Umberto Cassuto - A Commentary on the Book of Genesis, Part 2: from Noah to Abraham

FROM NOAH TO ABRAHAM

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PUBLICATIONS OF THE
PERRY FOUNDATION FOR BIBLICAL RESEARCH
IN THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM

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A COMMENTARY
ON THE BOOK OF
GENESIS
by
U . CASSUTO
Late Professor of Bible at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Translated from the Hebrew by
ISRAEL ABRAHAMS
Professor of Hebrew, University of Cape Town

PART II

FROM NOAH TO ABRAHAM

GENESIS VI 9-XI 32
WITH AN APPENDIX: A FRAGMENT OF PART III

VARDA BOOKS
skokie, illinois, usa
5765 / 2005

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COPYRIGHT

Copyright by Varda Books

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form of reproduction without permission in writing from the original publisher except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be published in a magazine, newspaper or online.

This electronic edition is based on the printed one, published in 1992

NEW ISBN 1-59045-799-4 Scholar PDF edition

First published in Hebrew, Jerusalem 1949
and reprinted in 1953, 1959, 1965, 1969, 1974, 1978, 1983, 1986

First English edition, Jerusalem 1964
and reprinted in 1974, 1984, 1992

By The Magnes Press
The Hebrew University
Jerusalem 1992

ISBN 9652235407

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PART TWO
FROM NOAH TO ABRAHAM
Commentary on Genesis VI 9XI 32

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TRANSLATORS FOREWORD

From Noah To Abraham is the second volume in a series of comprehensive commentaries on the Book of Genesis that the late Professor Umberto Cassuto had planned as part of a magnum opus embracing the whole Pentateuch and also the Book of Psalms.

The first volume bears a separate title, From Adam To Noah, but in the present book the author refers to it as Part I, in order to emphasize the relationship of the two volumes as an exegetical sequence. The nexus between the two commentaries is fully borne out by the style and techniques employed in the annotations. Above all the principles of interpretation are the same. These had previously been expounded by Professor Cassuto in his masterly Italian study La Questione delta Genesi (1934), and summarized in his shorter Hebrew work, The Documentary Hypothesis (1942). Thereafter, elaborated in the light of the epoch-making archaeological discoveries of our time, especially in the field of Ugaritic literature, they formed the basis of his commentary on the opening chapters of Genesis. Now, by extending his method of exegesis in this volume to another section of the Torah, Cassuto indirectly buttressed his theories with new evidence of the inherent rightness of his approach. Just as in the realm of physics or chemistry every additional experiment that produces results consonant with a given hypothesis is regarded as added confirmation of its probability, so in the sphere of Biblical studies the successful extension of the area of exposition serves to validate the commentators interpretative principles. These considerations apart, the present work is rich in original insights and scholarly illuminations that make it an invaluable guide to the Bible studentbe he an erudite scholar or just a well-read lay enquirerirrespective of the opinions he holds with regard to the Higher Critical doctrines.

The first Hebrew edition of From Noah To Abraham was confined

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to the sidra or pericope Noah (Gen. vi 9xi 32). Subsequent editions, however, included a fragment of the next pericope ( ibid. xii 1xvii 27) on which the author had started to work with the intention of producing a companion volume to his first two commentaries on Genesis; he named the new book, Abraham And The Promised Land. Man proposes... It was not, alas, Cassutos destiny, to our infinite sorrow, to complete his plans. At the fifth verse of the thirteenth chapter of the first book of the Torah the pen fell from his strengthless hand.

The sudden and untimely passing of Cassuto, when he was at the height of his scholarly creativity, was an immeasurable loss to Jewish scholarship as a whole, and more specifically to Bible research and exposition. Even the fragment from the third volume of his commentary on Genesis is a brilliant example of exegetical writing. I shall, I believe, be voicing the views of many Biblical exegetes when I declare that we cannot but be grateful that this segment of his contemplated work was vouchsafed us, although the heart yearns for what the maestro still had in his mind but was not granted to bequeath to us in writing.

As in the case of the earlier volumes that I translated, I wish to acknowledge my debt of gratitude to all who assisted me in my labours. My heartfelt thanks go out in the first instance to Mr. Silas S. Perry, the munificent founder of The Perry Foundation for Biblical Research in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem for his unfailing understanding, encouragement and inspiration. Dr. S. E. Loewenstamm came to my aid on all Ugaritic problems, and directly and indirectly helped me to unravel other baffling questions. Dr. Milka Cassuto-Salzmann prepared the Indexes and, as convener of the proof-readers, saw the book through the press with true filial devotion and zeal for correctness in every detail. The Printers had a major struggle in satisfying a fastidious and oft-times trying translator, but emerged triumphant. To all these, and others whom I cannot mention here, I wish to convey my sincere and grateful appreciation.

ISRAEL ABRAHAMS

Cape Town
December, 1962
Kislev, 5723

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KEY TO THE TRANSLITERATION

HEBREW

(a) CONSONANTS

Note: (1) Unsounded at the end of a word is not represented in the transcription;

(2) the customary English spelling is retained for Biblical names and rabbinic works and authorities.

(b) VOWELS

Note: Capital E represents , and ; thus is transliterated Elohim, and is transcribed El .

ARABIC AND OTHER LANGUAGES

The method commonly used in scientific works was followed in the transliteration of Arabic, Akkadian, Egyptian and Ugaritic words.

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CONTENTS

Translators Foreword

Key to transliteration

Abbreviations

Preface

PART II: FROM NOAH TO ABRAHAM

SECTION ONE : The Flood (vi 9ix 17)

Introduction Rubric of Section (vi 9a) Act One: The Punishment (vi 9bvii 24) First Paragraph: The Corruption of All Flesh and the Righteousness of the Good Man (vi 9b12) Second Paragraph: Noah is told of the Coming Doom and is enjoined to make the Ark (vi 1322) Third Paragraph: The Command to enter the Ark (vii 15) Fourth Paragraph: The Fulfillment of the Injunction to enter the Ark (vii 69) Fifth Paragraph: The Beginning of the Flood (vii 1016) Sixth Paragraph: Water upon the Earth (vii 1724) Act Two: The Deliverance (viii 1ix 17) Seventh Paragraph: The First Rays of Light (viii 114) Eighth Paragraph: The Command to leave the Ark (viii 1517) Ninth Paragraph: The Exit from the Ark (viii 1822) Tenth Paragraph: Gods Blessing to Noah and his Sons (ix 17) Eleventh Paragraph: The Divine Promise to fulfill and extend the Covenant (ix 811) Twelfth Paragraph: The sign of the Covenant (ix 1217)Next page