Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Stephen Shead <sshead.email AT gmail.com>]

Ken,

A small response to the other texts you listed with אלהיו with a subject/object from outside Israel: The difference with 1 Sam 17:43 is that באלהיו is immediately preceded by "David". In all the other cases you listed, even where there is some other candidate in the context whose "god/s" might possibly be on view (e.g. Jehoiakim in Dan 1:2 or Jonah in Jon 1:5), there are not named immediately before באלהיו. So I'm not sure that list has much weight for considering this case.

And a very minor point I noticed, which has nothing to do with Ken's reply and is probably irrelevant to the topic anyway: I notice that all the English translations render the final אשׁר חרפת as "whom you have defied" - presumably referring to YHWH. But every other reference to Goliath's defiance (with חרף) explicitly gives the "ranks" (מערכות, battle lines) of Israel as the object:

v.10 "I defy the ranks of Israel"

v.25 "to defy Israel"

v.26 "he defies the ranks of the living God"

v.36 "he defies the ranks of the living God"

So in v. 45, I presume the natural antecedent of אשׁר would simply be מערכות ישׂראל, rather than going all the way back to YHWH.

(Interestingly, the only translation I saw which opts for that is the Spanish Nueva Versión Internacional, which uses a plural relative pronoun agreeing with "armies".)

Stephen Shead

Centro de Estudios Pastorales

Santiago, Chile

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ken Penner <kpenner AT stfx.ca>
To: Yigal Levin <Yigal.Levin AT biu.ac.il>, "b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Cc: 
Date: Thu, 1 Aug 2013 10:59:35 -0300
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] By Whose God did Goliath Curse

Relevant texts (in which אֱלֹהָיו is not preceded by the tetragrammaton; the subject or object is not from Israel) include:

Daniel 1:2 //Ezra 1:7

2 Kings 19:37//Isaiah 37:38//2 Chron 32:21

Isaiah 8:19

Jonah 1:5

2 Kings 17:29

Micah 4:5

Ezra 1:3

 

The pattern seems to be that the suffixed pronoun consistently refers to the subject of the verb.

                                                                                                                                          

“And the Lord gave Jehoiakim the king of Judah into his hand and some of the utensils of the temple of God, and he brought them to the land of Shinar to the temple of his gods, and he brought the utensils to the treasury of his gods.” (Daniel 1:2, LEB)

“And Cyrus the king brought out the objects of the house of Yahweh that Nebuchadnezzar had brought from Jerusalem and placed in the house of his gods.” (Ezra 1:7, LEB)

“It happened that he was worshiping in the temple of Nisroch his god, and Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him with the sword. Then they escaped into the land of Ararat, and Esarhaddon his son became king in his place.” (2 Kings 19:37, LEB)

“And this happened: he was bowing in worship in the house of Nisroch his god, and Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him with the sword. And they themselves escaped to the land of Ararat, and Esar-haddon his son reigned as king in his place.” (Isaiah 37:38, LEB)

“Then Yahweh sent an angel, and he destroyed every mighty warrior of strength, commander, and officer in the camp of the king of Assyria. And he returned with shamed face to his land and went into the house of his god. And some of the offspring of his loins fell upon him there with the sword.” (2 Chronicles 32:21, LEB)

“Now if they tell you, “Consult the ghosts and the spirits, those who chirp and those who mutter. Should not a people consult its gods, the dead on behalf of the living,” (Isaiah 8:19, LEB)

“And the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they threw the contents that were in the merchant ship into the sea to lighten it for them. And meanwhile Jonah went down into the hold of the vessel and lay down and fell asleep.” (Jonah 1:5, LEB)

“Yet every nation was making their gods, and they put them in the shrine of the high places that the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities in which they were living.” (2 Kings 17:29, LEB)

 “For all the nations walk, each in the name of its god, but we will walk in the name of Yahweh our God, forever and ever.” (Micah 4:5, LEB)

“Whoever among you who is from all of his people, may his God be with him and may he go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and may he build the house of Yahweh, the God of Israel. He is the God who is in Jerusalem.” (Ezra 1:3, LEB)

 

Ken M. Penner, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Religious Studies

2329 Notre Dame Avenue, 409 Nicholson Tower

St. Francis Xavier University

Antigonish, NS  B2G 2W5

Canada

(902)867-2265

kpenner AT stfx.ca