Biblical Hebrew Forum

[James Christian <jc.bhebrew AT googlemail.com>]

> והארץ היתה תהו ובהו This phrase we have discussed many times with respect
> to
> the traditional understanding of the earth being formless and waste in its
> initial state of creation.
>
> Um, this is a point of contention. BHW is used only three times, all three
times parallel to THW.

THW is used in Isaiah 44:9 for a physical idol which has form. In Isaiah
45:18 it is used in contrast to being dwelt in, i.e. not created lifeless
but teaming with life. From these and other verses I understand that THW
means “lifeless”, not “formless”.
Hi Karl,

thanks for your analysis. I have the following observations to make:

1) First I looked at the LXX online at
http://www.septuagint.org/LXX/Genesis/1 and got the Greek rendition of ἡ δὲ
γῆ ἦν ἀόρατος καὶ ἀκατασκεύαστος. Both forms ἀόρατος and ἀκατασκεύαστος begin
with the alpha prefix which indicates an opposite meaning. Something like
what we do with 'necessary' and 'unnecessary' in English. In Greek όρατος 
means
visible and ἀόρατος invisible. See
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:alphabetic+letter%3D*o:entry+group%3D58:entry%3Do(rato/s
 and
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:alphabetic+letter%3D*a:entry+group%3D223:entry%3Da)o/ratos

κατασκεύαστος means artificial. See
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:alphabetic+letter%3D*k:entry+group%3D72:entry%3Dkataskeuasto/s

ἀκατασκεύαστος means 'not properly prepared'. See
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:alphabetic+letter%3D*a:entry+group%3D61:entry%3Da)kataskeu/astos

Does the translation 'and the land was invisible and not yet properly made'
make all that much sense? I get the feeling that another sense of ἀόρατος was
meant. Do we have any Greek experts around who can comment?

2) Then I looked in the Latin vulgate at
http://www.latinvulgate.com/verse.aspx?t=0&b=1 and got 'terra autem erat
inanis et vacua' as the Latin rendition. The terms inanis and vacua return
the following entries from the JM Latin English dictionary.

inanis = void| empty| hollow; vain; inane| foolish
vacuus = empty| vacant| unoccupied

As can be seen there seems to be some overlap in the semantic domains of
these two terms. Could it be that Jerome specifically chose these two terms
for that reason? Was he trying to preserve some kind semantic overlap of the
Hebrew terms THW and BHW?

3) Then I looked at the Onkelos Targum at Mechon Mamre. It gives this:

וארעא, הות צדיא וריקניא

Help! Does anyone do Aramaic around here? I can get as far as 'And earth
was...'. What do צדיא and ריקניא mean? The translation at
http://targum.info/pj/pjgen1-6.htm gives vacancy and desolation. It further
 adds 'solitary of the sons of men, and void of every animal' although I am
not sure if this is intended to be read as translation or explanation.

4) I looked at Isaiah 44:9. As far as I can see you are referring to this
phrase: יצרי פסל כלם תהו Is this talking about the idols? Or the people who
make them?

5) I also took a look at Isaiah 45:18. I guess I can see your point but am
not entirely sure if THW is meant to be understood as having the opposite
meaning of inhabited in this phrase. None of the ancient translations seem
to hint at any lifeless quality of THW.

James Christian