SYMBOL, SYMBOLICAL ACTIONS
SYMBOL, SYMBOLICAL ACTIONS 171
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Hence in the Samaritan Pentateuch we find the reading °p'2 ‘in the days of’ substituted. But if this had been the original text, as is assumed in Kautzsch’s translation of the OT, and by Holzinger in the Kurzer Hdcom. (ad loc.), it is unintelligible how such a strange reading as the other should have arisen. And how does the o; ‘also’ witness against the reading of the MT, as Holzinger con- tends? This conjunction really couples the two facts that Joseph lived to see grandsons not only in the line of Ephraim, but also in that of Man- asseh. Holzinger further argues that, supposing the statement in Gn 50” refers to adoption, Joseph may have adopted Machir but cannot have adopted his sons. ‘Machir certainly gained the same standing as Manasseh, but his sons did not.’ But is it really established as a necessary con- clusion that the narratives found in the patriarchal history simply reflect the later history of the tribes of Israel? Is it not rather possible that the story of Gn 50> contains an argument against the cor- rectness of this recent theory ?—Further, adoption on the part of the mother is clearly expressed in the words attributed to Rachel in Gn 30° ‘And she (Bilhah) shall bear upon my knees, and so shall I come into possession of a family from her.’
(6) Not only the beginning of life but also new steps in life were marked by symbolical transac- tions. A woman captured in war, who is chosen by an Israelite to be his wife, ‘is to shave her head and pare her nails’ (Dt 217). In this way she is to indicate that her former state of mourn- ing has ceased, and ‘that she is about to begin life again under new auspices’ (Driver, Deut. ad loc.). It is not possible to discover in either of the two actions ‘expressions of grief,’ as is done by Ber- tholet (Kurzer Hdcom. ad loc.). On the one hand, this interpretation is not required on the ground of 141, For in the last-named passage and in Jer 16° and Ezk 7#* it is not the simple shaving off of the hair (Dt 217”) that is forbidden, but ‘the making of a baldness between the eyes, 7.e. on the forehead.’ On the other hand, Bertholet’s view of Dt 212 is reduced to an impossibility in view of y.%. For it is added there that the woman in question is also to put off ‘the raiment of her captivity,’ which is quite a different thing from ‘to strip herself naked like a mourner’ (Bertholet). Consequently the three actions described in Dt 2)12b- 182 are really meant to illustrate the fact that a happy change has taken place in the woman’s life. It is true that she is still to be allowed a month’s time to bewail her parents. But during this she is not to return to her previous absolute mourning. This is proved beyond question by the laying aside of her captive garb (v.™). The intention rather is merely that during the month specified she may have time to reconcile herself to the transition from the old to the new condition of things. Thus her situation during this month is a mingling of grief and joy.—A happy advance in life was very clearly expressed by the ‘breaking of the yoke,’ a symbolical action introduced in Jer 28"; ef. Is 58°, Ezk 3018, Nah 1°.
(c) Symbolical actions which denote a disturbance of one’s life or its end.—The border of the garments, especially over the breast, is rent: e.g. Gn 37% 448 Nu 14°, Jos 78,1 S 42, 2S 1? 33 13%! 15%, 2 K 2)2 (orynp or3y) 58 1114 1887 2919, Ts 36% 37}, Jer 367% 415, J] 2%, Job 1% 2, Est 41, Ezr 9%°, 2Ch 23'3 3427, 1 Mac 2!4 347 499 514 117 13%, Mt 26%, Mk 143, Ac 144 (Barnabas and Paul), Jos. BJ I. xv. 4 (yuuvols Ta oTépva Tay éoO7TWY TEpLeppiyry Lever ). Further, one puts on sackcloth, a primitive article of dress, in order to show that one is giving up every convenience and every ornament: ¢.g. Gn 37", 2S 351 142 19% 9120 1 K 2127, 2 K 6°, Is 3% 15° 20° 2212 503 58°, Jer 48 67° 49%, Ezk 738, J] 18, Am 8”,
Jon 3°, Ps 30” 35” 69”, Job 16%, La 2, Est 413, Dn 9°, 1 Mac 2"4 (repieBddovro cdxkous), Mt 112 (cf, 34), Lk 10%, Rev 11° (cf. 6 cdxkos rpixwos).* One goes barefooted (28 15%, ef. Is 202) and without turban (Ezk 2417), or neglects washing oneself (2 8 12°), Ashes are sprinkled upon the head: 28 13”, Is 585, Est 4°, Jos. BJ IL. xv. 4 (ris kepadfjs xévv); cf. G. Jacob (Altarab. Parallelen, p. 15, where it is shown how the pre-Islamite Arabs were also wont to sprinkle ashes upon the head in token of great grief); or one simply sits in the ashes: Jer 676, Ezk 279 2818 Jon 3°, Job 28 (cf. La 3), In this way one clothed himself as it were with ashes (Est 4', cf. Dn 9°, Is 61°), and thus pro- claimed in a visible fashion that he was indifferent to the joy of life. Or, again, the hand might be laid upon the head (28 13”, Jer 2°), to express the fact that the soul was bowed down by a heavy sorrow. One covered the head (28 15%, Jer 14%, Est 6/7), or at least the beard (Lv 138”, Mic 3”, Ezk 2417> 2, ef. 2 19%*t) and thereby the mouth, in order to mark oneself as a person who could neither see nor speak for grief. Perhaps the smiting of the thigh or the breast (Jer 31%, Ezk 211%, Lk 18!) were also meant to express mental suffering.