{"id":78159,"date":"2020-07-28T06:40:04","date_gmt":"2020-07-28T03:40:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=78159"},"modified":"2020-07-28T06:40:04","modified_gmt":"2020-07-28T03:40:04","slug":"paronomasiac-prophet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/paronomasiac-prophet\/","title":{"rendered":"Paronomasiac Prophet"},"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":[],"acf":{"old_id":"78159","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"533","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Micah the Morashtite had a unique style\r\n\r\n","content":"

In our introductions <\/span>to Hosea <\/span><\/a>and <\/span>to Amos<\/span><\/a>, we took note of the fact that each of them, along with Isaiah and Micah, prophesied during the same era. However, while Isaiah\u2019s prophecies were focused entirely on Judah, his contemporaries paid attention to Samaria as well. Indeed, the historical data at the opening of the Book of Micah is unique in placing Samaria before Judah. The fact that the opening verses of Hosea and Amos mention the king of Samaria, Jeroboam ben Joash, by name, while here no Samarian king is named, indicates that by the time Micah began to prophesy Jeroboam II was deceased, and the failure to name his\u00a0 successor may even be a backhanded compliment to him.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Talmud teaches: \u201cOne style may be shared by several prophets, but no two prophets use the identical style\u201d (Sanhedrin 89a). The literary similarities among prophets of different eras are usually treated as instances of borrowing by the later from the earlier; similarities among contemporary prophets would appear to support the contention that they had their respective ears attuned to current usage on which they capitalized for maximum effect. One might even surmise that this familiarity, and, hence, effectiveness, accounted for their prophetic selection.<\/span><\/p>\n

Micah\u2019s home, Moreshet, on account of which he is designated \u201cthe Morashtite\u201d (1:1), and to which the prophet himself referred later as \u201cMoreshet Gath\u201d (14), is identified by archaeologists with Tel al-Judayda, south of Beit Guvrin (southwest of Jerusalem), and should not be confused with the similar sounding\u2014and geographically proximate\u2014\u201cMaresha,\u201d which is mentioned in the very next verse (15).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Indeed, vs. 10-15 are chock full of word plays, largely on place names.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n

10<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Ofra \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span> afar<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

\u05e2\u05e4\u05e8\u05d4 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u05e2\u05e4\u05e8<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

11<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

yoshevet \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span> boshet<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

\u05d9\u05d5\u05e9\u05d1\u05ea \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u05d1\u05e9\u05ea<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

11<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

yatz\u2019a\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span> Tza\u2019anan<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

\u05d9\u05e6\u05d0\u05d4 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u05e6\u05d0\u05e0\u05df<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

13<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

larekhesh\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span> Lakhish<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

\u05dc\u05e8\u05db\u05e9\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u05dc\u05db\u05d9\u05e9<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

14<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Akhziv \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span> akhzav<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

\u05d0\u05db\u05d6\u05d9\u05d1 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u05d0\u05db\u05d6\u05d1<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

15<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

hayoresh\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span> Maresha<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

\u05d4\u05d9\u05e8\u05e9 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u05de\u05e8\u05e9\u05d4<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

15<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

`ad \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span> Adulam<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

\u05e2\u05d3 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u05e2\u05d3\u05dc\u05dd<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I would even venture to suggest another possible wordplay in v.14: \u201cTruly, you must give a farewell gift (<\/span>shiluchim<\/span><\/i>) to Moresheth-gath.\u201d Apart from signifying something sent or dispatched (or, for that matter, divorced), the verbal root Sh-L-CH also accounts for the noun <\/span>sh\u2019lucha<\/span><\/i>, meaning the shoot or branch of a vine (Isa. 16:8), which would make it good company for <\/span>gath<\/span><\/i>, a winepress.<\/span><\/p>\n

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