Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

Dear Peter:

Let’s look strictly at the words.

> 
> KR( hiphil certainly doesn't necessarily imply death - although it may do in
> Ps 17:13, 18:40, and certainly does in the qal at Jdg 5:27, 2Ki 9:24, Isa
> 10:4, 65:12, perhaps also Ps 20:9. But here it is used in parallel with HRG
> which does imply death.

I don’t see how KR( refers to death at all. Most of the time it refers to 
crouching down, as a sign of obeissance to a conquorer, king or lord, or as a 
cat on the hunt or resting. Sometimes it accompanies death, such as 2Ki 9:24, 
where the king is wounded, curls up in a fetal position (crouches down) in 
the chariot and dies.
 
> MISHMAN seems to imply the sturdiness of warriors rather than the obesity of
> gluttons, and especially in parallel with BAXUWR who were also warriors.
> Yes, on this occasion all were overeating. But I don't think the poetic
> parallelism and imagery allows us to make a contrast here between gluttons
> who died and others who were only sick.

How is that? Twice it is contrasted with leanness (Is 10:16, 17:4) and the 
last use referring to a fat (fruitful) land. It comes from a root meaning fat.

In many societies, fat people are rare and found only among the upper 
classes. Israel had just come out of slavery, but a vassel type slavery where 
their leaders collaberated with their enslavers. It is very possible that 
those who were among the leadership were fat. That would make the parallel 
between the fat ones (leadership) and BAXUWR the best of the warriers. 

So in Psalm 78, the best of the warriers were so sick that they were brought 
to their knees, but I don’t think you can make the case that they died 
(though some very likely did) and those used to eating more got more poison 
and died.

Before this discussion came up, I merely assumed that God struck the people 
with a supernatural plague. Now it looks like a case of God using natural 
means to accomplish his supernatural goals.

Yours, Karl W. Randolph.
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