Bible Words

[BrentRichards]

I'm currently looking at the joint PhD program run by Pitt/Pitt Theol Sem ... http://www.pitt.edu/~relgst/doctoral.html

Most interested in Biblical Theology and Ethics

[andrewlittle]

Sigh! Okay, I'm done dreaming.

Go for it, Brent.

[keltic63]

Originally Posted by BrentRichards

I'm currently looking at the joint PhD program run by Pitt/Pitt Theol Sem ... http://www.pitt.edu/~relgst/doctoral.html

Most interested in Biblical Theology and Ethics

A friend of mine is getting an MDiv at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. She keeps trying to get me to join her there, but at this point, she'd be done about the time I'd start.

[Wanderer]

Andrew--
I just read your analysis of the Leviticus 18 and 20 verses, and I'm glad I did! I have read similar analyses which left me wondering why "lying on the bed of a woman" would be given the death penalty, even if it was an accurate translation.

Now I know. Many thanks.

Wanderer

[antonyh]

Originally Posted by andrewlittle

I had a remarkable opportunity, however. I got to study for a full year at Cambridge University in 2003/2004. I concentrated on Biblical languages and Bible Studies while in England, after taking a year each of Hebrew and Greek at my home seminary.

It cost me an extra year for earning my MDiv, but it was well worth it and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

I wondered where you got your skills in Greek and Hebrew

[RM260boy]

andrew! what another great post! keep them coming i love this thread!

[andrewlittle]

Originally Posted by RM260boy

andrew! what another great post! keep them coming i love this thread!

But, so I don't jabber on just to see myself write, give me some direction. Where do you want to go from here.

Andy

[RM260boy]

Originally Posted by andrewlittle

But, so I don't jabber on just to see myself write, give me some direction. Where do you want to go from here.

Andy

will try currently working my way back through genesis... slowly

[RM260boy]

andrew,

sorry i have taken so long to get this going again. i work slow i am lazy and i have a computer that is held together with duct and uses chewing gum wrappers for connections. with my computer problems i had to rebuild my browser and i lost the site i was using that had english/hebrew/hebre transliteration side by side. if you know of a site could you post me a link, as i have been unsuccesful trying to find it. ok

1. i saw your post on another thread:

- I hope I'm not being picky here. Hav'vah, translated as "Eve", only occurs twice in Genesis, and the word "EVE" does not appear again until the New Testament. The closest literal translation of this word is "tent village" which, in my opinion at least, would serve as the closest thing to culture at the time. Culture, in this sense, is portrayed as leading humanity astray, and is it any wonder that in that day and age (or now, for that matter) it is attributed with feminine traits. Female=bad, male=good - where have we seen that crappe before. -

i found that very intriquing (i hate that word i can't spell it). i was wondering i if you would like to talk more about "Hav'vah".

2. king ambimelech confuses me. both abraham and isaac tell the same lie/deception to him. is it the very same king since abraham was old when isaac was born, and isaac did not marry until he was 40. the words sister wife cousin and how they relate to each other since sarah was abraham's half sister he was more truthful, and rebekah was isaacs cousin. i see it as more of a deception than a lie but would like if you could tell more .

3. i saw a website that claimed that the names of the patriarchs tell the history of mankind by the meaning on the names: eg, peleg because in those days the earth was divided. do you have any thoughts on that? i tend to see it as probably more of a memnomic device (butchered that word didn't i) to trigger certain stories since the first five books were oral tradition for so long (at least i think). although that website did provide a somewhat good case, it seemed that some of the names' meanings were twisted to fit what they were trying to prove. any thoughts would entertain me immensly.

you now have ten minutes to complete this exam

btw this is the third time i have tried to post this. (i want a new computer.)

[RM260boy]

i had 5 cups of coffee today so i don't think i will sleep for a week, so....

something that keeps running through my mind, having some experience with translating, is how static is hebrew as a language. i mean to say like english is a dynamic language because it readilly adopts words from other languages, and disposes of words when the lose their usage or meaning. my guestimate is that there are about a million words in english, english speakers probably use about 5000 of those in day to day living, are familiar enough with - please folks just guesing i don't know if there is a scientific study on this - about 10,000 , and able to derive meaning from an additional 10,000 by usage and spelling.

and in word usage are meanings implied by context or are they all included?
i'll try to use a russian so that you might understand what i am asking. sample conversation -

