Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Randall Buth <randallbuth AT gmail.com>]

vattixtov Deni
>Samson was a Nazarite and part of the vow is to avoid touching dead bodies.

In this verse:
Jdg 14:19 The LORD's spirit empowered him. He went down to Ashkelon
>and*murdered
>* thirty men. He took their clothes and gave them to the men who had solved
>the riddle. He was furious as he went back home.
>
>To me, it's clear from the text that the Hebrew word for "murdered" (נכה *
>nakah)* is correctly translated.


In English usage one could use the word 'murder'. However, the Hebrew
idiom is the word 'hit' הכה יכה להכות 'he hit, he will hit, to hit',
which is frequently
used as an idiom/euphemism for 'kill'. [PS: the root n.k.h
(historically. n.k.y.) is
not a usable word by itself but is a root. A word נכה nake (from *naka) means
'maimed'.] Here of course hikka means 'killed'.


>However, my opponent makes the following point:
>
>. . .
>My oponent is arguing that the word "nakah" in this instance doesn't mean
>that these men were completely dead.
>
>I come to you to ask your opinion on the matter of the grammar and the
>definition of the word "nakah" in it's proper context.


It is a strange argument because only a few verses earlier Samson was
touching a dead lion. Samson is a flawed character, like so many in the
book of Judges.

>ALSO
>
>It has been brought up that Samson in Judges 16:1, did not actually have
>sexual intercourse with the harlot, yet from my understanding "he came on
>unto her" is an idiom used for sexual intercourse.
>

Yes. That is what "bo eleha" means, and of course that is what a zona
prostitute does.
Again, a flawed character.

blessings
Randall Buth

-- 
Randall Buth, PhD
www.biblicalulpan.org
randallbuth AT gmail.com
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