[yshavurah] Jacob as "Trickster
- From: "Suzanne A. Smailes" <ag348@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: yshavurah@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 8 Dec 2005 14:00:40 -0500 (EST)
Hello, everyone-
OK, here is the word study as promised from last Sat's services...
We were discussing the word translated as "trickster" in Gen. 27:12. The
Hebrew word is [ki]-meta'te'a. The root of the word is the tav-ayin-ayin
(ta'a'), which means "to cheat". There is only one other place in the
Tanakh where it is used - 2 Chronicles 36:16, where it is translated as
"taunted". In a commentary by Franz Delitzsch, he states that in Jacob's
case, there was contempt with deceipt, so it is translated as "mocker". Other
people stick close to the "cheater" root, and translate it as trickster or
deceiver.
The Greek in the Septuagint (Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible somewhere
between the 3rd and 1st century BCE) reads "kataphrenon". This word is made
up of two parts: kata, meaning "against" or "opposition" and phroneo, which
means "disposed toward, with concern or obedience" -- so, kataphrenon means
"to look down upon, think slightly of, to think arrogantly, to presume" and is
translated in the Greek/English Septuagint we have here at Wittenberg in Gen.
27:12 as "ill-intentioned". There is a completely different Greek word in 2
Chronicles, which clearly means "mocker".
Hope this was interesting. I haven't looked at 2 Chronicles in a long time!
Shalom,
Suzanne
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