Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

Isaac Fried:
 
1.  You wrote:  “Her [Tamar’s] key role was, indeed, faithfulness, 
audacity, and nobility, not talkatively.”
 
What if Tamar had been faithful, audacious and noble, but when Judah 
approached her she had not “said”, three times, that she needed a pledge from 
him, and when Judah had imperiously ordered her to be burned alive, she had 
not 
“said” that she had Judah’s pledge?  There would be no twin sons of Tamar! 
 No Perez, no King David, no Bible as we know it.  [Note that Judah is 
portrayed as siring a son/grandson as his proper heir, which historically was 
a 
hot button issue in Year 13, with the second half of Genesis 14: 4 seeming 
to explicitly reference “Year 13”.]  In order for all of Tamar’s many 
admirable qualities to work, while Tamar avoids getting burned alive, the key 
is 
that, three times in succession, TMR T-)MR/Tamar said that she needed a 
pledge, and then later TMR T-)MR/Tamar said that she still had that pledge, 
leading to Judah’s famous exclamation that “She is more righteous than I”.  
TMR 
= T-)MR.
 
2.  You wrote:  “I don't think that the Hebrew bible is playing word games.”
 
How can you say that after reading Genesis 29: 32?  “And Leah conceived, 
and bare a son, and she called his name Reuben [R)WBN]:  for she said, Surely 
the LORD hath looked [R)H] upon [B] my affliction [(NY];  now therefore my 
husband will love me.”  The name “Reuben” would seem to mean “Behold, a son”
, but “the Hebrew bible is playing word games”, and the official 
Patriarchal explanation of the name “Reuben” is:  “[the LORD] hath looked 
upon my 
affliction”.  Similar word games apply to the naming of each and every one of 
Jacob’s 12 sons.
 
3.  In my view, an early Hebrew author both created/selected the name TMR, 
and also composed chapter 38 of Genesis, which features TMR T-)MR in three 
consecutive verses at Genesis 38: 16-18.  In support of my linguistic view 
that TMR is intended to embody T-)MR, I have noted two similar linguistic 
examples by the same early Hebrew author:  (i) TRX = T-)RX;  (ii) MMR) = 
M-)MR). 
 [If Mamre the Amorite is historical, then historically his final two years 
at the Patriarchs’ Hebron, when he was in alliance with tent-dwellers per 
Genesis 14: 13, were Years 12-13.]  In all three cases, the early Hebrew 
author is creating/selecting a name that fits his storyline perfectly.  
Historically, all of these names and stories fit Years 12-14 perfectly.  
Linguistically, which is the focus of this thread, TMR = T-)MR.  That meaning 
fits the 
storyline perfectly.  In the Patriarchal narratives, “the Hebrew bible is 
playing word games”, and does so brilliantly.  It’s all deliberate and 
intentional.
 

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois