from particular phrases recurrent in each: e.g. (
Hebrew characters), (Hebrew characters), (Hebrew characters),
(Hebrew characters), (Hebrew characters) [(Hebrew characters)] (Hebrew characters), etc. (cf. Kuen. Ond. i. 228). Although many good
scholars (We. Kue. Ho. al.) are of a different opinion, the present passage
appears to be the most colourless and least original form of the tradition.
In 1210ff. (Jb) the leading features—the beauty of the heroine, the
patriarch's fear for his life, his stratagem, the plagues on the heathen
monarch, his rebuke of the patriarch, and the rewards heaped on the
latter—are combined in a strong and convincing situation, in which
each element stands out in its full natural significance. In ch. 20 (E),
the connexion of ideas is in the main preserved; though a tendency to
soften the harsher aspects of the incident appears in God's communication
to Abimelech, in the statement that no actual harm had come to
Sarah, and in the recognition of the half-truth in Abraham's account
of his relation to Sarah. In 267ff. (Jh) this tendency is carried so far
as to obscure completely the dramatic significance of those features
which are retained. Though Isaac is the guest of Abimelech (v.1), it
is only the 'men of the place' who display a languid interest in his
beautiful wife: no one wants to marry Rebekah, least of all the king,
who is introduced merely as the accidental discoverer of the true state
of affairs, and is concerned only for the morality of his subjects. No
critical situation arises; and the exemplary self-restraint manifested
by the men of Gerar affords no adequate basis for the stern injunction
of 11, which would have been appropriate enough in ch. 12 or ch. 20.
It is, of course, impossible to assign absolute priority in every respect to
any one of the three recensions; but it may reasonably be affirmed that
in general their relative antiquity is represented by the order in which
they happen to stand—Jb, E, Jh. The transference of the scene from
Gerar to Egypt is perhaps the only point in which the first version is
less faithful to tradition than the other two.—See the elaborate comparison
in Gu. 197 ff
.
12-16.—Isaac's successful husbandry.—12. Cultivation on a small scale is still occasionally practised by the Bedouin (see Palmer, Des. of Ex. ii. 296). The only other allusions in the patriarchal history are 3014 377.—13-16. Isaac's phenomenal prosperity excites the jealousy of the Philistines, which leads to his enforced departure.—15. See on 18 below.
13-16. Gu. thinks the vv. are a pendant to the Rebekah incident, corresponding
to the gifts of the heathen king (1216 2014) and the expulsion of
Abraham (1220). It is more natural to consider 12ff. the continuation of 6;
indeed, it might fairly be questioned whether 7-11 is not a later insertion,
interrupting the continuity of the main narrative.—12. (Hebrew characters)] GS
wrongly (Hebrew characters), 'barley.' The word is (Hebrew characters), meaning 'measure' or 'value'
(cf. (Hebrew characters) = 'reckon,' in Pr. 237, with allied words in J. Aram. and NH; esp.
NH (Hebrew characters) = 'measure').—13. (Hebrew characters)] G-K. § 113 u.
