Subject: Re: Re: [b-hebrew] Bribes, Gifts, and Tribute
Date: Tue, 18 May 2004 00:46:16 -0500
David:
Biblical Hebrew does make a difference between hiring %KR
שכר and bribing $XD שחד . What the kings
did was called a bribe.
A couple of times mercenaries were hired, but for some reason sending a gift
to the king asking him to act constituted a bribe.
Karl W. Randolph.
----- Original Message -----
From: <david.kimbrough AT charter.net>
> Karl,
>
> If I ask a carpenter to build me a house he may not be
> inclined to do so. If I offer to pay him he will probably
> become so inclined. Similarly if I have a case before a
> judge, he may not be inclined to find in my favor. I offer
> to pay him; he may well be come so inclined in my favor.
> The former is legal and is not considered bribery while the
> latter is not and is considered bribery.
>
> In the case of the two kings, in each case, the king of
> Judea made payments to some foreign king (Syrian and
> Assyrian) to attack his enemy (Israel and Syria). This
> sort of arrangement was legal and normal. Notably, the
> author of 1 and 2 Kings do not condemn either Ahaz or Asa
> for these payments. Indeed why should there be any
> condemnation when in each case the payments had the desired
> effect, the enemy attacking Judea was defeated Judea was
> rescued. Asa?s ?heart was perfect with the LORD all his
> days?.
>
> It is only the modern reader who detects something wrong or
> immoral in this arrangement, even it is a practice that is
> stilled used today. Ancient readers did not detect and
> moral problem, especially since it seemed to work quite
> well.
>
>
>
--
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