Biblical Hebrew Forum

[CS Bartholomew <jacksonpollock AT earthlink.net>]

On 9/22/03 9:33 AM, "CS Bartholomew" <jacksonpollock AT earthlink.net> wrote:

>> )mr is tagged as a noun in Groves-Wheeler* which agrees with the LXX
>> hrema.  ywM lywM looks like an adverbial expression limiting yby(. I wonder
>> if
>> )mr is the subject or the object of yby(. It is ambiguous in the LXX since
>> hrema is neuter. Wheeler tags it accusative, I suspect he is right.
> 
> Psa. 18:3 LXX 
> hemera te hemera ereugetai hrema
> kai nux nukti anaggellei gnosin
> 
> ereugetai is a middle voice so hrema could be the subject.  yby( is hifil so
> the question is can a hifil have a middle sense? Could  )mr be both the
> agent and the object of yby(?

One reason that )mr is not likely to be the agent of yby( is the parallelism

 Psa. 19:3 ywM lywM yby( )mr wlylh llylh yxwh d(t

d(t cannot be the agent of yxwh.

Compare the use of yby( in Prov. 15:2. But here we have an obvious
subject/agent.

Prov. 15:2 l#wN xkmyM ty+yb d(t wpy ksylyM yby( )wlt

If it were not for the parallelism in Psa. 19:3 I would be tempted by the
LXX ereugetai hrema to consider )mr as the agent since in Homer Iliad 17:265
ereugomenhs (also the middle voice) is used of the sea roaring against the
beach where the sea is an agent that is caught up in the action.

Iliad 17:265b ereugomenhs alos ecw "sea bellows/roars out"

Some of you may consider this all kind of farfetched, citing Homer for the
LXX to illustrate a point in the Psalms MT. But, when you consider where the
LXX came from and how many copies of the Iliad were found in the sands of
northern Egypt ... 

After this little boondoggle into Hellenism I will admit that parallelism
Psa. 19:3 MT appears to settle the issue,  )mr is most likely NOT the agent.


greetings,
Clay Bartholomew