In the following, x = het, T = tet, { = ayin, c= tsadi, $ = shin
The statement in Deuteronomy 34:7 that when Moses died at the age of 120 lo' nas lexo has been given a variety of interpretations, most commonly that Moses' 'moisture' in the sense of 'natural force' or 'vigor' had not left him. However, there is no evidence that *leax means 'vigor,' and in any case, according to Deut. 31:2, Moses had lost his vigor.
In the present article it is argued that in Deut. 34:7, *leax 'moisture,' refers to lubricity in the sense of freshness and smoothness of the skin; despite his extreme old age, Moses' skin had not become wrinkled. This interpretation, first proposed by Ibn Ezra, is supported by the semantic parallel of Northwest Semitic {-d-n which, as Jonas Greenfield showed, connotes luxuriance, particularly liquid luxuriance, and is used in the Talmud to refer to 'the lubricious quality of the skin due to its being moist and freshened,' that is, unwrinkled. On the basis of this interpretation, it is likely that the verb n-s does not mean 'departed' but, as suggested by Ibn Janah and R. Joseph Kimhi, 'dried up,' cognate to Arabic nassa (n-s-s), 'dry up,' used of bread.
According to Deut. 34:7, when Moses died at the age of 120, "his eyes were undimmed" and, the text adds, lo' nas lexo. The latter phrase has been given a variety of interpretations. Several ancient translations -- perhaps influenced by the parallel term "eyes," referring to a facial feature -- assumed that lexo was derived from lexi, "cheek," "jaw," and took the phrase to mean that Moses's cheeks did not become sunken, or that he did not lose the teeth of his jaws.1 However, as R. Joseph Kimhi observed, this is morphologically excluded since lexo lacks the final yod which is preserved in the suffixed forms of lexi, as in lexeyo in Job. 40:26 (cf. lexeyah in Lam. 1:2).2
By far the best known interpretation, proferred by the medieval grammarians3 and found in most English translations4 is that Moses's "natural force" or "vigor" did not leave him. This interpretation is based on the derivation of lexo from lax, "fresh," "moist,"5 and nas from nus, "flee," hence "depart." This derivation of lexo is unproblematic, but there are two difficulties with taking "moisture" to mean "vigor":
a. There is no evidence for the use of *leax to mean "vigor." That it had such a meaning might be argued on the basis of the cognate lixluxit, "moistness," in rabbinic Hebrew.6 A number of passages in rabbinic literature use lixluxit to describe people who have not lost their youthful vigor. For example, R. Eleazar explains that Joab did not follow Absalom because {adayyin lixluxit shel david qayyemet, "David was still in possession of his vigor" (B. Sanh. 49a). However, the spelling lixluxit is not certain. In the other three passages where this usage is found, all in Midrash Bereshit Rabbah, the London manuscript that served as the basis for the Theodor-Albeck edition reads likhlukhit instead of lixluxit. For example, in Bereshit Rabbah 48:16, R. Ammi explains the difference between two verses which say that Abraham was old: ka'n ziqnah she-yesh bah likhlukhit, lehalan ziqnah she-'ein bah likhlukhit, "Here (in Gen. 18:11) it refers to old age where there is still vigor; later (in 24:1) it refers to old age where there is no vigor."7 lixluxit and likhlukhit may be two separate words, not necessarily related to each other, despite the fact that they share the meaning "moistness." Hence, if the original form of the one used for "vigor" was indeed spelled with kaf, it may not be related to Biblical *leax. This would explain why none of the Targums or commentaries of the Talmudic period rendered, or glossed, lexo with the rabbinic word; had it been spelled lixluxit at the time, it would have been natural for them to do so.
b. If the rabbinic term is unrelated to Biblical *leax, it is nevertheless semantically parallel to the alleged meaning of *leax in Deut. 34:7. However, an equally serious objection to lexo meaning "vigor" is the fact that, according to Deut. 31:2, Moses had, in fact, lost his vigor. Some scholars inferred from the putative inconsistency that 34:7b is not Deuteronomic,8 thus circumventing this problem. However, there are no other grounds for separating v. 7b from its context and assigning it to a different source. As G.A. Smith observed, "the phrase cannot be assigned to one source more than another."9 Even if the phrase were demonstrably non-Deuteronomic, it would not necessarily follow that its source disa-greed with Deuteronomy's very plausible assertion that Moses had been weakened by extreme old age. Hence it would be best to find a suitable connotation of "moistness" that does not entail an inconsistency with Deut. 31:2.
