Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Chris and Nel" <wattswestmaas AT eircom.net>]

Hallo Shoshanna, in response I am posting this comment which I sent 
privately to someone else:--------------

=Yes that would be the logical conclusion, but I wonder whether the
=participle here is describing WHO God is in general, as a sort of
=intermediate statement since the conjunction 'AF' is significant, I 
believe,
=to emphasize an additional statement at this point as if to give a feel, a
=sense, of what is being meant here.  Especially when Moses's experiences
=throughout his life have seen God loving those Outside of Israel and not
=just the Sons of Israel proper..

=Also the complete 'absence' of specific grammar that would deffinately
=preclude this verbal adjective from referring to anyone outside of Israel.
=I believe that the Whole Feel of this verse is conjuring up much more than
=Moses simply saying that God has loved Jacob, or Israel, or His people, or
=the sons of Israel.  Repetitive statements often used that are lacking 
here.

Further more, Shoshanna, Moses did dnot actually begin to bless the children 
of Israel until verse 6.  Everything that comes before is clearly an 
OBSERVATION and he is remembering what has gone before. Certainly God loves 
Israel and cherishes His people, I have no doubt.

Furthermore: The use of AM in the plural meaning "peoples" and not people, 
which is also
used for example in psalm 33:10 and isaiah 8:9 to refer to all peoples of 
the world are examples which can lend a small amount of additional support 
to the above

Regards
Chris.

SHOSHANNA SAID:
How in the world could it be referring to all the people in the
world, and not only to Bnei Yisrael, since the first verse
specifically says that Moshe blessed Bnei Yisrael, and then his
entire speech is relating to Bnei Yisrael...


The word "amim" is used - each tribe is a people unto itself- like in
Genesis 35:11 - G-d tells Yaakov that a nation and  a congregation of
nations will descend from him

Shoshanna




I think that deutoronomy 33:3 should be translated:

"And furthermore, One who cherishes people...." as being more meaningful and
not constraining the text to 'imply' only the people in the wilderness.

If the general consensus amongst you agrees, then at least I know where I am
at. If there are objections then I would discuss this since I believe that I
have sound reasons in favour of scrapping  -- :"Yes, He has loved the
people" OR "Surely, it is you who love the people"

Looking forward to replies
Regards,
Chris Watts
Ireland.