Biblical Hebrew Forum

[gfsomsel AT juno.com]

On Fri, 12 Nov 2004 09:38:14 -0500 "Ken Penner" <pennerkm AT mcmaster.ca>
writes:
> I thought in Rabbinic writings QRN usually referred to corners and 
> points,
> i.e., projections in general, including horns and rays, (and yes, 
> also the
> principal on a loan, but I'm not sure how that is related).
> Perhaps Moses' face grew bumps? [Does b. Shab. 108a use QRN to refer 
> to a
> growth in one's eye? YH) R(W) DTYPWQ QRN) B(YNK ]
> Else why the mention of skin?
> 
> Ken Penner, M.C.S. (Biblical Languages, Greek Focus), M.A. (Hebrew 
> Poetry)
> Ph.D. (cand.), McMaster University
> pennerkm AT mcmaster.ca
> Flash! Pro vocabulary software: http://s91279732.onlinehome.us/flash 
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> 
> 
> > I assume that "qeren" "horn" became "ray", because of the sun's 
> "rays"
> > seeming to extend like "horns" of light. As far as what 
> > happened to Moses in
> > Ex 34:29-30, 35, I'm not convinced that what it really means 
> > is that his
> > face "shone". I know that that is the common interpretation 
> > (remember the
> > movie?), but literally, "the skin of his face became horned" 
> > - perhaps some skin condition?
> 
> _______________________________________________

I'm rather inclined to think it unlikely that our author in Ex 34 would
be emphasizing some vanity on the part of Moses which occasioned the
wearing of a veil when he appeared before the people after his audience. 
I think the traditional understanding that his face was radiant from
being exposed to the divine effulgence more likely.  Even in English the
word "ray" has different senses which do not all signify an emission of
light -- such as its use in mathematics to signify a line extending from
a point.  

george
gfsomsel