564 Deysel: King Lists and Genealogies OTE 22/3 (2009), 564-579

King Lists and Genealogies in the Hebrew Bible

and in Southern Africa
L. C. F. DEYSEL (UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA)
ABSTRACT
King lists and genealogies are used in this article as a point of ref-
erence from which to consider similarities between the histori-
ographical perspectives of early Israel and traditional Africa, with
special reference to the Lemba people of Southern Africa. Several
Lemba king lists / clan lists and genealogies are examined, and
compared with similar texts from the Hebrew Bible. Interesting
findings include the unusual brevity of the Lemba genealogies in
comparison with both Ancient Near Eastern and other African ge-
nealogies, and a cultural paradigm occurring both in Genesis and
in Lemba texts, where the heir to a father’s leadership is not his
oldest son but rather the son of the pre-eminent wife.

A INTRODUCTION
Genealogies and king lists are important aspects of the oral historiography of
various South African peoples.1 They are also found in written form in the He-
brew Bible. In this study a few aspects of the historiography of early Israel as
evidenced in the genealogies and king lists in the Hebrew Bible will be com-
pared with the genealogical material of the indigenous peoples of Southern
Africa, concentrating particularly on the Lemba. The term “genealogy” will be
used in this article to refer to any such material, either genealogies proper or
king lists. Hasel2 says that genealogies and king lists are two distinct genres (at
least in the Ancient Near East), and this is true. However, the term “genealogy”
may be used by oral historians to refer to both: as Henige says, “Genealogies
can be lists of rulers or no more than a line of direct ancestors going back to

1
D. Henige, Oral historiography. (London: Longman, 1982), 97. This book gives a
general overview of oral historiography, covering a large number of different cultures.
Sub-Saharan Africa and the Ancient Near East are both discussed. However, Henige
(p. 92) is extremely distrustful of theories about African tribes with Semitic ancestry.
See also below in my article.
2
George F. Hasel, “The genealogies of Gen 5 and 11 and their alleged Babylonian
background.” Andrews University Seminary Studies 16(1978): 374. Hasel provides a
specialised study of the genealogies of Gen 5 and 11 and their possibility to be related
in some way to Babylonian texts of a similar type. Its main use in this article was as
an example of a study of Ancient Near Eastern genealogies.
 Deysel: King Lists and Genealogies OTE 22/3 (2009), 564-579 565

some desired point of origin.”3 Certainly in the relatively short history of the
Lemba as we know it, it is difficult to distinguish between the two.
The Lemba tribe of Southern Africa have been the subject of a number
of studies due to several unique features which lead many researchers to be-
lieve that they may be of Semitic descent. This study may be able to ascertain
whether any aspects of their historiography – especially their genealogical ma-
terial – may be said to corroborate this possibility by exhibiting similarities to
the historiographical methods of the early Israelites as found in the Hebrew Bi-
ble.
B AFRICAN AND EARLY ISRAELITE HISTORIOGRAPHY
The term “historiography” is ambiguous and has several possible mean-
ings. Carena4 says, for instance, that
when the term “Medieval historiography” is used, some mean the
works written by the historians of the Middle Ages; others think of
the works that contemporary historians devote to the Middle Ages;
others the contemporary works dealing with the study of the Medie-
val historians.

For the purposes of this article the working definition of historiography

would have to be close to the third option: something like “the study of the
historical methods of the mediaeval historians.” Of course, this could go on for
ever – like mirrors reflecting each other. When historiography is mentioned in
this study it may be defined as a culture’s way of “doing history” – of record-
ing it and interpreting it. Working from this basis, then, when a “histo-
riographical paradigm” is mentioned, what is intended is a paradigm which the
people of a particular culture used in order to understand, and write, history. It
can be seen as a sort of conceptual lens for viewing the past.
What similarities exist between Early Israel’s way of “doing history”
and that of pre-colonial Africa? T. J. Mafico in his 1982 article Jewish tradition
and African religion speaks of the “striking parallels”5 between the cultures of

