געל Lev. 26:30 vs. גאל Gen. 48:16

[Isaac Fried]

We read there
וְגָעֲלָה נַפְשִׁי אֶתְכֶם
KJV: "and my soul shall abhor you"
in which וְגָעֲלָה is of the root געל of the root family
אגל, עגל, גאל, געל, גלע, גלה
with the letter ג as defining גאה, and the letter ל as defining עלה.
Thus, געל is essentially 'lifted, removed, rejected'.
געל appears also in Job 21:10
שׁוֹרוֹ עִבַּר וְלֹא יַגְעִל תְּפַלֵּט פָּרָתוֹ וְלֹא תְשַׁכֵּל
in the sense of 'miss out'
In Gen. 48:16
הַמַּלְאָךְ הַגֹּאֵל אֹתִי מִכָּל רָע
KJV: "The Angel which redeemed me from all evil"
NIV: "the Angel who has delivered me from all harm"
הַגֹּאֵל is in the sense of 'lifting me out of any trouble'.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

[Jason Hare]

It's easy to see that גואל נפש "a soul's redeemer" is not the same thing as גועל נפש "disgusting." This is simply false.

[Isaac Fried]

Yes Jason, you are right
גואל נפש is indeed one who lifts the soul out and away from discomfort or even danger (fancifully put: a redeemer).
גועל נפש is indeed lifting and removing something unpleasant up and away from the soul (fancifully put: disgusting, abhorring.)

Think also about this: גְאוּלָה, 'redemption, salvation', is the lifting up from the גָּלוּת, 'exile'.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

[James Stinehart]

Isaac Fried:

If I’m following your logic, in comparing געל at Leviticus 26: 30 to גאל at Genesis 48: 16: (i) the ultra-literal meanings are somewhat similar: “cast away” vs. “lift up”; yet (ii) the actual meanings are totally different from each other, basically being the opposite of each other: “abhor” vs. “redeem”.

Jim Stinehart

[Isaac Fried]

Yes Jim, you are right.
The "actual" meaning of גאל and געל are indeed the opposite of each other. Yet, all the same, both deeds consist, as I see it, of the elementary acts of גאה+עלה, of raising and lifting.
The contextual question is for what particular purpose was this raising + lifting done. In גאל (written with an aleph for distinction) the raising + lifting is done "to redeem", which is the English lexical entry for this act. In געל (written with an ayin for distinction) the raising + lifting is done to cast away the repugnant, the "abhorred", which is the English lexical entry for this act. He who does not know English, looks at the Hebrew text, rather than at the dictionary.

Ah, but then we have Job 21:10
שׁוֹרוֹ עִבַּר וְלֹא יַגְעִל
to contend with. What do bulls accomplish by this געל? Abhor something? NIV translates this as: "Their bulls never fail to breed", but this is but a polite story for children.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

[Isaac Fried]

Consider also the pair גאה - געה

גאה is 'rise', as in Job 8:11
הֲיִגְאֶה גֹּמֶא בְּלֹא בִצָּה יִשְׂגֶּה אָחוּ בְלִי מָיִם
NIV: "Can papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh? Can reeds thrive without water?
in which יִשְׂגֶּה is from the root שגא = שאה+גאה, extended further to שגב as in Deut. 2:36.

געה is 'bellow, bawl, raise a loud throaty roar', as in Job 6:5
הֲיִנְהַק פֶּרֶא עֲלֵי דֶשֶׁא אִם יִגְעֶה שּׁוֹר עַל בְּלִילוֹ
NIV: "Does a wild donkey bray when it has grass, or an ox bellow when it has fodder?"
Also related to this two is קאה, 'vomit, spasmodically eject up the content of the stomach', as in Prov. 23:8
פִּתְּךָ אָכַלְתָּ תְקִיאֶנָּה
NIV: "You will vomit up the little you have eaten"

Isaac Fried, Boston University

[Isaac Fried]

Another interesting aleph-ayin pair is ראה - רעה

רעה is said for sheep or cows roaming freely and independently in a grazing field, seeking grass to nibble. See Gen. 41:2
וְהִנֵּה מִן הַיְאֹר עֹלֹת שֶׁבַע פָּרוֹת יְפוֹת מַרְאֶה וּבְרִיאֹת בָּשָׂר וַתִּרְעֶינָה בָּאָחוּ
NIV: "when out of the river there came up seven cows, sleek and fat, and they grazed among the reeds"
The flock is supervised by a רוֹעֶה. See Isaiah 40:11
כְּרֹעֶה עֶדְרוֹ יִרְעֶה בִּזְרֹעוֹ יְקַבֵּץ טְלָאִים וּבְחֵיקוֹ יִשָּׂא עָלוֹת יְנַהֵל
NIV: "He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young"
The רוֹעֶה is supervising his flock, yet he is certainly not a רוֹאֶה, there is nothing between רעה and ראה. ראה is to discern and to discriminate what is in front of the eye - to separate the view into its details.

רֵעַ, as in 2Sam. 13:3
וּלְאַמְנוֹן רֵעַ וּשְׁמוֹ יוֹנָדָב
KJV: "But Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab"
is an independent friend.
Also a ruminating thought, as in Ps. 139:2
אַתָּה יָדַעְתָּ שִׁבְתִּי וְקוּמִי בַּנְתָּה לְרֵעִי מֵרָחוֹק
NIV: "You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar"

Isaac Fried, Boston University

[James Stinehart]

Isaac:

Are we looking at the same Hebrew text of Isaiah 40: 11? I see the first three words as using R‘H / רעה twice, never with an interior vav/ W / ו.

Here is my own, literal translation of the first three words at Isaiah 40: 11:

“Like a shepherd [R‘H / רעה], his flock he will feed [R‘H / רעה, though here with the verbal prefix yod: Y-R‘H / ירעה ].”

I don’t understand the point you are making. What am I missing?

Jim Stinehart

[Isaac Fried]

Jim,

Here is Isaiah 40:11 again
כְּרֹעֶה עֶדְרוֹ יִרְעֶה בִּזְרֹעוֹ יְקַבֵּץ טְלָאִים וּבְחֵיקוֹ יִשָּׂא עָלוֹת יְנַהֵל
KJV: "He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young"

1. you are right. I have added the vav, a plene O sound, by my own strong arm intrusion into the biblical text in order to make the reading easier on the eye, the same way that I write Boston as בוסטון and not בסטן.
Do you fear that writing רוֹעה for רֹעֶה may cause any misunderstanding about this word?

2. With all due respect to King James and his team of translators, I would not translate יִרְעֶה = היא-רעה as "He shall feed". The Hebrew רעה is, 'roam, move freely', not, 'feed'.

Still, I wonder how come רָעָה, 'move freely', as in Job 1:14
הַבָּקָר הָיוּ חֹרְשׁוֹת וְהָאֲתֹנוֹת רֹעוֹת עַל יְדֵיהֶם
KJV: "The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them:"
NIV: "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby"
is written the same as the רָעָה, 'harm, evil', of Gen. 26:29?
אִם תַּעֲשֵׂה עִמָּנוּ רָעָה כַּאֲשֶׁר לֹא נְגַעֲנוּךָ וְכַאֲשֶׁר עָשִׂינוּ עִמְּךָ רַק טוֹב
NIV: "that you will do us no harm, just as we did not harm you but always treated you well"
KJV: "That thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have not touched thee, and as we have done unto thee nothing but good"

Isaac Fried, Boston University