Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Alastair Haines <haines AT alastairs.com>]

Dear Yigal

Sorry it's taken me a while to get back to answers to my question. Yes, I've
read several commentaries and the alphabetical ditty suggestion featured in
several. However, it was put forward as a possibility, not a certainty. I was
curious to hear what members of this list thought about this possibility and
others.

The obvious reservation I have about the alphabetical ditty suggestion is that
it is odd for it to start with tsade and to stop at qoph. Perhaps there are
reasons why this would make sense though. Was the order of the alphabet 
changed
at some point and a mnemonic devised to teach the change? Was Hebrew different
at this point in its alphabet to Phoenician systems or Southern or Eastern
Semitic systems? What evidence do we have for this sort of thing, perhaps 
these
verses are part of that evidence?

Do you or others have any suggestions as to where I might look to find out 
more,
or has anyone done this already?

Cheers,
alastair
--
Alastair Haines 9386-0016
http://www.alastairs.com/
http://www.biblefest.org/
http://www.HSCstudyConferences.com/


Yigal Levin wrote:

> Hi Alastair,
>
> Beyond what you can read in any commentary, I recall (but don't have a
> citation) that Aaron Demsky once suggested that it was taken from an
> Alphabetical ditty, maybe a mnemonic poem used to help students remember
> the order of the Alphabet (since Sade and Qoph are consecutive letters).
>
> Yigal
>
> At 11:41 PM 11/16/2002 +1100, Alastair Haines wrote:
> >Dear b-hebraim
> >
> >I wondered if any of the list members cared to comment on how Isaiah 
> >28:10&13
> >should be understood.
> >
> >tsav latsav tsav latsav qav laqav qav laqav
> >
> >Or shouldn't it be understood? Is that the point?
> >
> >Cheers,
> >alastair
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