The Meaning of

Author(s): N. H. Snaith
Source: Vetus Testamentum, Vol. 25, Fasc. 1 (Jan., 1975), pp. 115-118
Published by: Brill
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1517377
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 SHORT NOTES 115

for Jahweh's voice. It is heard as a roaringthunderat the end of a

series of cosmic events.There is a certainlogic in the successionand
escalation of those phenomena. Afterthe stormand the earthquake
comes the lightningwhichis naturallyfollowedby the thunderor qol.
The philological analysisof 1 Kings xix 12 as well as the studyof
the contextand the traditionsinvolved suggest a translationof q61
demdmd ddqddiffering fromthe commonlyaccepted one. We propose
to read: 'A roaringand thunderousvoice'.
Louvain J. LUST

THE MEANING OF C"..

The word na,vtuoccurs fivetimesin the Old Testament: Lev. xvii

7; Deut. xxxii2; Isa. xiii 21, xxxiv 14; 2 Chr. xi 15. Some would read
it also in 2 Kgs. xxiii8, insteadofanv" (gates).
In the two Isaiah passages, xiii 21 and xxxiv 14, the word means
'he-goats'.Thereis no religiousassociationat all. Both passages speak
of ruins, uninhabitedexcept by desert owls, wolves, marmots,he-
goats and the rest. The ancientversions thoughtin termsof demons
and 'hairyones', by thelatterof whichtheypresumablywere thinking
in termsof demons of a satyrlikenature,who, theysupposed, haunt
desolate ruins. Why they should associate the classical satyrswith
desertplaces is a mystery;theywere woodland spirits.In Isa. xiii 21
LXX reads 8acL6vLc, and follows with ailtpvSz for fmi nlt
(probably 'desert owls', but uncertain);Aristotle(H. A. 9.40.2) uses
the word actpjv of a solitarybee or wasp. It is probable thereforethat
LXX is thinkingin termsof a creaturethatis 'solitary'.Vulgate has
pilosi (hairy ones: root vittI,be hairy) and strutiones (ostriches),
dependent on the Targum. Peshitta reads si'de (demons) and bndt
na'dma' (ostriches: following the Targum). The Targum has 7ltv
(demons) and p7il3 nmn (ostriches).
In Isa. xxxiv 14 we find LOtlo6vtwo,
pilosis, s"'de and t"r-t. According to
the margin of codex Q (Codex Marchalianus),Aquila reads rptZcocra
and rptyXcv(both to do with 'hair'), and Theodotion reads 6p0orpt-
and 6p0oTptx&o
XoU6vr (both to do with 'hair standingup straighton
end)'.
In 2 Chr. xi 15 it is statedthatJeroboamappointed his own priests

Vol. XXV, Fasc. 1

Vetus Testamentum,

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116 SHORT NOTES

for all the northernhill-shrinesand for the Q'TvStand for the bull-
calves which he had made. The Chroniclerknew thatthe Q"r'St had
to do withthe(to him)irregularworshipoftheNorthernKingdom,but
he distinguishesthem from the idols. Masoretictraditionconfirms
this by placing the accent nmnK under "vri'tl~. LXX has a doublet
for Q"rn ; namely s18XotL(idols) and La:rmaoL (profanethings: see
below on Lev. xvii 7). V readsdaemonum; T K'W.
2 Kgs. xxiii 8 reads Qni.n nhb (the heathen shrinesof the gates).
According to Southernpropaganda,theywereidolatrousshrinesafter
the Northernpattern.It is more likely that they were relics of the
worshipof ancientdays,stillsurvivingeven in Jerusalemitself-relics
of the old Canaanite cults which, for instance, Jezebel sought to
reintroduce,relics of the time when men thoughttheycould legiti-
matelyworship both Jahweh-El and Baal. All the ancient versions
read 'gates', except the Lucianic cursivesb o c2 e2 (in BROOKEAND
MCLEAN'Slists, Cambridge UniversityPress, The Old Testamentin
Greek) which read -Ov oixov r-rv 4SX&v (o,Tro5 SXoU), where
'house' means 'shrine, temple' (1 Kgs. vii 12 and often). Modern
commentators (HOFFMANN, etc.) propose to read "nw', whence JB
(goats), NEB (demons), NEB margin (satyrs),but otherEVV read
'gates'. We see no particularreason why 'gates' should not be correct,
though the singular'high-place,shrine'is right.None of the ancient
versions have 'high-places', but have either the singularor 'altars'
(Syriac 'lawdtd': 'altars' is to be preferredhere to 'high-places').The
shrine was at the entranceof the Gate of Jeshua,the citygovernor,
and was on theleftas you enterthecitygate (Lucian read'i'_tM).
We are left with two instances,Deut. xxxii 2 and Lev. xvii 7.
In Deut. xxxii 2 'rrvtyis parallel to '':a'n , and the same verse
refersto the ntm,the downpour of the seasonal rains, and the 5t
(dew). Everybody is well satisfiedthathere 'TS,iwhas to do withthe
showers that fertilisethe soil. The Targum has wt 'nlri (like the
winds of the downpour). The word :ann: means 'copious showers'.
We are not dealing here with gentle showers, but with the heavy
showers which usher in the rains. Compare the way in which the
heavy clouds heap up before the monsoon breaks, and the joy in a
countrylike India when the rain falls heavilyafterthe long drought.
Thus the meaningof Q"Svti here is not 'small rain' (AV, RV, JWM),
nor 'gentle rain' (RSV), nor 'fine rain' (NEB), nor even 'showers'
(JB, JPS). It means 'the stormrain', 'the heavy soaking rain' and the
root is Sit II = uSo;cf. ms75,the stormwind. This explanationis as

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 SHORT NOTES 117

old as Rashi, and apparentlyit was his own idea, since he does not
quote any ancient authority.T also speaks of the Ktilpn 'w O'o (the
drops of the latterrain), so that probably -it should be translated
'the formerrain' (cf. Job xxix 23). It is a mistaketo be influencedin
Deut. xxxii2 by Portia's speech in The Merchantof Veniceconcerning
'the qualityof mercy'.
In theMishna ShebiII 4, a 'well-wateredfield'is :n ttn;' , and the
contrastis between fieldswhich are watered and kept fertileby the
rains and the dew, and those of Egypt which depend on irrigation.
Compare also the slm and the sinnslmof the Ugarit tablets,always to
do with the fertility of the soil; Baal V iii 31, V ii 32, and especially
Baal I* v 4-6, where the passage continueswith referencesto Baal's
clouds and winds, his buckets(cf. Num. xxiv 7) and his rains(mtrtk).
Furtherin B I* v 10,11 Baal is to take with him Pidriya'daughterof
rain' ('ar, mist) and Taliya 'daughterof rain' (rb, shower of rain; cf.
Deut. xxxii 2). See also Job xxxi 39: "(I swear that)47) I have not
eaten its produce withoutpayment,nor caused to breathe out (die)
the life of its baals......", which means gettingharvestsout of the
soil withoutputtingback food intoit.
Lev. xvii 7 is: "they shall no longer slaughterin:r theirvictims
(trn:T, the animals whose fleshtheyare going to eat) to the aPnrt."
In some way or otherthese '"'StSyare thegods of thecountryside.The
contextis concernedwithwhere the blood goes; it goes into the soil.
Further,the disposal oftheblood is theimportantelementin Deut. xii
13-28. The blood is 'the life'. See Isa. xxxiv6,7 wheretheland drinks
deep of blood and is sated with fat. Compare also Lev. vii 14, where
the blood is associated with the rb'ti: the textreads n*ttin r-T. We
believe the rn,?ztto be the fat-piecesof the 'peace-offering'(cf. the
use ofslmmat Ugarit).
In Lev. xvii 7, LXX has which does not mean 'to the
r0aiott,
empty, foolish ones', but 'to the 'profane ones' (cf. Aeschylus).
Vulgate has daemonibus (DV, AV devils, NEB demons). Syriachas
si'de' and the Targum has nQtw, which are to be contrastedwith
;ml' (Deut. xxxii 17). They are (Ps. cvi 37) the gods of Canaan to
whom the Israelitessacrificedtheirsons and daughters.Other EVV
in Lev. xvii 7 have 'he-goats' (RV,JWM), 'satyrs'(RVm, RSV, JB,
NEBm), as in classical mythology.JPS has the composite 'goat-
demons'. JB (p. 153) has a note to say thattheyare beings of animal

47) N. H. SNAITH, TheBook ofJob:its OriginandPurpose(1968), pp. 36f.

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118 SHORT NOTES

formthoughtto hauntdesertsand ruins,quoting Isa. xiii 21 and xxxiv

14, and instancing'the goat forAzazel', but sayingthathere and at 2
Chr. xi 15 the word is used contemptuouslyof false gods. The tItW
withwhichtheyare associatedthereare spirits:cf.Accadiansedu48),the
protectingspiritsof the Assyrianbull colossi (perhaps this supports
the reading 'gates' in 2 Kgs. xxiii 8). The connexion with 'goats'
(hairy ones) is found firstin Aquila and Symmachus.Codex M says
that theyread roZ T-ptZltwanvand thecursivess v z (syro-hexaplamss.)
say thatAquila reads-roZs-pLxtLouCv.
The whole of thisidentificationofthenvtr with goats and satyrsis
mistaken.It is due to theintroductionof Greek and Roman ideas into
a Palestinianenvironmentto which theydo not belong. The extentto
which thishas happenedis to be seen in BROWN,DRIVERand BRIGGS,
HebrewLexicon (p. 972b), where the word is explained as "satyr,
demon, with goat's form or feet", the 'feet' being entirelyan alien
and classical importation.If only 'hair' had been mentioned, this
explanationwould not have been quite so wide of the mark. The
satyrswere the spiritsof the woods. They were the attendantsof the
god Bacchus, and later were lustfulwoodland spirits.The Hebrew
associationis with the Canaanitefertilitygods of the soil, the baals to
whom the blood and the fat were poured into the ground. The
Ugarit textBaal I* v 5-6 refersto something(the texthere is partly
illegible)whichis from"the throatof a bull-calf(npi'gl) and "put into
a hole of the earth-gods"('aSt n bhrt'elm'ars); and thisis followedby
the referencesto the clouds, the wind, the rains and the daughtersof
themist-rain(? drizzle)and showers.
The n'iY17v,therefore,we believe to be the rain-gods,the fertility
deities,the baals of the rain-storms.They are the earth-baals(gbl b'l)
of the fruitfulsoil. When Ahaziah sent to inquite of Baal-zebub of
Ekron (2 Kgs. i 1-6), he was seeking help fromthe life-godof old
Canaan.

Thetford,UK N. H. SNAITH

48) The Name 'It is probablyfromthe sameroot,and basicallymeans'divine,

spirit'or somesuchword.

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