Biblical Hebrew Forum

["JAMES CHRISTIAN READ" <JCR128 AT student.apu.ac.uk>]

Brak wrote:
But I return to my initial line of thought. Is this area of discussion 
proper for this forum?
I was under the impression that the forum was to discuss variants 
between manuscripts, q/k issues, parsing of words and translation.
This thread to me has been basically about doctrine, dogma, creed, and 
faith.

So am I incorrect and this forum is open to theological debating, or is 
it as I originally thought - an area for textual analysis and research.


JCR: The original discussion is about the range of 
meaning of the hebrew word for daughters. As such it 
seems appropriate that any testimonies which can help 
to uncover its exact range of meaning are to be 
considered. Although, it is clear that a discussion 
about the validity of oral torah is beyond the scope 
of such a linguistic discussion.

Getting back to the original discussion it is clear 
that both 'father' and 'son' have a wider range of 
meaning covering multiple generations and therefore 
I see no reason why 'daughter' could not also have
such a property. I would not find any problems with
Jacob having more than one daughter and find the
explanation that only Dinah is mentioned because of the
saga caused in her name to be reasonable. I have also
been interested to learn of old traditions which
attribute many daughters to Jacob and this seems to
swing things in favour of multiple daughters.
The evidence does seem to be inconclusive though as
the torah contains no passage which would seem to serve
to lead us to believe that Jacob could not have had
more than one daughter.  are to be
considered. Although, it is clear that a discussion
about the validity of oral torah is beyond the scope
of such a linguistic discussion.

Getting back to the original discussion it is clear
that both 'father' a