I think we need to analyze it more carefully. So the text is:This is explained in CD ("God had said, ‘Their wine is venom of snakes, the cruel poison of vipers’ (Deut 32:33). vac The ‘snakes’ are the kings of the Gentiles ["peoples"], vac and ‘their wine’ is their customs"). "Poison" is then used to describe the head of the kings of Greece ("and ‘the poison of vipers’ is the chief of the kings of Greece, who comes to wreak vengeance on them"). So while the underlying Dt. 32:33 is talking about one thing (Israel), CD applies it to two things, the "princes of Judah"/"kings of the peoples" (and in my view also the "kings of Greece") on one hand, and the "head of the kings of Greece" (in my scenario the Roman emperor) on the other. And the "princes of Judah"/"kings of the peoples" don't drink the wine, it just means their customs.
CD 8 (Vermes)
They have not kept apart from the people (MS. B: and their sin) and have wilfully rebelled by walking in the ways of the wicked of whom God said, Their wine is the venom of serpents, the cruel poison (or head) of asps (Deut. xxxii, 33).
The serpents are the kings of the peoples and their wine is their ways.
They have not kept apart from the people (MS. B: and their sin) and have wilfully rebelled by walking in the ways of the wicked of whom God said, Their wine is the venom of serpents, the cruel poison (or head) of asps (Deut. xxxii, 33).
The serpents are the kings of the peoples and their wine is their ways.
So we need to identify who is meant by "They" (have not kept...), "the wicked" (of whom God said), and "serpents".
I propose this identification:
They = princes of Judah = builders of the wall
the wicked = serpents (the ways of wicked = their wine is [serpents'] ways)
serpents = the kings of the peoples (some foreign kings of foreign nations)
So what would be your identification? For example, are you saying that the princes of Judah rebelled by walking in the ways of the princes of Judah? That doesn't make sense to me.
Statistics: Posted by AdamKvanta — Sat Dec 21, 2024 2:31 am