Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Peter Kirk" <Peter_Kirk AT sil.org>]

The comparison in the second half of the verse seems to confirm that this
was not intended as a description of a unique supernatural event, but rather
as a description of a hailstorm, of the same general kind as those regularly
experienced but more severe than any other known. Of course there is also an
element of contest between gods in the whole plagues narrative, but there is
no special focus here, and I hardly see any special relevance for Assyrian
gods rather than Egyptian ones.

Peter Kirk

----- Original Message -----
From: Jim West <jwest AT highland.net>
To: Biblical Hebrew <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
Cc: <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
Sent: Friday, June 09, 2000 4:44 PM
Subject: Re: Exodus 9:24


> At 11:27 AM 6/9/00 -0400, you wrote:
> >"Hail and Fire"
> >
> >The issue is not whether a god can be embodied as fire but
> >whether the combination of "hail and fire" may be found in the
> >cognate literature as something that a god throws at his/her
> >enemies.  Lightening is more logical.
>
> I think we might actually be splitting hairs here.  I would presume that
to
> the ancients it was quite proper to call the flash of light in the sky
seen
> during a storm- and which sometimes hit trees and made them burn, would
have
> had no qualms about calling such a phenomenon "fire"- for such, in truth,
it
> was to them.
>
> These theophanic scenes... they evoke everyday imagery to cause the
> hearers/readers to visualize such events and remember that God is nothing
to
> be trifled with-- they are not scientific descriptions of meteorological
events.
>
> best,
>
> Jim
>
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
> " The righteous man looks after his own soul, and the bodies of others,
> whereas the hypocrite looks after his own body, and the souls of others"
> Rabbi Lionel Blue
>
> Jim West, ThD
> jwest AT highland.net
> http://web.infoave.net/~jwest
>
>
>
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