Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Ian Hutchesson <mc2499 AT mclink.it>]

>> >"the whole of x's life", with no focus on the individual days.
>>
>> Your modern understanding doesn't change the literal significance of the
>> phrase.
>>
>PK: No, of course not. The phrase always meant "the whole of x's life" and
>always will mean that. Literalism is simply error, 

Saying so (again) doesn't make it so, Peter.

>and in a case like this
>the error can be easily demonstrated from many parallels. If you order a hot
>dog, do you complain that what you get is not a warmed-up canine? Of course
>not, because "hot dog" does not mean what your literalism would take it to
>mean. By exactly the same argument, 

Peter, analogy is not your strong point. They are used merely to elucidate
something which is perhaps obscure, not things that are unknown to you.
There is no "argument by analogy". Attempts at such an artifice are
attempts to hide lack of evidence.

OK, people have shown an understanding of modern expressions. I haven't
seen those people demonstrate any real knowledge of the sorts of cultural
baggage necessary behind ancient expressions to make the sorts of
assumptions they are making.

>KOL YEMEY XAYYEYKA in Gen 3:17 does not
>mean "every day of your life", it means "the whole of your life".

Saying so (yet again) doesn't make it so, Peter. How about even a skerrick
of evidence?

I suggest you go to the local equivalent of a fast food joint and get
yourself a warm canine.


Ian