Wednesday, December 2, 2015

The Structure of PE

Four things to notice about PE.

Firstly, the text PE identifies the place of Yisrael as the land of Rameses, and not as the land of Goshen. The phrase כַּאֲשֶׁר, צִוָּה פַרְעֹה was possibly added to obfuscate the fact.

Secondly, the text has an alternative tradition about Ma'arat HaMachpelah, according to which only Avraham and Sarah are buried there.

Thirdly, the large abundance of numbers. The message is through them.

Fourthly, note how every person mentioned by name, is introduced: Sarah, his wife; Yitzchak and Yishmael, his sons; Esav and Ya'akov, his sons; and Ya'akov, his (i.e., Yoseph's) father.