Biblical Hebrew Forum

[fred burlingame <tensorpath AT gmail.com>]

Hello George:

Thanks for your message.

Let's assume for a moment that this forum purpose included the language of
classical or ancient greek poetry, and that I posted concerning the
fictional, homeric epic, The Odyssey.

Let's assume further, that I presented one verse describing the character
and powers of Odysseus. You then offered a competing opinion concerning the
meaning of these greek words. I replied with a reference to numerous other
verses which fleshed out the character of Odysseus and confirmed the meaning
of the greek words in the particular verse in question.

The above "back and forth" would presumably be considered uneventful and
routine discussion about the ancient greek language of classical greek
poetry.
I do not see how a meaningful discussion of ancient greek poetry can occur,
however, when one of the primary surviving examples of such language
involves the history of a person named Odysseus; and yet the story of
Odysseus and his character cannot be discussed, as a mechanism to achieve
contextual understanding of the specific greek words used.

The above discussion analogizes to the story of יהוה , the primary surviving
example of ancient hebrew language or biblical hebrew language.

You and the moderators here are free of course to place whatever boundaries
you want on the discussion.

But it seems to me, that when I propose a meaning of "evil" for a particular
hebrew word describing the actions of the central figure in the masoretic
text; and you counter with a proposed and milder meaning; the entire text of
the book becomes highly relevant to ascertain the proper meaning of
the word in the particular verse in question, especially since the remainder
of the book closely addresses the actions of that central figure.

Be that as it may, I am happy to respect the boundaries of discussion here,
even if it means we look to understand planet earth by ignoring the eastern
hemisphere and looking only to the western hemisphere for comprehension.

regards,

fred burlingame
On Wed, Oct 27, 2010 at 8:21 PM, George Athas 
<George.Athas AT moore.edu.au>wrote:

> Fred,
>
> You’ve gone beyond Isa 45 to glean meanings. I’m not saying you’re wrong to
> do so—it’s just a theological approach and, as such, is pushing the
> boundaries of B-Hebrew. There is often a very fine line between discussing
> biblical literature and discussing theology (for obvious reasons), so if you
> can keep your comments to the meaning of Isa 45, then we can continue
> discussion. If, however, you’re seeking to make comments about the nature of
> God, then I’m afraid we’ve gone beyond B-Hebrew’s parameters.
>
>
> GEORGE ATHAS
> Co-Moderator, B-Hebrew
> (Sydney, Australia)
>
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