Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Dear Nachman,

> OK. But can we get around the Beit prefix question to ask if 105:26 is
> (deliberately) multivalent in its genitive ambiguity:
>
> "Shalah Mosheh Avdo//Aharon asher bahar bo"
>
> Who chose whom? Or Whom?

HH: When a statement can be read two ways, one should ask which one 
the author intended. To say that he intended both probably does not 
conform to reality except in certain uncommon cases. A writer is 
trying to communicate a message and doesn't usually want readers to 
switch subject and objects. There is such double entendre in humorous 
writing, but Psalm 105 is serious review of history. Some such switch 
might also occur in serious writing if a symbol is involved, but 
Psalm 105:26 is just one point along a line of historical review. 
While Ps 105:26 can give a decent sense when read with Aaron as the 
one who chose, we don't really know that that is true, and the 
narrative in Exodus is clear that it is God who chose Aaron.

                                Yours,
                                Harold Holmyard