{"id":82446,"date":"2020-10-30T15:17:37","date_gmt":"2020-10-30T13:17:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=82446"},"modified":"2020-10-30T16:03:09","modified_gmt":"2020-10-30T14:03:09","slug":"alphabetic-vagaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/alphabetic-vagaries\/","title":{"rendered":"Alphabetic Vagaries"},"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":"82446","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"601","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Seems the order may have been different way back when\r\n\r\n","content":"

In <\/span>our comments to Psalm 25<\/span><\/a>, our first alphabetic psalm, we used the term \u201cacrostic\u201d to designate a psalm that uses the letters of the Hebrew alphabet as the lead letters of each consecutive verse. While that psalm was alphabetic without being acrostic, this psalm is both. It consists of 22 verses, each commencing with a consecutive letter of the Hebrew alphabet, except for the first verse, its superscription. <\/span><\/p>\n

But wait. That leaves only 21 remaining verses, which means that one letter of the alphabet is missing. Indeed, v.6 begins with the fifth letter, <\/span>heh<\/span><\/em>, and v.7, with the seventh letter, <\/span>zayin<\/span><\/em>, seemingly omitting the sixth letter, <\/em><\/span>vav<\/span><\/em>. However, a closer examination reveals that the second half of v.6 begins with the word <\/span>u-f\u2019neihem<\/span><\/em>, which does commence with a <\/span>vav<\/span><\/em>, so, arguably, the entire alphabet is present and accounted for.<\/span><\/p>\n

So far, so good. However, another alphabetic challenge awaits. Vs.16-18, corresponding to the letters `<\/em><\/span>ayin, peh,<\/span><\/em> and<\/span> tzadi<\/span><\/em>, read as follows:<\/span><\/p>\n

The eyes of the Lord are on the <\/span>righteous<\/b>, His ears attentive to their cry. The face of the Lord is set against <\/span>evildoers<\/b>, to erase their names from the earth. <\/span>They<\/b> cry out, and the Lord hears, and saves them from all their troubles.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first two verses seem alright. In contrast to the <\/span>righteous<\/b>, to whom the Lord is accessible through their prayers, the <\/span>evildoers<\/b> will be met by His wrath and will perish. Then comes the tricky verse: If <\/span>they<\/b>\u2014the evildoers\u2014call out to Him, He will rescue them. That directly contradicts the previous verse.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are two ways to resolve this discrepancy. The first, utilized by several of the medieval exegetes, insinuates the act of repentance between vs.17-18. IF the evildoers repent and call out to God, then, in deference to their penitence, He will absolve them of their iniquities. The second way is to invert the sequence of vs.16-17 so that the antecedent of <\/span>they<\/b> becomes the righteous rather than the evildoers.<\/span><\/p>\n

While this may seem, at first glance, to be a random act of textual criticism, it is justifiable on biblical and archaeological grounds. In the Book of Lamentations chapters 2, 3, and 4, alphabetic acrostics all, the verses beginning with <\/span>peh<\/span><\/em> precede those that start with `<\/em><\/span>ayin<\/span><\/em>. In addition, numerous children\u2019s alphabet exercises from the biblical era that have been uncovered by archaeologists (they are called abecedaries) also display this very inversion.<\/span><\/p>\n

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