INTELLECTUALS AS EPHRAIMITES

ON LANGUAGE: Bible (JEFFREY McQUAIN, August 24, 2003, NY Times Magazine)

"In religion,'' George Gray challenges a contestant on TV's ''Weakest Link'' game show, ''what is the third book in the Old Testament of the King James Bible?''

The player replies, ''Revelations.''

That's wrong on two counts. The third book of the Bible is actually Leviticus, which chronicles the laws and rituals overseen by the priestly Levites. Less obvious, however, is the mistake in saying ''Revelations,'' because the Bible contains no such book.

Instead, the final book of the New Testament is titled ''Revelation,'' without an ''s.'' This error has appeared frequently in print, from a Chicago Tribune quotation on ''the apocalyptic messages that are found in Revelations'' to Maureen Dowd's New York Times mention of ''a musical based on the Book of Revelations.''

Bible experts consider that kind of mistake a shibboleth, from a story in the Hebrew Bible (or Old Testament) about using words as a test. In the 12th chapter of Judges, the conquering Gileadites are able to identify their enemies, the conquered Ephraimites, by making them say the word shibboleth, meaning ''ear of corn.'' Because of language differences, the Ephraimites pronounce it ''sibboleth'' and are immediately executed.

Today the penalties for mispronunciation tend to be less severe, although a shibboleth still acts to identify outsiders.

It's interesting the way George W. Bush uses nucular as a kind of shibboleth, the pronunciation alone marking him out as a good ole boy, not a wonk. Posted by Orrin Judd at August 30, 2003 10:04 AM