Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

Dear Peter,
I am not up on Assyrian practices of warfare, but I have
studied Persian tactics as well as those of Alexander the Great.
Kings would spend their time and energy primarily on coastal
cities, and send emissaries to the inland ones. These emissaries
were not there to threaten the populace with a prolonged siege.
They gave them a choice in every case: surrender or death.
In every case, the men who did not surrender were killed, the women
and children enslaved or killed. That is the case here, they were being
threatened with death.
No one in a siege has ever drunk their urine or eaten their dung.
IF he was threatening a long siege, he would have told them that they
would soon be eating their children. That's what people do during
a siege. He was telling them that if they did not surrender they would
be
dead.
Liz


> -----Original Message-----
> From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
> [mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org]On Behalf Of Peter Kirk
> Sent: Fri, February 07, 2003 8:18 PM
> To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: RE: [b-hebrew] Nephesh Mesopotamian myths
>
>
> I would understand the place where the Hebrews would have to
> eat their own
> dung and drink their own urine as not Sheol but either the
> besieged city or
> in Assyrian captivity. The NIV Study Bible, for what it's
> worth, describes
> this as "A vivid portrayal of the potential hardship of a
> prologed siege";
> this probably reflects the consensus at least of conservative
> Christian
> commentary. You may disagree, but do you have any evidence
> that there is a
> reference to death or Sheol here?
>
> Peter Kirk
> peter.r.kirk AT ntlworld.com
> http://web.onetel.net.uk/~peterkirk/
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:b-hebrew-
> > bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Lisbeth S. Fried
> > Sent: 08 February 2003 02:16
> > To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> > Subject: RE: [b-hebrew] Nephesh Mesopotamian myths
> >
> > Dear Walter,
> > We are on the same wave-length here.
> > The speech put into the mouth of the Rabshekeh by the Deuteronomist
> > (as I believe) reflects Hebraic thinking. According to 2 Kings 18:27
> > the dead, alive in Sheol, are condemned to eat their own dung and
> > drink their own urine.
> > I would think at the least that this requires a body, first
> to produce
> > the dung and urine, then to eat it!
> > Blech!
> > Liz
> >
>
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