Hebrew for Theologians, Jacques Doukhan.pdf

A Textbook forthe:Stu dy of

Biblical Hebrew in Relation to Hebrew Thinking

Jacques B. Doukhah

UNIVERSITY PRESS OF AMERICA

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Libr ary of Congress Cataloging-in- Publication Data Doukhan, Jacques. Hebrew in forrelation theologians : a textbook the studyB of Biblical Hebrew to Hebrew t hinkingfor/ Jacques . Doukhan. p. cm. Includes bibl iographical references and index. 1. Hebrew language— Gram mar. 2. Bible. O.T.— Language, style. I. Title. PJ4567.3.D68 1993 492.4 ’82421—dc 20 93 -24 506 CIP ISBN 0-8 19 1-9 26 9^ 1 (pbk. : alk. paper)

The p aper used in this public ation meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence

of Paper for Printed Library Material s, ANSI Z39.48-1984.

In memory of my teacher André Neher who taught me the life of Hebrew.

To my students who taught me how to teach it.

“Hebrew is the source from which springs all theology.”

Johannes Reuchlin

CONTENTS Introduction....................................................................................................... ix I. Heb rew is Relevant ....................................................................... ix A. Th e Language of the Anc ient Is ra e li te s.............................. ix B. The Language of T h e o lo g y ..................................................xii C. The Holy Language ..............................................................xv II. Biases and Myths Concerning Hebrew Langua ge ............... xxi A. Heb rew is D iffic u lt .............................................................. xxi B. He brew is Not a Christian L a n g u a g e ..............................xxii C. Heb rew is Not U s e f u l ........................................................xxii D. Ther e are Othe r P rio ritie s .................................................. xxiii E. F.

III.

We Can Rely on Good Translations an d Scholarly Studies..............................................................xxiii My Kno wledge of Hebrew Will Nev er be Suffi cient A n y w a y ...........................................................xxi v

A New Method ......................................................................... xxiv A. Both Deductive and Inductive ......................................... xxiv B . In Relation to Hebrew T h in k in g ...................................... xxv

C. An Eff ort of Simplificati on and S y n th e s is .....................xxvi How to Use Hebrew for Theologians.....................................................xxix A. R e a d in g ........................................................................................xxix B. M em oriz in g ..................................................................................xxix C. P ra c tic in g ..................................................................................... xxx D. A Step by Step P ro g re ss io n ..................................................... xxx Chapter I: S ig n s .................................................................................................1 The Reading of the Si gns .........................................................................1 The Gram mar of the Signs ................................................................... 12 I. C onsonants ........................................................................................12 A. Lett ers with Vari ous Forms and S o u n d s ..........................14

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Hebrew For Theologians

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B. Alphabe tical O r d e r .................................................................15 II. V o w e ls .............................................................................................. 16 A. The Names of the Vowels ..................................................16 B. C.

Long and Short V o w e ls ........................................................ 17 Compound Sheva ....................................................................18

D. Furtive Patah ............................................: ..........................19 III. A c c e n ts.............................................................................................. 19 IV. E x c u r s u s ........................................................................................... 20 A. The Co nsona ntal T e x t ...........................................................20 B. The Masoretic Text .............................................................. 21 V. Exerc ise s ( S ig n s ) .............................................................................25

Cha pter II: M o rp h o log y ............................................................................... 27 I. The Inseparable Words

.................................................................27

A. The A r tic le ............................................................................... 27 B. The I n te rro g a tiv e ....................................................................28 C. The Prepositions ....................................................................28 D. The C o n ju n ctio n s....................................................................29 II. Nouns and P ro n o u n s .......................................................................30 A. The Noun in Absolute State ............................................... 30 B. The Nou n in Co nstru ct S t a t e ............................................... 32 C. The Noun with Prono mina l Suffi x ...................................33

III. The V e r b s ........................................................................................ 34 A. The R o o t ..................................................................................35

B. Two Tenses ............................................................................ 36 C. Seven F o r m s ............................................................................ 41 D. Tw o Im personal M o o d s ........................................................44 E. The Parsing G a m e .................................................................46 IV. E x c u r s u s ........................................................................................... 47 V. Exercises (M orpholo g y).................................................................48 The Menorah of the Verbs ....................................................................53 Paradigm A: The Strong Verbs (Regular) .........................................54

Chapter III: Vocabulary ............................................................................... 57 I. The Dynam ic Nature of the Hebrew W o r d ..............................58 A. Ramification ............................................................................58 B. Permutation .................. ..........................................................62 C. P o ly se m y .................................................................................. 64 II. Importan t Hebrew W o r d s ..............................................................65 A. 40 Words Over 1000 Tim es ...............................................65

Contents

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B. 157 Wo rds Between 200 and 100 0 T i m e s ........................67 III. Exercises (Vocabulary) .................................................................73 Chapter IV: T e x ts ........................................................................................... 75 Text I. Genesis 2 2 :1 -1 9 ..........................................................................75 Text II. Psalm 2 3 : 1 - 6 .......................................................................... 130 Tex t III. Micah 4 : 1 - 4 .......................................................................... 146 IV. Ex ercis es (Texts ) ......................................................................... 164 Paradigm Paradigm Paradigm Paradigm

B: C: D: E:

Verb cayin vav ( V i ? ) ..................................................... 168 Verb Pey Yod('"D) ..................................................... 170 Verb Lamed Hey(rV'b) ............................................... 172 Verb c ay in D ou bled (V"V) .......... ............................... 174

Chapter V: Syntax ..................................................................................... 177 I. Th e Organiza tion of the Disco urse: W ord O r d e r .................. 177 II. The Arti cula tion of the Discourse: The V a v ........................... 179 A. The Vavo f A d d itio n ........................................................... 179 B. The Vavo f O p p o sit ion ........................................................ 180 III. Th e Flo wing of the Dis cou rse : The Acce nts ........................ 181 A. Disjunctive Accents ........................................................... 182 B. Conjunctive A c c e n t s ........................................................... 186 C. A ppli cation............................................................................ 188 IV. Exercis es ( S y n ta x ) ....................................................................... 190 Chapter VI: He brew T h o u g h t.................................................................... 191 I. Th e Na ture o f Heb rew T h o u g h t............................................... 192 A. Acti on Pre ced es T h o u g h t .................................................. 192 B. Know ledge and In te ll ig en ce............................................... 193 C. Silence .................................................................................. 194 D. The T o t a l it y ......................................................................... 195 II. The Heb rew Concep t of the W o r ld ......................................... 196 A. The Worl d is Limit ed and In fi n ite ................................... 196 B. The Worl d is Good and B a d ............................................ 198 C. Th e Unit y o f the W o r l d ..................................................... 199 III. The He bre w C oncep t o f T i m e .................................................. 200 A. Time is Ne w and R h y th m ic ............................................... 201 B. Tim e is Chro nolo gical and S y n c h ro n ic a l........................204 IV. The He bre w Co ncep t o f Man .................................................. 207 A. Alive and S p ir itu a l............................................................. 208 B. Unique and O n e ................................................................... 209


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C. Set Apart and S o c ia l...........................................................211 V. The Hebrew Concept of God ..................................................213 A. God is Far and N e a r ........................................................... 213 B. The Tensio n of R eli gio n.....................................................216 VI. Exercis es (Hebrew T h o u g h t).....................................................218 Hebrew in a N u tsh e ll..................................................................................219 Appendix : Furth er S te p s ............................................................................225 Advanced H e b re w ..................................................................................225 E x e g e sis................................................................................................... 226 The Word S tu d y .....................................................................................232 The Sermon . . . ................................................................................. 235 .

An alytica l I n d e x .......................................................................................... Companion Tape

239

....................................................................................... 245

INTRODUCTION Hebrew fo r Theologians is primarily designed for ministers, seminary students, and religion students in college, who are interested in the Bible and wish to become familiar with its ¿bought. This unusual, vast horizon lnn\s already to the conviction underlying this textbook, namely, that the study of Hebrew is indeed pertinent. The study of Hebrew language is generally considered a difficult, boring, totally irrelevant ent. Therefore I shall first an outline some of and the main reasons whichrequirem make this enterprise, on the contrary, exciting and necessary adventure. In this Intro ductio n, I wil l try then to convince you, to motivate you. I will first argue “p os itiv ely ,” becau se of what Hebrew is, that is, the language o f the anci ent Israelites, the language of theology, and according to great represen tative witness es in history , “the holy lang uag e.” Then, I wil l argue “nega tively,” because o f what Heb rew is not, pleading against the Biases and myths which surround this language and encumber the mi nds of many stu dents. Lastly, on the bas is o f the arguments justifying the study of Hebrew (the why?), I will propose a methodology and a pedagogy guiding the study of Hebrew (the how?).

