{"id":80324,"date":"2020-09-23T15:36:51","date_gmt":"2020-09-23T12:36:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=80324"},"modified":"2020-09-23T15:37:46","modified_gmt":"2020-09-23T12:37:46","slug":"who-was-la-ben-an-exegetical-potpourri","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/who-was-la-ben-an-exegetical-potpourri\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Was \u2018L\u2019a-Ben\u2019? An Exegetical Potpourri"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/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":"80324","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"576","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Could it have been Goliath??\r\n\r\n","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The JPS translation here paves over the difficulties in the opening verse: \u201cFor the leader; \u2018<\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">almuth labben<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a psalm of David\u201d (9:1), by transliterating the critical words rather than translating them. Just how they have been interpreted is a fascinating exercise in exegesis.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Aramaic Targum Yonatan rendered it: \u201cFor praise, concerning the death of the man who went out between the armies, a hymn of David,\u201d referring to Goliath who is described as <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2018<\/span><\/i><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ish ha-beinayim<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (1 Samuel 17:23), alluding to his taking up a position midway between the Israelite and Philistine camps.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rashi, uncharacteristically, cited, and rejected, some earlier interpretations. The first identified the phrase with David\u2019s rebellious son, Absalom, to which suggestion Rashi retorted: \u201cThere is no evidence of or reference to this interpretation in the psalm.\u201d He similarly rejected an interpretation that would invert the letters L-B-N to produce NaBaL, another unsavory character out of David\u2019s past (1 Samuel 25) because here, too, \u201cthere is no reference to to him in the psalm.\u201d Rashi related it to the verb for clarification (<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">le-laben<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, literally whitening), saying: \u201cThis song is for the future of Israel\u2026 when their righteousness is revealed and their salvation nears, because Amalek and its ilk will be destroyed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ibn Ezra cited and rejected\u2014without comment\u2014the NaBaL opinion, as well as another interpretation identifying Laben as the name of a musician (see 1 Chr. 15:18), because \u201cIt is not the habit of the [Hebrew] language to place a <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">patach<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> [vowel] before a proper noun (<em>La-Yitzchak or La-Ya`akov<\/em>) because names are always definite.\u201d His opinion agrees with that of R. Adonim HaLevy (aka Dunash Ibn Labrat): &#8220;It was the name of a non-Jewish ruler who oppressed Israel, as it is explained in the psalm.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you want to save yourself some time, just <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sefaria.org.il\/Psalms.9.1?lang=bi&amp;with=Radak&amp;lang2=en\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">go directly to the commentary of Radak <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">who, typically, serves as a summary of the previous opinions, adding only a note to the effect that his father, Yosef Kimchi, sided with that opinion identifying the subject of the psalm with Goliath.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":61043,"id":61043,"title":"2sam21-schindler_goliath","filename":"2sam21-schindler_goliath.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam21-schindler_goliath.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/david-battles-the-philistine-giants\/2sam21-schindler_goliath\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"2sam21-schindler_goliath","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":61042,"date":"2019-08-13 10:51:25","modified":"2020-09-23 12:36:14","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":220,"height":293,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam21-schindler_goliath-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam21-schindler_goliath.jpg","medium-width":220,"medium-height":293,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam21-schindler_goliath.jpg","medium_large-width":220,"medium_large-height":293,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam21-schindler_goliath.jpg","large-width":220,"large-height":293,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam21-schindler_goliath.jpg","1536x1536-width":220,"1536x1536-height":293,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam21-schindler_goliath.jpg","2048x2048-width":220,"2048x2048-height":293,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam21-schindler_goliath.jpg","post_full_size-width":220,"post_full_size-height":293,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam21-schindler_goliath.jpg","home_baner-width":220,"home_baner-height":293}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"The Mystery Identity - I","main_caption":"Who Was \u2018L\u2019a-Ben\u2019? 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