Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Was Sarah buried in the *Valley* of Chevron?

Summary: A variant text in the beginning of parashat Chayei Sarah, present in the Septuagint and Samaritan Pentateuch. And why I believe the masoretic text to be better.

Post: Parashat Chayei Sarah begins (Bereishit 23:1-2):


א  וַיִּהְיוּ חַיֵּי שָׂרָה, מֵאָה שָׁנָה וְעֶשְׂרִים שָׁנָה וְשֶׁבַע שָׁנִים--שְׁנֵי, חַיֵּי שָׂרָה.1 And the life of Sarah was a hundred and seven and twenty years; these were the years of the life of Sarah.
ב  וַתָּמָת שָׂרָה, בְּקִרְיַת אַרְבַּע הִוא חֶבְרוֹן--בְּאֶרֶץ כְּנָעַן; וַיָּבֹא, אַבְרָהָם, לִסְפֹּד לְשָׂרָה, וְלִבְכֹּתָהּ.2 And Sarah died in Kiriatharba--the same is Hebron--in the land of Canaan; and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her.


Thus, Sarah was buried in Kiryat Arba, which is Chevron. Yet on pasuk 2, the Septuagint has a slight variant:

2 And Sarrha died in the city of Arboc, which is in the valley, this is Chebron in the land of Chanaan; and Abraam came to lament for Sarrha and to mourn.

2 καὶ ἀπέθανεν Σαρρα ἐν πόλει Αρβοκ, ἥ ἐστιν ἐν τῷ κοιλώματι [αὕτη ἐστὶν Χεβρων] ἐν γῇ Χανααν. ἦλθεν δὲ Αβρααμ κόψασθαι Σαρραν καὶ πενθῆσαι. 


This parallels a variant text in the Samaritan Torah:

The text on the right is our Masoretic text, while the text on the left is the Samaritan Torah. Note how they add the definite article to Ha-Arba, as well as adding el Emek, or in some variants, al Emek (with an ayin) preceding Chevron.

This is one of many instances in which the Septuagint and the Samaritan text share a feature which the Masoretic text lacks.

Yet, the Samaritan Torah betrays a regular agenda of emending the text to make it better. I could give many examples of this phenomenon. As such, it pays to consider whether there is anything that would prompt an insertion of el Emek.

To cite a pasuk, and Rashi, from parashat Vayeshev:


14. So he said to him, "Go now and see to your brothers' welfare and the welfare of the flocks, and bring me back word." So he sent him from the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.יד. וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ לֶךְ נָא רְאֵה אֶת שְׁלוֹם אַחֶיךָ וְאֶת שְׁלוֹם הַצֹּאן וַהֲשִׁבֵנִי דָּבָר וַיִּשְׁלָחֵהוּ מֵעֵמֶק חֶבְרוֹן וַיָּבֹא שְׁכֶמָה:
from…Hebron: But is not Hebron on a mountain? It is stated: “And they ascended in the south, and he came as far as Hebron” (Num. 13:22). But [it is to be understood that he sent him] from the deep counsel of the righteous man who is buried in Hebron (i.e., Abraham), to fulfill what was said to Abraham between the parts (Gen. 15:13). [From Gen. Rabbah 84:13]מעמק חברון: והלא חברון בהר, שנאמר (במדבר יג כב) ויעלו בנגב ויבא עד חברון, אלא מעצה עמוקה של [אותו] צדיק הקבור בחברון, לקיים מה שנאמר לאברהם בין הבתרים (לעיל טו יג) כי גר יהיה זרעך:


Thus, later on we encounter an Emek Chevron. And since Chevron is on a mountain, a valley makes no immediate sense, and so Bereishit Rabba darshens it. (It might well make sense on a peshat level as an actual valley, which would be in proximity to this mountain.)

But at any rate, we see this surprise when we encounter Emek Chevron. With the Samaritan agenda to smooth the Biblical text with a mind for global information from elsewhere in Torah, el Emek makes sense. While Chevron appears in a few places, this mention in Chayei Sarah is the first mention of Chevron. Therefore, let us note at this point that Chevron is by the Emek, and there will be no surprise later.

The addition of the definite article, making it Ha-Arba is likely influenced by Kiryat Ha-Arba in Bereishit 35:27:
בראשית פרק לה
  • פסוק כ"ז: וַיָּבֹא יַעֲקֹב אֶל-יִצְחָק אָבִיו, מַמְרֵא קִרְיַת הָאַרְבַּע--הִוא חֶבְרוֹן, אֲשֶׁר-גָּר-שָׁם אַבְרָהָם וְיִצְחָק. 