In fact, "natural force" or "vigor" is not the only possible connotation of moistness. R. Eliezer b. Yaakov in the Sifrei took the phrase to mean that Moses's body did not dry up, but this is based on his view that the passage refers to the preservation of Moses's body after death.10 Albright took "moistness" as referring to sexual power, which Moses allegedly had not lost at the age of 120.11 However, this hardly suits the context (we never hear of Moses fathering children after leaving Midian, let alone in old age), and Albright later abandoned the suggestion.12
No better ideas are suggested by the closest parallels to Deut. 34:7, the descriptions of Adad-guppi, mother of Nabonidus, who lived to the age of 104, and Si'-gabbar, priest of Nerab. Adad-guppi's inscription states that to the end of her life "my eyesight was good, my hearing excellent, my hands and feet were sound, my words well chosen, food and drink agreed with me, and my mind happy." Si'-gabbar's inscription states that until the day of his death "my mouth was not seized, preventing speech," and that he was able to see his descendants with his own eyes. Both of these descriptions refer to the retention of eyesight, as does Deut. 34:7, but none of the other faculties described could be described as a retention of "moistness."13
In his study of the Northwest Semitic root {-d-n on the basis of the bilingual Akkadian-Aramaic inscription from Tell Fakherye in Syria, Jonas Greenfield provides an important clue to the meaning of "moistness" in Deut. 34:7. Greenfield shows that {-d-n connotes luxuriance, particularly liquid luxuriance, and that it was used to refer to freshness and smoothness of the skin.14 This is indeed an appropriate connotation of moistness in the context of aging. According to The Wellness Encyclopedia of the University of California, Berkeley:
With age, the skin gradually loses its elasticity and becomes thinner and drier. Because of the effect of gravity, skin may begin to sag...these developments affect facial skin, causing wrinkles and bags under the eyes...a moisturizer can help make the skin feel smooth, temporarily prevent moisture loss from the cells, and decrease the fine lines caused by dryness...15
Greenfield notes (1) that in Ugaritic, the verb {-d-n is used for providing luxuriant rainfall; (2) that in rabbinic Hebrew the verb {-d- is used for freshening the skin and body by lubricating them with oil, and for rain freshening soil and grass; (3) that in Sarah's comment in Gen. 18:12, 'axarei beloti hayetah li {ednah, the noun {enah is used in contrast to beloti, "I am withered," and refers to "the lubricious quality of the skin due to its being moist and freshened;" and (4) that this was understood in the Talmud, which describes the fulfillment of Sarah's words thus: "After the skin had withered (nitballah) and wrinkles multiplied, the skin was freshened (nit{adden) and the wrinkles became smooth, and beauty returned" (B. B.M. 87a; nit{adden is used the same way in the identical description of Jochebed's rejuvenation in B. B.B. 120a). In sum, the restoration of moistness to Sarah's skin led to the disappearance of her wrinkles. This suggests that Moses's moistness, lexo, may also refer to unwrinkled skin.
