Biblical Hebrew Forum

["George Athas" <george.athas AT moore.edu.au>]

Hi Dave!
 
Thanks for your thoughts. I don't think the argument is ad hoc, though. It
is merely trying to grapple with the versatility of the preposition lamed
and the actual superscriptions in the psalms we possess from an a posteriori
perspective. Yes, the superscriptions may all indicate authorship -- that is
a very distinct possibility. However, in my opinion, we need to argue that
on grounds other than saying that "le-X" must always indicate authorship.
The preposition lamed is, as you know, quite versatile, owing to its
semantic range, and therefore the issue is not so clear cut (in my opinion).
 
In that regard, your appeal to the Ugaritic literature is pertinent and very
interesting. From my memory (which could be foggy and faulty) the
ascriptions in Ugaritic literary works usually indicated who the scribe was,
rather than the author. I could, though, be mistaken on this. Did you have
any specific examples we could consider?

Best Regards,

GEORGE ATHAS
Moore Theological College
1 Kings St, Newtown 2042, Australia
Ph: (+61 2) 9577 9774
 <mailto:george.athas AT moore.edu.au> george.athas AT moore.edu.au