[b-hebrew] The meaning of TAM in Gen. 25:27

Discussion:

Calvin Lindstrom

2007-07-11 15:18:06 UTC

For a number of years I have wondered about the translation of TAM
describing Jacob in Gen. 25:27. In contrast to Esau, a hunter and man
of the field, Jacob is described as being ISH TAM dwelling in tents.

Is there justification for translating TAM as:
ESV: quiet
NET: even-tempered
NKJV: mild
Tyndale: simple
new JPS: mild

It seems that the translations define the word in an attempt to make
a contrast with Esau make more sense than to translate the word based
on how it is used in the rest of the Tanakh. James Jordan comments
that translating the word TAM as it normally is used puts the story
of Jacob and Esau into a different perspective than how the story is
often told.

Any comments would be appreciated.

Calvin Lindstrom
Church of Christian Liberty
Arlington Heights, IL
www.christianliberty.com

p***@oham.net

2007-07-11 18:12:50 UTC

Permalink

Perhaps comparison with Job 1:8 and/or 2:3, ISH TAM W:YF$FR, could help.

Pere Porta

k***@comcast.net

2007-07-11 21:38:20 UTC

Permalink

If you have H.A.L.O.T on pg 1742. It reads b) well behaved, civilised. Gn 25:27, Jacob was... (lived quitely) as opposed to Esau who was... ( a man of the open country).

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Kelton Graham
***@comcast.net

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Post by p***@oham.net

Perhaps comparison with Job 1:8 and/or 2:3, ISH TAM W:YF$FR, could help.
Pere Porta
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Shoshanna Walker

2007-07-12 03:48:04 UTC

Permalink

RASHI says "Tam" means someone who "is not astute at deceiving"

27. And the youths grew up, and Esau was a man who understood
hunting, a man of the field, whereas Jacob was an innocent man,
dwelling in tents.

And the youths grew up, and Esau was As long as they were small, they
were not recognizable through their deeds, and no one scrutinized
them to determine their characters. As soon as they became thirteen
years old, this one parted to the houses of study, and that one
parted to idol worship. - [

Yigal Levin

2007-07-12 06:22:33 UTC

Permalink

The word Tam is derived from the root TMM, and as a verb means "finished",
"completed", "empty". It appears dozens of times in the Bible. Just a few
are: Gen. 47:18, Josh 4:11, Lam. 4:22. As a noun or an adjective, also
vocalized "Tom" it means "complete", "fulfilled" and also "wholeness",
"integrity": such as in Ps. 25:21. A fuller form of the same word is
"Tamim" - "whole", "complete", "perfect", both in the physical sense (such
as many times in Lev. 3-5, in which the animals used for offerings must be
"Tamim") and spiritually or metaphorically, such as Noah's being a
"righteous Tamim" in Gen. 6:9, Abraham being told to "walk before [God] and
be Tamim" in Gen. 17:1, or even God being Tamim in Deut. 32:4.

So Jacob, when compared to the rough outdoorsman Esau, was either "simple",
"honest", "righteous" or "complete". Each of these words could have several
different meanings in English as well. So what it comes down to, is looking
at the wider context and trying to understand what the author meant when
contrasting Jacob to Esau. Obviously, different commentators and translators
will use different terms, because the picture Jacob differently.

Yigal Levin

----- Original Message -----
From: "Calvin Lindstrom" <***@yahoo.com>
To: "B Hebrew" <b-***@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2007 6:18 PM
Subject: [b-hebrew] The meaning of TAM in Gen. 25:27

Post by Calvin Lindstrom
For a number of years I have wondered about the translation of TAM
describing Jacob in Gen. 25:27. In contrast to Esau, a hunter and man
of the field, Jacob is described as being ISH TAM dwelling in tents.
ESV: quiet
NET: even-tempered
NKJV: mild
Tyndale: simple
new JPS: mild
It seems that the translations define the word in an attempt to make
a contrast with Esau make more sense than to translate the word based
on how it is used in the rest of the Tanakh. James Jordan comments
that translating the word TAM as it normally is used puts the story
of Jacob and Esau into a different perspective than how the story is
often told.
Any comments would be appreciated.
Calvin Lindstrom
Church of Christian Liberty
Arlington Heights, IL
www.christianliberty.com
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15:26

