Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Dear Nir:

First, the words you are looking for I’ve seen listed in dictionaries as ארר )RR and קבב QBB, not ארה )RH to nibble and קבה QBH “rib cage ?? Dt 18:3, chamber ?? Nu 25:8” In both cases the dictionary listings have a doubled second letter in order to make them fit the pattern of three letter roots. In this chapter, a -H suffix was added to emphasize a request.

I am away from my research materials for an extended trip, but what I have seems to indicate that ארר )RR “to curse” is a stronger term than קלל QLL “to treat lightly (unimportant), also to move lightly, quickly, to become light”. קבב QBB “to execrate, call down a curse on” is a specialized subset of cursing. ארר )RR is used from early to late texts within Tanakh.

As for the second question, why God first refused, then allowed Balaam to go? I don’t know either, and any answer I’d propose at this time will be speculation. I’ve puzzled over this many a time.

Karl W. Randolph.

On Mon, Sep 24, 2012 at 4:06 PM, Nir cohen - Prof. Mat. <nir AT ccet.ufrn.br> wrote:

i cannot comment on the dagesh. but i am intrigued by the rare words
)RH and QBH used in num 22, rather than QLL used in other (or later)
contexts. more so, as opposite for BRK as appears in numbers 22:6.
biblical )RH has to do with poison as well as a curse.
QBH has to do with punching (NQB) or hammering (MQBT) or clubbing (QB),
perhaps related to woodoo-type rituals related to cursing.

this chapter raises one more problem: god allows bilam to go (22:20) but
disapproves when he does go (22:22).

nir cohen