From: George Athas (gathas@mail.usyd.edu.au)
Date: Wed Mar 11 1998 - 16:32:12 EST
Micheal Palmer wrote:
> It may be simply that SKUBALA meant something close to our English word
> 'waste', and could therefore be applied to both garbage and excrement
> without the connotations of profanity.
I seem to remember reading somwhere that SKUBALA could be either a reference to
human refuse, or even to a half-rotted corpse or carcass. Regardless of whether the
word was considered a profanity or not, the meaning of the word is definitely
offensive. The fact that Paul uses it only once in this particular place, with a
strong tone evident in his writing, suggests that it is not a 'nice' word to use in
proper speech. However, just how strong a word it was is open to debate.
Best regards!
George Athas
PhD (Cand.), University of Sydney
Tutor of Hebrew, Moore Theological College
Phone: 0414 839 964 ICQ#: 5866591
Email: gathas@mail.usyd.edu.au
(Visit the Tel Dan Inscription Website at)
(http://www-personal.usyd.edu.au/~gathas/teldan.htm)
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