Aantekeningen bij de Bijbel: 2 Koningen 18:16

Bijbelvers
Context
Vertalingen

2 Koningen 18:16

- -, B-Hebrew, [], 5 apr 2005 2 Kings 18:16 - Pillars??
Yitzhak Sapir: First, this passage has related passages in Isaiah 36 and in Chronicles. So for this passage, we have not two witnesses, but three witnesses in different documents that were preserved independently (although some cross-copying and harmonization is bound to happen). In Chronicles, Hezekiah prepares for war against Sennacherib. In Isaiah, the whole addition is missing. Here, in Kings, he pays tribute to Sennacherib. So which is it? Did he pay tribute (Kings), prepare for war (Chronicles), or do nothing (Isaiah)?
The next issue, is that the spelling of the name here in this passage is xzqyh whereas in Isaiah it is xzqyhw and in Chronicles it is yxzqyhw. I think the most accurate rendering is the one in Isaiah - xzqyhw, and it is this that appears in various inscriptions mentioning him from his time (including an Assyrian prism). Also, after the part with this "addition", when we go back to the part that is also in Isaiah, the name is spelled again as xzqyhw. All of this suggests that the Isaiah passage contains the "original" while the other two contain additions, Kings contains an addition describing tribute, while Chronicles contains an addition describing preparation for war.
Now, there is a curious point, these "omnot" are listed as having been plated by Hezekiah king of Judah. This second mention of the king is redundant. Why is it mentioning the name twice? Perhaps, the author of the addition copied these from somewhere. A text describing a list of tributes paid by kings to Assyria would explain this: And these are the tributes paid: the doors that Hezekiah cut, and the omnot that Hezekiah plated. Of course, such a text is conjectural at best but it does explain well the phrase "In that time," which appears to refer to some external knowledge whose relative time in events is unknown. It also explains the second mention of Hezekiah's name as an attempt by the author of the addition passage to conform it from a list to his story.
We may conclude that the section describing tributes paid by Hezekiah is an addition, but the actual tributes paid are taken from an earlier source (relative to this addition) and independent of a court history, even though it may be from some royal library.
We are still no closer to understanding what "omnot" means. However, the term is used to refer to craftsmanship, and specifically scultpure, although I'm unsure if that's the meaning in the Song of Songs passage that you brought up. In Jewish Aramaic, the term is specifically applied to a sculptor sculpting a stele or an image of a person (according to the Dictionary of NW Semitic Inscriptions). The word may also be an early word refering to craftsmanship that had gone out of use by the late First Temple period.
In 2 Kings 12:16, the term is used to describe the "faith" with which the restoration men worked. However, the phrase also appears in 2 Kings 22:7, in the exact same phrasing ("because they work in faith [emunah]"). What is different is that in the earlier passage, there is a long unwieldy description of the people giving the donations while whereas in the later passage it flows naturally since they are the subject of the previous verse so "they" suffices. A major opinion in scholarship holds that the book of Kings was authored by a contemporary of Josiah who based himself on other sources. Perhaps, the person editing the book of Kings, and also authoring the description of Josiah used some earlier description of Jehoash. However, in the Jehoash passage he used, he add "but no gold or silver will be made of the money because they work in emunah." That is, the entire unwieldy part of verse 16 and the final part of verse 15 were added by the contemporary of Josiah. Why? Perhaps he didn't understand this use of "emunah," which in this way would refer to some type of sculpture. This is easily understandable as the work that the restorers do is done in tree and stone. In the Josianic reform passage there is no similar statement to which we can tie "they do it in emunah" that will suggest sculpture instead of faithful workers. But as I stated, the Josianic era (or later) author who authored the passage on Josiah probably didn't understand such use of "emunah."
It seems reasonable, in light of all this, to suggest that omnot refers to some type of sculpture work, which would be a proper parallel to the doors, and which can be plated. I would also consider it an attractive possibility to suggest that in some early past of the language, in Northwest Semitic or Proto-Semitic, the two roots "truth" and "sculpture" developed out of a basic root meaning "steadfast." I note that "pillars" is a good example of such sculpture although there may be less chances that a pillar would be plated than, say, a stele. It is very unlikely that it referred to "shields" that Peter suggested, and it works well with what Peter mentioned is the translation of the LXX: "strengthened things." And we know Hezekiah wrote royal inscriptions although the one main surviving inscription happens to have been at a well hidden location (ie, the Siloam inscription). Maybe the other steles found their way to Assyria as tribute. But that's getting really carried away. I'd be content to say that the word probably referred to some type of sculpture work and not necessarily a doorpost or pillar, and that the author used it here because, while this word might have been phasing out in his vocabulary, it was part of an additional historical source that he integrated into his work.
- -, B-Hebrew, [], 1 Apr 2005 2 Kings 18:16 ALSO Shir Hasharim 4:8
wattswestmaas: Reference the remark about the only time where this word is used to refer to an "object", the only other place is in Song of Solomon 4:8 where the same root is employed to refer to a "Craftsman".
Thanking you for your comments, the evan-shoshan in modern hebrew simply defines this word as: Pillar or Motif or Object in the temple. So even the Rabbis seem to be uncertain.
Vertaling Bijbel, Kanttekeningen SV, [], Te dier tijd [22]sneed Hizkia [het goud] af van de deuren van den tempel des HEEREN, en van de posten, die Hizkia, de koning van Juda, had laten overtrekken, en gaf [23]dat aan de koning van Assyrie.
22. De zin is dat hij de gouden platen heeft afgetrokken, met
welke hij tevoren de deuren en posten des tempels overtogen had,
als hij den tempel, dien zijn vader toegesloten had, weder opende;
2 Kron.29:3.
23. Hebreeuws, die; te weten, deuren en posten; dat is, het goud,
waarmede die waren overtogen geweest.