Theolexica

I’m working on mastering the Biblical languages. These are my notes and tools. Everything is a draft.

Akkadian Grammar Study Guide 007

Sound Changes i > e Before the consonants r and h, i could change to e. This is inconsistent (cf. nakirum, nakerum, nakrum) a > e a and e vowels would not exist in the same word. The a would become an e. *bēlātum > bēlētum Exceptions: There are a number of precise rules, but the gist is that if it is part of an ending or connection to an ending, the a is unchanged. III-weak G Verbs III-weak verbs are verbs that are missing the third radical. (It has dropped out.) Basic rules for forming the verb: If the third radical would have occurred after a vowel, nothing happens (end in the vowel). ...

December 10, 2024 · 2 min · Forrest Berry

Akkadian Grammar Study Guide 016

Injunctives There are four tenses that together make up the injunctive “tense” (commands and wishes): Imperative 2nd person commands Precative 1st and 3rd person commands/wishes (jussive) Prohibitive negative commands Vetitive negative wishes G Imperative Commands in the second person The Imperative is never used with a negative adverb. (Use Prohibitive below.) Essential form is the G preterite without the prefix In most words, the theme vowel is inserted between the first two radicals. ...

November 10, 2024 · 2 min · Forrest Berry

Hebrew Course Ideas

Use a linguistics chart of the head to explain where all the sounds are located. Give students a tactile and visual feel for where sounds are Becomes important later for sound changes Give some history of the alphabet and trace how it came down to English trace some letters out acrophonically (eg aleph > alpum) point isn’t really to teach ancient abjab, but to interest students, and show what is there also may give some hooks for memory, but won’t have time to do all letters Discuss the concept of a word family, like a fact family in math. We have this in English, but nowhere near to the degree in Semitic languages.

November 9, 2024 · 1 min · Forrest Berry

Apocrypha

2 Maccabees

October 22, 2024 · 1 min · Forrest Berry

2 Maccabees 3 Notes

2 Maccabees Summary During the high priesthood of Onias, Jerusalem enjoyed peace, and the temple was honored, even receiving royal support. A dispute between Onias and Simon, a temple official, led Simon to falsely report to Apollonius, the regional governor, that the temple treasury held vast sums. This prompted King Seleucus to send his minister, Heliodorus, to seize the funds. Despite protests from Onias, who explained the money belonged to widows, orphans, and Hyrcanus, Heliodorus attempted to confiscate it. The city was in anguish, and the people prayed for divine intervention. As Heliodorus moved to seize the treasury, a miraculous vision appeared: a fearsome horseman and two young men severely beat him, leaving him near death. ...

October 21, 2024 · 2 min · Forrest Berry

2 Maccabees

Apochrypha Chapter Notes 2 Maccabees 3 Resources Doran, Robert, and Harold W. Attridge. 2 Maccabees: A Critical Commentary. Hermeneia–a Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2012. An excellent commentary on 2 Macc, provides a solid general introduction and a terse but informative line-by-line commentary. Goldstein, Jonathan A. II Maccabees: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. Nachdr. The Anchor Bible 41A. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008. Another excellent commentary, more detailed in both the notes and the introduction than Doran’s.

October 21, 2024 · 1 min · Forrest Berry

Jesus and the Money Changers

Resources Domeris, 2015 1 Good overview of economics and link to other secondary resources. Key Questions: introduction of trade into the Temple court, link between money-changers and Greek “banking” (cf 1 Maccabees), corruption of priesthood William Domeris, “The ‘Enigma of Jesus’’ Temple Intervention: Four Essential Keys,” HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies 71, no. 1 (March 23, 2015): 8 pages, https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v71i1.2954. ↩︎

