Biblical Hebrew Forum

[ben.crick AT argonet.co.uk (Ben Crick)]

On Sat 20 Feb 2010 (15:27:46 +0800), biblestudy.burke AT gmail.com wrote:
> Then he concludes by saying that the last Hebrew word-form in Genesis
> 2:18, though sadly not indexed by the OLB, has a sense along the lines
> of "as in-front-of him", which the KJV has given as "meet for him".

'e`e:&eH-LoW           `eCeR         K:NeG:DoW       [&=Sin; C=tsodhe]
I-shall-make-for-him   a helper  as-one-by-his-side

God brought the animals to Adam for him to name them. Apparently they
all came in *pairs*: but for Adam there was no "pair". So God took a "rib"
(CeLe`) from Adam's chest and cloned Eve from it. He only needed one cell for
the DNA code, but he had to snip the Y chromosome and supply an extra X to 
make a female. (verse 21)

Matthew Henry observes "not from his head to be her superior; not from 
his feet to be his inferior, but from his side to be his equal" (or words to
that effect). Did Adam approve of Eve?  He was thrilled - Zo'T HaPPa`aM ! 
he exclaimed: "WOW!!!"  He didn't know what had hit him like a hammer!  
The English versions vastly understate his reaction. (verse 23)

The OLB you cite appears to be offering the "Strong's Numbers". These are
useful, but not always a good guide. NeGeD is a segholate noun meaning the
front part of the body. As a preposition, it means before, opposite, in front
of, beside. In Genesis 2:18 God took the rib from his "chest", which is where
one's ribs are!  The rib is the only bone which will regenerate itself after
one is amputated.

Shalom
Ben
-- 
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