Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Uri Hurwitz <uhurwitz AT yahoo.com>]

    Other interresting extra-biblical evidence bearing direrctly on this can 
be found in   the many seal impressions (bullae) from the time of the Persian 
rule. Judea was then a province or satrapy  whose name was written in Hebrew 
letters as either YHD, without the Waw or YHWD,with the Waw!
    An earlier inscriptional mention occurs in Arad ostracon no.40, where the 
name appears with a Waw: "....MLK YHWD[H]...". This is dated to shortly 
before the end of the Judean kingdom.
   Uri
    
 
    

Patrina <patrina AT bestmail.us> wrote:
Dear Yigdal

Hezekiah's seals were featured in Biblical Archaeology Review
Volume 28, Number 4, July/August 2002, Pp 42-51, 60 and can be found in
a web article at:

http://rd.archaeological-center.com/articles/13.shtml

There are several pics of the seals there, all showing a spelling of
YHDH in paleo-hebrew between the wingtips of the scarab. If the verbal
root originally included a waw as suggested by HH, it would seem strange
to have dropped out during the time of Hezekiah extra-biblically, or to
have been spelled with a mater in the formal anals of his reign (and
priestly records such as the biblical texts) but not on official seals?

I've been thinking about the spelling issue for quite a while, because
it impacts on dating of all the texts containing the word YHWDH. 

Patrina Nuske Small
Adelaide, South Australia


                
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Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] "The eye of the earth"
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Hi Yigal,

You wrote:
------------------------------


Shalom Y'all,

In Balak's message to Balaam (Num. 22:5), which he repeats to God in verse
11, he refers to the Israelites as "there is a people come out from Egypt,
behold, they cover )t (YN H)RC (et `ein ha-arec)". This is usually
translated as "the face of the earth". The general meaning is clear, they
are so many that they cover the whole land.

However, an (YN, literally "eye", is usually something small and localized.
It's most common use outside of anatomy is for "spring" or "well".

So what exactly is "the eye of the earth"? Why should "eye" mean "face"?

Yigal
-----------------------------

"Face of the earth" seems to be an attempt at expressing a Hebrew anatomical
idiom with an English anatomical idiom.  That's ambitious, but maybe a
little too ambitious.  I think `ayin does not mean "face" here.  I think it
means "what one sees (with the eye)."  So I think the idea is that the
people were so numerous one couldn't "eye" the earth.  hinneh kissah 'et
`eyn haa'rec translated literally, would be "behold, it has concealed the
view of the earth."

Shalom,
Bryan

B. M. Rocine
Living Word Church
6101 Court St. Rd.
Syracuse, NY 13206

ph: 315.437.6744
fx: 315.437.6766