second occasion marks the failure of his plan to restore Joseph to his father. Far from their fulfilling the same role, Judah outwits Reuben by means of the sale.10 This discussion has shown that, in a case where historical criticism proves unable to solve the problems it sets itself, the textual phenomena that give rise to these problems may be more satisfactorily integrated into a different reading perspective. However, since ‘literary’ readings such as this one are now commonplace, and since
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