Lamech’s Change of Mind: The Hellenistic Philosophy behind the Use of שנא in the Genesis Apocryphon and the Book of Daniel

Updated by: 
Neta Rozenblit
Research notes: 
NR\Reader Checked\19/11/2014
Reference type: 
Journal Article
Author(s): 
Quick, Laura
year: 
2013
Full title: 

Lamech’s Change of Mind: The Hellenistic Philosophy behind the Use of שנא in the Genesis Apocryphon and the Book of Daniel

Journal / Book Title || Series Title: 
Aramaic Studies
Volume: 
11
Issue / Series Volume: 
1
Pages: 
53 – 66
Work type: 
Essay/Monograph
Abstract: 

This article seeks to establish that the ‘strong’ meaning of the verbal forms derived from שנא in the Genesis Apocryphon and the book of Daniel is of a dramatic, even violent, change; when used to denote a ‘change’ in mind or countenance, this refers to mental anguish, and so opens up a hitherto overlooked connection between this Jewish literature and the Hellenistic science of physiognomy. The semantic input of this Hellenistic context is important for a better understanding of the range of this Aramaic lexeme, and of the other lexeme employed to denote a ‘change’ by these two early Jewish texts, חלף. Thus this article will attempt to demonstrate the importance of the wider cultural context in which lexemes articulate their meaning.

Primary Texts: Judean Desert Documents: 
Scroll / Document: 
1Q20
Section type: 
Column
Passage: 
2: 1-18
URL: 
http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/journals/10.1163/17455227-13110102;jsessionid=5e6ivlohfwhvc.x-brill-live-02
Label: 
30/06/2014
Record number: 
98 133