Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter_Kirk AT SIL.ORG]

I would take the meaning of the two verses together as "YHWH is very 
great, praiseworthy and the Creator; fear Him, not the other so-called 
gods which are actually only metal idols." But another explanation 
could be that verse 4 is older than verse 5, verse 5 was added to 
correct henotheism into monotheism. The idea that all the nations 
(verses 7,9), not just one nation, must worship one creator God must 
be close to monotheism rather than henotheism.

As for Jephthah, yes, according to the text he had an Israelite 
father, but I thought his mother was a cult prostitute (ZONA). Maybe 
it is only those who judge by later standards who take this to mean 
she was not Israelite. Jephthah, whatever his blood, was apparently 
raised in the land of Tob (somewhere in the remote desert, it seems) 
and no doubt followed its religion, or some sort of syncretistic 
mixture, in which human sacrifice was acceptable.

Peter Kirk


______________________________ Reply Separator 
_________________________________
Subject: Re: [Fwd: Historiography and Peter]
Author:  yonsaf AT beitberl.beitberl.ac.il at internet
Date:    18/02/1999 15:59


Peter Kirk wrote:



>
> How do you justify the rendering of ):ELIYLIYM in Psalm 96:5 as
> "godlets"? Surely it is clear, at least in Isaiah 2 and Leviticus,
> that this word means idols made by hand from precious metals, rather 
> than any kind of spiritual or supernatural entity. Thus this verse is 
> a strong statement of monotheism. The previous verse of course looks
> like henotheism when taken out of context, but verse 5 makes clear how 
> it was meant by the psalmist.

Vs. 5 reads: "For YHWH is great and very praiseworthy, and more awesome than 
all
the
gods." Vs. 6 goes on to say: "For all the Gods of the nations are but 
godlets, 
while

YHWH has made the heavens"

If this were a true monotheistic statement, it would have to have more punch 
tha
n
"YHWH is great...and more awesome thane all the gods". We would expect a flat 
denial
of their divinity, as we find in Deut. 4:35 or Is. 44:6. Saying that YHWH is 
"more
awesome" than all the (other) gods simply means that there ARE other gods, 
but 
they
just don't measure up to YHWH. Hence my translation "godlets" in the 
following 
verse.

<snip>

> And Jephthah was very likely not an Israelite at all, and so cannot be 
> taken as an argument for Israelite religion.

On what do you base this statement? That he was the son of a concubine? 
Still, h
e
is
called a Gileadite, and he leads the Israelites against the Ammonites, which 
makes
him an Israelite in my book.

<snip>