Hi Isaac,
Do you realize that you did not send the post below to the b-hebrew list? Just thought I'd mention it since the "reply" system is a little quirky.
Let me press you for a little more precision.
I see these as distinct:
a "starts to question"
b "learns now post factum"
c "seriously contemplating to put to an end"
Does one of these correspond precisely to kets kol basar ba' lepanay? I think b. Most modern Eng translations think c.
Shalom,
Bryan
Isaac Fried wrote:
Bryan,
I think that BA LePANAY (as in Genesis 6:13), means just what it says: "appeared against my face", so as to be grasped by the senses: the eyes, the ears, the nose. A thing can actually be seen by the "outer" eye, or it can be seen (imagined) by the "inner" eye (it can rise or appear before the inner eye). Apparently God starts here to question the wisdom and purpose of allowing life, that is inevitably beset, he learns now post factum, by the ill side-effects of pain, misery, cruelty and rapacity, and he is seriously contemplating to put an end to his previous grand experiment of Day Six. Yet Noax is a good man, and the beasts are innocent, and the fishes are dumb, and are anyway hiding deep inside the waters etc..
God has a problem there; life may be evil but creation consisting of just rocks and water is not very thrilling. He is actually confronted by an acute post-creation dilemma: to allow pain or do away with life.
Isaac Fried, Boston University
On Apr 20, 2007, at 11:44 AM, B. M. Rocine wrote:
B-Haverim,
Gen 6:13 kets kol basar ba' lepanay
"an end of all flesh has come before me"
Generally the idiom "labo' lepaney" refers to having an audience, as with a king or YHWH. Occasionally it refers to leading a military force into battle. Gen 6:13 is different in that it is the only time the idiom has a thing rather than a person as subject, specifically _kets kol basar_.
So I take it to mean *the idea* of annihilation gained an audience with YHWH, that is "came to his mind," right?
I note that the cause of annihilation is not specified. Might the expression leave open the possibility that annihilation was about to be caused by man's own violence (apart from the flood)? In other words, there is a *possibility* that the clause quoted above refers to YHWH's intuition that all life was about to end as a result of man's violence. Is that right?
I think it's an interesting question because the supplicant who gains audience before a great power typically does so as a means of gaining salvation. Perhaps the Hebrew gives greater voice than our extant English translations to the idea that YHWH was intervening in an emergency.
Shalom,
Bryan
--
B.M. Rocine
Living Word Church
6101 Court St. Rd.
Syracuse, NY 13206
W: (315) 437-6744
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B.M. Rocine
Living Word Church
6101 Court St. Rd.
Syracuse, NY 13206
W: (315) 437-6744
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