Abraham, Blessing and the Nations: A Philological and Exegetical Study of Genesis 12:3 in Its Narrative Context

Abstract

Abraham, Blessing and Nations: A Philological and Exegetical Study of Genesis 12:3 Hs Narrative Context, Keith N. Gruneberg. BZAW 332. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2003. Pp. xii + 296. Hardcover. $94, euro78. ISBN 3110178370. This book is a publication of author's doctoral dissertation, written at University of Durham under supervision of Walter Moberly. It addresses an often overlooked but significant translation problem Gen 12:3b. Although many, particularly Christian, commentators understand this half-verse to a promise God to Abraham that in you all families of earth shall blessed (NRSV), Moberly and others (e.g., Rashi, Erhard Blum) have argued plausibly that promise might better rendered as a reflexive, by you all families of earth shall bless themselves (NRSV note). In contrast to his doctoral adviser, Gruneberg argues, particularly on grammatical grounds, that former translation, be blessed, is better. The book wanders a bit on its way to (and from) this thesis. After a helpful introduction to translation issue, Gruneberg devotes balance of first chapter to discussion of his focus on the final form of text. Though he recognizes efforts of some-including present reviewer-to argue for a mixed approach, he argues that attentive readers can perceive cross-currents of a multilayered text well enough without having to investigate probable contours of those different layers (pp. 6-7). This review could engage that perspective, but it is not necessary, given how Gruneberg proceeds. In point of fact, Gruneberg himself states his intent to include diachronic considerations his discussion of Gen 12:36 (p. 11), and later he includes such considerations as this and other points (e.g., pp. 155-59, 177). So Gruneberg's extensive elaboration of final form focus is somewhat misleading characterizing his operative method. Once it is clear that language use allows either translation, decisive arguments must come from context which these promises occur. On this point, Gruneberg himself shows that contexts of Gen 12:3; 18:18; and 28:14 correlate strongly with a translation of these promises as reflexive or middle: focused on Abraham and his heirs as signal examples of blessing. The main text that Gruneberg repeatedly adduces as an example of Abraham as a conduit of blessing for others, Gen 18:22-32, is a slender branch on which to hang such a theory. After all, towns of Sodom and Gomorrah, on whose behalf Abraham pleads, are eventually destroyed. …