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  • From: Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
  • To: "Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Karnaim
  • Date: Sun, 07 Nov 2004 22:59:03 +0000

On 07/11/2004 21:52, Harold R. Holmyard III wrote:

Dear Marianne,

I am busy with the Samaritan chronicles right now and want to ask about
something. I came across a Samaritan ketubah in which the bridegroom was
described, among other things, as "baHr karnaim" (the Samaritans actually pronounce the
first as "bakur"--but their dialect is another matter). The footnote stated
that the scribe had probably made an error for "kohanim"--but I find this
rather spurious. The Samaritans, being led since the collapse of the Israelite
kingdom by a series of High Priests, are very conscious of their kohanim. Ever
since the time of Moses, they had a high priest from the line of Eleazar, but
this line died out at some point in the Middle Ages and then the Levites took
over, a situation that prevails to this very day.
Anyway, don't we encounter this "karnaim" business in connection with Moses? Moses, one supposes, didn't actually have horns and any Samaritan capable of
writing a ketubah is not going to be ignorant of how to spell "kohanim". Anyone have any ideas about this "karnaim" matter?



HH: If "baHr" mans "son," then the horns could be part of a phrase indicating a man of strength. Presumably a groom in a marriage would be a person of strength. Horns are a symbol of strength in the Old Testament.

I assume that "baHr" is not a rather crude attempt at phonetic spelling of Aramaic "bar" = "son", but rather the H is a het and this is Hebrew "baHur" (or perhaps "baHir") = "chosen one" or "young man". I note that the Samaritan pronunciation given has a U sound, but maybe this is not represented in the spelling.

So perhaps the meaning is "one chosen by Karnaim". I assume the K is in fact a qof. Could Karnaim be a divine title? This would be a likely development from the common use of QEREN = "horn" as a symbol of divine strength. But then it could be a place name as in Amos 6:13 (referring there to a place in Bashan, cf. Gen 14:5), hence perhaps "a young man from Karnaim".


--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/






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