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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] priest code?

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  • From: K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>
  • To: fred burlingame <tensorpath AT gmail.com>
  • Cc: B-Hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] priest code?
  • Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2010 13:29:26 -0800

Fred:

On Thu, Nov 18, 2010 at 8:54 AM, fred burlingame <tensorpath AT gmail.com>wrote:

> Hello all:
>
> Examination of the biblical hebrew ("BH") language's pieces and parts
> useful, but perhaps the language's indivisibility requires an holistic
> approach to proper understanding.
>
> And so we have:
>
> ויעלו עד נחל אשכול ויראו את הארץ ויניאו את לב בני ישראל לבלתי בא אל הארץ
> אשר
> נתן להם יהוה
>
> numbers 32:9;
>
> and
>
> לא נשוב אל בתינו עד התנחל בני ישראל איש נחלתו
>
> numbers 32:18
>
> The three letter word נחל encodes two widely different meanings in these
> verses. The message of "stream valley" emerges in the first verse. And the
> meaning of "inherit" or "possess" appears communicated by the second.
>

So? Were they pronounced the same? We don’t know, though a good chance that
they were not. If not, then they were not homonyms, just happened to share
the same consonants.

>
>
> … I am simply
> questioning whether the BH language can be understood, at all, and apart
> from the masoretic text message, whatever the message might be.
>
> There is almost no problem understanding the Biblical text apart from the
Masoretic tradition, in fact, those pesky dots often just get in the way.
Most of the unpointed text (pre-Masoretic) can be understood with no problem
at all. Context explains almost all the questions, which is why I emphasize
context so much.

>
> regards,
>
> fred burlingame
>

You seem to be taking the argument that communication either has to be 100%
or 0% with nothing in between. But taking from personal experience, most
communication hovers between about 95–99% understood. And that holds true
for Biblical Hebrew as well.

Karl W. Randolph.




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