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b-hebrew - [b-hebrew] Re: 22nd Psalm & 40th Psalm

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  • From: Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
  • To: "David Kimbrough (CLWA)" <dkimbrough AT clwa.org>
  • Cc: "'b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org'" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] Re: 22nd Psalm & 40th Psalm
  • Date: Mon, 24 Nov 2003 10:17:21 -0800

On 24/11/2003 09:59, David Kimbrough (CLWA) wrote:

...

I don't see how "pierce" has this sense of changing the ears so that they
can hear something they had not heard before. ...

Of course it doesn't. I don't agree with you that the image is necessarily one of being able to hear what was previously inaudible. I would agree that that is possible, but there is another attractive possibility which has nothing to do with being able to hear.

... Literally there are two parts
of the ear that can be pierced, the outer cartilaginous portion and the
eardrum. In the later case, the opposite effect is achieved. In the former
case, the effect on hearing is not obvious. The reference to Exodus 21:6
does not seem to address the issue. In that verse, the ear is "bored"
(ratsa', a different verb) with the object of making someone a lifelong
slave. ...

Precisely. This is my alternative interpretation. The psalmist is saying that YHWH has made him a willing lifelong slave, because that, rather than sacrifices, is the response which He desires to the wonderful things he has done.

Now both of these interpretations seem possible to me, and I don't know how to choose between them. It is of course possible that there is a deliberate ambiguity within this poetic passage. But we can't say that one is certainly true and the other certainly false.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/






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