3
Henige, Oral Historiography, 97.
4
O. Carena, History of the Near Eastern historiography and its problems: 1852-1985.
Part One: 1852-1945. (Alter Orient und Altes Testament. 218/1. Neukirchen-Vluyn:
Neukirchner, 1989), 1. Carena provides a theoretical background of the study of histo-
riography. Although his book focuses specifically on the Ancient Near East, the most
useful part of the book for the purposes of this article turned out, strangely enough, to
be the very beginning, which is more general. As the quote above shows, Carena suc-
cinctly gets to the very heart of the confusion surrounding the definition of the disci-
pline of historiography.
5
T. J. Mafico, “Jewish tradition and African religion.” Patterns of prejudice
16/3(1982):17.
566 Deysel: King Lists and Genealogies OTE 22/3 (2009), 564-579

early Israel and traditional Africa. Particularly important for the purposes of
this study are his notes on the importance of ancestry in both cultures. To the
Hebrews, their common genealogical origin was the source of their unity and
even of their faith in God, as seen in phrases such as “the God of our fa-
thers”(‫ֹלהי ֲאב ֵֹתינוּ‬ ֵ ‫)א‬
ֱ and “the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob”( ‫ֹלהי ַא ְב ָר ָהם‬
ֵ ‫ֱא‬
‫)יִ ְצ ָחק וְ יַ ֲעקֹב‬. The importance of ancestry is expressed in historiography by ge-
nealogies. In African culture, too, ancestry is important, and one’s ancestors are
also seen as a link to God.6 Similarly, genealogies are also very important in
African historiography. It is very important for scholars to note the degree of
similarity that exists between the Ancient Near Eastern and the traditional Afri-
can cultures – they are much closer to each other than either is to modern
Western culture. Mafico notes that the lack of this realisation has been a serious
shortcoming among Christian missionaries to Africa,7 and Le Roux points out
the tremendous possibilities in the field of Old Testament Studies that could be
opened up by such an approach.8 The juxtaposition of a few genealogical texts
in an attempt to compare historiographic paradigms is a small start to this ap-
proach. It is highly likely that this methodology will yield a number of simi-
larities and parallels. The question that we are left with is whether any of these
similarities may be attributed to more than the general correspondence between
cultures, and that is a much more difficult question, one to which there are no
really clear answers.
C THE LEMBA
The Lemba people of northern South Africa and southern Zimbabwe have fas-
cinated many scholars due to several unique features. Traditionally, they live in
small isolated groups among other tribes, especially the Venda,9 speaking the
languages of the people they live among,10 but retaining their own identity and
traditions,11 especially regarding food taboos. These include eating no pork and

17. Writing at the height of the struggle against apartheid, Mafico may have intended
his article to promote interracial dialogue by pointing out the similarities between tra-
ditional African cultures and those of the Bible, but it is an important scholarly article
– certainly not merely a political tract.
6
Mafico, “Jewish Tradition,” 19.
7
Mafico, “Jewish Tradition,” 17
8
Magdel Le Roux, In search of the understanding of the Old Testament in Africa: the
case of the Lemba. (Doctoral thesis: University of South Africa, 1999), 247-248. Le
Roux’s doctoral dissertation contains a large volume of detail on the Lemba culture.
9
H. A. Stayt, “Notes on the BaLemba,” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Insti-
tute of
Great Britain and Ireland 61(1931): 231. This article is one of the two earliest
sources consulted here. It contains a number of important basic points about the
Lemba culture.
10
Stayt, “Notes,” 236.
11
Stayt, “Notes,” 231.
 Deysel: King Lists and Genealogies OTE 22/3 (2009), 564-579 567

eating only animals that have been killed by having their throats slit.12 They
practice circumcision,13 although this is far from unusual among African tribes,
and also have several customs involving the moon.14 Van Warmelo also says
there is something about their features that appears Semitic rather than Afri-
can,15 although statements of this kind need to be viewed with some suspicion
as they may be grounded in the prejudices of their time rather than fact. The
main economic activities of the Lemba, traditionally, are trading,16 metallurgy
including working with both iron and copper, and pottery.17 There are several
traditions about their origin, but almost all say that their ancestors came from
across the sea, or from the other side of the “Phusela”, on a boat, or from a
place called Sena.18 They also say that the ancestors who came from elsewhere
were only men: they brought no women with them, so they intermarried with
local women.19 From their oral traditions and their practices it seems almost
certain that they have some kind of Semitic ancestry at some point in their past.
There are three main possibilities as to what form this ancestry or point of
contact may have taken: a pre-Islamic-Judaic-Arabic origin (Yemenite Jews);20
an Islamic-Arabic origin21 (probably the option preferred by the majority of
scholars before genetic evidence was considered); and a Falasha-Abyssinic ori-
gin.22 Genetic studies suggest that there may indeed be a Jewish link, and in
this case the first possibility would probably be the most likely.23 The Lemba
themselves also prefer to be considered Jewish, 24 although most of them follow

