Biblical Hebrew Forum

[ian goldsmith <iangoldsmith1969 AT yahoo.co.uk>]

Trevor.

Hi. You wrote:

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.

Sorry I can't find any previous use of 'heykal' before
the one in discussion - 1Samuel 1:9, but does that
matter? I can neither find a Heb, Aram, Eth, Akk,
Sumarian, Syr, Assy, or Swahili word where 'heykal'
means pavilion, but that wasn't the point either.
George and I were only trying to give an answer to the
question posed by James, ie:
"Why in 1 Sam 1:19 is there a reference to the Lord's
"temple" (heykal) when the temple has not been built
yet?"

George was quite right to state that "whether a temple
or pavilion is in mind is irrelevant." He and I were
both trying to explain (I believe) that this passage
is referring, when using 'heykal', to the residence of
the King, ie. God, the king of the universe.

Heykal means palace/temple yes, but surely it implies
a reason why a palace/temple is called thus. The
Arabic, I understand, gives a sense of loftiness of
spaciousness. Which would apply in this case if
referring to the tabernacle.

You also wrote: 

"Are you suggesting that this Sumerian loanword (got
any proof?) was not associated with fixed buildings in
any language until sometime in the first millennium,"

A.No.

"or only that it didn't carry that association in
Hebrew usage?"  

A.No.

I may refer to my house as; my home, my house, my
dwelling, the terrace property of Mr. Goldsmith, my
habitation etc, etc.
My house is all these things, but the word I select at
any given time is one that suits the context into
which I'm putting it.
House incidentally is a Teutonic word from haus/hus.
Home is an Old English word from ham, or Dutch - heem
or perhaps German - heim. Relatively new words that
the origins of are obscure, remarkable!
Residence - French from residence, Latin - residentia.

Perhaps you feel that this passage refers to some
other building other than the tabernacle tent.
Psalm 78:60 says "He forsook the tabernacle (mishkan)
of Shiloh, the tent (Ohel) he placed among men"
If so this building that Eli the priest of God was sat
in front of must have been an annexe to the
tabernacle?

The tabernacle is referred to over an hundred times as
a tent and 24 as mishkan (habitation/dwelling). 
The fact that in this verse it is also called a
temple/palace may mess up some pre-conceived ideas,
but surely it doesn't mean that the writer could not
have been using another adjective for the home of God.

My home is my castle, but it hasn't got a moat, a draw
bridge, castlation, a keep etc. etc. etc. Does that
mean I must mean some place else??

I hope that this clears up some obvious
misunderstandings. It was only supposed to be a simple
answer to a simple question.

Yours.
Ian.


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