Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

Dear Steven,

> 1 Samuel 13:21 (KJB)
> Yet they had a file for the mattocks, and for the coulters,
> and for the forks, and for the axes, and to sharpen the goads.
>    (Hebr: a file with mouthes)
>
> 1 Samuel 13:21 (Holman)
> The price was two-thirds of a shekel for plowshares and mattocks,
> and one-third [of a shekel] for pitchforks and axes,
> and for putting a point on an oxgoad.
>
> The late Michael Weitzman has a reference
> http://www.tyndale.org/Reformation/1/weitzman.html
> The solution came through the discovery in the 
> Holy Land, starting at the beginning of this 
> century, of ancient weight inscribed with the 
> Hebrew letters pym ... (This suggestion was 
> published by E.1. Pilcher, 'A New Hebrew 
> Weight', Quarterly Statement of the Palestine 
> Exploration Fund (1914), p. 99. Pilcher makes it 
> clear, however, that the suggestion was due to 
> Mr Samuel Raffaeli, who had acquired the third 
> example known of the pim weight. )
>
> Yet in other places it appears that this is a 
> rather conjectural akkadian cognate idea, not 
> "Hebrew letters".
>
> (google cache)
> <http://www.biblecentre.net/ot/twot/pe/pe15.html>http://www.biblecentre.net/ot/twot/pe/pe15.html
>  pim ...was formerly connected with peh... Now 
> the word has been found inscribed on several 
> weights of two-third shekel size. Speiser (see 
> bibliography) suggested that the word is a dual 
> and arose from a false Hebraizing of the 
> Akkadian shanipu (a Sumerian loan word for 
> two-thirds of a shekel), reading it as two p<s 
> therefore in Hebrew a dual of peh - payim . (the 
> ordinary plural of peh “mouth” has a feminine 
> ending).(the ordinary plural of peh “mouth” has 
> a feminine ending).
>
> Are these basically the same archaelogical references ?
> Are we talking about Hebrew letters or a rather 
> super-conjectural Akkadian cognate relationship ?


HH: The letters were found in Hebrew; Speiser is 
just giving a theory as to the original basis for 
them. Here is the NET Bible translation with 
notes:

13:21 They charged (29) two-thirds of a shekel 
(30) to sharpen plowshares and cutting 
instruments, and a third of a shekel (31) to 
sharpen picks and axes, and to set ox goads.

29tn Heb "the price was." The meaning of the 
Hebrew word (pÿtsirah) is uncertain. This is the 
only place it occurs in the OT. Some propose the 
meaning "sharpening," but "price" is a more 
likely meaning if the following term refers to a 
weight (see the following note on the word 
"shekel"). See P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 238.

30tn This word, which appears only here in the 
OT, probably refers to a stone weight. Stones 
marked (pim) have been found in excavations of 
Palestinian sites. The average weight of such 
stones is 0.268 ounces, which is equivalent to 
about two-thirds of a shekel. This probably 
refers to the price charged by the Philistines 
for the services listed. See P. K. McCarter, I 
Samuel (AB), 238; DNWSI 2:910; and G. I. Davies, 
Ancient Hebrew Inscriptions, 259.

31tc Heb "and for a third, a pick." The Hebrew 
text suffers from haplography at this point. The 
translation follows the textual reconstruction 
offered by P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 235.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard