East after Eden: The qedem motif in the primeval and patriarchal narrative(s) of Genesis

Abstract

The motif of going eastward appears repeatedly in both the primeval and patriarchal narratives of Genesis. Close attention to this motif reveals a key structure of these narratives: the repeated narrowing of the lineage that can carry forth God’s blessing. The appearance of קדם‎ signals the moment at which one part of humanity, or of the patriarchal family, moves to the margins of the narrative and marks the refocusing of the narrative on the individual not associated with the word קדם‎. The קדם‎ motif, though, presents a multi-faceted interpretive conundrum: First, why is the east, a place associated with Eden, the place to which those who do not remain at the center of the narrative’s concern depart? The generation of Jacob and Esau, the last in which someone in Genesis goes eastward, presents additional anomalies: It is Jacob, the brother who will carry forth the blessing, who goes to ‘the land of the sons of קדם‎’, and Jacob, for the first and only time in Genesis, returns from his journey to the east. And Esau’s subsequent departure, while described in terms that create every expectation that he will go to קדם‎, does not in fact include this word. This article analyzes the קדם‎ motif in Genesis and offers solutions to the intriguing conundrum that attention to this motif discloses.