Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Ken Litwak <kdlitwak AT concentric.net>]

   I'd just like to point out that any reader of Isaiah in its original
7th century setting would have likely been quite familiar with Levitical
practices and the terminology of Leviticus.  KPR and its uses would
already have readers or hearers quite ready to deal with "atonement"
concepts.  Linguistically speaking, prepositions are fairly flexible
things.  Attaching a given meaning in particular context is tricky.  SO
I wouldn't defend "for the sake of" in this context to the bitter end
but there is nothing about the implied reader of Isa 53 that I can tell
hat would disallow this.  Read in the light of Isa 1, "though your sins
be as scarlet...", finding "for the sake of " in MiN here seems
perfectly in context to me. Then again, I admit freely that this passage
is a continuing subject of debate.


Ken Litwak

Lewis Reich wrote:
> 
> On 16 Apr 99, at 20:50, Ken Litwak wrote:
> 
> >     If you look in a good lexicon for Min, you'll find that MiN has as
> > an exceedingly wide range of meaning, as many prepositions in many
> > languages do. Whomever Isaiah had in mind (and I don't think it has
> > anything to do with the exiles), it is perfectly fine, as JIm West
> > noted, to render this as "because of", i.e., "for the sake of".
> 
> Although "MiN" (and its abbreviated prefix form) has a variety of
> meanings, I have to agree with George that there is a significant
> difference in meaning between the suggested conjunctions.  "From"
> implies that it was the sins that directly caused the wounding, and I
> think it is this meaning that most fits the context.  "Because of"
> seems to me to imply that it was something or someone else that
> did the wounding because of the fact of the sins.  "For the sake of"
> implies that the wounding's purpose was atonement.  I do not think
> that one can progress quite so easily from "MiN" as "for" to "for the
> sake of".  If the latter meaning had been clearly intended , it seems
> to me likely that another locution, perhaps (L, would have been
> used.
> 
> Lewis Reich
> lbr AT sprynet.com
> 
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