Simeon and Levi in "The Blessing of Jacob" (Gen. 49:5-7)
Lexical, syntactical, and literary-structural problems of Gen. 49:5-7 find resolution in the redivision of the consonantal text of 49:5, and, in 49:6, in the revocalization of תחד to תחד, in the recognition of the meaning "body-front, belly" for כבוד, and in the restitution of the meaning...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
HUC
1982
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| In: |
Hebrew Union College annual
Year: 1981, Volume: 52, Pages: 93-128 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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| Summary: | Lexical, syntactical, and literary-structural problems of Gen. 49:5-7 find resolution in the redivision of the consonantal text of 49:5, and, in 49:6, in the revocalization of תחד to תחד, in the recognition of the meaning "body-front, belly" for כבוד, and in the restitution of the meaning "they tore out" = "they despoiled" for עקרו. The poem then translates: Simeon and Levi are spent owls, Cashiered hawks are they. Into their council I will not enter, In their assembly I do not rejoice. For in their anger they kill(ed) men, And in their caprice tore out a bull. Cursed be their anger so potent, And their vehemence so callous! I shall divide them in Jacob, And shall scatter them in Israel. The persona of Jacob's "Blessing", the dying pater familias, Jacob-Israel, represents a latter-day idealization of a pre-Judaean confederation of Israelite tribes now at the point of its final dissolution in the reign of Jeroboam I. Characterizing Simeon and Levi as perishing birds of prey, he dissociates himself from them, censures their actions, and condemns them to dispersion. Their actions which are here remembered, and which occasion this indictment, are Simeon's joint military venture with Judah, and Levi's despoliation of the sacred bull-calf image at Bethel. |
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Hebrew Union College annual
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