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מוֹט mōṭ – pole, carrying frame, yoke

Semantic Fields: Utensils   
Author(s): Karel Deurloo
First published: 2011-03-24
Citation: Karel Deurloo, מוֹט mōṭ – pole, carrying frame, yoke,
               Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database (sahd-online.com), 2011 (WORK IN PROGRESS)

Introduction

Grammatical type:

מֹוט:
Occurrences: 6x HB (3/1/2)

  • Torah: Num 4:10, 12; 13:23;
  • Nebiim: Nah 1:13;
  • Ketubim: Ps 66:9; 121:3.

מֹוטָה:
Occurrences: 10x HB (1/10/1)

  • Torah: Lev 26:13;
  • Nebiim: Isa 58:6 (2x), 9: Jer 27:2; 28:10, 12, 13 (2x); Ezek 30:18; 34:27;
  • Ketubim: 1 Chron 15:15.

A.1In 4Q437 fragm 2, II.13 מטותיהם ‘their [y]okes’ occurs in broken context. See further section 1, Postbiblical Hebrew.

1. Root and Comparative Material

A.1 Semitic: The root is no doubt mw/yṭ which is attested in several Semitic languages (cf. Klein, CEDHL, 324; Leslau, CDG, 377; HAHAT, 641). It is certainly not related to → מַטֶּה (contra D.M. Fouts, NIDOT, vol. 2, 866). Since the Hebrew √מוט means ‘to totter’, it has been assumed that the name of the yoke bar מֹוט/מֹוטָה was derived from its back-and-forth, up-and-down motion on the necks of the draught animals. In view of Geez myṭ / meṭa, ‘to turn away, divert, repel’ and Arabic myṭ, ‘to remove, put at a distance, repel’ one might also think of a bar designed to keep the horned heads of the draught oxen apart.

Egyptian: Possibly as a Semitic loanword in Late Egyptian m{,̓*wḏ (Helck, BÄV, 513, No. 86; Hassan 1979).

Old and Imperial Aramaic: In the Balaam inscription i.9 mṭh occurs in a damaged context, but ususally this is connected to mṭh ‘rod’ (cf. Hoftijzer & Jongeling, DNSI, 617).

Postbiblical Hebrew: In mBeṣ. 3:3 and derived passages מוט is supposed to be a long carrying bar, מוטה a short one. Cf. Levy, WTM, Bd. 3, 44-5;Dalman, ANHT, 227. Actually the passage states nothing about size and ו may have meant in a disjunctive sense, cf. DCH, vol. 2, 596.

2. Formal Characteristics

A.1 [Will be added later.]

3. Syntagmatics

A.1 [Will be added later.]

4. Ancient Versions

a. Septuagint (LXX) and other Greek versions (αʹ, σʹ, θʹ):

  • In Lev 26:13 עֻלְּכֶם מֹטֹת is rendered τὸν δεσμὸν τοῦ ζυγοῦ ὑμῶν, so the plural is understood as a singular ‘band, bond’ (Lust et al., GELS-L, 99).

In Num 4:10,12; 13:23: 1 Chron 15:15 LXX renders ἀναφορέυς, ‘bearer, carrying-pole, stave’ (GELS-L, 33-4).

In Isa 58:6 LXX understands כָּל ־מֹוטָה in a metaphorical sense: πᾶσαν συγγραφὴν ἄδικον, ‘and every unjust contract’ (GELS-L, 444; see below on the Tg) whereas only a few verses further on (Isa 58:9) מֹוטָה is rendered more or less literally: σύνδεσμον, ‘band, fetter’ (GELS-L, 455).

