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Susan
Susan
2:32 PM
0
Q: How many Isaiahs?

SusanI understand that there is a scholarly position that holds that the book of Isaiah was written by three authors, termed First Isaiah (chapters 1-39), Second Isaiah (chapters 40-55), and Third Isaiah (chapters 56-66). I was recently reading my handy ESV Study Bible introduction which summarizes an...

isaiah authorship
^^^ Feedback on question scoping welcome/appreciated.
 
ThaddeusB
ThaddeusB
@Susan Looks pretty good to me. Of course determining "consensus" is always a bit slippery as one can (subconsciously or consciously) discount views they don't like, and there will never be a huge number of voices that independent looked into an issue as opposed to just absorbing a view from previous scholars and referencing it in a tangentially related work.
As long as we are asking for feedback... (Coincidentally, I had opened this room specifically for that reason)
1
A: Does Genesis 1:2 refer to the Spirit or a wind?

ThaddeusBI think the key to translating Genesis 1:2 is not וְר֣וּחַ (we·ruach, "spirit"), but rather מְרַחֶ֖פֶת (me·rachepheth, "moved"). Better understanding the verb will help us better understand the subject. rachaph (the root) is a rare verb. It occurs just three times in the Old Testament: here, D...

This is my first attempt to really dig into the original language to answer a question on this site, so any feedback on if this is a "good" way to do it or not would be appreciated.
 
Susan
Susan
2:49 PM
@ThaddeusB I think you did a great job! I had wondered about trying to figure out what kind of a “subject” (not technically, but close enough) the verb should take. In case it’s it’s helpful, here is some further analysis of the verb + possibly relevant Gen 1:2 references from HALOT, a Hebrew lexicon.
My only quibble: why is πνευμα θεου “Spirit of God (explicit in the Greek, definitely not wind)”? I wouldn’t think it was any more specific than the Hebrew.
Also, the Jer 23:9 ref may not be so relevant because it’s a different verbal stem, as you can see in the lexicon, but given that there are only two other instances of anything from that root in the HB, it’s probably reasonable to consider.
 
ThaddeusB
ThaddeusB
In truth, I can't remember why I wrote that. Looking again now, it definitely seems to be an unwarrented conclusion
 
Susan
Susan
> a divine wind was being carried along over the water.
They (supposedly) start from the NRSV (a wind from God swept over the face of the waters) and transitioned to a passive because the Greek is ambiguously middle/passive.
The “divine” interpretation of θεου is....bold. Not sure how they envision that as being from the Greek if the Hebrew is (as NRSV) “from God”.
AFAIK θεου would only be adjectival if it were a Hebraism (which it may be, but not per NRSV or most other translations).
But I don’t follow “a wind from God” either, as I think they either need to be both definite or both indefinite.
But that was more than you asked. ;-) I do think it was a “good way to do it”, yes.
 
ThaddeusB
ThaddeusB
3:10 PM
no, no, the discussion is good. :) I do remember reading some discussion about whether the elohim could be read as an adjective, let me see if I can find it
 
Susan
Susan
@ThaddeusB It’s the same basic issue as Nineveh.
 
ThaddeusB
ThaddeusB
3:25 PM
@Susan I am revising my answer a bit - which Lexicon is that image from?
 
Susan
Susan
@ThaddeusB HALOT
 
ThaddeusB
ThaddeusB
thanks, answer revised - the cognates make the case stronger, I think
 
Susan
Susan
@ThaddeusB Interesting. (Is “Ugar” a word? I would’ve said “Ugaritic” but you may be right that the shortened form is used; I’ve just never heard it.)
 
ThaddeusB
ThaddeusB
@Susan Perhaps not :)
@Susan The choice to render θεου as "divine" is indeed hard to justify. In Genesis 1, the divine name is used a dozen times or more. It seems highly unlikely that the one ambiguous case would be an adjective, removing "God" from Gen 1:2 when the rest of the creation acts are personal\direct
 
Susan
Susan
3:50 PM
@ThaddeusB Yah, although in their defense the only other “g/God” genitive nearby is 1:27 (c.f. 5:1) where it's "divine image” per NETS.
 

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