Chayei Sarah - Genesis 23:1-25:18

The Text

וַיֹּאמֶר אַבְרָהָם, אֶל-עַבְדּוֹ זְקַן בֵּיתוֹ, הַמֹּשֵׁל, בְּכָל-אֲשֶׁר-לוֹ:  שִׂים-נָא יָדְךָ, תַּחַת יְרֵכִי

24:2. And Abraham said unto his servant, the elder of his house, that ruled over all that he had: 'Put, please, your hand under my thigh.

וְאַשְׁבִּיעֲךָ--בַּיהוָה אֱלֹהֵי הַשָּׁמַיִם, וֵאלֹהֵי הָאָרֶץ:  אֲשֶׁר לֹא-תִקַּח אִשָּׁה, לִבְנִי, מִבְּנוֹת הַכְּנַעֲנִי, אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי יוֹשֵׁב בְּקִרְבּוֹ

24:3. And I will make you swear by YHVH, Elohim of the heavens, and Elohim of the earth/land, that you shall not take a wife for my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell.

The Swearing

In Genesis 24:2-3, Abraham tells his servant to make an oath, and to place his hand on Abraham's "thigh" and swear. According to Rashi, "One who takes an oath must take in his hand an object of commandment [by God]...and circumcision was the first commandment given to Abraham...it was precious to him."

If you look up the etymology of "Testify", it is related to the word "testicles", which was the object in the Roman empire where such oath-taking took place.

The sages who lived among the Romans had no problem with understanding "thigh" as being a euphemism for "genitals" (as it is also used in Numbers 5:27). It is the modern sensibilities that typically causes one to go, "What?!" when confronted with such a swearing in ceremony (which we no longer use today, as far as I know!).

A reverse Illeism (or not?)

Typically, when using the name YHVH, or YHVH-Elohim and another noun to identify God as also being that other thing as well, the personal pronoun הוא ("he") is used (e.g., "YHVH, HE is the Elohim" - Deut. 4:35). This is to specify, without ambiguity, that YHVH and Elohim are one and the same, at least, according to the Deuteronomists.

Another, but earlier form is to use "YHVH Elohim" to also indicate a unified deity. When YHVH-Elohim is in action, He is normally referred to in the singular form (there are rare exceptions, such as Genesis 3:22)..

A true Illeism would be Genesis 9:6, "...for in the image of Elohim, He made man", where there is an ambiguity who "He" is. To eliminate this ambiguity, "....for Elohim made man in His image" should have been used. It is the vague "He" that is causing the problem.

Genesis 24:3 doesn't create ambiguity from using "He", but creates it by omitting it. That's why I refer to it as a sort of "reverse illeism", if there is such a thing.

Because there are at least 6 different uses of the title "Elohim", meaning that it could refer to YHVH, or it could refer to other Gods, etc., saying:

"YHVH Elohim of the heavens, and Elohim of the land"

Could easily refer to:

• YHVH, Elohim of the heavens, and Elohim of the land" (3 Gods, which Christians would just love!)
• YHVH-Elohim of the heavens, and Elohim of the land (2 Gods for the dualists)
• YHVH-Elohim of the heavens, [who is] Elohim of the land (1 God for the monotheists).

So one can interpret this either way.

24:7 Refers to YHVH, Elohim of the heavens" but leaves out "Elohim of the land" when referring to the God who saved him. Which is interesting to me.

What the original intent was, we don't know. Since the Targum doesn't change this portion of the text, while I like the second version, I am leaning towards the third possibility, and chalking it up to sloppy writing. But it is fun to consider the other possibilities as well.

Anthropamorphism

There is one anthropomorphism in the verse that the Targum "tweaks" because he was uncomfortable with YHVH having a form, standing by Abraham while he was making his servant swear.

"I will make you swear by YHVH..."

The Targumist changes it to read, "I will make you swear by the memra of YHVH...". In this context, memra means God's divine-ness. 

However, memra, often makes the verse more strange than had it been left along.

For more about memra, click here.