...At the time of the DSS this would have been a normal spelling - the long A indicated by an alef mater lectionis. Such spellings are common in the DSS. The odd thing here is that this alef is also found in the MT, if only in ten out of fifteen manuscripts. There are usually no alef matres lectionis in MT. Perhaps this indicates that there were such alefs in the proto-MT, as indeed the DSS as well as this Nahal Hever text seem to show, and that at a later stage these alefs were purged out. And perhaps this alef was not completely purged because by the time of the purge it was being read as a root alef rather than a mater lectionis - perhaps because the word final vav had already been corrupted to a yod, leading to the understanding "like a lion".
(2) explaining the intrusive 'aleph--which is probably a simple explanation,
but it is a departure from the normal spelling of כרה/KRH, which is a
necessary step to accomplishing #1;
Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.