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  • From: "Heard, Christopher" <Christopher.Heard AT pepperdine.edu>
  • To: b-hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Is.45:7 God created evil?
  • Date: Thu, 4 Aug 2005 13:52:37 -0700

I agree with Jim that the Tanakh is not univocal as to God's responsibility for "evil," and I would remind participants in this discussion that Hebrew רעה [R(H] has a pretty broad semantic range, with the possibility of reference to everything from moral evils to natural disasters, and more. But I want to focus on a different, exegetical point:

On Aug 4, 2005, at 10:23 AM, Jim West wrote:
HaSatan is responsible. If you will remember, in the matter of the
Census (which David got in such big trouble for) in the Deuteronomic
history it is Yahweh who makes David do it- whilst in the Chronicler it
is HaSatan.
[/Jim]

Although 2 Samuel 24:1 vs. 1 Chronicles 21:1 is a _locus classicus_ in understanding the difference between the Chronicler's treatment of David and the Deuteronomistic Historian's treatment of David, and although I have often thought about the texts in question in the terms Jim expressed earlier, quoted above, in the last few times I have looked at these verses, I have begun to doubt its accuracy.

Specifically, in 1 Chronicles 21:1 it is _not_ השטן [H&+N] that incites David to count the people; it is merely שטן [&+N] (no definite article). Now the lack of a definite article is very important here, it seems to me. For the verse ought not be translated "Satan opposed [stood against] Israel, and incited David to count Israel," nor "The Adversary opposed ..." since there is no definite article, but rather, "_An_ adversary opposed ...," with an indefinite article. Now I wonder--I have not done the real legwork on this yet, so I'm thinking out loud--whether the Chronicler thinks he is referring to YHWH, or an entity other than YHWH, by this word, indefinite שטן [&+N]. The Hebrew word שטן [&+N], of course, does not _inherently_ refer to some malignant supernatural entity; see 1 Kings 11:23-25, where the noun שטן [&+N] refers to a purely human opponent, though one who, importantly, was incited _by God_ to be such. Moreover, there is nothing semantically out of bounds about God being a שטן [&+N], or at least we can say that at least one writer had no trouble characterizing the מאלך יהוה [M)LK YHWH] "angel of YHWH" as a שטן [&+N] to someone (Numbers 22:22). Clearly, the Chronicler is altering his Deuteronomistic source text. But is he completely changing the referent, or just using a subtle circumlocution?

Chris
--
R. Christopher Heard
Assistant Professor of Religion
Pepperdine University
Malibu, California 90263-4352
http://faculty.pepperdine.edu/cheard
http://www.iTanakh.org
http://www.semioticsandexegesis.info




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