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Tuesday, October 05, 2021

Israel or YHWH?

DR. RABBI DAVID FRANKEL: When YHWH Went Forth: A New Reading of Psalm 114 (TheTorah.com).
What did the sea see to make it flee? Who caused the mountains to skip like rams?
The emendation of "Israel" to "YHWH" in v. 1 may sound extreme, but I think the author of the essay makes a good case for it.

Not mentioned in the essay, but arguably there is parallel scribal emendation in Deuteronomy 32:8. The Masoretic Text refers to "the sons of Israel," but the Septuagint and 4QDeutj read "the sons of God." The latter reading is clearly more original. One can hardly imagine a scribe introducing it to replace "the sons of Israel." It also makes much better sense in context. But the mythological element of God parceling out the nations to other divine beings became an embarrassment. Some later scribe introduced the awkward reference to Israel to try to get around it.

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