Pinker, «On the Meaning of wy+m in Habakkuk 3,14a», Vol. 86 (2005) 376-386
In Hab 3,14a the minimal emendation
of wy+mb “with his staffs” into yw+mb “into the
spun of” is suggested. Hab 3,14 is perceived as describing God on His chariot
chasing the enemy’s fleeing horsemen, piercing the spun or braids at the back of
their head. These horsemen have previously much enjoyed the chase and the loot
when they attacked Judah.
378 Aron Pinker
tribesâ€. Gesenius suggests that here (and in Hab 3,9) hfm is a soldier’s spear (13).
The meaning “scepter or staff†for t/fm is supported by the customary usage of
the term in Akkadian, Ugaritic, and Hebrew, where the term occurs usually in
the singular and must be understood as “a mace or scepterâ€(14).
The Septuagint translates wyfmb as “with amazementâ€(15). The Targum
understands wyfmb as referring specifically to Moses’ rod, with which he split
the sea. Since Moses used a single rod, the Targum probably reads wyfmb, as
the poetic equivalent of wfmb, “his rodâ€. The Peshitta takes wyfmb as “with his
own stavesâ€. Thus, in its view, multiple rods are inferred and they belong to
the enemy, not God. Barberini translates “with your powerâ€, probably
paraphrasing the MT.
Mowinckel believed that the meaning “arrow†for hfm was (semasiolo-
gically) entirely possible (16). Hiebert finds support for such a sense in Ugaritic
where fm meaning “arrow†occurs twice. Once fm is used by ’El to shoot
down a bird (CTA 23|52|.37.40.44.47) and another time it occurs in the plural,
mtm as part of ‘Anat’s weaponry (CTA 3|‘nt|.2.15-16)â€(17). Yet, the meaning
≤
“arrow†for hfm is not attested in the Hebrew Bible. Moreover, in verse 12
God is described treading the earth. This means that He descended from the
chariot, and that was usually done to engage in hand-to-hand combat. In these
circumstances, the standard military modus operandi of that time excluded
use of arrows. A more reasonable weapon would be a spear/lance, the
standard weapon of the chariot’s driver.
Albright says, “I am convinced that the word mat≤u (or the like) here [Hab
3,9] and v. 14 [Hab 3,14] has nothing to do with mat≤t≤eh, ‘rod, staff’ (never
‘shaft’) but is identical with South-Arabic mt≤w, ‘war, campaign, fight’, or the
like, used synonymously with words derived from the stem s≥b’, ‘to fight’, h≥rb,
(Arabic ‘fight’ and Hebrew ‘sword’), and d≥b’, (Ethiopian d≥b’, ‘to fight’,
Hebrew s≥ËbË’, ‘army’, and Akkadian s≥Ëb¨, ‘warrior, man’)â€(18). This sense
for hfm is not attested in the Hebrew Bible nor was it adopted by biblical
scholarship.
There is wide disagreement about the suffix attached to yfm. MT has a w
making it mean “his t/fmâ€, a reading that is supported by the Vulgate, Peshitta
and Targum. MT would imply that God turned back the enemy’s weapons
(13) H.W.F. GESENIUS, Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament
(Grand Rapids 1996) 467.
(14) Y. YADIN, The Art of Warfare in Biblical Lands, in light of archeological discovery
(London 1963) 11. The ancient warrior used the mace for smashing heads in hand-to-hand
combat. The mace consisted of a short wooden handle at the end of which was fastened a
stone or a shaped lump of metal. Development of personal armor and helmets obviated the
utility of this weapon and it disappeared from the battlefield.
(15) HIEBERT, God of My Victory, 41. In his attempt to understand the Septuagint’s
translation, Hiebert suggests the following possibilities: 1) hFmb, “in stretching outâ€, taking
hFm as the Hiphil participle of hfn, “to stretch outâ€, and considering ejkstavsei to be an inner
Greek corruption of ejktavsei, “extensionâ€; or, 2) fmb / fwmb, taking fm as the Qal participle
of fwm, “totterâ€, or fwm as the noun “shakingâ€. He concludes that none of these possibilities
is preferable to the MT.
(16) S. MOWINCKEL, “Zum Psalm des Habakukâ€, ThZ 9 (1953) 15f.
(17) HIEBERT, God of My Victory, 28. Anath is described as chasing away marauders
with mt≤m and the back of the bow: mt≤m tgrπ πbm bksl qπth mdnt.
(18) ALBRIGHT, “The Psalm of Habakkukâ€, 11, 15.