[b-hebrew] Nephesh
Yigal Levin
Yigal-Levin at utc.edu
Fri Feb 7 16:01:16 EST 2003
Friends,
I've been following this thread with some ammusement, but now I have to get
my two perutot in:
>At 06:37 AM 2/8/2003 +1000, Lew Osborne wrote:
>Concerning the belief of the Hebrews in Spirits and immortal souls, this
>was not held by the Hebrews in early times. It did however become part of
>their belief system by some after the captivity.
While this is often claimed by scholars, just what WAS supposed to exist in
Sheol?
>
>The incident with Saul and the witch of endour was very much a happening
>that was a put on by the woman, Saul did not see any thing, Saul stood head
>and shoulders above every man in the land, she knew who he was just as she
>knew who he wanted to be 'brought forth' she conjured up a myth.
C'mon! We have no way of knowing what either the lady or Saul "saw" or
"believed". The only thing that we DO know is what the author of 1 Samuel
presumed. He certainly does not seem to be saying that the woman was a
charlatan. He presumed that the idea of the woman bringing Samuel "up" to
deliver YHWH's message to Saul, as well as the idea that only the woman
could actualy "see" Samuel (which is why WE would call her a "medium"),
would both be perfectly reasonable to the intended audience of 1 Samuel -
persumably either Late Monarchic or Early Post-Exilic Judahites.
Dr. Yigal Levin
Dept. of Philosophy and Religion
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
615 McCallie Avenue
Chattanooga TN 37403-2598
U.S.A.
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