As such, it seems rather likely that the Samaritans emended the Masoretic text to fix this 'difficulty', rather than vice versa. And then, the Septuagint based itself on an erroneous text which derived from the Samaritan.

8 comments:

vincent said...

'Newest Testament' and ofspring of 'Old Testament's Septuagint' more precisely the book of Acts has the cave positioned in Sechem, if I remember correctly. What about that? (LOL)
Feel very mixed about the capital letters of some words.
Samaritans are not an uninteressting bunch I have to say.
Don't know much about them, but still. Do they have codes in this bible of theirs?

joshwaxman said...

interesting.
i don't think the positioning of the cave in Shechem would work out, for two reasons:
(a) assuming the present-day Cave of the Patriarchs is in its true location, then it is in Hebron rather than Nablus (Shechem).
(b) the Biblical verse above, that Jacob sent Joseph from the valley of Hebron to Shechem.

Assuming authorship of Acts is from Luke, then this is outside the land of Israel, in Ancient Syria, somewhere 2nd century to 4th century CE. So it is possible that some confusion about geography occurred.

all the best,
josh

vincent said...

I know and agree that's why I was laughing out loud (LOL).
And also, I think that when they add extra lettres to their bible there are no codes to be found !
But I am gonna study these guys a liitle bit. Thanks for that, but I do not worry about them so much.
Because no codes, and errors in other books of theirs. They are X-tians are they not?
Me Noahide! Shalom !

joshwaxman said...

ah, i see now. :)

if you are referring to Samaritans, then they are not Christians but rather (according to the Talmud) Jewish converts from about second-Temple times who ultimately rejected Oral Law while accepting the Written Law. When the Talmud talks of laws applying to Cutheans, quite often this is a reference to Samaritans, for they were called Kutim.

I don't know about the Bible Codes, but it is quite possible that such codes could be found in the Samaritan text as well. After all, there are Masoretic disputes as well and, as Rabbi Shmueli Boteach recently pointed out, the Talmud states that we are not experts in full or deficient spelling (of vowel letters such as vav and yud), which could throw off Bible codes as well.

all the best,
Josh

vincent said...

Thanx for da patience and kind words.
I was in a kibutz once called Beth Ha Emeq, so I know what is an Emeq and have known for a while also about 'new testament' errors regarding the cave's location and that's what triggered my reaction.
Also about Samaritans I was aware. Maybe because of the good Samaritan story in this new testament i thought they were X-tians (LOL). Sorry for all that.
Anyway, and ofcourse I am here to learn and my knowledge is so much less than yours, so forgive me my boldness or Chutzpah but the cave was on the edge of the field wasn't it? And Hebron is pretty high above Sea level anyway. So what is the problem? You go up, physically but first you humble yourself ( go down) in order to ascent spiritualy with the Most High. So even when you go up a liitle to go downbeneath into the cave to where the craves are, it is all fitting and just a matter of saying. It reminds me of a broek in Dutch lingo. A brook is not land nor water but a play of these two, where water and land meet. It is as much defind by what it is as it is defind by what it borders with. This is connected with Brooklin indeed a place of lots of water but where people lived along the water. In the same way I would suggest a cave would always be on the outside or edge of a mountain and there would always be a question of defining the outer bounderies and actual circumstances to be found with a hollow space partialy inside partialy halfway up, partialy going up, going in, and going down.
Anyway, I might have driven through Hebron once and don't really know. But these are my humble thoughts about it, if they make any sense to you, i don't know. I am not so sure myself(LOL).If Abraham is indeed father of all peoples than can Noahides take a look inside? Not that I want/need to, but just as a question?

vincent said...

One more thing, do the Samaritans have Neviim Seferim also?
What do they have written at Zacharia 10 -12? Cause these X-tians ( and it was you who mentioned pentateuch and septuagaint) have it sound as if it talks about the J- man.
Also Jesaia 53 is falsiefied by X-tians. X-tians also hate Talmud. If Samaritan scripture favors the Hebrew version than that good be a great countermissionary tool. Not that I need that, but some of your fellow people might.
BTW: Water is Thora, correct? So, ( In my humble mind)it is fitting that Chabad headquarters is in Brooklin.
Shabat Shalom
Quess one has to be circumcised to enter the Machpela which is fair enough.

vincent said...

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/140345

joshwaxman said...

i'll try to respond to your other points and queries later.

but in terms of Noahides visiting, I am pretty sure that it is open to anyone. there is a portion which is a mosque, but the Jewish side is open to all, as far as I understand.

all the best,
josh

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