Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Harold Holmyard <hholmyard3 AT earthlink.net>]

Gabe,

I think Isaac makes a good point because 
the speaker can be summarizing the whole 
dynamic between the prophet and the 
Israelites. They could ironically take 
Isaiah's statement that God teaches the 
farmer and defiantly gives it back to 
Isaiah about their unwillingness to repent.

Of course Isaiah himself was using the 
whole farming illustration to discuss 
divine discipline in the first place. So 
there is no doubt that God would teach 
the Israelites to repent, but they would 
not like the way he taught them. That is 
part of Isaiah's point, although he 
moderates it by adding that the divine 
discipline would not go on forever.

Rabbah b. bar Hana can be reflecting the 
 unrepentant attitude of Israel by 
creatively inventing a dialogue that 
borrows from Isaiah. It does not 
necessarily mean that he translated the 
verse that way.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard

________________________________


For he doth chastise him to discretion, 
and his God doth teach him.16
Rabbah b. Bar Hana said: The prophet 
urged Israel, 'Return and repent.'
They replied, 'We cannot: the Tempter17 
 rules over us. He said to them,
'Curb your [evil] desires.' They 
replied, 'Let His God teach us.'18

16 Isa. XXVIII, 26. (E.V. For his God 
doth instruct him to discretion and
doth teach him.)


Yours,
Harold Holmyard


> thanks again,
> Gabe Eisenstein
>
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