ספון: Deuteronomy 33:21
The meaning of the word ספון sāfûn in Deuteronomy 33:21 has defied scholars for millennia. The ancient versions and rabbinic interpretations, which typically point to an understanding "hidden, buried," reflect more eisegesis than any real awareness of the word's actual meaning. The LX...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
HUC
2013
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| In: |
Hebrew Union College annual
Year: 2010, Volume: 81, Pages: 17-42 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | The meaning of the word ספון sāfûn in Deuteronomy 33:21 has defied scholars for millennia. The ancient versions and rabbinic interpretations, which typically point to an understanding "hidden, buried," reflect more eisegesis than any real awareness of the word's actual meaning. The LXX reading συνηγμένων "gathered together" has suggested to scholars that the two-word string present in MT, namely ספון ויתא, originally appeared in reverse order and as one word, that is, as ויתאספון* "and they gathered together." This form, however, would be unique in the Bible, since paragogic nun appears rarely with wayyiqtol verbs, very rarely with T-stem verbs, and never in any such combination (that is, a T-stem wayyiqtol form). Moreover, the Deuteronomy scroll discovered at Masada corresponds exactly to MT, reading the phrase as חלקת מחקק ספון. The best solution is to follow the great Swiss scholar Jean Le Clerc (1657—1736), who rendered ספון as cohonestatus "honored." Le Clerc was followed by Moses Mendelssohn (1729—86), with the gloss פערעהרט, that is, "verehrt," and by Johann August Dathe (1731—91), with the gloss dignitate "worthy." This connotation of ספון is known from tannaitic Hebrew and finds its way into three modern translations: the JPS Tanakh, La Bible en français courant, and the Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling. |
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Hebrew Union College annual
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