Notes on the Verse of the Week

Week Of October 15-21,1972.

Verse: And the Lord said to Avram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy ~et and from thy father’s house to the land that I will show thee. (Genesis 12:1). ~–

Theme: Meaning Of Moledet

The concept of Moledet had several meanings in the cultures of the Biblical setting.

House Of The Mother

The original meaning was Bet Ha-em, the House of the Mother. This seems to benmted at in the commentary of the Zohar on the verse Ruth 2: 11, “It has been told to me how you left your father and your mother and the land of your Moledet.” The Zohar interprets this to mean Nf’::)N, lb:l N, “this is the womb of the mother”, a possible reference to the Bet Ha-em or the House of the Mother. It seems that the original meaning of our verse in Genesis was: Get thee out of thy country, and Jrom thy mother’s (Moledet) house and from thy father’s house. From the various references in the Bible to the House of the Mother, it is apparent that the maternal household was not always coterminous with the paternal one,* and that the Bet Ha-em contained social rights belonging to the mother and brothers. Genesis 24:28,2? - “The maiden (Rebekah) ran and told all this to her mother’s household (Bet Ha-em); now Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban.” Throughout the chapter, Rebekah’s father * Scholars have found three systems of households in ancient Middle East societies. 2) The Baal system: The new husband takes his wife to his home and he is the head of the family; e.g. Isaac and Rebekah. 2) The Bae11a system: The man goes to the family of his wife and remains in the household of his father-in-law. The father-in-law retains the autho rity over his daughter and her husband even after marriage; e.g. Jacob at Laban’s home. Jacob cannot leave his father-in-law’s household without his permission; for this reason Jacob runs away. 3) The Bet Ha-em: The wife carries• on the household on her own and is visited by her wandering husband (e.g. soldier, merchant or other) at appointed times. In this case the mother and the eldest son are the heads of the family; e.g. Rebekah ’s mother and brother.

Betuel is in the beckground, while the negotiations for Rebekah’s marriage are in the hands of her mother and brother. They represent her as is evident in the verse, “But her brother and her mother said, let the maiden remain with us some ten days” (Gen. 24:51). Song of Songs 3:4- “When I found him whom my soul loves, I held him and woufcf!lor-iethim go, until I had brought him into my mother’s house (‘M n’:J ’m).“ In this setting, too, it is the responsibility of the brothers to see their sister married. “We have a little sister; What shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for” (Song of Songs 8 :8). This state still reflects an early society, when a man, in a polyg·;;;,-;-~~;;;unity, could have wives in different places, each of them a head of a maternal household and responsible for the marriage of her daughters. (See footnote above). With the concept of the Bet Ha-em in mind, several Biblical passages become clearer in their meaning. Were Abraham and Sarah deliberately lying when they passed themselves off as brother and sister in two instances, upon their entry into Egypt and later during their sojourn in Gerar? Not exactly. Sarah was Abraham’s half-sister, and it was perfectly permissable in the pre-Sinaitic period for a man to marry his half-sister if they were not the offspring of the same mother. And Abraham said, “And, moreover, she is in truth my sister, my father’s daughter though not my mother’s; and she became my wife” (Genesis 20:12). Mariage ofahalfb;other, offspring of the same father or mother, was forbidden later by Torah legislation. Do not marry “your sister, your father’s daughter or your mother’s, whether born into the household (11’::1-m’?m) or outside” (f1n-m?1j)** (!,eviticus 18 :9). However, such prohibition was not always deeply ingrained in the consCiimsness of the people, for otherwise, how can we understand the plea of Tamar to her half-brother Amnon not to dishonor her but to take her .-”“-——— “–––––“- “—··–”-“”“‘’”“’”“ -as a legal wife? “Now therefore, I pray thee, speak unto the king (David, their father) for he will not withold me from thee” (II Samnel13:13). The concept of the Moledet as the Bet -Ha-em illuminates severaladditional passages in the Bible. And Israel (Jacob) said to his sons, “Why did you serve me so ill as to tell the man (Joseph) that yon had another brother?” (Genesis 43 :6). Their reply was, “But the man kept asking about us and our Mo!eoef, ,…—~~~ .. , ** It is evident from the distinction between n:t-.n’i’?l~ and ym-ni71~ that the former l1,!l-ni71~ was referring to the case in which the girl remains in her father’s house while the latter ym-n’i71~ (outside household) was when the-Bet Ha~em was located elsewhere than the father’s household.

