Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Mike Burke <michaelgburk AT yahoo.com>]

>>>>...I think even HALOT here has overstated things. It mentions Isa 28.28 and 36.17 as meaning 'grain for food'. But in both those cases, the text may imply grain, but only does so in the sense that it's 'incipient' bread. It's a bit like us talking about getting petrol from the ground. What that would mean is getting oil, which is then processed into petrol. But petrol doesn't actually mean oil. By talking about 'bread' in those two references, the texts are merely stating what goes into the making of 'bread'. I'm open to correction on that, but the word itself doesn't mean 'grain' as far as I can see.<<<<

I'm interested in the semantic range of this word.

Does anyone know if the word is ever used (outside the Bible) to mean grain?

Are there any Midrash on Isa. 28:28 or 36:17?

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From: George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au>
To: "b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Wednesday, April 10, 2013 2:16 AM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] ובלחם

I wouldn't go with Strong's lexicon for determining meanings and semantic ranges. It would be much better to go with HALOT.

But I think even HALOT here has overstated things. It mentions Isa 28.28 and 36.17 as meaning 'grain for food'. But in both those cases, the text may imply grain, but only does so in the sense that it's 'incipient' bread. It's a bit like us talking about getting petrol from the ground. What that would mean is getting oil, which is then processed into petrol. But petrol doesn't actually mean oil. By talking about 'bread' in those two references, the texts are merely stating what goes into the making of 'bread'. I'm open to correction on that, but the word itself doesn't mean 'grain' as far as I can see.

GEORGE ATHAS

Dean of Research,

Moore Theological College (moore.edu.au)

Sydney, Australia

From: Mike Burke <michaelgburk AT yahoo.com>
Reply-To: Mike Burke <michaelgburk AT yahoo.com>
Date: Wednesday, 10 April 2013 2:22 PM
To: George Athas <george.athas AT moore.edu.au>, B-Hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] ובלחם

>>>>No. לחם can mean food, or more specifically 'bread', but not grain.<<<<

So James D. Strong was wrong when he defined the word as follows?

1. bread, food, grain
   1. bread
      1. bread
      2. bread-corn
   2. food (in general)

Michael Burke

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