Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Harold Holmyard <hholmyard3 AT earthlink.net>]

Yitzhak,
> Incidentally, doesn't the text of the amulets also have something like
> a quotation of Deuteronomy?
>   
HH: One report says perhaps:

http://www.christian-forum.net/index.php?showtopic=21610

The */silver scrolls /*contain words from _the Book of Numbers _and 
possibly from the Book of Deuteronomy - all on material that is /*older 
*/than the destruction of the First Temple!!

HH: Another source, a Mormon one, has some interesting facts and says 
that the text beyond the Aaronic blessing is largely indecipherable but 
there are some details:

http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=3d5767700817b010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&hideNav=1

Before the silver scrolls were unrolled, no one was sure what they 
contained. They appeared to be a kind of amulet—tiny rolled cylinders 
with a space in the middle of each so that a string could be threaded 
through them, then worn on the body. One scroll was just over one inch 
in length and not quite half an inch in diameter; the other was less 
than half as long and thick. The scrolls also proved to be almost pure 
silver—the larger scroll is 99 percent silver, 1 percent copper. (See 
Gabriel Barkay, “The Priestly Benediction on the Silver Plaques,” /Ketef 
Hinnom: A Treasure Facing Jerusalem’s Walls,/ Jerusalem: The Israel 
Museum, 1986, p. 29.)

For four years the Israel Museum laboratories hesitated as to the means 
of opening the scrolls without damaging them. Finally they developed a 
special method of smearing acrylic glue on the backs and slowly 
unrolling them. The museum discovered that the scrolls were covered with 
ancient Hebrew writing.

The text proved to be difficult to decipher. The letters are faint and 
shallow, and the scrolls are heavily cracked, with missing fragments. 
Only 53 percent of the inscriptions on the larger scroll remain.

The drawing of the inscriptions was made by using microscopic 
binoculars, taking photographs with different lighting, and enlarging 
and projecting photographs onto the wall, so it was possible to copy 
part of the text.

The deciphered text on the larger scroll is almost identical to Numbers 
6:24–26 [Num. 6:24–26 <http://scriptures.lds.org/num/6/24-26#24>], 
commonly called the “priestly benediction.” The deciphered text on the 
smaller scroll is a shorter version of the benediction—ten words instead 
of fifteen in the Hebrew original version of Numbers—that is reminiscent 
of Psalms 67:2:

“God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon 
us; Selah.” [Ps. 67:2 <http://scriptures.lds.org/ps/67/2#2>]

The rest of the text remains largely indecipherable. Dr. Barkay says, 
“We have a general idea, though. It is a kind of apotropaic text. In 
other words, it invokes divine protection. We have found the Hebrew word 
/hesed,/ which means /mercy,/ and the name of the Lord in the text. The 
inscription stresses the Jehovistic concept and concentration of worship.”

Yours,
Harold Holmyard