BMH as Body Language: A Lexical and Iconographical Study of the Word BMH When Not a Reference to Cultic Phenomena in Biblical and Post-Biblical Hebrew

210 Pages·2008·2.071 MB·

by  W. Boyd Barrick

LIBRARY OF HEBREW BIBLE/
OLD TESTAMENT STUDIES
477
Formerly Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series
Editors
Claudia V. Camp, Texas Christian University
Andrew Mein, Westcott House, Cambridge
Founding Editors
David J. A. Clines, Philip R. Davies and David M. Gunn
Editorial Board
Richard J. Coggins, Alan Cooper, John Goldingay, Robert P. Gordon,
Norman K. Gottwald, Gina Hens-Piazza, John Jarick, Andrew D. H. Mayes,
Carol Meyers, Patrick D. Miller, Yvonne Sherwood
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BMH AS BODY LANGUAGE
A Lexical and Iconographical Study of the Word BMH
When Not a Reference to Cultic Phenomena
in Biblical and Post-Biblical Hebrew
W. Boyd Barrick
Copyright © 2008 by W. Boyd Barrick
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher, T & T Clark
International.
T & T Clark International, 80 Maiden Lane, New York, NY 10038
T & T Clark International, The Tower Building, 11 York Road, London SE1 7NX
T & T Clark International is a Continuum imprint.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Barrick, W. Boyd, 1946-
BMH as body language : a lexical and iconographical study of the word BMH when not a
reference to cultic phenomena in biblical and post-biblical Hebrew / W. Boyd Barrick.
p. cm. -- (The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament studies ; #477)
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN-13: 978-0-567-02658-3 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-567-02658-2 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Bamah (The Hebrew word) 2. Hebrew language--Semantics. 3. Bible. O.T.--Language,
style. I. Title. II. Series.
BS525.B255 2007
221.4'47--dc22
2007002263
06 07 08 09 10 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Sarah and her Mother
In Memory of John D. Carlin
(1950–2004)
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CONTENTS
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xi
Abbreviations xiii
Chapter 1
THEISSUE 1
Chapter 2
THECOGNATEEVIDENCE 12
A. Semitic Possibilities 12
B. A Greek Possibility 21
C. Summary and Implications 32
Chapter 3
THEHEBREWEVIDENCE 35
A. Deuteronomy 33:29; 1QM 12.10 (and 19[1Q33].2
and 4QMb[4Q492]1.3–4); and Sirach 9:2 36
B. Job 9:8b 40
C. Micah 1:3 and Amos 4:13 47
D. Habakkuk 3:19 and 2 Samuel 22(Psalm 18):34 62
E. Deuteronomy 32:13a; Isaiah 58:14a(cid:533)–b(cid:66);
Sirach 46:9b; and 4QpsEzekb 4.12 77
F. Isaiah 14:14a 82
G. 1QIsaiaha 53.9a 89
H. 4QShirShabb(4Q492) 1.2.2 93
I. Summary 93
Chapter 4
POSSIBLE EXCEPTIONS 96
A. Micah 3:12b(Jeremiah 26:18b(cid:67)) 96
B. Numbers 21:28 99
C. Ezekiel 36:2 101
D. 2 Samuel 1:19a and 1:25b 102
viii BMHas Body Language
Chapter 5
FINALTHOUGHTS 107
A. Semantic Speculation 107
B. Etymological Speculation 111
C. Bearing on the Meaning of (cid:57)(cid:62)(cid:51) When a Reference
to Cultic Phenomena 118

Select Bibliography 142
Index of References 175
Index of Authors 185
PREFACE
“When I use a word,” Humpty-Dumpty said, “it means just what
I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.”
Through the Looking-Glass, Chapter 6
This monograph originated in several chapters of my unpublished doctoral
dissertation on “The Word ‘BMH’ in the Old Testament” (University of Chicago,
1977), supervised by the late G. W. Ahlström. Much has been written about (cid:57)(cid:62)(cid:51)
in the quarter-century which has elapsed, some of it by me, and virtually all of it
focused on the cultic phenomenon/phenomena to which the word refers in the
vast majority of its some 100 biblical occurrences. Little or no attention has
been paid in that time to the word’s meaning in the handful of passages where it
does not have that referent. “High place” is the translational equivalent still
preferred by many, supposing that the idea of high-ness can be documented by
the word’s non-cultic usage, but that supposition has been unexamined since
P. H. Vaughan’s unsatisfactory treatment in his monograph on The Meaning of
“b(cid:407)mâ” in the Old Testament (1974). M. Gleis’s monograph on Die Bamah
(1997) barely touches on the question. The present study, completely reworked,
updated, and corrected since its first incarnation, is meant to fill that gap.1
WBB
1 February 2006
1. Two new studies—O. Loretz, “Literarische Quellen zur Stele des ‘Baal au Foudre’ (RS
4.427): Ug. bmt I, bmt II, akkadische und hebräische Parallelen,” UF 33 (2001): 325–76), and
L. Kogan and S. Tishchenko, “Lexicographic Notes on Hebrew bamah,” UF 34 (2002): 319–52)—
became available only after the initial manuscript of the present work had been submitted to the
publisher.