Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

> Can this be correct, and if so,
> what should be made of it?
> Liz
> 
> >
> > heres from another list-- hjudaica or something.
> >
> > On pages 43-44 of the book "Eisenstein's Commentary on the Torah",
> > [Author: J.D. Eisenstein, Full Title: Eisenstein's commentary on the
> > Torah, a defense of the traditional Jewish viewpoint.  Edited
> > by Bernard
> > David Perlow and Ira Eisenstein. New York, Pardes Pub. House, 1960.]
> > the author asserts that the author of the Torah (the Five
> > Books of Moses)
> > uses an older writing style than used in the Prophets and
> > Writings. The
> > primary evidence he uses is the lack of consistency with male
> > and female
> > forms of words. For example, the word the word "hu" in Hebrew, which
> > generally means he, is used for she (which is more properly "hi") 54
> > times in Genesis, 11 times in Exodus, 69 times in Leviticus,
> > and 27 times
> > in Numbers, and 36 times in Deuteronomy (197 times
> > altogether). Meanwhile
> > "hu" doesn't refer to she anywhere else in the Old Testament.
> >
> > The author asserts that the changes in writing style suggests
> > that the Torah
> > was written before the other books of the Old Testament. This
> > would seem to
> > contradict the Documentary Hypothesis, which says that much
> > of then Torah
> > (i.e. Deuteronomy) was written after many of the other books
> > of the Old
> > Testament.
> >
> 
The phenomenon is correct; HW) does appear in many feminine 
contexts, which is why the Masoretes pointed it as HIW) to get it 
pronounced as HY).  Like Trevor, I haven't seen a better 
explanation, and IMNSHO the DH has been dead for ages, it just 
doesn't have the good sense to realize it.

[putting on my flameproof suit as I hit the "send" button.....]

Dave Washburn
http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur
You know you're a lousy artist when you can't
draw a straight line on an Etch-a-Sketch.