RSS- Instructions for Contributors
- Subscribe to Biblica or Send books for review
- Index by Authors
- Index by Biblical Books
- Font Instructions
- Vol 90 (2009)
- Vol 89 (2008)
- Vol 88 (2007)
- Vol 87 (2006)
- Vol 86 (2005)
- Vol 85 (2004)
- Vol 84 (2003)
- Vol 83 (2002)
- Vol 82 (2001)
- Vol 81 (2000)
- Vol 80 (1999)
- Vol 79 (1998)
Home
>
Biblica
>
Vol 81 (2000)
>
- Page 262/262
- 262
Th. Booij, «Psalm 127,2b: a Return to Martin Luther», Vol. 81 (2000) 262-268
In Ps 127,2b )n# (s\e4na4)) tells about the manner of giving (H. Irsigler); it does so by denoting the state of the dydy when he is receiving God’s gift. The particle Nk, as related to Ntn, means ‘according to that’, referring to the notion of toil. The tenor of v. 2b is to underscore that it is God who ‘builds the house’, ‘keeps the city’. What humans receive is not the outcome of toil, not a divine reward for it, but an expression of favour, a gift just like that. Translation: ‘To his beloved one He gives it in sleep’.
<p ALIGN="CENTER">)n# wdydyl Nty Nk</font><br> To his beloved one He gives it in sleep<strike></p> </strike>
<p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Ps 127,2b<a href="Ani09n.html#1"><font color="#0000FF"><sup>1</sup></font></a> is a much-discussed piece of text. Its first word, <font FACE="SPTiberian">Nk</font>, is often considered problematic; even more the fourth and last, <font FACE="SPTiberian">)n#</font>, which is found only here in the Old Testament and whose function is controversial. There is a long tradition identifying <font FACE="SPTiberian">)n#</font> with <font
FACE="SPTiberian">hnF#$'</font> and taking it as an object; it is found in the Septuagint version: <font FACE="SPIonic">o#tan dw=| toi=j a)gaphtoi=j au)tou= u!pnon</font>,
‘when He gives sleep to his beloved ones’. Luther seems to have been the first to take <font FACE="SPTiberian">)n#</font> as a modifier, ‘in sleep’, translating ‘seinen freunden gibt ers schlaffend’<a href="Ani09n.html#2"><font
color="#0000FF"><sup>2</sup></font></a>. Luther’s interpretation — in which <font
FACE="SPTiberian">Nk</font> may refer to the yield of toiling<a href="Ani09n.html#3"><font
color="#0000FF"><sup>3</sup></font></a> — has become quite common. It was accepted by the authoritative grammar of Gesenius – Kautzsch, mentioning in §118i <font
FACE="SPTiberian">)n#</font> of Ps 127,2 as one of the nouns that, without a preposition, may be used to denote the time of an action<a href="Ani09n.html#4"><font color="#0000FF"><sup>4</sup></font></a>. In recent times it has been pointed out, however, that nouns used in this way are generally time designations themselves<a href="Ani09n.html#5"><font color="#0000FF"><sup>5</sup></font></a>; in fact <font FACE="SPTiberian">)n#</font> would be the only exception. As to <font
FACE="SPTiberian">hnF#e</font>, it is never used adverbially to indicate time. This state of affairs seems to unsettle a long-standing interpretation.</p>
<p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> After Martin Luther the interpretation of <font FACE="SPTiberian">)n#</font> as an object, ‘sleep’, was not quite given up<a href="Ani09n.html#6"><font color="#0000FF"><sup>6</sup></font></a>. It has been defended, for instance, by Ernst Rosenmüller, and recently by V. Hamp<a
href="Ani09n.html#7"><font color="#0000FF"><sup>7</sup></font></a> and O. Keel<a
href="Ani09n.html#8"><font color="#0000FF"><sup>8</sup></font></a>. </p>
<p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> There are, however, two difficulties. The first of them is <font FACE="SPTiberian">Nk</font>. Since it is unclear in what respect sleep, or God giving it, would correspond to people’s </p> <pageBreak> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">toiling or its being in vain (v. 2a), the statement ‘so He gives sleep to his beloved’ does not fit in with the preceding part of the verse<a
href="Ani09n.html#9"><font color="#0000FF"><sup>9</sup></font></a>. Therefore some of those considering <font FACE="SPTiberian">)n#</font> an object argue that v. 2 has the
‘alternative’ <font FACE="SPTiberian">Nk</font> (<i>HALAT</i>: <font
FACE="SPTiberian">Nk</font> I. ‘right, correct’), which they render by ‘rightly’<a href="Ani09n.html#10"><font color="#0000FF"><sup>10</sup></font></a>, or ‘verily’<a href="Ani09n.html#11"><font color="#0000FF"><sup>11</sup></font></a>. This solution, however, is unsatisfactory. In the adverbial sense of ‘rightly’ <font
FACE="SPTiberian">Nk</font> I is not used anywhere else, while expressing confirmation it does not mean ‘verily’, but ‘indeed’ (Josh 2,4: ‘indeed, these men came to me’)<a href="Ani09n.html#12"><font color="#0000FF"><sup>12</sup></font></a>. A remaining option is to read <font FACE="SPTiberian">yk</font>, which is found in two manuscripts and may be supposed in the Septuagint rendering<a href="Ani09n.html#13"><font
color="#0000FF"><sup>13</sup></font></a>. V. 2b could be translated then by ‘for He gives sleep to his beloved’<a href="Ani09n.html#14"><font color="#0000FF"><sup>14</sup></font></a>. From a grammatical point of view this is perfectly sound; yet it is no proper solution. The fact is that reading <font FACE="SPTiberian">)n#</font> as an object, apart from the difficulty of <font FACE="SPTiberian">Nk</font>, presents a contextual problem. The statement ‘He gives sleep to his beloved’ makes sense if the preceding part of text is essentially a rejection of over-exertion, toiling which hardly leaves room for a night’s sleep<a href="Ani09n.html#15"><font color="#0000FF"><sup>15</sup></font></a>. This, however, is not the case. The tenor of vv. 1.2a is not that people do wrong by over-exerting themselves, but that their effort is in vain if God is not behind it. In v. 1 the notion ‘toiling’ is not essential, in the second distich it is even missing. It comes to the fore in v. 2, when the message is brought home by use of the second person and a picture of gruelling labour.</p>
<p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> It may be asked whether indeed <font FACE="SPTiberian">)n#</font> is the same as <font FACE="SPTiberian">hnF#$'</font>. A remarkable suggestion has been offered by B.D. Eerdmans, who thinks the text has not <font
FACE="SPTiberian">)nF#$e</font>, but <font FACE="SPTiberian">)n"#&</font><a
href="Ani09n.html#16"><font color="#0000FF"><sup>16</sup></font></a>. Eerdmans renders v. 2b by ‘this a hateful man will give to his dear friend’, relating ‘this’ to the ‘bread of toil’. Eerdman’s interpretation is creative, but slightly absurd. How are we to imagine a hateful man giving the bread of toil to his dear friend? Moreover, <font FACE="SPTiberian">)n"#&</font>, as a noun, does not denote a ‘hateful man’, but an enemy. So we may return to <font
FACE="SPTiberian">)nF#$e</font>. M. Dahood, referring to Syriac <i><font FACE="SPAtlantis">s\ayna4)</font>
</i>and Ethiopic <font FACE="SPAtlantis"><i>sene)</i></font>, argues it means ‘prosperity’<a href="Ani09n.html#17"><font color="#0000FF"><sup>17</sup></font></a>.</p> <pageBreak> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">J.A. Emerton, accepting the existence of a Hebrew root <font
FACE="SPTiberian">hn#$</font> ‘be high, be exalted’ (<i>HALAT</i>: <font
FACE="SPTiberian">hn#$</font> III), argues for ‘high estate’ or
‘honour’<a href="Ani09n.html#18"><font color="#0000FF"><sup>18</sup></font></a>. It seems to be a drawback of Dahood’s proposal that Syriac <font FACE="SPAtlantis"><i>s\ayna4) </i></font>means ‘peace, tranquility’, rather than ‘prosperity’; Emerton’s suggestion, on the other hand, does not explain the aleph of <font
FACE="SPTiberian">)n#</font><a href="Ani09n.html#19"><font color="#0000FF"><sup>19</sup></font></a>. It seems unnecessary, however, to enter at length into the linguistic matter, since the actual difficulty is an interpretative one. It is problematic in both proposals that a notion is added which, in view of vv. 1.2a, is not essential in the text. According to Dahood’s explanation God gives prosperity; in Emerton’s interpretation he gives high estate, or honour. However, it is not the pursuit of prosperity, high estate or honour that the text is about<a href="Ani09n.html#20"><font color="#0000FF"><sup>20</sup></font></a>, but human effort in general.</p>
<p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> I think we may have faith in tradition reading <font FACE="SPTiberian">)n#</font> as ‘sleep’. In itself the notion ‘sleep’ has the advantage of being in opposition to the toiling pictured in v. 2a. As to the form <font FACE="SPTiberian">)n#</font>, in six or seven other cases the feminine ending <i>-</i><font FACE="SPAtlantis">a4</font> is denoted by aleph, apparently by Aramaic influence<a href="Ani09n.html#21"><font color="#0000FF"><sup>21</sup></font></a>. The Aramaic form does not necessarily go back to the author; in an early stage of the textual tradition it may have crept in<a href="Ani09n.html#22"><font color="#0000FF"><sup>22</sup></font></a>.</p>
<p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">II</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> If indeed the word <font
