Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yitzhak Sapir <yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com>]

On 8/18/05, Ben Crick wrote:
>  Thank you for that, Yitzhak. You mean of course 2 Chronicles 9:29.
>  I had not considered XZH in my brief response to James' inquiry, and
>  a complete reply must include it. Astrology was an important science at
>  the time, even though any form of occultism was a big No-no for the
>  children of Israel (Isaiah 8:19). Root XZH would seem to include the
>  utterances of a medium in an ecstatic state; although its use of the
>  activities of Isaiah and Amos render it 'kosher' to use of the prophets
>  of YHWH.

Ah yes, sorry.  At the time, astrology was inseparable from astronomy,
and calendar computations depended on astronomical sightings.  Are
you sure that Isaiah 8:19 includes astrology?  This would really make
no sense if Isaiah is an astrologer, as Isaiah 38:8 might suggest (but 
not necessarily although I think it definitely raises the issue).  Perhaps 
only certain forms of occultism were not allowed.  I think astrology was
not frowned upon even through the Middle Ages in Rabbinic Judaism, 
and is accepted today by many Jews (if that says anything).

I also forgot to mention, that another reason to consider astrology for
the words Ro)eH and XoZeH is that they would be quite fitting
descriptions for such activity, a blend of future-telling and "seeing" the
stars.  I consider that these words might be dialectical variants and
consider especially the close relationship between Gad and David, 
Saul and Samuel, and Hezekiah and Isaiah (as would be suggested by
the interactions between these in the context of personal death) to
suggest they might be equivalent variants.

Yitzhak Sapir