Skip to main content

The Shortest Comments on Genesis, Chap. XXXII-XXXIII


The chosen fragment records ancient views on the symptoms, mechanism, and differential diagnosis of ligamentum capitis femoris (LCF) injury. The author describes the emotional status, work capacity of the patient, circumstances, time, and place of the injury, as a physician in the modern medical record (Genesis 32:8-33:20). Further in the text, apparently, a pathoanatomical investigation is mentioned, confirming the antemortem diagnosis, place of dissection (Genesis 50:2-3), as well as the location of the burial of embalmed remains (Genesis 50:13). Our comments on chapters 32-33 are presented in the table. The quotes are based on the translation of the Book of Bereshit (Genesis) from Hebrew by Isaac Leeser (1922).

The shortest comments

Quotes from the original source

Emotional status and the name of injured person.

32:8  Then  Jacob  was  greatly  afraid,  and  he  felt  distressed  ;  and  he  divided  the  people  that  were  with  him,  and  the  flocks,  and  the  herds,  and  the  camels,  into  two  bands. … 32:21  And  say  ye  moreover.  Behold,  also  thy  servant  Jacob  is  behind  us.  For  he  said,  I  will  appease  him  with  the  present  that  goeth  before  me,  and  afterward  I  will  see  his  face ;  peradventure  he  will  receive  me  kindly.

Time and circumstances of injury.

32:22  The  present  went  thus  on  before  him  and  he  lodged  himself  that  night  in  the  camp  32:23  And  he  rose  up  that  night,  and  he  took  his  two  wives,  and  his  two  women-servants,  and  his  eleven  sons,  and  passed  over  the  ford  of  the  Yabbok.  32:24  And  he  took  them,  and  sent  them  over  the  stream,  and  sent  over  what  he  had.

Symptom of damage: «pain while half asleep».

32:25  And  Jacob  was  left  alone;  and  there  wrestled  a  man  with  him  until  the  breaking  of  the  day.

Mechanism of injury.

32:26  And  when  he  saw  that  he  could  not  pre  vail  against  him,  he  struck  against  the  hollow of  his  thigh ;  and  the  hollow  of  Jacob's  thigh  was  put  out  of  joint,  as  he  was  wrestling  with  him.

Dream of the injured.

32:27  And  he  said,  Let  me  go,  for  the  day  hath  dawned.  And  he  said,  I  will  not  let  thee  go  until  thou  hast  blessed  me. … 32:30  And  Jacob  asked  him,  and  said.  Tell  me,  I  pray  thee,  thy  name.  And  he  said,  Wherefore  is  it  that  thou  dost  ask  after  my  name  ?   And  he  blessed  him  there.

Place of injury.

32:31  And  Jacob  called  the  name  of  the  place  Peniёl :  for  I  have  seen  an  angel  of  God  face  to  face,  and  my  life  hath  been  preserved.

Symptom of injury: «lameness».

32:32  And  the  sun  rose  unto  him  as  he  passed  by  Penuёl,  and  he  halted  upon  his  thigh.

Pathomorphology of injury.

32:33  Therefore  do  the  children  of  Israel  not  eat  the  sinew  which  shrank,  which  is  upon  the  hollow  of  the  thigh,  unto  this  day;  because  he  struck  against  the  hollow  of  Jacob's  thigh  on  the  sinew  that  shrank.

Meeting of Jacob and Esau.

33:1  And  Jacob  lifted  up  his  eyes,  and  looked,  and  behold,  Esau  came,  and  with  him  four  hundred  men.  And  he  divided  the  children  unto  Leäh,  and  unto  Rachel,  and  unto  the  two handmaids.  33:2  And  he  put  the  handmaids  and  their  children  foremost,  and  Leäh  and  her  children  after,  and  Rachel  and  Joseph  hindermost.

Differential diagnostic test.

33:3  And  he  himself  passed  on  before  them,  and  bowed  himself  to  the  ground  seven  times,  until  he  came  near  to  his  brother.

Dialogue between Jacob and Esau.

33:4  And  Esau  ran  to  meet  him,  and  embraced  him,  and  fell  on  his  neck,  and  kissed  him;  and  they  wept. … 33:11  Take,  I  pray  thee,  my  present  that  is  brought  to  thee;  because  God  hath  dealt  graciously  with  me,  and  because  I  have  a  plenty  of  all.  And  he  urged  him,  and  he  took  it.

