Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Vadim Cherny <vadimcherny AT gmail.com>]

My Exodus 20 has 22 verses, though perhaps Christians have it  
differently. No, in this case adamah cannot include stones because

1. The verses clearly differentiate between the two altars.
2. Adamah in the sense of material rather than territory never  
includes stones.
3. The text speaks of ad hoc altars at many places in Sinai, though  
transportation of stone altar would be too cumbersome and, at any  
rate, unattested in the detailed description of transporting the  
Tabernacle.

Vadim Cherny



On Mar 8, 2010, at 3:34 AM, Steve Miller wrote:

> Vadim,
> Do you mean Exo 20:24-25? I am guessing that adamah can include stone.
>
> Sincerely,
> -Steve Miller
>
>
> Genesis 20:20-21 has always bothered me. How come that God cannot  
> make his
> mind on the most important issue, whether the altar should be of  
> earth or
> stone? Just after explicitly commanding to make the altar of earth,  
> he says,
> "And if you would make an altar of stone." That makes no sense.
>
> One possibility is that Gen20:20 employs future anterior tense ("I  
> shall
> have done the job when you arrive"). In such structure, weqatal  
> would be
> past participle. With suitable ellipse, the text would mean that WHEN
> Hebrews start bringing sacrifices (near future), they must build an  
> altar of
> earth to accommodate for those ad hoc offerings. And when (later)  
> they will
> build a stone altar, it must be made of unhewn stones.
>
> Vadim Cherny