I. H ebr ew is Relevant A. The Language o f the Ancient Isr aeli tes The study of this language is relevant first of all because it is the language spoken, w ritten, and thought by the Ancient Israelites o f the Bible. Along with other traces of the past, the artifacts and the stones uncovered by archaeology, Hebrew language witnesses to that ancient civilization. It is, indeed, facetious to think that it is possible to have an idea of biblical civilization without having an idtea of what the biblical language is like. Paradoxically, everyone is aware of this common-sense truth so long as it concerns secular civili zation. Who would question the pertin ence of learning the English language in order to understand the world of Shake ix

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speare? Or, to be mo re up-to-date, w ho would ignore the need for learning English to be able to understand and handle the current intricacies of the political and econom ical life in America? Yet, when it comes to the Bible, it seems that igno rance i s allowed a nd even recom men ded. Th e reason for this paradox lies especially in our “religious” sympathy with the Israel of the Bible, because we identi fy the God of Anc ient Israe l with our God. In more simple terms, this means that the claim for a present relationship with the God o f Israe l makes the st udy of the antique language irrelevant. This subjective approach overlooks the importance of God’s revelation in History. On the other hand, i f we belie ve that our God is the God of Israel, the best way to understand Him will be to understand Him within that very context of Ancient Israel. Fo r about two t housa nd years, a peopl e have experienced in their flesh the presence of “God with them” and have used the Hebrew language to repo rt this particu lar experience. If I am interested in the meaning of that experience, I should be compelled to study Hebrew not only because of my personal affinities with Israel, but also because I realize that the Israelite experience is altogether strange to me; we must study it precisely because it is a part of another culture which is past, remote and lost1 for all of u s, however va luab le our present rel igious experience m ay be. The fi rs t reason fo r study ing Hebrew is then histor ical in nature. The Hebrew language did not come from heaven, like magic, but is a natural part of a historical process; it is one of the multiple branches of the Semitic family of languages in the Ancient Near East (cf. Gen 10:21-31). The Semitic languages are usually distributed, according to their geographical situation, into three main branches, namely 1) North-East Semitic, 2) North-W est Semitic , and 3) South Semitic. In the following table we have indicated the distribution of these languages, and provided each o f them wit h some representative documents which attest to them. For the Hebrew language which belongs to the North-West branch, the list of representative documents is more comprehensive than for the other languages. lThe knowledge of modem Hebrew is, indeed, helpful to understanding biblical Hebrew, as the latter is nothing but the resurrection of the former; a few adjustments are, however, necessary, indicating the fact that something has been lost. For the differences between modem and ancient Hebrew, see Haiim B. Rosen, Contemporary Hebrew (The Hague, 1977), 30-37; cf. Eduard Y. Kutscher, A History o f the Hebrew Language, ed. Raphael Kutscher (Jerusalem, 1982), 196-220.

hitroduction North-East Semitic: l----Babylonian dialect • Code of Hammurabi (175 0 B.C .?) Ak kadian { • Enu ma Elis (1400 B.C .?) I1----Assyrian dialect . The Black Obe lisk (841 B.C.? )

North-West Semitic: Aramaic

• Ez ra 4:8-6:18; 7:12-26; Dan 2:4-7:28; Je r 10:11; Gen 31:47; (two words) • Th e Milqart Stel e (9th century B.C .) • Th Papeyri from Elephantine (495 B.C Babylonian Talmud (A.D. 500 .)) • Targu mim (2nd and 5th century A .D .)

Ugaritic

• The Legend King Keret (140 0 B.C .)

Hebrew

• • . • • • . • • • •

Th e Hebrew Bibl e (15 cent ury B.C.-4th C entury B.C.) The Gezer Calend ar (10th century B.C .) Inscripti ons on Pottery f rom Samaria (854 B .C .) Th e Siloam Inscription (701 B.C.) Letters from Lac hish (590 B.C.) Seals, Weights, and Coins (9th century B.C .-4th century B.C.) Qumran (200 B .C.-A .D . 135) Th e Mishna (3rd century A.D .) Midrashim (4th century-12th century A .D .) Medieval Po etry and Philosophy (11t h century-16th century A.D.) Modern He brew (s ince 18th century A .D .)

South Semitic: Arab ic

• Th e Q ur 3an (7th centur y A.D .)

Ethiopic

• Th e Ke bra Na gast (14th century A .D .)

XI

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Hebrew For Theologians B. The Language o f Theo lo gy

Because Hebrew language is a p art o f the hi story o f Israel and because this history implies a spiritual experience, it is expected that at least some aspects of tha tthat spirit ualthousand experience should it . It is inconceiv able, indeed, two years o f be that reflected particu larinhistory would have passed without affecting the language in one way or another. On the other hand, the errors and abuses denounced by James Barr1should not keep us from recog nizing w ith mod ern li nguistics that there i s a connection betwe en language and thought,2 and that language is, as Noam Chomsky puts it: “the m irro r of the mi nd .”3 This principle i s particu larly valid in bibli cal civilization where language plays a most impo rtant ro le,4 and whe re an acute awareness of the connection between language and thought (or •See James Barr, The Semantics o f Biblical Language (London, 1961). In response to James Barr’s criticism, see especially Thorleif Boman, “Sprache und Denken: eine Auseinandersetzung mit James Barr, ” Appendix of the new German edition of his book, Das hebräische Denken im Vergleich mit dem griechischen (Göttingen, 1968). 2On the connection between language and thought in modem linguistics, see especially John B. Carroll, Language and Thought (Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1964); Samuel I. Hayakawa, Language in Thought and Action (New York, 1972); see also Michael K. Tanenhaus, “Psycho Linguistics: An Overview,” Linguistics: The Cambridge Survey, ed. Frederick J. Newmeyer (Cambr idge, England/New York, 1988), 3:1-37. 3Noam Chomsky, Language and Mind (New York, 1972), x; cf. Ray Past, “When we study language, we are approaching what some might call the ‘human essence,’ the distinctive qualities of mind that are, so far as we know, unique to man” (Language as a Lively Art [Dubuque, IA, 1970], 1). 4On the importance of language in the Bible, see especially Moisés Silva, God, Language, and Scripture: Reading the Bible in the Light of General

Linguistics (Grand Rapids, 1990), 19-40; cf. André Neher, The Exile of the Word, from the Silence o f the Bible to the Silence o f Auschwitz (Philadelphia, 1981).

Introduction

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theology) is clearly attested.1 The second reason for studying Hebrew is then theological in nature. The Word dabar. In He brew thoug ht, language is not ju st an aggregate of sounds , an empty noise. The word e xpresses a realit y. It ma y be a tangible reality, a thing, an event, or a spiritual truth, a prophetic message. It is signif icant for instance that the Hebrew word dabar means “w ord ,” “thin g,” “histo ry,” and “ pro ph ec y.” The reason for that semantic association is that the word is bound with the reality it intends to refer to. It is one with it. This phe nom enon may seem awkw ard to us in a civilization wh ere the word has lost its significance and its weight. In the Bible, however, this principle vibrates everywhere. Th e Givi ng o f th e Names. As soon as man was created, his first duty was to give names (Gen 2:19, 23) and thereby participate in the divine Creation. From then on througho ut the Bible, the Israel ites would give names to designate perso ns, places, and Go d. The names were not si mply repeated as the product of a mechanical memory, they were supposed to express the inherent reali ty o f wh at they designa ted. For insta nce, the name “Adam” came from the word “3 adama” which means “earth,” because he is of an eart hly reali ty. Likew ise Abel which means “ vap or” points to the ephem eral des tiny of the man who bears t hat name. No t all the names are exp lained, b ut the princ iple wh ich inspired the m is often s tated. Th is is the case for Eve (Gen 3:20), Noah (Gen 5:29), Cain (Gen 4:1), Seth (Gen 4:2 5), Peleg (Gen 10:25, cf. 1 Ch r 1:19) , Jacob (Gen 25:26 ), Abrah am (Gen 17:5), Samuel (1 Sam 1:20), Solomon (1 Chr 22:9), Nabal (1 Sam 25 :25 ), Ichabod (1 Sam 4:2 1), Lo-Ruham ah (Hos 1:6), etc. Lik ew ise, places are named according to the same principle. Babel (Gen 11:9), Beer Sheba (Gen 21:30, 31), Bethel (Gen 35:7, 15), Achor (Josh 7:26), Jezreel (Hos 2:22, 23), Achzib (Mic 1:14), Jehoshaphat (Joel 3:2), etc., are names •Regarding the connection between language and thought in the Bible, see L. bíblica y Theology lingüistica”and in Bíblica XLIII (1962): 217223;Alonso-Schôkel, J. P. McIntyre,“Telogia S.J., “Biblical Christian Language,” in Sciences ecclésiastiques XV (1963): 459-466; N. Ridderbos, “Is het hebreeuws één van de bronnen van de openbarin g?” in Gereformeerd Theologisch Tijdschrift LXIV (1964): 209-229; E. Ullendorff, “Thought Categories in the Hebrew Bible,” in Studies in Rationalism, Judaism and Universalism in memory o f Leon Roth, ed. R. Loewe (London, 1966), 273-288; B. S. Childs, Biblical Theology in Crisis (Philadelphia, 1970), especially 70ff. See also Jacques Doukhan, “L’Hébreu en Vie: Langue hébraïque et civilisation prophétique: Etude Structurale” (Ph.D. diss., University of Strasbourg, 1973).

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given i n relation to wh at they mea n sp iritu ally or histori cally. The naming process which is a part of the language, work s in close relations hip w ith the thought process, suggesting thereby that thought and language are related in bib lica l civilization. . . The Nam es of on Baal. pa rtic connection shines throug m an interesting observati wit hThis regards to ula th er use of the name Baal Th eh word Baal which means in Hebrew “husband, master was also used to designate the Hebrew Go d1in t he sp i ri t u a l context of the conjugal covenant where God, YHWH, is the husband, an d Israel, the wife. Yet, un der the Phoenician influence, Israel began to confuse her God, the master, the husband (Baal), and Baal, the Phoenician god of fertili ty. It i s noteworthy that prophets like Amos and Hosea felt the need to react against that confu sion on the level o f the language . Although Amos knew the conjugal metap hor (3:2; 4:12; 5:2) , he never use d the term Baal. Like wise Hosea (2:16) warned his people: “And it shall be, in that day, says the Lord, that you will call Me ‘My Husband’ (ishi: m y man) and no lon ger call Me My Master’ (baali: my baa l).” On the ot he r hand names which contain the and element of Baal are often changed the word Baal is replaced by the word Boshet (meaning sha me). This is the case for Jerubo sheth instead of Jeru baa l (2 Sam 11:21). This pheno men on is particularly tell ing in tha t it shows how aware the Is raeli tes were of the i nfluence of language up on the min d, hence upon religious decision. . N ehem ia h’s Anger. The acute awareness of the connection between language and thought made Nehemiah angry as he realized that his people were forgetting the Hebrew language: “half of their children . . . could not speak t he lang uage of Judah . . . So I contended with th em and cu rsed them , stru ck some of them and pulled ou t their ha ir (Neh 13:24, NKJV). It is perhaps the same p a s s i o n which is heard nowadays in the angry speeches and supplications of the Hebrew teacher who dares to think that Nehemiah was right; for he sadly observes that his people are loosing the ir religious identit y, and that this tragedy h as something to do with the ir lack of interest in the Hebrew language, because they have lost their Hebrew roots. Ce rtainly the Hebrew teacher will not “pull out their ha ir, ” “strike them” or “curse them,” but at least-he will wnte a book.