"chital, li?" , (literaly read, if? understood words ty and ehtu knigu) have you read the (or this or that) book?
"da." (chital knigu) (literaly yes. read book) yes, i have read the book.
"ehta kniga!" (literaly, this book!) what a book!
"da. ochen' khoroshaya (kniga) (literaly yes. very good (book)) yes. it is a very good book.

to get the full meaning and implied words you have to read the whole conversation to know how to translate it. (i hope i am clear enough on that.)

my thoughts are that hebrew is a more static language because its alphabet has not had the drift that all other languages have had.

how close is hebrew to the indo-european prosprache (i think that is the word.), gosh i don't know how to express this, would i, having some knowledge of root meanings. be able to derive anything from from transliterated hebrew. because if it is fairly close i would start looking for them.

example russian gorod grad gvard (city roughly the equivalent to burg, like pittsburg and guard), german/english garden gourd guard, these all share a common root (consonant vowel consonant vowel consonant- if i remember correctly - is where you look for the root, that through language drift became the other words) and one that i think every one will get real fast russian semeni (seeds), won't do the english comparative.

so to say if i saw the word gard my first mutation step would be gar(unkown) d, and then start shifting through the other common mutations. (i had almost completely forgotten that we had two weeks of rood derivitive theory in my advanced class in 85/86

i really shouldn't drink coffee! make a pot, drink a pot.
and at least my russian spelling is still better than my english
and just in case anyone might have been wondering the courses were 47 weeks and 27 weeks that i did back to back, and then 37 for the advanced. eight hour days of study and lab.

[andrewlittle]

RM260boy, you have left me speechless - right now, at least. Unfortunately for most people, that doesn't last long.

This will take me a good while to digest, okay? I will then attempt to response. Be prepared for several answers to be, "I don't know."

But, like any good geek, I am really looking forward to learning something here.

[RM260boy]

the same here, will be patient. thanks

[u-dog]

The breadth and depth of knowledge and expertise in this group just blows me away! Whether its theology, ancient languages, modern languages, music, history, art, MATH , science, weight loss physiology we seem to have somebody who's an expert in it. Wow.

[BrentRichards]

Originally Posted by u-dog

The breadth and depth of knowledge and expertise in this group just blows me away! Whether its theology, ancient languages, modern languages, music, history, art, MATH , science, weight loss physiology we seem to have somebody who's an expert in it. Wow.

I'm still waiting for conversation to come around to something I'm an expert in ... don't know what that is, but I'll know it when I see it!

[u-dog]

Originally Posted by BrentRichards

I'm still waiting for conversation to come around to something I'm an expert in ... don't know what that is, but I'll know it when I see it!

Navel Lint?

[BrentRichards]

Originally Posted by u-dog

Navel Lint?

No, drawing a blank on that ... apparently that isn't it.

[andrewlittle]

I read, and re-read, and re-read your posts, RM, and you still confound me. You have knowledge about languages generally that I lack.

Perhaps, I can come up with some half-way intelligent questions that might advance to discussion, but I don't have much to offer on the bulk of it.

I would be glad to expound on hav'vah, but not sure whereyou want to go. A word showing up twice in Hebrew scriptures doesnot make for a wealth of discussion (other than perhaps how that word became a feminine person name Eve who, according to many classic theologians and many conservative modern theologians, was single-handedly responsible for the Fall). Mythoughtsin that other thread would not be widely accepted but, at the same time, can't really be nay-sayed either.

The Abraham and Isaac stories in Gen 20 and 26 have always confused me. There isn't much linguistically to explain the strangeness of "righteous lying" or why it would be acceptable for the men to put their wives in the position of committing adultery to save their own skins. I have problems with much of this part of Genesis, to be honest.

As for the rest of it, I think you already know way more than I do. Now, if I could just ask the right questions.

[RM260boy]

aw c-mon, you deffinitely know more about hebrew than i do!
i guess the question on that would be how much has the language drifted(changed) from biblical to modern. and i would re-ask in tranlating hebrew is it a language more similar to how english works (very little is assumed), or more like the russian were context plays so much more. the rest of the language question would only serve me if i can find that website that had the english/hebrew/hebrew transliteration side by side

and about eve, it just caught me off gaurd in that post as to how it shook up how one could look at the creation story. (or even "adam and tents" not "adam and steve".)

in the abraham/isaac question, i meant more for it to be focused on the words sister cousin wife in hebrew. sort of like in russian you can call any man older than you uncle, even if there is no relationship. ambimelech and the deception was the reason that caught my eye.

does this help to muddy the waters?