Phillip Lerner, «Redefining h)lth. An Assurance of Israel’s Return
to the Land in Jethro’s Covenant», Vol. 87 (2006) 402-411
Though it is recognized that Exod 18,1-12 contains treaty making elements, there
seems to be very little evidence of the nature of this treaty. The term h)lth is reexamined
and redefined as “the suffering that is encountered due to the helpless
nature of being forsaken”. The phrase wnt)cm r#) h)lth lk, found in Exod 18,8,
is demonstrated to be a technical phrase with certain common characteristics that
is used as surety that Israel will be fully restored to their land. In addition to
providing more details of Jethro’s covenant, this phrase, in combination with
several other terms in Exod 18,1-12, narrows the possibilities regarding the
covenant’s nature and function.
406 Phillip Lerner
correspondence within v. 13 itself. It is these “counsels†that are called on to
stand and save Babylon, but they are incapable of doing so. This is the very
reason that weariness might be proposed as the meaning for halnw; they are
wearied because nothing is happening. However, for such things to ever have
been considered magical, they must have worked at some point. This is the
contrast, that they are “helpless [forsaken]â€, despite their many appeals to
astrology. So, the connection with v. 12 is that despite the fact that they have
toiled at this from their youth, they have built nothing, they are abandoned
and helpless (22).
This state of abandonment can extend even to the land itself. In Ps
68,9[10] it says of the land, “Rain in abundance, O God, you showered
abroad; you restored your heritage when it languished [halnw]. The psalm
contains a reference to the Lord marching his people through the desert in
order to restore them to their land. However, this passage has proven quite
difficult to translate exactly. Tate renders this passage, “when your domain is
weary you sustain itâ€, in line with the traditional understanding of hal (23).
Others, such as Mitchel Dahood, assume that the meaning in this case should
be sought further afield, “Your generous rain pour down, O God, your
patrimony and dominion yourself restore!†(24). However, if a translation is
provided using our proposed meaning, these difficulties may be cleared up.
“You cast abundant showers, O God. Your inheritance was forsaken
[abandoned] and you established itâ€. This reading is much more effective than
the traditional “weakenedâ€.
In addition to these shades of meaning, hal also contains a certain
directional quality. hal implies a downward release, allowing gravity to pull
the object away. So by merely “letting go†of the object in question, it is taken
away from the place it was held. Jer 6,11 announces, “But I am full of the
wrath of the Lord; I am weary of holding it in. Pour it out on the children in
the street, and on the gatherings of young men as well; both husband and wife
shall be taken, the old folk and the very agedâ€. Jeremiah is not just emitting
something but pouring it out, an action similar to our definition (25). He has
“forsaken holding it inâ€. Also, Prov 26,15 provides us with another example
of this directional quality, “The lazy person buries a hand in the dish, and is
too tired to bring it back to the mouthâ€. Though this verse speaks of the
sluggard’s unwillingness to exert himself against any forces, his specific
(22) For a people who held that “I am, and there is no other†(47,10), the emphasis on
their abandonment is especially poignant. It is exactly because they have no one over them
that they will fall. Babylon “has nowhere else to turn but to herself, and that is not enoughâ€.
OSWALT, Isaiah, 256.
(23) M.E. TATE, Psalms 51–100 (WBC 20; Dallas 1990) 160. This conditional addition
“when†does express a significant difference. Does this verse refer to an essentially one-
time action or does it just refer to the Lord’s regular provision of rain? In line with our
proposed meaning, the inheritance may have been abandoned and then restored.
(24) M. DAHOOD, Psalms II: 51–100 (Garden City 1968) 139-140. The translation as
“dominion†is derived by reference to Ugaritic use.
(25) As Holladay describes it, “he is bottled up with itâ€; Jeremiah is so filled with the
Lord’s wrath that “he is beginning to leak. He cannot keep silentâ€. W.L. HOLLADAY,
Jeremiah. A Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah Chapters 1–25 (ed. P.D.
HANSON) (Philadelphia 1986) 215.