Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Jerry Shepherd" <jerry.shepherd AT taylor-edu.ca>]

Jim and Yigal,

In spite of your misgivings with regard to the yam soph emendation for
yam suph, I'd like to suggest that it is at least a reasonable proposal.
I have found Batto's articles on this to be quite persuasive (BAR 10.4
[1984]: 57-63, and more fully, "The Reed Sea: Requiescat in Pace," JBL
102 [1983]: 27-35).  Everytime time yam suph is referred to in the Bible
it seems to refer to either the Gulf of Suez or the Gulf of Aqaba.  To
translate as "reed sea" in 1 Kings 9:26, e.g., seems to me to be very
problematic.  "Sea of the End," therefore, would then be making
reference to the two gulfs and the Indian Ocean to which they are
connected, on which ships heading southernly or southwesternly could
very easily be understood as heading in a direction where there is no
more land.  I haven't, however, kept up with scholarly reaction to
Batto's articles.

Blessings,

Jerry

Dr. Jerry E. Shepherd
Associate Professor of Old Testament
Taylor Seminary
11525 - 23 Avenue
Edmonton, AB T6J 4T3
CANADA
Office: (780)431-5250
Home: (780)434-1164
Fax: (780)436-9416
Email: Jerry.Shepherd AT taylor-edu.ca
Internet: http://www.taylor-edu.ca 
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Jim West [mailto:jwest AT highland.net] 
Sent: Thursday, December 16, 2004 12:20 PM
To: Revdpickrel AT wmconnect.com
Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: Fwd: [b-hebrew] Re: g(r Psa. 106:9 - exorcism? (B. M.
Rocine)

At 02:14 PM 12/16/2004, you wrote:

>Legends endure, and among the working cast and slaves Yam Soph really
looked
>like the end of the world from where the sit.  Many thought of escape
and the
>reply was always "That's the end of the world.'"  If you examine the
southern
>shores of the Great Sea you will see a bay at the beginning of the Red
Sea,
>many reeds grow there and it would be deep enough that God could have 
>performed
>the miracle and drowned the Egyptians.  I lived near the Chesapeake Bay
and
>one year in the 70's a great wind blew all the water out of the bay so 
>that one
>could walk across.  Boats were docked on mud.  Three thousand five
hundred
>years ago the Great Sea had a much different shape then now.

The problem with this naturalistic explanation, of course, is that the 
author of Exodus makes it quite explicit that they walked across on dry 
ground.  Dry ground, not mud.  The event can't be explained by similar 
phenomena; Exodus makes sure of that.

Jim


++++++++++++++++++++
Jim West, ThD
Adjunct Professor of Biblical Studies
Quartz Hill School of Theology

http://web.infoave.net/~jwest Biblical Studies Resources
http://biblical-studies.blogspot.com Biblical Theology Weblog



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