Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Jan-Wim Wesselius" <jww AT xs4all.nl>]

On 7 February 2000, George Athas made the following interesting observation:

-----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
Van: George Athas <gathas AT mail.usyd.edu.au>
Aan: Biblical Hebrew <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
Datum: maandag 7 februari 2000 21:59
Onderwerp: Re: `ad hayom hazeh


>> >I'm also interested in studies of the phrase `ad
>> > hayyom hazzeh as a possible dating tool in other passages,
>> > particularly those mentioning place names (i.e. "it's called x to this
>> > very day").  If we take the phrase at face value, it seems to me that
>> > the durations of such laws and place names might give us, at
>> > least, latest possible dates for some of the texts before us.
>> >
>>
>> R. Isaac Abravanel in his introduction to Joshua mentions such verses as
>> proof that the story was written _much_later_ than the events.
Otherwise,
>> what is so special that it (whatever it is in each verse) remains "till
>> this day"?
>
>Yet, compare Josh 6:25 which states that Rahab the whore lived in Israel
`ad hayyom
>hazzeh. Does this mean that Joshua was written within a generation of
Jericho's
>destruction (if we can at all talk of that)? Or are we saying that an oral
tradition goes
>back to that generation?
>
>Best regards,
>George Athas
> Dept of Semitic Studies,
> University of Sydney
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>< gathas@ mail.usyd.edu.au >
>
Well roared, George! This verse (RSV "But Rahab the harlot, and her father's
household, and all who belonged to her, Joshua saved alive; and she dwelt in
Israel (watteshev beqerev Yisrael) to this day, because she hid the
messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho") is indeed remarkable in the
context of this expression. Are there any more such cases?

A second thought about the same verse: maybe some sort of midrashic
reflection (qerev Yisrael for the Davidic dynasty? or as an indication of
conversion of Rahab alone? cfr. verse 23) on this problematic verse
ultimately provided Rahab with her surprising place among the ancestors of
Jesus. (Matthew 1:5)

Jan-Wim Wesselius, Hoekenes 26A, 1068 MT Amsterdam
Tel. 020 - 619 1535; fax 020 - 619 1636; e-mail jww AT xs4all.nl