Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

David:

On Tue, Mar 22, 2011 at 12:56 AM, David Kolinsky 
<yishalom AT sbcglobal.net>wrote:

> George,
>
> …
>
> Nevertheless, here are the cognates to (oHaeL:
>
> Sabaic - folk, people, community
> Akkadian - tribe, confederation
> Arabic - take a wife, be familiar, inhabited; enable, qualify, competence,
> aptitude
>
> The later 4 in Arabic help to suggest the basic meaning of the word -
> "extend
>  outward" as in 1 - tent 2 - extended family, community 3- one's extending
> / extent, reach, ability
>

Good examples of why cognate language data needs to be taken with a grain,
often a very big grain, of salt. According to a concordance, אהל )HL is used
as a verb only four times, meaning to pitch one’s tent, by extension to
encamp.

I didn’t count the number of times it is used as a noun, meaning tent.

>
> This is further indicated by the Hiphil in Job (Jb25:5)
> "And how can a man be justified with G-d, and how shall one born of a woman
> be clean / pure?  (From) here unto the moon, and he cannot reach / extend,
> and so even the stars are not clear in his sight (eyes)."
>
> The Hiphil meaning "to project / reach / extend over / toward"
>

Read the context, it’s only five verses in this example. The subject is God
in an extended question, with the idea of encamping as far as in the same
manner as mentioned in Genesis 13:12. The hiphil only adds a nuance to the
meaning of encamping.

>
>
> Cordially,
>
> David Kolinsky,
> Monterey, CA
>
>
Karl W. Randolph.