Page 205 - Coincidences in the Bible and in Biblical Hebrew

COINCIDENCES IN THE BIBLE AND IN BIBLICAL HEBREW
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184 COINCIDENCES IN THE BIBLE AND IN BIBLICAL HEBREW
Iron
The other couple of names that appear in the Bible, seemingly relating to the
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same substance, are barzel and pladot, both probably relating to iron . The most
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common name for iron is barzel, which appears in the Bible, with its various

inflections, seventy-six times. There is however another name, probably alluding
to iron, that appears only once: “The shield of his mighty men is made red, the
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valiant men are in scarlet: the chariots glitter with steel [pladot ] in the day of his

preparation, and the spears of cypress wood are brandished” (Nahum 2:4, thus
translated in the Jerusalem Bible, 2000).
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The key word here is pladot, written without the usual vav that is supposed
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to denote plural feminine. So pladot is probably singular. In all other English
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translations regarding this verse that we are familiar with, pladot is interpreted
to be “torch.” However, the Jerusalem Bible is consistent with how most revered
Jewish interpreters, like Rashi (1040–1105) and Radak (1160–1235), interpret

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pladot —namely, to mean iron . Rashi writes, “I would not know what “Pladot ”
was, but I would say, quoting, that it is “Nice Iron” (no reference to the source of
the quote is given).
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In modern Hebrew, steel is pladah. One can only assume that this notation
for steel originally derived from pladot. 8
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So now we have two words for iron , barzel and pladot. How do they differ?

We have no definite answer for that. In the pursuing statistical analysis (section
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13.3), we refer to iron as pladot, since this word is extremely consistent with the
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statistical models developed for the other metals in the sample. Barzel is not.
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We assume that barzel probably refers to the processed iron, which is an alloy
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containing other components (as with nechoshet ). The word barzel does not par-
ticipate in any of the following statistical analyses.
It is emphasized, though, that due to the relatively large sample size employed

in the statistical analyses, excluding iron altogether from the analysis (due to its

debatable MNV ) would only marginally affect the significance of the results
obtained.
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The numerical values (MNV ) of barzel and pladot are
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Barzel (probably processed iron):
239 = (30 = ל) + (7 = ז) + (200 = ר) + (2 = ב)
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Pladot (denoting iron or processed iron):
514 = (400 = ת) + (4 = ד) + (30 = ל) + (80 = פ)