Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Karl Randolph" <kwrandolph AT email.com>]

I have read Hal Lindsey's book (actually, not his, it was written by a ghost 
writer whose name I have fogotten) and I disagree with it in so many ways 
that I do not consider it trustworthy.

In Ezekiel 38:2-3 and 39:1, R)$ is in the middle of what appears to be a list 
of names, in the same manner as some of its allies are listed in 38:5-6. 
While the word R)$ normally refers to "head" or "first", that does not rule 
out its use as a transliterated name. Contextually, its use here does not 
seem to fit its normal use, rather it seems to be a transliterated name.

The present name Russia is from about 1000 years ago, as the name of 
bloodthirsty Vikings who took over what is now European Russia and set up the 
kingdom of the Rus, so if Ezekiel was naming a people known in his day, it 
could not refer to modern Russia.

On the other hand, if he referred to a people not known in his day but 
mentioned prophetically, there is no grammatical reason to say that R)$ 
(which was possibly pronounced as "Ro)aSe" in that day, not far different 
from the modern "Rossya") cannot refer to Russia. There is no grammatical 
reason why it should either. The main objection is philosophical.

Further details are found in 38:15-16 that this is in the latter days and 
that GWG, of which R)$ is a part, is in the far reaches of the north. Now 
there are three ways to read this passage: 1) this is completely fictional 
referring to events that never happened and never will happen, but an 
interesting and/or meaningful story nonetheless, 2) this refers to an event 
that has already happened and we can recognize the players in the story and 
3) this is an example of God's prophetic ability to tell about events far in 
the future. As members of b-hebrew, it is not our place to command which 
interpretation to accept, in fact there may be other ways of interpreting 
this passage that I missed, rather just to describe the linguistic structure 
of the story.

Karl W. Randolph.


----- Original Message -----
From: trepp AT telus.net

>
> What are B-Hebrew subscribers' ideas on grammatical possibility for "RO)SH"
> equalling Russia? I'll withhold comment until I have had the chance to hear
> others' uninfluenced answers.

-- 
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