A Rejoinder concerning 1 Samuel 1:11
- A Rejoinder concerning 1 Samuel 1:11
Michael Carasik, in his article "Why Did Hannah Ask for 'Seed of Men'?" (JBL 129, no. 3 [2010]: 433-36), refers to the expression in 1 Sam 1:11 as "difficult . . . an artifact" (p. 435) and as an "absurd phrase" (p. 436), which leads him to conclude that it served as "a kind of Tiqqun Soferim" for the original . I would like to note here that the phrase is none of the above since it has clear-cut semantic and philological analogues in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Akkadian, all referring to human offspring—analogues that heretofore have not been cited in biblical commentaries. In Hebrew, one can call attention to Jer 31:27, , in the context of the future procreation of humankind; in Aramaic, to Dan 2:43, , referring there to interdynastic marriage. In particular, examples can be cited from Mesopotamian literature, where the expression zēr amīlūti appears with the explicit meaning of a "child/human being": "May she [the goddess] Nintu . . . not allow a child to be born among his people" (Code of Hammurabi LI:48);1 "Aruru helped him [Marduk] to create every human being" (CT 13, 36:20-21;2 cf. 16, 20:943); "Adapa, a human being" (Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology 16, 275:12);4 "No human being must see him" (ABL 128:10).5 Note that the expression spans the literary gamut, from Old Babylonian to Neo-Assyrian times. Thus, in light of all the above, the phrase in 1 Sam 1:11 can be interpreted conclusively as Hannah's profound prayer to be blessed with a mortal offspring. [End Page 45]
Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mt. Scopus, Jerusalem 91905, Israel
Footnotes
1. Martha T. Roth, Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor (SBLWAW 6; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1995), 139.
2. Leonard W. King, Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets in the British Museum 13 (London: Trustees of the British Museum, 1901).
3. Reginald C. Thompson, Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets in the British Museum 16 and 17 (London: Trustees of the British Museum, 1903).
4. Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology (London: Society of Biblical Archaeology, 1888-98).
5. Robert F. Harper, Assyrian and Babylonian Letters Belonging to the Kouyunjik Collections of the British Museum (14 vols.; London/Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1892-1914).
