Biblical Hebrew Forum

[ben.crick AT argonet.co.uk (Ben and Jo Crick)]

On Mon 28 Apr 2003 (17:31:08), jwest wrote:
> How can a fruit become a tree?  Even more interesting is the second
> part which literally says "the wise person takes souls"!    Cf. Ps
> 31:14.  How is it wise to "take" souls?  The similar line in the
> aforementioned psalm is used in the sense of "destroy"- so does this
> mean the wise destroy souls? But surely not!

 Great oaks from little acorns grow, they say. If the "fruit" of the
 righteous means his progeny, then the tree of life refers to the family
 tree: as in "the stem of Jesse" (Isaiah 11:1).

 It is taken by some commentators to mean not only the physical sons of the
 righteous, but also their spiritual sons, those whom they have led to faith
 in the LORD. Hence the relevance of the second hemistich, "he that wins
 souls [for the LORD] is wise".

 The book of Proverbs is a picture of a young man starting out in life in
 the School of Wisdom. But there is a rival School for Fools, bidding for
 the young man's soul.

 LaQaX is a general-utility verb with a wide semantic range, as reference to
 any concordance or lexicon will show. The context must govern the
 interpretation here, as everywhere.

 My $0.02

 Ben
-- 
 Revd Ben Crick BA CF, and Mrs Joanna (Goodwin) Crick
 <ben.crick AT argonet.co.uk>
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