{"id":69065,"date":"2020-01-25T11:08:46","date_gmt":"2020-01-25T09:08:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=69065"},"modified":"2023-08-20T13:48:03","modified_gmt":"2023-08-20T10:48:03","slug":"beware-of-the-north","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/beware-of-the-north\/","title":{"rendered":"Beware Of The North"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[950,361],"acf":{"old_id":"69065","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":64450,"related_cahpter":"401","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"The word for \u201cnorth\u201d en-compasses a lot in Hebrew\r\n","content":"

The book of Jeremiah opens with God showing the young Jeremiah a number of visions, and after properly recognizing them, God informs him what they represent. In the second vision there is an ominous prediction:<\/span><\/p>\n

And the word of the LORD came to me a second time: What do you see? I replied: I see a steaming pot, tipped away from the north. And the LORD said to me: From the north shall disaster break loose Upon all the inhabitants of the land! (1:13-14).<\/span><\/p>\n

Throughout much of Biblical history, enemies came from the north. In Isaiah\u2019s time it was the Assyrians, and in Jeremiah\u2019s time it would be the Babylonians. Even though these nations lived to the east (as the crow flies), the entrance to the land of Israel was from the north. And Jerusalem was most vulnerable on its northern side as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Hebrew word for north is <\/span>tzafon<\/span><\/em>. What is its etymology? It likely comes from the root <\/span>tz-f-n<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201cto hide\u201d, and so could be understood as the \u201chidden or dark region.\u201d This may be because (in the Northern hemisphere) the northern side gets the least amount of sun.<\/span><\/p>\n

Two similar sounding words have their origin in that root. One is <\/span>matzpun<\/span><\/em> \u2013 \u201cconscience\u201d. What is in our conscience is concealed from others.<\/span><\/p>\n

The other word is <\/span>matzpen<\/span><\/em> \u2013 \u201ccompass\u201d. This word derives from <\/span>tzafon<\/span><\/em>, <\/span><\/i>and literally means \u201cthat which points north.\u201d You can tell it is a modern word (coined by David Yellin in the 20<\/span>th<\/span> century), because in Biblical times, people didn\u2019t face north when they wanted to get oriented. They faced east (and that is hinted at in the verb \u201corient\u201d as well).<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the Hebrew words for east is <\/span>kedem<\/span><\/em>, which also means \u201cforward.\u201d And so if someone is facing east, what direction is north? On their left. Which leads us to another biblical word for north \u2013 <\/span>smol<\/span><\/em>. In modern Hebrew it only means \u201cleft\u201d, but in the Bible it could also mean \u201cnorth\u201d, and it is cognate with the Arabic word for north \u2013 <\/span>shamal<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Based on that Arabic word, Ernest Klein points out that both the Hebrew and Arabic words derive from a root that meant \u201cunlucky\u201d (see the Arabic word <\/span>shama<\/span><\/em> meaning \u201cwas unlucky\u201d.) The left side was considered unlucky in many cultures, and considering the history of invasions from the north, that perception was probably common in ancient Israel as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

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