Biblical Hebrew Forum

[dwashbur AT nyx.net]

A big one for me came with Psalm 18:36 (eng 35), which in Hebrew reads "Your 
humility 
makes me great."  English translations render (NWH various ways, but it means 
"humility" or 
"humbling oneself, bending down."  The idea of the Almighty "bending down," 
humbling 
Himself, to make me great was a genuine "wow" moment for me.  I even 
incorporated it into 
a song, the tune of which is the background music to my main web page.

On 12 Jun 2006 at 23:11, bowick AT idirect.com wrote:

> Hi folks:
> 
> I was wondering if you would be willing to share stories or places where
> your knowledge of Hebrew has let you see something in the text, or have an
> insight that made you say 'wow'.  I am not thinking of advanced studies,
> and the cutting edge insights you have made so much as I am asking us to
> reflect back on our early experiences with the language.  In some cases,
> later reflection may have led us to discard aspects of those insights, but
> their emotional impact remains.
> 
> My purpose is to collect stories to motivate beginning students.  We know
> that learning Hebrew is a lot of work, and it can get discouraging.  These
> stories can give students, perhaps some even lurking on this list, a
> reminder of why they are doing it.
> 
> A couple come to my mind just to get the ball rolling.
> 
> First, I remember when I was first reviewing the declension of the pronoun
> MIN, and saw the Hebrew of Emmanuel.
> 
> Another one was from Psalm 27:4 which reads ACHAT SHALTI ME'ET Y''H. 
> (Typing from memory).  When I first read that the vowels of ME'ET slit to
> MA'AT and I read it not as the preposition MIN withe the direct object
> marker, but rather as a construct state with the Egyptian noun MAAT.  "One
> thing I ask - the MAAT (Order) of the LORD."  Now I have had enough
> eyebrows raised telling people about this to think the proposal is a bit of
> a reach, but for me it has become a significant part of my reading of that
> prayer, as I seek the divine order of the LORD in my life.  
> 
> My guess is many of you have much better stories and insights.  Lets
> collect them to motivate the novices on the list, and also to help one
> another encourage our students.
> 
> James Bowick
> 
> 
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Dave Washburn
Encephaloriasis: That condition generated when the person you are dealing 
with is so 
incredibly stupid, you can actually feel your own brain cells drying up and 
flaking off.