Biblical Hebrew Forum

["B. M. Rocine" <brocine AT twcny.rr.com>]

Hi all,

Thanks to Trevor, Peter, and Dave for all the helpful and thoughtful
discussion.  And wow, you guys are timely!

Trevor wrote:
> Bryan wrote:
> > >
> > >He says `ecah can mean council as well as counsel.  That's
> > easy enough
> > >to take, right?
>
> What do you mean "easy to take?" Are you saying that the evidence
> supports it, or that it's such a minor change that no one should
> complain?
> > >
> > >For derek, he points out a Ug. cognate drkt, meaning throne,
> > and says
> > >that Hb. derek can mean throne (or seat of power) in the Tanakh in
> > >passages such as Ps 110:7 (and I might add Hos. 10:13, Pro
> > 31:3, Ps 138:5, Jer 3:13, Ps
> > >119:37).   The idea has barely snuck into HALOT.
>
> I'm not sure what you think "barely snuck" looks like, but it seems to
> be represented well enough in HALOT. Regardless of the question mark,
> anyone who looks at the entry should consider it as a possibility.
> Personally, I would put a question mark, too. I don't see where any of
> those verses would have to mean "throne," and in some of them I don't
> even see it as a realistic option. As Dahood notes, there is an Ugaritic
> cognate, but the meaning of "throne" isn't quite as clear.

"Barely snuck" is over-stating the case.  Thanks for calling me on that.
HALOT does cite Dahood on gloss #7 ? derek meaning "strength, power."  It
does not mention Ps. 1:1 or admit the possibility "seat of power."

> > >
> > >He says mow$ab may have a political nuance as in Ps 107:32
> > (and I add
> > >Gen 36:43, 1 Ki 10:5, Job 29:7, Ps 132:13).
>
> Is it having a political nuance if it happens to be a seat of someone in
> a political position? I don't quite get where this argument is supposed
> to take us.
>

Job 29:7 implies (albeit tenuously) a technical meaning for mow$ab, for
example.  The idea is that in Ps 1:1 council || assembly || session is a
tighter parallelism than counsel || way || seat.

Shalom,
Bryan


B. M. Rocine
Living Word Church
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