Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Stewart:

On Mon, Apr 1, 2013 at 2:25 AM, Stewart Felker <stewart.felker AT gmail.com> wrote:

Several times in the Hebrew Bible - in Numbers 22 and in Exodus 10 - the phrase עין הארץ is used, usually translated (figuratively) as 'surface of the earth'.

Actually, the phrase, or some variation thereof, is used a total of four times in Tanakh, twice in Exodus 10:5, 15 and twice in Numbers 22:5, 11. All four times refer to a population so dense that the land could not be seen—twice the population was locusts in Egypt, twice the encampment of the Hebrews preparing to enter Canaan while east of the Jordan was described as being so dense.

I suspect here that what is meant is not the object, the surface of the earth, rather the action that one cannot see the earth’s surface.

 

Stewart Felker

University of Memphis

Karl W. Randolph.