No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Micah-Malachi
In the history of the interpretation of Malachi, the word ḥērem which closes the book has been analysed in four different ways by translators and commentators, namely as a second object, an adverbial of means, an adverbial intensive, and a resultative secondary predicate. This article examines the four options and proposes the resultative analysis, hitherto only unambiguously attested in the Peshitta OT, as the best interpretation. This leads to the conclusion that ḥērem is something which the land becomes as a result of God’s action against it. I support the resultative analysis with data from Biblical Hebrew and maintain that this analysis best fits the consensus on the meaning of the word ḥērem, proposing a minimal understanding of the word in Malachi 3:24 [4:6] as “something unusable because it is under divine sanction.” Under this interpretation, the threat made by God in Malachi 3:24 is both more specific and more serious than what is communicated by most translations. In its final verse, Malachi issues an ultimatum against the people which throws into question the ongoing role of the land in the divine plan. For the final portion of the verse, I propose the translation “lest I come and strike the land, leaving it profaned.”
After a short introduction, the methodology underlying this study is explained in terms of the so-called breaks, bonds, bounds, and bumps of discourse organization, as revealed by five principal literary-structural markers: aperture, closure, bonding, juncture, and peak. These diagnostic features are then applied to present a sequential summary of the compositional arrangement (cycles, stanzas, strophes) of the entire prophetic book of Micah. The significance of this type of detailed discourse analysis for both understanding the biblical text and translating it is briefly pointed out and illustrated.
The grammar of ancient Hebrew זֶה straightforwardly accords to cross-linguistically attested patterns of demonstratives. זֶה and its feminine singular and common plural counterparts function primarily as deictic pronouns or deictic nominal modifiers. A small set of examples indicate that some stage of Hebrew witnessed the grammaticalization of זֶה as a relative marker and a copular pronoun. However, for over a century, another function of זֶה has been proposed and become entrenched within Hebrew grammatical analysis—that זֶה follows other Semitic languages in functioning as a “genitive” marker. By addressing all the relevant data, including the two most commonly cited examples of a “genitive” זֶה, Ps 68:9 and Judg 5:5, as well as the comparative Semitic argument, I demonstrate that there are no cogent reasons for assigning to זֶה the role of a “genitive” marker.
The translation difficulties presented by Zeph 3,18 are analysed and various proposed solutions are surveyed. The problems resulted largely from the insertion of the phrase «they are (far away) from you» (3,18aβ) by an editor who also composed 3,19 in order to tie in the conclusion of the book (3,18-20) to the preceding passage.
There is strong evidence for reading Hab 2,3b as an oath introduced by the word rather than as a conditional statement. Oaths introduced by are well-known in biblical Hebrew, and when 2,3b is read as an oath, it possesses greater clarity, stronger poetic parallelism, and increased thematic continuity with the surrounding verses. The oath of Hab 2,3b has implications for the meaning of Hab 2,2-4, in which it is possible to interpret the ÷åøà of 2,2b as a herald who unifies the various actions and characteristics present in 2,2-4. This herald finds parallels in the heavenly messengers of Mal 3,1-5 and Isa 40,1-8, who prepare the way for the arrival of Yahweh, just as the herald in Hab 2,2-4 prepares for the theophany described in Hab 3.
While the idea of God being the Father dominates New Testament studies in relation to Jesus and the followers of Jesus, the Father-God motif rooted in the Old Testament and prominent in the second temple period has received insufficient attention. The concept of God the Father is a broad category but in the Old Testament it is closely related to Israel. When God redeems Israel out of Egypt, he becomes like a Father to it and Israel becomes his son (Exodus 4:22). Thus, for Israel the fatherhood of God is linked to its redemption by God. This relationship began through God's initiative and with the purpose that they will serve and obey God - yet Israel is often unfaithful to him. God is also seen as the Father of the human kings of Israel.
Yahwists in the post-exilic community in Jerusalem envisioned their future in diverse
ways. The books of Haggai and Zechariah 1-8 emphasize that in a rebuilding phase
God does not merely use a holy place but also special leaders. These books
advocate a diarchic model of leadership in which the responsibilities are shared by
a religious leader (Joshua) and a political leader (Zerubbabel). This article focuses
on this diarchic model of leadership and offers possible responses to the following
questions: What do we know of these two leaders? Why did Joshua need purification
(Zech 3)? Who was the most influential leader or was there a balance of leadership?
