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  • From: <pporta AT oham.net>
  • To: <JimStinehart AT aol.com>, <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] The Name "Simeon"
  • Date: Fri, 7 Dec 2007 06:36:32 +0100

Dear Jim,

With a quite constructive mind and with no intention of denying you may be right in some sense, I would argue this against your analysis:

1. The word "Shim'on" lacks the aleph of "sana'", to hate. It consists only of the very consonants of "shama'", to hear, plus a final -ON.
If you theory is true and sure... should not this aleph be part of the name "Shim'on"?

2. The end syllable -ON is a quite usual end in biblical Hebrew and in today Israeli Hebrew as well. It is that of several masculine nouns that usually mean the fulfilment of the key concept of the word they come from. In no way I see it is the N of "saNa'", to hate
_________

Now, in a little more detail:

About 1. How do you explain that the aleph of "sana'", to hate, does not appear in the name "Shim'on"?
About 2.
a. YitrON, profit, outcome (Ecc 2:11), of "yatar" (this form not found in the Bible but many other forms of this verb are found...), to remain over.
b. (K')pitrON, (as) interpretation (Gn 40:5), of "patar" (Gn 40:22), to interpret
c. (w')xesrON, (and) lacking (Ecc 1:15), of "xaser", to lack (1Ki 17:16)
d. zikarON, memorial (Ex 17:14), of "zakhar", to remember (Ec 9:15)
And in modern Hebrew:
e. shiltON, government
f. gizrON, etimology
g. kisharON, skill....
h. and....... many others.

What can you say as a replay to these main two points that defy your analysis?

Pere Porta
Barcelona (Spain)

Most of this clever Hebrew wordplay is missed if one simply says, as do the
scholarly books I have consulted, that “Simeon” is a play on the word shama’/“
heard”. Yes, that is in part true, but it misses the most exciting aspects
of what the author is doing with the name “Simeon” here. S-M-N/“Simeon”
reflects both S-M/shama’/“heard” and S-N/sana’/“hated”. S-M + S-N = S-M-N.
The word “heard”, standing alone, tells us almost nothing about Simeon. But
the words “heard, hated” deftly summarize Simeon’s future life. Simeon HEARD
that his full-sister Dinah had been with young Shechem, and Simeon HATED the
men of Shechem for that. Simeon HEARD Joseph’s dreams, which seemed to foretell
that Joseph would rule over his older half-brothers, and Simeon HATED Joseph
for that. In both cases, it is precisely Simeon who is the ringleader in
killing the men of Shechem, and in almost murdering young Joseph. “Heard, hated.”

As we are beginning to see, the sophisticated multiple puns on the names of
Jacob’s 12 sons deftly foreshadow what these sons then do in the rest of the
text.

The key here is to focus on the true Hebrew consonants, and the precise order
of these key consonants. It is also important to realize that sometimes
similar, rather than identical, consonants are used in the punning done by the
author of the Patriarchal narratives.

To view “Simeon” as merely being a play on the word shama’/“heard”, nothing
else, is to miss much of the brilliant Hebrew wordplay in the Patriarchal
narratives. ShaMa’ + SaNa’ = SiMeoN. S-M + S-N = S-M-N. It’s right there, if
we will simply look at the key consonants that appear, and the precise order
in which they appear, in the text of Genesis 29: 33. That’s the way the author
of the Patriarchal narratives does puns. It’s a vital key to understanding
what the author is trying to tell us in the Patriarchal narratives.

Jim Stinehart






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