Biblical Hebrew Forum

[LM Barre <l_barre AT yahoo.com>]

Original Israel is defined by the tribes mentioned in the Song of Deborah 
(Judges 5).  Conspicuously absent is the tribe of Judah.  Levi was a priestly 
tribe founded by Moses the Egyptian and moved about, eventually migrating to 
the north and spreading out in various locations.

 
Lloyd Barré, PhD
 
 



>From hholmyard3 AT earthlink.net  Mon Feb  9 18:18:38 2009
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Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Deut 23 [was:  Historical memory]
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Bill,
>> HH: Maybe it is the translation I am using. Here is verse 9 of
>> Deuteronomy 23:
>>
>
> I had a closer look at this last night and I agree with you now. There are
> samekhs in the Hebrew text which divide the laws into groups. I think my
> point still stands. If we look at the wider context this is the final speech
> of Moses before he dies and the Israelites will soon cross the Jordan. The
> near future to them was military action. These verses do not seem to
> presuppose a large group of fighting men which are spoken about in other
> passages.
>

HH: There was a camp of Israel, but the camp of Israel did not camp
against enemies, generally speaking. That was an action for adult men.
That is what we see in the conquest. We don't see women, children, and
old people camping against the enemy to defeat them in battle.

> A couple more places which easily spring to mind where the Israelites seem
> to be quite a small group are Ex 1:15 where Shiprah is listed a ha`achath
> (the first) and Puah as hashenith (the second). Two midwives seem to imply a
> small population.

HH: Concluding there were only two midwives probably makes no sense in
the context. When management speaks to labor at a large firm, they don't
usually gather all the employees, especially if it is a national firm.
They talk to representatives. The king could talk to the midwives by
talking to their representatives. Nahum Sarna, in his Jewish Publication
Society commentary on Exodus, cites Ibn Ezra as saying that these two
women were overseers of the practitioners, directly responsible to the
authorities for the women under them.

> The second is Ex 24:3 where Moses relates the covenant to
> the people and they answer with qol echad, one voice. Again this is feasible
> if he is talking to a small band of Israelites but not workable if there
> were vast numbers of people there.
>

HH: It is workable. The message could have been relayed through
designated spokesmen for particular groups. Or perhaps Moses could have
stood in a place where the acoustics were perfect and echoed well. He
was in a mountainous area. Perhaps the people could have stood up sides
of a mountain valley, so that a great number could gather in a
relatively small distance from Moses and Aaron.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard