Dear Rolf:
I wonder if words have changed meaning, or our understanding thereof has.
Where in Tanakh is )LHYM used for something other than an object to
be worshipped? My understanding is that that never happens, though
the term is used for false gods worshipped ineffectually. Could this
be a post-exilic understanding of the term?
Or is it that aggelos had a broader meaning than our present fairly
restricted understanding? Or is this something peculiar to Jewish
understanding of the term?
An example of a different word whose meaning has changed since
ancient times is from ancient Greek religions: there were two main
types that I was taught about, those whose truths were logically
parsed and those where the truths were recieved as a result of a
revelation. The latter were called revelation religions, however
most people translate them as mystery religions because our modern
understanding of musterion is almost opposite to the ancient
meaning (maybe because to those who did not know the revelation, it
was a mystery).
Likewise, I wonder if modern understanding of aggelos causes us to
misunderstand the translators intent? Or did he have a different
understanding of )LHYM?
Any clues?
Karl W. Randolph.
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