Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Bill Rea <bsr15 AT cantsl.it.canterbury.ac.nz>]

Karl wrote:-

>Occam's razor says that the simplest answer is usually the correct one,
>not that lexemes have multiple meanings.

You are taking Occam's razor to the wrong part of my post. My
question was -- Why do people continue to reject your model?
Simplest explanation -- the evidence does not favour it.

Karl further wrote:-

>I have not advanced the theory before this recent discussion, merely used
>the results in previous discussions. It is interesting that when I
>reported the results in previous discussions, it was rare for anyone to
>question how I came to the results that I had.  The questions were fewer
>than the fingers on one hand.

I'll take your word that you had not explictly advanced your theory
previously. However, it was so obvious what you were doing I'm
surprized anyone had to ask.

>Again, one of my favorite commands, "Look at the context." Uriah had just
>spent time out in the field, [snip]

Recall David's words:-

Then David said to Uriah, "Go down to your house, and wash your feet."

Feet being RGLM.

Now let's look on just a few verses.

10.     Now when they told David, saying, "Uriah did not go down to his
house," David said to Uriah, "Have you not come from a journey? Why did
you not go down to your house?"
11.     Uriah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in
temporary shelters, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are
camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house to eat and to drink
and to lie with my wife? By your life and the life of your soul, I will
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
not do this thing."

I see Harold Holmyard agrees with you. But if you're both right
why does Uriah explicitly mention lying with his wife if he did not
understand David's intention for him to do precisely that.

On a literary front we could say that the writer is using this to
heighten our awareness of David's problem. He turns the heat up on
David. But underlying any literary purpose there must be a context
within the society it was written for. If there was no pre-existing
connection in the minds of the readers between David's ``wash your
feet'' in v8 and Uriah's ``lie with  my wife'' in v11 then I
think the dialogue takes on a contrived feel.

Bill Rea, IT Services, University of Canterbury \_
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