From: George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au>
To: "b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Cc:
Date: Wed, 12 Sep 2012 00:35:06 +0000
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Psalm 8:6 made lower or lessened
Michael Abernathy wrote:
I'm a little uncertain how Psalm 8:6 should be understood. Does the Hebrew word מעט suggest something that is originally made less than another or was previously equal to and then lessoned?
ותחסרהו מעט מאלהים וכבוד והדר תעטרהו
If the latter would it be wrong to suggest that prior to the fall Adam and Eve were supposed to be equal to the angels?
================
Firstly, there is nothing about Adam and Eve in the Psalm. It simply makes the statement that Yahweh created humanity a little lower than אלהים. You can certainly choose to read the Psalm intertextually with Gen 2, but the Psalm itself does not do this.
Whether the text implies 'a little lower than God' or 'a little lower than gods' is debatable. When the Greek translation was made, monotheism was very firmly embedded within Judaism. But what the Greek tells us is that the Greek translators did not read 'a little lower than God' (singular), because that could have been translated without any emendation. Rather, they felt the Hebrew to be stating 'a little lower than gods' (plural). In a monotheistic setting, 'gods' becomes problematic, and therefore the emendation to 'angels' was logical. Indeed, I think the Hebrew naturally tends towards this understanding, as it addresses Yahweh directly in the second person, but talks about אלהים indirectly in the third person. It makes more sense, I think, that אלהים is being seen as distinct from Yahweh.
Cheers!
GEORGE ATHAS
Dean of Research,
Moore Theological College (moore.edu.au)
Sydney, Australia
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