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RECONCILIATION.

The Scripture terms, grandchildren, children, are clearly shewn in Question 39; therefore Laban might be called the son of his grandfather Nahor, although his father was Bethuel; or, according to Nachmanides and R. Bechayai, Bethuel was a man of no note, and therefore Laban was known in the land from his grandfather Nahor, who, as the brother of Abraham, was a person of consequence; and therefore that the shepherds might understand at once who he inquired for, Jacob said "Know ye Laban the son of Nahor?

QUESTION 56.

Gen. 32:8; 33:13. state that Esau dwelt in Seir.

Gen. 36:6, &c. Esau took his wives, family, and substance, and went from the land of Canaan to Seir.

If at the time Jacob was in Haran, Esau was in Seir, to which place Jacob sent his messengers on leaving Laban, according to the first verses; how does say in the latter, that, after Jacob returned to Hebron, Esau took his wives

it
and all he had to Seir?

RECONCILIATION.

Nachmanides, Don Isaac Abarbanel, and the author of Hiskuni, touch on this point, and solve the doubt by saying, that, previous to Jacob's going to Hebron, Esau resided in Seir, either from its being a place celebrated for its hunting grounds, to which sport he was much attached, or from some other cause, without a fixed establishment. At the time Jacob sent his ambassadors, Esau was at the head of four hundred men; but when Jacob returned to Canaan, as the country could not afford pasturage to so much cattle as their united stock consisted of, he took his wives, children, and property, and established himself with his household in Seir, which is to be inferred from the sacred text, which says, "Thus dwelt Esau in Mount Seir;"1 thus he settled there. The reason Esau changed his residence, and did not compel his brother to seek another situation for his flocks and herds, was, as Rashi says, because he knew that that land had been promised to Jacob, and he would not act in opposition to the divine decree: and thus no objection remains to the texts.

QUESTION 57.

Gen. 35:10. Thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name.

Gen. 35:23. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve.

If the angel changed Jacob's name to Israel, saying,

"" Thou shalt no more

be called by thy former name," and which was subsequently confirmed by

1 Genesis 36:8.

God; how is it that we afterwards often find him termed Jacob, in the Holy Scriptures ?

RECONCILIATION.

In the Tosaphtha of Berachot1 and Bereshit Raba2, it is said, that in what the angel said "Thy name shall not be called any more Jacob," it is not to be understood that he entirely took away that name from him, but that the name of Israel should be the principal and superior, and that of Jacob inferior and accessory. Ben Zoma, in Berachot, 3 understood the same; adducing the text of Jeremiah," Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more say, As the Lord liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but, As the Lord liveth, which brought up, and led the seed of the house of Israel from the north country, &c. whither I have driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land:"4 which is not indicative that the first event is to be erased from memory, but that the complete redemption of Israel will be a miracle so much greater, that all antecedent ones will appear inferior; and this the ancient sages say, is because the redemptions which Israel has experienced, have always been effected through human means, and were therefore imperfect, and they have consequently fallen again into captivity: but as the latter one will be effected by the immediate hand of the blessed God himself, it will be everlasting and certain.

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According to R. Huna, one of the things that annuls a sentence of evil, is change of name; as we see of Abram, on account of his being childless, it was changed to Abraham, and Sarai to Sarah: and for this reason the Hebrews are accustomed in dangerous illnesses to change the name of the suffering individual; when the second name given becomes the principal, and the first used as an adjunct or accessory, as R. Joseph Colon says in his 'Questions ;' "6 according to this the doubt is solved, and the text is to be understood, "Thy name shall not be called any more Jacob," (as regards the principal name), "but Israel shall be thy name;" means that Israel shall be the higher title, and the one of dignity; or as the learned Aben Ezra says repeatedly, "Thy name shall not be called Jacob," means only, "but Israel shall be also thy name; therefore thou shalt sometimes be called by the one, and sometimes by the other."