•See for instance the name Bealiah (1 Chr 12:5) which means Baal is YHWH,

or YHWH is Baal.

Introduction

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C . T h e Hol y Lang uag e As soon as the Hebrew Scriptures became “Holy Scriptures,” the language which conveyed them was regarded a “holy” in Jewish as well as in C hris tia n tradit ion. The quotat ions we have coll ected here are not exhaustive, but they are fairly representative of the tendency in both traditions.1

1. The Jew ish Trad ition For the rabbis of the Talmud and the Midrash, for the Jewish philosophers and mystics o f the Middle Ages and the Modern Period, Hebrew was consistently revered and studied as the holy language becau of God.se it was the language of the Fathers, of the Holy Scriptures, and The rabbis of the Talmud identify the Hebrew language as the language of God, the first language ever spoken by mankind, even b e fo re the division of Babel. The expression “holy language” (Lashon haqodesh) specifical ly designates the Hebr ew langu age .2 Th e S cr ip tu re s w ere given in “h oly language.”3 This holiness o f the H eb re w language is suc h that it can be used only by special people and on sp ecia l occasi ons. Th us, human beings ar e pu t on the same leve l as an ge ls on ly if they know Hebrew. “They have underst andin g like the ministering angels, and they walk erect like angels; and they can ta lk in the holy langua ge like the ministeri ng an ge ls.”4 Fur therm ore , “it is permitted to discuss secular subjects in the ‘holy language,’ but it is forb idden to discuss holy sub jects in the ve rna cula r.”3 According to the rabbis of the Jerusalem Talmud, “one who made it his practice to sp ea k Hebrew would have a share in the aft erlife. ”6 Playing on t he words “one language” in Gen 11:1 which can be read literally ‘See Joshua Kettilby, The Collection of Testimonies Concerning the Excellency a n d Great Importance o f the Hebrew Sacred Language (London, 1762), 8ff. 2Sotah, 32a, 32b, 33a. 3Sanhedrin, 216. 4IIagigah, 16a. sAbodah Zarah, 16a (trans. I. Epstein). 6T . J. Shab, 1.2; Shek, 3.4; cf. Geoffrey Wigoder, ed. The Encyclopedia o f Judaism (New York, 1983), 331.

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Hebrew For Theologians “language (of) unique,” they infer that it is the language of the Unique, that is of God.1 The Midrash observes that Heber, the father of Peleg, survived the confusion o f languages. Therefo re the word “Hebrew” which is derived from Heber attests to the antiquity of the language, and Hebrew is the srcinal language before Peleg which means “divi sion.”2 Among the rati onalist writers o f the Middle A ges, Yehuda Halevi (1081-1141) is the one who most emphasized the beauty and the value of the Hebrew lan guage . “It is the most important language . . . the lan gua ge God spo ke with Adam and E ve.”3 Hebrew is then identified as a “divine language created by God”4 for which “the angels have most consideration, the only one to which they are sensitive.”3 Ha levi justif ies his position on the basis o f three arguments: 1) the antiquity of the Hebrew language which is attested in the etymology of the first men (Adam, Eve, Cain, Noah, etc.);6 2) the use of the He bre w lang uag e to conv ey prop hecy7 and to transm it the Torah? and 3) the linguistic characteristics of the language.9 It is in Jewish mysticism, especially in the so-called Kabbalistic movem ent, th at “the unusuall y positiv e” 10 attitude t owards He brew lang uage as “the holy ton gue” reache s its clim ax. As Gersh om Scholem observes: “Language in its present form, that is Hebrew, accord ing to the Kabbalist, reflects the fu ndamen tal spiritual nature o f the world; in other words, it has a mystic al va lu e.” 11 In the Zahar which is the classic of medieval mystical literature, Hebrew has become a category of revelation. The word of God is not only expressed in the Hebrew language, it is identified with the Hebrew

lJ. Meg I (Talmud de Jérusalem, ed Moïse Schwab), 211. 2Gen R 37:10; Yalkut, Gen §62. 3The Kozari, Vol. II, §7, 152 (our trans. from the srcinal Hebrew). 4Ibid., Vol. II, §68, 153. 5Ibid., Vol. IV, §25, 90. 6Ibid., Vol. II, §68, 153-155; cf. Vol. I, §46, 69ff. 7Ibid., §68, 157. 8Ibid., Vol. II, §68, 158. 9Ibid., Vol. IV, §25, 90-91; Vol. II, §72, 162-163; Vol. IV, §25, 91-92. 10Gershom G. Scholem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (Jerusalem 1941), 12.

11Ibid.

Introduction

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lan gu ag e itself. “All the words of To rah are subl ime words, subl ime secrets.”1 In the Mod ern Peri od, the philoso pher Martin Buber (1878-1965) who worked at a translation of the Hebrew Bible, came to the conclusion that the message of the Bible was inherent in the language of th e Bib le. The how ( wie ) was related to the what (was). “Contrary to the ore from which it is possible to extract the metal, it would be - vain to try t o separa te the content of the Bible from its recipient, every idea is one with the word which expresses it; it is an indissoluble to ta lit y.”2 “With regards to the Bible, any attempt to dissociate the content from the f orm would b e artificial an d pe rtain to a pseu doa naly sis. ”3 “The allit erati ons, assonances, the r epetition of the word s, the structure of phrases, are not to be understood as esthetical categories, but rather as a part of the content of the message itself. ”4 Nowadays the same sensitivity towards the holiness of the language has been beautifully expressed by Abraham Heschel: “The Bible is holiness in words.”5

2. The Christ ian Tradit ion Here also the Hebrew language enjoyed the high status of “holy lan gu ag e.” The New Testament, Chu rch Fath ers, Reform ers, a nd modern have emphasized the value of this islanguage. In theologians, the New Testament, the presence o f Hebrew felt everywhere: important key concepts (covenant, creation, kingdom of God, etc.) inherited from the Old Testament; the great number of references to the Old Testament; Hebrew names of persons and places (Matthew, John, James, Jerusalem, Bethany, Bethlehem, etc.); Hebrew words throughout the text (Sabbath, Abbah, Messiah, rabbi, Hosanna, Alleluia, qor ban, amen , etc.). Fu rtherm ore, the way the Heb rew langu age is referred to suggest s a “holy lang ua ge .” It is indeed noteworthy that most of God’s statements in the New Testament are expre ssed in Hebrew. This i s the cas e for t he giving o f the names of

xZohar, the Book o f Enlightenment, with an Introduction, and trans. by Daniel Chanan Matt (New York, 1983), 42. 2Martin Buber, Schriften zur Bibel, 1112 (our translation). 3Ibid. «Ibid., 1122, 1131.

5Abraham J. Heschel, The Insecurity of Freedom (New York, 1966), 172.

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Hebrew For Theologians Jesus (Luke 1:31) and John the Baptist (Luke 1:13); this is also the case for the naming of the last battle Arm ageddo n (Rev 16:16). And these prophetic names are not only given in Hebrew but are also explained within Hebrew etymology according to the ancient Old Testamen t princi ples. It is in Heb rew that Jesus pronounc es the last words on the (Matt Mark it is(Acts also in Hebrew that God cal cross ls Paul a nd27:46; reveals him15:35); self toand him 26:1 4). The Hebrew language in the New Testament is not just the historical language of its background, it is also the favorite language of revelation. Recent research has revealed ancient documents attesting to the profound reverence of the early Christians towards Hebrew language; they regarded it as “the language of Christ an d the pr op he ts,” in which “the true gospel has also been written” and therefore went so far as to censur e “the Chri stians for thei r apos tasy from t his langu age.” 1 The church father Epiphanius (310-403) writes that the “ Nazoraioi ” a Jewish Christian sect “carefully cherished the Hebrew language”2 in which they read both the Old Testament and the Gospel of Matthew.3 For Saint Augustine (354-430), Hebrew was “The srcinally universal language,” a language “which has the prestige of being not only used in the everyday use of the Patriarchs and Prophets, but in the writing of Holy Scriptu re.” Augustine argues e ven that the preservation of this language among the people of God was a sign of he r holiness. “T he penalt y invol ved in the change o f language did not fall on those who continued to sp eak the srcinal language . . . it wa s continued in the family of the man from whom the language got the name He brew [H ebe r], and that it is a clear sig n o f the holiness o f the family that it was not punished in the way all other nations were punished when they suffered a change of language.”4 Besides Augustine, a number of Church Fathers praised the merits of the

'Shlomo Pines, The Jewish Christians o f the Early Centuries o f Christianity According to a New Source, Proceedings of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, February 13, 1966 (Jerusalem, 1966). 2Panarion, 1.29.7, 9. 3Cf. Pinchas E. Lapide, Hebrew in the Church, trans. Enroll E. Rhodes (Grand Rapids, 1984), 2. 4Aurelius Augustinus, The City o f God, Book XVI, vol. 2, trans. Gerald G. Walsh and Grace Monahan (New York, 1954), 510-511.

