“Put your hand, pray, under my thigh, that I may make you swear by the Lord, God of the heavens and God of the earth …”

Cast Bronze Statue of Rebekah, whom the servant of Abraham found at the well, as a wife for Isaac. From my collection, Aspire.03.2011.

In the 24th Chapter of Genesis of The Hebrew Bible, Abraham, the Patriarch of the Abrahamic Faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, calls his servant to him, and bids the servant to swear a most solemn oath, by either holding his, Abraham’s genitals, or placing his hands next to his genitals, a means of oath-taking attested in various ancient cultures, to the following effect:

Put your hand, pray, under my thigh, that I may make you swear by the Lord, God of the heavens and God of the earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanite in whose midst I dwell. But to my land and to my birthplace you shall go, and you shall take a wife for my son, for Isaac.”

Genesis, Chapter 24: 1-4

Genesis records in Chapter 24, 9-10, “And the servant put his hand under Abraham’s thigh and he swore to him concerning this thing. And the servant took ten camels from his master’s camels, with all the bounty of his master in his hand, and he rose and went to Aram-Naharaim, to the city of Nahor.”

Rebecca at the Well (Oil on canvas, c. 1660)
Murillo, Bartolome Esteban (1617-1682)
Copyright ©Museo Nacional del Prado

When the servant arrived outside the city of Nahor by the well, he said:

“Lord, God of my master Abraham, pray, grant me good speed this day and do kindness with my master Abraham. Here, I am poised by the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the town are coming out to draw water. Let it be that the young woman to whom I say, ‘Pray, tip down your jug that I may drink,’ if she says, ‘Drink, and your camels, too, I shall water,’ she it is whom You have marked for Your servant, for Isaac, and by this I shall know that You have done kindness with my master.” He had barely finished speaking when, look, Rebekah was coming out, who was born to Bethuel son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, with her jug on her shoulder. And the young woman was very comely to look at, a virgin, no man had known her. And she came down to the spring and filled her jug and came back up. And the servant ran toward her and said, “Pray, let me sip a bit of water from your jug.” And she said, “Drink, my lord,” and she hurried and lowered her jug onto her hand and let him drink. And she let him drink his fill and said, “For your camels, too, I shall draw water until they drink their fill.” And she hurried and emptied her jug into the trough and she ran again to the well to draw water for all his camels. And the man was staring at her, keeping silent , to know whether the Lord had granted success to his journey. And it happened, when the camels had drunk their fill, that the man took a gold nose ring, a beqa in weight, and two bracelets for her arms, ten gold shekels in weight. And he said, “Whose daughter are you? Tell me, pray, Is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?” And she said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah who she bore to Nahor.” And she said to him, “We have abundance of bran and feed as well and room to spend the night.” And the man did obeisance and bowed to the Lord, and he said, “Blessed be the Lord, God of my master Abraham, Who has not left off His steadfast kindness toward my master – me on this journey the Lord led to the house of my master’s kinsmen.”

Genesis Chapter 24: 12-27

Chapter 24 of Genesis concludes with the servant negotiating the betrothal of Rebekah to Isaac, transporting Rebekah to Isaac, and Isaac taking Rebekah as his wife.

This post was inspired by the gorgeous cast bronze statue of Rebekah in my collection and the recent acquisition of The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary by Robert Alter for my library. The Hebrew Bible is highly recommend as a sensitive and inspired translation with deeply insightful scholarly commentary.

The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary by Robert Alter

It is not to be doubted that soon I will be looking for a scholarly paper or two on the solemn oaths which the ancients took that involved the holding of the genitalia of others … as I am most curious as to when such intimate habits were abandoned for less hands on formalities. I can hardly imagine any Muslim, Christian, or Jew not doing other than seeking criminal charges if someone went near their genitalia in the name of an oath these days – even in the name of the Lord with appropriate appeals to Abrahamic precedents.

I am also intrigued by the citation of weights in the Biblical verses of this chapter. I study weights, and the importance of weights to early trade and civilization cannot be overstated.

And to hold back the donkeys, Who has breath for that?

As they say: to stand up, and to sit down,

To protect the king’s son,

And to hold back the donkeys,

Who has breath for that?

Gilgamesh and Akka, Lines 24-27 (trans. Dina Katz)

Gilgamesh and Akka, by Dina Katz (Library of Oriental Texts, Vol. 1, STYX Publications, 1993), explores the short narrative poem in standard literary Sumerian which tells the tale of Gilgamesh of Uruk’s war against Akka of Kish.

Gilgamesh
GILGAMESH

In the tale, Akka of Kish demanded physical labor from the people of Uruk “to finish the wells, to finish all the wells of the land.” Gilgamesh, in response, asked the elders of Uruk for permission to wage war against Kish. The elders denied Gilgamesh permission to wage war against Kish, at which point Gilgamesh took his case for war to the able-bodied men of Uruk directly:

Since Gilgamesh, the Lord of Kulaba

had placed his trust in Inanna,

He did not take to heart the words of his city’s elders.

