Hi colleagues: No specifically language related, but of interest.
My 10 year old son has begun reading Sefer Yehoshua, and his school asks him to read his chapter to someone at home, which means me. As he read I couldnt help but recognize the trademark themes and expressions in the earlier books it followed. But what struck me most was the crossing of the Jordan near Yericho, that obvious echo of Moshe's crossing of the Sea of Reeds. Here's the thing: as we know, the Yarden is a narrow river, if it can be described as a river. And it can be crossed without any heavenly intervention -- no need for pushing waters to the side here. Yet the writer imagines a dramatic crossing in need of another water-parting miracle. Why? Seems to me that the writer may not have been very familiar with the Jordan. Could have he been thinking of rivers he knew better? The very broad Tigris and Euphates perhaps? Could it be that the author was writing his story for his fellow exiles centuries later in Babylon, using as a template the rivers he knew of? I'd be very interested in your take on this. Uzi Silber
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