From: Studium Biblicum Franciscanum <sbfnet AT netvision.net.il>
To: Biblical Hebrew <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
Subject: Re: Sunday night
Date: Tue, 9 Mar 1999 10:15:59 +0200
Title: Re: Sunday night
On 03/08/99 (Sunday night) Lloyd Barre wrote:
> Dear Associates,
><....>
>
> This helps us with the meaning of the Name, Interpreted
from its proper
> context, it would be translated as "I am becoming what I am
becoming."
> This rendering explains the use of the imperfect and of the
commonly
> impersonal particle, "aser."
>
><....>
>
> We can draw another connection between P and Moses. There
were Levitical
> priests. This is confirmed by the presence of Egyptian
names among the
> Levites, like Hophni and Phineas, priest of Shiloh. They
were Egyptian by
> descent and Levites, educated in Egyptian thought, as were all
properly
> educated Levites. The Priestly Writer illustrates to
what degree Egyptian
> and Israelite traditions become integrated. In is clear
that P's Egyptian
> roots dominate his presentation within for a foreign
culture. Some Levites
> were like Hophni and Phineas, some like Eli, and some like P
with most
> somewhere in between.
>
><....>
It appears to me that Johannine
> Christianity has brought a Levitical tradition to the
interpretation of
> Christian faith. To a personification of the Thought is
now added Word and
> Spirit and supplementing and defining their ontology. Yet
as products of
> Hellenistic culture, their concept is one of being rather than
becoming, a
> change we can already see in the LXX translation of the Name--I
am" became introductory to the declaration that God is
> an active participle used as a
substantive--"Being."
<....>
But in its
> favor, it can trace its roots back to "from the
beginning," a lines can be drawn from Ptah to the Name, to E, to
P, to the LXX rendering to John, particularly in the latter's
allusion to Genesis 1:1, a composition based on the Memphite
Theology, and on the Ego Eimi saying of John, that are based upon the
LXX rendering of the Egyptian Name. Ham, Shem and Japeth are
all present in the NT, and Ham, not Shem is the elder.
Dear Lloyd Barre,
Thank you for your kind explanations--also in a later posting of the
same day.
I would comment as follows.
1) The Egyptian idea of "becoming" is the capability of
assuming different shapes/beings and the power connected with them.
Also the human dead in the netherworld wished and claimed to be able
to become various beings or gods in order to counter danger, needs
and fight enemies. I do not see anything of this kind in the Hebrew
Bible or the OT, less so in the NT. On the contrary, the meaning of
"being with" somebody, like the Fathers, is of course well
atteted in the OT and in the NT as well. This is in my view the
meaning of the Divine Name in Exod. 3:14.
2) The Egyptian names found among the Levites are interesting but of
course they do not prove anything. Besides, Egyptian names are also
attested in other sectors of the Israelites society.
3) The Johannine Logs is a Hellenistic term imbued with sapiential
contents. The OT background of the Incarnate Logos is the Hokmah/Lady
Wisdom of Proverbs 8--conceived by God before creation, God'
companion during creation, men's companion after creation,
personified as a majestic Lady who speaks in public, asks everybody
to listen, invites to her banquet, promises and threatens in God's
name. Most probably, John the Evangelist chose the term Logos instead
of Sophia--that is used in other writings of the NT--because this
term was common in the (Jewish-)Hellenistic world and/or was
significant for his community.
BTW, the similarities that have been noted between Lady Wisdom and
the Egyptian Ma`at and Isis are interesting from the point of view of
the history of religion but do not affect the distinctiveness of the
OT idea and of its adaptation in the NT.
4) The Ego-eimi sayings in the Gospel of John are recognized as
derived from the divine declaration *'ani YHWH* "I am the
Lord"--without any form of verb *hayah*, BTW.
Peace.
Alviero Niccacci
Studium Biblicum Franciscanum Tel. +972
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POB 19424 - 91193 - Jerusalem Fax
+972 - 2 - 6264 519
Israel
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