In fact, this is how Ibn Ezra interprets lo' nas lexo. He comment that lexo is derived from *leax, "moistness," and explained, "for dryness overcomes the aged; and nas means the opposite of stretch (tight)" (ki ha-yeveshut titgabber {al ha-zaqen, ve-Ta{am "nas" hefekh matax). Although his comment is characteristically terse, it is convincingly explained in the supercommentaries. According to Solomon Zalman Netter, Ibn Ezra understands nas here not as "flight" but as shriveling and dryness, the opposite of tightness and smoothness, meaning that Moses's moistness did not shrivel and dry up but remained as it was, for when the face is full of moistness, the skin is stretched out, but the reverse is true when the moistness of the face departs: it shrivels.16 Another supercommentator, Yehudah Leib Krinski, held that Ibn Ezra did understand nas as "departed," but otherwise he agreed with Netter: a young person's skin is full of moistness and is therefore stretched over his flesh, but in old age the moistness departs and his skin becomes wrinkled. Krinski even cited Rashbam's comment on Sarah's statement in Gen. 18:12, a comment that is simply a verbatim quotation from B. B.M. 87a, cited above. In sum, Krinski concluded, Ibn Ezra means that Moses never showed signs of old age, since his moistness never departed and his skin remained smooth as in his youth.17
Ibn Ezra's explanation, I believe, is the correct one. It is consistent with Deut. 31:2 and now has the support of an apt semantic parallel in the use of {-d-n.
Netter's and Krinski's disagreement over the meaning of nas leads us back to one further contribution of the medieval grammarians to the understanding of lo' nas lexo. A verb meaning "flee" is a far from natural predicate for "moistness." According to Ibn Janah and R. Joseph Kimhi, nas in Deut. 34:7 is not from nus, "flee," but from a different verb, cognate to Arabic nassa (n-s-s), "dry up," used of bread.18 The same explanation is proposed by Ehrlich, who notes that it requires vocalizing the nun with a patah instead of a qamac.19
All of the above considerations indicate that lo' nas lexo means that the moistness of Moses's skin had not dried up, that he had not become wrinkled in his old age, but retained the smoothness of his skin to the end of his life.
NOTES
Author's note: Jonas Greenfield's article "A Touch of Eden," which inspired the present article, provides an apt metaphor for Jonas Greenfield himself, as a scholar and as a colleague. For students of every branch of Semitic studies, Jonas Greenfield's publications have been extraordinarily suggestive, filled as they are with kol {c nexmad lemar'eh and, especially, nexmad lehaskil. As a colleague, his implicit motto has been mikol {ec ha-gan 'akhol to'khal. No scholar surpasses him in the unstinting generosity with which he offers assistance and advice. It is a pleasure to take part in this tribute to a seminal scholar and a dear friend.
1. LXX (xelunia, "jaw," "lip" [H.G. Liddell-R. Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, revised by H.S. Jones et al. (Oxford: Clarendon, 1985), p. 1987 col. ii, s.v. xelunei]); Targ. Jon. nyby lystyh, "the teeth of his jaws;" Vulgate dentes, "teeth;" Peshitta l' 'tqmTw pkwhy, "his cheeks had not become sunken, or shriveled." Cf. Midrash Tannaim p. 227 top (h' blxyyw $lmtym npsq; Midrash Hagadol has a variant nprq); Rabbenu Meyuhas: kdrk hmtym lh$mT lxyyhm). Some of the targums interpret in a more general way that it was simply Moses's facial appearance that hadn't changed. Thus the Fragment Targum renders l' '$tnw zywyhwn d'pwy, Targum Neofiti l' '$tnyw zywwhwn d'pwy, and Onkelos l' $n' zyw yqr' d'pwhy (interestingly, the Fragment Targum and Onkelos use exactly the same terms for the skin of Moses's face in Exod. 34:29-35; and Neofiti uses zyw 'yqrhwn, as does Onkelos here). This view is found in Midrash Lekah Tov (ky qrn {wr pnyw, $l' n$tnh 'dmwt pnyw mdmwt $hyh mhr syny) and Rashi (wl' nhpk t'r pnyw).
2. Sefer Ha-galuy, ed. H.J. Mathews, Sepher Hagaluj (Berlin: M'kize Nirdamim, 1887), p. 8 (ref. courtesy of Uri Melamed]). See also Isa. 50:6; Hos. 11:4; Job 16:10; Song of Songs 1:10; 5:13; Ezek. 29:4.
3. See the dictionaries of Ibn Janah and Kimhi s.v. lwx and nws, the translation of Saadia (rTwbth) and the Samaritan Targum (rTwbh).
