Cc: "b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] skies in plural?
Date: Tue, 11 Sep 2012 00:29:41 -0700
George:
Let me expand a bit on my last message:
On Mon, Sep 10, 2012 at 6:15 PM, George Athas
<George.Athas AT moore.edu.au>wrote:
> Yes, Karl, I know you did. But you're engaging in extra-contextual
> analysis there, by appealing to the use of the phrase in another context to
> determine the meaning in the given context.
>
>
> GEORGE ATHAS
> Dean of Research,
> Moore Theological College (moore.edu.au)
> Sydney, Australia
>
What we have here is a phrase with a wide semantic range, as used in other
contexts. Now we come to this context where we see you taking a meaning
used in other contexts covering only a small subset of the semantic range,
and insisting that this subset defines this context. I say that it is the
context which should define which portion of the semantic range should be
understood in this verse. I think you have it backwards.
I am withholding judgment on which portion of the semantic range until
after I look at the total context. I see that the wide semantic range of
this phrase doesn’t restrict me from reading the wider context in a way
different from your reading.