[Avodah] Titles Before Names

[Yitzhak Grossman]

On Mon, 19 Jan 2009 07:34:57 -0500
Micha Berger <micha at aishdas.org> wrote:

...

> Every beis av, named for the avos of Eisav's various batim, had an aluf.
> Thus, "Aluf Teiman" isn't calling Teiman an aluf, but saying that the
> house of Teiman had its own aluf. That's the difference between the list
> starting at pasuq 10, which is a geneology, and the alufim list which
> starts at 15. Thus making it a bridge to the list of kings starting at
> 31. Notice also the repeated reference of their being the alufim in
> eretz Edom.
> 
> It's therefore very much peshat in the pasuq.

I misunderstood you; I had thought that you were understanding Teiman
et. al. as place names, rather than as names of people.  But I'm still
not sure that your reading is correct; I understood that Aluf Teiman
means "Chief Teiman", as opposed to your reading as "Chieftain of the
tribe of Teiman".  The fact that we have already listed the descendants
themselves does not appear conclusive, since these genealogies often
seem fairly repetitious by modern standards.

Yitzhak
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