Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

On Sat  1 Jan 2000 (13:35:31), c.s.bartholomew AT worldnet.att.net wrote:
> Is it possible that our Prophet might have introduced intentional
> polysemy with the word b(l? Given that b(l crops up here in a cosmic
> combat context it is tempting to discover here something more than the
> sense "owner or possessor." Can anyone give me reasons why this
> temptation should be resisted?

 Dear Clayton

 Here we have a simple construct relationship, Ba`aL CeMaH, "lord of
 fury". But it is an adverbial phrase here, qualifying W:NoQeM YHWH,
 NoQeM YHWH, and the LORD is avenging, the LORD is avenging [how is He
 avenging?] uWBa`aL CeMaH NoQeM YHWH "even full of fury YHWH is avenging"
 etc. The word Ba`aL does not always signify some hostile occult power
 or Canaanite god; although "Belial" is mentioned in verse 11 as the evil
 intelligence driving the Ninevites.

 There is a similar construction in Isaiah 41:15, HiNNeH &aM:TiYK: L:MoWRaG
 CaRuTs CaDa$ *Ba`aL PiYPiYYoWT* "Behold I will make you a new sharp
 threshing-sledge *full of teeth* ["lord-of teeth"]".

 The context indicates earthly combat. Nahum is announcing that Nineveh
 (pars pro toto, Assyria as a whole) will be punished for exceeding her
 mandate to punish the northern kingdom of Israel by Sennacherib and
 Asshurbanipal in 720 BCE when 185,000 perished in one night (2 Kings 19:35).
 Nineveh was captured in 616 BCE, and then totally destroyed by a volcano
 in 612; Jonah's intervention only resulted in a temporary reprieve. From
 Carchemish (605 BCE) onwards, the Chaldaeans (Babylonians) were to rule;
 "that bitter and hasty nation" (Habakkuk 1:6).

 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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