Introduction

xix

Hebrew language;1 Jerome (331-420) stressed and demonstrated the value of He brew essent ially beca use it preserved the Hebraica Veritas (the Hebrew Truth).2 Then follows a period of silence in which Hebrew will not be recog nized a s a value any more. Pinchas Lap ide explains the phenom enon: The rarity of Hebrew scholarship in Christendom during the millennium from Jerome to Johann Reuchlin is all the more astonis hing. Th e Christian Midd le Ages certainly acknow ledged a (platonic) respect for Hebrew, but when the Latin Vulgate was recogn ized as the off icial standar d text of the B ible, interest in the srci nal Heb rew an d Greek texts naturally waned. Furt he r, even before Jerome the “language o f the Jew s” had come to be regarde d increasingly by theologians a s a sym bol o f the alien, the sinister, and the hostile.3 Only in the wake of the currents of the Renaissance and the Reformation was Hebrew rediscovered and studied again as the holy languag e, the language of theol ogy. Thu s, in the introdu ction to the first Hebrew grammar ever written in Christendom, De rudimentis hebraicis (1505), the humanist Reuchlin (1455-1522) points out that “the usual boredo m o f histori cal interpretati on will disappe ar when the Bible of the Old Testament will be read and understood in its srcinal language, namely in Hebrew . . . For this is the source from which springs all theology.”4 The same opinion was shared and confirmed by the great Reformer Martin Luther (1483-1546) who stated:

•See for instance St. Cyril of Alexandria (378-444) Interpreter o f the Old Testament (Rome, 1952), by Alexander Kerrigan, 254. 2J. N. D. Kelly, Jerome, His Life, Writings, and Controversies (London, 1975), 156, 160. 3Lapide, Hebrew in the Church, 3. According to Jerome Friedman , “no more than a few dozen Chri stians from 500 to 1500 could read Hebrew at all and perhaps a quarter of that number could use Hebrew in any constructive sense,” The Most Ancient Testimony: SixteenthCentury ChristianHebraica in the Age of Renaissance Nostalgia (Athens, 1983), 13-14).

4Johannes Reuchlin, De rudimentis hebraicis libri III (New York, 1974), 1-2.

XX

Hebrew For Theologians The Hebrew tongue is altogether despised because of impiety or, perhaps, because people despair of learning it. . . W ithout this language there can be no understanding o f Scripture, for the New Testament alt hough writ ten in Gree k, is full of He braisms. It is rightly said that t he Hebrews d rink from the fountains, the G reeks from the streams and the Latins from the pools.1 In the nineteenth century, Ellen G. White (1827-1915) who also played the role o f a reform er, em phasized the importance o f Hebrew which she called “the most sacred tongue in the world.”2 Modern theologians of our time have also expressed the same enthusiasm towards the Hebrew language which is still considered as a “special language” deserving a special place in the curriculum of theology students. For the New Testament theologian Wilhelm Vischer (1895-1989), Hebrew is “the holy language” and “the source of Christian theology; thus it is not only a necessity but also a great privilege for a theologian to learn Hebrew . . . Hebrew is the source of theology because God has wanted to use this language as a means of communication with us. In learning the language of their Lord . . . men learn to understand Him an d to obe y H im .”3 “The p lenitude of the et ernal Word which has been made flesh, is unfolded before us through the very study of the He brew language. Th erefore the Christian theologian must undertake this study with a joyful zeal. ”4 For the biblical theologian Gerhard von Rad (1901-1971) the Hebrew language is the fruit of the covenant between Israel and God. For “Israe l’s world was exp osed in all its parts to God. Her language is appropriate to s uch a world. It can therefo re be sai d that when God began to reveal Him self to her in history, he also gave her her language. Fo r the peculiar thing is that in conversation with he r God, Israel learned know and name i.e.,the to extremely know and name her world in tohistory. This is her the world, srcin of specifi c linguist ic and conceptual t ool, a specifi c form o f naming which exactl y

•Martin Luther, Conversations with Luther, trans. and ed. Preserved Smith and Herbert P. Gallinger (Boston, New York, 1915), 181-182. 2EUen G. White,Fundamentals o fChristian Education (Nashville, 1923), 97. 3Wilhelm Vischer, “La langue sainte, source de Théologie,” in Etudes

Théologiques et Religieuses IV (1946), 1325. “Ibid., 326.

Introduction

xxi

corresponded to the peculiar nature of Israel’s encounter with her God.”1 More recently, the Old Testament theologian Edmond Jacob responding to James B arr ’s criti cism, affirmed that “language remains the adequate expression o f thought and the fact that the authors o f the Old Test ament use d i t . . . in t he e tymolo gical arg ument le gitimiz es its use in theology.”2 Also the Old Testament scholar André Lacocque is not afraid to define Hebrew “the priestly langua ge o f the ho ly .”3 For in biblica l civilization “there was no dissociation between the thought and its expression”4; and Lacocque explains “when God and his mandatory (priest, prophet) speaks, he draws from his ‘back,’ from his innermost, the exposition of his identity.”5 Whether they are Jewish rabbis, mystics or philosophers, Church Fathers, Reformers or biblical theologians, these great men of God bear from the earliest stages to our days the same powerful testimony in history on be ha lf of the Hebrew language, and there fore convey the same appeal—powerful incentive indeed for those who still doubt or hesitate about the value of spending some time studying Hebrew. II. Bia se s and M yths Co ncerni ng H ebrew Language The and example of the prestigious forefathers inefficient, however, will not convince, as long as biaseswill and remain fables dwell in the minds of theology students. We have coll ected her e some of the most frequent misconceptions and prejudices which serve, consciously or not, either as mere pretexts or as “holy” excuses. A. H eb rew is Difficul t In fact, He brew is one of the easiest languages o f the wo rld.

In

comparison to other ancient languages contemporary to the biblical times, ■Gerhard von Rad, Old Testament Theology, trans. D. M. G. Stalker, vol. 2 (New York, 1965), 353. 2Edmond Jacob, Théologie de l’AT (Neuchâtel, 1968), VI. 3André Lacocque, But As For Me (Atlanta, 1979), 75, 76, cf. 51. 4Ibid., 75. 5Ibid., 75.

xxii


such as Sumerian, Akkadian, or even to Greek, or to any modern language, Heb rew di spla ys a more simpl e gram mar and vocabulary. Th ere are n o declensions to learn in opposition to Sumerian, Akkadian, Greek, German, etc. Th ere is very lit tle vocab ulary: only about 225 words are used more than 200 times in the Bible; they constit ute the basic vo cab ulary. The remaining words are either made up of etymologica lly rel ated w ords, or are rar e words. Also, many words have entered our own voc abu lary ( alleluia, hosanna, amen, rabbi, etc.); some displ ay even a comm on etymology (e.g ., âyin = eye; German: Augen; French œil; etc.). In the same wa y, the grammatical structure is familiar to us, as it is basically made of the same elements (nouns, prepo sitions, adjecti ves, ver bs, sentences, etc .). The funda mental s of gramm ar can be appr ehended in 15 hours. Th e main obstacle which confronts the student i s the deciph ering o f the He bre w signs. Actually, the ancient Hebrew alphabet is the father of our Latin alphabet, via Phoenician and Greek, and the reading of the letters can be mastered in five hours of good practice.

B . Hebrew i s Not a Christian Language This statement will rarely be pronounced nowadays as it was in the past, especially during the Middle Ages (see above). This opinion betrays clear anti-Semitic biases and to is derived the old and Marcionite that opposed the Old Testament the Newfrom Testament deemedheresy the former as being inferior to the latter. In fact, Hebrew was the first language of the Christians and the language of their holy writings; it is, for that matter, a part of the Christian heritage, not only because of the Old Testament but also because of the New Testament. If the Christian is seeking a Christian truth apart from Hebrew, he will discover a truth that is not biblical and therefore not Christian.

C. Hebrew is Not Useful Only those who never studied Hebrew or did not learn it correctly, may think that Hebrew is not useful. rich material for The study of the Hebrew language provides a sermons. Almost every Hebrew word through its meaning( s) and ramifica tions co uld inspire a beautiful and substa ntial sermo n. (See Ap pen dix.) Th e stud y o f the Hebrew language wi ll help the minister to understand

the biblical truth, and therefore to tune himself and his parish to the way

Introduction

xxiii

of thinkin g o f the an cien t Israelites. Th e ident ity o f the Chu rch as th e “spiritual” heir of Israel is here at stake.