FACE="SPTiberian">)n#</font> means ‘sleep’, the problem of its function remains to be solved. H. Irsigler, in my view, made an important contribution by supporting Martin Luther’s interpretation<a href="Ani09n.html#23"><font color="#0000FF"><sup>23</sup></font></a> and pointing out that <font FACE="SPTiberian">)n#</font>, taken as ‘in sleep’, is not about time (as if God’s gifts would be granted only in resting time), but about the manner of giving. This, I think, is the most important thing to be said. Two clarifications may still be in order.</p>
<p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> In Irsigler’s view <font
FACE="SPTiberian">)n#</font> is a modal adjunct<a href="Ani09n.html#24"><font
color="#0000FF"><sup>24</sup></font></a>. It is true that <font FACE="SPTiberian">)n#</font> tells about the way in which God gives; in itself, however, it rather designates the state of the ‘beloved’ when he is receiving God’s gift; <i>by</i> mentioning that state, the manner of giving is indicated. More Biblical Hebrew texts have this kind of modifier. The following instances are taken from Gesenius – Kautzsch’s grammar, §118q<a href="Ani09n.html#25"><font color="#0000FF"><sup>25</sup></font></a>:</p>
<pageBreak> <blockquote> <blockquote> <font FACE="SPTiberian"><p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">bl trcnw hnwz ty# wt)rql h#)</font><br>
a woman meets him, dressed as a harlot, wily of heart (Prov 7,10)</p>
<p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><font FACE="SPTiberian">x+b #wk t) rydxhl</font><br>
[messengers will go out from me in ships] to terrify Ethiopia when it is unsuspecting
(Ezek 30,9)</p>
<font FACE="SPTiberian"><p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">z( y#pn ykrdt<br>
</font>March on, my soul, in (your) strength (Judg 5,21)</p>
<font FACE="SPTiberian"><p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">x+b ry(h l( w)byw<br>
</font>and they came against the city when it was unsuspecting (Gen 34,25).</p>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> The noun concluding each of
these sentences shows the state of an entity which, as part of the sentence, may have
different grammatical functions (it is subject, object, vocative, prepositional phrase in
the texts above). In Ps 127,2 <font FACE="SPTiberian">)n#</font> can be understood as a
modifier of the indirect object <font FACE="SPTiberian">wdydy</font> <a
href="Ani09n.html#26"><font color="#0000FF"><sup>26</sup></font></a>.</p>
<p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> Meanwhile another possibility might be considered. In § 118r, Gesenius – Kautzsch has instances of modifiers denoting a similarity:</p> <blockquote> <blockquote> <font FACE="SPTiberian"><p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Ml(pb w)cy rbdmb My)rp<br> </font>Like wild asses in the desert they go out to their labour (Job 24,5)</p>
<font FACE="SPTiberian"><p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">rwdk hpnc Kpncy Pwnc<br>
</font>He will fling you far away [?], like a ball (Isa 22,18)<a href="Ani09n.html#27"><font
color="#0000FF"><sup>27</sup></font></a>.</p>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> On the analogy of this, Ps
127,2b might be rendered by ‘He gives it as a sleep to his beloved’. As regards
content, the two translations — ‘in sleep’ and ‘as a sleep’
— are just slightly different. By both the notion ‘gift’ is underlined; ‘as a sleep’ moreover suggests that the gift is received in relaxation and surrender — which may suit the context. Nevertheless, Irsigler’s interpretation is preferable for more than one reason. In the texts quoted the phrase or noun in question is readily understood, in view of the context, as expressing a comparison<a
href="Ani09n.html#28"><font color="#0000FF"><sup>28</sup></font></a>; in Ps 127,2 this is not the case. Moreover, in Ps 127,2 ‘sleep’ has its counterpart in ‘rising early’ and ‘sitting down late’; since these are meant literally, the same is likely to hold for ‘sleep’. Finally, the title ‘Of Solomon’ has probably been inspired primarily by the combination of <font FACE="SPTiberian">wdydy</font>
(which recalled the name Jedidiah, 2 Sam 12,25) and <font FACE="SPTiberian">)n#</font> (which recalled Solomon’s dream at Gibeon, 1 Kgs 3,4-15)<a href="Ani09n.html#29"><font
color="#0000FF"><sup>29</sup></font></a>. This combination </p> <pageBreak> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">would be especially striking if <font FACE="SPTiberian">)n#</font> was taken as ‘in sleep’: when he slept, Solomon was given (the promise of) wisdom, riches, and honour.</p>
<p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> The second clarification concerns the meaning and function of <font FACE="SPTiberian">Nk</font>. In Ps 127,2 the ‘alternative’ <font FACE="SPTiberian">Nk</font> is not only supposed by authors reading <font FACE="SPTiberian">)n#</font> as an object, but also by some of those taking it as ‘in sleep’. The latter consider <font FACE="SPTiberian">Nk</font> to be the object: in sleep God gives ‘the right thing’ to whom he loves<a
href="Ani09n.html#30"><font color="#0000FF"><sup>30</sup></font></a>. An objection to this explanation is, once again, that a notion is being added. The essence of vv. 1-2a is that only God can bring about what human beings want; the question what is proper for them<a
href="Ani09n.html#31"><font color="#0000FF"><sup>31</sup></font></a> is not raised. In my view Irsigler is right in regarding <font FACE="SPTiberian">Nk</font> of Ps 127,2 as the well-known deictic particle (<i>HALAT</i>: <font FACE="SPTiberian">Nk</font> II), usually translated by ‘so’; only on this interpretation v. 2b can be a completion of the idea of vv. 1-2a, without complicating it. For a clear understanding of <font
FACE="SPTiberian">Nk</font> in Ps 127,2b two aspects of the word are to be considered:</p>
<p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> (1) The nature of the reference. The particle <font FACE="SPTiberian">Nk</font> may refer back, within the sentence, to a phrase, a term introduced by <font FACE="SPTiberian">k</font>, or a clause introduced by <font FACE="SPTiberian">r#)k</font>; it may also refer to a preceding utterance, sentence, or passage<a href="Ani09n.html#32"><font color="#0000FF"><sup>32</sup></font></a>. In a few of the latter cases, however, <font FACE="SPTiberian">Nk</font> does not refer to the utterance (etc.) itself, but to an essential element of it:</p>
<blockquote> <blockquote> <font FACE="SPTiberian"><p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">yl) wbrq Nk-yk<br> </font>But be good to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be among those who eat at your table, <i>for so they met me</i> [i.e., according to such goodness] when I fled from your brother Absalom (1 Kgs 2,7).</p> </blockquote> </blockquote>
<font FACE="SPTiberian"> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> Nk</font> does not refer to the order itself, but to the principle expressed by it.</p> <blockquote> <blockquote> <font FACE="SPTiberian"><p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Mkyhl) hwhyl Nk Nw#(t-)l<br>
</font><sup>2</sup> You shall demolish completely all the places where the nations whom
you will dispossess served their gods ... <sup>3</sup> you shall tear down their altars,
smash their pillars, burn their sacred poles, hew down the idols of their gods and blot
out their names from such places. <sup>4</sup> <i>You must not do so to YHWH your God</i>
[worship him in that way] (Deut 12,2-4).</p>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<font FACE="SPTiberian"> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> Nk</font> does not refer to the command itself, but to the forms of worship denoted in it.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> In Ps 127,2 <font
FACE="SPTiberian">Nk</font> can be understood in a similar way<a href="Ani09n.html#33"><font
color="#0000FF"><sup>33</sup></font></a>: it does not refer to the preceding statement (‘It is in vain that...’ etc.), but to an essential element of it, namely the notion of toiling. </p>
<pageBreak> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> (2) The relation to the verb. In Ps 127,2 the relation between <font FACE="SPTiberian">Nk</font> and <font
FACE="SPTiberian">Nty</font> is of a special kind. Its character may be deduced from texts speaking of divine retribution<a href="Ani09n.html#34"><font color="#0000FF"><sup>34</sup></font></a>:</p>
<blockquote> <blockquote> <font FACE="SPTiberian"><p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">wykrd lkk #y)l ttnw<br> </font>and render to each according to all his ways (1 Kgs 8,39).</p> </blockquote> </blockquote>
<p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> If the word order is inversed here and the correspondence stressed, the clause reads as follows<a
href="Ani09n.html#35"><font color="#0000FF"><sup>35</sup></font></a>: <font
FACE="SPTiberian">#y)l Nt Nk wykrd lkk</font> — ‘according to all his ways, give everyone so’ (i.e., according to those ways).</p> <blockquote>
<blockquote> <font FACE="SPTiberian"><p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Ml(pk Mhl Nt<br> </font>Give them according to their work (Ps. 28,4).</p> </blockquote> </blockquote> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> Reworded in the above manner: <font FACE="SPTiberian">Mhl Nt Nk Ml(pk</font> —
