Daniella Ishai-Rosenboim, «Is yh MwOy (the Day of the Lord) a Term in Biblical Language?», Vol. 87 (2006) 395-401
The collocation yh MwOy in the Biblical language is not a term, as it does not answer
the criterion of being a term: one, specific and unchanged expression referring to
one, specific and unchanged concept: Rather, this collocation may be replaced by
other ones (e.g. yhl Mwy, yh P) Mwy, yhl Mq@n Mwy,
Kp)/wp) Mwy) and on the other hand the
concept is referred to also (mostly!) by another expression ( )whh Mwyh); nor does it
refer exclusively to the concept of ‘The Day of the Lord’. None of the cultures
continuing the Biblical one refer to the concept by this collocation or by a
translation of it.
Is ùh (the Day of the Lord) a Term in Biblical Language? 399
µ/y
4. The expressions referring to the concept ‘The Day of the Lord’ in other
sources
The concept, which today we call ùh µ/y, ‘The Day of the Lord’, ‘YHWH’s
Day’ or the like, long outlived the Bible period in both Jewish and Christian
culture. If this collocation had been the term for that concept, one should
expect it to be preserved in these cultures or at least in one of them, or one
branch of them. However, none of these cultures use a term which is a
continuation or a translation of the Biblical collocation ùh µ/y.
As Hoffmann rightly says (p. 39 last par.), “the view that ùh µ/y is not a
definite term is typical of traditional Jewish exegesis since the Aramaic
Targumâ€, and “T. Jonathan never translates the phrase as ùhd amwy, which
would have been expected had he believed it to be a definite termâ€.
A medieval translation of (part of?) the Bible into Jewish Arabic (7) is not
consistent in translating the collocation ùh µ/y: sometimes it is translated by
hlla µwy – ‘The Day of God’, ‘God’s Day’ (Joel 2,1; 3,4; Amos 5,20; Obad
1,15) and sometimes (even in the same chapter) by ˆymla[la br µwy – “The Day
of the Master of the Worlds†(Joel 1,15; 2,1; 4,14; Zeph 1,7.14). Especially
instructive is Amos 5,18, in which the collocation ùh µ/y appears twice, the first
is translated as ˆymla[la br µwy – “The Day of the Master of the Worldsâ€, while
the second as hlla µwy – “The Day of Godâ€. If ùh µ/y had been a term,
supposedly it would have been translated always by the same phrase.
In the Tannaitic (Jewish post Biblical) sources it is called ˆydh µwy (‘The
Day of Judgment’) or lwdgh ˆyd(h) µwy (‘The great Day of Judgment’):
And Samuel said to Saul, Why have you provoked me?†[1 Sam
28,15] Samuel said to him “… I thought that it was the Day of
Judgment, and I was afraid.†Are not the words an argument a minori
ad maius: just as Samuel, the chief of the prophets … was afraid of the
Day of Judgment, how much more should we fear it! (Yerushalmi
Talmud, Hagiga, ch. 2 p. 77, col.1, Hebrew).
R. Eleazar says:
If you succeed in keeping the Sabbath, you will escape the three
visitations: The day of Gog, the suffering preceding the advent of the
Messiah and the Great Day of Judgment [Mekhilta, Wayyissa‘,
(B™shalah≥) 4 (Hebrew) (8).
Other examples are: Sifre≥ B™midbar 112 (9) and Yerushalmi Talmud,
Berakhot, ch. 8, p. 12, col. 3.
Especially instructive are the Ethiopic sources, Henoch and Jubilees,
which were preserved in Ge‘ez. These books (mainly Henoch) mention this
subject frequently. However, it is not called ‘™lata ’™gzi’abher – ‘The Day of
(7) A Medieval Translation of the Latter Prophets into Iraqi and Syrian Judeo-Arabic:
Ezekiel and the Minor Prophets. The Text of Bodleian Manuscript Hunt. 206 with
Introduction and Notes (ed. Y. AVISHUR) (Tel Aviv – Jaffa 2000) (Hebrew).
(8) According to Mechilta d’Rabbi Ismael (ed. H.S. HOROVITZ) (Jerusalem 1960) 169
(Hebrew).
(9) According to Siphre ad Numeros adjecto Siphre zutta (ed. H.S. HOROVITZ (Lipsiae
1917) 122 (Hebrew).