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  • From: Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu>
  • To: dwashbur AT nyx.net
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] virginity
  • Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2007 21:23:11 -0400

Dave,

NA(ARAH is for the young girl being agile, nimble, brisk, sprightly and vigorous, as indicated by the presence of the letter R in the name. (ALMAH and BTULAH is for her elevation [the letter L], mass [the letter M], and thickness of body [the letter B]. I notice that YELED, 'boy', has an L too.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On Jul 18, 2007, at 8:49 PM, dwashbur AT nyx.net wrote:

In addition, Judges 21:12 piles up 3 terms, NA(AR, B:TUWLFH, and "who did not know to
lie with a man," a rather unusual expression, methinks. The previous verse says to kill ever
woman "who knows lying-down with a male" (my own literal rendering). All this suggests
that the language being used here is very intensive and hardly normative for regular
narrative, much less poetry. I doubt we can infer anything at all about Isaiah from this
verse.

On 19 Jul 2007 at 10:03, Bill Rea wrote:

Tory wrote:-

If Isaiah had intended physical virginity to be clearly understood he
would have undoubtedly wrote "woman/girl whom no man had known..."
which is the manner in which the Hebrew author of Jdg. xxi 12
expresses physical virginity so as to remove any possibility of doubt.

This is an assumption on your part. As such you can't elevate an
assumption to a fact. The Judges 21:12 can easily be read otherwise.
To insist that the author must have added ``whom no man had known''
to remove doubt is a reasonable assumption but no more reasonable
than believing the author was engaging in repitition for literary
effect. Part of the art of Hebrew poetry is in the skill of the
use of parallels. It was a well known art form and it is a reasonable
assumption the writer was thoroughly familiar with it. A
prose writer could also use this device. Since someone brought up
the question of how scholarship is done, a scholar should have
no difficulty in acknowledging uncertainly where uncertainly
exists. The reasons the writer had for adding ``whom no man had
known'' in Judges 21:12 are uncertain. And that's a certainty :-)

Bill Rea, ICT Services, University of Canterbury \_
E-Mail bill.rea AT canterbury.ac.nz </ New
Phone 64-3-364-2331, Fax 64-3-364-2332 /) Zealand
Unix Systems Administrator (/'

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Dave Washburn
But I can't say Sylvester, George!
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