----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim West" <jwest AT highland.net>
>
> Trent Butler, of the Word Biblical Commentary, skips the problem
altogether
> in his comments. He offers no text critical note at all. L. Daniel Hawk,
> in Berit Olam Joshua notes the "phrase [about 36] seems awkward in
> connection with the more exact number but succeds in drawing the
connection
> between the plan, its execution, and its consequences" (p. 114). BHS has
> no textual note. Evidently it wasn't a problem to early copyists or
> translators. Gesenius does not offer a note on it. Neither does Rudolf
Meyer.
I know. But some of the Jewish commentaries do take note - though none come
up with a reasonable explanation.
>
> In my opinion, it seems that ki should here be understood in the sense of
> "like" = "approximately". To be sure, as you point out, 36 is an exact
> number- but perhaps there was uncertainty in the writers mind if the
number
> was in fact exact. Perhaps he meant "something like 36 men" etc.
>