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Part 2: Can Ambiguity Suggest Mutuality? |
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by
Doug Ward |
After his encounter with God at the burning bush, Moses set out for
Egypt with his wife Zipporah and sons Gershom and Eliezer (Exod
4:20). At some point on the trip, however, Moses sent Zipporah and the boys
back to Midian (Exod 18:2), perhaps on the advice of
his brother Aaron.
The
separation of Moses from his family was temporary. God had promised that Moses
would return to Sinai (Exod 3:12), and that promise
was fulfilled just a few weeks after Israel's miraculous rescue from Pharaoh's
army at the Red Sea. When Zipporah's father Jethro heard what God had done for
Moses and the Israelites, he brought his daughter and grandsons to Sinai (Exod 18:1-5), where a joyous reunion must have taken place.
The biblical narrative does not give many details, focusing on the interaction
between Jethro and Moses. As recounted in Exodus 18:7,
"And Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and he
bowed down and kissed him, and each of them asked of the other's well-being,
and they went into the tent."1
One
thing that is not entirely clear from this verse is which of the two bowed and
kissed the other. Most translators and interpreters have Moses bowing down.
However, one major Torah text, the Samaritan Pentateuch, says that Jethro bowed
down.
Exodus
18:7 is one of a number of biblical passages in which a pronoun has two
possible antecedents. In such cases, one can often learn much by considering
all of the options.2 So let's
look more closely at the question of the "bower" and the "bowee" in Exodus 18:7.
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Moses
or Jethro? |
Moses and Jethro had first met forty years earlier. As we read in
Exodus 2, Moses was the son of Israelite slaves in Egypt but grew up in the
Egyptian royal court. When he reached adulthood, Moses sympathized with the
plight of the Israelites. At one point he intervened to save a fellow Israelite
who was being beaten by an Egyptian, and the Egyptian died in the struggle. Now
wanted for murder, Moses fled to Midian (Exod 2:15).
Moses
was a lover of justice who desired to help the oppressed. He demonstrated this quality
again in Midian when he came to the assistance of seven shepherd girls, the
daughters of Jethro. In return, Jethro welcomed Moses into his household, and
Moses eventually married Zipporah, one of the shepherd girls (Exod 2:15-22).
At
the time when Jethro took Moses into his tent, Moses was a man without a home,
seemingly rejected by both his Israelite brethren and the Egyptian royal
family. Jethro provided a home and a new family for the fugitive. And so when Jethro arrived at Sinai forty years later, it is
easy to imagine that Moses would bow down and kiss Jethro. After all that
Jethro had done for Moses, Moses would have been honored to have the
opportunity to welcome his beloved father-in-law into his own tent.
Moreover,
it is consistent with what we know of Moses' life that Moses would be the
"bower". Although Moses had become the leader of a nation, he
retained his characteristic "meekness" or humility (Numbers 12:3).
Moses' bowing down before Jethro would be just one more example of his humble
character.3
On
the other hand, it makes sense that Jethro would bow before his son-in-law, who
was now a head of state. In addition, Jethro's bowing contributes to the
overall message of Exodus 17 and 18.
To
understand why, remember that God was calling the Israelites to be a light to
the nations, and the ultimate destinies of the nations would depend upon how
they received Israel and its God (Gen 12:3; Isa 60:12). Seen from this
perspective, the seventeenth and eighteenth chapters of Exodus contrast two
ways in which another people might respond to Israel.
In
chapter 17 Amalek attacked Israel, trying to take advantage of the weakest
members of the group when they were weary on the journey to freedom (Deut 25:17-19). For their defiance toward God, the
Amalekites would face destruction (Exod 17:14-16; Deut 25:19). Amalek became a symbol of how not to
receive Israel and the God of Israel.
Compare
Amalek's conduct with that of Jethro. When confronted with the evidence of
Israel's deliverance from Egypt, Jethro rejoiced in the truth (Exod 18:8) and acknowledged the God of Israel as the
supreme God:
"Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods,
because he delivered the people from the Egyptians when they dealt arrogantly
with them" (v. 11).
