A Matter of Trees - II

 

I began to make progress when I was reading THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS BIBLE: The Oldest Known Bible Translated for the First Time into English, by Martin Abegg, Jr., Peter Flint, and Eugene Ulrich (New York, Harper One, 1999) On page 336 I found this note: "820. 1QIsa-a and MT have different spellings of this obscure tree." Checking my Tanakh, I saw that the MT had תִּדְהָר (tid'har), while the DSS had תוהר (probably tohar or tuhar, while there are other possibilities in an unpointed txt such as this). But there is no known tree called "tid'har." Clearly, what has happened is that the Masoretes mistook a vav for a daleth.

Obviously, I was not privy to the deliberations of the DSS translators when they decided that the meaning of the DSS word (which I have underlined above in red) was "yew." Perhaps they found the word in an Aramaic targum, or in a text in another closely related language, With this thought in mind, I looked up Isaiah 41:19 in the Peshitta. Here t is:

אתל במדברא ארזא ואשכרעא ואסא וקיסא דמשחא אסים בפקעתא שרוינא הדירא אכחדא

Surely, I thought, this text, in a closely related language, translated from the Hebrew in the second century CE, would solve the problem of the mystery tree. But no, here it is in English:

I will give in the wilderness cedars and acacia trees and the myrtle and the tree of oil I will put in the plain cypresses glorious, together.

Those who are attentive will notice that there are only five tree names given. The translators of the Peshitta punted, and glossed two unfamiliar names of trees with the word "glorious."

(to be continued)

Copyright © 2022 by Donald C. Traxler.