Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

Michael Abernathy wrote:

I'm a little uncertain how Psalm 8:6 should be understood.  Does the Hebrew 
word מעט suggest something that is originally made less than another or was 
previously equal to and then lessoned?

ותחסרהו מעט מאלהים    וכבוד והדר תעטרהו

If the latter would it be wrong to suggest that prior to the fall Adam and 
Eve were supposed to be equal to the angels?

================

Firstly, there is nothing about Adam and Eve in the Psalm. It simply makes 
the statement that Yahweh created humanity a little lower than אלהים. You can 
certainly choose to read the Psalm intertextually with Gen 2, but the Psalm 
itself does not do this.

Whether the text implies 'a little lower than God' or 'a little lower than 
gods' is debatable. When the Greek translation was made, monotheism was very 
firmly embedded within Judaism. But what the Greek tells us is that the Greek 
translators did not read 'a little lower than God' (singular), because that 
could have been translated without any emendation. Rather, they felt the 
Hebrew to be stating 'a little lower than gods' (plural). In a monotheistic 
setting, 'gods' becomes problematic, and therefore the emendation to 'angels' 
was logical. Indeed, I think the Hebrew naturally tends towards this 
understanding, as it addresses Yahweh directly in the second person, but 
talks about אלהים indirectly in the third person. It makes more sense, I 
think, that אלהים is being seen as distinct from Yahweh.

Cheers!

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


From: K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com<mailto:kwrandolph AT gmail.com>>
Date: Tuesday, 11 September 2012 11:31 PM
To: Michael Abernathy 
<mabernathy AT conwaycorp.net<mailto:mabernathy AT conwaycorp.net>>
Cc: B-Hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org<mailto:b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>>
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Psalm 8:6 made lower or lessened

Michael:

On Mon, Sep 10, 2012 at 8:38 PM, Michael Abernathy <
mabernathy AT conwaycorp.net<mailto:mabernathy AT conwaycorp.net>> wrote:

I'm a little uncertain how Psalm 8:6 should be understood.  Does the
Hebrew word מעט
suggest something that is originally made less than another or was
previously equal to and then lessoned?

ותחסרהו מעט מאלהים    וכבוד והדר תעטרהו

If the latter would it be wrong to suggest that prior to the fall Adam
and Eve were supposed to be equal to the angels?
Sincerely,
Michael Abernathy


Literally, the verse merely says that “you make him lack a little from God”.

A question comes up, was this the original reading, or was this a varient
that later became the standard? Or did the LXX mistranslate it?

מעט here is an adjective, meaning ‘a little, few’.

Karl W. Randolph.
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