Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>]

On 07/01/2005 17:30, George F Somsel wrote:

> ...
>
> I think it rather ludicrous to suppose that anyone of even moderate
> intelligence would suppose that "cleanness of teeth" had anything to do
> with dental hygiene in context.  This is totally a straw man.
>
> george
> gfsomsel
> ___________
>
>
>  
George, I accept that given the context this instance is a bit of a 
straw man - although don't forget that only half the population has 
average intelligence or above. But there are other examples e.g. those 
studied in http://www.geocities.com/bible_translation/accuracyot.pdf 
where a misunderstanding is more possible, e.g.:

Genesis 15:15 "go to your fathers in peace" (visit the family home?)
1 Samuel 24:13 "cover his feet" (change his footwear?)
1 Kings 2:10 "slept with his fathers" (surely David wasn't into 
homsexual incest?)
1 Kings 20:35 "sons of the prophets" (not the prophets themselves)
Psalm 12:3 "cut off all flattering lips" (a bizarrely cruel form of 
punishment?)
Psalm 41:9 "lifted the heel against me" (kicked me?)
Psalm 80:3 "let your face shine upon us" (put on makeup? be a source of 
light for us?)
Psalm 94:9 "planted the ear" (presumably an ear of corn?)
Proverbs 24:20 "the lamp of the wicked will be put out" (because no one 
will sell oil to him?)
Jeremiah 4:4 "circumcise your hearts" (some kind of surgery?)
Jeremiah 6:10 "their ear is uncircumcised" (more surgery not carried out?)
Jeremiah 50:33 (and many other places) "the children of Israel" (as 
opposed to the adults?)
Ezekiel 3:7 "all the house of Israel have a hard forehead" (physically 
hard? a house made of hard stone?)

Of course not all of these will be misunderstood by all readers. But I 
would be surprised if most people with little background knowledge of 
the Bible would give the correct interpretation of most of these idioms. 
If you doubt this, try it - with people who are not regular church or 
synagogue worshippers or Bible students.

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



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