October 8, 2024 · 1 min · Forrest Berry

Leviticus 27 Notes

Leviticus 27:14-21 See note on Temple Mortgages Philo treats 20% fee as punishment for foolish behavior 1 he shall pay its price and a fifth besides, punishing his own rashness and impetuous desire for his two faults, his rashness for making the vow, and his impetuous desire for wishing for things back again which he had before abandoned. Resources Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. 23 - 27, First Yale University Press impression, The Anchor Bible 3B (New Haven London: Yale University Press, 2010)o. Morales, L. Michael. Who Shall Ascend the Mountain of the Lord? A Biblical Theology of the Book of Leviticus. New Studies in Biblical Theology 37. Downers Grove, IL: Apollos: InterVarsity Press, 2015. Chapter 7 focuses on the earthly temple and its role in Israel’s history, including the exile and restoration. This resource is heavy on theology and lighter on history but provides some valuable thought on how Israel understood and approached the temple. Chapter 8 focuses on the transition to the eternal temple and the person of Jesus. Some valuable insight on Jesus’ and the NT approach to the temple here. Beale, G. K. The Temple and the Church’s Mission: A Biblical Theology of the Dwelling Place of God. New Studies in Biblical Theology 17. Downers Grove, IL: Apollos: Inter-Varsity Press, 2004. Chapter 3-4 contain some suprisingly relevant content on the temple’s use in the OT. Starting with symbolism in chapter 2 it moves on to the expanded ways that the temple was used (eg treasury) in chapter 3. Chapter 11 discusses the temple in Ezekiel with both a near term view on attitudes toward the temple as well as the wrapped up eschatological view. Philo, “The Special Laws, II, 37,” in The Works of Philo: Complete and Unabridged, trans. Charles Duke Yonge (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1995), 571–72. ↩︎ ...

October 8, 2024 · 2 min · Forrest Berry

Notes on Leviticus

General Morales, L. Michael. Who Shall Ascend the Mountain of the Lord? A Biblical Theology of the Book of Leviticus. New Studies in Biblical Theology 37. Downers Grove, IL: Apollos: InterVarsity Press, 2015. A Biblical theology of Leviticus. Leviticus is the key book focused on the cultic ritual of Israel. This work deals with the sacrificial system and how Israel approached God throught His dwelling place (first tabernacle, later temple). Beale, G. K. The Temple and the Church’s Mission: A Biblical Theology of the Dwelling Place of God. New Studies in Biblical Theology 17. Downers Grove, IL: Apollos: Inter-Varsity Press, 2004. Focuses on the connection between the physical dwelling of place of God with man in the tabernacle and the temple and connects that idea to the incarnation and ultimately with the universal presence of God shared with man in Revelation. Chapters Leviticus 27 Leviticus 27:14-21 - consecrating houses to the temple

October 8, 2024 · 1 min · Forrest Berry

Akkadian Grammar Study Guide 005

Assimilation of n n nearly always assimilates to the following consonant the following consonant then doubles (called compensatory lengthening) nC1 > C1C1 The verbal adjective of šakānum is šaknum. In the feminine singular, it is **šakintum > šakittum. Exceptions: frequently, verbal adjectives with a second radical of n Sumerian loan words Assimilation before Feminine Marker t d and ṭ completely assimilate with the accompanying compensatory lengthening (e.g. **kašidtum > kašittum) sibilants (s, ṣ, z) become š exceptions are rare Weak Verbs Weak verbs contain one or more radicals that are prone to phonological change. Weak verbs identified with a Roman numeral and the weak consonant e.g. I-n, identifies a verb with a first radical of n The weak radicals are ʾ, y, n, w. n assimilates anywhere (not just verbs). ʾ, y, w generally only adjust in verbs. The generic designation “-weak”, refers to the consonants ʾ, w, y. G Preterite I-n Verbs always assimilate due to n always being followed by a consonant Verbal adjective and Infinitive are always regular due to n always being followed by a vowel. nadānum G Preterite Form Singular Plural 3m iddin iddinū 3f iddin iddinā 2m taddin taddinā 2f taddinī taddinā 1c addin niddin Verb Semantics Double Accusatives: some Akkadian verbs take two direct objects. Rarely occurs in English (She taught him Akkadian.) More common but still not frequent in Akkadian. Pay attention to the vocabulary entries to identify which verbs take a double accusative. Prepositions: prepositions can have particular meaning with (certain) verbs. Pay attention to the vocabulary. ina, normally instrumental or locative, can have the sense of “from” with verbs (amtum ina bītim iḫliq “the slave escaped from the house”, not “the slave escaped in/with the house”) ina qātim ša not “in the hand of” but “from the hand of” Anki Deck ...

October 6, 2024 · 2 min · Forrest Berry