Biblical Hebrew Forum

["John Ronning" <ronning AT ilink.nis.za>]

Paul Zellmer asked,

>Our questions:  Does our use of "toro" (picture a bull in the
>bullfights) go contrary to the normal usage of $oWR?  Are we
>overplaying the acquisition as opposed to possession with the word
>QoN"HW.?  Does the contrast that we result in coincide with what you
>see in these verses, or is it too strong?
>
>Thanks for your thoughts,
>
My reaction is yes and yes, based on the context.

The contrast is between (relatively stupid) animals who are obedient to
their owners, and Israel who is disobedient to its owner-acquirer-creator
(qanah seems to have the primary sense of create, and derived senses of
acquire, possess - see Cassuto on Gen 4:1).  I doubt therefore whether there
is any suggestion of animals who are hostile.

Second point regards parallelism.  The second half of the verse has in
parallel Israel-my people, and know-understand (i.e. synonymous); it seems
likely that ox-donkey and owner-master in the first part of the verse are
also simply synonymous.

John Ronning