I've posted this before, but this seemed an appropriate setting in which to share it again.
Ginny
Feet, thighs, and hands
About a year ago, I found a dilapidated copy of The Oxford Annotated Bible at Goodwill. I have so enjoyed what I’ve learned from the notes that I decided to treat myself to the updated version, The New Oxford Annotated Bible. My Goodwill copy was last updated in 1962; this new one was updated in 1994.
Happy with my new treasure, I began thumbing through to see what is new. The note for Exodus 4:25 caught my eye. The verse reads:
But Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin, and touched Moses’ feet with it, and said, "Truly you are a bridegroom of blood to me!"
The note reads:
Here it is assumed that the circumcision of the infant son was efficacious for Moses, who was evidently uncircumcised. Feet, a euphemism for the genitals (Isa 7.20).
“Feet” a euphemism for genitals? This seemed a bit far-fetched. I set aside my curiosity about why Jehovah would try to kill Moses and flipped over to Isaiah 7:20:
On that day the Lord will shave with a razor hired beyond the River—with the king of Assyria—the head and the hair of the feet, and it will take off the beard as well.
Again the same note—“feet” is a euphemism for genitals. While it would make more sense in this context, it still seemed a stretch. I went to the Bible browser and did a search for “feet.” Look at Judges 3:24:
After he had gone, the servants came. When they saw that the doors of the roof chamber were locked, they thought, “He must be relieving himself in the cool chamber.”
The Hebrew for “relieving himself” is literally “covering his feet.”
It makes one wonder what is really going on in Ruth 3:7:
And when Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. Then she came softly, and uncovered his feet and lay down.
Hmmmm. Are there other Biblical euphemisms, I wondered? I began searching the net.
I discovered that “thigh” is also used euphemistically.
And Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his house, who had charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh,”
This means “put your hand under my testicles.” Patriarchal Semites swore binding oaths by placing a hand on each other’s private parts, a habit still common among the Arabs. The “fountain of life” was considered sacred. Words like testament, testify, and testimony still attest to the oaths sworn on testicles.
Some scholars believe that Genesis 32:25 is euphemistic. The sinew that shrank on the hollow of Jacob’s thigh is his penis. He literally and figuratively "limped" away from the wrestling match.
In some contexts, even “hand” can even be a phallic euphemism. This is from a passage in the Manual of Disciples from the Dead Sea Scrolls:
One who walks before his neighbor naked when he does not have to do so shall be punished six months . . . one who brings his ‘hand’ out from beneath his robe when it is torn, so that his nakedness is seen, shall be punished thirty days. One who laughs foolishly, making his voice heard, shall be punished thirty days. One who brings out his left hand to gesticulate with it shall be punished ten days.
Perhaps we should get back to Bible fundamentals when we raise our "hands" at meetings? More sisters might attend, especially if a brother was assigned to work on gestures.
Ginny