Idle musings by a once again bookseller, always bibliophile, current copyeditor and proofreader. Complete with ramblings about biblical studies, the ancient Near East, bicycling, gardening, or anything else I am reading (or experiencing). All more or less live from Red Wing, MN
Friday, May 03, 2013
Dog days
The name בלכ Kālēb, which is derived from kéleb ‘dog’, could not have been a secular name because this term generally had pejorative connotations in the Israelite culture (1 Sam 17:43; Prov 26:11, 17; Qoh 9:4). Moreover, a full theophoric form is known to have existed in Phoenicia: םלאבלכ Kalbʾēlîm ‘dog of the gods’. These names would thus have been declaring the name bearer to be a loyal follower of the deity, as a dog is faithful to its master or mistress.—Family and Household Religion in Ancient Israel and the Levant, page 322
The Hebrew is showing up backwards on my screen. I'm viewing in Chrome.
ReplyDeleteJoseph,
ReplyDeleteYep. For some reason when I copy and paste from the PDF to the browser, it gets screwed up.
James