12
N. J. Van Warmelo, A preliminary survey of the Bantu tribes of South Africa. (Un-
ion of South Africa: Department of Native Affairs. Ethnological Publications. 5.
Pretoria: Government Printer, 1935),122. The section on the Lemba is only a short
chapter at the end of this book, but it includes several interesting points including a
note on some very unusual grammatical forms used only by this tribe, which is
unfortunately not within the scope of this article.
13
Van Warmelo, Preliminary Survey, 122.
14
Van Warmelo, Preliminary Survey, 122.
15
Van Warmelo, Preliminary Survey, 122.
16
Stayt, “Notes,” 231
17
Stayt, “Notes,” 235
18
Le Roux, The Lemba, 39.
19
Le Roux, The Lemba, 40.
20
Le Roux, The Lemba, 57;58.
21
Le Roux, The Lemba, 57;63.
22
Le Roux, The Lemba, 57;65.
23
Le Roux, The Lemba, 60.
24
Marole, L.T. Lushaka lwa vha-Lemba. (The Vha-Lemba Tribe). (Translated by
Maringa, P.E. Unpublished, 1969), 3. Marole’s unpublished article is a primary
source for this study. The motivation for the article seems to have been to educate
outsiders about the Lemba people, to prevent some of their traditions from being lost,
or perhaps both. Magdel le Roux’s (“Transmission of tradition through song, recita-
tion and prayer in Lemba communities.” Exchange 29/4[2000]: 337-338) concen-
trates on oral tradition among the Lemba people.
568 Deysel: King Lists and Genealogies OTE 22/3 (2009), 564-579

the Christian religion.25 The pros and cons of each possibility are complicated
and quite beyond the scope of this study (cf. Le Roux 1999). What we can say
is that it is almost certain that the Lemba have some degree of Semitic ancestry
of one kind or another. Of course their ancestry is nevertheless predominantly
African.
D STUDY OF TEXTS
1 Lemba Text 1
The following clan list and the genealogy marked Lemba text 3 come from
Manasseh Mphelo’s 1936 article The Balemba of the Northern Transvaal. 26
They are transcribed as accurately as possible. All extensive quotes from
sources are provided verbatim, including any possible errors.
Clan. Oath.

For Males. For Females.

1. Mphelo Buba Nyahoda

2. Thobakhali Sabungwane Tsivi

Thoбa

3. Muthobvu Bakgali Bakgali

4. Raluzidzo Manga Kukhali

5. Madi Madi Nyakavi

6. Mulondje Kunaka Tshasiya

7. Hamisi Hamisi Hamisi

8. Kavi Benga Kavi

9. Mani Mani Madi

10. Ravitja Mani Madi

25
Le Roux, “Transmission of Tradition,” 331.
26
M. N. Mphelo, “The Balemba of the Northern Transvaal.” Native Teachers’ Jour-
nal
XVI/1 (1936): 43. Mphelo’s article is treated here as a primary source, although it is
likely that he may have consulted A. A. Jaques’ article for some of his information
(see A. A. Jaques, “Notes on the Lemba tribe of Northern Transvaal.” Anthropos
26(1931): 245-251).
 Deysel: King Lists and Genealogies OTE 22/3 (2009), 564-579 569

11. Munyayi Hadji Hadji

12. Mbelengwa Hadji wa sava Hadji wa sava

13. Sathekge or Sadiki Sathekge Sathekge

The first thing that needs to be said is that some other sources do not
recognise the existence of a Mphelo clan. Von Sicard does not consider
Mphelo’s information to be fully reliable, and quotes M.M. Motenda-
Mbelengwa as saying that the actual name of this clan is Malanga.27 Marole,
however, does write of an early Lemba ancestor named Mphelo, also spelled
Mpilo – see Lemba text 4. There is also external corroboration for Mphelo’s
genealogy - see Lemba text 3.
There does not appear to be any parallel in early Israelite culture to this
practice of having particular oaths by which the men and women of a certain
tribe swear. It is difficult to see a definite pattern in the system: certainly the
names are those of illustrious ancestors, but why some tribes use their own
name while others use the name of a different tribe and yet others use a com-
pletely different name, is hard to tell. The practice is not identical to that of
their neighbours either: Jaques says that although in other tribes oaths are
commonly used, boys and girls sometimes swearing by the name of their older
brother or by the name of the chief or of his son, among no other tribe as far as
he knows do the clans have oaths exclusive to themselves to the extent that, as
here, they may be used to distinguish between groups.28
Mphelo says elsewhere in the article that these are in fact not all the ex-
tant clans: he also refers to clans named Sathekge, Malaka and Silamulela.29 It
is uncertain why he does not include them in his list. One possibility is that he
considered these to be offshoots or subgroups of other clans that he did list.
Another is that he wanted to make the list of clans closer to 12 to parallel the
12 tribes of Israel. Von Sicard says that his informant/source Solomon Haman-
dishe said that there were 12 Lemba clans, but Von Sicard himself thought that
this was simply a result of seeing in the Lemba traditions more similarities with
Hebrew tradition than actually exist.30

