Re: Babel in the east or not?

On Sat, 19 Dec 1998, Steg Belsky wrote:

> But it's *not* "to" - it says *from*, explicitly!
>
> _vayehi benas`am MI-qedem_.
>
> MI- = from
>
> It's as simple as that.  I don't know from where all these translations
> came up with "to".
> If it was "to qedem", it would say _leqedem_, _laqedem_, or _qeidma_.
> But definitely *not* _miqedem_.
>
> -Stephen (Steg)
Hmmm.  Well, now I'm cast into doubt.  Wasn't Babel associated with
Babylon at the time of the writing of Genesis?  Wasn't the Pentateuch,
according to the sources I've consulted, set down during the Babylonian
Captivity?  Shinar: the plain in the Tigris-Euphrates basin.  Ancient
Babylon is sort of in the middle there.  Where are these people going or
coming in relation to what contested site--to the writers of Genesis?

Sally


Sally Caves
scaves@frontiernet.net
http://www.frontiernet.net/~scaves/teonaht.html
http://www.frontiernet.net/~scaves/contents.html

Aro le thena neom, ma haikkebo vera.
"Snow breathes on us but doesn't fall."
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