D. The re are Other Priorities This is certainly the argu me nt that is mo stly adva nced. One may concede that th e study of Hebrew may provide w ith interesting information, but "th ere are other prioritie s.” For the minister must face the living reality of the community, and the psychological, moral and social needs of its members are inde ed overwhelming. Thus, the study o f Hebrew appears to be a luxu ry. The m inister ne eds rath er practical and efficient tools a nd techniques to hel p him cope with the daily problem s o f his ministry. Thus little by little, instead of complementing the “what,” the “how” tends to replace it, and the people are starving for substantial f ood. In this context, the Bible and, become seconstudy dary. of the More impo rtantby isimplication, socializing,its language, coun seling,has enterta ining, organizi ng, etc. Sadly, Abraham H eschel ha d observed thi s shift of values: “In biblical days prophets were astir while the world was asleep; today the world is astir whi le church a nd synagogue are busy with trivialities.” 1 It is indeed a matter of priority. E . We Can Rely on Good Translations and Scholarly Studies Truth, and especially “religious” truth implies a personal choice and commitment. I should there fore be able to per sona lly check the vario us opinions, and have direct access to the srcinal biblical text; I should not be solely dependant on secondary sources. At any rate, a minimum knowledge of Hebrew language is necessary to understand and even evaluate what is written about the biblical ver se or wo rd. Be sides, translations, however valuable they may be, are potentially subjective and may express a particular bias or a theological opinion; they also depend on each other so that mistakes may be transmitted from one translation to another. Also , the passage from one language to ano ther (here f rom biblical Hebrew to modern English) does not convey all the richness or the particular nuance of the original text. For as the Italian proverb goes, “Tradutt ore tr aditto re,” “Translations are treacherous.” ■Abraham J. Heschel, I Asked for Wonder: A Spiritual Anthology, with an Introduction, and ed. by Samuel H. Dresner (New York, 1983), 78.


xxiv

F. My Knowledge o f Hebr ew Wil l Never be Suffic ient Anyway It is true that I will never be able to achieve a perfect knowledge of Hebrew as if I were a nati ve. Although a proficient knowledge o f modern Hebrew is of great help, it still remains a language in many respects diffe rent from the one spoken in biblical t imes. The rela tive evolution of the language and the important difference of the historical context should prevent us from the “romantic” illusion that we need to be born in the Israel of today and speak Hebrew since childhood, to be able to reach an acceptable level in biblical Hebrew. Knowledge of mo dern Hebrew may even sometimes lead us in the wrong direction. In fact, a tota l a cquisition of biblical Hebre w as it shoul d ideally be is impossible, not only because we do not belong to the ancient biblical civilization, but al so becau se we have not written the Bible. Only th e Hebrew man of that time, and more precisely the Hebrew author of the text, w ould possess the full knowled ge. The remoteness o f the goal shoul d there fore not discourage u s. It is the same for every one. To be sure, some study of Hebrew will not give us the final solution to all the problems, but it will at least help us to move in the right direction. III.

A Ne w M et hod

The etc.), destination of this book (seminary ministers, Bible students, the nature of Hebrew language students, (a language embedded in religious life), and the pedagogical concern of this writer have determined the following method:

A . Both Dedu ctive and Inducti ve A merely deductive approach (most Hebrew textbooks) is dry, boring, and appeals strictly to the cognitive faculty of the mind. It is, I believe, this approach which has made Hebrew language a dead language and killed it a second time.1 Furth erm ore, rules whic h hav e been taugh t apart from the biblical tex t and apart from a reference to the religious dimension, hence apart from what essentially motivates the student of biblical Hebrew, will hardly be ‘Cf. Frank Michaeli, “Grammaire hébraique et théologie biblique,” in Hommage à Wilhelm Vischer (Montpellier, 1960), 145.

Introduction

xxv

grasped and mem orized. Not to mention the fact that this artific ial and abstract systematization of the language does not do justice to the complex life of the language or to the biblical text . The student may su ccee d, but in many cases he will not be able to cope with the reality of the text and apply the rules he has learned. A merely inductive approach (few textbooks under the influence of modern linguists) is discouraging. To study the text without any previous knowl edge of the rules, and to study the rules from com plex and som e times exceptional cases occurring in the text, is ve ry confusing. Only t he teacher knows where he is going; the student is lost from the very beginning of the course. Every word, every letter will stop him. Without any system the student has no poin t of refere nce. He m ay be a good student, able to recite by heart the little details he has gathered along the way, but hevery willquickly never be ableof totherelate themheand to synthesize them; he will forget most material learned so painfully. Our approach will be bot h deductive and inductive. Our fi rst step will be essentially deductive; we shall present the most basic rules with examples taken mostly from the biblical t exts we will study later. Our second step will be essentially inductive: we shall study and analyze word by word three biblical texts (Gen 22:1-19, Ps 23, Mic 4:1-4); we will then apply the rules already learned in theory and illustrated with examples reappearing now in their context; we will also draw new rules on the basis of new cases encountered i n the text. Thus our approach can be described as follo ws: deductive, inductive, then back and f orth betw een ded uctive and inductive in a dialogical manner.

B. In Relation to Heb rew Thinking Hebrew grammar just as Hebrew vocabulary will be taught in relation to Hebrew thought. The main reason for that method o f teaching is the essent ial moti vation of stud ents of bibl ical Hebrew . Th ose student s are generally not interested in philology p er se, they are not grammarians, but they are first of all “theologians” especially interested in the spiritual messag e of the Bible. Teaching only rules of phon etics, com parative linguistics and the intricacies of Hebrew syntax without any reference to what has in fact motivated these students to come to the Hebrew language is a pedag ogical mistake, and may cause great frustra tion. This m ethod i s also consistent with the principle we have already pointed out, namely, the

relationship bet ween languag and thought. as the the thoug ht of aof people cannot be apprehended withoute reference to its Just language, language

xxvi


a people canno t be learned w ithout reference to the thought o f this people. And this is especially true in regard to biblical civilization. Some of course may criticize this approach as they consider it somew hat speculat ive. How ever, it is supported both by the s pecifi c natur e o f the Hebre w language and the way t he Bibl e itself proceeds w ith Hebrew language. to At any rate, as tofarelements as possible limited our diver se references Hebrew thought whichwe arehave generally recognized in bibl ical sc holarshi p. Furthe rmo re the various trait s of Hebrew thought have been inferred from the observa tion o f language only as far as they are also reflected elsewhere in the biblical testimony (in biblical stories, statemen ts, prin ciple s, etc.). Indeed to be valid, the conne ction between language and thought has to be supported by the cultural and literary contex t. Th ere for e, the spirit ual les sons of the language will be indicated in two ways: first “inductively,” from the linguistic and syntactic data; secondly “deductively,” in a systematic manner as a synthetic essay at the end of the book.

C. An Effo rt of Simplifi cation and Synthes is Instead of getting lost in the tiny details from an analytical point of view, we have preferred to emphasize the great principles of the language and the thought from a s ynthe tic perspecti ve. Too often, Heb rew grammars have gone too farabsorbed in the little details isofunable the language so overall that the picture student,of the being too much in them, to get an language. The tre es hide the forest . Besides , several gramm ars are alr eady available which provide a comprehensive and detailed treatment of the Hebrew language (see especially Gesenius Hebrew Grammar by Emil Kautzsch; Introduction to Biblical Hebrew, by Thomas O. Lambdin; An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax, by Bruce K. Waltke and M. O ’Conn or; fo r m ore i nformation o n recen t studi es o f Hebrew language , see Nahum M. Waldman, The Recent Stu dy o f Hebr ew, A Surv ey o f the

Literature with Selected Bibliography. This book is meant essentially as an introduction which exposes the student to the fu ndamenta ls of the Heb rew language. Since most of our students are not specialists in linguistics and since most of them will not go beyond a mere introduction, we have focused on the essentials. ***

Introduction

xxvii

Acknowledgments Like an offering, a Hebrew textbook cannot go without thanksgiving. First of all, to the God of the Hebrews who chose Hebrew to speak to us. To my friend Dr. Richard D avidson who shares wi th me thi s particula r sensitivityencouragement, towards Lashon provided this bold enterp rise with support, and haqodesh, even good and advice. To my friend Dr. Bjornar Storijell who, on short notice, accepted to proofread the entire book, and invested hours of his precious time to promote a better history through a better word(!) Lastly a special thanks to Mrs. Dorothy Show for her utmost diligence and her valuable work; in the best tradition of the ancient scribes, she joined high qualities of patience and commitment to make the English and Hebrew letters blossom and become alive.

HOW TO USE H E B R E W FO R TH E O L O G IA N S Hebrew fo r Theologians has been written with diversity of class and students in mind. Therefo re the boo k implie s seve ral level s o f study , w hich allows grea t flexibi lity. The minimum required to achieve a decent elementar y apprehension o f the language is indicat ed along t he way. This minimum is to be mastered by all; the rest is manageable depending on the teacher, the class, or the student. Wh ile applying this princ iple t hrou gho ut the book, the student is invited to use this book in four ways.

A. Reading Read the whole book with attention and sympathy. It is a book to be read from the beginning to the end, like a novel (why not?), and not only a book t o be learn ed and cons ulte d. Read also the conclusions and excursus at the end of the chapters, as they bring out a flashback reflection on the language.

B. Memorizing Tables and paradigms are to be lea rned. The y appear a long t he way, eithe r following the log ic of t he gram mar (deductive ly), or the acci dents o f the text (inductively). The basic material t o be memo rized (ten tables, one paradigm, two vocabulary lists) has been marked by an asterisk. At the end of the book, a sketc h of the minimum of rules and tables is a gain provided to help the review . Ma ke sure th is minimum i s well mem orized and really master ed. ose who the wi shsupplementary to go further information are advi sedand to learn the other tables, and Th eventually explanation indicated in the text. Pay al so close attention to the examples ; they are mostly taken from the three texts (especially Gen 22:1-19) and will already prepare the ground for the study of the texts even before these appear on the scene. xxix


XXX

C. Practicing A minimum of twenty exercises (out of 65) are to be done. They appe ar at the end of each chapter and are singled out by an asterisk. The se exercises follow the progression of the book and refer directly to the gram ma tical point s thereby e xposed. work on the other exercises.

Tho se who wish to go far the r can

D. A Step by Step Progression I suggest the following steps (nine to fourteen weeks):

FIRST STEP (1 week): learn to read and write. Read and learn Chapter I: 1)

Mem orize the alphabet and their pho netic values, and the vowe ls and their phonetic values (Tables 1.1 and 1.2)—Exercises.