27
H. Von Sicard, “Lemba Clans.” Native Affairs Department Annual 39(1962): 77.
Von Sicard is suspicious of Mphelo’s data; however the existence of a Mphelo /
Mpilo clan is corroborated by both Jaques and Marole. Von Sicard himself makes a
basic error in his interpretation of the gomboyi saying. See below the discussion of
Lemba text 3.
28
Jaques, “Notes on the Lemba,” 250.
29
Mphelo, “The Balemba,” 39.
30
Von Sicard, “Lemba Clans,” 68.
570 Deysel: King Lists and Genealogies OTE 22/3 (2009), 564-579

2. Lemba text 2
This clan list comes from L. T. Marole’s article Lushaka lwa vha-Lemba. 31
THE SURNAMES OF THE VHALEMBA OR THEIR DIF-
FERENT GROUPS
Here are the groups:
Those of Mbelengwa
Those of Hamalindaphunga
Those of Bakali
Those VhaLemba of Misi
Those VhaLemba of Buba
Those VhaLemba of Nemanga
Those VhaLemba of Ngavhi
Those VhaLemba of Shinwamali
Those VhaLemba of Mpilo
Those VhaLemba of Mposi
Those VhaLemba of Salihu
Those VhaLemba of Hadzhi
Those VhaLemba of Sadiki
Those VhaLemba of Thovhakale
Those VhaLemba of Nyakavhi
Those VhaLemba of Maanii
Those VhaLemba of Malimashibwe.

There are 17 clans in this list, and even allowing for differences in
spelling (Mphelo/Mpilo, Mani/Maanii and so on), the sum of the clans in the
two lists is even greater. The tradition of there being only 12 Lemba clans ap-
pears rather tenuous. An interesting point is that some of the names only known
from oaths in Mphelo’s list (Hadji/Hadzhi; Nyakavi/Nyakavhi) turn up as clan
names in Marole’s.

31
Marole, Lushaka, 9-10.
 Deysel: King Lists and Genealogies OTE 22/3 (2009), 564-579 571

3 Lemba Text 3
Mpehlo I
|
Mabalanyika (Gomboi padza mashango nda fedza)
|
Mphelo II
|
Moshe (First to adopt Christianity married ntshakhe (Rahab)).
_________ |_____________________________________________
| | | |
Mohreste Nephtali Samuel Johanna +
=Langanani =Metsi (i) Mainganya + =James.
| (ii) Princess
___________________|___________________________________
_
| | | | | |
Manasseh Edward Joshua Munro Asnath
Gilbert
= Perpetoa
|
Joyce32

As has already been mentioned, Von Sicard does not accept Mphelo’s
account. However there is external corroboration for the earlier part of this ge-
nealogy in the form of a 1931 article by A. A. Jaques. Jaques had as an infor-
mant the Moshe mentioned in the above genealogy, and the account he gives of
Moshe’s ancestry is identical to that part of Mphelo’s genealogy. He spells
Moshe “Mosheh” and Mphelo “Mphelu”.33 It is of course quite possible that
Mphelo drew his information from Jaques’ article, as much of it is similar –
Jaques also includes a very similar version of Lemba Text 134 as well as of Ma-
balanyika’s saying discussed below.35 The differences are for the most part
only in the spelling of various names. It seems highly likely that Jaques’ article
was a major source for Mphelo’s.
It is interesting to note that this genealogy consists of only 7 generations –
6 if you count up to the author and do not include his daughter. Two other ge-
nealogies in a very similar format, but for different clans, are given in Von Si-
card’s article, and they too consist of only 6 generations.36 Connoway gives
twelve different genealogies of various lines in his article Herkoms, geskiedenis