4. KJV, Leeser and RSV have "natural force;" Moffatt, NEB, NAB, and Jerusalem Bible have "vigor;" NIV has "strength."
5. Cf. renditions of this phrase as "freshness" (Luzzatto, "freschezza;" Field, Hexapla: viror (greenness); Yehoash frishkeit; Keil-Delitzsch).
6. See A. Van Selms, "A Forgotten God: Lah," in Studia Biblica et Semitica, Theodoro Christiano Vriezen...Dedicata (Wageningen: Veenman, 1966), pp. 318-326 (ref. courtesy of Uri Melammed). Rashi implicitly compares lexo with lixluxit in its literal sense of moistness; see below, n. 10.
7. Ed. Theodor-Albeck p. 493. See also Bereshit Rabbah 61:2 and 79:1 (Ed. Theodor-Albeck, pp. 658 and 938). MS Vat. 30 reads lkl(w)kyt in the first 2 passages; in the third it reads lxlwxyt (presumably either the scribe or the author of the midrash chose a spelling that matched klx in Job 5:26, which the midrash is interpreting). For the verb lklk see M. Sokoloff, A Dictionary of Palestinian Jewish Aramaic (Ramat-Gan, Israel: Bar Ilan University Press, 1990), p. 283; H. Yalon, Pirkei Lashon (Jerusalem: Mosad Bialik, 1971), pp. 412-413. Similar variant readings are found in the Ibn Tibbon translation of Maimonides' Guide III:46 the main text reads wmlklkym and a variant reads wmlxlxym (New York, 1946) 58a.
8. See, for example, the commentaries of Dillmann (KeH, 2d ed., 1886), Bertholet (KHC, 1899), and Steuernagel (HK, 2d ed., 1923).
9. Cambridge Bible (1918).
10. Sifrei Deuteronomy, ed. Finkelstein, p. 429. He is followed by Rashi, who paraphrases lxlwxyt $bw, $l' $lT bw rqbwn (decomposition).
11. W. F. Albright, "The 'Natural Force' of Moses in the Light of Ugaritic," BASOR 94 (1944):32-35, perhaps inspired by "virility" in The Bible: An American Translation.
12. According to Marvin H. Pope in RSP III, p. 369.
13. See the translations in ANET, pp. 561c and 661d, and the study by H. Tawil, "Some Literary Elements in the Opening Sections of the Hadad, Zakir, and Nerab II Inscriptions in the Light of East and West Semitic Royal Inscriptions," Orientalia 43 (1974):60-63. Other descriptions of old age cited by Tawil are no more suggestive, nor is 2 Sam. 19:36. Another characteristic of Moses paralleled in royal inscriptions is his {nwh (Num. 12:3), "piety;" see the comment of J. Milgrom ad loc. (The JPS Torah Commentary. Numbers [Philadelphia: Jewish Publica-tion Society, 1990]) and then the remarks of Tawil, pp. 51-55.
14. J.C. Greenfield, "A Touch of Eden, in Orientalia J. Duchesne-Guillemin Emerito Oblata (Leiden: Brill, 1984), pp. 223-224.
15. The Wellness Encyclopedia, from the Editors of the University of California, Berkeley, Wellness Newsletter (Boston: Houghton Miflin, 1991), p. 287.
16. Netter's supercommentary was first published in 1859. I am citing it from the Horeb edition of Mikra}ot Gedolot (London-New York, 1948).
17. xwm$ mxwqqy yhwdh (1907-1928).
18. Sefer Ha-galuy (above, n. 2), p. 8; cited by R. David Kimhi, Sefer Hashorashim, p. 423 s.v. nws. For the Arabic verb see Freytag 4:270). Ibn Janah says the same, though he concedes that derivation from nws (meaning h{brh) is tolerable.
19. A.B. Ehrlich, Randglossen zur Hebraeischen Bibel (repr.
Hildesheim: Olms, 1968), p. 392. See GKC sec. 67a, b, and bb.