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  • From: "Joel C. Salomon" <joelcsalomon AT gmail.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] watered ground & forming dust
  • Date: Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:42:17 -0500

On 11/10/2009 12:45 AM, Yigal Levin wrote:
I think that the problem is that you insist on using Aristotelian logic on an Ancient Near Eastern text. When the
Bible says that God caused water to irrigate "all" of the land, the ancient readers understood that
"all" means "all of the land that it would be appropriate to irrigate". The fact that the very
next verse implies that there was still "dry dust" around is proof of this.

It may be appropos to note that S. R. Hirsch interprets “אדמה” as “land suitable for work by Man” (actually reversing the common אדם-אדמה etymology).

—Joel C. Salomon




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