Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Naama Zahavi-Ely <nxzaha AT wm.edu>]

Hello!

In the hill country of Judaea, one has both to clear stones out of one's 
fields, and
also to gather stones in order to build supporting walls for terraces, or to 
build
houses.  The stones would be the same ones -- many simple buildings, and all 
terraces,
were built with field stones that could be taken out of one's fields.

Best wishes,

Naama Zahavi-Ely

Charles David Isbell wrote:

> Dave,
> You are on the correct path to seek for a parallel in verse five.  Perhaps
> two points can be helpful.  First, the two verbs [Ha$LiKh and KeNoS] are
> quite adequate poetic bi-polar opposites of each other.  Second, the
> presence of great numbers of stones in the land was a fact that elicited
> alternate responses.  In order to plow, plant, cultivate, irrigate, harvest,
> it was necessary for a farmer to remove these stones from his fields.
> However, in time of invasion, these stones could be scattered back over the
> ground, and their presence would make it difficult for marching troops,
> enemy horses or other machines of war to maneuver.  My suggestion is that
> these two very different "times" form an appropriate background for the
> wording of verse five.
> Shalom,
> Charles David Isbell
> Louisiana State University
>
> From: "Dave Ens" <dens AT callisto.uwinnipeg.ca
>  Hello there.  I am a first year Biblical Hebrew student and have been
> enjoying the dialogue on this list.  I am working on Ecclesiastes 3.1-8 and
> am puzzled by the reference to throwing and gathering stones in verse 5.
> All the other verses, with the exception of verse 8 contain parallelisms
> between parts A and B of the verse.  However, I am finding it difficult to
> make a parallel between:
>                    A time to throw out stones and a time to gather stones
>                    A time to embrace and a time to be distant from embracing
> Is there something significant about the stones that I am not aware of?
>  Any thoughts?
> Thanks - Dave Ens
> Winnipeg, MB
>
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