Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Liz Fried" <lizfried AT umich.edu>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Lee R. Martin [mailto:lmartin AT vol.com]
> Sent: Saturday, September 02, 2000 12:59 PM
> To: Biblical Hebrew
> Subject: Re: Gen 1:1. Kermess
>
>
> Ian Hutchesson wrote:
>
> > Dear Lee,
> >
> > You wrote:
> >
> > >V. 1 is the "beginning" of creation and vv. 3ff are the
> > >continuation of creation,
> >
> > I don't know how you come to the idea of "continuation of creation". We
> > have a "this is what is to be described" v1, then a "these are the
> > circumstances" v2, and finally the acts described.
>
> I am still seeing the parallel with Jer.28:1 where God spoke to
> Jeremiah at the
> "beginning" of  Zedekiah's reign (He had already been reigning 4
> years).

Dear Lee, Scholars routinely emmend this verse to correspond to that of the
LXX. The LXX has simply "In the fourth year of Zedekiah." The phrase
"bereshit mamlachet,
or mamlachut," refers to the accession year. That is, a man becomes king
when
the previous king dies, but they did not count the years of his reign until
his
inauguration (I think, in Tishri, but others think Nissan). Therefore, you
can have
quite a long accession year if the previous king dies just after the first
of Nissan (or Tishri). This whole accession year is the bereshit of his
reign.  Jer. 28:1 may be a conflation of two texts, or the scribe's eye may
have jumped or something. It is best to emmend with
the LXX.

Liz