Mourning for Jacob at Goren ha-Atad

In the biblical description of Jacob’s funeral cortege to the Land of Canaan, the sons stop in Goren (= the threshing floor of) Ha-Atad. Gen. 50:10-11 describes these events:

נ:י וַיָּבֹ֜אוּ עַד גֹּ֣רֶן הָאָטָ֗ד אֲשֶׁר֙ בְּעֵ֣בֶר הַיַּרְדֵּ֔ן וַיִּ֨סְפְּדוּ שָׁ֔ם מִסְפֵּ֛ד גָּד֥וֹל וְכָבֵ֖ד מְאֹ֑ד וַיַּ֧עַשׂ לְאָבִ֛יו אֵ֖בֶל שִׁבְעַ֥ת יָמִֽים: נ:יא וַיַּ֡רְא יוֹשֵׁב֩ הָאָ֨רֶץ הַֽכְּנַעֲנִ֜י אֶת הָאֵ֗בֶל בְּגֹ֙רֶן֙ הָֽאָטָ֔ד וַיֹּ֣אמְר֔וּ אֵֽבֶל כָּבֵ֥ד זֶ֖ה לְמִצְרָ֑יִם עַל כֵּ֞ן קָרָ֤א שְׁמָהּ֙ אָבֵ֣ל מִצְרַ֔יִם אֲשֶׁ֖ר בְּעֵ֥בֶר הַיַּרְדֵּֽן:

¹⁰ When they came to Goren ha-Atad which is beyond the Jordan they held there a very great and solemn lamentation; and he (=Joseph) observed a mourning period of seven days for his father. ¹¹ And when the Canaanite inhabitants of the land saw the mourning at Goren ha-Atad, they said, “This is a solemn mourning on the part of the Egyptians.” That is why it was named Abel-Mitzraim (= the mourning of the Egyptians) which is beyond the Jordan.^[1]

The Torah specifies that each of these two toponyms is located beyond the Jordan. But where exactly is Goren^[2] Ha-Atad/Abel-Mitzraim?

Moreover, looking at the story from a geographical perspective, this route makes no sense. Why would someone go to the Transjordan in order to get to Canaan? There was a main route, called The Way of Horus, and referred to as The Way of the Land of the Philistines in the Torah (Exod 13:17), which went directly up the coast of the Mediterranean and would have been the direct route from Egypt to Canaan.

An Alternative Burial Tradition for Jacob: Noth and de Vaux

Two major twentieth biblical scholars dealt with this issue. The German biblical scholar Martin Noth (1902-1968) and the French Roland de Vaux (1903-1971) suggest that this text in Genesis preserves a tradition locating Jacob’s tomb in Goren Ha-Atad/Avel-Mitzraim, in the Transjordan.^[3] Thus, the cortege was going to Transjordan because this is where Jacob was to be buried.

Although my own solution will overlap with that of Noth and De Vaux on some points, nevertheless, their hypothesis regarding a Transjordanian burial tradition is problematic. It contradicts Jacob’s instructions to Joseph (Gen 47:30) and to his sons (49:29) to bury him with his fathers in Canaan. Furthermore, v. 11 refers to Canaanites in the vicinity of Goren ha-Atad (50:11)—but Canaanites resided in the Cisjordan (west of the Jordan), not the Transjordan (east of the Jordan).

Demky: The Brothers and their Egyptian Entourage Separate at the Egyptian Border City called “Jordan”

In order to avoid these above-referenced difficulties, Aaron Demsky, professor (emeritus) of biblical history at Bar-Ilan University, proposed that the mourning at Goren ha-Atad / Abel Mitzraim occurred at the border between Canaan and Egypt. The reason for the stop, in Demsky’s model, was for the Egyptian entourage to say goodbye and return to Egypt, whereas the brothers would continue on to Hebron. To demonstrate this point, Demsky notes that the narrative of Jacob’s funeral cortege begins with a very large troop that included the officials of Pharaoh, the senior members of his court, and all of Egypt’s dignitaries (Gen. 50:7), while at the end of the narrative, only Jacob’s sons are presented.

Why is this place referred to as “בעבר הירדן”? Demsky suggests that the toponym “Jordan/Yarden” in our verses (50:10–11) refers to a city named Yarden rather than to the river. ^[4] We know of the city y-w-r-w-d-n in the 10th cent. B.C.E. from Shoshenq I’s topographical list at Karnak, where it appears amongst the Negev entries; later, it is mentioned by Josephus in the first century C.E.; variations of that name may be found in Christian sources of the six century and in a Syrian chronicle list of the seventh century.

Next, Demsky further developed Berend Gemser’s proposal to interpret עבר, usually translated as “beyond,” as “a ford of a river,”^[5] and accordingly renders עבר הירדן as a ford of the Brook of Egypt next to the city Jordan. ^[6]

Thus, in Demsky’s model, the funeral cortege travels from Egypt to the Land of Canaan through the northern Sinai Peninsula. The Egyptian contingent accompanies the funeral cortege only up to the Brook of Egypt that was known in the Bible as the border between Egypt and the Land of Canaan/Israel.^[7] They stop at a place called Goren Ha-Atad, which was at the crossing of the Brook of Egypt near the city of Yardan, where they lament Jacob for seven days. Afterwards, the Egyptians return to Egypt and only Jacob’s sons continued into the land of Canaan to bury their father.

