Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Dear James,

> Yitzhak also wrote:
> You might be confused because your translation mistakenly has "when
> one incited"
> END QUOTE
>
> Yes. The translation is pragmatic and probably largely influenced by the
> larger context of the situation which the 'chronicler' throws more light
> on.
> However, linguistically, there is no conclusive evidence that the subject
> of the verb is Yah's anger. This is only one interpretation, which 
> is logically
> inferred by the presence of an explicit subject in the first clause.
> However, this interpretation is largely influenced by our modern understanding
> and usage of language and does not take into account the finer 
> points of ancient
> expression which we are not in a position to be experts on.
> The chronicler, however, was in such a position and clearly did not understand
> Yah's anger to be the subject of the verb.

HH: This is an invalid assumption on your part. The fact that Satan 
did something does not mean that God was not involved. Both God and 
Satan are involved in Job's afflictions, which involved certain 
temptations for Job.

> However, he does acknowledge the ambiguity and clears up this 
> ambiguity by making
> the subject explicit to us.

HH: But the unnaturalness of the interpretation in 2 Sam 24:1, which 
at least two others have mentioned, really excludes the 
interpretation. The writer would have needed to explicitly indicate a 
third party because ancient biblical theology had no problem with God 
being involved with actions that entailed evil. He sent an evil 
spirit to torment Saul and an evil spirit to deceive Ahab. The writer 
of 2 Samuel would have had no problem saying that the anger of the 
Lord incited David to number Israel, saying, "Go number Israel and 
Judah." God's sovereignty was behind what happened, however it 
happened.

                                        Yours,
                                        Harold Holmyard