(Download) "Psalm 22:17B: A New Guess (Critical NOTES)" by Journal of Biblical Literature # Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Psalm 22:17B: A New Guess (Critical NOTES)
- Author : Journal of Biblical Literature
- Release Date : January 22, 2005
- Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines,Books,Professional & Technical,Education,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 196 KB
Description
The first word of Ps 22:17b (Eng. v. 16b) is one of the most vexed lexical problems in biblical interpretation. (1) The whole verse reads: The word in question, [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], appears to mean "like the lion." (3) As many scholars point out, however, this yields little sense for the rest of the line as there is no verb. A wide variety of solutions have been offered over the centuries. Many scholars consider the MT to be corrupt, but there is no agreement as to what the original text said. Some hold that a verb has been errantly omitted from the text, while others argue that the difficult term was originally meant to be read as any of a number of verbs. (4) This article attempts a solution by recognizing multiple meanings for [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]. On the one hand, the enigmatic word reads "like a lion," while, on the other, it may be understood as a verb. Although a number of proposed verbs fit contextually, I hold that Mitchell Dahood and R. Tournay have identified the most likely candidate, '[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], with a preposition attached. Dahood translates: "because they have picked clean [my hands and my feet]." (5) This makes good sense of the whole line, but finding the leonine simile in the same word adds a chilling detail to the action and a suitable subject for the verb. This combination of readings builds on another polyvalent term at the end of v. 17 [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]. (6) The result is a rich and mutually supporting web of meanings that, at some levels, builds on variable line divisions. This fluid and complex literary artistry links the verse closely to its context in the psalm. Following my discussion of these issues, I will briefly comment on some other wordplays in Psalm 22. These do not share the complexity of my proposed solution to v. 17b, but I do find a comparably sophisticated example of flexible meanings and sentence structures in Proverbs 31. In short, Psalm 22 offers a brilliant example of the deliberate ambiguity employed elsewhere in the Psalms. (7)