Hebrew Philological Notes (III)

Four separate studies are presented, along with an addendum to a previous article in this series. 1) The unique word מַהְלְכִים in Zech 3:7 means "sacrifices," cognate to Phoenician מלן 2) Contrary to three recent proposals, the final words in Psalm 22:17 כּאֲרִי יָדַי וְרַגְלָי "like a lion, my hands and my feet" are not to be emended. Instead, the absence of a verb in this stich is indicative of the suddenness of the evildoers' attack against the psalmist. 3) The numeral "75" was expressed in a unique fashion in ancient Hebrew: it appears always as חַמִשָה ושבעים or חמש ושבעים, and never in the expected reverse order שבעים וחמש or שבעים וחמשה 4) The numeral מאתים שנים ושלשים "two hundred two and thirty" in 1 Kgs 20:15 is an exceptional formulation, expressed as hundreds + units + tens, contrary to either the usual descending order of hundreds + tens + units or the occasional ascending order of units + tens + hundreds. Apparently this formulation was used to distinguish this numeral from the form שלשי ושנים "thirty and two" which occurs in the same chapter (1 Kgs 20:1, 16). 5) E. A. Knauf suggested that the personal name רוּת "Ruth" is related to the Moabite word רית "offering" in Mesha Stele line 12. I responded to this proposal in HS 40 (1999): 27-28. Here I note further that the reading רית has been superceded by Andre Lemaire's reading הית from the verb "to be," thus greatly weakening Knauf's argument.