32
Mphelo, “The Balemba,” 43
33
Jaques, “Notes on the Lemba,” 249.
34
Jaques, “Notes on the Lemba,” 250.
35
Jaques, “Notes on the Lemba,” 248.
36
Von Sicard, “Lemba Clans,” 70; 71.
572 Deysel: King Lists and Genealogies OTE 22/3 (2009), 564-579

en genealogie van die Lembasibbes in Venda.37 The longest consists of 10 gen-

erations38 and the shortest of only four.39 The average number of generations
over all the genealogies provided by Connoway is about 6.2. This is in direct
contrast with Abraham Malamat’s findings in his article Biblical genealogies
and African lineages. Malamat finds that the usual genealogical depth (number
of generations) both in Ancient Near Eastern and modern tribal, including Afri-
can, societies, is ten to twelve.40 Moreover, he states that
in the African lineage models only four to six generations at the
bottom represent real ancestors and relationships, while the six at
the top are putative. The same held true for Israel, as is evidenced by
the initial generations in David’s or Saul’s ancestor-table, which are
artificial, reflecting no more than a graduated intra-tribal division –
clan, sub-clan and family.

Malamat’s conclusions on the Biblical narratives have been disputed by

various scholars, but Johnson, who in the second edition of his book The pur-
pose of the Biblical genealogies sets out some of the problems, mentions with-
out disputing it the assertion that the Ancient Near Eastern structural pattern for
royal genealogies included the use of ten names.41
Here is a historiographical point that sets the Lemba apart from both the
rest of Africa and from early Israel. Their genealogies are much shorter, falling
only into the “real” segment of Malamat’s model. Is it possible that this is a re-

37
H. P. Connoway, “Herkoms, geskiedenis en genealogie van die Lembasibbes in
Venda.” Suid-Afrikaanse Tydskrif vir Etnologie 1/2(1978): 35-40. Connoway’s essay
is the source of the largest number of different Lemba genealogies the author has
found so far, making it very useful for statistical purposes. If it had been the only
source for genealogies consisting of an unusually small number of generations (in
terms of Malamat’s findings), it would have been less interesting, but because
Mphelo’s genealogy is also short it becomes significant.
38
Connoway, “Herkoms,” 35.
39
Connoway, “Herkoms,” 37.
40
A. Malamat, A. “Biblical genealogies and African lineages.” Archives Européenes
de Sociologie 14(1973): 135. This source is interesting in that the statement Malamat
makes about the usual length of both African and Ancient Near Eastern genealogies
was very different from the findings made here on the length of the Lemba genealo-
gies. If his assertion is indeed correct, this is an important point of difference between
the Lemba and other peoples which may indicate that they have a relatively short
history as a tribe.
41
Johnson, M.D. The purpose of the Biblical genealogies with special reference to the
setting of the genealogies of Jesus. (Society for New Testament Studies. General edi-
tor: G.N. Stanton. 8. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988), xii. Johnson fo-
cuses on the New Testament, and his book was useful to this article mainly in terms
of the theory of dealing with genealogies. In particular, it is used here to corroborate
Malamat’s assertion about the usual length of genealogies.
 Deysel: King Lists and Genealogies OTE 22/3 (2009), 564-579 573

sult of their relatively recent origins, dating from the arrival of a group of Sem-
ites in Africa?
The Manasseh on the bottom left is the author of the article in which this
genealogy is found. The different spelling of Mphelo at the beginning of the
genealogy is probably a typing error rather than a genuine variant spelling. The
phrase next to the second name in the genealogy has an interesting explanation,
here provided verbatim:
My grandfather Maphangwa or Moshe (see genealogy) said that his
ancestor Mabalanyika was nicknamed “Gomboyi” meaning “leg,”
because he used to travel much on business. When people mocked
him because he did not plough, and did not even possess a hoe, he
used to say “Gomboyi padza Mashango nda fedza,” my leg is my
hoe, I walk about to every country buying and selling.42

