Глава 15
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Gen. 15:2–3. “Lord God, what will you give me? Here I go without children, and the son of my slave [named] Mazek, this Eliezer from Damascus. And Abraham said: Behold, You have not given me offspring, and the son of my handmaid will be my heir.”
Where we have it written “...and the son of my handmaid [named] Mazek”, in the Hebrew text – uben mesech bethi (בֵּיתִ֔י מֶ֣שֶׁק וּבֶן־), which Aquila translated: ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ποτίζοντος οἰκίαν μου, that is, “the son of the one who gives drink to my house,” and Theodotion - καὶ υἱὸ ϛ τοῦ ἐπὶ τῆς οἰκίας μου, that is, “the son of the one who is over my house.” What he says means: “I am dying childless. And the son of my steward (or manager of my household), who manages everything and distributes food in my family (and his name is Eliezer of Damascus), he will be my heir.” Additionally, Eliezer means “God is my helper.” Claims that Damascus was founded and named in connection with this incident.
Gen.15:7. “I am the God who brought you out of the land of the Chaldeans.”
In the Hebrew text, as I said a little earlier, it is written like this: “who brought you out of ur chesdim ( כַּשְׂדִּ ֽ ים א ֥ וּר ),” that is, from the fire of the Chaldeans.
Gen. 15:10–11. “And he laid them one against the other, but did not separate the birds; and birds of prey descended on the corpses and on their parts, and Abram sat with them.”
There is no need to analyze this sacred rite in this work. I will only say that instead of the words I cited, the Hebrew text says: “And birds of prey descended on the corpses, and Abram drove them away.” After all, thanks to his merits, Israel was often freed from troubles.
Gen.15:12. “And at sunset a frenzy fell upon Abram.”
Instead of “frenzy” (ἔκστασις) in the Hebrew text we read thardema (תַרְדֵּמָ ֖ ה), that is, καταϕορά, which I translated above as “sound sleep.”
Gen.15:16. “And in the fourth generation they will return here.”
That is, those who will be from the seed of Abraham will return. The question arises: how is it written in the Book of Exodus: “And in the fifth generation the children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt” (Ex. 13, 18 according to LXX)? I published a short essay about this (Letter 36: “To Pope Damasus.” - Translator’s note).