Jethro
can be seen as a forerunner of the world leaders who will honor God and the
people of Israel in the messianic age (Isa 60). His bowing before Moses fits in
well with this picture (see Isa 60:14).
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Why
Not Both? |
As we have seen, it is both appropriate and very meaningful for
Moses to have bowed before Jethro in Exod 18:7, and
also for Jethro to have bowed before Moses. Perhaps the best way to answer our
question is to say that both bowed (presumably without any violent collision of
their skulls).
In
fact, some scholars view the ambiguity in Exod 18:7
as an indication that both men bowed. One such scholar, Dr. Brachi
Elitzur, contends that ambiguity is a literary
technique sometimes used in the Hebrew Scriptures to imply mutuality.4
Dr. Elitzur gives examples of three passages from the book of
Genesis, each involving two characters in a close relationship, in which there is
pronoun ambiguity. In all three cases, either choice of antecedent seems quite
appropriate, and the text may be suggesting that both are correct.
One
example comes from Genesis 44, where Judah pleads with Joseph to allow Benjamin
to go back home and have Judah remain in Egypt in Benjamin's place. In verse
22, Judah recalls that he and his other brothers had previously told Joseph,
"The lad cannot leave his father. Should he leave his father, he would
die."
Many
English translations translate "he would die" as "Jacob would
die," but "he" could refer to Benjamin as well. Robert Alter
suggests that here Judah "leaves it to Joseph to decide whether the old
man would die if he were separated from Benjamin, or whether Benjamin could not
survive without his father, or whether both dire possibilities might be
possible."5 This
ambiguity only adds to the power of Judah's persuasive appeal by pointing to
the strength of the mutual dependence between father and son.
A
second example is the description of the tearful reunion between Joseph and
Jacob given in Gen 46. According to Gen 46:29 (KJV), when the two met, "he
fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while." Again, it is not
clear which of the two is said to have wept, and it quite likely that both did.
A
third example is the statement of Abram's faithful response to God's promise in
Gen 15:6: "And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for
righteousness." Both Christians and Jews normally interpret this verse as
saying that God counted Abram's faith as meritorious. With this interpretation,
Gen 15:6 is central to the apostle Paul's theology of justification by faith
(Romans 4, Galatians 3).
However,
Gen 15:6 may also be saying that Abram saw God's promise of many descendants as
an indication of God's great faithfulness and generosity. Abram and Sarai had
experienced many ups and downs since responding to God's call, but God had been
with them every step of the way and continued to reaffirm his promise to them.
Genesis 15:6 could reflect God's status in Abram's eyes as well as Abram's
status in God's eyes.
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Conclusion |
The Bible often communicates a great deal in a few carefully chosen
words, and that is the case in these examples from the Pentateuch. In the hands
of most writers pronoun ambiguity is a weakness, a
lack of precision that can confuse readers and lead to humorous
misunderstandings. But in these biblical examples, the ambiguity points to
depth in relationships with mutual love and respect. Here the insights of Dr. Elitzur and Dr. Alter appear to be valid and valuable.
1Unless otherwise
noted, scripture quotations in this article come from The Five Books of
Moses: A Translation with Commentary by Robert Alter, Norton, New York,
2004.
2Three examples from
the book of Genesis are discussed in the article "Watch Your
Antecedents!" in Issue 10 of Grace & Knowledge.
3In fact, the Hebrew
word for "meekness" in Numbers 12:3 probably comes from a root that
means "to be bowed down." For more on the character of Moses, see the
article "The
Meanings of Moses' Meekness" in Issue 17 of Grace & Knowledge.
4See the article "
`And He Prostrated Himself, and He Kissed Him': Ambiguity in the Encounter
between Moshe and Yitro," at https://etzion.org.il/en/tanakh/torah/sefer-shemot/parashat-yitro/and-he-prostrated-himself-and-he-kissed-him.
5The
Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary, p. 257.
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On 10 May 2013, 09:06.
