2 Matching Annotations
  1. May 2021
    1. If this is so, we literati must surrender certain cherished assumptions: that litera ture is inextricably associated with reading and writing, that lack of literacy means lack of culture.

      Lack of literacy definitely does not mean lack of culture.

      Reminder to self: I've got a strong suspicion that the Hebrew bible was transmitted orally for generations prior to being written down in a similar manner. I need to collect some additional evidence to build this case. The arc of the covenant is a first potential piece of evidence.

  2. May 2019
    1. They appear only twice (always plural) in the Tanakh, at Psalm 106:37 and Deuteronomy 32:17 both times, it deals with child or animal sacrifices.[6] Although the word is traditionally derived from the root ŠWD (Hebrew: שוד‎ shûd) that conveys the meaning of "acting with violence" or "laying waste"[7] it was possibly a loan-word from Akkadian in which the word shedu referred to a protective, benevolent spirit.[8] The word may also derive from the "Sedim, Assyrian guard spirits"[9] as referenced according to lore "Azazel slept with Naamah and spawned Assyrian guard spirits known as sedim".[10] With the translation of Hebew texts into Greek, under influence of Zorastrian dualism, shedim were translated into daimonia with implicit negativity. Otherwise, later in Judeo-Islamic culture, shedim became the Hebrew word for Jinn with a morally ambivalent attitude