2)

Practice reading and writing with the help of the readi ng bo ok and the tape—Exercises.

3)

Read aloudsession). two verses from the Heb rew Bible every day (during the whole

4)

First cursory reading of the section on Hebrew Thought (Chapter VI).

SECOND STEP (3-4 weeks): learn to analyze. Read and learn Chapter II. 1)

Memorize (back and fort h: Hebrew -English-Hebrew) t he 40 Hebrew words occurring more than 1,000 times (see vocabulary list, pp. 65-67)—Exercises.

2)

Mem orize the personal pronouns (Table 2.5 )—Exercises.

3)

Mem orize the Perfect (Table 2.6) and the Imperfect (Table 2.7)—Exercises.

How to Use Hebrew for Theologians

xxxi

4)

Mem orize the names of the seven verbal forms, and the vowels of the prefixes ( atynty ) in the Imperfect (see the Menorah of the Verbs, p. 53).

5)

Lea rn to parse the ver bs—Exercises.

THIRD STEP (1-2 weeks): learn the vocabulary. Read and learn Chapter III. 1)

Rev iew the 40 wo rds occurring more than 1,000 times (back and forth), and this time pay attention to the indications in parenthe sis—Exercises.

2)

Mem orize (only one way: Heb rew-E nglish) the 175 wo rds occurring more than 200 times (see vocabulary list, pp. 67-72) —Exercises.

3)

Second readi ng of the section on Hebrew Tho ught ( Chap ter VI).

FOURTH STEP (3-5 weeks): learn in and from the text. Read and learn Chapter IV. Prepare the text with the help of the textbook: analyze each word, and learn the vocabulary. 1)

Gen 22:1 -19 (3 week s)—Exercises.

2)

Ps 23 (1 week )—Exercis es.

3)

Mic 4:1 -4 (1 week )—Exercises.

At the end of each passage the student should be able to translate the text and parse every verb by himself.

FIF TH STEP (2 days -1 week): learn to be sensi tive to the life of the text.

Read and learn Chapter V—Exercises.

xxxii


1)

Mem orize the name of the three most imp ortant disjunctive accents and conjunctive accents—Exercises.

2)

Lea rn to distinguish a disjunc tive accent from a conjunctive accent—Exercises.

3)

Lea rn to recogn ize the various funct ions of vav—Exercises.

SIXTH STEP (2 days-1 week): learn and understand the principles o f Hebrew thought. Read caref ully and consult the bibl ical references in parenthesis—Exercises. REVIEW: See Summary at the end of the book. FURTHER STEPS: Advanced Hebrew, exegesis, word studies, sermon: see our guidelines in the Appendix.

CHAPTER I SIGNS This first chapter intr oduces us into t he world o f Hebrew sign s. Yet, in prelude to th e grammatical o r even “spiritual” explanation/interpretation of those signs, the Reading of the Signs and the accompanying tape1will help us to become familiarized with them, with their shapes and with their sounds. Thu s the Heb rew signs, especially the con sonants and the vow els will be alive in our eyes and in our mouth before they become meaningful in our mind—suggesting already at this elementary stage the process of Hebrew thinking.

The Reading of the Signs A solid basis in reading is necessary to ensure good roots in the Hebrew language . This manual an d the accom panying t ape will help you to lea rn to read Hebrew cor rectly and fluently, yet easily. All the peculiarities of Hebrew reading have been sampled and organized in a progressive manner. Note that reading (and writing) Hebrew runs from right to left; so we begin our Hebrew book where our English books normally end. Note also that we use the Seph ardic (see note 1, p. 18) pro nun cia tion which has been adopted nowadays in Israel. •For more information concerning the ordering of the companion tape, see the last page of the book.

1

2

Hebrew For Theologians We suggest the following guidelines: 1. Le arn the alphab et and the n ames o f the vow els by hea rt (pages 13,

17). 2. Le arn to reco gni ze the letters (consonants) and the vowels (page 1317). 3. Read ca refully page by page al oud: fir st listen to each wo rd and repeat, then reread each page twice without the tape (if you hesitate, check with the tape). Bef ore mo ving to the next page , make sure that al l the si gns o f the current page are well mas tered. In one week you will be able to cov er the section "Reading of the Signs1' (an averag e o f two pages per session). 4. After you have completed this requirem ent, rerea d the whole "Reading of the Signs" at least once every day for two weeks. 5. During the fourth and fifth weeks, read, with the help of the tape| in the day. Hebrew Bible, Gen 22:1- 19, Ps 23, Mic 4:1-4. Read three verses every 6. Listen to and enjoy the chan ting of these three te xts' (side two of the tape) while following in the Hebrew Bible. 7. From now on read aloud every day two verses from anywhere in your Hebrew Bible.

‘The chanting of the Masoretic cantillation is performed by the author in a Sephardic tradition.

Signs

3

The Hebrew Alphabet (See page 13.)

1 n 1 3 2 N b 3 ' C3 n t 2 2 V 0 3 a n ¡2? to i

p

Letters That Look Alike

n n, t i, n n, i n , 22 2 17, i i , o n , o D Naming and Reading of the Vowels (See page 17.)


4

Signs

Alef = X

Het = PI

X K KXXO

—

K K X X O ■IK I N

n n n -in in •

j

T

'N

5

■

-IX ' N

•

T

—T

•

•

•

•

•

™ -j*

T

'N IK

«

a m n attfn na •ltf'n nn x

“

Lam ed =

'K

n n n n n

t i

*

T

b

-IK

'b'b xb 'b bb 'ib '^bx ^ $ b t> 'b 'bti '2b ti'bti 3bn b3n —

Vet = 12 Bet = 3

•

V

•

•

•

.

T

••

T T

v

V

(See page 14.)

^

t

^

n 2 2 2 T2 2—

*•

“

Hey = n

T

1 2 - 13 ’ 3•• ’ 3• 3••• 3 -r 3 • 3 • 3 •• i3 K -13 -IK'S X 3 N

•

n n in n in ’n n n

•

T

!nxn nan an nn 3n nn TV

T

T

T

T

•* ••

"

aîn Kin -inanyi Compound Sheva (Hatef)

Shin = il j

w w “

'W

♦•m •

(See page 18.)

w w w !\Ui Ui Ui Vi Vi vj

••

y*

2

*t

m •• ••

•

T

•

•

•

•

«

■

c^-ia a w a r x•

n ’n n x x x n n

-j*

••

«•

^ n b a m v iib N •

*•

"T" •

••

•

e

™ •

••

• ••••

••

x• b n — •

T


Resh = *1

n “ i "i "i “ i “ i n. n nn nn n n nn in - n ntoK toxn xna Tto mna ixn “ T

—

—

\

* *

T

v

"

T

T

XT-

•

•

•

•

Mem =

•

(D)B

a a a a a •'a a a a □to an ai a-i □n'pn anian nian i^toa T

•• •

•• •

mm

•

•

Nun = ( 1 ) 3

ia 'J aaa

•

*

•

•

r » 13 T*ia fi i-i

1» oma natoj nna i •

• • — t : r :

t t

Signs

7

K haf = ( ^ ) 3

K af = 2

(See page 14.)

*1 ^ = 9

n'3 3• -13 13 3 ’3 3 •• •• □3 n '33N pan 33i3 33» n^3 TT

I

T

—

T

_

T

T T

n

Tav =

n%-in n nn in• tni n• n •n n n •

—

•

•

#

*

•

«

«

■

■

■

■

in bn nn nn na n’3 nston n tx ia nnin 3ns T -

-

.

.

.

.

Da let = n

n

•*

T

-

T

Gimel = 3

n

n

T

“

ia la ^ na ’a a a n-ma n^n nnh n n n n t

••

:

\

Tsade =

c m Samekh = 0 V 2 2 D 27 I

T

T

Sin =

T

f î ? X? 1 2 ? 2 ? ion d i o io ■’ o o o o ^ ì" d: •è pi • rt o: X •• • • ••

e

••

r

—«

T

t

Te t = £û

Q of =

p

9 0 i?i? P îp n£ np ip ip ¡p n na naa ^ cû xa¡a lino T

T

T

* •

T

T

Final Yod

■’ T K 'til ■’ - pt f ■J“ — •

“

•

“

-J*

■'"T* T n •’ ir x n o n n a n •

•

•

“

— -p

—

-y- •

•

—•

•

•

•

•’iba nio a •’ ■ixna ■’•laa


8

F ey = ( * " ] ) £

Pey = S

(See page 14.)

'IDS I

T

T

•id2 s n s n s ’ s T

* •

••

•

^23 ns ns I f i s ^ n

Zayin = T

I T T T

—

Ayin = I ?

•

«

Vav =

s s s

1 Yod =

^

n 11

T

—T

nr i r "r nr n r nar n^-in ••T• m • “m -n : ii“ 11 □nrrn nox*] nr n; n: -v ; ••

•

•

• • •

• • • •

10

Signs


vzfyrp r ns

p

v a x rr p i n

Short Qametz

V

Ending AV, IV =

(See page 18.)

ax an

n a it s

11

? v r i^ N

dn

rwn ’cnn ijm nâx'p noan djjj #

n y j

" . f n m .ni'b nira npm . m fc nom . annaa □pI tn * t t -

Furtive Patah

t :

T T

—

; t t— I

T T -

T

T

I T —

(See page 19.)

