Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] how different spellings got into the Hebrew Bible
Date: Wed, 28 Apr 2010 12:40:10 +1000
Garth,
The Niphal is interested in seeing the subject as the recipient of the
action. It is uninterested in where or with whom the action originates. So,
technically, yes it could be reflexive. However, what would that mean? The
Niphal of ישׁע has the basic sense of receiving aid from another party so as
to be delivered from trouble or freed from a predicament. So, a reflexive
sense here would be unusual.
I think the wider primary context of Zech 9.9 shows us Zerubbabel returning
to Jerusalem after having been freed by his Persian overlords. I think צדיק
in this verse carries the sense of exonerated and, therefore, declared to be
right or ‘in the clear’. All this makes sense of the ‘prisoner’ imagery that
comes a little later in the text.
GEORGE ATHAS
Moore Theological College (Sydney, Australia)
www.moore.edu.au