C. 2. Masoretic tradition
5. C 3 Closural aspects of proverbs in the end-sections
The purpose of this section is to determine how these proverbs contribute to closure. In the following paragraphs, I will discuss the closural aspects of the four proverbs that are in end-sections; for each, though, I will consider first whether they should be considered proverbs.
The first likely proverb is Gen 2:24: “Hence (‘al ken) a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, so that they become one flesh.” Robert Alter has commented on the proverbial nature of this verse.50 Hasan-Rokem devotes a complete study to it and Gen 2:18; together the two verses form a frame around the embedded narrative of the creation of Eve.51
The words “Hence a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, so that they become one flesh” meet at least three of the four criteria suggested by Hasan-Rokem for discerning the presence of a proverb. The verse elevates the specifics of the creation of
49 Galit Hasan-Rokem,
Proverbs in Israeli Folk Narratives: A Structural Semantic Analysis,11, 18-19, 53.
50 Robert Alter,
Art of Biblical Narrative, 31. It “might well have been part of a proverbial statement adopted
verbatim by the writer….”
Eve to a conceptual level. This single woman becomes the paradigm for the intense relationship between men and women. Aspects of the language are poetic: after the introductory “Hence,” two phrases begin with an opposite, “to leave” (‘.z.b.) and “to cling to” (d.b.q.). The two phrases coalesce into the final hyperbole, “they become one flesh.” The figurative aspect of the words “leave” and “cling” dramatize a conflict in society, exemplifying the “social reality” that occurs when a man transfers his prime loyalty from his parents to his wife.52 By verbalizing the conflict of loyalties that a husband may feel, the proverb can relieve the pressure that a husband feels by demonstrating that his feelings universal and not unique. Therefore, this should be considered a proverb.
The proverb is closural in a few ways.53 First, its introductory phrase, ‘al ken, is a regular marker in the end-section of a narrative; usually it introduces an etiology which is another closural device, as noted in the first part of this chapter. Second, the verse goes beyond the intent of the plot, which was to resolve man’s lack of a “fitting helper.” The reference to mother and father brings the narrative onto a new temporal plane and into the future, when people do have mothers and fathers, unlike Adam and Eve. Its poetic elements, the opposing verb pair and the visual image of the two people as one, are a pleasing way to end a narrative.
52 Tikva Frymer-Kensky,
In the Wake of the Goddesses, 22.
53 In the NJPS Tanakh, this verse is the last in its unit, although it is not the last verse in the chapter. Harry M.
Orlinsky, Notes on the New Translation of the Torah, 22, 62, points out that paragraphing in The New Jewish
Publication Society Tanakh sometimes disregards the chapter divisions if other factors should override them.
Because the issue of nakedness belongs with 3:7 and 3:21, not with chapter 2, the NJPS attaches 2:25 to chapter 3, the start of the next unit.
In Gen 16:12, the angel of God predicts to Hagar, regarding her son Ishmael: “He shall be a wild ass of a man; / His hand against everyone / and everyone’s hand against him.” In its context in Gen 16, these words are spoken after the angel has convinced Hagar to return to Sarah, from whom she fled. Fontaine identifies this as a proverb, or more precisely as “a proverbial phrase,” and categorizes it as such because it is a description
drawn from the sphere of animal life.54 The Hasan-Rokem categories support Fontaine’s
identification. The proverb transfers the specific personality of Ishmael to a conceptual level; he will be a personality-type, a fighter and a loner. The second and third parts of the verse, which summarize a life of conflict, are poetic. “His hand against everyone / and everyone’s hand against him” repeats short alliterative word and sounds in the Hebrew. The words “hand” (yad) and “all” (kol) are repeated, and also the sounds “o” and “b”: yado bekol / weyad kol bo.
A closural aspect of this proverb is that the allusion to the Ishmaelites reaches
beyond the narrative to a time closer to that of readers. As with etiologies, this movement to a future time suggests that the actions of the narrative are over; the writer has completed his discussion of the events. The proverb explains to readers, who would be aware of the historical difficulties between Israel and its Ishmaelite neighbors, that this problem was already indicated in the womb.
After the transformative near-sacrifice of Isaac in the Akedah, Abraham names the site Adonai-yireh, “the Lord will see” (r.’.h.). Then the narrator explains, “Whence the
54 Carole R. Fontaine,
present saying ‘On the mount of the Lord there is vision’ (r.’.h.)” (Gen 22:14b).55 (An alternative translation begins, “Whence it is said....” 56)
Since the phrase “On the mount of the Lord there is vision” is identified in the text as something that is (frequently) said, one feels comfortable looking at this as a saying or proverb. Gesenius indicates that the verb form “it is said” (ye’amer) introduces a proverbial expression.57 Yet, oddly, this verse is not identified as a proverb by Eissfeldt, Fontaine, or Hasan-Rokem, despite the fact that “whence it is said” is practically a label. The somewhat similar syntax of the beginning of Gen 10:9, “Hence the saying (‘al-ken ye’amar58), ‘Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter by the grace of the Lord,’” is identified as a proverb by Fontaine and Eissfeldt, possibly because of the presence of the ‘al ken adverb or because of the folk- oriented subject, that Nimrod was a “mighty hunter.”59
The Akedah saying fulfills the criteria for a proverb established by Hasan-Rokem. It transfers the specifics of the situation to a conceptual level; it refers to the fact that people
55 NJPS, 40. The Hebrew “will see” and “there is vision” use the same consonants; only the vocalization of the
consonants r.’.h. differs.
