Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

Chris:

What I was referring to is the definition of the verb NQH. Could its use in 
Genesis hold the clue as to the understanding of the phrase 
NQH L) YNQH? By focussing on the concepts of guilt and innocence, could we 
miss what the verse is saying?

As students of the language, when we first start, we must rely on the 
lexicographer absolutely. So when he claims that a lexeme has a 
certain meaning, we trust him. Well at first we must, otherwise we’d never 
learn the language. But having written a lexicon for my own 
use, I can assure you that that trust is misplaced. Many is the time that I 
looked up 30–50 verses or so, only to scratch my head 
afterwards and say “Huh?” It is very tempting to take the easy way out and 
assign a different definition for each semantic domain, 
effectively making the terms largely undefined. Or we can struggle to find a 
common action that ties the different uses together, and 
not always succeeding.

In Genesis, Abraham’s slave swears an oath to bring back a wife for Isaac. 
But if the woman is not willing, then he is free from that 
oath. Not only of the carrying out of the oath, but also of the consequences 
of his failure.

Likewise, in the verses where we find this NQH L) YNQH and its varients, 
could the second NQH refer not to guilt or innocence, but free 
from consequences?

My understanding of NQH is that its basic meaning refers to being clear, with 
innocence (clear from guilt) being a derivitive meaning. 
Some of these verses seem to point to clear from consequences of national 
punishment.

To use a modern example, when NYC (not “if”, it will happen) goes up in a 
mushroom cloud, all of those in the blast radius will be 
killed, both the career criminal as well as the saint. The bomb won’t 
differentiate. The innocent will not be clear of the consequences 
of living in a society under God’s judgment.

Any thoughts?

Karl W. Randolph.
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