This dissertation is an inquiry into the origin, history, and interpretation of Genesis 4:26b, translatable as “then calling on the name of YHWH was begun”. Several methods, including philological analysis, semantic analysis, text criticism, and redaction criticism are brought to bear to understand the possible denotations of this verse and which are most likely given the context, what challenges exist to any preferable readings, and how those challenges might be addressed. Then, a survey is presented considering how ancient and modern interpreters have understood this half-verse, especially when considered in light of other passages that appear to contradict it. Potential interpretations are then laid out and assessed for plausibility before the historical and archaeological records are considered for what they suggest Gen 4:26b was actually read as meaning or altered contextually to mean at different points in Israelite history. Finally, a “speculative biography” of Gen 4:26b is provided, beginning with the origin of the ideas it presents in Israelite cultural memory and folklore, then laying out a model for how it was composed, understood, and recontextualized over time. It is tentatively concluded that most interpreters recognized Gen 4:26b as denoting the pronunciation of YHWH’s name, though other phenomena like participation in the YHWH cult were at times understood to be connoted. This meaning likely reflects the intent of the original author, who meant Gen 4:26b to serve as the introduction of the knowledge and use of YHWH’s name by characters. Gen 4:26b represented a tradition reflecting a cultural memory of a subgroup of Israelites who already worshipped YHWH before joining the Israelite coalition. Rival traditions reflecting the variant cultural memories of other groups are manifest in passages that seem to contradict Gen 4:26b like Exod 3:14-15 and Exod 6:2-3, though other programs are at work in each of these passages. Gen 4:26b was transposed from the beginning of what is now Gen 4 to its end when a “major redactor” combined its parent text with “Priestly material”, which obscured the original author’s programmatic intent to introduce the use of YHWH’s name by characters. The major redactor introduced a secondary program in place of this, whereby Gen 4:26b now contained the 70th mention of God and a culmination of Gen 1-4. Gen 4:26b was associated by most interpreters with Enosh, the character born in Gen 4:26a, immediately before. Attitudes towards Enosh, then, can serve as a proxy for the understood connotations of Gen 4:26b over time. These reveal a generally positive opinion of what occurred in Gen 4:26b in Second Temple Judaism and early Christianity, but a shift to negative assessments of Enosh in Rabbinic Judaism as an idolator. These most likely reflect the emergence of negative associations with pronouncing “YHWH” in virtually all contexts in Rabbinic Judaism. / Religion
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TEMPLE/oai:scholarshare.temple.edu:20.500.12613/10312 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Hensler, Kevin, 0000-0002-9705-6961 |
| Contributors | Leuchter, Mark, Leuchter, Mark, Rey, Terry, Blankinship, Khalid Yahya, DeRose Evans, Jane |
| Publisher | Temple University. Libraries |
| Source Sets | Temple University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation, Text |
| Format | 482 pages |
| Rights | IN COPYRIGHT- This Rights Statement can be used for an Item that is in copyright. Using this statement implies that the organization making this Item available has determined that the Item is in copyright and either is the rights-holder, has obtained permission from the rights-holder(s) to make their Work(s) available, or makes the Item available under an exception or limitation to copyright (including Fair Use) that entitles it to make the Item available., http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
| Relation | http://dx.doi.org/10.34944/dspace/10274, Theses and Dissertations |
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