Sunday, April 23, 2006

Hey Professor: Samson did grind.

I started this blog in order to respond to some of the idiocy that I have heard that I cannot directly respond to. Usually because it is not said to me or the one saying it is to high and mighty to have anything to do with me.

For example, a young man I know in college had his professor tell his class that when the Bible says that Samson "did grind in prison" it meant that he was raped. He further stated that "grind" in the Old Testament meant sex (or something to that effect). Besides, he said, "Who would buy ground wheat from a prison?"

Well! The professor said it so it must be true. I hope his class is smarter then that.

I went to my trusty e-Sword Bible Software and looked up a few things.

Jdg 16:21 But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house.

The AMG International The Complete Word Study Dictionary lists “Grind” as H2912

ָטַחן
ṭaḥan, ֹטֲחָנה
ṭōḥanāh: I. A verb meaning to mill, to grind, to crush. It indicates the labor of grinding at a mill (Jdg_16:21), but it is used in special cases too: the golden calf was ground up (Exo_32:20; Deu_9:21); the grinding or gritting of one's teeth (Ecc_12:3); the grinding of manna (Num_11:8). It is used figuratively and literally of Babylon's punishment and destruction as her daughters grind with millstones (Isa_47:2); and of the "grinding" of the faces of the poor (Isa_3:15). In a different context, it indicates serving a person (Job_31:10).
II. A feminine noun indicating a molar, a grinder. It is used to depict "grinders," that is, the teeth of older people, their molars, that are deteriorating (Ecc_12:3). Possibly it refers, instead, to female millers or grinders.

Hmmm! No reference to sex here. If it means to mill in all of these other verses, why should it mean rape in Judges 16:21?

In regards to his comment about “buying the grain from a prison” I don’t think they sold it. I think they baked bread for the King to further humiliate Samson.

Nuff said for now.

1 comment:

Kreine said...

Well, think of the terminology "sleep with" in our culture. We use it as a euphemism for sex even though it can also mean literal sleep. In Job, he says to let his wife "grind for another." It's a double entendre meaning both grinding grain and having sex.