Biblical Hebrew Forum

[George Athas <gathas AT mail.usyd.edu.au>]

peter_kirk AT sil.org wrote:

> [...] Such a time period for the wilderness
> wanderings also fits nicely with the idea of all of the older
> generation (those 20 years or older at the Exodus) dying before the
> conquest, which is a fundamental point in the whole wilderness
> tradition. [...]

In consolidating this, the "long period of time" which "40 years" stands for 
seems to
indicate the approximate timeframe of a complete generation. We may compare 
the reigns of
David and Solomon to see this - each king reigned for "40 years" - ie, for 
about a full
generation. "40 days" seems to be the same type of thing, though on a much 
smaller scale.
"40 days" seems to mean "for quite a few days!"

Regards.
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GEORGE ATHAS
 Dept of Semitic Studies,
 University of Sydney
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