Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Charles David Isbell" <cisbell AT home.com>]

Now we have two theories.  Dave's idea that the original question concerned
"the practice of "casting lots" is of course only a guess.  Soren's idea of
"throwing Abe's nephew about to determine the will of God" is far more
suggestive, it seems to me.  But I have a third theory, which I have already
shared privately with Thomas.
My guess is that the original Hebrew phrase was 'al 'arey lot, "by the
cities of Lot."  Now an overheated scribe suffering from low sodium intake
during the summer copying session, looking at the initial `Ayin of "cities,"
thought that he had already copied it, and left it out.  That is how "by the
cities of Lot" became simply "by Lot."  God, upset that errors could creep
into the holy book that She had written perfectly the first time, decreed
that the Bible be translated into Greek so that such mistakes could no
longer occur.  Then, because the tribes who had to work in the salt mines
remained faithful, they were allowed to convert to Christianity and become
"the salt of the earth."
This is lost, of course, in the Latin corruption of the original Greek.
For God's sake, folks, I'm only kidding.  But, LSU beat Tennessee last
night, and thus we know that all things are possible.
Shalom,
Charles