Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Yigal Levin" <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Karl Randolph" <kwrandolph AT email.com>
To: "b-hebrew" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Friday, August 12, 2005 9:04 PM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Face of God?


> One question: do Hebrew names always have an exact
> correlation with the events surrounding them?

They very rarely do. Which is why it's more reasonable to understand them as
etiologies.

>
> For example, the name of the prophet Samuel is usually
> connected with "God hears". But the name lacks the Ayin that
> it would need to have the "listening" as part of the name.
> When looking at an unpointed text, where the Sin and Shin
> are indistinguishable, an alternate meaning pops out, namely
> that God placed him (Sin Mem Waw) because God listens to
> prayer.

Perfect example! Actually, the text does not say that Samuel was named
because "God heard". That is actually the explanation given for Ishmael
(Gen. 16:11). For Samuel, it's "for I have asked/requested ("$)L") him from
the Lord" (1 Sam. 1:20 ff.). This of course, would be a perfect explanation
for the name of Saul, who has no birth-story, which could lead to all kinds
of theories. The name Samuel "$emu)el" probably means "His name is El".

>
> Similarly, Machanaim does not refer directly to "camp of
> God" rather that both his encampment and God's are present
> there.
>

Thats exegesis, not a simple reading of the text.

> As for the face of God, if God created the whole universe in
> seven days as he claims in Genesis one, what's to stop him
> from appearing to Jacob in a human form? That is not to
> claim that God intrinsically has a human form (the rest of
> Tanakh argues against that) but that he is able to appear
> that way when he so chooses. And that Jacob recognized that
> he was dealing with God appearing to him in human form.
>

That's exactly what an "angel" is: a manefestation of God that appears to
humans, in a form to which they can relate.

Yigal

 ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Yigal Levin" <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>
>
> >
> > But Shoshanna, in this particular story, Jacob is referring precisely to
his
> > having struggled with the angel. So he does not mean that he "saw" God,
but
> > rather that he "faced off" with God's messenger.
> > In any case, such etymologies can rarely be taken literally. They are
> > usually etiological - in other words, the place had its name for
whatever
> > reason, and then Jacob (or his descendants who passed on the tradition)
came
> > along and attached a stiry to the name. Note that the next verse (32:31)
> > calls the place Pnuel, which is its usual name. The same is true  in the
> > previous chapter, when Gilead is called Gal-ed just once, to explain the
> > story, and then forever Gilead. In 32:2, Jacob names Mahanaim "camp of
God",
> > although the more fitting etymology is stated in verse 10: "and now I
have
> > become two camps" ("Mahanaim" being a double form). So one should not
try to
> > understand such stories too litterally.
> >
> >
> > To all those who do, have an easy Tish'ah be'Av fast, and may the trials
of
> > this coming week leave us all alive and sane.
> >
> > Yigal
>
>