Problems with Demsky’s Proposal

Demsky’s proposal presents several problems:

1. עבר versus מעבר: The term עֵבֶר in such contexts always means “beyond” and is not used in the same sense as מַעֲבַר, “a ford.” ^[8]

2. The name of a ford: following the biblical evidence, fords were named based on the name of the specific river and never the name of a nearby city. ^[9]

3. Only necessary crossing points were given names: Only two rivers were important enough for their fords were mentioned in the Bible: the ford of Jabbok (Gen 32:23) and the fords of the Jordan (Judg 3:28, 12:5–6). These rivers could be crossed only in a few specific spots either because of their strong flow or because of their high banks and sharp cliffs. In contrast, the streams of the northern Sinai Peninsula are low and they ran as a result of flashfloods only for few hours a year. They could be crossed at any point and there are no specific fords on the Egyptian-Canaanite border, wherever it was.^[10]

4. The Disappearance of the Egyptian Entourage: Demsky was correct in identifying the problems in the narrative of Jacob’s funeral cortege, but his solution that Goren ha-Atad is the place where the Egyptians turned back is problematic. In v. 14, there is a reference to “all who had gone up with him,” presumably referring to the Egyptian entourage returning with Joseph and the brothers to Egypt.

A Source Critical Solution: Two Funeral Traditions

Instead, the shift in the narrative may be explained through source criticism, as delineated in the following chart^[11] (NJPS translation with modifications):

J Version – Goren ha-Atad

In J, Jacob instructs Joseph to bury him with his fathers (47:29–31). After Jacob’s death, Joseph orders the physicians to embalm him and the large funeral cortege leaves for the land of Canaan. There, at Goren ha-Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they hold a great lamentation (50:1–11). Following the burial, Joseph and his brothers and all who had gone up with him return to Egypt (50:14). J never states where Jacob is buried. ^[12]

P’s Version – Me’arat ha-Machpela

In P, however, Jacob’s instruction was not given to Joseph alone but to all of Jacob’s sons (49:29–33). After his death (49:33) his sons did for him as he had instructed them, carried him to Canaan and buried him in the cave of Machpelah (50:12–13), which is mentioned as the ancestral burial ground only in the P source.

A Speculation about the Chronology of the Burial Traditions

As noted, J doesn’t supply a burial place for Jacob, but great scholars like Noth and de Vaux, as well as G. I. Davies, think that the lamentation at Goren Ha-Atad indicates a burial ceremony. If they are correct, I would argue that that we can determine which tradition is older. Both sites are in Judah’s territory. It seems more likely that Priests, who served at the important holy site in Hebron, would invent a tradition to make their site more desirable, than it does for a Judahite writer to invent a tradition for an obscure place like Goren Ha-Atad. This would suggest that the Goren Ha-Atad tradition is older.

A Transjordanian Story of Goren Ha-Atad in Canaan

As noted above, עבר הירדן cannot refer to a ford of the Brook of Egypt, and instead means, as it does elsewhere, “beyond the Jordan.” ^[13] It must be located in the Northern Negev on the route going from Egypt to the Land of Canaan, but then how can it be called “beyond the Jordan?” For someone staying in Cisjordan, the term “beyond the Jordan” refers to Transjordan. In the same manner, someone staying in Transjordan might use that term for Cisjordan (Deut. 11:30).

This point was noted by the 13^th century commentator, Rabbi Hezekiah bar Manoach, in his Chizkuni (Gen 50:11).

“אשר בעבר הירדן” – היא ארץ כנען כלומר יושבי ארץ סיחון ועוג ראו את האבל בגורן האטד בארץ כנען שהיו קורין לו בעבר הירדן שכשם שאותם היושבים בארץ כנען שהוריש יהושע קורין לעבר סיחון ועוג עבר הירדן כך אותם היושבים בארץ סיחון ועוג קורין לארץ כנען עבר הירדן

“Which is beyond the Jordan” – this refers to the land of Canaan, meaning, the inhabitants of the land of Sihon and Og (=Transjordan) saw the mourning at Goren Ha-Atad in the Land of Canaan, which they would call “the other side of the Jordan,” for just as those who dwelt in the Land of Canaan inherited by Joshua would call the land of Sihon and Og “the other side of the Jordan” so too did those who dwelt in the land of Sihon and Og call the land of Canaan, “the other side of the Jordan.”

In my piece for Parashat Toledot, “Locating Beer Lachai Roi,” I argued that the author of J learned the stories of Isaac and Beer-Lachai-Roi indirectly, from story tellers that started telling them in the area of Kadesh, modern Wadi Musa, which is at the entrance to Petra. J’s references to Goren ha-Atad and Abel-Mitzraim as situated “beyond the Jordan” similarly make sense if the J narrative of Jacob’s funeral originated at Kadesh.^[14]

Conclusion

We cannot determine the exact location of Goren ha-Atad / Abel-mizraim other than knowing that it was in the Northern Negev on the road coming from Egypt. The J narrative of Jacob’s funeral cortege originated among storytellers in Kadesh/Petra, and tells the story from the Transjordanian view-point, referring to the Negev sites as situating “beyond,” namely west of the Jordan. Only when this story was combined with the P account which which speaks from a Cisjordanian perspective, do a variety of problems arise. Demsky’s solutions are clever, but problematic, and it is best to read each source separately rather than attempting to combine the different traditions concerning Jacob’s funeral procession.