Category Archives: passage interpretation
and a span
In fairly literal Bibles which translate from the Masoretic Text, Goliath was a six cubits and a span in height. According to the grad student who is teaching my Hebrew 370 ‘Biblical Literature in Translation’ class here at OSU, this comes to about nine feet [1]. However, the Septuagint has Goliath at four cubits and [...]
Posted in passage interpretation Tagged a span, bible, cubits, david, dead sea scrolls, goliath, hebrew 370, israelites, masoretic text Leave a comment
no
God is the god of justice. God is the god of love. Love and justice are both virtues that reach out of the individual, things that only exist when the individual, or the group, is willing to look beyond its own wants and needs, and to give the other either its due or more than [...]
exodus 12:44 — a regulation of slavery
The Hebrew word commonly translated ‘servant’ or ‘slave’ is ebed, from the Hebrew root meaning ‘to work.’ Slavery was found everywhere in the ancient world, and the Bible, rather than taking a stance of consistently forbidding the practice, regulated it. One example of the regulation of slavery in the Bible can be found in Exodus [...]
thinking about moses and saul alinsky
It was not too long ago that I read Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals, the standard guide to taking power as a populist demagogue by negotiating in bad faith, bluffing, constantly making demands, deception, and economic sabotage. Saul Alinsky sees Moses as a good example of a sound negotiator, using as an example Numbers 14, [...]
Posted in passage interpretation Tagged economic coercion, exodus 10, negotiation, numbers 14, pharaoh, rules for radicals, saul alinsky Leave a comment
Sing with the understanding also: swift and beautiful feet
Today, in church, we sang ‘Take My Life‘, a wonderful little hymn. Given the biblical illiteracy of our day, I wondered whether one particular line might cause trouble: Take my feet, and let them be swift and beautiful for thee. Praying for fast and pretty feet seems, well, shallow, if the biblical allusion is not [...]
Also posted in bible Tagged feet, isaiah, isaiah 52, israel, jesus christ, paul, romans, romans 10, the exile, the gospel Leave a comment
we will return
A central concept used by Jewish commentators to extract meaning from scripture is the idea of verbal efficiency: that inspired authors write as tersely as possible; every word choice has meaning, and great concepts are often hidden in a single phrase. OSU Professor Michael Swartz used Genesis 22:5 in class a few days ago as [...]
Posted in passage interpretation Tagged abraham, genesis 22, hebrews 11, isaac, resurrection, sacrifice Leave a comment
the cities in which Lot lived
We are told in Genesis 19:29 that Jehovah overthrew אֶת־הֶעָרִים אֲשֶׁר־יָשַׁב בָּהֵן לֹֽוט et he’arim asher-yashav bahen lot “overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.” This is interesting wording. Due to the way Hebrew structures relative clauses, a barbarically literal rendering might be “the cities which Lot lived in them.” But regardless of how literal [...]
Posted in passage interpretation Tagged bahen, bet prefix, english, genesis 19:29, gomorrah, hebrew, robert bork, sodom Leave a comment
the women and the people
Genesis 14 speaks of Abram after he defeated Kedorlaomer’s forces: He brought back all the goods, and also brought back his relative Lot and his goods, along with the women and the people. The women and the people? What’s that supposed to mean? Surely, I thought to myself, the Hebrew word for “people” must mean [...]
words are too sticky: capitalism and acts 2
That is, there seems to be a sore lack of words that mean only one specific narrowly defined thing. Take, for example, the word capitalist. I consider myself a super-hardcore capitalist, but I often fail to mention that I am using capitalist in a very narrow sense. I mean capitalist in the governmental sense: someone [...]
notes on 1 sam 13-18