Symptom: «prefers to sit».

33:12  And  he  said.  Let  us  depart,  and  move  farther,  and  I  will  travel  near  thee.

Symptom: «slow walking».

33:13  And  he  said  unto  him.  My  lord  knoweth  that  the  children  are  tender,  and  the  flocks  and  herds  with  young  are  a  charge  on  me : and  if  they  should  overdrive  them  one  day,  all  the  flock  would  die.  33:14  Let  my  lord,  I  pray  thee,  pass  on  before  his  servant :  and  I  will  lead  on  slowly,  according as  the  cattle  that  goeth  before  me  and  the  children  may  be  able  to  travel,  until  I come  unto  my  lord  unto  Seïr.

Parting of Jacob and Esau.

33:15  And  Esau  said.  Let  me,  I  pray  thee,  leave  with  thee  some  of  the  people  that  are  with  me.  And  he  said,  What  needeth  it?  let  me  only  find  grace  in  the  eyes  of  my  lord.  33:16  So  Esau  returned  that  day  on  his  way  unto  Seïr.

Work capacity in the first day after injury.

33:17  And  Jacob  journeyed  to  Succoth  and  built  himself  a  house,  and  for  his  cattle  he  made  booths;  therefore  he  called  the  name  of  the  place  Succoth.

Work capacity six months after injury.

33:18  And  Jacob  came  in  good  health  to  the  city  of  Shechem,  which  is  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  when  he  came  from  Padan-aram;  and  he  encamped  before  the  city. 33:19  And  he  bought  the  parcel  of  the  field,  where  he  had  spread  his  tent,  at  the  hand  of  the  children  of  Chamor,  the  father  of  Shechem,  for  a  hundred  kessitah.  33:20  And  he  erected  there  an  altar,  and  called  it,  El-Elohé-Yisrael.

Morphological verification of damage.

50:2  And  Joseph  commanded  his  servants  the physicians  to  embalm  his  father:  and  the  physicians  embalmed  Israel.

Place of the pathoanatomical examination.

50:3  And  they  fulfilled  for  him  forty  days;  for  so  they  fulfil  the  days  of  those  that  are  embalmed;  and  the  Egyptians  wept  for  him  seventy  days.

Location of the burial of embalmed remains.

50:13  And  his  sons  carried  him  into  the  land  of  Canaan,  and  buried  him  in  the  cave  of  the  field  of  Machpelah,  which  field  Abraham  bought  for  a  possession,  as  a  burying-place,  of  Ephron  the  Hittite,  before  Mamré.

For a more detailed discussion of the medical aspects of biblical trauma, refer to our book «Children of Human: The Origins of Biblical Legends in the View of a Physician» (2023АрхиповСВ [in Russian]).


References

Leeser I. The twenty-four books of the Holy Scriptures. Carefully translated according to the Massoretic text, on the basis of the English version after the best Jewish authorities and supplied with short explanatory notes by Isaac Leeser. New York: Bloch Pub. Co., 1922. [archive.org]

Архипов С.В. Дети человеческие: истоки библейских преданий в обозрении врача. Обновляемое электронное эссе, снабженное ссылками на интерактивный материал. Йоэнсуу: Издание Автора, 2023; версия 1.0.0. (Arkhipov S.V. Children of Human: The Origins of Biblical Legends in the View of a Physician. Updatable e-Essay with Links to Interactive Material. Joensuu: Author's Edition, 2023; Version 1.0.0. [In Russian]) [books.google]  

Keywords

synonyms, ligamentum capitis femoris, ligamentum teres, ligament of head of femur, Bible, anatomy, Torah, trauma, injury 

.                                                                     .

In translating to English, the author is assisted by ChatGPT (version 3.5) and the Google Translate service.

If you notice an error, please let us know!

