Desecration and Defilement in the Old Testament

Abstract

"Problem. The Hebrew roots hll and tm' have been translated interchangeably by the terms "desecration" and "defilement." Since the root hll is used in opposition to the root q& while tm'stands in opposition to fhr, it remained to be investigated whether the equation is justified because they appear in parallel or whether they should be visualized as belonging to two different realms and having different meanings. Method. My approach was basically a synchronical word study. All the appearances of the roots hll and tm' in the OT were analyzed. The roots hnp and g'l, as well as some secondary roots related to the subject, were also investigated. Consideration was given to texts where the idea of desecration or defilement was present although the terminology was absent. The literature of the ancient Near Eastern cultures was investigated to establish to what extent their concepts of desecration and defilement were similar or not to those of Israel"