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  • From: "Karl Randolph" <kwrandolph AT email.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Genesis 8:22
  • Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2006 20:54:03 -0500

Harold:

In view of your response to me, I had decided not
to respond, but now as you expanded to Yitzhak,
there are a few things that I think should be
emphasized.

>From your latest responses, I wonder if you really
know English that well. (e.g. I have several times
read the phrase "he is like a dog with a bone"
which is an idiomatic phrase that has nothing about
likening a person to a dog, rather it is a comment
on his tenacity. That you didn't recognize it
reflects on your knowledge of English.)

I will come back to Genesis 8:22.

When you quoted many translations, my eyes glazed
over and I skipped that section. Translations don't
count. I have read Tanakh only once in translation,
but several times in Hebrew. If you want to
convince me, show me from Hebrew usage.

Similarly, your references to modern science and
bird migration patterns are irrelevant.

As I claim, words have a circle of meaning, for
some their area is great, for others their range of
meaning can be very restricted.

The word "season" even in English has a range of
meaning, not just the seasons (summer, fall, etc.).
Poetically it is used for much shorter periods,
such as the "season to be jolly" which, according
to tradition, lasted 12 days, or the "Easter
season" which lasted 8 days. Thus, even if you use
"season" in Jeremiah 8:7, it does not necessarily
correspond to the seasons as in summer, fall, etc.

But at question isn't the English word "season" but
the Hebrew "MW(D", what does it mean? Does it
include the four seasons as in summer, fall, etc.?
I see no evidence whatsoever that it does. But I
see plenty of evidence that it means "appointed
time and/or place". Even in the verses you cite to
support your claim, the use of MW(D refers to an
appointed time (not necessarily limited to a point
time, but can be drawn out time) and place.

Now back to Genesis 8:22: you have an idiosyncratic
reading not shared by many, including myself. That
verse is one of the clues that those who hold to a
young earth creation followed by a flood model of
history claim that the antediluvian world had a
completely different climate than the postdiluvian
world; that the antediluvian world had no seasons
as we know them today. This they derive from a
linguistic analysis of the verse in the context of
all of Genesis.

In order for you to convince me that MW(D means
"season" as in summer, fall, etc., you need to cite
a verse where it can have no other meaning. This
you have failed to do. All you have presented are
idiosyncratic readings of very few verses.

Karl W. Randolph.

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Yitzhak Sapir" <yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com>
>
> Dear Harold,
>
> ...
>
> In your message, you referenced your reply to Karl. Was that
> meant as a response to my analysis of Psalm 104, or as
> additional information on Jer 8:7?
>
> Yitzhak Sapir
> http://toldot.blogspot.com

--
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