Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <Yigal.Levin AT biu.ac.il>]

Jim, even if Sulam were a foreign loanword, that in itself would not be proof of how old the story is. Maybe we should be looking for a Persian or Greek source for the term – not that I have any suggestions.

 

Yigal Levin

 

From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of jimstinehart AT aol.com
Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2012 5:46 AM
To: George.Athas AT moore.edu.au; b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] gen 28 sulam

 

George Athas:

 

You wrote:  “I think סלם meant 'elevator', because I can't see any other technology as being able to get to the top of the sky in good time to enable divine messengers to be going up and down on them all within the timeframe of a single vision.”

 

1.  The Hebrews and Canaan had no concept of technology similar to an elevator.

 

2.  But more to the point on the b-hebrew list, there is no Hebrew linguistic connection between SLM and “elevator”.

 

The only way to “square the circle”, as it were, is to consider the possibility that SLM may have been a foreign loanword into Hebrew way back when.  We begin to realize that the Patriarchal narratives are  r-e-a-l-l-y  old.

 

Jim Stinehart

Evanston, Illinois