Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Ruthy & Baruch <alster AT bezeqint.net>]

Shalom Ian and Peter!

Peter wrote:

> >I'm not sure I understand you here. But do you mean that "vaticinium ex
> >eventu" is just a matter of the reader's perceptions? On that definition,
> >the Isaiah passage is "vaticinium ex eventu" to you but not to me, no
> >argument. But scholarship needs something rather less subjective to work
> on.

Ian responded:
....
> All that is necessary is that there is an agreement between reader and
> writer as to what "historical" reality is.

I think Ian means "implied reader" or "intended reader".  In the age of
deconstruction, such terms are slightly out of style   :-)    but I think
they'll clear up this misunderstanding.  It doesn't matter whether _we_think
a certain event is historical, but if the author and his intended audience
did.

In any case, it seems that people knew of certain prophecies which were not
fulfilled - see Ez 29:17-21, and Greenberg's commentary (which is based on
Kaufmann, but I can't remember the exact source).  In later times, however,
when the historical reality had been forgotten, even Ezekiel's oracle
against Tyre was considered fulfilled - see Rashi or almost all other
classical Jewish commentator.

Kol Tuv,
Baruch