The Role of Mothers in the Genealogical Lists of Jacob's Sons

This work demonstrates that the genealogy of Jacob/Israel was singular and based on the rankings of the four mothers Leah, Rachel, Zilpah and Bilhah. These positions remained in the memory even as the power of various tribes changed over time, guiding the sequenicing of names within the lists. For this reason, the different presentations of the genealogy are not indicative of different Sitz im Leb...