Von Sicard’s interpretation of this saying, in his 1962 article Lemba

Clans, is that “the Lemba, bartering hoes travel throughout the whole coun-
try.”43 He cites Mphelo 1936:42, the same source used above, but I disagree
with his interpretation of Mphelo’s words. It seems much more likely that it is
a metaphorical statement saying that Mabalanyika’s legs were to him as the hoe
was to other people: their means of making a living. He did not farm, instead,
he wandered everywhere trading. His legs, not the hoe, were the tools of his
trade. This saying has nothing to do with bartering actual hoes.
This pattern, where a saying attributed to a certain ancestor is interpolated
into a genealogy, occurs in the Hebrew Bible, in Genesis 4:17-24.
Genesis 4:17-24
‫ת־א ְשׁתּוֹ וַ ַתּ ַהר וַ ֵתּ ֶלד‬ִ ‫נוְֹך׃קיִ ן ֶא‬
ַ ‫ וַ יֵּ ַדע ֲח‬17 17
Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and
‫ת־חנוְֹך וַ יְ ִהי בֹּנֶ ה ִעיר וַ יִּ ְק ָרא ֵשׁם ָה ִעיר‬
ֲ ‫ֶא‬bore Enoch; and he built a city, and named it
‫ְכּ ֵשׁם ְבּנוֹ‬
Enoch after his son Enoch.
ִ ‫ וַ יִּ וָּ ֵלד ַל ֲחנוְֹך ֶא‬18
‫ת־ע ָירד וְ ִע ָירד יָ ַלד‬ 18
To Enoch was born Irad; and Irad was the
‫תוּשׁ ֵאל‬
ָ ‫ת־מ‬ ְ ‫וּמ ִחיּיָ ֵאל יָ ַלד ֶא‬ְ ‫ת־מחוּיָ ֵאל‬ ְ ‫ֶא‬ father of Mehujael, and Mehujael the father of
‫ת־ל ֶמְך׃‬
ָ ‫תוּשׁ ֵאל יָ ַלד ֶא‬ָ ‫וּמ‬ ְ
Methushael, and Methushael the father of
Lamech.
19 19
‫וַ יִּ ַקּח־לוֹ ֶל ֶמְך ְשׁ ֵתּי ָנ ִשׁים ֵשׁם ָה ַא ַחת‬ Lamech took two wives; the name of the
‫ ָע ָדה וְ ֵשׁם ַה ֵשּׁ ִנית ִצ ָלּה׃‬one was Adah, and the name of the other Zil-
lah.
20 20
‫וַ ֵתּ ֶלד ָע ָדה ֶאת־יָ ָבל הוּא ָהיָ ה ֲא ִבי י ֵֹשׁב‬ Adah bore Jabal; he was the ancestor of
‫וּמ ְקנֶ ה׃‬
ִ ‫ א ֶֹהל‬those who live in tents and have livestock.
‫יוּבל הוּא ָהיָ ה ֲא ִבי‬ָ ‫ וְ ֵשׁם ָא ִחיו‬21 21 His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the

42
Mphelo, “The Balemba,” 42.
43
Von Sicard, “Lemba Clans,” 77.
574 Deysel: King Lists and Genealogies OTE 22/3 (2009), 564-579

‫ ָכּל־תּ ֵֹפשׂ ִכּנּוֹר וְ עוּגָ ב׃‬ancestor of all those who play the lyre and
pipe.
22 22
‫ת־תּוּבל ַקיִ ן‬
ַ ‫ם־הוא יָ ְל ָדה ֶא‬ ִ ַ‫וְ ִצ ָלּה ג‬ Zillah bore Tubal-cain, who made all kinds
‫וּב ְרזֶ ל וַ ֲאחוֹת‬ ַ ‫ֹלטשׁ ָכּל־ח ֵֹרשׁ נְ ח ֶֹשׁת‬ ֵ of bronze and iron tools. The sister of Tubal-
‫ל־קיִ ן נַ ֲע ָמה׃‬ ַ ‫תּוּב‬ ַ cain was Naamah.
23 23
‫אמר ֶל ֶמְך ְל ָנ ָשׁיו ָע ָדה וְ ִצ ָלּה ְשׁ ַמ ַען‬ ֶ ֹ ‫וַ יּ‬ Lamech said to his wives: “Adah and Zil-
‫קוֹלי ְנ ֵשׁי ֶל ֶמְך ַה ְאזֵ נָּ ה ִא ְמ ָר ִתי ִכּי ִאישׁ‬ ִ lah, hear my voice; you wives of Lamech,
‫ ָה ַרגְ ִתּי ְל ִפ ְצ ִעי וְ יֶ ֶלד ְל ַח ֻבּ ָר ִתי׃‬listen to what I say: I have killed a man for
wounding me, a young man for striking me.
24 24
‫ם־קיִ ן וְ ֶל ֶמְך ִשׁ ְב ִעים‬
ָ ‫ִכּי ִשׁ ְב ָע ַתיִ ם יֻ ַקּ‬ If Cain is avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech
‫ וְ ִשׁ ְב ָעה׃‬seventy-sevenfold.”