In Jer 28:13; Ezek 34:27 LXX opts for κλοίος, ‘chain, bond’, but also ‘yoke’ (GELS-L, 259). In Ezek 30:18 LXX may have read מַטֹּות, ‘rods’ and in Nah 1:13 מַטֵהוּ, ‘his rod’.

b. Peshitta (Pesh):

  • In Num 4:10, 12; 13:23 qwpʾ, according to the Syriac dictionaries ‘carrying staves, poles’, but cf. Tg. In Lev 26:13, Ezek 34:27 and Nah 1:13 the literal nyrʾ is chosen, in Isa 58 :6 ʿwlʾ. Both words mean ‘yoke’. In Isa 58:10, however, מֹוטָה is rendered nklʾ, ‘deceit, perfidity’ (cf. Tg). In Jer 27:2 Pesh translates by ḥnqʾ, ‘the collar (or strings) of a yoke’ (Payne Smith [Margoliouth], CSD, 150), but this may be a simple transposition of מֹוסֵרֹות which is rendered nyrʾ, ‘yoke’. The word מֹוטָה becomes dglʾ ḥnqʾ, ‘falsehood-strings’, in Jer 28:10, 12, 13. In Ezek 30:18 Pesh follows LXX with ḥwṭrʾ, ‘rod’. In 1 Chron 15:15 the word is skipped.

c. Targum (Tg):

  • TgO has אריחא in Num 4:10, 12; 13:23, apparently equating מֹוט with → בַּד. In Num 4:10, 12; 13:23 TgN has קופה, ‘basket’, but TgJ has אסלא, ‘pole’ in Num 4:10 and 13:23. The latter rendering is also chosen in the Targum of 1 Chron 15:15. In Jer 27:2; 28;10, 12, 13 Tg renders מֹוטָה by נירא, ‘yoke’. Surprisingly, the same rendering is chosen in Ezek 34:27 where one would expect the Targumist to explain the metaphor.

In Lev 26:13 TgO interprets עֻלְּכֶם מֹטֹת as מינכון עממיא ניר, ‘the yoke of the nations from you’. The Palestinian targums have understood the metaphor in a similar way here. In Isa 58:6 the Targum paraphrases מֹוטָה twice as מסטי דין ‘perverted judgment’ and in 58:9 as דין אסטיות ‘perversion of judgment’. In Ezek 30:18 the metaphor is recognised and rendered by תקופא, ‘strength’.

d. Vulgate (Vg):

  • Num 4:10,12; 13:23; 1 Chron 15:15 etc.: catena, according to LD, 301: ‘wooden bracket ... chain’; 1 Chron 15:15 and Nah 1:13: vectis ‘carrying-pole’; Isa 58:6: fasciculus ‘bundle’; Ezek 30:18 sceptrum ‘rod’; Nah 1:13 virga ‘branch, twig’.

A.1

5. Lexical/Semantic Fields

A.1 [Will be added later.]

6. Exegesis

6.1 Textual Evidence

A.1 The spies who were sent out by Moses to reconnoitre the land of Canaan cut off אֶחָד עֲנָבִים וְאֶשְׁכֹּול זְמֹורָה, ‘one branch with a cluster of grapes’ in the Valley of Eshcol which was so heavy that they had to carry it on or in (ב) a מֹוט between two men (Num 13:23). Usually this is interpreted as a pole from which the cluster hang, but the preposition ב renders this unlikely. Therefore many exegetes opt for a carrying frame, bier or stretcher which was called after its poles (metonymy). This is also the meaning of מֹוט in Num 4:10, 12 where the covered lampstand (→ מְנֹרָה) with its utensils and the service vessels are put on (עַל) the מֹוט. Summoned by David, the Levites brought up the ark בִּכְתֵפָם, ‘on their shoulders’, further explained as עֲלֵיהֶם בַּמֹּטֹות, ‘with the poles on them’, ‘as Moses had commanded’ (1 Chron 15:15; cf. Num 7:9; 2 Chron 35:3); thus מֹוטָה can be seen as an equivalent of → בַּד here (cf. Exod 25:10,12 etc.).

Symbolising the inescapable subjection to Babel, Jeremiah had to make straps (מֹוסֵרֹות, → מֹוסֵרָה) and מֹטֹות (Jer 27:2), parts of a yoke which may represent the yoke as a whole (cf. Jer 27:8, 11, 12; 28:2, 4, 11, 14). In a more restricted sense two מֹטֹות are the wooden pegs which are put into holes through the yoke beam on both sides of the neck of the animal and joined together with straps. This contraption served to attach the draught animal to the yoke-beam and kept the beam in place on its neck (Schumacher 1889; Turkowski 1969; Zwickel 1991; Deist, MCB, 191; Borowski, AIAI, 51-2; Viberg 2007, 128-44). With a pair of draught animals it also served to keep the beasts apart to allow the draw-bar to pass between them. Because considerable force was applied to the yoke the beam had to be heavy.

