Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Dave Washburn <dwashbur AT nyx.net>]

On Wednesday 01 October 2003 13:28, Deborah Millier wrote:
> K. Randolph wrote to P. Kirk:
> > I still don’t see the
> > parallelism when [‘almah]
> > “virgin” is used, but
> > at least I think I know
> > how you approach this verse.
> > Correct me if I am wrong,
> > I think you are looking at
> > it with the focus on the
> > object (heavens, bare rock,
> > sea, virgin) while I’m
> > looking at it with the
> > emphasis on the action
> > (flight of the eagle,
> > snake crossing bare rock,
> > ship sailing in sea, man
> > going in unknown). As
> > long as I understood it
> > as “virgin”, the parallelism
> > based on action broke down
> > and I was unsatisfied
> > with every answer I got.
> > But when I realized that
> > with different points
> > the word could mean “unknown”,
> > then the parallelism
> > throughout the verse fits.
>
> Me-thinks that if you call to mind the action of
> gliding-type undulation you will see that the
> parallelism fits just fine--even employing the
> standard understanding of ALMAH.

Perhaps I'm a little slow, but I don't see the need for such an explicit 
parallelism in this passage.  ISTM that the writer is simply describing some 
things he doesn't understand, as the previous verse says.  How does an eagle 
soar?  How does a snake slither?  How does a ship slice through the waves?  
How is it that people fall in love?  I hardly think that the "gliding-type 
undulation" referred to above would qualify as something beyond his 
understanding, but matters of the heart very well might.

-- 
Dave Washburn
http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur
"God does a lot of things in the Psalms
that He can't get away with in systematic theology."