15
votes
Does God order that infants be dashed to pieces in Hosea 13:16?
No, No, No!!!
Hos 13:16 is a simple statement of future fact (ie, a prophecy) - Samaria was unfaithful to God (by rebellion) and thus would be invaded by barbarous people who would do unspeakable ...
- 95.7k
15
votes
Accepted
What evidence is used to support the claim that Isaiah was written before the reign of King Cyrus?
Prima Facie evidence
The primary evidence is that the text claims to have been written by Isaiah the son of Amoz, and that his career spanned portions of the reigns of Kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and ...
- 16k
13
votes
Accepted
Did Jesus read the Tanakh in Aramaic?
Did Jesus read the Tanakh in Aramaic? Probably not.
Targums
As Claude Tresmontant observed,
"There were oral translations in Aramaic of the sacred books written
in Hebrew; they were called ...
- 16k
10
votes
Should the word 'satan' be left untranslated, merely be transliterated and left to the traditional connotations?
The lexical meaning of the noun שָׂטָן śāṭān in biblical Hebrew is "adversary" or the like. It occurs 27x in 23 verses in the Hebrew Bible. In most instances, it is clear this it is best translated by ...
- 24.7k
10
votes
Accepted
How do those who argue the Hebrew Bible does not have a concept of the afterlife support that claim?
Introduction
I take it this is a question about the nature of the evidence relating to "life after death" in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament; hereafter "HB"), and the scholarly interpretation of that ...
- 24.7k
9
votes
Did God command the making of graven images, in Exodus and Numbers?
No, God did not contradict Himself, since He never forbade all kinds of images to begin with, that, going on to command images to be made, He could be said to contradict Himself.
Something is always ...
- 9,462
9
votes
Accepted
How can we trust the Hebrew Bible to be accurate when the oldest MSS go back only to about the tenth century C.E.?
39+ different answers
The Old Testament is not a single book, but a collection of 39 books (or 46, depending on who you ask).
Some of these books are well-attested in Hebrew before the 10th century, ...
- 16k
9
votes
Does God condone rape in Deuteronomy 22:28-29?
No, this command does not condone rape. In fact, this act was meant to protect women.
Let’s examine the specific context surrounding this verse. Stating in verse 23, we see that the next couple verses ...
- 269
8
votes
Accepted
What is the meaning of the Hebrew name 'I-chabod' in 1 Samuel 4:21?
The "chabod" part of the name Ichabod (אִיכָבוֹד) comes without doubt from the word כָּבוֹד, which is the word for glory in the latter portion of the verse.
The "I" (אִי) has been interpreted ...
- 3,738
7
votes
How is the Shema interpreted by those who think Israel had henotheistic beliefs?
In the article Hebrew Henotheism: Challenging the notion of Biblical Monotheism, the case is made that the Shema was to be understood relationally with Israel.
The 1985 edition of the Jewish ...
- 2,962
7
votes
What does "milk and honey" refer to?
I think it's helpful to frame answers in parts. So here goes a three-part response:
First, 'flowing' connotes the abundance of something. (This point is a one-liner, because I won't insult anyone's ...
- 411
7
votes
Is the resurrection taught in the Old Testament?
Yes, the resurrection was talked about in the Old Testament, but some Jewish sects accepted only 5 of its 39 books as divinely inspired
(just as today Roman Catholic Bibles have 46 books in the Old ...
- 5,823
6
votes
Accepted
Dreaming a Dream vs. Dreaming
Grammatical Considerations
Hebrew grammarians recognize what is called a cognate accusative. Ronald Williams in his Williams' Hebrew Syntax, 3rd ed. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2010) ...
- 20k
6
votes
Accepted
What was Nicodemus supposed to know from the Old Testament about being born again?
There are two passages in the Hebrew scriptures that Nicodemus ought to have related to Jesus' words about being born from above. First, there is Isaiah chapter 56 which encourages "the son of the ...
- 21.3k
6
votes
Did Jesus read the Tanakh in Aramaic?
Based on the text of the NT it is difficult to be confident on this point. As the texts are written in Koine Greek, the vast majority of Tanakh quotes we have are in Greek, and frequently carry over ...
- 5,596
6
votes
What is the meaning of the phrase in Jonah 4:10b "... IN A SON OF A NIGHT and perished IN A SON OF A NIGHT." (literal translation from Hebrew)
the Hebrew idiom to express someone's age is "son of (בֶּן־) ______ (add in the number)"
Genesis 7:6 reads literally
"Noah was son of (בֶּן־) six hundred (שֵׁ֥שׁ מֵא֖וֹת) years (...
- 1,788
6
votes
Does God order that infants be dashed to pieces in Hosea 13:16?
Samaria shall become desolate; for she hath rebelled against her God:
they shall fall by the sword: their infants shall be dashed in pieces,
and their women with child shall be ripped up. (Hosea 13:16,...
- 6,070
6
votes
Why would Deborah’s death be recorded, and not that of Rebekah herself (Genesis 35:8)? And why was she buried beneath a terebinth?
There is no clear answer to any of these puzzling questions; we are left to speculate.
First, how did Deborah get there? There are two possibilities. One is that she accompanied Jacob all the way from ...
- 968
6
votes
Accepted
What Does "and of Their Fat" Specifically Mean in Abel's Sacrifice to God?
Abel not only followed the example and precedent set by Jehovah-Elohim himself (who had slain animal life to provide coats of skins for Adam and for Eve) he offered the firstlings.
Cain offered fruit, ...
- 29.6k
5
votes
Accepted
Are any unvocalized versions of the Masoretic Text available, online or otherwise?
tanakh.us has an option to remove the vocalisations: once you're viewing a passage, use the 'Content' dropdown to select the 'Consonants' option.
- 2,976
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