Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Reinier de Blois" <r.de.blois AT solcon.nl>]

This and other cases show that islands are a subcategory of the )IYYIM
but that the term as such covers a wider range of areas. In other words,
an island is a coast land too.

Best wishes,

Reinier

> In the specific case of Tyre (not mentioned in Isa. 20), 
> remember that the city WAS an island, almost a kilometer from 
> the coast. The "suburb" on the coast was called Ushu in 
> Mesopotamian documents, probably the Hosah of Josh. 19:29, 
> mistakenly called Paleotyrus by the Greeks. It was Alexander 
> who connected the city to the coast in order to conquer it, 
> in a huge engineering project.
> 
> I had always assumed that the far-away Iyyim are the Greek 
> islands in general, though in some cases the reference may be 
> to a coastline. The Greek islands were certainly on the 
> periphery of first millennium ANE geography, and were very 
> important to the Persians.
> 
> Yigal
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Reinier de Blois" <r.de.blois AT solcon.nl>
> To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2004 9:43 AM
> Subject: RE: [b-hebrew] The islands
> 
> 
> > Let us not be misled by the term "islands". The Hebrew word 
> probably 
> > has a wider meaning than that. Coastland may be a much better 
> > translation. Think of Isa. 20:6, for example, which 
> probably refers to 
> > Philistea, Tyrus, or Sidon, some place near Israel. In the later 
> > chapters of Isaiah it may refer to all kinds of Greek and/or 
> > Phoenician colonies in the Mediterranean.
> >
> > Let us not forget that we have good maps these days. For us the 
> > distinction between islands, peninsulas, and coastlands is 
> relevant. I 
> > doubt whether it had the same relevance for the writer of 
> > deutero-Isaiah.
> >
> > Best wishes,
> >
> > Reinier de Blois
> >
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
> > > [mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of 
> Noam Eitan
> > > Sent: dinsdag 8 juni 2004 1:09
> > > To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> > > Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] The islands
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org> wrote:
> > > On 07/06/2004 12:39, VC wrote:
> > >
> > > >Dear Listmembers,
> > > >
> > > >Just wanted to share a thought. What always puzzled me in
> > > the Tanakh -
> > > >and this turn is most often encountered in Isaiah - is the
> > > reference to
> > > >certain islands. They are clearly hostile to the Jews, ...
> > > >
> > >
> > > >Where does it say this?
> > >
> > > Many of the 36 references to Islands in the Tanakh are hostile, 
> > > particularly in the prophets. But it's not so much that 
> there is any 
> > > evidence they were hostile to the Judeans, but rather that the 
> > > prophets were hostile to them, and even this hostility was not 
> > > specific but often part of a generalized Yahwistic hostility to 
> > > other nations who will be taught a lesson one day about Yahweh's 
> > > superiority. I think Jeremiah 31:10 is emblematic - 
> 'Islands' stand 
> > > for the remotest corners of the earth (and Yahweh's message and 
> > > score settling will reach EVEN as far as the islands.) - Noam
> > > Eitan, Brooklyn, NY
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > ---------------------------------
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