Kejadian 12:10

The Promised Blessing Jeopardized

12:10 There was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt ¹  to stay for a while ²  because the famine was severe. ³ 

Kejadian 15:2

15:2 But Abram said, “O sovereign Lord, ⁴  what will you give me since ⁵  I continue to be ⁶  childless, and my heir ⁷  is ⁸  Eliezer of Damascus?” ⁹ 

Kejadian 18:10

18:10 One of them ¹⁰  said, “I will surely return ¹¹  to you when the season comes round again, ¹²  and your wife Sarah will have a son!” ¹³  (Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, not far behind him. ¹⁴ 

Kejadian 22:6

22:6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and put it on his son Isaac. Then he took the fire and the knife in his hand, ¹⁵  and the two of them walked on together.

Kejadian 31:10

31:10 “Once ¹⁶  during breeding season I saw ¹⁷  in a dream that the male goats mating with ¹⁸  the flock were streaked, speckled, and spotted.

Kejadian 37:25

37:25 When they sat down to eat their food, they looked up ¹⁹  and saw ²⁰  a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying spices, balm, and myrrh down to Egypt. ²¹ 

Kejadian 40:11

40:11 Now Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, so I took the grapes, squeezed them into his ²²  cup, and put the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.” ²³ 

[12:10]  ¹ sn Abram went down to Egypt. The Abrahamic narrative foreshadows some of the events in the life of the nation of Israel. This sojourn in Egypt is typological of Israel’s bondage there. In both stories there is a famine that forces the family to Egypt, death is a danger to the males while the females are preserved alive, great plagues bring about their departure, there is a summons to stand before Pharaoh, and there is a return to the land of Canaan with great wealth.

[12:10]  ² tn The Hebrew verb גּוּר (gur), traditionally rendered “to sojourn,” means “to stay for a while.” The “stranger” (traditionally “sojourner”) is one who is a temporary resident, a visitor, one who is passing through. Abram had no intention of settling down in Egypt or owning property. He was only there to wait out the famine.

[12:10]  ³ tn Heb “heavy in the land.” The words “in the land,” which also occur at the beginning of the verse in the Hebrew text, have not been repeated here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[15:2]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew text has אֲדֹנָי יֱהוִה (’adonay yehvih, “Master, Lord”). Since the tetragrammaton (YHWH) usually is pointed with the vowels for the Hebrew word אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “master”) to avoid pronouncing the divine name, that would lead in this place to a repetition of אֲדֹנָי. So the tetragrammaton is here pointed with the vowels for the word אֱלֹהִים (’elohim, “God”) instead. That would produce the reading of the Hebrew as “Master, God” in the Jewish textual tradition. But the presence of “Master” before the holy name is rather compelling evidence that the original would have been “Master, Lord,” which is rendered here “sovereign Lord.”

[15:2]  ⁵ tn The vav (ו) disjunctive at the beginning of the clause is circumstantial, expressing the cause or reason.

[15:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “I am going.”

[15:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “the son of the acquisition of my house.”

[15:2]  sn For the custom of designating a member of the household as heir, see C. H. Gordon, “Biblical Customs and the Nuzu Tablets,” Biblical Archaeologist Reader, 2:21-33.

[15:2]  ⁸ tn The pronoun is anaphoric here, equivalent to the verb “to be” (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 23, §115).

[15:2]  ⁹ sn The sentence in the Hebrew text employs a very effective wordplay on the name Damascus: “The son of the acquisition (בֶּן־מֶשֶׁק, ben-mesheq) of my house is Eliezer of Damascus (דַּמֶּשֶׁק, dammesheq).” The words are not the same; they have different sibilants. But the sound play gives the impression that “in the nomen is the omen.” Eliezer the Damascene will be Abram’s heir if Abram dies childless because “Damascus” seems to mean that. See M. F. Unger, “Some Comments on the Text of Genesis 15:2-3,” JBL 72 (1953): 49-50; H. L. Ginsberg, “Abram’s ‘Damascene’ Steward,” BASOR 200 (1970): 31-32.

[18:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he”; the referent (one of the three men introduced in v. 2) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Some English translations have specified the referent as the Lord (cf. RSV, NIV) based on vv. 1, 13, but the Hebrew text merely has “he said” at this point, referring to one of the three visitors. Aside from the introductory statement in v. 1, the incident is narrated from Abraham’s point of view, and the suspense is built up for the reader as Abraham’s elaborate banquet preparations in the preceding verses suggest he suspects these are important guests. But not until the promise of a son later in this verse does it become clear who is speaking. In v. 13 the Hebrew text explicitly mentions the Lord.

[18:10]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew construction is emphatic, using the infinitive absolute with the imperfect tense.

[18:10]  sn I will surely return. If Abraham had not yet figured out who this was, this interchange would have made it clear. Otherwise, how would a return visit from this man mean Sarah would have a son?

[18:10]  ¹² tn Heb “as/when the time lives” or “revives,” possibly referring to the springtime.

[18:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “and there will be (הִנֵּה, hinneh) a son for Sarah.”

[18:10]  ¹⁴ tn This is the first of two disjunctive parenthetical clauses preparing the reader for Sarah’s response (see v. 12).

[22:6]  ¹⁵ sn He took the fire and the knife in his hand. These details anticipate the sacrifice that lies ahead.

[31:10]  ¹⁶ tn The sentence begins with the temporal indicator, “and it happened at the time of.”

[31:10]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “in the time of the breeding of the flock I lifted up my eyes and I saw.”

[31:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “going up on,” that is, mounting for intercourse.

[37:25]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “lifted up their eyes.”

[37:25]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and they saw and look.” By the use of וְהִנֵּה (vÿhinneh, “and look”), the narrator invites the reader to see the event through the eyes of the brothers.

[37:25]  ²¹ tn Heb “and their camels were carrying spices, balm, and myrrh, going to go down to Egypt.”

[40:11]  ²² tn Heb “the cup of Pharaoh.” The pronoun “his” has been used here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[40:11]  ²³ sn The cupbearer’s dream is dominated by sets of three: three branches, three stages of growth, and three actions of the cupbearer.