Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Schmuel <schmuel AT escape.com>]

Shalom b-hebrew,

You folks are all so helpful, I hope you find my rather diverse questions
to be interesting :-)

John Gill makes an observation about the word "seeds" in Hebrew
in his commentary on Galatians 3:16.

It looks like his Hebrew transliteration words come in right to left in the 
web-page.

http://www.gospelcom.net/eword/comments/galatians/gill/galatians3.htm
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible   
....there are instances to be given, where the word "seed" is used, not in a 
collective sense, but of a single person, as in Genesis 4:25. Nor has the Jew 
{d} any reason to charge him with a mistake, in observing that the word is 
not in the plural, but in the singular number, when it is the manner of the 
Hebrew language to speak of seed only in the singular number; but this is 
false, the word is used in the plural number, and so might have been here, 
had it been necessary, as in 1 Samuel 8:15 concerning seed sown in the earth, 
from whence the metaphor is here taken. The first tract in the Jews' Misna, 
or oral law, is called, (Myerz), "seeds"; and the word, even as spoken of the 
posterity of men, is used in the plural number in their Talmud {e}; where 
they say, "pecuniary judgments are not as capital ones; in pecuniary 
judgments, a man gives his money, and it atones for him; in capital 
judgments, his blood, and the blood (wytwerz), "of his seeds," or posterity, 
hang on him to the end of the world; for we so find in Cain, who slew his 
brother; as it is said, "the bloods of thy brother crieth"; it is not said, 
the blood of thy brother, but the bloods of thy brother, his blood, and the 
blood (wytwerz), 'of his seeds.'"  
{d} Chizzuk Emuna, . par. 2. c. 90. p. 468. {e} T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 37. 
1. 

There are some questions that can arise from John Gill's exposition here.
Could "zerayim", or "zrewtym" or another form, could have been used in Tanach
as a plural, as they were in Talmud ?
Another is to what extent Paul's view is Mishnaic, rather than straight 
commentary.
And others revolve around the various singular/plural concepts, which are a 
tad tricky in both 
Hebrew and English.

Anybody want to give some thoughts on the Hebrew involved, or Paul's 
discussion of the 
Genesis promises, or the Gill commentary ?  Does anyone other than Gill have 
a helpful
or deep discussion of this?

Thanks :-)

Shalom,
Steven Avery
Queens, NY


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