Biblical Hebrew Forum

[CS Bartholomew <jacksonpollock AT earthlink.net>]

Thank you Harold &  Uri,

Yes, Alter and Wenham do point it out in Gen 2:7, and I can understand why
Wenham would not want to clutter up his commentary by brining it up again.
But as a literary critic, Alter is in the business of showing us the textual
features which bind Genesis together. For that reason it kind of surprised
me that he brings it up in Gen 2:7, adopting a somewhat awkward translation
to highlight the point and then totally ignores in Gen 6:1. The repetition
of this in 6:1 contributes to the "texture" of Genesis and that is why we
have literary critics, to point out this sort of thing.

Found Alter's Genesis last night at a remainders store so I am looking it
over again. It is a book worth having, along with The David Story, The Art
of Biblical Narrative, ....


Thanks,
Clay Bartholomew