Dear Chris,
Specifically, in 1 Chronicles 21:1 it is _not_
”˜ËÔ [H&+N] that incites David to count the
people; it is merely ˜ËÔ [&+N] (no definite
article). Now the lack of a definite article is
very important here, it seems to me. For the
verse ought not be translated "Satan opposed
[stood against] Israel, and incited David to
count Israel," nor "The Adversary opposed ..."
since there is no definite article, but rather,
"_An_ adversary opposed ...," with an indefinite
article. Now I wonder--I have not done the real
legwork on this yet, so I'm thinking out
loud--whether the Chronicler thinks he is
referring to YHWH, or an entity other than YHWH,
by this word, indefinite ˜ËÔ [&+N]. The Hebrew
word ˜ËÔ [&+N], of course, does not
_inherently_ refer to some malignant
supernatural entity; see 1 Kings 11:23-25,
where the noun ˜ËÔ [&+N] refers to a purely
human opponent, though one who, importantly,
was incited _by God_ to be such. Moreover,
there is nothing semantically out of bounds
about God being a ˜ËÔ [&+N], or at least we can
say that at least one writer had no trouble
characterizing the ÓýÏÍÝȔ” [M)LK YHWH] "angel
of YHWH" as a ˜ËÔ [&+N] to someone (Numbers
22:22). Clearly, the Chronicler is altering his
Deuteronomistic source text. But is he
completely changing the referent, or just using
a subtle circumlocution?
HH: It seems to me that it would be a useless change unless it were to "Satan."
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