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Lyrical Aspects of Samuel the Thirdʼs Poetry 43*
midrashic materials in order to achieve serious representations of his themes,
which are lyrical in the sense that he engages the listener and the reader in
contextual apprehension of his poetic achievements. In terms of vocabulary,
he works with an extended palette of literary Hebrew and Aramaic. Here are
a few illustrative examples: In connection with parashat Bereshit, Samuel
describes the creation of heaven as ( ִּת ְק ַרת רּום ַמ ְת ִקירtiqrat rum matqir),
“God frames the beams or ceiling on high,” using matqir as a verbal form
derived from the noun tiqrah. In connection with parashat Noach, food
supplies for the ark are described as ( ַמ ְטע ֹו ֶמת ֱהי ֹות ְלָךmat‘omet heyot lekha),
“to be a delicacy for you,” or simply “to be delicious.” In connection with
parashat Bo, Samuel characterises the Pharaoh by the exotic expression
( ּ ֵגאּות ֲח ֵנ ִסי ַּב ֲח ַנ ְס ְנ ֻסת ֹוge’ut chanesi bachanasnesuto), which is based on the
name “Chanes” (Isa 30:4) to indicate the Pharaoh’s arrogance in the name
of his sun idols. Samuel repeats this pun in the expression ֲח ַנ ְס ְנ ֵסי ָח ֵנס ֲא ַקּ ֵצץ
(chanasnese Chanes aqatsets), in reference to Lev 26:30, “I will cut down
your incense altars.” In the Targum Onkelos, this phrase is rendered as
( ואקצץ ית חנסנסכוןaqatsets yat chanasneskhon). When it comes to Aramaic,
phrases based on an Aramaic–Targumic original are sporadically inserted,
such as ( ָה ֱאֹל ִהים ָׁשר ַא ְר ָק ָתםha-Elohim shar arqatam), “God has seen their
land” (Noach), or ( ִּפ ְר ֵחי ֱאמּו ֶניָך ִי ְרׁשּו ַא ְר ָק ָתםpirche emunekha yirshu arqatam),
“The blossom of your faithful will inherit their land” (Shelach Lekha), or
( ַק ְבלּות ִחיָּפ ַתםqavlut chippatam), “darkness has covered them” (Beshalach).
A clear example of the lexical stretching of Aramaic vocabulary can be
found in Samuel’s acrostic introductory verse preceding the reading from the
Prophets on what is probably intended for Shavu‘ot. The first line is אהודה
( ואשבח לאלהא קדישא וצדיקאahudah we-eshbach le-Elaha qadisha we-
tsadiqa), “Let me thank and praise the holy and righteous God.” The rhyming
words in the ensuing lines are particularly rare. One encounters words like
( פימוסקאpimosqa), ( נגהקאnaghaqa), and ( אושבקאushbaqa), and the two
editors have difficulty offering reasonable interpretations of such invented
words with the rhyming ending -qa. However, for the most part they found
suitable parallels in the Talmud and the Targum. As for Samuel’s syntactic,
or rather paratactic, preferences, it is commonly known that the biblical
