Cited by 1Biblical Studies and InterpretationClassical Studies and PhilologyReligion, Theology, History, Judaism, Christianity

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 18 of the 18 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 95 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.

Genesis 38 binne die Josefverhaal: ’n Literêr-sosiologiese perspektief

Open access
Viljoen, D.A., Breytenbach, P.P.B.·2002·HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies

Abstract

The placing of Genesis 38 within the Joseph narrative: A literary sociological perspectiveA review of research on Gen 38 defines it as a literary riddle. The reasoning of this passage’s positioning and function within the Joseph narrative leads to a maze of different viewpoints. This article systematizes research on Gen 38 into three basic viewpoints: [1] Gen 38 forms an intrinsic part of the Joseph narrative; [2] Gen 38 is an independent literary unit; [3] Gen 38 is dialectically related to the Joseph narrative. Gen 38 reflects a polemical Southern perspective of the Kingdom of Judah against a Northern perspective of the Kingdom of Israel. This viewpoint links up with the argument that Gen 38 should be seen as dialectically related to the Joseph narrative.

Overview

AI snapshot

Written from the paper’s full text.

TL;DR

This article systematizes existing research on Genesis 38 into three positions on its placement in the Joseph narrative — intrinsic part, independent unit, or dialectically related — and argues for the third: Gen 38 is a polemical Southern (Judean) counter-narrative against the Northern (Israelite) perspective of the Joseph story. Read together with Gen 49, it frames the Joseph narrative as an *inclusio* that relativizes Joseph's divinely destined dominance in favour of Judah's future rule.

Key findings

  • Research on Gen 38 falls into three basic viewpoints: (1) it is intrinsically part of the Joseph narrative (Alter, Mathewson, Wildavsky); (2) it is a fully independent narrative (Redford, Von Rad, Westermann, Brueggemann, Soggin); (3) it stands in a dialectical relation to the Joseph narrative (Van Selms, Longacre, Garrett, Van Seters, Blum, Rendsburg, Carr, Ho). The authors adopt position 3.
  • Gen 38 contains encoded links to the David story: Adullam (Gen 38:1) is also David's refuge (1 Sam 22:1), about 16 km northwest of Hebron; the name Ḥirah parallels Hiram; Bat-Sua evokes Bathsheba (1 Chron 3:5); the phrase "she sent to say" occurs six times in Gen 38 and six times in the David story; both Judah and David are "embarrassed into admitting their guilt" (Rendsburg 1986:442).
  • The Joseph narrative carries Northern motifs (Jacob/Israel traditions, Pniël, Bethel, Shechem, Gen 48's blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh), while Gen 38 and Gen 49:8-12 place the emphasis on the Southern kingdom; in Gen 49, of 25 verses, five are devoted to Judah and five to Joseph (Longacre 1989:53 gives Joseph 40% of the pericope).
  • Gen 38 and Gen 49:1b-28 function as an *inclusio* that "redirect the surrounding Joseph story" (Carr 1996:249): Joseph's dominance belongs to a narrative past, Judah's to a narrative future.

Methods

  • A literary-sociological study, framed by the premises that literature's truth is polyvalent and that literary formation is a dynamic discourse of master-narratives and counter-narratives (Breytenbach 1997).
  • The article reviews and systematizes existing exegetical scholarship on Gen 38 into the three positions above, distinguishing diachronic from synchronic approaches.
  • It then analyses textual motifs in Gen 38 and Gen 37-50 — locality elements, personal names, relational/theological motifs, chronology — and their intertextual links with the David narrative and with Northern/Southern royal theology (Sion theology).

Limitations

  • The authors state that the scope of the study does not allow a detailed investigation of the historical horizons of origin (time and place) of the literary entities discussed, and they recommend this as a topic for further study.
  • They flag that an exclusively literary-narratological approach risks anachronistic, ethnocentric readings of the text (citing Brink 1987; Elliott 1993), and that Alter's approach imposes limits on what it can see.
  • The authors themselves judge some proposed associations as strained — Rendsburg's last associations "come across as somewhat forced" — and note that Ho's associative explanation "leaves room for ambiguity"; their own Southern-counter-narrative reading is presented as a hypothesis.

Model-written summary. Check it against the paper before relying on it.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.4102/hts.v58i4.706

Cites

18 of 18 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

62 Sources not found · 47 Own interpretation · 33 No basis given · 8 Not checked yet · 1 Own result

Verify all 1 references — free account

Show all 29 claims

  • Probably not a substantial claim. 103
  • It may state two separate claims as one. 58
  • The quote only partly states this claim. 1
122 of 122
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    The northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah, through their literature, reflect a discourse that is often polemical, a discourse that also houses marginalizing and legitimating motives.

    “Dit is dan ook in hierdie artikel die uitgangspunt dat die noordelike koninkryk van Israel en die suidelike koninkryk van Juda deur hulle literatuur”
1 of 1

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

Each contradiction between two passages listed here was confirmed by an independent check.

1 of 1

Citations

Cites

Show all 15 references

Research works printed but not linked: 3

  1. Bruegemann, W 1982. Genesis. Atlanta, GA: John Knox Press.
  2. Mathewson, S D 1989. An exegetical study of Gen 38. Bibliotheca Sacra 146(584), 373-392.
  3. Soggin, J A 1993. Judah and Tamar (Gen 38), in McKay H A & Clines (eds), Of prophets' visions and the wisdom of the sages: Essays in honour of R Norman Whybray on his seventieth birthday, 281-287. Sheffield: JSOT Press.

Cited by

Metadata

Authors
Viljoen, D. A., & Breytenbach, P. P. B.
Affiliations
University of Pretoria (ZA)
Venue
HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies
Publisher
AOSIS
Published
2002-11-03
Volume
58
Issue
4
ISSN
  • 0259-9422 (ISSN-L)
  • 2072-8050
OpenAlex
W2050120031
Cited by
1
References
15
Citations by year
2024: 1
FWCI
0.00
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
  • UpSpace Institutional Repository (University of Pretoria) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Biblical Studies and Interpretation
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › Classical Studies and Philology
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Religion, Theology, History, Judaism, Christianity
Keywords
Genesis 38, Joseph narrative, sociology of literature, biblical narrative structure, Southern perspective, Kingdom of Judah, Kingdom of Israel, polemics, literary riddles

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Genesis 38 binne die Josefverhaal: ’n Literêr-sosiologiese perspektief. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.4102/hts.v58i4.706
The paper
Viljoen, D. A., & Breytenbach, P. P. B. (2002). Genesis 38 binne die Josefverhaal: ’n Literêr-sosiologiese perspektief. HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies. https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v58i4.706