The meaning of כְּתֹ֥נֶת פַּסִּֽים is
uncertain. כְּתֹ֥נֶת occurs 29 in the MT (eight times in Genesis 37). It is
most often associated with the priestly garb (sixteen times), and is worn by
the king in one text (Isa 22,21). It was made by God for Adam and Eve. Job wore
one—he was grabbed by its collar. Two women near it: the woman in Canticles,
and David’s daughter Tamar, in the only other text where the term appears in
construct state with פַּסּים. Even more mysterious is פַּסּים. Its meaning is
not known, and its etymology is equally uncertain. In MT it occurs five times,
only in one context outside of Genesis 37 (Gen 37,3.23.23; 2 Sam 13,18.19), and
always as the nomen rectum of כֻּתֹּנֶת.
. . .
Mendenhall
offers the most interesting proposal, based on a comparison of the Ugaritic and
Akkadian texts. The term is in poetic parallelism with ‘anan, which he
states is equivalent to the Akkadian melammū, the essence of the divine
character that the king embodies and exerts in both war and peace. In the ANE
cult a special tunic is one artifact commonly used to express this underlying
theological reality. The Ugaritic text corresponds to the Assyrian idea that
this divine character can be removed from a king. If Mendenhall is correct, the
Baal Cycle text indicates a divine power struggle in which the pḏ
represents the character given by El to Baal that is sought by Yamm in order
for him to take the prime position in the pantheon.
In Genesis
37, this meaning given to Joseph’s tunic may correspond well with his dreams
and explain the basis of the brothers’ reactions. The translation then would be
tunic of divine authority, or the like. It must be noted that this is
merely a suggestion of the etymology of the difficult term. The absence of
cultic motifs and direct divine action in the J[oseph]S[tory] speak against
adopting this translation. Because of the overwhelming evidence supporting a
late date for the original JS, at least in its literary form, genetic
connections to these early Ugaritic and Akkadian texts are ruled out. Because
of the uncertainty of the meaning of the term, in our translations we have
chosen to use special tunic based on the context, which also seems
preferable to long sleeved or multicolored. (Matthew C. Genung,
The Composition of Genesis 37 [Forschungen zum Alten Testament 2. Reihe
95; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2017], 217), 218-19; the work Genung is following
is that of G. E. Mendenhall, The Tenth
Generation. The Origins of the Biblical Tradition (Baltimore, MD – London
1973) 53–56)
