From: "Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>
To: Biblical Hebrew <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
Subject: King David
Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2000 19:30:27 -0600
Dear Bill,
You wrote:
>My interpretation hinges on the word usually translated as "maiden"
>or something equally as sweet. In Alter's book "The Art of Biblical
>Poetry" he suggests that the word could be "an earthy term". I looked
>at it a few years ago and was inclined to agree with him.
You could be right. After all, these were the Canaanites, whom God wanted
destroyed for their debauchery, among other things.
I was thinking of the story of Naaman the Aramean (2 Kings 5). Remember
that Naaman found out about Elisha from "a young girl from Israel," a war
captive who "served Naaman's wife."