Biblical Hebrew Forum

[CS Bartholomew <jacksonpollock AT earthlink.net>]

On 8/6/03 12:27 PM, "Jim West" <jwest AT highland.net> wrote:

> Jer 38:11 speaks of "blowy hasschavoth" or "rags of garbage".  Im wondering
> (how can I put this delicately) if these were menstural rags.  Is this
> phrase a euphemism for such or is it simply a description of rags tossed
> into the trash as useless.
> the next
> phrase has "belowy melachim" "salt rags????"  (I wont even hazard a guess as
> to what that might mean- but if the first one is menstrual (and note the
> feminine noun) and this one is masculine...)
> 
> Its curious to me that the redactor spends so much time describing rags.

Jim,

Is it possible that you are mixing up bgd (dym  as in Isa 64:5 with
blwy hsxbwt Jer. 38:11? Even in Isa 64:5 bgd only takes on the meaning you
are suggesting because it is limited by (dym. Hard to see why we should find
any connection between this and blwy hsxbwt Jer. 38:11.

This is an intriguing lexical problem, since both blwy mlxym and blwy hsxbwt
involve rare usage.

greetings,
Clay Bartholomew