Sunday, October 23, 2022

Arnulf Baumann on Figurative Uses of “כול” (cf. 1 Kings 8:27) in Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament

  

1. Comprehension. The root is used figuratively especially to speak of God’s incomprehensibility. Isa. 40:12 expresses this attribute by means of rhetorical questions that bring out the immensity of creation. In the same vein are the statements in Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the temple (1 K. 8:27 par. 2 Ch. 6:18; cf. 2 Ch. 2:5), which apply this notion to God himself: God is so great that neither “heaven” nor the whole heavenly realm constitutes a vessel large enough to contain him. He is in the truest sense of the word incomprehensible, beyond measure or definition. Elsewhere, too, rhetorical questions (like the one beginning with , “who?” in Isa. 40:12) serve to underscore the incomprehensible immensity of God, his day (Joel 2:11; Mal. 3:2), or his glory (1QS 11:20).

 

2. Endurance. In these last passages, however, the meaning of kwl (possibly influenced by klʾ) tends in the direction of “withstand, endure.” Even here, though, a spatial element is still present, especially when we recall that the coming of the yôm YHWH or Yahweh’s kāḇôḏ is experienced as an inward shock. According to Jer. 10:10, for example, Jeremiah is filled to the bursting point with the wrath of God, which is likened to an earthquake; he also strives in vain to hold in the wrath of Yahweh (Jer. 6:11). Jer. 20:9 describes the prophet’s attempt to forget and repress his prophetic calling: the words entrusted to him are like fire within him and he cannot hold them in. Here, too, we have a futile effort on the part of the prophet to “contain” himself. When such contexts use the pilpel, the reference is probably to a repeated experience; Prov. 18:14 speaks similarly of repeated endurance of sickness.

 

The basic notion of physical capacity is also present in Am. 7:10. The land is pictured as an enormous container in danger of bursting asunder with the rebellious words of Amos. It can no longer endure the pressure; the measure is full. (Arnulf Baumann, “כול,” Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, ed. G. Johannes Botterweck, Helmer Ringgren, and Heinz-Josef Fabry, 16 vols. [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1995], 7:88)

 

Further Reading:


Answering the Anti-Mormon Abuse of 1 Kings 8:27 against Latter-day Saint Theology of Divine Embodiment


Lynn Wilder vs. Latter-day Saint (and Biblical) Theology on Divine Embodiment