Глава 33

Gen.33:1–2. “And [Jacob] separated the children of Leah, Rachel and the two maidservants, and put the maidservants with their children first, and Leah and her children last, and also Rachel and Joseph [put] last, and he himself went before them.” Jacob formed not three groups, as many people believe, but two. Finally, where we have “divided,” Aquila put ήμίσευσεν, that is, “divided in half,” to form one wedge of maidservants with their children, and the second of Leah and Rachel, who were free, with their children. And he forced the maidservants to go first, and the free ones second. So he himself would have met the brother whom he intended to bow to before both groups. Gen.33:17. “And Jacob built a house in that place, and built a tent for his livestock; therefore he called the place by the name of Tabernacle.” Where we say “tent,” in the Hebrew text we read soehoth ( סֻכֹּ ֔ תָה ). And right up to our time, beyond the Jordan, in the area of ​​Scythopolis, there is a city with that name. I wrote about it in the Book of Localities. Gen.33:18. “And Jacob came to Salem, the city of Shechem, in the land of Canaan, after he had returned from Mesopotamia in Syria.” It is perplexing how the city of Shechem receives the name Salem here, while in one of the previous verses of Scripture the name Salem was applied to Jerusalem, the city in which Melchizedek reigned. Therefore, either both cities bore the same name (this can be found in many other places in Judah, when a city or place in different tribes is called the same), or, most likely, the given word Salem, which is here used as the name of Shechem, in my opinion, in this case should be translated as “perfect” or “completed”, and that word Salem, by which Jerusalem was subsequently called, in our language should be rendered by the word “peaceful”. The fact is that this word can mean both, if you slightly change the sound when pronouncing it. The Jews have a legend that in this place the thigh of the limping Jacob strengthened and became healthy. Therefore, the city received its name in honor of the healed and perfected [thigh].