Biblical Hebrew Forum

["K Randolph" <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Jim:

On 10/30/07, JimStinehart AT aol.com <JimStinehart AT aol.com> wrote:
>
> Karl W. Randolph:
> 1.  If MWLDT/mowledeth  "refers to where one is born", then how do you
> understand the usage of that word  at Genesis 43: 7 and 48:6?

I already answered that.

> 2.  Why do you understand the  mem as meaning "where"?  Doesn't mem  mean,
> rather, "from"?  Doesn't MWLDT  literally mean "from brought forth"?  Isn't 
> the
> focus of MWLDT on "descendants", those human beings who come  "from" being
> "brought forth" by one's father?  That's how I see it.

Mem, along with the waw instead of yod, is a sign of a participle, not
the prefix "from".

> Why do you see the focus of MWLDT as being on the geographical place  where
> one is born?  Are you viewing  MWLDT as meaning "from [the geographical 
> place
> where one was] brought  forth"?

Before the exile, the emphasis was on the place where they were
brought forth, only in Leviticus 18:9, 11 does it have the idea of
brought forth (born) of one's father. In Esther, after the Exile, was
the emphasis on brought forth from which family tree, i.e. where one's
family is from.

> 3.  Doesn't MWLDT usually  refer to people, namely certain of one's 
> relatives
> (one's father's descendants),  rather than referring to a geographical place
> (where one was born)?

No. While there is some reference to one's ancestry, the main emphasis
is one the location, though in ancient times those were often
combined.

> Jim Stinehart
> Evanston, Illinois
>
Karl W. Randolph.