Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Harold Holmyard <hholmyard3 AT earthlink.net>]

Peter Kirk wrote:
> On 11/04/2007 22:01, Harold Holmyard wrote:
> > ...
> > HH: I never said it was intended to be "a simply racial religion."
> >   
>
> I did not intend to suggest that you did. But it is a position held by 
> some Jews in ancient times, and maybe by some today. However, it was 
> not Isaiah's position, nor Moses' according to your Numbers  15 quotes.
>
>
> > ...
> > > I don't see 56:1 "close at hand ... will soon be revealed" as 
> > > temporal at all, there is no "soon" in the Hebrew but only QAROB 
> > > which means "near", usually in space.     
> >
> > HH: The word "near" can be used of time:
> >   
>
> I know, that is why I wrote "usually". Of course on your 
> interpretation "near" means 800 years in the future, and on 
> Shoshanna's at least 2800.

HH: I understand that Isaiah is prophesying about different eras at the 
same time, using one as a type of another. He is prophesying of the near 
future of the return from Babylonian Captivity at the grace of Cyrus. He 
is using Cyrus to point to a Messianic deliverer for Israel that will 
follow Cyrus. He is pointing to a deliverance for Israel that will be 
like the Babylonian deliverance but will be the result of the Messiah's 
work and will usher in a new heavens and earth.

HH: The perspective of "near," of course, is in divine time, and can 
signify thousands of years. A thousand year is as a day with him, a 
watch in the night (Ps 90:4).

Yours,
Harold Holmyard