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  • From: Gabe Eisenstein <gabe AT cascadeaccess.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] pelesheth hithro'a'i
  • Date: Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:45:01 -0700

Well I had so much fun with yorenu that I'm going to ask for help with another word in a Biblical quotation from Sanhedrin 105a. The word is hithro'a'i (hay-taf-resh-ayin-ayin-yud), found in Psalms 60:8. The translations go in two directions:

1) God is helping David defeat the Philistines, along with the Moabites and others mentioned in the verse. These translations make pelesheth (the word before hithro'a'i) the object of the verb, as in "Over Philisita I shout in triumph".

2) For some strange reason God is helping the Philistines. These translations make pelesheth the subject of the verb, as in "Philistia, triumph thou because of me".

Why God would help the Philistines is unexplained, and the reading would have no contextual support, except that the Talmudic text portrays David taking offense at the verse, citing his enmity toward Philistines. This only seems to make sense under the second reading. Commentators say that the following line, where God says "it is my duty to make them friends with each other", refers to David becoming friends with Doeg and Ahitophel. But this seems contorted to me. It seems more straightforward to think that it is David and the Philistines who must be made friends here.

Maybe this time we can stick to the grammar without arguing my perhaps idiosyncratic interpretation. Or maybe not.

thanks,
Gabe Eisenstein





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