Word Study of the Hebrew Term Hebel

In S. Riecker & J. Steinberg (Hrsg.), Das Heilige Herz der Tora. Festschrift für Hendrik Koorevaar zu seinem 65. Geburtstag. Aachen: Shaker Verlag, 2011, 285-301. The translation of hebel with vanitas has had a profound influence in the history of exegesis of the book. Instead of relating hebel to the earthly reality, or to anthropology or to theological questions, it seems better to restrict the concept to Qohelet’s search »under the sun«. Then it becomes clear that many questions cannot be answered by observation. Here the author plays with the word hebel: as with vapor, we cannot grasp the matter. The metaphor is used for incomprehensible things, for temporary actions and for matters that are very light. It seems better to retain the metaphor and not to translate the word by one of these aspects. Dating the book in the time of the kings confirms the position as part of the wisdom tradition in Israel: trying to cope with the difficulties in life and showing a way to live with God.

Some years ago, the Key terms of Biblical Hebrew project was started with the goal of developing a resource for translators. In the meantime, more and more translators are learning Biblical Hebrew and yet there are few resources to help them apply their knowledge of Hebrew to Bible translation. The problem is especially acute for non-Anglophone translators. Further, the efforts that have been made are exceedingly understaffed. This paper presents a proposal to combine training in Hebrew semantics and translation with a program for producing resources for key terms in various languages. I will share my beginning efforts in the francophone setting, as well as a bit of the excitement of translators as they present their discoveries before their colleagues. I will conclude with a call to mobilize especially translators and consultants to contribute to the development of resources for others.

HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies

A hermeneutical cloud still dominates ongoing discourse on the meaning and application of הֶבֶל (hebel), a crucial weaving thread in the book of Ecclesiastes. The Hebrew Qoheleth, presumably the disguised author, proposes the theological ideology of hebel as the totality of human existence in this book. What does Qohelethintend to achieve by asserting and dismissing everything in human experience as hebel (vanity, meaningless, worthless, not beneficial, absurd and enigma)? This article proposes a political and economic reading of Ecclesiastes, holding that the author, from personal observation, saw and addressed life from the point of view of ivory tower aristocrats who sought to control their environment by every means to their benefit. It suggests that a political and economic reading of Ecclesiastes locates another perspective on Qoheleth’s purposes for the use of hebel. As such, it argues that the Qoheleth uses hebel as a literary rhetorical device as an evaluative grid to criti...

We have spent most of the previous units looking lexical semantics: the study of word meaning. Lexical semantics addresses issues such as: what a lexeme is, how lexemes are associated with concepts, what concepts are, and how meanings are organised into different kinds of networks -including both the meanings associated with a single word and meanings associated with different words.

Introduction to Hebrew Exegesis is a study designed to prepare students to engage in independent exegesis of the text of the Hebrew Bible. It emphasizes the techniques involved in the use of language tools, procedures in lexical studies and examination of grammatical and syntactical phenomena. Prerequisites: HEB 511 and 512. Course materials and assignments related to select Hebrew Bible texts include the study of the following subject areas relating to Hebrew exegesis: • Principles of translation • Syntactical analysis—Hebrew grammar and syntax • Structural analysis • Textual analysis—OT textual criticism • Lexical analysis—Hebrew philology, semantics, and lexicography • Literary analysis—OT literary devices, structures and forms • Ancient near eastern (hereafter, ANE) backgrounds (historical/political, social/cultural, geographical) • Evaluation of OT commentaries • Exposition

Syllabus for Biblical Hebrew I, an introductory language course covering the basic grammar of biblical Hebrew, with a focus on reading passages from Genesis (chs. 1 and 22)

The meaning of הֶבֶל is a crux interpretum for the book of Ecclesiastes. Notwithstanding some variation, Jerome’s vanitas reading of הֶבֶל in Ecclesiastes dominated scholarship for several centuries. Since the rise of modern biblical scholarship, הֶבֶל as ‘vanity’ has been largely rejected; however, little consensus has been reached regarding the word’s meaning. The result has been a rich history of interpretation as scholars develop various suggestions for how הֶבֶל should be understood in Ecclesiastes. This essay briefly sketches the history of interpretation of הֶבֶל, then surveys proposals for the meaning of הֶבֶל in Ecclesiastes during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

Anyone with a photocopy machine, scissors, and rubber cement can copy, cut, arrange, and paste quotations from sources and references in the form of a research paper. It takes an exegete to examine, evaluate, assimilate, and interact with the data in a coherent interpretative narrative employing only the most pertinent citations. The interpretative narrative should then be synthesized and applied theologically and pragmatically. When the seminarian's exegetical digests and papers reflect this approach, he has attained the goal of his education: he has become an exegete and an expositor of the Word of God.