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  • From: "Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Is.45:7 God created evil?
  • Date: Thu, 4 Aug 2005 16:37:07 -0500

Dear Jim,

Really interesting stuff Chris, and I have to admit, persuasive. But I wonder- has the fact that the definite article dropped out signalled something of a further development in terms of "satanology" (forgive me that) in the Hebrew Bible? That is- in older texts, Yahweh causes weal and woe. In Job, HaSatan causes woe. In the Chronicler Satan (as a full blown proper name) is given credit for inciting David to act against Yahweh's wishes. Does that make sense? In other words, we have, within the HB itself, a clear, temporally noticeable development of this theme.

That makes sense to me. It depends on an old dating for Job, but many scholars give it an old date.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard

Heard Christopher wrote:
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_ ”˜ËÔ [H&+N] that >incites David to count the people; it is merely ˜ËÔ [&+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 ˜ËÔ [&+N]. The Hebrew word ˜ËÔ [&+N], of course, does >not _inherently_ refer to some malignant supernatural entity; see 1 >Kings 11:23-25, where the noun ˜ËÔ [&+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 ˜ËÔ [&+N], or at least we can say that at least one writer >had no trouble characterizing the ÓýÏÍÝȔ” [M)LK YHWH] "angel >of YHWH" as a ˜ËÔ [&+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>
Best,Jim
-- D. Jim West
Biblical Studies Resources - http://web.infoave.net/~jwestBiblical Theology Weblog - http://biblical-studies.blogspot.com
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