R. Bechayai, in two places, treats very learnedly on the reason why Jacob's name was changed; and the cause of his opinion is different from what has been stated above: he says, the name of Jacob was given on account of his coming into the world attached to his brother's heel, which signified subjection or inclination to the corporeal functions of matter; but the name of Israel represents the intellectual habits and actions of the soul; and this is what the angel signified to him when he said, "I have given thee this name to-day, seeing thou hast overpowered angels," that is, thou hast made thyself great and lordly by means of the theological virtues which the name of Israel denotes. As it is impossible that the soul while united with the mortal covering of the body can divest itself of the functions, or be independent of the actions of corporeity, it was unavoidable that Jacob should retain his first name until his death, as well as that of Israel, the latter being the superior; and this because the patriarch always knew how to regulate his corporeal actions by the exercise of his intellectual faculties; necessity and urgency only inducing such actions. According to R. Jacob ben Habib and R. Abraham

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Sabah he obtained both names; that of Jacob, representing the captivity of his descendants, and that they would be trod on by other monarchies; and of Israel, signifying the command and empire they will possess in the latter days and therefore he was first named Jacob, and subsequently the name of Israel was given to him.

The prophets adopted this order of designation, "Hear, O Jacob, my servant, and Israel whom I have chosen," commences the 44th chapter of Isaiah, in which the names are repeated frequently in the same order.

R. Isaac Arama7 says, a change of name takes place at the circumcision attendant upon an entrance into the flock of Israel,- -a custom which the Hebrews adopt at the present day: therefore, it was not proper that Abram should be called after circumcision by the same name he bore previously to being admitted into the covenant with God: but Jacob's case was different; he was already a son of the covenant, and being so, it was not requisite that his prior name should be entirely forgotten.

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Or it may be said, that Abram received his name from his idolatrous father, and Jacob his from the virtuous and pious Isaac. Or again, Abram, express"father of Aram," and Abraham, on as "father of many people," it would have been derogatory to use the former, while the latter indicated superior excellence and dignity; and so that of Jacob, apr' meaning "heel," and indicating the future salvation when he shall triumph over Esau, it was likewise improper totally to disuse it. R. Moses Albelda,8 and R. Samuel Jafe,9 adduce many other reasons, but they are omitted to avoid prolixity.

QUESTION 58.

Gen.35:16. And they journeyed from Bethel, and there was but a little piece of ground

to come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed.

18. His father called him Benjamin.

Gen. 35:26. These are the sons of Jacob which were born to him in Padan Aram.

By the first text we find Benjamin to have been born in the land of Canaan; how then can the subsequent one say, after naming the sons of Jacob, Benjamin included, that he was born in Padan Aram?

RECONCILIATION.

R. Abraham Aben Ezra, on the 18th and 34th chapters of Exodus, says, that the Holy Scriptures often make no note of the lesser numbers: thus, the clothing of the High Priest, he says, consisted of seven pieces or things; yet the frontlet, although not a garment, but only an ornament or decoration, is added to the number of the others, and called "eight clothings." It says in the same way (Deut. 10: 22) "Thy fathers went down into Egypt with seventy souls," thus including Joseph and his sons, who were already there; but, as above said, the lesser number is disregarded, while speaking of what affects the greater: therefore, although Benjamin was born in Canaan he is not excluded from the enumeration of his father's children, when it is said the whole were born in Padan Aram.

R. Hezekiah, the author of Hiskuni, says, that as Joseph was born in Padan Aram, and the name was given to him in consequence of Rachel's prayer to

6 Seoror Amor.

7 Aquedat, c. 1.

8 Olat Tamid, b. 3, c. 5. 9 Jafé Tohar, p. 272.

God that he would give her another son, and Benjamin was conceded to her; he is therefore reckoned among the others, as if he had been actually born there also. The verses are thus conciliated.

QUESTION 59.

Gen. 36:2. The same Aholibamah is named also as the daughter of Zibeon.

Gen. 36:2. And Esau took his wives, &c. (among whom is mentioned Aholibamah as the "daughter of Anah.")

If the father of Aholibamah was Anah, how does it say, she was also the daughter of Zibeon, thus giving her two fathers?

RECONCILIATION.

R. Tam, in the Guemara of Baba Batra', says, that the name of Anah is feminine, and therefore Anah was the daughter of Zibeon, as stated in verse 24, chapter 36; and the following verse says, that "the children of Anah were these, Dishon, and Aholibamah the daughter of Anah," that is, the Anah mentioned in the preceding verse as the daughter of Zibeon; leaving no doubt on the point, as the contradictory verse is perfectly comprehensible in that way, and means Aholibamah the daughter of Anah, which Anah was the daughter of Zibeon; confirming this, it says, that besides this daughter Anah, Zibeon had a son named Ajah, who is not mentioned in the list of dukes, nor is his generation treated of, because he died while yet young; and Anah remained inheriting her father's property, and as such is named as a man among the dukes.