‘according to their work, give them so’ (i.e., according to that).</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> Ps. 127,2b, as we saw, is about God’s way of giving, but the idea of retribution is involved. Those addressed in v. 2 did not necessarily think, in ‘practical atheism’ (Ps 14,1), that what they tried to attain would be just the outcome of their labour or, in the last analysis, of chance. They rather felt it to be a fair reward<a href="Ani09n.html#36"><font
color="#0000FF"><sup>36</sup></font></a>, a thing they hoped to receive by divine rule in accordance with their toiling. The text flatly denies such neat agreement, saying, ‘According to that (i.e., according to your toiling) He gives to his beloved in sleep’<a href="Ani09n.html#37"><font color="#0000FF"><sup>37</sup></font></a>.</p>
<p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> Obviously, the content of v. 2b could also be worded as follows: ‘The things you hope to acquire by your toiling, those same things God gives (<font FACE="SPTiberian">Nty Nk</font>) his beloved in sleep’. So it is quite in order to translate ‘To his beloved one He gives it in sleep’<a href="Ani09n.html#38"><font color="#0000FF"><sup>38</sup></font></a>.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">*<br>
* *</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> The meaning of v. 2b can now be defined more clearly within the context. Verses 1 and 2 are a rhetorical unity<a
href="Ani09n.html#39"><font color="#0000FF"><sup>39</sup></font></a>. Their essence is that human activity is in vain <font FACE="SPTiberian">)w#$</font>, ‘delusion, vanity’) if God and his favour are not behind it. In v. 1 the author shows this by two examples; in v. 2 he intensifies the message by addressing those he has in mind and stressing the notion of exertion. The phrase <font FACE="SPTiberian">Mybc(h Mxl lk)</font> (‘eating bread of toil’) of v. 2, taken literally, seems not quite in keeping with <font FACE="SPTiberian">)w#$</font>: if the toil has yielded bread, why should it have </p>
<pageBreak> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">been in vain? Apparently ‘toil’, not ‘bread’, is the essential element here. <font FACE="SPTiberian">Mxl lk)</font> stands for ‘lead a life’<a href="Ani09n.html#40"><font color="#0000FF"><sup>40</sup></font></a>,
<font FACE="SPTiberian">Mybc(h</font> denoting the quality of life.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> At the beginning of v. 2<a
href="Ani09n.html#41"><font color="#0000FF"><sup>41</sup></font></a>, <font
FACE="SPTiberian">Mkl )w#</font> has to be connected with what precedes; the <font
FACE="SPTiberian">)l</font> ... <font FACE="SPTiberian">M)</font> statement of v. 1 (dissociated from the examples of that verse) is presupposed. At the beginning of v. 2b, <font
FACE="SPTiberian">Nk</font> not simply refers to the preceding statement, but to a notion essential in it. The author’s style, apparently somewhat bold, reflects a mode of thought. In v. 1 things of primary importance (‘house’, ‘city’) are mentioned which, to exist and to function, are specifically dependent on human activity and human care; it is however God, the psalm says, who builds and watches<a
href="Ani09n.html#42"><font color="#0000FF"><sup>42</sup></font></a>. It would be wrong now to conclude that humans do <i>not</i> build and watch, as is shown by a rewording of v. 1: ‘If YHWH builds the house, those who build it do not labour in vain’. The exertion of those building makes sense; it could even be necessary. The city may be kept though the watchman is sleeping; with the builders asleep, however, the city is not likely to be built. V. 2, although intensifying the message, may not be expected to hold elements contradictory to v. 1. Therefore the statement that God gives things ‘in sleep’
need not mean (even if it cannot be excluded) that the receiver has only to rest<a
href="Ani09n.html#43"><font color="#0000FF"><sup>43</sup></font></a>; it rather underscores that it is God who ‘builds the house’, ‘keeps the city’. ‘He gives it in sleep’ is to say: what humans receive is not the outcome of toil, not a divine reward for it, but a gift just like that. ‘He gives to his beloved’ means: the gift is a manifestation of favour. By the singular — ‘his beloved one’ — the gift is situated in a personal relationship<a
href="Ani09n.html#44"><font color="#0000FF"><sup>44</sup></font></a>. V. 2b does not change the tenor of vv. 1-2; it just makes the notion of favour more personal and graphic. A little scene is pictured: God shows favour to a human being dear to him.</p>
- Page 262/262
- 262