Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Jerry Shepherd <jshepherd53 AT gmail.com>]

Karl: "This is completely backwards—I don’t straitjacket the text, rather the text leads to the understanding.  If one defines each word’s use by its immediate context, if taken to its logical conclusion, results in linguistic chaos where meanings are subject to one’s personal whims. There needs to be some discipline. What do you suggest should be the discipline?"

 

Jerry: When you come to the biblical text with the preconceived notion that a lexeme in all its occurrences has "one unique meaning" you are inevitably going to distort the text.   Languages don't work that way; texts don't work that way.  The recognition that a lexeme can have different meanings by no way leads to linguistic chaos.  That is simply a fiction of your imagination.  Yes, there is a discipline, and the grand majority of biblical scholars are well trained in that discipline.  In the next day or two, I'll start a separate thread on a particular Hebrew word to demonstrate how that discipline works.

 

Blessings,

 

Jerry

Jerry Shepherd

Taylor Seminary

Edmonton, Alberta

jshepherd53 AT gmail.com