Biblical Hebrew Forum

[<tladatsi AT charter.net>]

Ben,

Everything you say about XRM is certainly true. 
Conventional warfare involves soldiers fighting soldiers 
and leaving non-combatants (such as the elderly, woman, and 
infants) alone and, if victorious, confiscating the spoils, 
such as livestock.  XRM is an extraordinary, non-
conventional action.  In this case all of Ameleq, old men, 
women, infants, and even livestock are attacked and killed.  
Why was it invoked against Ameleq?

1 Sam 15 is quite explicit.  It states that Ameleq is to 
suffer XRM because YHWH wants to PQD them.  YHWH wants to 
PQD them because of the actions of the Ameleq tribe 200 
years or so earlier during Exodus.

My note revolved around how to translate PQD in general and 
in the context of 1 Sam 15 and Ex 34:7 in particular.  
Specifically should it be translated as *punish* which 
carries all sorts of theological implications.  In 
particular does YHWH *punish* the chidren and grandchildren 
for the sins of their forefathers.  PQD of course has a 
wide range of meanings depending on the context.

If Ex 34:7 is not clear, 1 Sam 15 is quite clear on this.  
The entire generation of Ameleq contemporaneous with Saul 
is to die because of the actions of the generation of 
Ameleq contemporaneous with Moses at the initative of YHWH.  
Saul and his predecessors were quite content to wage 
convetional warfare against Ameleq.  It is YHWH who is dis-
satisfied with past practice and demands XRM.

The issue I was addressing was, even if one avoids the use 
of the English word *punish* for PQD, that does not change 
the overall thrust of the story.  It is an unambiguous tale 
of later generations suffering XRM for the actions of a 
previous generation.  So why not use the word punish, it is 
what the ancient reader understood.  Certainly it is this 
conecpt, if not this actual text, that Ezekiel was 
addressing in Ez 18:20.  Certainly 2 Sam 21 is a similar 
story with a similar perspective.

Jack Tladatsi