Secret Alias wrote: ↑Mon Dec 05, 2022 3:18 pm
Everyone agrees that the word dat comes from a Persian word.
Quite true. But does Deut. 33.2 actually contain the phrase 'esh dat = "fiery law", containing dat = "law"? If so, it would be the ONLY Persian loan word in the ENTIRE Pentateuch. And why isn't it the word for law everywhere, instead of torah or mishpat, which are used dozens and dozens of times? Why only that one time?
Compare:
Dat = Law = Deut. 33.2 (?) = ONE time.
Ezra 7:12, 14, 25, 26, 26 = FIVE times.
Esth. 1:8, 13, 15, 19; 3:8, 8; 4.11, 16 = EIGHT times.
Dan. 6:5, 8, 15; 7:25 = FOUR times.
And Ezra, Esther, Daniel have other Persian loan words, so that dat isn't a one-off.
You have a few conservative versions that translate the Hebrew as two words, 'esh dat = fiery law: King James Bible, Amplified Bible, American Standard Version.
But most understand this as a single word, 'eshdat, which leads to a completely different translation. This is the Hebrew in the Samaritan Pentateuch, one word--so the Samaritan Pentataeuch is a powerful witness against dat as a Persian loan word in Deuteronomy.
First I'll quote some commentaries. Then some translations.
Pulpit Commentary
There is a various reading here;
instead of אֵשׁ םדּת, fire of law, many codices have אשׁדת in one word, and this is supported by the Samaritan text and other authorities, and is accepted by most critics and interpreters. It is a fatal objection to the textual reading that דַּת is not a Semitic word, but one of Persian origin, brought by the Jews from Babylonia, and found only in the post-exilian books (Esther 1:8, 19; Esther 2:8, 12; Esther 3:8, 14; Esther 4:11, 15; Ezra 7:12, 21; Ezra 8:36; Daniel 2:9, 13, 15; Daniel 6:5, 9, 13, 16); and in them as applied to the Law of God only by heathens. It is, therefore, altogether improbable that this word should be found in any Hebrew writing anterior to the Captivity. Besides, what is the sense of אֵשׁ דַּת, supposing דת to mean "law?" The words cannot be rendered, as in the Authorized Version, by "fiery law;" they can only be rendered by "a fire, a law," or "a fire of law," and What either of these may mean it is not easy to see. The ancient versions vary here very considerably: LXX., ἐκ δεξιῶν αὐτοῦ ἄγγελοι μετ αὐτοῦ: Vulgate, fin dextera ejus ignea lex; Targum of Onkelos, "Written by his right hand, from the midst of the fire, a law gave he to us;" Syriac, "With myriads of his saints at his right hand. He gave to them, and also caused all peoples to love them."
The best Hebrew manuscripts have אשׁדת as one word. The Masoretic note is, "The Chatiph is one word, and the K'ri two." The word אשׁדת is best explained as a compound of אֵשׁ, fire, and שׁדא, an Aramaic word signifying to throw or dart; the Syriac , or the Hebrew יָדָה, having the same signification, so that the meaning is "fire-dartings:" from his right hand went rays of fire like arrows shot forth (cf. Habakkuk 3:4; Exodus 19:16). To them; i.e. to the Israelites, to whom this manifestation was vouchsafed. Deuteronomy 33:2
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
Favors dat = law, but also notes:
The LXX. has “angels” (ἄγγελοι), instead of the combination eshdath. Possibly the word was taken as ashdoth (plural of the Chaldee ashda), meaning “rays” (of light?) and so “angels.” Comp., “He maketh His angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire;” they “ran and returned as a flash of lightning” (Psalm 104:4; Ezekiel 1:14). It is also possible that the LXX. read r instead of d in the word which they had before them, and that they arrived at the meaning “angels” through the Hebrew word shârath, “to minister.” The confusion between r and d, which are extremely alike in Hebrew, is very common.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
was a fiery law] Very questionable. The Heb. consonants ’sh d th are written as one word, but read by the Massoretes as two, ’esh dath = fire, law; but their construction is awkward and dath is a late word from the Persian and improbable here. Sam. reads two words, each = light; if the first be read as a vb we get the probable there flashed light. Dillm. adding two consonants reads a burning fire. By reading one word we have an equivalent of the Aram. ’ashidoth = lightning flashes; cp. Habakkuk 3:4, He had horns (i.e. rays) from his hand. LXX ἄγγελοι, cp. Psalm 104:4 his ministers a flame of fire. The line may be an intrusion; it is not one of a couplet.
Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament
The last clause is a difficult one. The writing דּת אשׁ in two words, "fire of the law," not only fails to give a suitable sense, but has against it the fact that דּת, law, edictum, is not even a Semitic word, but was adopted from the Persian into the Chaldee, and that it is only by Gentiles that it is ever applied to the law of God (Ezra 7:12, Ezra 7:21, Ezra 7:25-26; Daniel 6:6). It must be read as one word, אשׁדת, as it is in many MSS and editions - not, however, as connected with אשׁד, אשׁדות, the pouring out of the brooks, slopes of the mountains (Numbers 21:15), but in the form אשּׁדת, composed, according to the probable conjecture of Bttcher, of אשׁ, fire, and שׁדה (in the Chaldee and Syriac), to throw, to shoot arrows, in the sense of "fire of throwing," shooting fire, a figurative description of the flashes of lightning. Gesenius adopts this explanation, except that he derives דּת from ידה, to throw. It is favoured by the fact that, according to Exodus 19:16, the appearance of God upon Sinai was accompanied by thunder and lightning; and flashes of lightning are often called the arrows of God, whilst shaadaah, in Hebrew, is established by the name שׁדיאוּר (Numbers 1:5; Numbers 2:10). To this we may add the parallel passage, Habakkuk 3:4, "rays out of His hand," which renders this explanation a very probable one.
New Living Translation
“The LORD came from Mount Sinai and dawned upon us from Mount Seir; he shone forth from Mount Paran and came from Meribah-kadesh with flaming fire at his right hand.
English Standard Version
He said, “The LORD came from Sinai and dawned from Seir upon us; he shone forth from Mount Paran; he came from the ten thousands of holy ones, with flaming fire at his right hand.
Berean Standard Bible
He said: “The LORD came from Sinai and dawned upon us from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran and came with myriads of holy ones, with flaming fire at His right hand.
NASB 1995
He said, “The LORD came from Sinai, And dawned on them from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran, And He came from the midst of ten thousand holy ones; At His right hand there was flashing lightning for them.
Christian Standard Bible
He said: The LORD came from Sinai and appeared to them from Seir; he shone on them from Mount Paran and came with ten thousand holy ones, with lightning from his right hand for them.
Holman Christian Standard Bible
He said: The LORD came from Sinai and appeared to them from Seir; He shone on them from Mount Paran and came with ten thousand holy ones, with lightning from His right hand for them.
Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And he said: “LORD JEHOVAH came from Sinai and he shone to us from Seir and he was revealed from the Mountain of Paran, and his people from myriads of the Holy Ones at His right hand.
Brenton Septuagint Translation
And he said, The Lord is come from Sina, and has appeared from Seir to us, and has hasted out of the mount of Pharan, with the ten thousands of Cades; on his right hand were his angels with him.
Contemporary English Version
The LORD came from Mount Sinai. From Edom, he gave light to his people, and his glory was shining from Mount Paran. Thousands of his warriors were with him, and fire was at his right hand.