|
Source: (consider it)
|
Thread: Commands, decrees and laws in Deuteronomy 6
|
Sipech
Shipmate
# 16870
|
Posted
At a lunchtime service today, we were going through the early part of Deuteronomy 6. What struck me was verse 1: quote:
These are the commands (mitsvah), decrees (choq) and laws (mishpat) the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess
I've tended to read the 3 terms as rough synonyms, used as a form of parallelism to drive home the point and give some extra dimensions, with each meaning roughly the same thing, albeit with different connotations.
But in verse 2, the writer goes on to say:
quote:
...live by keeping all his decrees (chuqqah) and commands (mitsvah) that I give you...
My Hebrew isn't great, though it looks like choq and chuqqah are cognates of one another, but it begs the question, where did the mishpat go?
Is he drawing a distinction between mishpat and the other two? If so, what it indicated by the term that isn't picked up by the other two?
--------------------
I try to be self-deprecating; I'm just not very good at it.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheAlethiophile
Posts: 3791 | From: On the corporate ladder | Registered: Jan 2012
| IP: Logged
|
|
Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
|
Posted
I doubt there was any intention of leaving something out. I think it's just what you said before, a variation on synonyms.
--------------------
Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Nigel M
Shipmate
# 11256
|
Posted
I suspect that there must originally have been a difference in meaning between these terms as it would be strange to have three referring to the same thing all the time. A bit redundant, really, and ripe for a scribe to save time and space by dropping two terms in favour of one.
It would need a study of all the uses of these terms in context to see whether there is a distinction between them. For example, there is a difference between laws received directly from God, laws made by human rulers (in God’s name), and judgments made in court where these two other categories are being interpreted. I think, from lexical information, that mishpat fits most neatly with that latter meaning (court judgments / interpretations).
Not sure, though.
Posts: 2826 | From: London, UK | Registered: Apr 2006
| IP: Logged
|
|
Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
|
Posted
I'm sure you're right and there is a distinction, but that's the case with pretty much all synonyms--they cover perhaps 80 to 90% of the same lexical territory as another word, but there's still that nuance, that slightly different flavor...
I don't think in this text, however, that we can build anything on the fact that a single term doesn't get repeated. It's more likely that Moses is doing what we all do--repeating himself loosely without exact, almost legal care for the precise phrasing.
This is the more likely because the genre we're reading here is an orally-delivered speech.
--------------------
Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
BroJames
Shipmate
# 9636
|
Posted
I wonder if it's like the BCP's (1662) "full, perfect and sufficient sacrifice oblation and satisfaction" - an attempt to cover all possibilities.
Posts: 3374 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
Nigel M
Shipmate
# 11256
|
Posted
It makes sense, especially in a legal setting (The Law), it’s good practice to cover all the bases and permit no wriggle space for barrack room lawyers.
The Deut. passage is not parallelism as such, but does read as a rhetorical device to ensure there is coverage of all likely sources of legal rulings and guidance for life. The whole section following in chapter 6 is an emphatic lesson in covenant loyalty to the unique God; plenty of repetition.
Posts: 2826 | From: London, UK | Registered: Apr 2006
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
Printer-friendly view
