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  • From: "Lisbeth S. Fried" <lizfried AT umich.edu>
  • To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: RE: [b-hebrew] Isaiah 53: in his death?
  • Date: Wed, 19 May 2004 20:53:19 -0400


Dear Harold,
We don't have the same view of biblical origins.
There is no point in discussing this.

I just want to call attention to the fact that one's suppositions
color one's translations. People think they are being objective,
but when they turn perfective voice into imperfective out of a
desire to see the text as prophetic, then what can I say?
It is eisegesis, not exegesis.
Best,
Liz
>


> >This poem is a continuation of Isaiah 50, and there the speaker is
> >definitely jailed by Persians. Pulling out the hairs of the head and
> >beard, as well as flogging, are Persian sanctions, not Jewish.
> >Read Helzer, M. "The Flogging and Plucking of Beards in the
> Achaemenid
> >Empire and the Chronology of Nehemiah," AMI 28 (1995-96):305-7. This
> >article definitely shows the Persian background to Isaiah 50. The
> >speaker is jailed for disobedience to Persian authority for some
> >reason. The kindlers of fire (50:11) may be Jews who rush after the
> >customs of the Zoroastrians.
>
> HH: Are you claiming that the Persians were the only people
> to abuse others by pulling out their hair? Something like
> that does not have to be in a lawcode to be done.
I'm claiming that it was done as part of a court action, yes.
The Persians were the only ones I know of to use this method.
>
> >I see Isaiah 53 as refering in the third person to the first person
> >speaker of Isaiah 50.
>
> HH: Finally you say something that I can agree with.
Therefore establishing a Persian context.
Of course, that context is already established by the many
references to Cyrus.
>
> Yours,
> Harold Holmyard
We'll have to agree to disagree.
Liz

Liz Fried
Ann Arbor
>






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