recension of the Song to which we have access. The warm enthusiasm
of the eulogy, and the generous recognition of Joseph's services to the
national cause, are no doubt remarkable in a Judæan document; but
such a tone is not unintelligible in the time of David, when the unity of
the empire had to be maintained by a friendly and conciliatory attitude
to the high-spirited central tribes.
22. On the ordinary but highly questionable rendering,
22. (
Hebrew characters)] (Hebrew characters) is const. st.: the rhythmic accent forbids the usual
shortening of the vowel with Maqqeph ((Hebrew characters).—(Hebrew characters)] Contracted from (Hebrew characters),
