Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Israel Palaistes (Wrestler)

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: jimstinehart AT aol.com
  • To: if AT math.bu.edu, robacosta AT hotmail.com
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Israel Palaistes (Wrestler)
  • Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2012 21:00:19 -0500 (EST)



Isaac Fried:

You wrote: “I would be careful in reaching the conclusion that PL$ is
specifically 'invade' in its modern sense. It could mean just
'spread, roll over', as in Micha 1:10, being a variant of PLS as in
Ps. 78:50.”

I see the Biblical Hebrew meaning of PL$ as being “to burrow”. That fits
Jeremiah 6: 26; 25: 34; Ezekiel 27: 30; and Micah 1: 10. I myself do not
see PLS as being related to PL$, since their meanings are completely
different.

If the 3-letter root means “to burrow”, and if PL$-T-YM is a derogatory
Patriarchal nickname that means “the burrowers people”, then let’s see if
that fits Genesis 26: 15: “For all the wells which his father's servants had
digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines [PL$TYM/“the
burrowers people”] had stopped them, and filled them with earth.”

The concept of filling wells with earth to stop them from working fits
perfectly with a derogatory nickname of “the burrowers people”. These
foreign mercenaries were hired for the express purpose of burrowing into the
wells in GRR and “filling them with earth”, in order to stop these wells from
working, so that Abimelek would not have water.

The PL$-T-YM are “the burrowers people” who burrow into wells to sabotage
them from working, by “filling them with earth”. The verbal root PL$ means
“to burrow” every time that verb is used in the Bible.

To me, this west Semitic etymology works perfectly on all levels. Although
the PL$-T-YM may well have been non-Semitic peoples, featuring non-Semitic
names like “Phicol”, nevertheless the name PL$-T-YM/“Philistines” is a virgin
pure west Semitic/Hebrew name, being a derogatory Patriarchal nickname for
these foreign mercenary saboteurs.

I agree with your point that the modern meaning of “invade” is not good here.
But the Biblical meaning of “to burrow” works perfectly in the context of
Genesis 26: 15, as far as I can see.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois







Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page