Verse 12
"And render unto our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom
Their reproach wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord."
Most of the commentators have softened this imprecation by interpreting it to mean, not actually sevenfold, but, "`Complete or full' vengeance; seven is one of the perfect numbers, and is used to denote `many.'"[17] "The expression does not mean `seven times as much as they have done,' but `completeness of retaliation.'"[18] Well, maybe so; but there is also the possibility that Dahood had it right when he declared that, "This is a demand for vengeance of the most thorough-going kind, in the spirit of Lamech, who in Genesis 4:24 assures his wives Adah and Zillah that, `If Cain is avenged seven times over, then Lamech seventy times seven.'"[19]
Be the first to react on this!
