Saba Religion

**Hooahguy** · 10-21-2007, 23:29

oh. sorry. i thought u meant s/t else... my mistake.....

+3 for you..... and a balloon...

**abou** · 10-22-2007, 01:52

Originally Posted by Landwalker

Israel, n. A war-torn hellhole of no significant value, where the world's most publicly intolerant populations convene so as to slaughter each other in a tradition over a thousand years old.

Is that worth two points?

Cheers.

Originally Posted by hooahguy14

Israel is the alternative name for Jacob, given to him by the angel he wrestled at the banks of the River Jabbok (genesis 32:23). because the 12 tribes came from him, Israel is named after him.

Well... I suppose you're both right, but the etymology of the word shows something different.

Israel, as in Isra El, literally means, "May El show his strength."

Little interesting tidbit for those who have a fancy in language. I'll go back to my corner in EBH now.

**Landwalker** · 10-22-2007, 02:21

In a marvelous display of ignorance...

Who's El?

Cheers.

**abou** · 10-22-2007, 02:58

El is sort of the Phoenician equivalent to Saturn/Kronos. Not so much in the child-eating part, but in that he was the father of many of the gods in the Semitic pantheon. In short, he was the Canaanite god of gods.

He also has a wicked sacred marriage poem.

**Landwalker** · 10-22-2007, 03:01

Ah, I see. Thank you, abou. Very interesting.

Cheers.

**Mouzafphaerre** · 10-22-2007, 04:11

.
Used for the God in (in Hebrew) Judaisme.

There's a beautiful Sefardi hymn "Yetzav ha el".
.

**Yitzhakofeir** · 01-24-2012, 01:53

Originally Posted by Zaknafien

Quite. And, originally the Hebrew word Elohim is plural, referring to many gods, not just "The God".

Actually, no. That's not how Hebrew grammar works. Hebrew allows certain nouns to take plural form without actually being plural at all, and through this process the meaning is changed slightly. Eloh/Elohim is one of those nouns. If the noun were actually meant to be understood as a plural then the verbs connected to it would be plural, not singular.

Now, you may think I'm just pulling this "Some singular nouns can take Plural form" thing out of my ass, but here are some other examples;

The word Baal בעל in Hebrew means "Husband" in normal contexts, and the plural is regular ol' Baalim בעלים.
But Baalim, if used as a singular, with singular verbs would mean Owner, Like "He is the owner of the dog" is rendered
הוא הבעלים של הכלב

Other nouns that do this is Adon, in the singular means "sir" and is just polite, but the plural form Adonim, if used as a singular means lords or masters,

Another one off the top of my head is Behema (Basically "livestock animal/cow") takes the plural form Behemoth... And I bet you've heard of the Behemoth before!

Basically, what I'm getting at is that Hebrew is not English, so things that are clear cut in English sometimes aren't in Hebrew. So, remember, plurals don't always mean something is actually plural. (And just in case you're wondering how we tell when something is singular or plural when it comes to these odd nouns, it's easy, it's about the adjective and verbs the noun takes. In Hebrew we have singular and plural adjectives/verbs.)