K Randolph

2007-07-12 06:37:53 UTC

Permalink

Calvin:

This word seems to have no exact equivalent in English. While the
basic idea seems to be connected with completeness, there is also a
moral aspect of following the rules, making sure the I's are dotted
and the T's crossed. So while Esau was galavanting around having fun
on the hunt, Jacob was minding the business in the tents (after all,
father Isaac had inherited Grandpa Abraham's wealth, including
hundreds of slaves, there was plenty of administrative work to be
done).

I agree with you that it makes more sense to translate it according to
how it is used in the rest of Tanakh. I did not know that it is
translated in these other ways that you list. The use of this term
according to usage as in the rest of Tanakh indicates that Jacob's
moral aspects were even then noticeable. That doesn't mean that Jacob
didn't have moral lapses, but it shows his wanting to wanting to
follow the rules and expectation that others do so as well. Notice his
reaction when he found Leah in his bed instead of Rachel.

Karl W. Randolph.

Isaac Fried

2007-07-15 22:36:27 UTC

Permalink

B-Listim

By three routes we arrive at the meaning of TAM: By context, by
family, and by the lack of an R---the Hebrew [also the IE languages?]
marker of aggregation and dispersion. The near relations of the toot
TMM [consisting of the two fundamental concepts or existence markers,
AT-TA and AM-MA, by which we are able to relate TAM to the separate
personal pronoun ATEM, 'you'] are DMM, [see psalms 107:29], ZMM, [see
deuteronomy 19:19], SMM, CMM, [see Isaiah 47:2], $MM [see 2 Kings
13:20]. Essentially they all mean 'solid, inert [not violently
rushing, non aggressive, not belligerent], stable, grave, stationary,
sluggish, tame, docile, quiet, kind, withdrawn, peaceful, simple,
shy, mild, deliberate, innocent, harmless, non threatening,
wholesome, compact, complete, perfect'.
TMM is also related to TMH, ,astonish, amaze, stun' as in Genesis
43:33. The remarkable Hebrew word EMET, 'true, solid,
stable' [opposed to RA, 'flimsy, shaky, fragile'] contains TM in
reverse, as does MUT, 'die'.
TAM provides an interesting example of how Hebrew [as do, I suppose,
all other languages] expresses the abstract idea of 'nothing' [no-
thing] in terms of the concrete idea of 'everything' [every-thing].
If something is full, then no free space is left, and nothing can be
added to it. Consider Genesis 47:18

וַתִּתֹּם, הַשָּׁנָה הַהִוא
וַיָּבֹאוּ אֵלָיו בַּשָּׁנָה
הַשֵּׁנִית וַיֹּאמְרוּ לוֹ לֹא-
נְכַחֵד מֵאֲדֹנִי כִּי אִם-תַּם
הַכֶּסֶף

Here TAM is 'finished, exhausted, came to an end'. VA-TI-TOM HA-$ANAH
means the year completed itself, came to a close, and consequently
nothing was left of it---time was up. Consider also Psalms 37:19

סָפוּ תַמּוּ

where SAPU is from the roots SUP [related to SOP, 'end'] or SPH,
related to the roots YSP, )SP, SPP, $PH. $P(, CPH, all of positive
connotation.
Such is also the word KALAH, 'finished, perished' from the root KLH,
related to the root KLL, 'include', once more, of an entirely
positive connotation.
Another example is the root )PS, related to )BS, as in Genesis 47:15

אָפֵס כָּסֶף

money is depleted, where depleted = de-plet-ed is the opposite of
completed = com-plet-ed.

Isaac Fried, Boston University