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  • From: "Karl Randolph" <kwrandolph AT email.com>
  • To: "B-Hebrew" <b-hebrew AT lists.Ibiblio.org>
  • Cc:
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] National punishment (Karl's query) re. NQH L) YNQH
  • Date: Wed, 13 Apr 2005 21:27:48 -0500

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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  • Re: [b-hebrew] National punishment (Karl's query) re. NQH L) YNQH, Karl Randolph, 04/13/2005

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