More of the Biblical God as Mother

[dreamer_easy]

This is very interesting, I had no idea!

Deuteronomy 32:18 (NIV):

You deserted the Rock, who fathered you;
you forgot the God who gave you birth.

Now this gets more interesting when you investigate the original Hebrew: according to scripturetext.com, the word rendered above as "fathered" could also be translated as "to bear young, to act as midwife". I think, though we're pretty safe with "gave you birth", since the Hebrew word, meaning "twist", is used to refer to a mother writhing in labour.

Now, the NIV renders Deuteronomy 32:11 thus:

like an eagle that stirs up its nest
and hovers over its young,
that spreads its wings to catch them
and carries them on its pinions.

But the KJV is explicit about the eagle's gender:

As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:

Then again, the ASV has:

Like an eagle that stirs up its nest,
That hovers over its young,
He spread His wings and caught them,
He carried them on His pinions.

Well, here's the Hebrew. thegameiam, is it a lady eagle or a gentleman eagle - or can we not tell? :)

If you're interested, there are further examples in Isaiah 42:13-14, Isaiah 45:9-10, Psalm 90:2, and Numbers 11:12. biblegateway.com is a brilliant resource.

Comments

[thegameiam.livejournal.com]

A nesher is an eagle (biblical) or vulture (modern) of unspecified gender (c.f. The Hebrew Language Detective on nesher vs. ayit (http://www.balashon.com/2007/06/nesher-and-ayit.html)). The noun is masculine (plural nesharim, as in "on the wings of eagles, canfei nesharim," and the proper feminine would either be nesheret or neshrah - I wasn't able to quickly locate any textual examples because the usages I uncovered just left it masculine (much the same way that "cow" is a generic term for "cows, bulls and steers").

Hebrew grammatical constructs of gender and number do not translate into English cleanly, and a lot of people get confused by things that claim to be "literal." The third of Maimonides principles of faith is that God does not have a body, and is utterly dissimilar from anything which does - but this doesn't stop poets from using human imagery, much as Moses did in the example above.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

That's fascinating - thanks! Learning a bit of Hebrew - proper grammar, not just the odd word - is one of my many linguistic ambitions.

Sumerian doesn't have gendered pronouns, a useful fact which I have nicked and stuck in Prince Charm to cause translation troubles. :)

[thegameiam.livejournal.com]

b'Gan Eden, lilmod Torah; b'Gehenom, lilmod dikduk

(in paradise, you study the Torah; in hell, you study grammar)

I say this jokingly, because I actually do like the study of grammar - I think that Chomsky is actually right about this - that the grammar of one's language will tremendously affect one's thoughts. I don't know whether Chomsky ever read Korzybsky, but he should have.