The learned Aben Ezra says, we find in verse 24, that the "sons" of Zibeon were Ajah and Anah, the latter being the father of Aholibamah; and according to this, the text infers that Aholibamah was the daughter of Anah, who was the son of Zibeon.

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And the argument of R.Levi ben Gershon, that the verse says, iyay na may na daughter of Anah, daughter of Zibeon;" when, if Anah had been the son of Zibeon, it would have been ay may putting the word instead of the second na is groundless: for as R. Abraham de Balmas,2 R. David Jachia,3 myself,4 4 and other Hebrew grammarians observe, that the sacred writings often put one letter for another, undoubtedly covering some mystery, understood by the Talmudists or Cabalists.

R. Levi ben Gershon understands, that Aholibamah was the daughter of Anah the brother of Zibeon, who, according to verse 20, were the sons of Seir; but that besides Aholibamah, another Anah, the son of Zibeon, was brought up in his house, and is therefore termed daughter of Zibeon; and she is, on this account (as stated in ver. 24) called the daughter of Zibeon; she is also termed “ daughter of Anah" from his being her natural father: and daughter of Zibeon " from his being her foster parent. Thus the Scripture terms the sons of Merab," the sons of Michal the daughter of Saul: Zerubabel is said to be the son of Saltiel," his father being Rephain: the daughter of Pharaoh called Moses "son":" the sons of Aaron are called "the generations of Moses." and Ruth's son was called "Naomi's" by her neighbours, out of respect; and, as already stated, they were termed sons from being reared up,

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taught, and instructed by them. The same author explains verse 39 in the same way which says, that Mehetabel was the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Mezahab (which seems to give her two fathers), by saying, Matred was her father, and she was brought up by Mezahab; or, it might be, that Matred was her father, and Mezahab her mother; or probably, also, that Matred was her mother, and Mezahab the mother of Matred: the cases of Aholibamah and Mehetabel coinciding perfectly according to these definitions. K. Isaac Arama, and Don Isaac Abarbanel hold, that Zibeon begot Abolibamah by an incestuous connection with his daughter-in-law; so that she had two fathers, the actual one being Zibeon, and the putative one her mother's husband, Anah: the doubt is also solvable in this way.

QUESTION 60.

Gen. 26:12. And Timnah was concubine to 1 Chron. 1:36. And the sons of Eliphaz,
Eliphaz.
Teman, &c. and Timnah.

Timnah being the concubine of Eliphaz, how is she mentioned in Chronicles as his child?

RECONCILIATION.

She is generally supposed to have been both daughter and concubine, as Eliphaz was connected with the mother of Lotan, Timnah's brother, from which connection she sprang, and when grown to womanhood he took her for his concubine. R. Simon says on this chapter, we see the beginning of the race of Esau; they were begotten illicitly, and were not only accustomed to these unlawful connections, but even led animals into them, and from connecting a mare with an ass, obtained the mule, a new animal. Some are of opinion that the Timnah of Genesis was the sister of Lotan, and the one of Chronicles a son of Eliphaz, and a masculine name, and that he is the one mentioned among the dukes of Esau, in which case there was no incest.

Nachmanides has another idea, which is, that Timnah the concubine of Eliphaz, after bearing Amalek, had another son, in giving birth to which she died, and that her name might not be forgotten, she gave that child her own, and this is the one mentioned in Chronicles as being the son of Eliphaz, but his father gave him the name of Korah, who is mentioned among the dukes: in this way also there is no contradiction.

QUESTION 61.

Gen.36:15. These were Dukes of the son of
Esau, the sons of Eliphaz, &c. v. 16, Duke
Korah.

Gen. 36:18. And these are the sons of
Aholibamah, Esau's wife-Duke, &c.-
Korah.

How can Korah be reckoned amongst the dukes issuing from Eliphaz, and among those dukes who were the sons of Aholibamah also?

1 Ber Raba, c.82.

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