Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Dora Smith" <villandra AT austin.rr.com>]

I missed it.

And nothing is more politically charged than the story of Sodom and 
Gomorrah.  Anyone who did not want a politically charged discussion about 
the story of Sodom and Gomorrah should have either refrained from writing 
it, or refrained from creating religious fundamentalism in any of three 
major religions.  Not possible.  I repeat, not possible to have a discussion 
of Sodom and Gomorrah that is free of political motives and implications.

Now.  What specifically are you arguing that sodom means?

My guess is that if you think the word has a meaning, then the meaning 
argues against a literal interpretation of teh story, and that is precisely 
what has induced K. Randolph to blow up.

Yours,
Dora Smith
Austin, TX
tiggernut24 AT yahoo.com
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "K Randolph" <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>
To: "b-hebrew" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2008 11:15 AM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] What Does "Sodom" Mean?


> Jim:
> I have to give you an "A" for persistence, and another for imagination,
> while an "F" for horticultural knowledge, another for historical knowledge
> and a third for knowledge of Biblical Hebrew.
>
> In dealing with your "F"s:
>
> First of all, I have found Gesenius an untrustworthy source of knowledge 
> of
> word meanings. The reason I went into lexicography was because of trying 
> to
> use his dictionary while reading Tanakh. Too many times his glosses didn't
> fit the context. It's been a couple of decades since I last looked at his
> dictionary, so I don't recall specific examples, but for you to base your
> argument on his work puts up a red flag that you don't know what you're
> talking about.
>
> Secondly, the historical narratives of the Patriarchs is put in the early
> bronze age, not late. Furthermore, when we go back to original materials, 
> we
> find that the dates so confidently posted in history books are in reality
> based on educated guesses that could very well be wrong. That is 
> especially
> true as many of the educated guesses are based on other educated guesses
> based on educated guesses: the errors can compound. Further, archeologists
> are coming to the conclusion that the ruins of Sodom can be identified 
> with
> those of a certain early bronze age site south of the Dead Sea.
>
> Third, grain can be grown where ever there is well watered good soil. I've
> seen wheat growing wild on hillsides. For you to claim that the Jesreel
> valley was the only place where grain was grown is therefore patently
> ludicrous. For you, coming from grain growing area, to make such an
> elementary error ....
>
> Finally, not mentioned above, if you want to make wild speculations as to
> the etymology of place names, there are at least a couple of possibilities
> for Sodom that don't require letter substitutions.
>
> Concerning your "A"s, your persistence has a certain amount of lunacy 
> about
> it: after being shown based on linguistic analysis that your theory was
> untenable, to which you admitted, that you try to rebuild it has a tinge 
> of
> madness.
>
> Karl W. Randolph.
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