Isaiah 7.11 and the mother of Yahweh.

[Ben C. Smith]

Margaret Barker writes the following on page 143 of King of the Jews: Temple Theology in John's Gospel:

The only pre-Christian Hebrew text of Isaiah is the great Isaiah scroll from Qumran, which has an astonishing title in Isaiah 7.11: ‘Ask a sign from the Mother of the LORD your God.’ The difference from the Hebrew text that underlies the English translations is only one letter, but that letter is clear.

Basically, the Masoretic text of Isaiah 7.11 reads thus:

שְׁאַל־לְךָ֣ א֔וֹת מֵעִ֖ם יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֑יךָ הַעְמֵ֣ק שְׁאָ֔לָה א֖וֹ הַגְבֵּ֥הַּ לְמָֽעְלָה׃

Ask a sign for yourself from Yawheh your God; make it deep as Sheol or high as heaven.

But change that underlined word from מעם to מאם, simply by changing the middle letter from ayin to aleph, and the first half of the verse would read something like this:

Ask a sign from the mother of Yawheh your God....

(The initial mem would be the prefix form of מן, or "from", followed by אם, or "mother".)

There are plenty of arguments online against this statement, including a PDF from the PaleoBabble blog depicting the part of the text in question, which argues (in part): "Barker wants people to think that the Qumran scroll have TWO words in the text - the preposition מן followed by the noun אמ (“mother”). The word is not מאמ but מעמ. The difference in the middle consonant is crucial. What we have here is a sloppily written ע (= the letter ayin), not א (= the letter aleph). What happened was that the ink bled a bit, enough to 'join' the letter with the prior 'm'."

But I find the depiction in that PDF to be a bit fuzzy, so I have taken a screenshot of the portion of 1Qlsa in question from the Digital Dead Sea Scrolls page. I have also taken the liberty of underlining in black the disputed letter ayin/aleph preceded by the undisputed mem:



Now, I have also underlined in blue a noncontroversial example of mem ayin (from the last word of Isaiah 7.11) and in red a noncontroversial example of mem aleph (from the first word of Isaiah 7.15).

Comparing these instances, what do you think? Does Barker have a case? Or is she out on a limb?

Ben.

PS: Here is an unmarked screenshot of that same portion of the scroll:

[Secret Alias]

looks like a mutilated alef to me.

[John2]

The PDF also notes that, "The LXX also disagrees with her: παρὰ κυρίου θεοῦ σου (“from the Lord your God”)," so there's that anyway.

It does look like an aleph to me, if a little thicker than the other mem-aleph example, which could favor the ink bleeding idea, but its lower left leg and upper right arm look straight, like the ayin in the other example, and not curvy like all the other alephs (including the one preceding it).

[John2]

I'm more inclined to see it as a scribal error (if anything) than a textual variant.

[semiopen]

This is close to the famous almah passage

11 "Ask for a sign from the LORD your God, anywhere down to Sheol or up to the sky."
12 But Ahaz replied, "I will not ask, and I will not test the LORD."
13 "Listen, House of David," Isaiah retorted, "is it not enough for you to treat men as helpless that you also treat my God as helpless?
14 Assuredly, my Lord will give you a sign of His own accord! Look, the young woman is with child and about to give birth to a son. Let her name him Immanuel.

מֵעִ֖ם יְהוָ֣ה is found 12 times in the bible, 4 times in Isaiah.

מֵעִ֖ם יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֑יךָ is the epithet found in 7:11

This also appears in

This is just what you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb, on the day of the Assembly, saying, "Let me not hear the voice of the LORD my God any longer or see this wondrous fire any more, lest I die." (Deu 18:16 TNK)

The rest of the Isaiah appearances are all מֵעִ֙ם יְהוָ֤ה צְבָאוֹת֙

However -

She shall be remembered of the LORD of Hosts With roaring, and shaking, and deafening noise, Storm, and tempest, and blaze of consuming fire. (Isa 29:6 TNK)

The 1917 guys give -

There shall be a visitation from the LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire. (Isa 29:6 JPS)

http://biblehub.com/isaiah/29-6.htm

No She's there.

מֵעִ֙ם יְהוָ֤ה צְבָאוֹת֙

Pretty bold change by the 1985 team.