Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

Hallo, in prov 3:26 where it says: "..for the Lord will be your
confidence...." OR "...for the Lord will be WITH your confidence..."  I know
that this all appears a bit pedantic, but what is the point of the BeT
preposition here?

To complicate matters further just read what Zvi has to say (it really
does'nt click with me, the penny does not drop, he only confuses the issue)

"...It is of course worth noting (which I already did) that the text
reads...... [prov 3:26]......the point of course is to stress that the Lord
cannot be identified with 'your confidence'(ugh)!. Instead, because of the
preposition BeT, the sentence says that the Lord will serve as (behave as/
act in the capacity of) 'your confidence....." (What's the bl**dy 
difference)?

Make any sense to anybody?

Gesenius, I see, says a little in $119 h and i, but that does not clarify 
the above for me.  Could it be that the difference lies in the fact that 
without the Bet preposition The Lord IS your confidence, ie hope in Him is 
the confidence.  OR with the preposition it signifies more that The Lord is 
in the MIDST of your confidence?  Although I must add the difference really 
is as thin as a cotton strand over the Niagra Falls!!!!!!

Or shall I just stick to the narratives of the bible and leave poetry for 
the poet?  Blow me I'm getting fed up with all this, I think that the tutor 
(a Work/TextBook from Yale university) is a bad instructor, He raises more 
questions by his statements and leaves you dangling in hebraic ignorance and 
your cranial synaptic junctions in gridlock, what he does say leaves you 
hungry for more but, alas, there is no more food in the cupboard.

Allow me a self-pitious, self indulgent mope for awhile, thankyou.
Chris Watts.