Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Circle חוג

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au>
  • To: "b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Circle חוג
  • Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2012 10:15:45 +0000

This reasoning just doesn't cut it, I'm afraid. Essentially the argument is:
"It's possible, therefore we should assume it is true." I should also
probably add "…despite evidence for a contrary and more plausible
explanation." This is very poor reasoning that produces a conclusion without
any real warrant.

Also, everything seems to indicate that, in terms of cosmology, the
Israelites were actually not all that different from those around them. Sure,
they differed in other respects, but not in this one. Job 26.10 very clearly
sees the חוג as something that can be traced on the surface of water, as does
Prov 8.27. This is not a sphere. And there are pillars (Job 26.11) that rest
on this earthly circle and hold up the sky which, if it is above the circle
of the earth, is also presumably a circle, a la Job 22.14. There is no sphere
here. And if anything, the LXX translators who were probably more familiar
with the Ptolemaic ideas of cosmology, would have been more likely to
translate חוג as 'sphere' or 'ball', but they don't. They go for the term
gyros, which indicates a ring or circle.

The appeal to future possible linguistic discoveries is an argument of no
substance whatsoever. You cannot appeal to non-existent evidence in order to
override the evidence that does exist. We do not need to find future possible
linguistic discoveries. We can simply read the biblical texts and see what
they say. Suspending judgement on evidence which points pretty clearly to a
conclusion we may not like is simply not good scholarship. It's
predetermining a conclusion and then trying to find evidence that can support
it. It's 'cart before the horse' methodology.


GEORGE ATHAS
Dean of Research,
Moore Theological College (moore.edu.au)
Sydney, Australia




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page