Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu>]

Pere,

The point is that there is a vast number of Hebrew speaking people  
today who think there is nothing special in BR) over YCR and (SH, and  
that there is no inherent reason why it should be thus limited in its  
usage and not be applied also to any creative or otherwise fantastic  
act by Man, and the same for SLX. Truly, it is no proof for no  
nothing but is yet an interesting observation on the workings of a  
living language deeply and engrossingly rooted in the TN"K. It is  
true that BR) appears in the HB mostly [entirely?] for a divine act,  
but I do not see any inherent reason why it should not appear, in a  
poetic burst, in a latter book, in the sense of bringing a person to  
the world.
The BARE) of Ezekiel 21 is indeed enigmatic. The NAB renders it  
'put', NIV puts it as 'make', the KJV tries his luck at 'choose',  
while Pere sees it as 'cut out'. It is a remarkable thing that the  
lofty BR) has such low-cast descendants.
The situation in Qohelet is crystal clear:
1. If the yod in BOR)-EY-KA is a scribal error, then it is 'Creator'.
2. With a yod it is 'progenitors', which makes sense, and is the  
reason, methinks, for the yod's survival there. The author is  
advising the young to pay a visit to a nursing home to see not only  
life in bloom but also to observe how it wilts and melts away into  
past generations. Man does not have all the time in the world.
I can fully sympathize with Ron Snider's balking at this prosaic  
usage of BR) but there is no way around it. There are no Creators.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On Apr 24, 2008, at 1:08 PM, <pporta AT oham.net> wrote:

> Yes.
> But... we must consider the use of BR) within the Bible itself and  
> not the today use of this verb in Israel...
> Is there in the Bible any place where BR) is said of a human being?
> The word in Ezekiel you wrote yesterday about, BFR"), ... is a  
> Pi'el Infinitive absolute with the meaning "to cut out", nothing to  
> do with the concepte "to create".
>
> Pere Porta
> Barcelona
>
> _____________
>
> > In connection with the claim that BR) [but not YCR and (SH] is a
> > divine prerogative --- only God can "create" something, but Man may
> > well be a YOCER and an (OSEH, I recall having said once that also
> > SLX, 'forgive', is found in the HB exclusively as an act of God. Yet
> > it is extensively used now to describe interpersonal relationships,
> > so much so that SLIXAH is currently upon every lip as, 'sorry, pardon
> > me'.
> >
> > Isaac Fried, Boston University
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