Gilgamesh before the able-bodied men of his city again

Laid the matter, seeking for words:

‘To finish the wells, to finish all the wells of the land,

To finish all the shallow wells of the land,

To finish all the deep wells with hoisting ropes,

Let us not submit to the house of Kish,

Let us smite it with weapons.’

The convoked assembly of his city’s able-bodied men answered Gilgamesh:

‘As they say: To stand up, and to sit down,

To protect the king’s son,

And to hold back the donkeys,

Who has breath for that?

Let us not submit to the house of Kish, Let us smite it with weapons.’

Gilgamesh and Akka, Lines 15-29 (Trans. Dina Katz)

The tale records that Gilgamesh and his able-bodied men went on to wage successful war against Akka and Kish.

Katz identified the passage that I am so enamored of, and which I quoted at the beginning of this post, as “puzzling.” She noted that a previous scholar felt that the expression was likely a “common saw” [i.e., a common Sumerian saying] whose meaning was lost to us. She noted, however, that the verbs “to stand” and “to sit” were often associated with the participants of the public assembly. It would appear, from the context, that the expression suggests having no more need or patience for further discussion due to appropriate consideration having been given (as in an assembly), pressing exigent conditions (as in a security situation), or exasperating circumstances (as in corralling or guiding donkeys).

Herman L. J. Vanstiphout, in reviewing Katz’s work in “A New Edition of Gilgamesh and Akka” (Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 119, no. 2, American Oriental Society, 1999, pp. 293–96) generally approved of Katz’s scholarly contributions and, with respect to the translation of the particular passage, took exception only with the wording regarding holding back the donkeys. He conceded that translating the line as “to hold back” “might surely be all right in a general sense” but seemed to suggest that something along the lines of “to hold the reins” may have been (more?) appropriate. For my part, I find the translation endearing, and intend to invoke the phrase regarding the donkeys, as translated, however perplexing it may seem, whenever I seek to end a discussion and perhaps give exasperated approval to a request in which I am in agreement.

The Lasting Influence of the Ursuline Sisters on My Writing Style

It is incontrovertible that I abhor beginning a written sentence with a first person personal pronoun. This aversion was engrained in me by Sister Madeleine in the first grade when I attended Saint Luke Catholic School in Boardman, Ohio. As I vaguely recall, fifty years later, Sister explained in age appropriate terms that it was exceedingly narcissistic to begin a sentence centered upon oneself. Thus, to this very day, I twist a sentence to no end to avoid such a sin, though sometimes I cannot avoid such a transgression.

Curious as to whether I was remembering the source of my predilection correctly, I recently conferred with my older sister, who also attended St. Luke Catholic School, to inquire if she had been instructed as I had been, regarding the use of first person personal pronouns at the beginning of sentences by the Ursuline Sisters at St. Luke Catholic School. She quickly confirmed that she had been so instructed and that, like myself, she still avoided beginning sentences with a first person personal pronoun with the result that she often found herself twisting perfectly fine sentences into contorted jumbles for little reason. Laughter ensued as we both recognized the hilarity of the situation.

The Ursuline Sisters who taught us at Saint Luke Catholic School were excellent teachers and role models, and we both remember them fondly. Sister Mary and Sister Madeleine were kind and generous and exemplified the best of both the education profession and the Church. And if on occasion my writing is a bit convoluted because of their slightly misguided effort to teach children to avoid excessive self-centeredness, I can live with that.

City of Glory: The Oasis City of Paikend

Central Asia: Sogdiana, reproduced after Vaissière, 2005

“City of Glory” almost sounds as if it were the appellation for a city in the HBO series “Game of Thrones,” such as Pentos, Qarth, or Astapor. But in reality it was given to a wealthy merchant city in Sogdiana, as attested to by the coin illustrated below.

Paikend AE Cash, ca. 640-710. Image from Stephen Album Rare Coins, Auction 38, Lot 133

The coin is a very rare AE cash from the Sogdiana merchant city of Paikend (Paykent), ca. 640-710, which has always fascinated me and is worthy of more research. The obverse features the Bukhara tamgha at top, Chinese yuan below, and Sogdian text to left & right. The reverse features a cross above & below the central hole. The scholar Aleksandr Naymark has read the Sogdian text on the obverse as PRN / KND, “city of glory,” and suggested that this was a local issue under a Christian ruler, in opposition to the kings of Bukhara. The coin illustrated was Lot 133 in Stephen Album Rare Coin Auction 38.

Paikend: Fortifications in City Wall. Image by Don Croner

The oasis city of Paikend, which was first inhabited c. the 4th century BC, existed until the Zarafshan River changed its course in the 12th сentury, at which point the city was abandoned by its residents. The abandoned city was subsequently buried over time under the sands of the Kyzylkum Desert, resulting in the city being well preserved for future generations of inquisitive archaeologists. Excavations on the site first started in 1914 by L.A. Zimin, representative of the St. Petersburg school of Asian studies, and continue to this day by the Archaeology Institute, Uzbekistan Academy of Sciences, and Andrey Omelchenko, of the Hermitage Museum in Russia.