Biblical Hebrew Forum

["UUC" <unikom AT paco.net>]

Dear Harold,

Perhaps you're making a logic error.

> Jer. 5:27 Like cages full of birds, their houses
> are full of deceit; they have become rich and
> powerful

SOME wicked became rich. Not ALL rich are wicked.

> Mic. 6:12 Her rich men are violent; her people
> are liars and their tongues speak deceitfully.

Certainly there is no opposition of good poor and wicked rich.

>Is. 5:8 Woe to you who add house to house and
>join field to field till no space is left and you
>live alone in the land.

SOME of the rich are wicked.

And so on. Instead, commoners are often called wicked. This is why the verse
is better understood as, " he left to commoners his tomb, and to rich - his
altars." Thus, something for every strata of the society.


Best regards,

Vadim Cherny




> Dear Vadim,
>
> >  > HH: Some interpreters suggest that wickedness and richness are often
> >  associated together, such as in the Prophets.
>
> >Tanakh NEVER associates rich and evil. This association is a socialist
> >invention. Even Jesus does not: recall that he suggested to the young man
> >distributing his property as a way to perfection, not of avoiding evil.
He
> >suggested this only after the fellow said he wants to be even more good
than
> >he is know, and at first Jesus conceded that the commandments' observance
is
> >sufficient.
>
> HH: Scripture does not assert that to be rich is
> to be evil, if that's what you mean. The Lord
> makes people rich:
>
> 1Sam. 2:7 The LORD sends poverty and wealth; He humbles and He exalts.
>
> HH: But the Prophets show that it is often the
> rich who are oppressing the poor and taking their
> belongings:
>
> Mic. 6:12 Her rich men are violent; her people
> are liars and their tongues speak deceitfully.
> Zech. 11:5 Their buyers slaughter them and go
> unpunished. Those who sell them say,  'Praise the
> LORD, I am rich!' Their own shepherds do not
> spare them.
>
> Is. 5:7 The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the
> house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the
> garden of his delight. And he looked for justice,
> but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard
> cries of distress.
> Is. 5:8 Woe to you who add house to house and
> join field to field till no space is left and you
> live alone in the land.
> Is. 5:9 ¶ The LORD Almighty has declared in my
> hearing:  "Surely the great houses will become
> desolate, the fine mansions left without
> occupants.
>
> The NT also suggests that they had a tendency to persecute the believers:
>
> James 2:6 But you have insulted the poor. Is it
> not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not
> the ones who are dragging you into court?
>
> Yours,
> Harold Holmyard
>
>
>
>
>
> >
> >Tanakh criticizes greed, evil riches, but NEVER rich as a class in
Marxist
> >sense. In ancient society, it was honorable to be rich.
> >
> >>He was assigned with the rich in his death because he had not
> >done violence and there was no deceit in his mouth.<
> >It's a joke, right? He was executed for a crime, but because he had done
no
> >crime, buried honorably?
> >
> >
> >Best regards,
> >
> >Vadim Cherny
> >
> >  > HH: Some interpreters suggest that wickedness and richness are often
> >  > associated together, such as in the Prophets. But others object that
> >>  when it comes to burials, being with the rich implies a good burial.
> >>  So they take the verse to describe a two-stage assignment. It was
> >>  intended that the person be buried with the wicked, but when he
> >>  actually died he was put with the rich. "In his death" comes to have
> >>  a sequential force. The reason would then be given in the following
> >>  clause. He was assigned with the rich in his death because he had not
> >>  done violence and there was no deceit in his mouth.
> >>
> >>  Yours,
> >>  Harold Holmyard
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> >
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