T. K. Plant
Part of our book chapter reprint series, this article originally appeared in The Temple: Plates, Patterns, & Patriarchs, edited by Stephen D. Ricks and Jeffrey M. Bradshaw. For more information, go to https://interpreterfoundation.org/books/the-temple-plates-patterns-patriarchs/. For video and audio recording of this conference talk, go to https://interpreterfoundation.org/conferences/2022-temple-on-mount-zion-conference/videos/plant/.
“Genesis 24:65 and 38:14 include the recorded actions of Rebekah and Tamar covering themselves with a veil. The Genesis account in the 1611 King James Version (KJV) records that Rebe kah and Tamar covered themselves in a “vaile.” Vaile is the translated word in the KJV from the Masoretic Text (MT) for the Hebrew word ( צָעִִָיף ), transliterated as tsa‘īf (see Genesis 24:65; 38:14 MT). To understand the meaning of the veil in these accounts, I have used parallel methodology to compare the biblical record with other ancient Near Eastern texts and images. In the Genesis accounts of their veiling, the phrase translated into English as “covered” has been found in ancient Near Eastern texts as early as the third millennium BC as a likely ancient Mesopotamian idiom that meant the accepted performance of a culturally legitimate marriage or consummation.”
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The purpose of this reprint series is to make individual chapters from books published by The Interpreter Foundation more accessible to readers. Although in some instances the formatting and pagination may have been changed, the content of this chapter, like others in this reprint series, is identical to what appeared in its original book publication. It has not been updated to incorporate research that has appeared subsequently nor to reflect the current practice of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to use the full name of the Church and to avoid terms such as “Mormon” and “LDS.”
