Biblical Hebrew Forum

[David Kolinsky <yishalom AT sbcglobal.net>]

George, 

Not necessarily in support of Jim , but about what you wrote:

"...assume/demand that people be named at birth for something they do later 
in life. THAT does not make sense."

There is an assumption in Biblical scholarship and on this list that the 
Bible is perfect history or at least distorted history with political 
intentions.  Perhaps that assumption is entirely wrong.  Perhaps the Bible is 
history distorted in such a way as to tell lessons, sort of the same way that 
Greek mythology teaches us about personality traits (Narcissus for example).  
Then a characters names matching their achievements later in life makes 
perfect sense.  If this were not the case then why are so many characters so 
frequently having their names changed in the context of the story.  

Avram = exalted father AND  one whose willingness (to engage life ) is 
elevated
Avraham = one who spread his wings [?BR] in pursuit of stirring experiences 
[HMH]

Sarai = one who focuses on many things (distractedly)
Sarah = one who focuses on one particular thing [SRH]

YaaQoV = one who grabs on to a thing, and examines and follows, traces a 
thing, with critical thinking (see Arabic)
Yisrael = one who remains focused on G-d / what advances forward [SRH]

AND YES I KNOW THAT YOU ALL BELIEVE THAT MY ETYMOLOGIES ARE MORE THAN A 
STRETCH AND SO YOU IGNORE MY POSTS, BUT REALLY DO YOU EVER EVEN STOP TO 
CONSIDER THEM, OR DO YOU JUST DISREGARD THEM OUT OF HAND

No offense meant to anyone on the list, but perhaps your belief in the 
paradigm taught to you prevents you from looking close enough to see what is 
being said.

With respect,

David Kolinsky
Monterey CA

--- On Fri, 9/16/11, George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au> wrote:

From: George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au>
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Caleb
To: "B-Hebrew" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Date: Friday, September 16, 2011, 2:12 AM

Thank you for you last post on this, Jim. For what it's worth, the names do 
"make sense" but you don't seem to like what they mean and assume/demand that 
people be named at birth for something they do later in life. THAT does not 
make sense.

That's the end of the thread now.


GEORGE ATHAS
Director of Postgraduate Studies,
Moore Theological College (moore.edu.au)
Sydney, Australia


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