Read Genesis 21:22-34 at Bible Gateway.
Hebrew paragraph division
Gen 21:22-34 {p} Abraham + Abimelech make a covenant of peace
Gen 21:22-34 chiastic structure
1a) Gen 21:22 Abimelech + Phichol to Abraham: God is with you in all that you do;
1b) Gen 21:23-24 Abimelech asked Abraham to swear an oath to him;
1a) Gen 21:23a Now therefore, swear to me by God;
1b) Gen 21:23b That you will not deal falsely with me + my offspring + my posterity;
central axis) Gen 21:23c But according to the kindness that I have done to you;
2b) Gen 21:23d You will do to me + to the land in which you have dwelt;
2a) Gen 21:24a And Abraham said, “I will swear;”
1c) Gen 21:25-26 Abraham rebuked Abimelech for the well of water seized by Abimelech’s servants;
1d) Gen 21:27a Abraham took sheep + oxen and gave them to Abimelech;
central axis) Gen 21:27b And the two of them made a covenant;
2d) Gen 21:28-30a Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock aside for Abimelech;
2c) Gen 21:30b Abraham: That they may be my witness that I have dug this well;
2b) Gen 21:31-32a He called the place Beersheba because they swore an oath/ made a covenant there;
2a) Gen 21:32b-34 Abimelech rose with Phichol, returned to the land of the Philistines/ Abraham called on the name of YHVH + stayed in the land of the Philistines many days.
Original Hebrew
covenant is Strong’s H1285, beriyth, “a covenant;” from Strong’s H1262, barah (bet + resh + hey), a primitive root, “to cut,” said to be related to Strong’s H1254, bara (bet + resh + aleph), a primitive root, “to create.”
The ancient Hebrew pictographs are of the bet + resh + hey or bet + resh + aleph:
bet = the house, thus house, household, family, in, within
resh = the head of man, thus head, first, top, beginning, man
hey = the man with upraised arms, thus look, reveal, wonder, worship, breath
aleph = the ox head, thus strength, power, leader
Dr. Davidson argues that the final hey in barah was transposed from an aleph originally: bet + resh + aleph; and explains why most lexicons say that Strong’s H1262, barah, is related to Strong’s H1254, bara, to create.
“To those acquainted with the minutiae of Hebrew grammar, it is well known that there is a close resemblance between the two classes of verbs lamed aleph and lamed he. Many instances might be given in which the forms of the one class are exchanged for those of the other. The two classes in fact seem to have been tending to coalescence into one form, although they did not arrive at such a state. In the Chaldee and Syriac they unite into one class. If then, verbs ending in aleph and in he had so near a resemblance in Hebrew, as that the proper forms of the one were often transferred to the other, we need not be surprised that the significations of the one should also, in some instances, be transferred to the other. [Examples from the Hebrew text of Scripture following.]”
Dr. Samuel Davidson, Lectures on Biblical Criticism, Thomas Clark: Edinburgh: 1839; pp. 400-401.
So he disagrees that the two words are related in meaning, but he does agree that the two words are related in form, simply because of the transposition.
The story the ancient pictographs are telling, is of a family (bet) of heads (resh), i.e., grain, since the ripe head of a grain stalk is composed of a family of seed heads. Grain is given to the ox (aleph) or cattle to fatten it for slaughter; and it is this choice animal, the fattened ox, which is used in sacrifice, either in worship, or in cutting a covenant.
Leave a Reply