medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Ever get stung by a bee, wasp, or hornet? It burns; but it localized.
Ever get stung by a scorpion? It burns. So do snake bites. When a
venomous snake bites, the site of the bite burns, the affected area
grows hot, and the nerves continue to transmit the burning sensation
as the venom and swelling spreads. Yes, the root is $RP, burn/destroy
by fire. To name a snake $RP because the bite burns fiercely and painfully
like a hand held in a fire is a very natural figurative use, not a literal
use. It does not make the snake itself literally "fiery."
>In defense of the view that the Seraphaim are winged, firey snakes:
>The root of the Hebrew word Seraphaim is saaraf which is the verb,
>to "burn." The singular form for a type of venomous snake is
>saaraaf. The plural sraaffiym is our word "Seraphaim" If one wants
>to say that the seraphim were firey serpents the meaning is
>inherent in the word itself. And consequently a firey serpent need
>not be a mythological creature.
To name a venomous snake by its charactereristic burning bite akin to
the sensation of being burnt by fire is both figurative and common and
not mythological. To convert the figurative into a literal fiery serpent
is mythological.
>It is only in connection with
>visions of God's throne we see winged, firey serpents.
Remember that $RP is evil born of evil born of the root of evil. Are we
quite sure that YHVH in Isaiah's vision is surrounded by evil, footless,
venomous serpents -- with their genitals showing?
>Whether these are mythical or real is up to your religious committment.
Religious commitment has little to do with this discussion. It depends
upon whether one's approach to the texts is literary, clinical, and in
search of what is actually written, or theological and in search of
"unstated" meanings to support interepretations, or destructive and in
search of "hidden" meanings ... the last is typical of the practitioners,
and their followers, of the mania for euphemisms in 19th-century
quellenscheidung.
>The connection between the verb to burn and seraphaim was something
>I was always aware of, I just never connected the same words with
>the singular form for snake before, and now that I have, I think it
>makes good sense. It also explains, I believe [and I just came up
>with it]the inversed quotation of Psalm 104:4 in Hebrews 1:7 "...He
>makes his angels winds, his servants flames of fire." V. K. Inman
Not really. An evil serpent doesn't make sense in such a context; on the
other hand... The second half of the cola reads -- his servants [a] blaze/
flame [of] fire. (There are variants on that cola, see the BHS). There's
a lot "flame" imagery in the MT, sometimes meant literally, sometimes
figuratively. Psalm 104 is a song in praise of God the creator. It is a
beautiful psalm, but it is also chock full of figurative language. *In
context*, 104:1-4, God rules the heavens: light clothes him like a garment;
he allows his light to shine on the waters; uses clouds for chariots;
and walks on the wings of the wind. Thus, he rules the lightening, too.
Lightening happens to be a blaze/flame of fire. Parallelism: in this
half cola is that God rules the winds, personified as his angels, and the
lightening, personified as his servants.
If you look again at lightening personified in PS 104:4 and compare this
to the description of $RPIM of Isa 6:1-3, I'd hazard a guess that you have
answered the question as to what the $RPIM of Isa 6:3 are.
Lightening as fiery winged serpents is a Homeric piece of imagery and not
the Biblical or Ca'ananite practice -- while personification, parallelism,
and naming by characteristics ARE standard. Based on the standard techniques
of Biblical prose and poetry, an educated guess is that the $RPIM of Isa 6:3
are winged humaniforms, lightening personified, appropriately named for their
primary characteristic: "burners." Further, their voices "call" back and
forth like lightening streaking back and forth across the sky, and, their
voices like thunder, are ringing and resounding enough to move posts. Unlike
the serpents, evil born of evil, lightening personified is a fit heavenly
"host" to surround the lord. Lightening personified as messengers/servants
also makes sense out of quite a few apparent oddities -- and a "host" made
of lightening is one heck of a fighting unit. Bet you could write a nice
article on this -- flaming/blazing messengers, etc. <G>
Now, to go back to what finally brought me out after months of lurking --
"feet" are feet or LEGS. RGLIM means the foot or the foot and leg from the
knee down depending up context. I know of no place in the MT where "feet"
is a euphemism for genitals. So, do we have here a commentary based on the
19th-century quellenschiedung mania? Well:
>A footnote explains:
>"Cf Ex. 4.25 and Isa. 7.20. In both passages, 'feet' is used as a
>euphemism for the genitals."
*In context* Ex 4:24-26, in Ex 4:25 Zipporah cuts off her son's foreskin
and casts it at his [The Lord's] feet. She threw the bleeding foreskin at
the genitals of the Lord? Irreverent, no? Not to mention asking to be struck
dead on the spot. In Isa 7:20, *in context* [Isa 7:10-25], the text refers
to the shame to come by shaving off the hair of the head and the "LEGS." And
in context RGLIM are definitely "legs." Are we quite sure that to shave the
legs, contextually an Assyrian practice, refers to shaving the hair of the
genitals?
Then, B.E. asked about Ruth. *In context*, Ruth is depicted as, and Boaz
states her to be, modest. To uncover Boaz's genitals and lay herself down
under the cover with him would make her an immodest harlot. She lifts the
covering on his feet and lays down at his feet (and it is feet in context),
and this is precisely why Boaz calls her modest.
We can make any text say anything we like -- if we take it out of context --
turn feet/legs into genitals, cutting hair into castration, giant squid into
whales, or turn a modest woman into a whore.
That's enough for a Medieval Religion list on what the text of the MT
actually says.
RISA
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