Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

Karl,

Your chronology just doesn't match that of anyone else, so all I'll say is that you have a massive uphill battle on your hands convincing anyone that Ugarit was in the Iron Age and was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar.

In terms of the use of ירה, you have to let context and function set the meaning. Occasionally, a word is used idiomatically in a way that departs from its standard meaning. For example, in English we talk about 'falling pregnant', even though no actual fall is involved at all. It's just idiomatic. I guess when you talk about a city or building or the like, ירה means 'construction' or something to that effect. I don'r want to constrain the meaning of ירה to what someone may have decided it means in other contexts. In this particular context, it seems to work OK.

GEORGE ATHAS

Dean of Research,

Moore Theological College (moore.edu.au)

Sydney, Australia