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  • From: "Peter Kirk"<peter_kirk AT sil.org>
  • To: <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re[2]: uncover that nakedness!! :-)
  • Date: Thu, 06 Apr 2000 00:56:53 -0400


Yes, I was misled here by looking at English translations which are
barely recognisable as based on the Hebrew, and by remembering 20:11
etc. The more literal English translations of 18:7,8 are meaningless.
But I stand by my general line of interpretation.

We cannot look at 18:7,8 in isolation, but must look at the whole
passage, in which the phrase "uncover nakedness" occurs repeatedly
from verse 6 to verse 23. We must also look at how the same expression
is used in 20:10-21. 18:6 I think provides the key opening summary,
with the phrase "lo' tiqrebu legallot `erwa" (similarly in verse 19).
The "do not approach" here is surely a reference to sexual
intercourse, as also are $KB in verses 20,22,23 and `MD in verse 23.
The use of QRB and $KB in such contexts seem to be euphemisms, and we
need to think of "uncover nakedness" as perhaps another euphemism.

I also assume a clear distinction between 18:7 and 18:8 rather than
mere repetition of the thought. In a polygamous society (which is
obviously reflected in verses 9 and 18) a father's wife is not
necessarily a mother, and probably verse 8 is mainly referring to
stepmothers.

As 18:7 must mean something, I think we must be right in assuming it
to mean more or less the same as 20:11 (less the last part). We might
translate 18:7 "Don't do a shameful thing to your father by doing a
shameful thing to your mother. After all, she is your mother, so don't
do a shameful thing to her." The second and third shameful things are
of course sexual intercourse (perhaps with a broader definition than
Bill Clinton uses); the first is only indirectly so.

We must presume however that it was OK for a man to "uncover the
nakedness" of women not related or more distantly related to oneself -
for otherwise the details here are meaningless. Presumably such
relationships were equivalent to marriages, and cannot be translated
"shameful thing". But it is unclear what happened when the woman was
already married but not to a close relative. There are some
interesting semantics of euphemisms to be looked at here!

Peter Kirk


______________________________ Reply Separator
_________________________________
Subject: Re: uncover that nakedness!! :-)
Author: <hholmyard AT ont.com> at Internet
Date: 05/04/2000 09:10


Dear Peter,
You write:

No, I don't think this expression is about sexual relations. The first part
of these verses is, but the part about "uncovering nakedness" is not. I
remember we translated these verses to mean something like
"bring shame or disgrace". We don't understand shame well in western
cultures, but (to overgeneralise) in eastern cultures even today people are
much more concerned than we understand about not doing
things to bring shame on the family. I think that is the point here: a
person's sexual misdemeanours bring shame on the father or mother
comparable with stripping them naked in public - though this metaphor
may be a dead one.

Peter, it is the first part of these verses that mentions uncovering the
nakedness of someone. You say that the first part of the verses concern
sexual relations, but not this phrase. "The nakedness of the father" in
verse 7 receives explanation from verse 8, where it is clear that the wife
of the father is in view. The idea seems to be possession. The nakedness of
the father's wife belongs to the father; so it is not for the son to expose
it. "Nakedness" would refer to nakedness for the sake of sexual relations.
Further, you are right that the idea of shame is implied. Verse 7b explains
"uncover the nakedness of your mother" in verse 7a. A man is not to expose
the nakedness of his mother because she is his mother. He should be ashamed
to do something like that.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard




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