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Hey daq,Yeah, I can agree with that, but also, seeing your second to last statement, I cannot resist posting the following.
Genesis 40:9-11 KJV
9 And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, In my dream, behold, a vine was before me;
10 And in the vine were three branches: and it was as though it budded, and her blossoms shot forth; and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes:
11 And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand: and I took the grapes, and pressed [H7818] them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand.
How many times is this verb found? Uh, only once, and the above is it.
H7818 שָׂחַט śâchaṭ
BDB Definition:
1) (Qal) to squeeze, press out
Part of Speech: verb
A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: a primitive root
Same Word by TWOT Number: 2248
Total KJV Occurrences: 1
pressed, 1
Gen 40:11
Bummer, if only it was the same as the following verb, then we would not only have the mere second occurrence in the above passage, but perhaps also a deeper understanding of the following word and perhaps a better reason for why the LXX keeps rendering a word that literally means "to rush" when it comes to sacrifices, (G2380 θύω, thuo).
H7819 שָׁחַט shâchaṭ
BDB Definition:
1) to kill, slaughter, beat (verb)
1a) (Qal)
1a1) to slaughter
1a1a) beast for food
1a1b) sacrifice
1a1c) person in human sacrifice
1a1d) beaten, hammered (of shekels)
1b) (Niphal) to be slaughtered, be slain (of food or sacrifice)
2) (BDB) slaughtering (noun feminine)
2a) word doubtful
Part of Speech: see above in Definition
A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: a primitive root
Same Word by TWOT Number: 2362
Total KJV Occurrences: 81
But of course that isn't really Strong's fault: it's the single shin/sin point on the right or left top of the shin that changes the word. I guess the difference ultimately comes down to whether we are talking about the blood of the grape or the blood of an animal.
I was on the phone with a friend, discussing this matter as an aside to the larger question - the concept of concordances, their initial purpose and how to hang doors and repair plumbing (yeah, I know). But a thought came into my head unbidden. So I wanted to share it with you and see if it might strike a chord.
This word (ואשחט) may be unique for an obvious reason. We see the Aleph-Shin-Hey (אשח) root word meaning, that which according to Chabad is, "I will". But try looking this root word up in scripture and tell me what you find, ok? I could not find it. Anyway, it is being modified in a unique fashion with the Waw prefix and the Tet suffix. This is a head scratcher for me. So back to my thought:
While reading this account in Genesis, I realized that the conversation was between native Egyptians and the Hebrew was either translated or transliterated from the Egyptian language. When I came to this realization, my sadly untrained mind brought forth a line from an '80s movie, 'Short Circuit', where a military organization called Nova creates five robots. One of the robots, Number Five, is hit by lightning and becomes "alive". Anyway, one of the scientists is from India and at the revelation that the robot had become sentient exclaimed, "I'm so excited, I'm standing beside myself!" See what I did there?
Language is often used within a idiomatic context. And within this time frame, both written languages being discussed were pictographic in nature. The interpretive concepts were probably similar but distinct, as were both customs and traditions. So your remark about the meaning of the word 'ואשחט' changing depending on what was being squeezed (animals or grapes) may be both closer to and further from the truth than we first supposed.
Just a thought, but I'm headed over to AHRC and Biblical Archeology to do some more digging (pun intended).
Edit: Spelling
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