On Sat 14 Nov 98 , peter_kirk AT sil.org wrote:
> Are there any other cases in which a woman has ZERA`?
Dear Peter,
Just a quick search yields
Leviticus 22:13
Ruth 4:12
1 Samuel 1:11, 2:20
The ZeRa` is "offspring" as well as "potential offspring" (sperm/ovum).
The word ZeRa` seems to mean basically *vegetable* seed, and only
metaphorically human "seed", or "children", or "descendents" generally.
Someone was asking about the "seed of the serpent" (Genesis 3:15). I have
always taken this as a reference to "Original Sin". Jesus said to his
enemies "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye
will do" (John 8:44). He said to Nicodemus "Ye (plural) must be born
again" (John 3:7). David lamented "in sin did my mother conceive me"
(Psalm 51:5). David's mother was the (unnamed) wife of Jesse; there are no
grounds to think that he was begotten by Jesse of a prostitute, as some
have claimed. Compare Psalm 58:3: "The wicked are estranged from their
birth: they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies".
But here I go digressing into the realms of "doctrine", verboten on
b-hebrew.
Shalom,
Ben
--
Revd Ben Crick, BA CF
<ben.crick AT argonet.co.uk>
232 Canterbury Road, Birchington, Kent, CT7 9TD (UK) http://www.cnetwork.co.uk/crick.htm