O aMhn (Rev. Iii: 14), and the Case for a Semitic Original of the Apocalypse

Abstract

In a brief but highly original and suggestive note 1), Professor L. H. SILBERMAN has argued that grammatically awkward, enigmatic 6 Ma&[v in Rev. iii 14 occurs as a mistransliteration of Hebrew ]1?K, a word used to describe Wisdom in Prov. viii 30, and applied to Torah in midrash on Gen. i I in Bereshith Rabbah. SILBERMAN further argues that other Christological titles in Rev. iii 14, namely, the true and faithful witness, and the beginning of God's creation, also have their antecedents in Hebrew nnx 'TS of Prov. xiv 25, and 1:m'v' nrl' of Prov. viii 22. Indeed, midrash equates I'n7 nivat with pntK, in applying both to Torah. Thus SILBERMAN suggests that Rev. iii 14 may have read in a Hebrew antecedent: