Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

Dear Bill,

> I'm curious how your theory handles situations where
> the writer is deliberately creating double-meanings,
> ambiguities, and puns. We discussed one very recently
> about David and Uriah where a list member quoted Sternberg
> to suggested the writer of the text was intentionally
> creating a story where it is possible to understand it
> with Uriah knowing David had gotten his wife pregnant
> and also with Uriah not knowing of David's wrong doing.
> Here the ambiguity is result of good writing not sloppiness.

HH: Really, what would be the utility of creating such confusion? 
Either he knew or he didn't. Scripture does not indicate to me that 
he knew.

> If my memory serves me correctly (I don't have a Hebrew text at
> work) another is Gen 16:2 where Sarah is wanting a son through Hagar,
> yet the text does not explicitly say so. That meaning comes from
> understanding the word play, which I recall as depending on a single
> word. In one sense it means to be built up, but it also means Sarai
> wants a son through Hagar.

HH: Why do you think the text does not say so? It seems perfectly explicit.

> If lexemes only have one meaning how, in your theory, does Hebrew create
> these double meanings, particularly in the case where the double meaning
> depends on a single word?

HH: These don't seem to be good examples for what seems to be a good question.

                                Yours,
                                Harold Holmyard