Biblical Hebrew Forum

[David Kummerow <farmerjoeblo AT hotmail.com>]

> David:
>
> On Thu, Jan 29, 2009 at 2:38 PM, David Kummerow 
> <farmerjoeblo AT hotmail.com>wrote:
> > >  >
> > >  > You grammarians make mountains out of molehills. There's no oath
> > > here, just
> > >  > simple action and consequence. Why not just take things at face value?
> > >  >
> > >
> > > HH: Because it's a known usage of the phrase )M L), and it fits here,
> > > and your idea really does not work because there is no specification of
> > > wrong behavior with yours.
> > >  >
> >
> > Exactly. Conklin has recently done an exhaustive analysis of all oath
> > formula in the Hebrew Bible. These verses in Job are analysed and fit
> > the pattern of oath formula where the curse half is suppressed (be it
> > for politeness reasons, assumed cultural knowledge, etc.).
> >
> > Conklin, Blane W. 2005. "Oath Formulae in Classical Hebrew and Other
> > Semitic Languages." PhD diss., University of Chicago.
> >
> >  From memory, I think the work is now published.
> >
> > Regards,
> > David Kummerow
>
>
> Either you two are using a different definition of "oath" than what I have
> learned, or this is not an oath statement. I see just a simple "if…then…"
> statement where the "if" is given in the negative, in a manner used
> elsewhere in Tanakh ( the )M L) phrase is not limited to oath statements),
> where the "then" is the consequence if the action of the if statement is not
> carried out. The unstated implicated completion of the thought is that if
> the action is carried out, then there will be a different outcome.
>
> In the particulars, if God doesn't allow Job to lose his wealth and children
> 1:11, then Job will bless God. In 2:5 extended to his health. Where is the
> oath? Where is the need to change the wording of the sentence from "bless"
> to "curse"?
>
> I'm not up to answering Harold directly. How can one have a discussion where
> I say one thing, then Harold answer me in the next line claiming that I said
> the opposite of what I just said? Especially after I said the same thing two
> or three times?
>
> Karl W. Randolph.


Hi Karl,

The oath statement by satan is a reduced form of the more full "If he 
does not bless you to your face, [then may I be cursed]". Conklin has 
demonstrated that oaths in BH and other Semitic languages more often 
than not come in some reduced form, either for politeness reasons, or 
assumed cultural knowledge on the part of the speaker where the 
addressee is assumed to be able to fill in the ellipsis. Put positively, 
the statement by satan is that "he will surely bless you to your face". 
Like Harold, I take it that satan doesn't actually mean that as the 
statement is the opposite of what the context of the utterance implies, 
ie "that he will curse you to your face". Given this, it is not 
unreasonable to assume obvious scribal alteration. This seems much more 
likely to me than the lexicographic gymnastics you have to go through to 
make "bless" say something other than "bless".

Regarding idiomatic statements in BH which "say" one thing but mean the 
opposite, see one form of this type of thing in the following article:

Driver, G. R. 1973. “Affirmation by Exclamatory Negation.” Journal of 
the Ancient Near Eastern Society 5: 107-114.

Regards,
David Kummerow.