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  • From: "Vadim Cherny" <VadimCherny AT mail.ru>
  • To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] Fw: prepositions & grammar
  • Date: Sun, 9 Oct 2005 22:40:57 +0300

Exodus 4:3 WAY:HIY L:NAXA$ = and it became a serpent.

No! The rod became like a serpent, not actually a serpent. No magic here.

How do you deduce that? It then devoured the other serpents.

Well, I wasn't there. One reason is, of course, philosophical; no magic. Another is that that reading is plausible, consistent with other entries of hih l, and conforms to dative meaning of l.

Judges 1:33 WB"YT `A:NAT HAYW LAHEM LAMAS = and Beth Anath became forced
labor for them.

like slaves, not actually slaves

Why not? Assuming that "forced labor" means "slaves".

Naphtali didn't drive out Canaanites, as he had to. He lived *among* the Canaanites.
Another possibility is that mas here means "tributary."
Overall, Naphtali tolerated the locals against some benefits. The locals, however, were not tributaries in the proper military sense, nor forced labor as property-less slaves.

Ruth 4:13 VAYYIQAX BO`AZ ET RWT VATT:HIY-LW = and Boaz took Ruth and she
became to him.

you know, she did not actually become his wife

WHAT? Of course she did. Look at the next word: Le'i$$ah. Look also at vss. 10-11. You might not like the idea of "buying" a wife, but wife she was.

It's odd to hear such things from you, Yigal. Boaz took Ruth to restore the seed of Elimelech (4:6). That was a standard procedure regarding a childless wife of one's brother. It wasn't marriage proper. Buying that obligation is not prescribed in Torah, but was apparently practiced.

Vadim Cherny





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