Was there conflict between these leaders? The article concludes with a comparison
between the diarchic model of leadership in the post-exilic community in Jerusalem
and leadership in the first years of a new democratic South Africa.
The challenges posed by informal settlements are enormous, also in the Bloemfontein/ Mangaung area. The question asked in this article was how the church can reach out to people on the streets and in the informal settlements. Research was conducted to establish the views of the church and the task it has from randomly approached people on the streets. The Bible speaks positively on the task of the people of Israel and the church to reach out to foreigners. The church in informal settlements should see the people on the streets as its responsibility. A very important aspect is to gain structures in the informal community for the churches to be present in a more concrete way. Although the church remains the people of God and is not limited to structures, the presence of structures can in many ways enhance the positive help and influence of the church in the community; even to the people on the streets.
Malachi 2,10-16 addresses the problem of the faithlessness of the people of Judah, faithlessness specifically exemplified in two areas: the syncretistic worship of a foreign goddess in the temple (Mal 2,11-12), and the divorcing by the men of Judah of their covenant wives without adequate cause (Mal 2,13-16). The first example is presented figuratively, the use of the marriage metaphor providing a semantic link to the second, and literal, example of faithlessness. In verse 12 the prophet expresses the desire to see Yahweh cut off from Judah those who participate in syncretistic worship, whilst in verses 15 and 16 the prophet exhorts the people to avoid faithlessness. Furthermore, the juxtaposition of these two examples of faithlessness amongst the Judeans may indicate that the prophet recognised some link between them - either that idolatry contributed to divorce, or divorce somehow encouraged idolatry.
Escherichia coli harboring the gene encoding human interleukin-2 (IL-2) produces a mixture of two recombinant IL-2 species: one with the amino-terminal alanine (rIL-2) and the other having an additional methionine residue at the amino terminus (Met-rIL-2). Ways to increase the amount of rIL-2 and its proportion to the total IL-2 were tried. Among E. coli K-12 derivatives, N4830 was an effective producer of recombinant IL-2. The production of the mixture was greatly increased by optimizing the medium ingredients or culture conditions. However, the percentage of rIL-2 in the product decreased almost linearly with an increase of the total production of recombinant IL-2 and was less than 10% under optimal culture conditions. By adding 4.1 × 10−5 M maganese and 7.4 × 10−5 M ferric ions to the medium, we succeeded in raising the percentage of rIL-2 to 50% without any decrease of the total production.
The present patch-clamp study describes the effect of hypoxia at 30-31 degrees C on membrane potential and resting conductance in pyramidal cells from the hippocampal CA1 region in rat brain slices. The initial effect of hypoxia was a gradual hyperpolarization; the peak change in membrane potential measured over 15 min was -5.3 +/- 0.22 mV (P < 0.0001). After reoxygenation followed a transient hyperpolarization measuring -1.8 +/- 0.24 mV (P < 0.0001) and a subsequent normalization of the membrane potential, which after 5 min did not differ from its level prior to the hypoxic episode. Voltage-clamp analysis showed that the hypoxic hyperpolarization was related to an outward current at the holding potential (-60 mV) and an increase in resting conductance. The effect was not influenced by intracellular Cl- concentration, which indicated that it was not due to an inward flow of Cl- ions. The addition of tolbutamide, glibenclamide and dantrolene sodium did not affect the hypoxic hyperpolarization, neither did the presence of ATP in the pipette solution. The presence/absence of glucose in the perfusion medium did not influence the initial hyperpolarization during hypoxia; however, glucose seemed to prevent the subsequent depolarization under hypoxia. It was concluded that hypoxia caused an initial hyperpolarization of CA1 cells which was related to an increase in the resting conductance. The results did not suggest the involvement of ATP-sensitive K+ channels.
