Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Dave Washburn" <dwashbur AT nyx.net>]

*raise hands in surrender*  Okay, ya got me!  Place my first response 
in the "duu-uu-uh" file.  And this one's a definite keeper.  Thanks 
for brightening my day!

> 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
> 
> 
> 
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Dave Washburn
http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur
This time, like all times, is a very good one if we but know what to 
do with it.
                  -Emerson