Biblical donkey

The abundant literature dedicated to the donkey and used by the compilers of BibleWorks 98, indicates biblical facts regarding this animal: the donkey is forbidden food; the donkey and the ox have to rest on Saturday; the first donkey is not subject to destruction in the Egyptian punishments. In addition to these general data, the donkey is charged with a rich, important biblical symbolism.
Usually the kings choose a strong and combatant animal for ceremonies –
a thoroughbred horse, an imposing elephant or even a camel. Christ enters Jerusalem on “the foal of a she-ass”, as the king of the Jews. This is to fulfil the the tradition – David has a “royal she-ass” and Solomon is anointed as king on a “wild donkey”. It is either wisdom or stupidity for a king to ride an animal symbolizing love of peace and sexuality. According to other interpretations, the male donkey is related to the material domain with its flesh and strength whereas those who ride it in ceremonies have mastered this aspect of the human being and society... However, how do we account for the fact that in Hebrew the ass’s foal is not a diminutive of the word ‘donkey’, as well as the fact that the she-ass signifies ‘slow pace’ and has nothing in common with the jackass? And what does Solomon’s wild donkey signify?
The book replies to these curious questions and to the riddle as to why the king of the Jews rides “the foal of a she-ass” and the king is of the tribe of Judah, of whom Jacob/Israel prophesies that he will untie his donkey, just as the apostles set free the ass’s foal for which Jesus Christ sent them...

Mony Almalech is a professor at the New Bulgarian University and a guest professor at the Institute for Bulgarian Language with Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Over the years, taught at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Bulgarian Evangelical Theological Institute, Sofia Technical University. His development was influenced by a two-year specialization with Professor Dimitri Segal at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem (1993-94).
His scientific interests are in the field of the Bulgarian language, Theoretical Linguistics, Hebraic studies and Semiotics. He created the first Hebrew-Bulgarian Dictionary (2004; 2-d ed. 2011). His knowledge of Hebrew has allowed him to analyse the original text of the Bible in comparison with various translations, applying the tools of traditional and modern linguistics. The first volume of his Biblical Hermeneutic project, Color in the Torah, was published in 2006 and the second one appeared in 2010 – The Light in the Old Testament. The interdisciplinary analysis of color is a distinctive feature of his works on color in folklore, literature, Bible and advertising: Balkan Folk Color Language (1996); Color and Word: Psycholinguistic and Pragmatic Aspects (2001); Roots: The Semiotics of Color (2006); The Language of Color (2007); Advertisements: Signs of femininity and their corresponding color meanings (2011). His first monograph back in 1993 was on Bulgarian grammar, and he has never abandoned the subject: Language and Idiolect: The Language of Bulgarian Jews in Israel (2006), Companion to General Linguistics (2000, 2-d ed. 2012).
Biblical donkey was published first in Bulgarian in 2011.

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