Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Genesis 46:8-15 Jacob's Descendants Through Leah

"These are the names of the sons of Israel (Jacob and his descendants) who went to Egypt:
     Reuben the first born of Jacob.
     The sons of Reuben:
                            Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron and Carmi.

     The sons of Simeon:

                             Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar
                             and Shaul the son of a Canaanite
                             woman.

     The sons of Levi:
                            Gershon, Kohath and Merari.

      The sons of Judah:
                            Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez and Zerah
                           (but Er and Onan had died
                            in the land of Canaan).
  
      The sons of Perez:  Hezron and Hamul.
 
      The sons of Issachar:
                            Tola, Puah, Jashub and Shimron.

      The sons of Zebulun:
                             Sered, Elon and Jahleel.

These were the sons Leah bore to Jacob in Paddan Aram, besides his daughter Dinah.  These sons and daughters of his were thirty-three in all."  (Genesis 46:8-15 NIV)
______________________________

It seems that there are 34 names in the passage, not counting Jacob and Leah.  Some commentators say that Ohad (v.10) should be removed, because his name looks very much like Zohar (also v.10) in the Hebrew language, and they believe it was just a scribal error.  Also, the name does not appear in parallel lists of Simeon's descendants (see Numbers 26:12-13, I Chronicles 4:24).  However, it does appear in Exodus 6:15.  I suppose that could be because the writer of Exodus used this list as a reference.  I am not totally satisfied with this explanation yet.  Hopefully as we explore the rest of this genealogy, things will fall into place.

No comments:

Post a Comment