Genesis 27:11 - On the noun אִישׁ for marking essential details

(The above rendering comes from the RJPS translation, an adaptation of the NJPS translation. Before accounting for this rendering, I will analyze the plain sense of this verse’s two Hebrew terms containing אִישׁ, by employing a situation-oriented construal as outlined in this introduction, pp. 11–16.)

Here Jacob is pointing out a problem in his mother’s stated plan, in which he would impersonate his twin. To describe this problem, Jacob juxtaposes two verbless clauses. In each one, the predicate is a noun phrase that is headed by אִישׁ.

‏הֵ֣ן עֵשָׂ֤ו אָחִי֙ אִ֣ישׁ שָׂעִ֔ר וְאָנֹכִ֖י אִ֥ישׁ חָלָֽק׃

In each case, the use of אִישׁ indicates that the quality that is described by its modifying adjective is essential for grasping each potential participant’s role in the situation that his mother has laid out.

That is, Jacob is not merely describing his brother and himself according to their respective skin textures. (For that purpose, the adjectives alone would have sufficed.) In addition, he is stating his belief that these contrasting characteristics are crucial to properly understanding the situation.

Without the notion of a situating noun, scholars have struggled to explain the meaning contribution of אִישׁ in this passage. For example, one dictionary entry lists these two noun phrases with אִישׁ under the rubric of “a circumlocution for an adjective” (J. Kühlewein, “אִישׁ,” in Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament [TLOT], ed. by Ernst Jenni and Claus Westermann, and transl. by Mark E. Biddle [Peabody, MA: Hen­drickson, 1997], 1:98–104, here 101). Yet that view makes little sense, given that both modifiers of אִישׁ are themselves adjectives already.

Rather, speakers employ אִישׁ to introduce a situationally essential characteristic about someone. Instances of self-reference include:

• 1 Sam 1:15 (‏אִשָּׁה קְשַׁת־רוּחַ אָנֹכִי);
• 1 Sam 18:23 (‏וְאָנֹכִי אִישׁ־רָשׁ וְנִקְלֶה); and
• Isa 6:5 (‏אִישׁ טְמֵא־שְׂפָתַיִם אָנֹכִי).

In short, through the use of אִישׁ as a situating noun (a discourse-structuring device), Jacob is representing the existing situation as being more reified and intractable than could be achieved merely with adjectives alone.

As for the translation, the NJPS “I am smooth-skinned” leaves the force of Jacob’s point to be inferred, rather than stating it outright. In its place, one could take a more literal approach such as in ESV: “Behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man.” However, that makes for rather stilted English. Because RJPS is an idiomatic translation, I chose a revised rendering that seemed closer to the actual practice of spoken English.

The Translators’ Handbook of the United Bible Societies treats these instances of אִישׁ as if all that matters is the quality that the adjective describes: “Hairy man refers to Esau’s skin being covered with hair.… [As for smooth man,] if there is not an idiomatic way of describing skin with little or no hair, a descriptive phrase may be needed; for example … ‘but I don’t have hairy skin.’ In a good many languages the most natural way of expressing this whole contrast is to use just a negative in the second part: ‘Esau has a lot of hair on his skin but I don’t.’” Unfortunately, on that view, the discourse function of אִישׁ does not seem to be accounted for.

Such discourse functions may well need to be left implicit in the translation of a given passage, rather than be directly reflected. Even in this case, the revision that I have made may seem trivial. However, it gets to the heart of the meaning contribution of a situating noun such as man in English (or אִישׁ in Hebrew). Therefore this is a telling case for translators to ponder.

(For the converse case, in which NJPS inserts the situating noun man where its discourse functions do not exist in the Hebrew text, see my comment at Gen 42:11.)