Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Steve.Thompson AT avondale.edu.au" <steve.thompson AT avondale.edu.au>]

Have you considered the "ritual impurity" interpretation of this passage?
"brought forth in (wn, conceived in xt)" according to this view refers to 
the ritual impurity contracted during sexual intercourse (Lev 15:18) and 
childbirth (Lev 12:2) had to be cleansed by taking sacrifices to the priest 
according to Lev 12:6-8.  Those who neglected to do so must "bear their 
(wn", Lev 17:16.
In other words, ritual impurity was taken seriously according to the Hebrew 
Bible, however strange the concept seems to many people today.

For a light-hearted alternate explanation of the thoughts of king David, at 
both ends of his life, consider the doggerel of James Ball Naylor 
(1860-1945):

King David and king Solomon led merry, merry lives,
with many many lady friends and many many wives;
But when old age crept over them, with many many qualms,
Kind Solomon wrote the Proverbs, and king David wrote the Psalms


Steven Thompson, Dean
Faculty of Theology, Avondale College
Internet:  steve.thompson AT avondale.edu.au
CompuServe:  102555,1513
Voice +61 2 4980 2225
Fax +61 2 4980 2118


On Monday, 10 January 2000 22:16, Bill Ross [SMTP:wross AT farmerstel.com] 
wrote:
> Hello, my name is Bill Ross. I'm new to B-Hebrew. I'm just learning 
Hebrew.
> I joined this list because I often have questions of a translation nature 
> and hope to tap into your collected expertise.
>
> I have a question regarding the proper translation (and hence,
> interpretation) of Psalm 51:5. Here are some popular translations:
>
> NIV
> Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived 
me.
> RSV
> Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother 
conceive
> me.
> KJV
> Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
> DBY
> Behold, in iniquity was I brought forth, and in sin did my mother 
conceive
> me.
> YLT
> Lo, in iniquity I have been brought forth, And in sin doth my mother
> conceive me.
>
> I know enough from my tools to know that the NIV is *highly* 
interpretive.
>
> My theory is that this verse is not teaching anything about David, but is 
> rather David expressing loathing for himself by criminalizing his own
> birth. I would paraphrase it:
>
> "My mother screwed up when she had me - it was a sin for her to conceive
> me!"
>
> ...and thus David "curses his day" as did Job in Job 3:
>
> 3:1  After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day.
> 2  And Job spake, and said,
> 3  Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was
> said, There is a man child conceived.
> 4  Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither 
let
> the light shine upon it.
> 5  Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon
> it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.
> 6  As for that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined 
unto
> the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months.
> 7  Lo, let that night be solitary, let no joyful voice come therein.
> 8  Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their
> mourning.
> 9  Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it look for light,
> but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the day:
> 10  Because it shut not up the doors of my mother's womb, nor hid sorrow
> from mine eyes.
> 11  Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I
> came out of the belly?
> 12  Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck?
> 13  For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: 
> then had I been at rest,
> 14  With kings and counsellors of the earth, which built desolate places
> for themselves;
> 15  Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver:
> 16  Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never 
> saw light.
> 17  There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at 
rest.
> 18  There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the
> oppressor.
> 19  The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his
> master.
> 20  Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the
> bitter in soul;
> 21  Which long for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for 
> hid treasures;
> 22  Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the 
grave?
> 23  Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath 
hedged
> in?
> 24  For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out 
like
> the waters.
> 25  For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which 
I
> was afraid of is come unto me.
> 26  I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet
> trouble came.
>
> Does the Hebrew support or preclude this interpretation??
>
> Thanks in advance:
>
> Bill Ross
> http://members.xoom.com/woundedego
> Download free music from my web page!
>
>
>
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