NB! Fair practice / use: copied for the purposes of criticism, review, comment, research and private study in accordance with Copyright Laws of the US: 17 U.S.C. §107; Copyright Law of the EU: Dir. 2001/29/EC, art.5/3a,d; Copyright Law of the RU: ГК РФ ст.1274/1.1-2,7

BLOG CONTENT 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

11th-15th Century

   11th-15th Century Catalog of archived publications of the specified period        11th century 976-1115Theophilus Protospatharius  The author writes about the  normal anatomy of the LCF and its connective function. 1012-1024Avicenna   The author writes about the localization and  variant of the pathology LCF, leading to hip dislocation. 1039-1065Giorgi Mtatsmindeli   The translator mentions the LCF damage, and notes its presence in animals. 12 th century 1120-1140Judah Halevi   The author mentions LCF (גיד) of mammals. 1176-1178(a)Rambam  The author mentions the pathology of LCF (גיד) in humans and points out the presence of this structure in animals. 1176-1178(b)Rambam  The author writes about the localization of LCF (גיד) ) and distinguishes it from a tendon,   blood vessel or nerve. 1185-1235David Kimchi  The author writes about the localization, purpose, and injury of the LCF (גיד), and also talks abo...

Catalog. Classifications of LCF Pathology

  The classifications are intended to systematize of ligamentum capitis femoris pathology and assist in the development of general approaches to its description, registration, analysis and treatment.   Keywords ligamentum capitis femoris, ligamentum teres, ligament of head of femur, hip joint, histology, pathological anatomy, pathology, trauma INTRODUCTION In Russia, the initial attempts to classify pathology of the ligamentum capitis femoris (LCF) were made by morphologists. The development of arthroscopic surgery has made it possible to identify various, previously undescribed types of LCF pathology, which prompted the development of various modern classifications based on intraoperative observations. Analysis of literature data and our own morphological observations allowed us to propose a General Classification of the Ligamentum Teres Pathology, which has the form of a collection of classifiers, as well as a Classification of Functions of the Ligamentum Teres. The ...

The First Scientific Mention

  European science has known the LCF for about 2500 years. It is the most important functional connection of the hip joint. The first person to describe the LCF was Hippocrates (c. 460-370 BCE). A written mention of the LCF is found in §1 of his treatise "On the Instrument of redactions". In our opinion, a book created in the library of the Asclepeion of the island of Kos. Hippocrates did not dissection of the human body, did not operate on the hip joint, did not have a CT scan and MRI. How he could discover the LCF? In our view, it is possible that Hippocrates treated a patient with an open hip dislocation. Track Music:  Blue Dot Sessions ,  Vittoro  (CC BY-NC 4.0 DEED / fragment) keywords: ligamentum capitis femoris, ligament of head of femur, ligamentum teres, hip dislocation .                                                     ...

University_of_Guelph(website)

  Content [i]   Annotation [ii]   Original text [iii]   Illustrations [iv]   Source  &  links [v]   Notes [vi]   Authors & Affiliations [vii]   Keywords [i]   Annotation A quote from an article on the University of Guelph website. The publication mentions the animal's ligamentum capitis femoris (LCF) and states its function: fixing the femoral head in the acetabulum. The text in Russian is available at the following link: University_of_Guelph(website) . [ii]   Original text Quote 1.  Hindlimb skeleton. Femur [animals]   The articular head of the femur is deeply rounded and it bears a round ligament that holds it into the acetabulum.   [iii]   Illustrations – [iv]   Source  &  links STRUCTURE OF THE SKELETON.  2023.   animalbiosciences.uoguelph.ca [v]   Notes The work  is cited in the following publications:  [vi]   Authors & Affiliations Unive...

BIOMECHANICS OF THE HIP JOINT WITHOUT LCF

  Biomechanics of the hip joint without LCF Do you remember the comparison of the ligamentum teres with the spring element of a cart? ( 1874SavoryWS ). An analogy could arise after reading the book Bell J. The Principles of Surgery (1801) . Most orthopedists still think so. For more details see: https://roundligament.blogspot.com/2024/04/1836-1840partridger.html   &  1836-1840PartridgeR   (remembering the history of orthopedics) #ligamentum_teres   #ligamentum_capitis_femoris   #hip   #biomechanics    Publication in the facebook group 03/28/2025.                                                                                                                   ...

