Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Karl Randolph" <kwrandolph AT email.com>]

Dear Bryan:

What about things that are not abandoned nor where authority and rule are 
silenced, things like the wilderness which was never settled in the first 
place and idols that were being worshipped at that time? They were called 
“thw”—lifeless or uninhabited. In the case of the idols, it is in contrast to 
Israel’s “living  God” (e.g. 2 Kings 19:4, 16). Examples like these make me 
question your answer.

Karl W. Randolph.

You wrote:
> Hi Karl, You wrote:
> 
> > >From its connection to tohu, I get the impression that bohu refers to the
> stillness of an uninhabited (by humans) place. (The opposite is a crowd,
> referred to as a "hubbub" (hmwn) for its constant restless motion and
> noise.)
> >
> > Hence, in Genesis 1:2 the translation would be more accurately rendered,
> "And the earth came into being lifeless (uninhabited) and still, and
> darkness upon the face of the depths, and (my next question).
> >
> 
> Or it refers to the condition that results when authority and rule are
> silenced, that is, wildness.  The literary images associated with tohu
> vabohu describe the symbols of civilization, such as walls and palaces,
> being broken down and overrun with scavengers from the jackel to the raven
> to the thornbush.  No one is there to maintain, protect, cultivate.  For a
> translation of tohu vabohu I might suggest "uncivilized and unproductive,"
> or as Fox put it so euphonically: "wild and waste."
> 
> Shalom,
> Bryan
> 
> B. M. Rocine
> Living Word Church
> 6101 Court St. Rd.
> Syracuse, NY 13206
> 
> ph: 315.437.6744
> fx: 315.437.6766
-- 
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