Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Lisbeth S. Fried" <lizfried AT umich.edu>]

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
>