Prvorozenectví v knize Genesis prizmatem sociální a kulturní antropologie

Abstract

Primogeniture, or succession by the eldest son, seems to have been the preferred rule in ancient Israel as this institution is explicitly promulgated in one passage (Dt 21:15-17), and is implicitly assumed in many accounts of individual cases. However, biblical acknowledgement of primogeniture usually occurs in contexts where the rule is broken as in the life histories of important religious and political figures, including Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and David. The paper will discuss possible interpretations of these transgressions with the help of textual analysis confronted with archeological picture of the times, where the crucial texts redactions were done. Basically the main concern of the paper is not the historical or anthropological ”correction” of biblical text but deeper understanding of the editorial intensions which undoubtedly transformed the ancient traditions about ancestors.