Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Dear Moshe,

> > Even if one does not take the use of mazriya( in Gen 1:11, 12 to imply that,
> > always, the one who does the hiphil zara(-ing supplies the zera(, Lev 12:2
> > still has the woman as the active agent of the zara(-ing, the "sowing," not
> > as a passive recipient of zera(.
>
> It is definitely a strange usage here, which is what the Rabbis seem 
> to have picked up on. I recall seeing an article (I think in BR) 
> about women having seed.

HH: Even if the ancient Jews did understand about women producing 
eggs, that is not chiefly what Lev 12:2 concerns, I think. It refers 
to a woman conceiving and bearing a child. Obviously a woman could 
produce eggs but not conceive; producing eggs does not automatically 
lead to giving birth. So the relevant point probably was, in in many 
other texts, that she conceived and bore. The Hiphil of ZR( here 
would seem to include the implanting of the male seed in the wall of 
the uterus.

                                        Yours,
                                        Harold Holmyard