Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

----- Original Message -----
From: 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 

I wonder how much “rare usage” in Tenakh was actually common usage on the 
street? We probably will never know.

Looking at the roots may clear up some of the questions.

BLWY HSXBWT  beluwi hasachabot  comes from the roots BLH “to wear out” and 
SXB “to drag about” so these were rags that were worn out from being dragged 
about. These were stored under the treasury, probably used as padding while 
carrying heavy objects.

BLWY NKXYM  beluwi melachim  were these rags that had gotten salty from the 
sweat of workers while they were using them?

We see that they were thrown down to Jeremiah in the pit to use as padding 
under his shoulders to lift him out of the mud at the bottom of the pit.

I see absolutely nothing to do with menstruation in this verse.

Karl W. Randolph.
-- 
__________________________________________________________
Sign-up for your own FREE Personalized E-mail at Mail.com
http://www.mail.com/?sr=signup

CareerBuilder.com has over 400,000 jobs. Be smarter about your job search
http://corp.mail.com/careers