Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Randall Buth <randallbuth AT gmail.com>]

> R(( seems to be one of those roots, and that understanding
> allows it to be recognized as a possible root for R(YWN in
> Qohelet.

but still morphologically wrong and unjustified,

A person FIRST needs to recognize that the root of רעיון,
is resh-`ayin-yod and could have meanings and words that are
a metaphorical extension beyond 'feed'   (wow, a novel idea!)
(like 'ruminate your thoughts', 'joining your ideas together'),

Consider Jeremiah 3.15 "... shepherds after my own heart,
who will "pasture" you with knowledge and understanding.
Hey, not bad.

There are two non-qal examples in the Bible where this root is
linked with 'joining or befriending' (far from physical 'feeding'):
one should check out Prov 22:24, assuming you are aware that
lamed yod verbs drop their "final-y/h" with volitionals (like 'al').
(the hitpael from r.`.y. here means "don't befriend an angry person",
or "don't associate with a short-fused person".)
[See the verb רעה at Jud 14.20 (pi`el is best, as a better
fit with the hitpa`el just mentioned)  with the probable meaning
'who "befriended" for him, who had acted as 'best man'."]
One also finds properly formed words from r.`.y. like
Hos 12.2 ro`eh ru`aH parallel to 'chasing the the
east-wind', not too far from Qohelet ra`yon ruaH,
and the etymology fits.

As mentioned, when an item is rare in the Heb Bible, and
ra`yon only occurs 3xx and only in Qohelet, and when it's
etymology might seem not to fit clearly, then it is time
to raise ones eyes and get a wider perspective.
"[KR] I have nothing against consulting cognate languages.
In fact, for some of the lesser known terms in Biblical Hebrew,
such consultation may be the only way we can get enough
context to understand a word."

ra`yon occurs 6xx in Aramaic Daniel, in the Bible.
And once it even occurs with the exact collocation as Qohelet,
"the ra`yon of the heart". Wow!
It's hard to ask for more than that in the world of limited data.

Now morphology is not guesswork. But tracing the semantic
etymology is guess work, and is different from
meaning. Perhaps '"feeding" of the heart' became
'meditation, thought'. Knowing all the steps of an etymology
is not really important, it is the attested meaning that the word
develops that counts.

(Of course, there are the LXX, and Mishnaic Hebrew,
and other Aramaic dialects, which just may be preserving
the meaning. At least check them out and see if they fit--
before making personal guesses and before jumping to roots
that are NOT the root.
And even there, checking other words one finds rea` 'intention,
thought', from an unclear root, and homonym with
rea` 'friend' and rea` 'shout, noise' root r.w.`.),
Ps 139:2:
> [KR]  אתה ידעת שבתי וקומי    בנתה לרעי מרחוק
> you know my settling down and my rising up,
> it is built up for my feeding from a distance.
[sic]

Once again, a poor reading, chosing the wrong verb. The context
is on God's knowing our thoughts, deeds, words. God knows all.
There is no feminine subject, but -tah is a good BH form for
'you understood/understand' AND it fits the context perfectly.
And the end of verse three has another -tah form for 'you'.
The reading, and a very tight parallel with the first half of
the poetic line is:
'you know my sitting and my standing up,
     you understand my intentions from afar
  ...    there is no word on my tongue
             but you, O Lord, know them [it/word] all.

> I can see where you get your understanding, but I question it,
> yet at the same time I am not happy with how I understand it.

Progress.

> Neither are smooth from the Hebrew. For your [David] reading,
> this is not the normal second person singular in a context full of normal
> second person singular verbs.

Not true. See verse three hiskantah (verb) and verse 5 kappekah (noun).

So we can 'justify' the Danielic and Aramaic understanding of
ra`yon with a cousin or two in the Hebrew Bible.
[there is another 'thought' word in Ps 139:23   sar`apay, for those
interested in expanding their vocab.]


There's probably not much more to say on this thread.
Sufficient data is now pretty much there for all to see, to weigh,
to learn how to learn, and to conclude.

There is certainly no reason to reject the Hebrew pedigree of
ra`yon (r.`.y.) "meditation of the heart" and to jump to an
incorrect morphology and an unjustified r.`.`. 'bad, displeasure'.

--
Randall Buth, PhD
www.biblicallanguagecenter.com
Biblical Language Center
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