Verse 32
Their hooks shall be of gold - וויהם vaveyhem , which we translate their hooks, is rendered κεφαλιδες , capitals, by the Septuagint, and capita by the Vulgate. As the word וו vav or vau , plural ווים vavim , occurs only in this book, Exodus 26:32 , Exodus 26:37 ; Exodus 27:10 , Exodus 27:11 , Exodus 27:17 ; Exodus 36:36 , Exodus 36:38 ; Exodus 38:10 , Exodus 38:11 , Exodus 38:12 , Exodus 38:17 , Exodus 38:19 , Exodus 38:28 ; and is used in these places in reference to the same subject, it is very difficult to ascertain its precise meaning. Most commentators and lexicographers think that the ideal meaning of the word is to connect, attach, join to, hook; and that the letter ו vau has its name from its hooklike form, and its use as a particle in the Hebrew language, because it serves to connect the words and members of a sentence, and the sentences of a discourse together, and that therefore hook must be the obvious meaning of the word in all the above texts. Calmet thinks this reason of no weight, because the ו vau of the present Hebrew alphabet is widely dissimilar from the vau of the primitive Hebrew alphabet, as may be seen on the ancient shekels; on these the characters appear as in the word Jehovah, Exodus 28:36 . This form bears no resemblance to a hook; nor does the Samaritan vau , which appears to have been copied from this ancient character.
Calmet therefore contends,
- That if Moses does not mean the capitals of the pillars by the eht ווים vavim of the text, he mentions them nowhere; and it would be strange that while he describes the pillars, their sockets, bases, fillets, etc., etc., with so much exactness, as will appear on consulting the preceding places, that he should make no mention of the capitals; or that pillars, every way so correctly formed, should have been destitute of this very necessary ornament.
Be the first to react on this!