Jacob's blessing on Judah (Genesis 49:8-12) within the Hebrew Old Testament: A study of in-textual, inner-textual, and inter-textual interpretation

The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the interpretation of Genesis 49:8-12 within the Old Testament, within its literary unit (i.e., Jacob's blessing in Gen 49), within the same biblical book (the Pentateuch), and within the rest of the Old Testament (the Prophets and the Writings).;Chapter two describes and defends our approach to this topic. We suggest using In-textual, Inner-textual, and Inter-textual interpretation to substitute the term Inner-biblical exegesis which is proposed by Michael Fishbane. We argue that Scripture is text which must be understood in light of text theory and text-linguistics. We also provide criteria for analyzing the biblical interpretation of Gen 49:8-12 on the verbal level, on the narration technique level, on the level of narrative world, and on the level of conceptual content.;Chapter three surveys the history of interpretation of Gen 49:8-12 during the past two millennia. The following three chapters represent the heart of the dissertation.;In chapter four we examine In-textual interpretation of Gen 49:8-12, that is, interpretation of this passage within Gen 49. Jacob's blessing on Judah is the center of the sayings of Gen 49. The promise of lineage of kingship is reserved for Judah only.;Chapter five deals with Inner-textual interpretation. We discuss the interpretation of Gen 49:8-12 within the Pentateuch. Special focus is on four sections, the Primeval Narrative (Gen 1-11), the Patriarchal Narrative (Gen 12-50), the Balaam Narrative (Num 22-24), and the Blessing of Moses (Deut 33). All these passages interpret and are interpreted by Gen 49:8-12. The major principles of Inner-textual interpretation are specification, combination, and application.;Chapter six discusses Inter-textual interpretation which is to investigate the way later biblical writers use and interpret an earlier biblical passage. We elucidate how Gen 49:8-12 is interpreted in Isa 63:1-6; Ezek 19; 21:32; Zech 9:9; Pss 2; 78:67-70; the book of Ruth; and 1 Chr 5:1-2. We find that they based their interpretations upon In-textual and Inner-textual interpretation of Gen 49:8-12 in respect of both content and principle. The promise of king is their major concern.;The final chapter summarizes our findings derived in previous chapters. The implications of our investigation for biblical studies are also considered.