Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Levin, Yigal Y" <Yigal-Levin AT utc.edu>]

Hi all,

I have looked through some classic Jewish sources, and while my search has 
not been very conclusive, I have found no talmudic refferemces to this 
interpretation. The Targum Onkelos has "betil" for "parua(", that is 
"stopped". Most of the later commentators understand that the people "had 
stopped keeping God's commandments".
Sa'adiah Gaon's 10th century Arabic translation, however, has "uncovered". 
Rashi, presumably independant of Sa'adiah, has "their shame was uncovered", 
and Sforno has "it became uncovered/known (the same word in Hebrew) that 
there were no pius men among them". 
So Sa'adiah may wel of known of a tradition from the Land of Israel that they 
were "uncovered", which Jerome had understood as literally naked, they took 
for their "evil inclinations" being uncovered.

Yigal




-----Original Message-----
From: BruceKGardner AT aol.com
To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Date: Thu, 15 May 2003 08:51:59 EDT
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Exodus 32:25 

In a message dated 14/05/2003 15:09:54 GMT Daylight Time, Yigal-Levin AT utc.edu 
writes:


> Walter,
> 
> The Hebrew word used here is Parua(, which means "wild". The NRSV, "When 
> Moses saw that the people were running wild (for Aaron had let them run 
> wild, to the derision of their enemies)", is fairly close. The RSV's 
> "shame" is based on the KJV's "naked", which I assume is based on the 
> Latin, but I don't have the text with me right now. In any case, it's an 
> interpretation, not a literal translation.
> 
> Yigal
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: "Walter R. Mattfeld" <mattfeld12 AT charter.net>
> 
> "breaking loose to their own shame" ?
> 
> Exodus 32:25 RSV
> ***
> Whatever BREAKING LOOSE means it was evidently "SHAMEFUL" and worthy of
> being put to death by the sword by the sons of Levi to the tune of 3000 men
> (Ex 32:27-28).
> 
> 


Cf. Proverbs 29:18 KJV 'Where there is no vision, the people perish [ ypr( ]  
but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.' 

The idea seems to be that as an animal untethered wanders to its own 
destruction and goes wild so the people of YHWH, bereft of the constraints of 
the law, similarly 'wander'. This is the point in Ex 32:25 also, with the 
same word and concept. 'Nakedness' therefore, would makes little sense to us 
in a Hebrew Bible context. It is presumably imported from another language 
context in translation, but the question is which one? Yigal suspects Latin. 
Consider, therefore, the Latin of the Vulgate here:

Exodus 32:25

VULGATE: videns ergo Moses populum quod esset NUDATUS SPOLIAVERAT (stripped 
naked) enim eum Aaron propter ignominiam sordis et inter hostes NUDUM 
constituerat

And compare that to the Vulgate translation of Hebew [ pr( ] in the other 
verse:

Proverbs 29:18

VULGATE: cum prophetia defecerit DISSIPABITUR (scattered) populus qui 
custodit legem beatus est

Here we seem to have our answer, in the Vulgate translation of Exodus 32:25, 
as Yigal suspected. In the first, [ pr( ] is translated 'stripped naked',
while, in the other, the translation is 'scattered'. A glance at LXX reveals
no immediate sign to me why this translation was adopted. Maybe it's
cultural.

However, Jerome actually lived in the Holy Land, so it is possible that this
linkage of ideas is a later concept, and it would be good to pursue Mishnaic
and Hebrew contexts, and related tongues. I do not really have the time to do
this at present, but perhaps this gives Walter a possible line of enquiry.

Peace,

Bruce.
________
Dr Bruce K Gardner
Aberdeen, Scotland.


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Yigal Levin
Department of Philosophy and Religion
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga