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This publication has also been published in paperback, please click here for details.
Abstract
The widespread opinion that the verb 'innâ in the Pi'el refers to "rape" or "sexual abuse" is not acceptable. It suffers from a lack of analysis of all the biblical material and of the distribution of 'innâ with a female object in the Hebrew Bible. A semantic analysis of the lexical collocations, of the word order and of the textual occurrences in which 'innâ functions shows that this verb is used as an evaluative term in a juridical context denoting a spatial movement downwards in a social sense and should be translated as "debase". By implication, the verb 'innâ in Gen. xxxiv 2 does not describe Shechem's rape or sexual abuse of Dinah, but evaluates Shechem's previously described actions as a debasement of Dinah from a social-juridical point of view.
Abstract
Because Gen. 9:8-17 uses the word qĕšĕt in relation to the deity and to the clouds, the inference has been made in biblical scholarship that the text refers to a rainbow. The plausibility of this inference is tested in this article. Attention is given to the various linguistic aspects of this word in the Hebrew Bible and to the specific textual composition of Gen. 9:8-17 as well as to the broader ancient Near Eastern framework established by comparative literary and iconographic evidence. The conclusion is reached that the word qĕšĕt designates in Gen. 9:8-17 a warrior’s bow which represents both the deity’s might and power as well as his willingness to transfer his power over the earth to those living on it.