Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Lisbeth S. Fried" <lizfried AT umich.edu>]

Dear CHarles, whether the woman is a fake or not
is not the point, is it? The point -- I think -- in this debate
is what nephesh means, and this has been expanded to
ask what (wb means. That is, are these physical or not.

I'm glad to see that you are up and about, and reading
and writing e-mails. Ad meah esrim.
Liz

> -----Original Message-----
> From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
> [mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org]On Behalf Of Charles David
> Isbell
> Sent: Thu, February 06, 2003 8:33 PM
> To: Jim West; b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Re: [b-hebrew nefarious nefesh
>
>
> On the basis of I Sam 28, I find the following assertion odd:
> "[that] the
> ancient israelites believed in some sort of existence of the
> soul beyond
> this life in sheol (and that is, after all, where this
> discussion began),
> seems irrefutable on the evidence."  After all, the woman with such
> perspicacity was not even capable of recognizing the man who
> was taller than
> anyone else in the entire nation from the shoulders up!  I
> think I would
> recognize Shaquille O'Neal no matter what he was wearing [and
> I have seen
> him numerous times on the LSU campus when he was a student
> here].  And I
> doubt Yao Ming could disguise himself any more successfully.
> No, this woman
> is a fake, and the narrator tells us that in no uncertain
> terms. And if she
> is a fake, surely her profession is bogus as well.  What else could be
> implied from the fact that Saul turned to her only AFTER
> failing to receive
> any response from YHWH, the Urim, or the prophets?  In
> addition, let us
> please remember, we are told in this very same pericope that
> her profession
> had been explicitly banned.
>
> How much clearer could it be that the author has gone out of
> his way to
> demonstrate the implausibility of the whole sorry affair?
> That some ancient
> Israelites may have believed in such foolishness is no more
> instructive than
> that many Americans spent money on the psychic Madame Cleo
> with the fake
> Jamaican accent.
>
> This passage does not reflect mainstream Israelite faith and
> praxis, but is
> the official condemnation of such tripe.  The passage
> dismisses the )oB
> profession with a wave of the hand, and underlines the message given
> elsewhere:  Saul is out, having lost the backing of Samuel,
> YHWH, priests
> and prophets.  The trappings of the foolish medium whose profession is
> illegal serve as a foil to point to the desperation of Saul
> and the absolute
> nature of his rejection.
>
> To base a key theological precept upon such a passage by
> taking seriously
> what is a masterful bit of sarcasm, seems to me an
> indefensible methodology,
> apart from the NT, Greek philosophy or the combined wisdom of all the
> falafel vendors in Jerusalem.
>
> Shalom,
> Charles David Isbell
>
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