The First Open Reconstruction

  The first open reconstruction of the ligamentum capitis femoris (LCF) was performed in 1926 by Ernest William Hey Groves (1872-1944) (1927Hey-GrovesEW). The surgery was proposed for the treatment of congenital hip dislocation in children. Later, in 1928, regarding this pathology, he noted: «Congential dislocation of the hip is a deformity which is mysterious in its origin, insidious in its course and relentless in its final crippling results» (quoted from 1983RatliffAH). In the early 20th century, a pioneer in orthopedic surgery realized that the LCF played a crucial role in the development of this pathology and developed a technique for its reconstruction. Illustration: Open reconstruction of the LCF in congenital hip dislocation. Copies of drawings from 1927Hey-GrovesEW with our additions;  arrows indicate the reconstructed LCF. .                                         ...

1747PlatnerJZ

  Fragments of the book by J.Z. Platner « Institutiones Chirurgiae rationalis ...» (1747) with mention of ligamentum capitis femoris (LCF). The author describes the LCF as a durable structure that can be damaged by traumatic hip dislocations and also become pathologically altered: weakened, elongated, and disappear. The text is prepared for machine translation using a service built into the blog from Google or your web browser. In some cases, we have added links to quotations about LCF available on our resource, as well as to publications posted on the Internet.   Quote p p . 432-433 §. 1192. Femur parte sua suprema habet magnum teretemque processum, qui oblique ad os coxæ procedit, quem cervicem appellant. Hæc cervix, intus rara & cavernosa, desinit in magnum & rotundissimum caput, cartilagine etiam mollitum, quod in sinum rotundum coxæ conjicitur. Sinus Anatomicis κοτύλη , vel acetabulum, vocatur, qui in junioribus ex tribus ossibus, quæ media cartilagine inter se co...

The Big Bang

  The Big Bang The maximum age of the observable Universe, established by measuring the anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background, is 13.801±0.024 billion years. (2020AghanimN_RoudierG). The relic stages of the creation of the World are only approxim ately understood by theoretical physicists. The development of matter into molecules, as well as the start of time, is logically described by the Big Bang theory and the concept of the expansion of space (2012HawkingS). It is impossible to imagine the Universe before its expansion from some homogeneous space or an infinitesimal grain. The reason for this is the «inner cosmic oblivion» of the previous state (2007BojowaldM). In our opinion, before that there was a black, cold, motionless Peace. Accordingly, before the mark of 13.8 billion years ago, the search for evidence of ligamentum capitis femoris (LCF) is futile anywhere in the Universe. One second after the Big Bang, the Universe consisted of light and elementary particles hea...

280-352Rava

  Sayings of Rava extracted from the tractates Chullin and  Horayot  (Babylonian Talmud). Babylonian Talmud was written between about 450 - 550 in present-day Iraq (formerly Babylonia). The rabbi identifies the location and distal attachment site of the ligamentum capitis femoris (LCF) and demonstrates knowledge of its function.  See our commentary at the link:   280-352Rava [Rus]. Quote 1. [Heb] Chullin 54b3 (original source:  sefaria.org ) Quote 2. [Heb] Chullin 91a12 (original source:  sefaria.org ) Quote 3. [Heb] Horayot 12a:16 (original source:  sefaria.org ) Translation Quote 1. [Eng] Chullin 54b3 The Gemara addresses the matter itself: Rav Mattana says: This head of the femur that was completely dislocated renders the animal a tereifa. And Rava said: The animal is kosher, but if its sinew holding the bone in place is cut, it is a tereifa. The Gemara concludes: And the halakha is: Even if the sinew is cut, the animal is still kosher...

1832MeckelJF

  Fragments of the book Meckel JF. Manual of general, descriptive, and pathological anatomy (1832) dedicated to ligamentum capitis femoris (LCF). The author briefly discusses abnormalities of the LCF and its distal insertion. Quote p. 257 § 308. Among the deviations from the normal state, primitive deviations of the external form are rare, and usually attend anomalies of the other tissues. Among these we arrange, for instance, the absence of the tendons of the abdominal muscles, that of the ligaments of the vertebral column, and that of the dura mater of the brain and spinal marrow, &c., in a congenital fissure of the abdomen, of the vertebral column, and of the skull, and that of the tendons and the muscles of a finger, when the finger itself is wanting. But the fibrous organs are seldom deficient, when the other tissues with which they combine to form a part are present — for instance, the tendon alone of a muscle is rarely absent, or the tunica sclerotica, when the othe...