El Ro'i

אל ראי


Genesis 16:13 names him as the god of Hagar, to whom she dedicated Be'er Lechi Ro'i. Most translations render it as "You are the god who sees me", which tells us that it is not the god's "personal name", in the way that YHVH or Zeus or Wotan are, but an epithet, a description of the relationship that has just occurred.

And probably this is correct, but in a book dedicated to epistemological analysis, I cannot overlook the other occasions when Ro'i is used. So:

1 Samuel 16:12 has our first encounter with the boy David, ADMONI, red-haired, YAPHEH EYNAYIM, with bright eyes, and RO'I, good-looking - rather than handsome, because the root, RO'I, has to do with seeing, ANI RO'EH = "I see"; handsome is the subject, good-looking the object, and RO'I is definitely the object.

Job 7:7/8 confirm the Genesis translation: "Remember that my life is but a breath, and I will never again feel happiness. You see me now, but not for long. You will look for me, but I will be gone."

Job 33:21 has MERO'I, which is the sight rather than the seeing, again confirming the Genesis translation.

Nahum 3:6 has KE RO'I, "as something that is seen", which is to say a "spectacle".


Copyright © 2019 David Prashker
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