Year: 2016
Type: article
Abstract: udah's role in the Joseph story (Gen 37.1--50.26) is more complex than meets the eye.We encounter him five times in the course of the novella.In the first instance Judah successfully intervenes and persuades his brothers to sell Joseph to an Ishmaelite caravan (37.26-28).By doing so, Judah avoids intrafamilial bloodshed, and yet, his scheme rids the brothers of "the master of dreams" for a nifty profit.In the second example, devoted to an entire chapter (38), Judah meets his match in his duplicitous dealings with Tamar.Here, the master of deception is brought to his knees and forced to acknowledge, "She is righteous, not I" (38.26). 1 At this pivotal point Judah's deceptive, conniving conduct that seeks personal advantage ends.The proof of this affirmation is found in the last three passages.In the third example, Judah without guile convinces Israel, his father, to allow Benjamin, the only remaining son of Rachel at home, to go with the brothers to Egypt as demanded by "the man" (43.3-10).Judah gives himself as surety for Benjamin: if anything happens to him, Judah will accept the blame forever (v.9).In the fourth occasion, Judah pleads for Benjamin to the one who is "like Pharaoh himself" (44.18-34).Consequently, Judah is willing to offer his own life for the sake of Benjamin.His behavior apparently is rewarded in the fifth instance (49.8-12) because Jacob's blessing withheld from Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, the older sons, is bequeathed to Judah.He, like his father Jacob, will have authority over his brothers (49.8; see 27.29), a social/political reality fulfilled in the Davidic dynasty.What about Judah?His critical position in the Joseph story epitomizes the account as a whole, a story characterized by rivalries, conflicts, and deceptions on the part of Joseph's brothers, all the sons of Jacob, and Tamar, but ultimately directed by the providence of God to explain why Israel went and came out of Egypt as Yahweh's chosen people.Let us examine more carefully Judah's part through the five instances just mentioned.1.The basis of this translation will be made later in the article.Also, a defense of the traditional translation will be made as well.2.
Author: Stuart Love
Language: English
Subfield: Religious studies
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2601774044