Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Maurice A. O'Sullivan" <mauros AT iol.ie>]

At 16:25 02/10/2004, Peter Kirk wrote:

> The problem is, what does MT M:)OD really mean here?

Rashi, wasn't it, who cited Sifrei on Deuteronomy:
>> '  with all your possessions '. There are people whose possessions are 
more precious to them than their own
bodies. Therefore, it says, "and with all your means." <<

This is picked up in the JPS commentary on Dt.:
>>Rabbinic exegesis, prompted by the observation that this commandment 
requires
action and not only emotion, gave these three phrases specific behavioral
application............................ And since me'od can also mean 
"property," "with all your might" was taken
to mean "with all your wealth or possessions." [21]

[21]. Linguistically this is possible. In Akkadian
ma'a-du means "be plentiful, increase," and in
the Hebrew of the Second Temple period there
is a noun me'od, "property" (CD IX, 11; XII, 10;
Ecclus. 7:30).

This commentary also points out:
>> Elsewhere the requirement to love God is usually modified only by the 
first two phrases of this
verse, "with all your heart and with all your soul." Perhaps "with all your 
might"
was added here to give the strongest possible emphasis, since this is the 
very first
time this requirement appears in the Bible. This full form of the formula 
appears
again only in 2 Kings 23:25, describing King Josiah, who returned to God in 
a way
unmatched by any other Israelite king.<<




Maurice A. O'Sullivan  [ Bray, Ireland ]
mauros AT iol.ie