Deuteronomy 32:8-9
According to the BHS, a textual variant occurs in the last two words of Deuteronomy 32:8. The NASB translates the last half of the verse as follows: “He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel” (Deut. 32:8 [NASB]). The Masoretic text agrees with the NASB by recording the final two Hebrew words as “sons of Israel” (בני ישראל). However, Michael Heiser points out that certain Septuagint and Qumran manuscripts presume a Hebrew text of “sons of God” (בני אלהים or בני אלים).[1] The following provides a coherent resolution to the textual difference based on Heiser’s article.
The context of the passage refers to Genesis 10-11 when God divided humankind. Heiser recognizes the absence of Israel from the Table of Nations and asks how God would set the boundaries for the pagan nations according to the sons of Israel (בני ישראל) – an entity “that did not yet exist.”[2] The answer takes shape in the parallels between Ugaritic literature and the Hebrew text. Heiser explains that Ugaritic mythology claims their chief god, El Elyon (עֶלְיוֹן), had 70 sons.[3] Deuteronomy 32:8 also refers to God as El Elyon (עֶלְיוֹן) who separates humankind into 70 nations. The literary parallel supports God’s division occurring based on other gods, not the “sons of Israel,” thus the translation: “sons of God” (בני אלהים).
The connotation of divine beings in the translation could appear polytheistic. Heiser acknowledges the possibility and asserts that the Masoretes intentionally altered the text to avoid this very concern, which further supports the Septuagint/Qumran text.[4] The tension of polytheism quickly resolves with a proper understanding of “divine council.” Heiser uses 1 Kings 22, Psalms 82, and parallels to Ugaritic terminology to provide evidence of other gods and explains that God assigned the pagan nations to the other gods while taking Israel for Himself (See Deut. 32:9; Gen. 12).[5] Furthermore, although the evidence supports a plurality of gods, Heiser notes that the people understood Yahweh as the one and only omnipotent Deity.[6] Thus, the Septuagint/Qumran manuscripts, the parallels with Ugaritic texts, and the logic behind the Masoretic alteration all provide the textual evidence to support “sons of God” as original. Furthermore, a proper understanding of divine council and its relation to the pagan nations, while not denying monotheism, provide the logic to support “sons of God” as the original text.
Genesis 49:10
Genesis 49:10 arguably has one of the most perplexing phrases of the Old Testament: עד כי־יבא שילה. At issue is the final word, which in the Masoretic text is שִׁילֹ֔ה (Kethiv) or שִׁילוֹ (Qere). The BHS textual apparatus explains that many Hebrew manuscripts drop the yod (שלה). Additionally, the Septuagint manuscripts translate the word using a form of the Greek lemma ἀπόκειμαι that has a meaning not readily apparent in the Hebrew. The following analysis attempts to provide a resolution and identify the original text.
Three primary options are available. First, in support of the Masoretic text, K. A. Mathews explains that “Shiloh” (שילה) may represent the name of a town in the Ephraim territory or the name of a person identified by the Jewish Midrash as a future messiah.[7] However, the common spelling for the town is שׁלה not שילה, and שילה is nowhere used in Scripture to point to a messianic figure.[8] Accordingly, resolving the issue with a name appears to lack evidence and appears irreconcilable with the LXX. Second, Gordon Wenham suggests the manuscripts that dropped the yod read the word שלה as לה + ש meaning, “To whom it belongs.”[9] The Septuagint lemma, ἀπόκειμαι, possibly fits the second option with the connotation “to store away.” However, Wenham recognizes two disadvantages: the poor poetry and the added yod would require the Masoretic text to make the original more difficult.[10] Third, Victor Hamilton suggests the possibility that the four consonants are divided (לה + שי), which can mean “tribute (שי) to him (לה)” and simultaneously fit the context by forecasting “the subjection of the world to Judah.”[11] With option three, the consonantal text remains, supporting the Masoretic text and the connotation fits the LXX much better than “Shiloh.” Finally, additional support exists if Richard Steiner is correct in suggesting לה + שי occurred as a “single word.”[12] However, the dropping of yod in the other Hebrew manuscripts would remain an enigma unless it was defective spelling.
Without catering to the Masoretic text, the best reading often explains the most manuscripts. Option one appears to support the Masoretic text, but not the LXX, while option two does the opposite. However, option three appears to have the better potential of supporting both the Masoretic text and the LXX. Accordingly, in alignment with the ESV, the translation of the phrase that appears, without certainty, to fit the original is “until tribute comes to him.”
Bibliography
- Hamilton, Victor P. The Book of Genesis, Chapters 18-50. The New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1995.
- Heiser, Michael. “Deuteronomy 32:8 and the Sons of God” (2001). Faculty Publications and Presentations. Paper 279. Accessed September 1, 2015. http://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/lts_fac_pubs/279
- Mathews, K. A. Genesis 11:27-50:26. The New American Commentary, vol. 1b. Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2005.
- Steiner, Richard C. “Poetic Forms in the Masoretic Vocalization and Three Difficult Phrases in Jacob’s Blessing: יֶתֶר שְׁאֵת (Gen 49:3), יְצוּעִי עָלָה (49:4), and יָבֹא שִׁילֹה (49:10).” Journal of Biblical Literature 129, no. 2 (2010): 209–35.
- Wenham, Gordon J. Genesis 16-50. Word Biblical Commentary, vol. 2. Dallas: Word, 1998.[1] Michael Heiser, “Deuteronomy 32:8 and the Sons of God” (2001), Faculty Publications and Presentations, Paper 279: 52–53, accessed September 1, 2015, http://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/lts_fac_pubs/279.
[2] Ibid., 53–54.
[3] Ibid., 54.
[4] Ibid., 59.
[5] Ibid., 59-68, 70–71.
[6] Ibid., 73.
[7] K. A. Mathews, Genesis 11:27-50:26, The New American Commentary, vol. 1b (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2005), 893–94.
[8] Ibid., 893.
[9] Gordon J. Wenham, Genesis 16-50, Word Biblical Commentary, vol. 2 (Dallas: Word, 1998), 477.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Victor P. Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 18-50, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1995), 661.
[12] Richard C. Steiner, “Poetic Forms in the Masoretic Vocalization and Three Difficult Phrases in Jacob’s Blessing: יֶתֶר שְׁאֵת (Gen 49:3), יְצוּעִי עָלָה (49:4), and יָבֹא שִׁילֹה (49:10),” Journal of Biblical Literature 129, no. 2 (2010): 223–24.