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January 9, 2012

How Did Laban Do It?

נִחַשְׁתִּי וַיְבָרֲכֵנִי יְהוָֹה בִּגְלָלֶךָ
I have learned by divination that YHWH has blessed me because of you.
(Genesis 30:27)

After all Laban was an Aramean from Paddan-aram in Mesopotamia so he likely knew about these things. The fact that Laban was a goy may be why this reference to divination passed muster. But exactly how did he do it? And while you’re working on the way Laban divined what he divined, exactly what did Ben-Hadad’s men do in 1 Kings 20:33?

By the way, Torezyner’s old idea that we should think of Laban as bewitched or the like but then YHWH blessed him, “Ich stand unter einem נַחַש, einem bösen Zauber, da hat mich Jhwh um deinetwillen gesegnet‚‘” is not tenable. Nor is his idea, also based on Arabic parallels, tenable that the portent of נִהֵש is always negative.

Reference:

Torczyner, Harry, “Zu נחשתי Gen. 30, 27,” Orientalistische Literaturzeitung, 20:1 (1917) 10-11

Posted by Duane Smith at January 9, 2012 8:05 PM | Read more on Hebrew Bible |

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