Investigation into the influence of specific genes and gene products upon the pathophysiology of cerebral ischaemia has been greatly enhanced by the use of genetically modified mice. A simple model of global cerebral ischaemia in mouse is bilateral common carotid artery occlusion (BCCAo) and the neuropathological impact of BCCAo has been investigated in several mouse strains. Bilateral carotid occlusion produces extensive neuronal damage in C57Bl/6J strain mice and this damage is linked to posterior communicating artery (PcomA) hypoplasticity in the circle of Willis. In the present study, we investigated the effect of BCCAo in MF1 strain mice and compared them with C57Bl/6J mice. The neuropathological consequences of BCCAo were assessed using standard histochemical staining and heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) immunohistochemical staining (to demarcate cells that had been ischaemically stressed). The effect of BCCAo on mean arterial blood pressure (MABP) was also measured. The plasticity of the circle of Willis was recorded using carbon black perfusion. MF1 mice displayed significantly less ischaemic neuronal damage and HSP70 immunoreactivity compared to C57Bl/6J mice following 10-20 min BCCAo. Moreover, ischaemic neuronal damage and HSP70 immunoreactivity in MF1 mice subjected to extended BCCAo (25-45 min) was never as extensive or widespread as that observed in C57Bl/6J mice after 20 min BCCAo. MABP in MF1 mice (102+/-5 mmHg) was significantly higher than in C57Bl/6J mice (87+/-5) during 20 min BCCAo. MABP in MF1 mice during 20 and 40 min (103+/-12 mmHg) BCCAo remained above pre-occlusion values for the entire occlusion period. MF1 mice had significantly greater circle of Willis plasticity (more PcomAs) than C57Bl/6J mice did. These data indicate that MF1 mice are less susceptible to BCCAo than C57Bl/6J mice and that this could be due to maintained increases in MABP during BCCAo and the lower prevalence of abnormalities of the circle of Willis in MF1 mice.
The aim of the present study is to explore the potential hyper-excitability of hippocampal CA3 neurons in rats after prolonged post-ischemic survival. We conducted 15-min four-vessel-occlusion ischemic episodes in rats, allowed these animals to survive for approximately 8 months and then examined the basic morphological features and population synaptic activities of CA3 neurons. In fixed tissue sections obtained from dorsal hippocampi of post-ischemic rats, we observed a complete loss of the CA1 neurons together with a shrunken CA1 sector. Extracellular recordings in slices revealed that the overall synaptic activities of dorsal hippocampal CA3 neurons were decreased in post-ischemic rats compared with sham-operated controls. Both sham control and post-ischemic ventral hippocampal neurons were capable of exhibiting intermittent spontaneous field potentials in slices. These spontaneous field potentials spread from the CA3 to the CA1 area and their generation relied on the activity of glutamate alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4 isoxazole proprionic acid (AMPA) receptors. The propensity for displaying these spontaneous field potentials appeared to be greater in post-ischemic slices than sham control slices. Our data suggest that the hyper-excitability of the post-ischemic hippocampus, if it occurs, may preferentially take place in the ventral CA3 circuitry.
Hypobaric hypoxia (HH), a predisposing environmental condition at high altitude (HA) encountered by many mountaineers jeopardizes their normal physiology like motor coordination and cognitive functions. Our previous studies revealed that the HH induces oxidative stress and neurodegeneration, which is associated with spatial memory impairment in rats. However, the dendritic changes after exposure to different duration of HH remain largely unknown. The aim of the present study was to investigate the duration-dependent dendritic changes in CA1, CA3 and entorhinal cortex (EC) of hippocampus and layer II of prefrontal cortex (PFC) with spatial memory functions in rats on exposure to different duration of HH. The rats were exposed to simulated HA of 6100 m for 3, 7, 14 and 21 days and the spatial reference memory was investigated using Morris water maze (MWM) and the morphological alteration of CA1, CA3, EC and layer II of PFC were investigated. There was a significant decrease in dendritic arborization and spine number along with increased number of damaged neurons, after 3, 7 and 14 days of HH but after 21 days of HH exposure the structural recovery was noted in all the regions. There was impairment of spatial memory after 3 and 7 days of exposure, but slight improvement of spatial memory was noted after 14 and 21 days of exposure. Our studies suggested that HH induces dendritic plasticity of PFC and hippocampal pyramidal neurons of rat brain, which might be associated with improvement of spatial memory function after 21 days of HH exposure.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any references for this publication.