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Saturday, May 20, 2017

Deut 26:5 -- …My father was a wandering Aramean…???


This passage is interesting for several reasons.  First, according to its context, this statement was to be recited by Israelites to the priests as a credo as they were presenting their first fruit offerings to YHWH.  Second, neither the Hebrew text of the MT nor the Greek text of the extant LXX have anything like this wording.  Third, Rashi's commentary on this text translates it '… an Aramean tried to slay my father…', and this is the rendering in the standard Chumash.  So what are the actual readings in the ancient texts, and why this diversity in translations?

The MT and SP have the same text at this point:

µv; rg:Y:w" hm;yr"x]mi dr<YEw" ybia; dbeao yMir"aÄÄÄ Úyh,lOa‘ hwhy ynEp]li T;r“m'a;w“ t;ynI[;w“
.br:w: µWx[; l/dG: y/gl] µv;Ayhiiy“w" f[;m] ytem]Bi

And you shall answer and say before YHWH your God, 'A perishing Aramean was my father. He went down to Egypt and he dwelt there, few in number; but he became there a great nation, mighty and numerous….'

Targum Onkelos
aba ty adbwal a[b hamra ˆbl 9hla ywy µdq rmhtw byttw
.ygsw 5yqt br µ[l ˆmt hwhw ry[z µ[b ˆmt redw µyrxml tjnw

And you shall answer and say before YHWH your God, 'Laban the Aramean sought the destruction of my father.  He went down to Egypt and dwelt there as a people few in number; but there he became a people great, powerful, and numerous.

LXX
και αποκριθηση και ερει εναντι κυριου του θεου σου Συριαν απεβαλεν (απελαβεν) o πατηρ μου και κατεβη εις Αιγυπτον και παρωκησεν εκει εν αριθμω βραχει και εγενετο εκει εις εθνος μεγα και πληθος πολυ και μεγα.

And you shall answer and say before the Lord your God, 'My father threw off (received his due from) a Syrian. He went down to Egypt and dwelt there few in number, and he became there a great people, a very huge and great multitude.'

Syriac (converted to Hebrew characters)
ועני ואמר קדם מריא אלהך. לארם אתדבר אבי ונחת למצרין ועמר תמן זבנא זעורא והוא תמן לעמא רבא ועשינא

And you shall answer and say before the Lord your God, 'My father was captive of an Aramean. He went down to Egypt, he dwelt there for a time, and there he became a great and mighty people. 

Vulgate

Et loqueris in conspectu Domini Dei tui Syrus persequebatur patrem meum qui descendit in Aegyptum et ibi peregrinatus est in paucissimo numero crevitque in gentem magnam et robustam et infinitae multitudinis

And you shall answer in the presence of the Lord your God, 'A Syrian pursued my father, who went down to Egypt and there he was a stranger, few in number.  He increased into a great people, strong and a great multitude.'

The primary interpretive difference between these various translations is based on the significance of ybia; dbeao yMir"aÄÄÄ.  The form dbeao could be a qal participle meaning perishing or it could be a masculine noun meaning destruction with equal probability.  The Masoretic accents join ybia; dbeao as a syntactic unit, favoring the translation an Aramean was the destruction of my father.  If dbeao yMir"aÄÄÄ is the intended syntactic understanding, the meaning becomes My father was a perishing Aramean.  Targum Onkelos is close to the former interpretation, and all of the ancient translations imply some sort of hostile action of the yMir"aÄÄÄ versus ybia;.  Rashi's interpretation is based on reading dbeao as dBeai, or reading the form as a piel perfect.  (The piel perfect can mean  slay, but it does not mean try to slay.)  At least so far I have been able to find no linguistic justification for the translation My father was a wandering Aramean.  (Psalm 105:13 reads 'They wandered from nation to nation...', but there the verb is wklhtyw.)

Based strictly on the consonantal text, all three of these readings are possible.  All of the ancient translations, including Rashi, connect the first clause with Laban's pursuit of Jacob as described in Gen 31.  Laban had tricked and cheated Jacob over a period of about 20 years, so Jacob tricked Laban in return and departed in secret for the land of his birth.  Laban then pursued Jacob in wrath, probably intending some form of vengeance, though he actually did not attempt to harm Jacob when he finally caught up with him.  This is the scenario that all of these translations connect with the rest of the verse, which deals with the descent into Egypt and the apparent supernatural growth of Israel in Egypt.  This is a possible connection within the verse; however, there were at least 30 years between Jacob's flight from Laban and his descent into Egypt, and there is a nearer, more direct connection. First, Jacob and all his family were as much Aramean as Laban.  Second, according to the narrative in Genesis, Egypt and Canaan were in the first year of a seven-year drought, and Jacob's family were already out of food.  In addition, the example of Judah indicates that the 11 brothers were in danger of assimilating into the culture of the peoples among whom they were dwelling.  That is, they were in danger of perishing as a people either from starvation or from assimilation. (The example of Lot is a case in point.  Lot himself may have remained faithful to the God of Abraham all his life, but his progeny -- Ammon and Moab -- did not.)  When Israel went to Egypt, Joseph gave them food, and they remained isolated from the Egyptians, because the Egyptians considered all shepherds to be an abomination.  This prevented death by starvation as well as death as a people by assimilation.  So the famine was a supernatural event that God used to ensure that the 12 tribes would develop into a numerous people without losing their identity to the surrounding peoples.


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