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  • From: Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
  • To: "Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] `edut, was: Alleged meaning of ecclesia in OT
  • Date: Sun, 19 Dec 2004 00:29:38 +0000

On 18/12/2004 17:29, Peter Kirk wrote:

...

The same confusion underlies the translation of ("DW.T as "testimony", also used with )OHEL for the Tabernacle, and especially in Psalms 19 and 119. This word is also derived from Y(D and refers to something appointed by God, rather than to a witness or testimony.




HH: Is this something new? BDB lists eduth, (DWT, under the root (WD, "bear witness."



Well, it is newer than BDB (1906), which is wrong here.

It is generally recognised, even by BDB, that there are two senses of (DH `eda, one "testimony" and the other "congregation". It makes much more sense to relate `edut (plural: `edwot) to the latter than to the former. But I don't have time to justify this just now.

A little more on this one. I was surprised not to find any mention of this interpretation in the reference books I have to hand, because I had been led to understand it was almost certain. But here is some of the evidence as I see it:

1) The form `edut is clearly either `ed or `eda with the abstract noun forming suffix -ut (compared in GKC 86k to English -dom, -hood, -ness). But `ed and `eda have a variety of meanings. `ed means "witness", either a person or in the abstract, from the root `wd. `eda can also mean "witness" in the abstract sense, but its most common meaning is a formal "assembly", from the root y`d. There is no a priori reason to prefer a link to `ed over one to `eda.

2) Any evidence that LXX etc understood `edut as "testimony" should be disregarded on the grounds that LXX also understood mo`ed as "testimony" but this is generally recognised to be inaccurate.

3) The Tabernacle was variously known as 'ohel ha`edut and as 'ohel mo`ed. The latter is clearly linked to the word mo`ed "assembly". While it is possible that the Tabernacle was described by means of two words of similar form but very different meaning, it makes more sense to understand `edut and mo`ed as more or less synonymous here, describing the Tabernacle as the tent formally set up by the assembly and perhaps the site of its meetings.

4) In none of the biblical occurrences of `edut is there any clear semantic link to the concept of bearing witness or giving testimony. The meaning of the word seems rather to be a synonym of "law" or "stipulation". Here are the glosses as given in HALOT:

1. witness, testimony:
a) the document that was presented to the king of Judah at his coronation
b) collective sg. the stipulations of the Sinai covenant laid down in writing
c) the solemn undertaking of the given duty connected with the remembrance of God’s saving acts
d) witness in the sense of a statute
e) witness concerning a person’s reputation
2. pl. laws, more precisely legal provisions

Well, in English "witness" simply does not have the sense "statute", see for example http://www.bartleby.com/61/45/W0194500.html, so sense 1d should be reglossed simply as "statute". Sense 1e is the only one which has anything to do with "witness, testimony", and the examples quoted for this sense are only in Sirach - and as Sirach is unpointed these words could actually be `edot, plural of `eda "witness".

The gloss for sense 1c may seem to have an element of "witness" in the sense of "remembrance". The references quoted for this one are Psalm 19:8, 78:5, 119:88, but there is nothing in the contexts of any of these three to suggest any connection with remembrance; so I conclude that this part of the sense has been introduced merely to conform to the supposed etymology, and perhaps to theological interpretations based on the Greek, English translations like "testimony".

So I conclude that the sense of `edut is never clearly "witness, testimony", but rather more like "formal stipulation".

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/






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