Ish - Whence the Hebrew?

Deleted · Post by **Deleted** » Thu Mar 29, 2001 10:24 am

Hey, Ish: where do you know Hebrew from? How did you get to pick up the nickname (Ish = Man)? And you're a Christian? Just curious. I'd have e-mailed you if your address were available.

Hebrew is my mother tongue, and my nickname "devnet" is a reference to my work, a couple of years ago, as a system administrator of Open University Developer Networks at Tel-Aviv.

Regards,
devnet Hakofer (=the Infidel!) HaGadol.

Deleted · Post by **Deleted** » Sat Mar 31, 2001 6:27 pm

Sorry I missed your post. I don't usually look over here. I mainly browse the Biblical Criticism section. I guess I'm not being diverse enough. I should branch out.

devnet:
How did you get to pick up the nickname (Ish = Man)?

By not being very original, I'm afraid, and simply calling myself what I am.

I had been reading some Hebrew when I joined, so I thought I'd call myself "man" in Hebrew to see if anyone would catch it.

devnet:
And you're a Christian?

Yes. I grew up and have attended Southern Baptist churches all my life, but denominations bother me because I rarely agree with all their positions. I am a follower of Jesus first and foremost, a Christian.

devnet:
where do you know Hebrew from?

Actually, I'm self-taught and only "classical Hebrew". I'm not very familiar with the vocabulary of "modern Hebrew", though I do have a dictionary.

I began my own "quest" to understand and test my beliefs back in college. Naturally, I wanted to know what the original documents said. So, I began learning Hebrew and Greek (took a semester of Arabic in my Senior year of College also). I started learning Hebrew from Teach Yourself Biblical Hebrew, but as you can see by the ratings at Amazon, it wasn't very good for learning. It's somewhat better now that I know more.

The best I have found for learning is: Biblical Hebrew: Step By Step by Menahem Mansoor. This textbook along w/its audio tapes was an incredible find and helped me learn pretty quickly.

Mansoor recommended a classic work: A Practical Grammar for Classical Hebrew by Weingreen. I purchased it also and have learned a great deal from this detailed work. Have you heard of it?

For reading the text of the Hebrew Bible, I use the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia. Also, I found a great website in Hebrew that has the Tanakh and both Talmuds.

I also enjoy looking at Eisenman's photographs of the Dead Sea Scrolls(but I have to go to the library for that).

Anyway, I'm not sure which Hebrew lexicon is best to use. I currently only have Gesenius' lexicon in book form, but this is very old. I have heard that Brown-Driver-Briggs is the best, but I have no idea. What do you think?

So that's a little about me.

Later,
Ish

Deleted · Post by **Deleted** » Sun Apr 01, 2001 1:03 am

devnet, I just read your II article. Very interesting!

I was intrigued enough to print it out for later perusal.

I'm curious if you've read my thread on Bib. Crit.: What was Jesus' name? Or something like that.

Do you think then that the Qur'anic name for Jesus was derived from the Hebrew Esau? Is there some sort of play there on Islam choosing Esau over Jacob?

Also, have you noticed the parallels in the Qur'an to Christian Apocryphal literature? Especially the one to the Infancy Gospel of Thomas?

Oh yeah, how is "Kofer" spelled in Hebrew? The only things I'm coming up with for a definition are: ransom, asphalt, pitch, and village. Is it from the root "Kafar" which means "to deny, to reconcile"?

Ish

[This message has been edited by Ish (edited March 31, 2001).]

Deleted · Post by **Deleted** » Sun Apr 01, 2001 12:52 pm

Originally posted by Ish:

I'm curious if you've read my thread on Bib. Crit.: What was Jesus' name? Or something like that.

No, the thread must have died of old age. Jesus' name in Hebrew is properly Yeshua' (Yod-Shin-Vav-'Ayin), which must be from Yehoshua' (Joshua), meaning "God is Saviour". Jews usually call him Yeshu (Yod-Shin-Vav), which is an acronym for Yimah Sh'mo v'Zikhro, meaning, "May his name and remembrance be blotted out" (the hatred of Jews towards Jesus is very great). See also this article at the Freethought Mecca:

www.geocities.com/freethoughtmecca/eesho.html

Do you think then that the Qur'anic name for Jesus was derived from the Hebrew Esau? Is there some sort of play there on Islam choosing Esau over Jacob?

The Qur'an spells his name as 'Ayin-Ya-Sin-Aliph, which parallels Esau, in Hebrew 'Ayin-Sin-Vav. Some scholars suggest it was the Jews mocking Muhammad about Jesus. See the aforementioned FTMecca article for details. Anyway, in Arabic NTs Jesus is Yasuu', Ya-Sin-Waw-'Ayin, which parallels the Hebrew form.

Also, have you noticed the parallels in the Qur'an to Christian Apocryphal literature? Especially the one to the Infancy Gospel of Thomas?

Sorry, I have no knowledge of the Xtian Apocrypha. It seems logical, though. The Christians with which Muhammad came into contact, like the Ethopians to this day, must have been unaware of any doctrine banning the Apocrypha.

Oh yeah, how is "Kofer" spelled in Hebrew? The only things I'm coming up with for a definition are: ransom, asphalt, pitch, and village. Is it from the root "Kafar" which means "to deny, to reconcile"?

Kaf-Vav-Feh-Resh. It is a present participle, stressed on the last syllable, and it means, "one who hides (the truth)", hence "infidel". As opposed to the noun Kofer from the same root, spelt Kaf-Feh-Resh, though unvowelled Hebrew script will add a Vav. The noun is stressed on the first syllable and means "reconciliation payment", "blood-money".

If your browser supports Hebrew (that would be Internet Explorer 5), here it is:

éÅùåÌ - Yeshu
éÅùåÌòÇ - Yeshua'
ëÌåÉôÅø - Kofer (ultimate stress), infidel
ëÌÑôÆø - Kofer (penultimate), ransom.

Ah, yes, the noun Kofer can also mean tar, pitch, which is what Noah used for the Ark.

Regards,
Shlomi Tal aka devnet.