Dictionary:Changing Meanings/0

Lexical: Changing Meanings

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Within the Biblical Period

There are many words whose meaning might have changed from one period with Tanakh to another:

• בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל – In most of Sefer Bereshit¹ and the opening verses of Sefer Shemot² the term  refers to the sons of Yaakov, whereas afterwards it refers to the nation of Israel.  The turning point might be Shemot 1:9, which uniquely states "עַם בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל",‎³ perhaps to clarify that the people have become a nation.⁴  There are several cases in which the meaning of the term is ambiguous:
• Bereshit 32:33 "לֹא יֹאכְלוּ בְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת גִּיד הַנָּשֶׁה" – See the debate in Bavli Chulin 100b whether this refers to something Yaakov's sons accepted upon themselves or whether this was a prohibition first commanded to the nation at at Sinai and placed in Sefer Bereshit to provide the reasoning.⁵
• Bereshit 36:30

Biblical vs. Modern Hebrew

¹ See Bereshit 42:5, 45:2 and 46:5. In several other verses () the meaning of the term is ambiguous.  See discussion below.

² The phrase "בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל" in Shemot 1:1 clearly refers to the sons of Yaakov but verse 7 is ambiguous and could refer either to Yaakov's sons or to the entire Israelite nation. This depends on whether the verse is still part of the opening summary of Sefer Bereshit (cf. Bereshit 47:27) or is referring to events after the brothers' death.

³ This is the only place in Tanakh in which this exact term is used and there are only two other places in Tanakh (Shemot 3:10, 7:4) where Hashem uses a similar term, "עַמִּי בְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל".

⁴ See R. Hirsch on Shemot 1:1 and 9 who implies this.

⁵ Compare also R"Y Bekhor Shor, Radak and Ralbag's reading of the verse.