Biblical Hebrew Forum

[TedBro AT aol.com]

Yitzhak:
 
You wrote:
 
>> In contrast Deut
32:8-9 are much less open
to  reinterpretation, specifically because they build up - Elyon
divides the  nations among the
children of El, Y gets his share in Jacob.  This is  why the LXX and MT
saw the need to actually
change the text -- because the  poem is in general rather open to a
polytheistic world view but
in these  specific verses, it practically cries out. 
 
Could you please elaborate on this? I don't see any hierarchy at all in  
these verses, just different names for the same deity, as used throughout the 
 
poem and the tanakh as a whole. 
 
CHELEQ signifies a sacrificial portion especially dedicated to God. There  
is no implication that other portions are dedicated to other deities. Where  
is there evidence of multiple deities in these verses, as opposed to 
multiple  names for the One Deity? 
 
Further, even if some of the language is reminiscent of Canaanite  
literature, the Bible writer would not adopt the Canaanite world view when  
quoting 
Canaanite text but would transform it. The parallel between the Ugaritic  
poem of Baal as Rider of the Clouds and Psalm 29 is illustrative. The 
Psalmist 
 need not have been a Baal worshipper to borrow language or motif. The 
adaptation  is, rather, a way of denying Baal, and saying that the true God 
of 
all things  including fertility, rain and cloud is YHWH, not Baal. "Yahweh 
will rule  forever and ever."
 
Peace,
Ted Brownstein
 
 
In a message dated 3/1/2010 12:55:38 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com writes:

In  contrast Deut
32:8-9 are much less open
to reinterpretation,  specifically because they build up - Elyon
divides the nations among  the
children of El, Y gets his share in Jacob.  This is why the LXX  and MT
saw the need to actually
change the text -- because the poem is  in general rather open to a
polytheistic world view but
in these  specific verses, it practically cries  out.