0 T n i n-n mm n n nw man mb> na nap r ur oi m w n n j n a t f m n : r r b nt o v n D'jaN nata t

• :

•

t

:

••—•

:

t

•T “ •

Names

:

t

““ • ••

.naian nia^p nr

•

•

.□minx uoi ansa mm inm .r ^ i n ? i- ir ia S# in n^?ra K^p-1) ••

*

••

—• “

*=

•

••

•

•“

•

•

•

••

•

»

•“

•

t

•

ni .‘ p a m i p .m m ana p m r annaa .ns n a n ntf ^nn np an i m fr . a 'pin lawn .n . H ■6-iar natter n m m • T O nQi" ")^3 m ^n93 . n a^ -i♦ m iT ". n n•* x iV ntô It : *

• t

tt :

\ >

-

t : v

: t

t ♦

•• t •• •

t

:

•

•••••

*

t

:

x

.m n 1 D T i^ « •’n K «•

t

•

—•

12


The Grammar of the Signs In He brew , the “si gn signifies .” Consonants, vowels , and accents are not only siens to be read; along with their phonetic value (sounds) Hebrew signs convey a semantic message (meaning), which has been invented by the f ounders of the language, and enri ched by folklore and traditi on. This “spiritual” sensitivity and this memory will inspire our pedagogy.

I. Consonants Th e He brew alphabet consists of 22 consonants (no vow els). consonant bears a name that indicates the sound through its first letter

Each (b of

d of dalet, bet1; of egimel; This been principl is pictorial known asrepre “acrophony.”g Th same names seem etc.). also to have usede as sen ta tions (the form of the letter alef is an oxhead, the form of bet is a house, etc.). This principl e is known as “pictogra phy .”

Note: 1. He brew is read and writt en right to left (instead of the usual manner). 2. Letters that look alike: Note the differen ces betwee n 3 and J (only one slight stroke), 2 and 2, 1 and 1 and T, “J and ], 0 and 0, 13 and 2S.

'For convenience purposes, frequently used grammatical terms (names of the letters, sheva, vav, etc.) are transcribed in a simplified manner and following the modem Hebrew pronunciation (cf. note 1, p. 18). Transliterations of Hebrew words with a vav will use the traditional w (see table 1.1).

Signs

13

*TabIe 1.1: The Hebrew Alphabet Print and Numerical Value

Name

Pronunciation and Transliteration

X

1

alef

Arm

3

2

bet

Book Veal

bb

3

3

gimel

Good

1

4

dalet

Door

n

5

hey

He

1

6

vav

Van

T

7

zayin

n

8

£2

3

Block

Cursive

Meaning

N

Ic

oxhead

3 1

house

g

a

camel

d

T

door

h

-7)

window

w

1

hook

Zoo

z

5

weapon

het

Bach

h

n

n

hedge

9

tet

Tear

t

\3

6

snake

10

yod

Yet

•>

1

hand

kaf

Kiss k Khan (Bach) k

(? P

palm

30

lamed

Land

1

;

goad

(□) 0

40

m n

(P)A'

50

Make No

(D)

(1) 3

mem nun

0 )3

(1) J

water fish

0

60

samekh

Support

s

D

0

support

y

70

ayin

Eye

c

V

5

eye

B

80

pey

Pear Fear

p p (f)

3

20

(1) 3

(H) 3

n

y

(7) S p

90 100

tsade qof

Tsar Question

s q

”1

200

resh

Rabbit

r

sin shin

Sin Share

s 5

tav

Table

&

oO

t

3 (1)3

a (H) Q 00^ P \y \y

oo

"J'"'

rf)3

mouth

«3)3 P

arrow needle

1

head

'C

tooth

G*

n J1 *A11 the tables marked with an asterisk are to be memorized. n

CtrcO

sign

0


14

A. Lette rs wi th Various Forms and So unds

1. Fin al Letters Five letters assume different forms at the end of a word: 3(1); D(D); 3(D; 3(r ^(F )- They can be more easily remem bered by this mnemotechnic word: y3JQ3 (KaMeNaPeTZ = as the breaker).

2. Dagesh an d Mappiq a. Six letters: P 3 3 U 3 (mne mot echnic word : BeGeD KeF eT), receive a dot (weak Dagesh or Dagesh qal), when that letter commences a syllable; but this affects their sound in only three lett ers (3,in 3, The phoneti c value of the pronunc iati on is indicated the 3). following: 3 = v 3 = kh (or "ch" in Bach) 3 = f

3 = b 3 = k 3 = p

b. For some reason other letters may also receive a dot (strong Dagesh or Dagesh hazaq), signifying the doubling of that , letter. Th ere is an exception, how ever, fo r the gutturals V, n, n, Ca,r- ; - \ and the palatal ~ which sounds like a guttural, precisely because i . j/i.' i these letters cannot be doubled phonetically. o W '' ' )

77 '7| ■

•

“iliX"] = n^Nn = ■¡ViSO =

wayyO mer (“and he said,” Gen 22:1) haîlle (“these,” Gen 22:1) missyyon (“from Zion,” Micah 4:2)

-

c. that Oneit must letter,bethe final n may rece a ndot to ind icate pronounced. Thus w eive have $J ( ( mappiq nissa , )“he ■ tested, ” Gen 22:1) with the n no t pronounced, but (gabah, “he has been exa lted, ” 2 Chr 26:16 ) with the H pron ou nce d (transliteration: h). d. Quiescent letters. In many instances, fi nal n and X (usually at the end of a syllable) are unpronounced.

Signs

15

B. Alphabetical Order The order of th e seque nce of th e Heb rew alphabet can be perceived on a lexical leve l, and is also attested i n biblical poetry. On a lexical lev el it has been noticed that some words which are related in meaning are made up with letters which are neighbors in the sequence of the alphabet (see chapter on “Voc abulary”). The explan ation of this phenom enon is not easy; eith er the a lpha beti cal ord er has inspired the creation o f wo rds, or the words themse lves have inspired t he alphabetical ord er. This connection between meaning and letters suggests at least that the alphabetical order is not just the result of phonetic accidents. In biblical poetry, the alphabetical order is attested in a number of chapters where the verses are arranged in alphabetical order (acrostic). Each ver se o r group of verses begins with a letter of the alphabet. See Ps 9, 10, 25, 34, 37, 111 , 112, 119; Lam 1-4; Prov 31 :10 -31 ). Th e fact that this order serves literary purposes in the saved texts may indicate a “sp iritual” motivat ion beyond t he mere linguistic explan ation. Exam ples of the Midrashic practice of the order of the alphabet can be found in the Bible. For inst ance, in Je r 25:26; 51:4 1 the He brew word ( sheshaq ) is the cryptic name of ^35 (Babel): K72nd le tter from the end :: 3 2nd lett er from th e beginnin g :: 3:: 2nd letterletter fromfrom the the beginning T] 2nd 12thletter letterfrom fromthetheend end b 12th beginning La ter, perhaps under the inf luence of Pythagorean speculations, ancient Jewish interpreters developed a method of exegesis which took into account the order of the letters and their respective numerical value (see Table 1). Thus the name of God nirp ( YHWH) = 26, was related to ¡"DOi? (love) + (one) = 26. The word (serp ent) = 358, was related to the word IT270 (Messiah) = 358. Indeed, the ord er of the letters in the Heb rew alphabet cannot be explained only by reference to the blind laws of phonetics; it seems that the alphabetical order also implies specific intent ions on the se manti c level. It has even been argued that the orde r of the letters was based on didactic principles and was designed to teach the pupils the “ways of G od.” 1 [N . H . T ur -Sin ai, "lDOm |H2?Vn, vol. II (Jerusalem, 1954-1959), 150.


16

The Hebrew alphabet is more than the testimony of sounds and more than phonetics; perhaps it also witnesses to a spiritual value of the sacred letters. Po pu lar stories abound t hat reflect the tradition of this consciou s ness. To a student wh o has forgotten the words of his pra ye r, the witty rab bi wisely advis es “ju st recite the alphabet; t his will be enough ! The angels in heaven will arrange the letters and compose a new and wonderful prayer.”1 Hear also this pathetic declaration of the martyr Rabbi Hanania ben Teradyon (2nd century A .D .) while wrapped in a Torah and set afire: “The parchment is burning, but the letters are flying free.”2

II. Vowels Th e vowels are signs made of dots and dashe s gene rally put beneath the conson ants. They are not l etters ( except for one) and their functi on is, so to speak, to animate letters (consonants). The y have, there fore, been compared in Jewish mysticism to the soul of the letters, with the letters themselves compared to the body.3

A. The Names of the Vowels Like the names of the consonants, the names of the vowels are meaningful; they not only indicate the sound of the vowel, but also hint at its shape.

■Michael L. Munk, The Wisdom in the Hebrew Alphabet (Brooklyn, NY, 1983), 38. 2Av Zar., 17b-18; Sif. Dt., 307. 3This comparison is taken from the Zohar: “All the letters are body without soul; then come the vowels, and the body becomes alive . . . at the very moment when the letters came outform of the secretthe. .vowels . at the very moment when they materialized like the of supreme the first man, appeared and breathed into them the breath of life; then the letters were in reality, like man, who thanks to the breath of life, stands on foot.” (From Zohar on the Song o f Songs, Aramaic text and Hebrew trans. by R. J. Aschlag, vol. 21 [Jerusalem, 19451955], §603, 634). Or according to the linguist’s words, “the consonants are carriers o f the primary semantic distinction . . . the vowels play the role of modifiers” (Kutscher, A History o f the Hebrew Language, 5).

