volume 9, issue 1, 2017, pages 1-14

DOI: https://doi.org/10.64438/sbsENNU6395
Published online: 2017-06-01
Published in print: 2017-06-30

Abstract: Gen 35:19-20 and 1 Sam 10:2 represent two different biblical traditions concerning place of burial of Rachel, mother of Jacob’s sons Joseph and Benjamin. Various exegetes used to propose different solutions how to unify these two traditions, but their proposals demand to alter texts and to accept conjectures. Instead, various biblical texts from postexilic period suggest that original is so called northern tradition, locating Rachel’s tomb on the territory of the tribe of Benjamin. Later, the so called southern tradition could originate from effort of the tribe of Juda to achieve greater national unity in postexilic period, in concrete by assuming the mother of the tribe of Benjamin as its own mother.