Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Bryant J. Williams III" <bjwvmw AT com-pair.net>]

Dear Karl,

You did not misread the Hebrew. BeCoRO has the prefixed preposition B-. I take
the preposition to be "at,"  not "by." Thus, "at the cost of" to indicate that
the sons will pay the price of rebuilding Jericho. Whether that means
"sacrifice" in the sense of "human sacrifice" is another issue altogether. I
take it to mean to mean that the rebuilding of Jericho will personally cost 
Hiel
by the deaths of his own sons, i.e., agency. The sons of Hiel were the agents.
Instrumentality requires some type of impersonal object.

Your referencences to Micah 3;10 and Habakkuk 2:10 would also indicate that
blood and injustice are not necessarily "human sacrifice," but the use of
immoral means to accomplish the ends indicated. An example of just such 
immoral
acts is the taking of Naboth's Vineyard by Ahab's wife and queen, Jezebel who
had two men commit perjury to have Naboth put to death. Thus, blood = murder,
injustice = bribery/perjury are used to achieve one's own ends = the end 
justify
the means = Machiavelli.

Rev. Bryant J. Williams III
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "K Randolph" <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>
To: "b-hebrew" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Friday, January 04, 2008 11:29 AM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] xrm and the Canaanites' VIP treatment


> Dear Bryant:
> I read the prefixed B- as an indication of instrumentality, i.e. a sacrifice
> to request the blessings of the gods on the endeavor, in the same way the
> prefixed B- is used in Micah 3:10 and Habakkuk 2:12 to say that the city was
> built by means of blood and injustice. Do I misread the Hebrew?
>
> Karl W. Randolph.
>
> On Jan 3, 2008 5:59 PM, Bryant J. Williams III <bjwvmw AT com-pair.net> wrote:
>
> > Dear Karl,
> >
> > It appears that the texts of Joshua 6:26 and I Kings 16:34 are ambiguous
> > as to
> > how the firstborn and youngest sons of Hiel the Bethelite died. The
> > translations
> > that I checked (NIV, RSV,  Modern Language, etc.) have the idea of "at the
> > cost
> > of" with reference to the death Hiel's sons. The texts does not indicate
> > that it
> > was human sacrifice that was used. In fact, considering the context of
> > condemnation of Ahab's reign where he allowed the worship of Baal and
> > Asherah
> > and the building of sacred groves for that purpose that that was what was
> > Ahab's
> > sins (violations of the laws, statutes, commandments, etc., of the Law of
> > Moses;
> > see Hosea). The sin of human sacrifice was the practice of
> > worshipers/idolaters
> > of Moloch/Chemosh NOT Baal/Asherah. Thus, I take the deaths of Hiel's sons
> > as
> > being accidents during the building of Jericho; although it is possible,
> > but not
> > probable, that human sacrifice was involved at Jericho's rebuilding since
> > Jericho is in the area that Moloch/Chemosh would have been worshipped.
> >
> > Rev. Bryant J. Williams III
> >
> >
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