Isaiah 65-66 - Indepthbible.org

24those eating the pig’s flesh,25 26and fragment(s) of detestable things (are in) their vessels.2765:5 The ones who are saying, Keep to yourself24The definite masculine singular noun ryzIëx]h;, hachaziyr, means “the swine,” or “theboar,” or “the pig.” For its occurrences in the Hebrew Bible, see:Leviticus 11:7, “the pig, though it has a split hoof completely divided, does not chew the cud (i.e.,food regurgitated from the first stomach to the mouth of ruminants such as cattle, sheep,goats, deer and giraffes, and then chewed again; it is unclean for you”; Deuteronomy 14:8, similar, but also including camels, rabbits and coneys as unclean ruminants; we thinkthat the reason these animals, even though created by God and declared “very good” aredeclared “unclean” is that they were commonly used in Canaanite religious rituals;Isaiah 65:4, here; eating the flesh of pigs is a specific instance of sharing in the practices of theCanaanite religion forbidden by YHWH; 66:17, similar, eating the flesh of pigs and rats andother abominable things;Isaiah 66:3, another specific instance of sharing in Canaanite religion is ritual involving the pouringout of pig’s blood;Psalm 80:14, pigs from the forest ravage YHWH’s vine-yard;Proverbs 11:22, “like a gold ring in a pig’s nose.”TNISB comments that “The absence of pig bones among archaeological remains suggeststhat most ancient Israelites actually observed this prohibition.” (P. 1046)25Where the Hebrew text has the kethibh (“it is written”) qr:p.W, “and a fragment,” theMassoretes give the qere, (“it is read”) as qr:îm.W, “and juice,” or “and broth.” The qere isasupported by 1QIs , the Greek translation, the Targums and the Latin Vulgate.Slotki translates by “broth,” and comments that it was “prepared in some special way,” and“was believed to have magical properties.” (P. 314)26 a1QIs reads hmh(ylkb, perhaps meaning “in their (feminine plural) vessels,” along withSperber’s Targum and the Latin Vulgate, all with the preposition b “in” before the noun “vessels”;some other Hebrew manuscripts read the preposition “from” before the noun. The Greek translationhas memolumme,na pa,nta ta. skeu,h auvtw/n, “having stained all their vessels.”27 aWhere the Hebrew reads vG:Ti, tiggash, “(don’t) come near,” 1QIs reads [gt, “(don’t)touch.” Achtemeier translates (or paraphrases) by “Stand back!”34