Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

On Wed 21 Apr 99 (15:39:40), iriegner AT concentric.net wrote:
> How should one understand the word  _btym_?  Houses?  What are
> _houses_  for the asherah?  Is there a more arcane meaning for
> _btym_ in this context?  How should one understand the 2nd clause
> beginning with  _)$r_, the clause after the etnachah?  Is this
> something like a parenthetical clause, an identifying aside?  Are
> the women weaving inside the houses of the holy men (there's no
> reason to presuppose they are male prostitutes)?

 Dear Irene,

 During the reign of Manasseh all sorts of idolatrous practices were
 introduced, even into the Temple area. IMHO the _btym_ were the
 lodgings in the Temple campus, intended for the priests and the Levites
 whilst performing their 'course' duty. They would be the same dwellings
 as Nehemiah discovered being occupied after his absence by the very
 enemies of Israel, Tobiah even (Nehemiah 13:4-9). The Hebrew here is
 Li$:K@H ; more like a monk's cell than a flat or apartment.

 What Josiah did was to remove HaQQeDe$iYM from these chambers. QD$
 L:YHWH ws the inscription on the High Priest's headdress. In Deuteronomy
 23:17 we read "there shall be no _Q:De$@H_ of the daughters of Israel,
 nor a _Q@De$_ of the sons of Israel".

 In the light of this, the suggestion you allude to re: male prostitutes
 seems eminently justifiable.

 In Genesis 28:21 we find _HaQQ:De$@H_, the consecrated one, "i.e. the
 /hierodule/, a woman sacred to Astarte, a goddess of the Canaanites,
 the deification of the generative and productive principle of nature; one
 who served this goddess by prostitution" (Keil & Delitzsch, /Genesis/, ad
 loc.). This gives us a link with the Asherah 2 Kings 23:7, a grove
 dedicated to Ashtoreth, verse 13: the star god of the Phoenicians, the
 consort of the Canaanite Baal.

>  Shouldn't _$m_  have a   beth_  in front of it  _b$m_?

 $@M, there, where; an adverb of space. No need for a B: prefix. See
 Isaiah 28:10, 13.

 Shalom,
 Ben
-- 
 Revd Ben Crick, BA CF
 <ben.crick AT argonet.co.uk>
 232 Canterbury Road, Birchington, Kent, CT7 9TD (UK)
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