Biblical Hebrew Forum

[George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au>]

So the situation is this:

Jerry has shown that in pretty much all the occurrences of רקע, the forms of 
this root seem to indicate something tangible that can be beaten or hammered 
out. The question is: Does Gen 1 provide an exception?

Methinks not. The text itself suggests something tangible across which birds 
can fly. Rolf's insistence on me providing evidence is essentially asking me 
to prove that על פני must mean 'across the surface'. Having pointed to the 
usage of the phrase twice in the specific context under question, I don't 
know what other evidence he wants. If one cannot accept the evidence from the 
context, that is no longer my problem — we are dealing with different 
methods: contextual evidence versus tangential considerations.


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