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# The Sale of Joseph in Genesis 37:18–26: Narrative Cohesion and Coherence

**Authors:** Matthew McAffee · **Year:** 2024 · **Venue:** Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 24, article 5 **Link:** [doi.org/10.5508/jhs29634](https://doi.org/10.5508/jhs29634) · **Licence:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

[**0** citations](https://openalex.org/works?filter=cites:W4406772299) openalex-snapshot · 2026-10-14[Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 24](https://openalex.org/S2764683527)[licence](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)

- [Publisher's page](https://doi.org/10.5508/jhs29634)
- [PDF](https://jhsonline.org/index.php/jhs/article/download/29634/21645)
- [DOI 10.5508/jhs29634](https://doi.org/10.5508/jhs29634)
- [OpenAlex](https://openalex.org/W4406772299)

**Authors (1)**

1. [Matthew McAffee](https://openalex.org/A5019013730) [ORCID](https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2568-5387) · [Semantic Scholar](https://www.semanticscholar.org/author/122391847) · h 3 · 32 citations · 36 works

Citations and author metrics from openalex-snapshot (2026-10-14); authors with the same name are not always told apart.

## What it is about

The author tests the documentary split of Genesis 37 into J (Judah, Ishmaelites) and E (Reuben, Midianites) against cohesion and coherence theory (Halliday–Hasan; cohesion as overt textual ties, coherence as semantic-pragmatic relations). He lists ties that cross the proposed source line: lexical (Joseph's approach — seen from afar v. 18, "here comes this dreamer" v. 19, "when Joseph came to his brothers" v. 23 — and Reuben's reply mirroring the brothers' "kill… cast" with "shed no blood… cast"), grammatical (וּבְטֶרֶם יִקְרַב, a temporal clause with yiqtol as past imperfective, dependent on the main clause across the split), instantial ("Reuben heard" v. 21 needs the brothers' plan of v. 20 as its object), and global (Reuben's "did I not tell you" in 42:22). Split, each source loses these referents; read whole, the chapter is coherent, and the Ishmaelite/Midianite alternation is the only real basis for the division.

## Ideas

- I1. Speech as the object of perception: a וַיִּשְׁמַע with no object right after a quote takes that quote as what was heard. A world/`prag` rule linking the hearing event to the preceding speech event; test on Gen 37:21, 27:5, 18:10.
- I2. A participant's approach as one chain: "see from afar" → הִנֵּה + participle בָּא in a quote → וַיְהִי כַּאֲשֶׁר בָּא. The world reader should merge these into one movement event seen from two viewpoints (narrator and characters), a test case for event coreference.
- I3. טֶרֶם/בְּטֶרֶם + yiqtol = a past action not yet completed when the main event happened; a tense rule for the gloss and the world's timeline (Gen 37:18, 27:33).
- I4. Gen 37:25–36 (Ishmaelites, Midianites, Medanites) is a hard, labelled case for participant tracking: whether two group names co-refer is exactly what a reader must decide, so the world should keep both readings open.

## For Mova

I1 and I2 belong to the world reader and to `tools/macula/src/prag.rs` (speech carry, events), described in [Discourse: narrative, speech and the shape of a text](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/hbo/09-discourse/) (participant tracking, speech). I3 goes to `06-verb.md` (yiqtol in the past) and `08-syntax.md` (temporal clauses). I4 is a test case for participant tracking in `09-discourse.md`; Mova takes no position on sources.

## Cite

The paper itself, not this card. BibTeX from the library's record of the work. [DOI 10.5508/jhs29634](https://doi.org/10.5508/jhs29634)

```
@article{mcaffee2024sale,
  title = {{The Sale of Joseph in Genesis 37:18–26: Narrative Cohesion and Coherence}},
  author = {McAffee, Matthew},
  journal = {Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 24},
  year = {2024},
  doi = {10.5508/jhs29634},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.5508/jhs29634}
}
```

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