Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Shai Heijmans" <shaih AT post.tau.ac.il>]

Dave,

you wrote:

> I'm wondering whether the idea of silence in
> praise has merit; one commentary I read said that
> "silence" and "praise" are
> mutually exclusive terms but I'm not so sure.

here is the opinion of the palestinian talmud, who also had difficulties
with this verse:

lecha dumiya tehila... lemargalit deleit la timei, kol shemeshabe'ach ba
pogmah (Brachot 12d)

the praise for god is like the praise for a precious stone: every praise is
less than the praise it deserves.

(sorry for the somewhat free translation)

shai