There are many other cases, such as Genesis 4:25 and 5:29, where simi-
lar interpolations are made, but these usually have to do with the parent’s rea-
sons for giving a child a certain name. This text about Lamech is similar to
Mphelo’s genealogy in that it interpolates a saying attributed to a certain an-
cestor. The fragment about Jabez in 1 Chronicles 4:9-10 contains both types of
interpolation.
4 Lemba text 4
This text, including a genealogical fragment, comes from L. T. Marole’s article
Lushaka lwa vha-Lemba. 44
THE DEATH OF KALAHONYE
Kalahonye lived for a long time till he was very old. When he died
he left many children and grandchildren. Those we know are as
follows: (1) Belengwa, (2) Tanganalo, (3) Sadiki, (4) Bakali, (5)
Mposi, (6) Mpilo. Tradition says that Kalahonye Mulemba’s death
caused his children to remain quarelling [sic] amongst themselves.
Those who were fighting were Belengwa and Tangananalo.
Tangananalo was the elder one who was born from the younger
woman and Mbelengwa was the younger one who was born form
[sic] the elder woman. Tradition says they fought and Tanganalo
was defeated. Then Tanganalo ran away to the VhaLozwi of Vele-
Lambeu. That came because Mbelengwa was being supported by all
the younger brothers. Tanganalo was alone, that is why he was de-
feated, because Bakali, Sadiki, Mpilo and Mposi stood with
Mbelengwa. Then, tradition says, Mbelengwa went to a place called
Dumbwi and he gave his brothers pieces of land. In that land of
Dumbwi there was a high mountain in the plains.

44
Marole, Lushaka, 4-5.
 Deysel: King Lists and Genealogies OTE 22/3 (2009), 564-579 575

The names of the brothers correspond in some cases with names of known
Lemba clans. Mpilo is elsewhere in the text spelled Mphelo,45 giving credence
to Mphelo’s claim despite Von Sicard’s doubts. Of course, Marole’s article is
later than Mphelo’s, so it is a possibility that Marole was influenced by
Mphelo. Did the clans descend from the brothers, or was the genealogy in-
vented later to explain the clans? Henige says, “In the records of early Meso-
potamia there are several instances of lists of ‘rulers’ which, on closer inspec-
tion and comparison, have turned out to be lists of tribal groupings and place
names. The same is true of several Biblical genealogies, the pedigrees of pre-
Islamic Arabia, early Ireland, and others.”46 The question is which came first.
This text corresponds closely with several texts from the Hebrew Bible. It
is much shorter than its equivalents, being a very recent summary of various
traditions. But there are a number of salient points that are very interesting,
particularly the following:

• The patriarch of the tribe has various sons who are the ancestors of the
various clans.

• The brothers have a conflict.

• The victor in this conflict is not the elder brother but the younger.
• This younger brother is the son of the pre-eminent (elder) wife.
This pattern corresponds in some telling ways with the genealogical-nar-
rative pattern found in the stories of the Israelite patriarchs. I will set out the
similarities in the stories of the patriarchs.
Abraham (Gen 16; 21):
• He has two sons: Ishmael, the elder, and Isaac, the younger.

• Their conflict is not direct, but occurs through the two mothers.
• The younger son, Isaac, is considered the chosen heir.

• He is the son of Sarah, Abraham’s wife, while Ishmael is the son of Ha-
gar, his concubine.
Isaac (Gen 25-27):
• He has two sons: Esau, the elder, and Jacob, the younger.

45
Marole, Lushaka, 6.
46
Henige, Oral Historiography, 99.
576 Deysel: King Lists and Genealogies OTE 22/3 (2009), 564-579

• They have a direct conflict over two things, the birthright and the bless-
ing, both of which ought by rights to belong to Esau as the older son.
• The younger son, Jacob, a trickster figure, acquires both.

• Both sons have the same mother, but, tellingly, Jacob is their mother’s
favourite.
Jacob (Gen 29-50):
• He has twelve sons by two different wives.

• One of them, Joseph, is in conflict with the rest, over his dreams which
seem to say that he will be the leader.

• After many trials he prevails and becomes the father of two tribes,
Ephraim and Manasseh (reckoned separately in dividing the land be-
cause Levi did not receive a portion of land). Thus he receives a double
portion of the inheritance, traditionally the prerogative of the firstborn.
(Gen 48:22)

• Joseph is his father’s favourite because he is the son of the wife whom
he loves more.
Joseph (Gen 48):
• He has two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh.