56 The translation “whence it is said” (
’ašerye’amer) is more literal than the NJPS translation and reflects the
Hebrew construction that begins with the conjunction “whence” (ašer), followed by the imperfect passive form
(niphal) of “to say.” See GKC, §166b,505 for the use of ašer introducing a consecutive clause with the
imperfect or jussive, meaning “so that,” in Gen 22:14.
The translation “there is vision” reflects an ambiguity in the text based on how the verb r.’.h,“to see,” is
vocalized and thus does not clarify whether it is God or the person who comes to the mountain to see/be seen; see Sarna, Genesis,154, and Alter, Five Books of Moses,111. The verb “to see” may also reflect a popular
etymology for the name of the mount on which the sacrifice is to take place, Mount Moriah (22:2). For discussion of alternative etiologies for the name Moriah, see Sarna, Genesis,391.
57 GKC, §107
g,316.
58 The final vowel sound in
ye’amar in Gen 10:9 is short a, because of the presence of an etnahta accent mark,
which separates two halves of a verse. In 22:14 there is no etnahta under the verb, and the verb form is ye’amer.
59 See footnote 54. Carole R. Fontaine,
Traditional Sayings,238, analyses this proverb, which was first
know that there is a special place, on God’s mountain, from which “there is vision.” The repetition of “to see” (r.’.h.), first as part of the place name and also within the saying, emphasizes the role of “seeing.” That might suggest that at that place, Abraham’s action was seen/understood in its complexity. One can only infer that the saying might relate to a cultural tradition; perhaps it refers to other times in which God “saw/understood” an individual on that mountain. Its meaning in another context would help explain a deeper meaning, but that is not available.60
The saying is closural. It follows the transition in the story, it is descriptive, and it helps to halt the action of the narrative. Perhaps for ancient readers the mention of this saying prompted other memories that would contribute to closure as well.
“Shall our sister be as a whore?” is the final verse in the end-section epilogue in the narrative of Dinah (Gen 34:1-31). Dinah was abducted by Shechem, son of the local chief. To get her back, her brothers use subterfuge and convince Shechem and the townspeople to become circumcised; then, when they are at their weakest, the brothers devastate the town and all its inhabitants. In the final scene, after the brothers have brought their sister back, Jacob confronts Dinah’s brothers Simeon and Levi.
Although this verse is not singled out as a proverb or saying in the scholarly literature, using Hasan-Rokem’s criteria, this statement/question transfers the specific
60 Hasan-Rokem explains, as noted previously (factor #4), that because a proverb uses sentences generated at
another time, its deep meaning should be gleaned from its context and contiguity, that is, its syntax within the narrative, not its meaning in the specific sentences of the proverb.
situation to a conceptual level. The individual (“our sister”) has been assigned to a group to which she does not belong. If she were a whore, the brothers would react differently and suggest that she should be punished or banished from the family.61 Their statement/question dramatizes their conflict with their father Jacob, who is more concerned about the viability of the family and the ongoing relationship with the neighboring peoples, which has been compromised. If this verse is a proverb, on the other hand, it is not particularly poetic in nature, and is not built around a famous or prominent individual, merely “our sister.”
Closurally, though, the verse adds high drama to the ending. In context it addresses the question to their father Jacob, but since it is the final verse, it hangs in the air and baits the reader to respond and to participate in the dialogue he has just witnessed.
A comparison with 1 Sam 10:10-11 and its surrounding verses suggest that it is possible that in Genesis 34, the brothers are referring to a known saying. The relevant text in 1 Sam 10:9-12 is as follows:
As [Saul] turned around to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart; and all those signs were fulfilled that same day. And when they came there, to the Hill, he saw a band of prophets coming toward him. Thereupon the spirit of God gripped him, and he spoke in ecstasy among them. When all who knew him previously saw him speaking in ecstasy together with the prophets, the people said to one another, “What’s happened to the son (ben) of Kish? Is Saul too among the prophets?” But another person spoke up and said, “And who are their fathers?” Thus the proverb arose, “Is Saul too among the prophets?” (’al-ken haitah lemašal hagam ša’ul banebi’im) 62
61 In Gen 38:24, when Judah erroneously believes that his daughter-in-law Tamar is pregnant by “harlotry”
(z.n.h.), he says, “Bring her out…and let her be burned.” Proverbs 6 and 7 indicates the harsh attitude of
society against women who are whores/harlots.
62 In I Sam 19:24, there is a parallel use of the proverb, with an alternative explanation of the origin of “Is Saul
P. Kyle McCarter suggests that the expression, if a proverb, would be used to note the participation of an unlikely participant. He notes Saul’s reputation as an antagonist of the prophets, the slighting reference to Saul as the “son” of Kish, and the intensive particle gam, which marks the name Saul.63 According to McCarter, the Samuel passage explains the origin of the saying, but does not give any direct information about its meaning.64
In her discussion of proverbs, Hasan-Rokem has suggested that to understand a proverb, one must state it affirmatively, not pose a question.65 Thus the expression, “Is Saul too among the prophets?” really means, “Every X is not among the prophets.” Looking at the Dinah passage, this would suggest too that the brothers are saying, “Our sister is not a whore.” The verses about Saul and about Dinah are similar in that both succinctly ask a question having to do with the inclusion of an individual in a particular group, and both reject their inclusion.66