Aron Pinker, «On the Meaning of Job 4,18», Vol. 93 (2012) 500-519
This paper argues that the terms wydb( and wyk)lm in Job 4,18 should be understood as referring to the set motions of the sun, moon, and stars as well as to sporadic meteorological events, respectively. Such understanding does not dilute the validity and force of the qal wahomer in 4,18-19. The comparison is between the inanimate but permanent (sun, moon, stars, meteorological phenomena) and the animate but impermanent (humans). The difficult hlht is assumed to have been originally hhflft;@ from hhl, «languish, faint». Taking hlht as having the meaning «weakness» provides a sense that eminently fits a natural event.
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ON THE MEANING OF JOB 4,18
3. The term hlht
The hapax legomenon hlht presented considerable challenges
to commentators since the earliest times of biblical exegesis. The Sep-
tuagint rendered hlht by “perverseness, crookedness†(skolio/n)
and is followed by the Vulgate (pravitatem); the Targums by “unright-
eousness†()ly() 25; Symmachus by “folly†(mataio/thta); and the
Peshitta by “amazement†()hmt). With regard to this unique term it
is obvious that the versions were again at a loss how to translate it and
resorted to meanings that they thought would fit the context.
The following are some of the solutions that were suggested for
the interpretation of hlht:
― Emend hlht to hlpt (“unseemlinessâ€).
Rationale: (a) The word hlpt occurs in a phrase with My#y
(Job 24,12); (b) all but one letter are the same as in hlht; (c)
hlht has been miswritten for hlpt 26; and (d) the phrase My#y
hlht is similar to the phrase hlpt Ntn (Job 1,22) 27.
Objection: (a) The word hlpt also occurs in a phrase with the
word yty)r (Jer 23,13); (b) The Ketib-Qere apparatus does not at-
test to a h/p confusion; the letters h and p are orthographically
dissimilar in both the paleoscript and the square script; and the ra-
tionale in (d) represents circuitous reasoning.
― hlht is derived from the root III llh (“be deceived, foolish,
madâ€).
Rationale: (a) All the versions (LXX, Targum, Peshitta, Sym-
machus, Vulgate) use a word for hlht that is equivalent to “follyâ€
or “transgression†28; (b) the forms lbete% “blemish†(from llb), smet%e
“fusion†(from ssm) allow one to assume a word lhet%o (from llh)
GRABBE, Comparative, 41. This meaning of )ly( is based on the read-
25
ing )lw(. JASTROW, 1070a, mentions the meaning “pretextâ€, which well fits
the context.
DRIVER – GRAY, Critical, 25.
26
CHAHAM, bwy), 35.
27
GRABBE, Comparative, 41. Grabbe argues that most or all of the ver-
28
sions understood the word to be from the root meaning “be deceived, a foolâ€.
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