>>And I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your
>>arms ...
I have noticed that some translators go weak at the knees with this>Hmmm, care? How polite!
verse. I'll only cite one, the NASB:-
8.`I also gave you your master's house and your master's wives into
your care,
Actually it seems that ESV's "arms" is the polite version. The word is
XEYQ, "bosom". Of course the word has metaphorical senses, but they
relate not to anything sexual, but to care. The same word is used in
verse 3 of how the lamb slept in the poor man's bosom, which clearly
implies care rather than bestiality, cf. also Isaiah 40:11. So, while
NASB is unusually non-literal here, this is a justifiable explanation of
the metaphor.
It is worth remembering that Saul's wives would probably have been
rather old by the time David succeeded Saul, old enough to be David's
mother and including the mother of his friend Jonathan. David already
had his own nubile young wives. Why would he have taken Saul's wives to
be his own wives? It makes much more sense that he took on caring for
them as widows.
Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.