saying, is your father still living? Have you another brother?“ (Verse 7). The inquiry of Joseph probed beyond the composition of the father’s household. He was asking about any additional offspring from any mother’s (Moledet) household. In other words, are there brothers from other thers \ WhO we;~ .;ih-;·the inference being t.? thei·;sit;g.-;thefB.ellJ8:ill:-“·· -·· Tl1epassag-in Ezekiel 16:3 takes on-;1}0i:e~ineanings well i!lthe context of our interpretation. “Thine origin (1’1W11~?j) and thy birth (1’11171~) is of the land of the Canaanite; the Amorite was thy father, and thy mother was a Hittite.” The parallelism 1’11111~~ and 1’11171~ refers to the paternal and materna] origins.

Moledet As Homeland

Today Moledet contains primarily the notion of homeland. The beginning of this concept can be discerned in the Bible. Jeremiah 22:10- “Weep not for the dead, neither bemoan him; but weep sore for him that goeth away, for he shall return no more, nor see his native country (Moledet).” Jeremiah here is predicting the captivity of Shallum, the son of the king Josiah, from which captivity he will not return to see his land again (Jer. 22:11, 12). Jeremiah 46:16- “And they said, arise and let us return to our own people and to our homeland (Moledet).” Ezekie/23 :15 -“The likeness of the sons of Babylon, even of Chaldea, the land of their birth (Mo/edet).” The notion of nationality is here adumbrated by the prophet. Esther 2:10 - “Esther had not made known her people nor her kindred (Moledet), for Mordecai had charged her that she shonld not tell it.” It is e~ld;I1tthat Esther is referring to her nationality in the concept of Moledet.

Biblical Religious Witnessing

Verse: And Joshua said to the people: “You are witnesses that you have chosen the Lord for yourselves to serve him. And they said, we are witnesses (Joshua 24:22). (Verse of the week October 22-28, 1972) The Radak renders the following interpretation for this verse: ’n nN c7 cn,n:: cnt~ ‘~ c~::~ tl’ill ,,,:m c1Jllll cnt : “C::J crm C’’Tll” On the phrase, “You are witnesses”: you yourselves will be witnesses toward yourselves that you chose the Lord for yourselves.

Theme: Religious Witness Ing

Religious witnessing in the Bible takes on variations of poetic and prophetic imagery.

Nature N Witness Toward Israel

In a number of instances we find Moses, the law giver, and the later prophets appea ling to nature to be witness towards Israel about the relation ship between God and Israel. Deuteronomy 32:1,2 - “Give ear, 0 heavens, let me speak; Let the earth hear the words I utter. May my discourse come down as the rain, my speech distill as the dew.” Isaiah 1 :2 - “Hear, 0 heavens, and give ear, 0 earth, for the Lord hath spoken; children I have reared and brought up, and they have rebelled against me.” Micah 6:1,2 - “Hear ye now what the Lord saith: Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice. Hear, 0 ye mounta ins, the Lord’s controversy, and ye enduring rocks, the foundati ons of the earth , for the Lord hath a controversy with His people.”

Witness Of Israel Toward Itself

Our verse in Joshua is a case in point. The C~:l is taken by the Radak to mean that Israel itself will be witness toward itself of their relationship to God. A mutual election between Israel and God is evident in the verses in Deuteronomy 26:17 ,18. “Yo u have affirmed this day that the Lord is your God, that you will walk in His ways, that you will observe His laws and commandments and norms, and that you will obey Him. And the Lord has affirmed this day that you are, as He promised you, His treasured people which shall serve all His commandments .”

Israel As Witness Toward The Nations

The proph ets introduced the idea of Israel being the witness for God towards the nation s of the world. Israel is already so strongly identified with the monotheistic God that it is able to serve as a witness of the Almight y toward s the nations of the world. Isaiah 43:10 - “ You are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe Me and understand that J am He; before Me there wa s no god formed , neither shall any be after Me. “ Isaiah 55:4 - “Behold, I have given him for a witness to the peoples, a prince and commander to the peoples .”