Biblical Hebrew Forum

[ben.crick AT argonet.co.uk (Ben Crick)]

On Mon  4 Jan 99 (16:00:24 +1000), kato AT shodai.ac.jp wrote:
> It is widely accepted that ('echadh) in Malachi 2:15 means God.(TDOT
> vol.1.p197, NRSV etc). On the other hand,  (as is explained in the present
> version of  $B!H (JBiblia Tysiaclecja $B!I (J, the  Standard Polish
> Version),there is another understanding which takes the word as alusion
> to Abraham.
> Unfortunately I couldn't find out any sources which help me to trace the
> history of the later interpretation. Does anybody know well about the
> process how this view had been formulated?

 Dear Eiichi

 I prefer the NIV version of this verse. In context, it is a piece about
 marriage and infidelity and divorce, taken as a metaphor for abandoning
 one's former allegiance to YHWH for a false god. "Has not [the LORD] made
 them one?  In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was
 seeking godly offspring, [etc]".

 As it says in Genesis 2:24, "For this reason a man will leave his father
 and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh"
 (L:BaSaR 'eCaD).

 ShaLoWM
 Ben
-- 
 Revd Ben Crick, BA CF
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