Endnote 5 – The Pomegranate Scepter Head—From the Temple of the Lord or from a Temple of Asherah?

Halpern also notes a peculiar syntax in the inscription: “The preposition l-, meaning “to, for, of,” comes after the word “priests” in the inscription. When the first word, qoµdesû, “dedication, sacred object,” is qualified in the Biblical text, as “sacred” to someone, it is almost always followed by this preposition. (The exception is in Leviticus 19:8, qdsû yhwh, “dedication of Yahweh” [in the sense of a dedication to Yahweh], and the derivative Malachi 2:11. Contrast Leviticus 27:14, 21, 23, 30, 32; Isaiah 23:18 Jeremiah 31:40; Zechariah 14:20, 21; Ezra 8:28; for “sacred to [person],” Numbers 6:20, 18:10; Leviticus 23:20, 25:12; Ezekiel 45:4.) Yet here, it is followed by a genitive noun without the preposition—qdsû khnm, “dedication of the priests.” The interpretation, “Dedication belonging to the priests of the house of Yahweh,” is philologically possible. (It has a parallel in the Hebrew syntax of Exodus 20:5–6.) Yet, were this the meaning, we should ordinarily expect the preposition to come after the word “dedication”. we would expect the formulation: qdsû lkhny byt [yhw]h