Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Reginald Wallace Ponder, Jr." <rwponder AT lycos.com>]

Dear Robert,
    I don't see how Miles' rendering might be justified on the basis of the 
MT.  It seems to be a very, very loose paraphrase based on his sense of the 
book as a whole.  Or, perhaps he is translating a textual variant with which 
I am not familiar.
     It seems inevitable, however, that one's own sense of the book of Job as 
a whole will color the translation of vv5-6 of Job 42. Is Job repenting, or 
not?  And if he is repenting, then what is he repenting of?
    Anyway, my own sense of Job 42:5-6 is as follows:
v5 By the hearing of the ear I had heard You, but now my eye has seen You:
v6 Therefore I shall reject that I should grieve upon dust and ashes.         
  Thus, Job refuses mournful despair.  I have taken the *waw* in v6 to be an 
introduction of a dependent clause that functions as the direct object of 
*mem-aleph-samek*.  Although such a construction would not be expected in 
prose, I have found it several places in the Psalms.  Since Job is poetry, 
this translation seems justifiable.  Also, this rendering avoids the problem 
of leaving *mem-aleph-samek* without a direct object. Although BH does not 
have the same problem English has with transitive verbs lacking objects, it 
still is less problematic to construe the *waw* in this way than to leave a 
transitive verb bereft of an object.      
     Of course, *nun-heht-mem* in v6 could be translated "repent," so that 
Job would be refusing to repent -- essentially what you are saying, Robert.  
But I think that Job does repent: He repents of his despair. (Note that in 
Ex. 13:17 this same verb means something like "become discouraged.) What Job 
"sees" finally is that his relationship with God is more important than 
having clearly formulated ideas about God.  The three "friends" represent 
exactly the conventional ideas about God.  That they, rather than Job, end up 
denounced by God suggests that this interpretation is likely.
     On another matter:  While it is true that Job's friends are not 
"idiots," it clearly is the case that they are wrong about Job.  Their advice 
led him directly into the despair that his "eye" (v5) finally freed him from.
     Shalom,
     Rev. Reggie Ponder, Jr.
     Mt. Tirzah United Methodist Church
     Timberlake, NC USA
>From mattfeld AT mail.pjsnet.com Fri Nov 03 10:00:15 2000
Return-Path: <mattfeld AT mail.pjsnet.com>
Received: from mail.euro-post.com ([195.178.0.24]) by franklin.oit.unc.edu 
with SMTP (Lyris List Manager SOLARIS/SPARC version 4.0); Thu, 02 Nov 2000 
00:35:03 -0400
Received: from mattfeld (frankffm10-45.bunt.com [195.178.8.170])
        by mail.euro-post.com (8.8.7/8.8.7) with SMTP id HAA04967
        for <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>; Thu, 2 Nov 2000 07:48:24 +0100
Message-ID: <001c01c0448e$dd680340$aa08b2c3@mattfeld>
From: "Walter Mattfeld" <mattfeld AT mail.pjsnet.com>
To: "b-hebrew" <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
Subject: Paper offering, New Testament's Presuppositions
Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2000 06:33:48 +0100
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain;
        charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Priority: 3
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2615.200
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2615.200



Available via e-mail is my paper titled

The New Testament's Non-Hebraic, Hellenistic Greek Presuppositions

As many are aware, the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible is looked upon as an
important source of beliefs for both Judaism and Christianity. What is most
remarkable is that these two monolithic faiths of the Western World draw
different interpretations from the same body of literature. This paper seeks
to account for this difference, utilizing the findings of generations of
Humanist scholars. In essence, I understand that Christianity is a
syncretistic religion, that is, to some degree, the Early Christians were
imbued with ideals and notions drawn from Hellenistic Greek metaphysics,
which accounts for their reinterpretation of the Hebrew Bible in the books
we now call the New Testament.

Scholars have noted that a composition reflects the age in which it was
created. Certain presuppositions exist in the author's mind that can be
linked to certain beliefs current in his lifetime that he is unconsciously
drawing from in his presentation. Given that Christianity arose in the 1st
century CE, in a Hellenistic world, it shouldn't come as a surprise to
anyone, that certain beliefs which were current at that time might be what
the Christian authors are drawing from in their understanding and
presentation of their religious ideas about the Old Testament's message
contra mainstream Jewish (Hebraic) perceptions.

Please do not send your requests to this list

send your request to :

mattfeld AT mail.pjsnet.com

All the best, Walter

Walter Reinhold Warttig Mattfeld
Walldorf by Heidelberg,
Baden-Wurttemburg,
Germany