Wars, or feeding? Isaiah 30:32

[kwrandolph]

Isaiah 30:32 reads as follows:

והיה כל מעבר מטה מוסדה אשר יניח יהוה עליו בתפים ובכנרות ובמלחמות תנופה נלחם בה

The question comes from the last four words, ובמלחמות תנופה נלחם בה

The grammar of the sentence indicates that מלחמות is a feminine singular that ends in a ות making it not the plural of the word מלחמה. As such it looks as if it is a happax legomenon found only in this verse.

As for the meaning, there are two different roots for לחם which are homographs—to wage war, and to feed. The context of the rest of the verse indicates blessing, so it looks as if it comes from the root of feeding. That makes this section about the presentation of nourishment to those who are blessed.

Any thoughts? Or am I all wet?

Karl W. Randolph.

[Galena]

Hallo Karl, being reluctant to respond to what I do not understand I venture to give you some information which I looked up in even-shoshan. They list around 15 or so places where this plural is found, but only in this verse in the whole scripture is there a vav-bet prefix. Also the root here is actually מלחמה The modern hebrew written next to even-shoshan's entry defines this entry as "combat" and " to approach/collide with the blood between hosts/armies". My modern hebrew is not very good at all- (a personal frustration really Karl) .
Anyway.... (English bible)
Isaiah 42:13
psalm 46:10
num 21:14
judges 3:1
1 sam 18:17
1 sam 25:28
just to give you a few. The KJV translates this :...in battles of shaking will he fight with it...
I do not understand the English let alone dealing with the hebrew. Hence also I could not respond to your last query, since I can not add anything to your understanding.
Kindest regards
Chris
Ah just noticed, a circle by this entry in even-shoshan lists this as a reading, not a written form, in my KJV it also lists this as a qere reading though no alternative written form is suggested anywhere that I can see. Also I can not understand all those entries in the hebrew at the bottom of the pages anyway. So not much help here sorry to say.

[Jemoh66]

Karl,

Where do you get that the "context of the rest of the verse indicates blessing?" Secondly, what about the context leading up to the sentence:

"The Assyrians will be terror-stricken at the voice of the LORD, when he strikes with his rod."

And the object of 32b "them" is the Assyrians. I side with this translation "Battling with brandished arm, he will fight with them."
In the greater context, Israel is being healed/blessed, but she is "you" while the Assyrians are "them."

Jonathan Mohler

[kwrandolph]

Hallo Karl, being reluctant to respond to what I do not understand

Chris: How do you expect to learn unless you ask questions and make mistakes?

Me, once I got so that I was looking at this forum every day, even before doing my morning devotions. Then I stopped myself. I didn’t get to where I’m at in Hebrew by studying Hebrew and debating with others, I got to where I am by reading Tanakh (Old Testament). I didn’t study Hebrew to become an expert in Hebrew, I learned a little bit of Hebrew in order to learn God’s word. Part of my devotions is reading Bible, the Old Testament in Hebrew, the New in Greek. I had to keep my priorities straight, Bible first, anything else later.

I have made plenty of mistakes. I have misunderstood many verses. The more I read, the more familiar I am with the language, and the more I understand. In the past I skipped verses I didn’t understand, and this was one of them. Now I know enough to tackle many of the verses I previously couldn’t understand. So I encourage you, just start reading, from Genesis to the end, then start again. And again. And again.

I venture to give you some information which I looked up in even-shoshan. ……

I did an electronic search and found that all uses of מלחמות were easily recognizable as referring to wars (plural) with the exception of this verse. My original posting raised the reasons I had trouble accepting that this time also refers to “wars”.

The KJV translates this :...

If you can understand the KJV, you’re doing better than I. It is because I had trouble understanding the KJV that I got into Hebrew big time.

Kindest regards
Chris
Ah just noticed, a circle by this entry in even-shoshan lists this as a reading, not a written form, in my KJV it also lists this as a qere reading though no alternative written form is suggested anywhere that I can see. Also I can not understand all those entries in the hebrew at the bottom of the pages anyway. So not much help here sorry to say.

The verse has Qere readings, but not this word. I found that concordances list the verse as a Qere verse, even when the word you’re looking up doesn’t have a Kethib/Qere pair.

Karl W. Randolph.

[kwrandolph]

Jonathan:

Where do you get that the "context of the rest of the verse indicates blessing?" Secondly, what about the context leading up to the sentence:

"The Assyrians will be terror-stricken at the voice of the LORD, when he strikes with his rod."

Then what follows is a contrast. The waw is a connector that contrasts in this context.

And the object of 32b "them" is the Assyrians.

What “them” in 32b? Where is it?

In the greater context, Israel is being healed/blessed,…

Jonathan Mohler

I agree with the greater contrast, but it appears that the contrast is also in this verse.

I checked the DSS and it has the same reading.

Karl W. Randolph.

[Jemoh66]

Karl,

I found this note interesting:

The Hebrew text reads literally, “and with battles of brandishing [weapons?] he will fight against him.” Some prefer to emend וּבְמִלְחֲמוֹת (uvémilkhamot, “and with battles of”) to וּבִמְחֹלוֹת (uvimkholot, “and with dancing”). Note the immediately preceding references to musical instruments.

The NET notes

Jonathan Mohler

[Isaac Fried]

It should be of interest to know that in spoken ("Modern") Hebrew הַלְחָמָה HALXAMAH is 'soldering, welding', from the biblical root לחם LXM, 'fuse, blend, amalgamate, solidify, put together into one mass', as combatants in a fight, or baked dough in a loaf of bread.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

[kwrandolph]

Thanks. That shows that they recognize that there’s a problem with the standard translation.

Karl,

I found this note interesting:

The Hebrew text reads literally, “and with battles of brandishing [weapons?] he will fight against him.”

That “literal” reading is not quite accurate. Even if we assume that וּבְמִלְחֲמוֹת refers to wars, the “against him” reads as “against her”. But if we take מִלְחֲמוֹת to be a feminine singular noun that ends in ות- then the final word בה would refer back to מִלְחֲמוֹת, as well תנופה acts as a adjective to מִלְחֲמוֹת.

Some prefer to emend וּבְמִלְחֲמוֹת (uvémilkhamot, “and with battles of”) to וּבִמְחֹלוֹת (uvimkholot, “and with dancing”). Note the immediately preceding references to musical instruments.

The NET notes

Jonathan Mohler

Not only the musical instruments, but before them the “causing to rest” and “founded, set up”. Don’t forget that the waw at the beginning of the sentence can act as either as a continuation, or a contrast, while tying thoughts together.

It was all of these together that made me question the standard understanding of מִלְחֲמוֹת in this verse as being from the root referring to wars, rather the possibility that it is a happax legomenon from a different root that has the same consonants as “to war”, but meaning “to feed, give bread to”.

Karl W. Randolph.