700 Wives

[yozey]

Re: 700 Wives

Hmmmm.... That phrase really requires alot of brain power to understand. I guess it could mean the the Jews (authors of the Bible), did not understand the number system we use today (Arabic and may not even have existed at the time in question) and thus when they 700, it may not truly be 700 as we know it. Kind of like the world being created in 7 days, which is impossible but because their understanding....of...the...numb....

[RollinCalf]

Re: 700 Wives

"That phrase really requires a lot of brain power to understand"

Humour me then SM. The only letters after my name are JAMAL.

Prior to the emergence of the Sumerian system of counting, did ancient civilisations not keep track of quantities with a variety of symbols and figures ?

[Diplomat]

Re: 700 Wives

The Hebrew word translated "seven" in the text also means "indefinite", and the word translated "wives" could also simply mean women. Roughly tanslated, it could be just that he had a lot (or an indefinite number) of women. Note from 1Kings 11:1 that these women were all over the place, so no one could say for sure how many of them there were.

[yozey]

Re: 700 Wives

RollinCalf I not trying to start anything, if my response was harsh I apologize. I was just wondering why would you need clarification on it, maybe you thought it had some anti-sematic undertones. None at all. Again my apologies.

Now, you and I cannot confirm Salomon's 700 wives. Not because the Bible says so means it is true unless you are just blind. The bible says the world was created in 7 days. Impossible. Too short. The bible says King Solomon had 700 wives. Not an impossibility as there might have existed 700 women. But the physical and financial burden to King Solomon would be so great that I doubt he would be as wise as he is made out to be. How wise is he if he has really taken 700 wives, not very, then again the bible in is essence shows some imbicilic qualities too. How about the fact that Solomon is basically breaking almost every commandment. He is coveting and he committing adultery. Unless he has allowed the laws of the land to supercede those of the bible. And for this God rewards him?

I dont buy the 700 wives thing for a minute. I think whoever wrote the bible did not trully understand numbers or whoever interpreted it made a mistake in the numbers they used.

[RollinCalf]

Re: 700 Wives

Thanks for ignoring the question.

[yozey]

Re: 700 Wives

Ignore the question?

Check it.

[RollinCalf]

Re: 700 Wives

"Prior to the emergence of the Sumerian system of counting, did ancient civilisations not keep track of quantities with a variety of symbols and figures ?"

It was a "yes" or "no" question. I checked your response again. Help me here.

[yozey]

Re: 700 Wives

Another one comes out of the woodwork, ok Rollincalf yes I would think that from ever since man could communicate he could distinguish between two quantities.

May I ask what does this have to do with the validity of Solomon having 700 wives? Just curious.

[RollinCalf]

Re: 700 Wives

It has to do with whether Jews knew how to count.

[yozey]

Re: 700 Wives

[img]/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] Oh Lord. Ahh forget it.

[yozey]

Re: 700 Wives

Yes RollinCalf, let us take the Bible's word for it, Solomon had 700 wives.

[RollinCalf]

Re: 700 Wives

Alright SM, mi done. Anyway boss, before you go to "Jews probably misrepesented the amounts by not truly understanding the use of numbers" again, might a suggest you look into something called 'myth analysis', especially in regards to how Western historians have traditionally represented so called primitive societies. I would start with the works of Claude Levi-Strauss.

[iches]

Re: 700 Wives

RollinCalf - are you refering to Dr Carl G. Jung?

Rudebwoy cannot fail - Remember when we are in this forum, we are here to reason and to express/practice "faith"

Rev. James - where are you?
The Bishop - not coming on board to clear this up!

Simple man - you have to put up the maths on board to show the logic's to your 'reasoning'! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[una nina]

Re: 700 Wives

Originally posted by RollinCalf:
[qb] It has to do with whether Jews knew how to count. [/qb]

[Diplomat]

Re: 700 Wives

Originally posted by iches:
[qb] RollinCalf - are you refering to Dr Carl G. Jung?

Rudebwoy cannot fail - Remember when we are in this forum, we are here to reason and to express/practice "faith"

Rev. James - where are you?
The Bishop - not coming on board to clear this up!

Simple man - you have to put up the maths on board to show the logic's to your 'reasoning'! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [/qb]

Why are you guys so still hung up on this? [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] It seems fairly simple to me.