Biblical Hebrew Forum

[James Read <J.Read-2 AT sms.ed.ac.uk>]

Hi,

Quoting Jay Frank <jif95 AT mac.com>:

\> In terms of Torah study, I rely on the JPS Torah commentary
> supplemented by Plaut, with frequent reference to Everett Fox,   
> Friedman, and Alter, and  I am more than satisfied with   
> provisionally rejecting Alter's rendering of 1 Samuel 15:31. At the   
> same time, I have been led to believe that Alter has considerable   
> expertise and artistry in the field, certainly enough to warrant   
> respect, hence the provisional nature of my rejection. Your strong   
> suspicion "that  Alter has theological reasons for his   
> interpretation" is simply insufficient to leave me uninterested in   
> the possibility of getting further clarification from the author.

I too eagerly await his input. He has been CC'd in an earlier email.  
We'll have to wait and see if he is too high and mighty to defend his  
position or not.

> It is interesting that you now write: "You yourself provided his   
> agenda when you opened this thread." Apparently, what started as a   
> strong suspicion has achieved the status of self-evident   
> observation. Such is the magic of certitude ...

I'm not sure what all of what you just said meant. I'm just working  
from memory of the Alter quote you gave which showed that Alter has  
problems reconciling his ideas of how Samuel should act with how the  
text shows that Samual actually did act. Correct me if I'm wrong but  
he intimated some kind of linguistic position without actually backing  
it up with verifiable linguistic facts.

If you wish to continue to respect such methods that's you decision  
entirely. Some of us around here consider verifiable facts to be more  
important than the reputation of whoever propogates a theory without  
demonstrating the factual basis of his reasoning.


> Thank you anyway for your input.

Did you check out the Greek and Latin traditions? Did you notice that  
they seem to be in stark disagreement with Alter's unfounded theory?


James Christian



> Jay
>
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