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  • From: ben.crick AT argonet.co.uk (Ben and Jo Crick)
  • To: b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: Re: 2 Kings 1:8
  • Date: Mon, 12 Aug 2002 15:27:33 +0100


On Sat 10 Aug 2002 (19:41:40), black_strat AT hotmail.com wrote:
> I am interested in knowing more about the phrase "ba`al se`ar" in 2 Kings
> 1:8.  Does this mean that Elijah was a hairy man,
> had a priestly garment of hair, or had long hair (on his head)?
> Those are the three options I have discovered, but none seems to stand out
> in light of what I have been able to learn.  Also, does anyone have a good
> Jewish description of what Elijah may have looked like?

Dear Jon,

You probably saw my initial response. Nobody has yet jumped in on your
complete repost, so here goes:

The consensus of the versions that I have to hand is that "hairy" is the
most likely meaning of "Ba`aL &e`aR". That he was wearing a "hair-shirt"
secured by a girdle is an attractive suggestion favoured by the NIV, but
not by the others.

Zechariah 13:4 has 'aDDeReT &e`aR "they will not put on a hairy mantle in
order to deceive" NRSV.

Matthew 3:4 has "Now John wore clothing of camel's hair with a leather belt
around his waist...". It seems that John the Baptizer deliberately dressed
in imitation of the stereotyped "prophetic style" of Elijah.

The Zechariah reference clearly indicates a *garment* 'aDDeReT; Genesis 25:25
has K:'aDDeReT &e`aR, like a hairy mantle, describing the perinatal
appearance
of baby Esau.

So IMHO we must compare the hapax legomenon Ba`aL &e`aR with Isaiah 41:15
Ba`aL PiYPiYYoT as I suggested in my previous post.

FWIW, Jerome in the Latin Vulgate puts at 2 Kings 1:8 /vir pilosus et zona
pellicia accinctis renibus/ "a hairy man and girded with a leather girdle
round his loins". The LXX has ANHR DASUS, KAI ZWNHN DERMATINHN PERIEZWSMENOS
THN OSFUN AUTOU (virtually identical with the Latin).

Shalom

Ben
--
Revd Ben Crick BA CF, and Mrs Joanna (Goodwin) Crick
<ben.crick AT argonet.co.uk>
232 Canterbury Road, Birchington, Kent, CT7 9TD (UK)
http://www.cnetwork.co.uk/crick.htm







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