• Their grandfather Jacob crosses his hands when blessing them so as to

make the younger, Ephraim, more important than the elder. He also
names them in this order when blessing them.
In this narrative, unlike the others, the mother does not play an impor-
tant part (perhaps she is left out of the story to some extent because she is a
foreigner?)
All the texts given here as parallels are narratives rather than genealo-
gies, and the similarity in historiography is found in a narrative paradigm rather
than an aspect of genealogical writing. Do the similarities between these texts
mean anything at all? It is quite possible that these similarities are due to the
well-known phenomenon of feedback, where information brought into a soci-
ety by outsiders (missionaries are an excellent example), is absorbed into the
traditions of that society and is later repeated to historians as indigenous oral
tradition.47

47
Henige, Oral Historiography, 81.
 Deysel: King Lists and Genealogies OTE 22/3 (2009), 564-579 577

Henige states that the two most common and influential sources of feed-
back are the Bible and the Qur’an.48 Biblical and other scriptural themes, as he
says, “appear and re-appear” in oral traditions throughout Africa.49 The Lemba
have been exposed to both Christian and Muslim missionary activity, and so
there is a high likelihood of such feedback in their traditions. However, there
are many factors, such as archaeological evidence of early trade in Southern
Africa, and never forgetting the genetic study, that argue for a genuine Near
Eastern origin for the Lemba. Henige is scathing about such theories: “Until
recently many Africanists argued that the more advanced African states were
somehow related, perhaps genetically, to Ancient Near Eastern states. If the
more extravagant schemes sometimes cited are now largely disowned, pale
imitations survive and sometimes flourish.”50
There is one thing in favour of a genuine connection, though. Is it likely
that such an obscure thing as a certain method of historiography, a way of
looking at history in terms of a paradigm of a conflict between brothers where
the younger brother (who is the son of the pre-eminent wife, or who is pre-
ferred by the mother) prevails, something that is likely to filter through and be-
come feedback? And if this does happen, might it not mean that it struck a
chord with the culture that adopted it so enthusiastically because it related to
ideas that they already had? This seems to be the case with many of the ideas
expressed by the Lemba about their origin. An important clue may be found in
Mphelo’s article – he says that the head of each Lemba clan is generally the
eldest son of the chief wife of the head family.51 On the one hand, this fact ar-
gues that the “son of pre-eminent wife prevails” paradigm is an intrinsic part of
Lemba culture and not attributable to feedback. However, on the other hand it
could be argued that this means that the narrative assumes a completely differ-
ent system of inheritance from that found in the Hebrew Bible – that the leader-
ship of the chief wife’s son is expected in Lemba culture and unexpected in
Hebrew culture – and that any similarities are the result of sheer coincidence.
One could, however, argue that where this pattern occurs in the stories of four
successive generations of patriarchs, it is not really unexpected any more.
D CONCLUSION
There are certainly noteworthy and interesting correspondences between the
historiography of the Lemba and that of the early Israelites. However, this was
considered likely at the beginning of the study – the parallels between early Is-
raelite and traditional African culture, as noted by Mafico, made that a highly
probable outcome.

48
Henige, Oral Historiography, 82.
49
Henige, Oral Historiography, 83
50
Henige, Oral Historiography, 92.
51
Mphelo, “The Balemba,” 38.
578 Deysel: King Lists and Genealogies OTE 22/3 (2009), 564-579

Noteworthy findings are the relative shortness of Lemba genealogies in

comparison with those both of the Ancient Near East and of most modern tribal
cultures, which may argue for a relatively recent founding event for the Lemba
compared with their neighbours, as well as the narrative paradigm of the strug-
gle between brothers which is won by the younger brother, born to the pre-
eminent wife. This is the dominant paradigm in the Patriarchal narratives of the
Hebrew Bible, and corresponds with the accepted inheritance custom among
the Lemba. The case of a saying attributed to an ancestor being interpolated
into a genealogy is perhaps less noteworthy – it is a stylistic feature that seems
to lend itself to the genre of genealogy, and could quite possibly occur in the
genealogies of very different cultures.
Is there a marked correspondence between Lemba and Hebrew Bible
texts – more than the general similarities that were expected? It cannot be de-
termined for certain whether any of the correspondences that do occur are
closer than may be explained by the already noted parallels between African
and early Israelite culture. However, the paradigm of the brothers, in particular,
is provocative, and it might be very interesting to do a detailed narratological
analysis of the texts in which this historiographical paradigm occurs.
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Lesley Deysel, Department of Ancient Languages, University of Pretoria,

Pretoria, 0002, South Africa. E-mail: [email protected].