Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Trevor & Julie Peterson" <06peterson AT cua.edu>]

George wrote:

> The word _heykal_ should strictly be translated as 'palace' --
> that is, royal residence or
> spacious quarters. Whether a temple or pavilion is in mind is
> irrelevant.

Please excuse my ignorance, but would you mind citing some instances (apart
from this passage) in Hebrew, Aramaic, Ethiopic, Akkadian, or Sumerian,
where the term refers to a pavilion?  I guess the way I saw it used, I
generally assumed it was a building.

Ian wrote:

> 'heykal' on the other hand means lofty/spacious in the
> context of buildings, palacial, a temple.
> Eli sat on a seat near the post of the
> temple/palace/residence of the king.. God.
> George is quite right, here is an early reference to a
> royal residence before more advance buildings of brick
> and stone came to be recognised as the archetyple
> temple or palace.

Are you suggesting that this Sumerian loanword was not associated with fixed
buildings in any language until sometime in the first millenium, or only
that it didn't carry that association in Hebrew usage?  Again, I'd be
interested to see some examples.

I'm not trying to say that either of you is wrong on this issue.  It just
comes as something of a surprise to me and would seem more plausible with
some evidence.

Thanks,

Trevor Peterson
CUA/Semitics