Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Uri Hurwitz <uhurwitz AT yahoo.com>]

   There is no agreement on the etymology of  "Levi".

 The interpretation of the name by an ancient 

biblical  editor as cited below is not neccessarly

 correct. A similar example of a wrong  editorial 

explanation is that  of the Egyptian name  "Mosheh",

 Exod. 2:11.

   For the PN "Levi" another possiblity was discussed by Th. Meek.

   Applied to the name Levi, the root means "slither" or "Coil"

as in Arabic, and exists in a the noun LWYTN, Livyatan,

 which is also found in Ugaritic ,in both cases it is a coiling

 sea- dragon.

    This is directly related to serpents

 or snakes, and they in turn are related to magic. 

    That the Levites traditionally indulged in a great

 deal of magic is  attested numerous times in HB. To

 cite only two of many examples: Ex. 2: 2 ff, and the

 famous rods contest won by Aron Ex. 7:10 ff.

 

    The connection between snakes and magic was widespread 

in Egypt, as is known from many extra-biblical sources. 

   A  linguistic direct parallel to this in BH is the root

 Nun Het Shin. Among its meanings: the noun "snake",

 or in verbal form, in Piel: "to engage in divinations".

 Also, consider the mystical Nahshon, attributed to Moses 

and removed by Hezekaiah in his efforts to purify the 

temple from idolatry.

    A full discussion of the above with biblical

 citations and bibliography is in "Hebrew Origins" by 

 Theophile James Meek, Harper Torchbook edition, 

p122 ff .

 Uri Hurwitz 

 

 Jim Steinhart wrote: 

<snip>

 

Levi     The JPS1917 translation of the text regarding

 the name “Levi” is as follows:     “And she conceived again,

 and bore a son;  and said:  'Now this time will my   husband

 be joined unto me, because I have borne him three sons.'

  Therefore   was his name called Levi.”  Genesis 29: 34

  ....    LAMED-VAV-heh = “be joined” or “be attached” or

 “accompany”  [At Genesis   29: 34, this word appears 

in the following form:  yod-LAMED-VAV-heh.] 

 

 

 

 

    

       
---------------------------------
Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile.  Try it 
now.
>From greifer AT hotmail.com  Wed Dec 12 13:34:35 2007
Return-Path: <greifer AT hotmail.com>
X-Original-To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Delivered-To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Received: from bay0-omc2-s39.bay0.hotmail.com (bay0-omc2-s39.bay0.hotmail.com
        [65.54.246.175])
        by lists.ibiblio.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id EFD734C011
        for <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>; Wed, 12 Dec 2007 13:34:34 -0500 
(EST)
Received: from BAY125-W27 ([65.55.130.62]) by bay0-omc2-s39.bay0.hotmail.com
        with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.3959); 
        Wed, 12 Dec 2007 10:34:34 -0800
Message-ID: <BAY125-W27BB54523A7FDEC63831C7A7650 AT phx.gbl>
X-Originating-IP: [66.217.48.126]
From: kenneth greifer <greifer AT hotmail.com>
To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2007 18:34:33 +0000
Importance: Normal
MIME-Version: 1.0
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 12 Dec 2007 18:34:34.0321 (UTC)
        FILETIME=[A4675410:01C83CED]
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.9
Subject: [b-hebrew] Genesis 49:6 Simon and Levi curse
X-BeenThere: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.9
Precedence: list
List-Id: Biblical Hebrew Forum <b-hebrew.lists.ibiblio.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew>,
        <mailto:b-hebrew-request AT lists.ibiblio.org?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/b-hebrew>
List-Post: <mailto:b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
List-Help: <mailto:sympa AT lists.ibiblio.org?subject=HELP>
List-Subscribe: <http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew>,
        <mailto:b-hebrew-request AT lists.ibiblio.org?subject=subscribe>
X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2007 18:34:35 -0000


Maybe Genesis 49:6 means Simon and Levi killed one man in anger, even thoug=
h they killed a lot of people when they saved their sister. They only kille=
d one man with anger because he raped their sister, everyone else was kille=
d probably to keep them from defending their leader and from getting reveng=
e later.
=20
Also, they might have injured an ox when they when they were killing the pe=
ople. The story doesn't have to mention every detail.
=20
Kenneth Greifer
_________________________________________________________________
Share life as it happens with the new Windows Live.
http://www.windowslive.com/share.html?ocid=3DTXT_TAGHM_Wave2_sharelife_1220=
07=