In Jeremiah’s case it may have been a light imitation of such a yoke or עֵצּ??? מֹוטֹת in Jer 28:13 designates the wooden pegs around his neck, because Hananiah was able to break them with ease (Jer 28:10-13) which he would not have accomplished if they had been forged of iron (בַּרְזֶל, Jer 28:13).

Jeremiah’s symbolic act hints at the figurative sense of the terms for yoke: they symbolise subjection, oppression and bondage (cf. Ruwe & Weise 2002). Deliverance from Egypt can be described with the same imagery: YHWH has broken the מֹטֹת of Israel’s yoke. The people is no longer bound and bent down like a draught animal, but can walk erect (Lev 26:13; cf. Ezek 30:18; 34:27).

The singular מֹוטָה in Isaiah 58:6 and 9 is further removed from its literal meaning, though the imagery can be recognised easily: The fast for YHWH is meant to undo the thongs (→ אֲגֻדָּה) of the מֹוטָה of oppression they have laid on the shoulders of others and break it, thus setting free the oppressed.

In Nah 1:13 מֹטֵהוּ, ‘his yoke bar’ (| מֹוסְרֹתַיִךְ, ‘your straps’) is a designation of Nineve’s yoke of oppression which lady Zion had to bear and which YHWH will break off her neck now (מֵעָלָיִךְ counsels against the emendation מַטֵהוּ, ‘his rod’, which has been defended by several scholars, e.g. Spronk 1997, 72-3).

6.2 Pictorial Material

A.1 For photographs and drawings of comparable yokes see E. Schiller (ed.), The Holy Land in Old Engravings and Illustrations, Jerusalem 1977, 64a (W. Rae Wilson 1819); 242, 247 (Ch.W. Wilson 1880); 285 (P. Lortet 1884); Ch. W. Wilson, Picturesque Palestine, Sinai and Egypt, vol. 1, London 1880, No. 72; vol. 2, No. 17, 128; Dalman, AuS, Bd. 2, Plates 18, 21b, 25, 29, 33, 41; Salonen, Agricultura, Taf. VI,2; XII.1; XIV.2; Stager, LBI, 90. For a modern reconstruction at the Ekron Museum, see Bolen, PLBL, disk 1, 2 (Samaria): Cultural Pictures, 71-27tb.jpg and tb n031500.jpg.

6.3 Archaeology

A.1 [Will be added later.]

7. Conclusion

A.1 A מֹוט is used as a carrying pole or frame to transport heavy objects. Generally the מֹוטָה designates a heavy yoke bar, or the pegs used to fasten a yoke with straps on the neck of a draught animal. As such it became the image of oppression of humans. To break the yoke (bars) means liberation of the oppressed. Jeremiah wore (a light imitation of?) such a yoke as a symbolic representation of the oppression he had to announce.

Bibliography

Hassan 1979: A.A. Hassan, ‘Die Wörter šbd and m{,̓*wḏ’, MDAIK 35 (1979), 119-24.

Ruwe & Weise 2002: A. Ruwe & U. Weise, ‘Das Joch Assurs und Jhwhs Joch: Ein Realienbegriff und seine Metaphorisierung in neuassyrischen und alttestamentlichen Texten’, ZAR 8 (2002), 274-307.

Schumacher 1889: G. Schumacher, ‘Der arabische PflugÕ, ZDPV 12 (1889), 157-66.

Spronk 1997: K. Spronk, Nahum (HCOT), Kampen 1997.

Turkowski 1969: L. Turkowski, ‘Peasant Agriculture in the Judaean Hills (I)’, PEQ 101 (1969), 21-33.

Tyer 1963 C.L. Tyer, The Yoke in Ancient Eastern, Hebrew and New Testament Materials (unpubl. diss. Vanderbilt University).

Viberg 2007: Å. Viberg, Prophets in Action: An Analysis of Prophetic Symbolic Acts in the Old Testament (CB,OT, 55), Stockholm 2007, 128-44.

Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database