Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Glenn Blank <glennblank AT earthlink.net>]

"Lisbeth S. Fried" <lizfried AT umich.edu>, on Wed, 16 Jan 2002 09:37:54 -0500

>I always thought it meant "not perfect, but good enough."
>I find it very reassuring to think of it that way, in fact.
>When I look at my own work, I can think that if God is
>satisfied with this imperfect world he made, than I ought to
>be satisfied too.
>Liz

On what basis would you conclude that it only means "not perfect but good
enough"?  Especially when G-d characterized his creation as "*very* good"
[twB M'D] when He finished it (Gen 1.31)?  What would that mean? -- "very
not perfect but good enough"?  That phrase doesn't make sense.

Our work is imperfect because we are imperfec.  But why would G-d create an
imperfect world?  That of course is a philosophical question and not a
philogical one.  But still I think, the only reason someone would be tempted
to think twB means anything less than "good" is that he looks at the world
and sees that it is not perfect.  But remember that the curse of sin changed
things:  Gen 3.17-19 describes nature as being radically altered from the
way G-d created it, and to my knowledge, the HB does not use the word twB to
describe the world as a whole again at any time after that point in time.

That being said, how would one determine that twB M'D means simply "good
enough."  What is the range of meanings twB is capable of?

Grace and Peace.

glenn blank
Pensacola FL