Biblical Hebrew Forum

[George F Somsel <gfsomsel AT juno.com>]

On Fri, 07 Jan 2005 22:38:02 +0000 Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
writes:
> 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/
_____________________

I would be surprised if any person of average -- or even slightly less
than average -- intelligence would SERIOUSLY espouse any of these
interpretations.  Just to pick a few

"Go to your fathers in peace" -- I think most still tend to understand
things in the context in which they are written.  Here it speaks of
decendants and being buried.  I think most would quickly get the right
idea.

"Cover his feet" -- I will grant that many would fail to understand the
true purport of this, but "change footwear"?  I think not.  This would be
a candidate for a footnote.

"Slept with his fathers" -- Here it continues that he was buried.  What
numb-skull would take this a referring to homosexual incest.  You really
have to make an effort to so misunderstand this.

"Sons of the prophets" -- Probably a good candidate for a footnote.  The
idiom is familiar to anyone who has read the Bible or who has ever sung
 
"God of the prophets, bless the prophets sons.
Elijah's mantle oer Elisha throw . . . "

though it might be puzzling to the general public.

"Cut off all flattering lips" --  Only someone who has no music in his
soul could possibly misunderstand this.  The context speaks of lying so
it should be perfectly clear.

It would seem that whoever responded to these made a concerted effort
(with tongue firmly planted) to misunderstand them.

george
gfsomsel
___________