Signs

17

*Table 1.2: Vowels S ig n

T r a n slit e r a tio n

X

a

pa ta h

X

a

q a m e tz

X

i

Name

Meaning

Pronunciation

opening

as in “that”

hireq

c on tr a ction gnashing of the teeth

a s in “ f a t h e r ” as in “pin” (unique)

X

tsere

splitting

as in “they”

X

segol

grape cluster

as in “bed”

*

u

q ib b u tz

g a t h e r in g

as in“ b u l l ”

■IX

ft

sh u r ek

w h is t lin g

as in “flute”

X and IX

6

h o le m

strong

as in “goal”

In addition to these eight vowels, a ninth sign is to be noted, the sheva 3 . The name “sheva” means “n othin gne ss.” It is generally pronounced as a silent “e” (sheva nah = quiet sheva), as the e in “horse,” and is not transliterated. Ho wever, at the begin ning o f a syllable (at the beginning of the word, after a closed syllable, after a long vowel), it becomes difficult not to pron oun ce it. Th ere fore the sheva (shevah nac = mobile sheva) is partially sounded transliterated “e.” (also called “vocal sheva”) as the o in “occur” and

B. Long and Short Vowels The vowels can be long or short:

5 Long Vowels

qametz (X) = a (as in “father”) holem (H, 1) = 0 (as in “goal”) shurek (1) = u (as in “flute”) hireq  yod (’ H) = i (as in “machine”) tsere (K) = e (as in “they”)


18

5 Short Vowels

patah (N) a (as in “that”) short qametz (N) in a closed syllable = qibbutz (K) = u (as in “bull”) hireq (K) = i (as in “pin”) segol (X) = e (as in “bed”)

o (as in “dog”)1

Rule:

The vowel is generally long in an open (accented) syllable i.e., a syllable which ends with the sound of a vowel ( ba, be, bo). The vowel is generally short in a closed (unaccented) syllable, i.e., a syllable which ends with the sound of a consonant ( ab, eb, ob).

C. CompoundSheva The sheva can be compo und (or half vow el). This affects the throat-sounds, or gutturals V, n, it, N when the grammar entitles them to sheva. Since these letters would beco me quite inaudible w ith the sheva alone, a patah, a segol, or a qametz are added to the sheva, depending on the prec edin g vowel. Thes e vowels are to be pronoun ced hur riedly , and are therefore called “ hatef” (hurried) vowels.

'The pronunciation of the qametz is one of the major distinctions between the Ashkenazic pronunciation (Jews of Germany, Eastern Europe), and the Sephardic pronunciation (Jews of Holland, Spain, Italy, North Africa, Iraq, Egypt, etc.). In the Sephardic system, a distinction is made between qametz in an open or accented syllable (a, as in “far”) and the qametz in a closed unaccented syllable (o, as in “dog”). We have chosen to use the Sephardic system for several reasons: 1) general It is the before closestthe pronunciation “thetemple” one prevalent in Jerusalem in Judah in destruction to of the (Kutscher, A Historyand o the Hebrew Language, 28); 2) It is the one which has been adopted in Israel, the only living witness to the Hebrew language. This choice does not mean, however, that the Sephardic pronunciation is to be considered as the purest one over against the Ashkenazic one. There are several phonetic variations in each of these pronunciations, just as there were in the time of the Bible. Therefore the question which is sometimes raised about the most correct pronunciation is as William Chomsky puts it, “totally meaningless and irrelevant” (Hebrew: The Eternal Language [Philadelphia, 1957], 114).

Signs

19

hamaDa k e le l (“ kn ife,” Gen X hatef patah: n^3K$n « hatefsegol: TON? neêhaz (“caught,” Gen 22:13) « hatefqametz: °oholt (“my te n t,” Job 29: 4)

22:6)

p . Furtive Pa tah When a patah comes under a final PI with mappiq (Pi) or a final n, it , «furt ive.” The vowel is then to be pr on ou nc ed be fore the consonant n or n p or example: 03 190 hamizbeah and not hamizbeha (“altar,” Gen

22:9) *TabIe 1.3: Transliteration of Vowels □ □

=

a

o

=

a

n □

=

a

=

O

□

□

(short)

□ □

I

< o

9 9

=

u

I

< 3

=

e

9

=

e

’9 ,9

=

e

9

=

i

II

< * -H

r

?

(vocal)

III. Accents As the Hebrew name for accents (□‘’Qi?® taamim = “tas te”) suggests , the accents give the biblical texts i ts sp iritual sav or. Ac cents make the text meaningful according to three specific fun ction s. Th e phonetic fu nction by which they indicate the phonetic accent (stress) of the word; the logicosyn tactical fu nc tio n by which they situate the word in the phrase; and finally the esthetic fu nction by which they regu late the cantill ation. In this c hapter, we shall deal only with t he ph on etic function . The logico-syn tactical and the esthetic functions will be treated in due course, respectively in the chapter on Syntax and the chapter on Style. Th e phonetic funct ion o f the accents com es fro m the fact that the y show the position of the str ess in a word. In Hebrew the stress is mostly fo und on the last syllable (called JJO1??? milra c = “from below”), ex: (“Abraham,” Gen 22:1). In some cases the stress is sounded on the syllable before the last (called miFel: “from above”), ex: ro-vijl wenasuba (“ and we sh all re tu rn ,” Gen 22:5). This d istinction i s particular ly helpful for detecting the correct root in words made up of the same


20

letters, and therefore has an important bearing on the interpretation of the word. See for example these two words made up of 21D: the miFel:

(Gen 22:5) has the root 3W (“to re tur n”)

the milrac : !Qt2 (Gen 34:29) has the root nattf (“to take captive”). IV. Excursus - -f Before starting to read the text the student must be aware of its peculiarities; for mechanical reading has hardly its place here. The text has been transmitted through religious channels; therefore, it must be met on a religious level. Th e features of the consonantal text and the divi sion of the Masoretic text appeal to that approach. A. The C onsonantal Text In order to read, the student must combine the consonant with the vow el, and stress the righ t syllable: p reads “b a” , 3 reads “bi, ” reads “Abraham” (with a stress on ham), etc. In addition t o this effo rt of deciphering the student will have to face two other tasks. The first task has to do with the fact that sometimes what is written in the Masoretic text is not nece ssari ly what s hould be read. This phenome non is referred to as Qere (“it is read”) and Ketib (“i t is written ”). Usuall y the read er is warned by a sma ll ci rcle ( ) in the text, referrin g to th e marginal note, where the Qere (the cor rect reading) i s indicated. One of the most striking uses of Qere is the Divine name n p ’ whic h shoul d not be read as it is written, that is Ye Ho Wa H (Ketib), but Adonay (Qere), the vowels “e-o-a” have been borrowed from the word AeDoNaY (my Lord), and have been artificially added to the consonants of the divine name YHWH. This de liberate change is due to the fact that the Div ine nam e was considered t oo sacred to be pronou nced. Th e combination of the vow els of Adonay with the consonants of YHWH has produced the artificial form YeHoWaH, or Jehovah. It is noteworthy t hat a theological considera tion, the reverence to God, has from very ancient times1affected the reading of these letters. Anoth er similar examp le is found in the misvocalization of the name of the pagan God Molech.Th e consonants (“ king ”) have 'The device of substitution is already found in the Qumran scroll of Isaiah

(2nd century B.C.).

Signs

21

been maintained, but the vow els “o” and “e ” of (shame) have been inser ted. The se examples show again that even me chanical read ing is governed by theological presuppositions. The second task has to do with the very nature of the Hebrew Scriptures whic h srcin ally we re made u p of consonant s only. As Hebrew speech out ofor f daily becameand ne cessary to introduc e some form of vocalpassed dist inction a co use, rrec titreading explanation o f the sa cred texts. The process already started in biblical times with the so-called matres lectionis “m others o f re ad in g,” th at is, the letters H, 1, 1 which we re used to indicate the long vowels. n 1 1

in in 13? in

cola bend bent

(“ offe ring,” Gen 22:2) (“his so n,” Gen 22:3) (“ my so n,” Gen 22:7)

After the close of the canon, devices of vocalization had to be created in order to respect the injunction not to change the sacred consonantal text. Vowels are indeed a late addition and do not belong to the srcinal text. They are instead the work of the Masoretes of the 7th century A.D., the grammatical writers who transmitted the Massora (traditional reading). Thus the vowels witness to a specific reading, a tradition of interpretation, and do not necessarily reflect the srcinal situation of the holy word. Perhaps it is this consciousness that is behind the requirement in the synagogue to read even today the Hebrew scrolls of the Pentateuch without vowel -signs. The latter characteristic gi ves the text a potenti al of inte rpre  tation that goes beyond the strict bou ndaries of the Maso retic Text. A word like bx al (“do not!” Gen 22:12) could be read bN el (“to,” Gen 22:2). Only the context can determine the choice of the right vocalization hence the righ t translation . Again we find her e the same principle we already noticed. In Heb rew , the context with all its dynam ics mus t be solici ted. Just to decipher the letter, the reader must make reference to the spiritual world, whether is discovered conveyed in the itvocal tradition. in the immediate consonantal context, or

B. The M asoretic Text We shall consider the divisions of the Hebrew Bible as they apply to the different books which compose it, and to the course o f the Hebre w text.


22

1.

The Bo oks

The Hebrew Bible or Masoretic Text (from massora = “tradi tion”) 1 is divided i nto three se ctions and is called TaN aK h, a word

Torah (Pentateuch), formed with the(Writings) initial letters of o editions Ketubim ets), . Tw are commonlyNebi°im used, sl (Proph ightly {Ketubim). The edition o f the different in order in the third section Rabbinic Bible (Miqraoth Gdolot h) is traditionally used in Judaism and has also been adopted by the British and Foreign Bible Society (Norma n H. Snaith, ed.). It follows Jacob ben Ch ayyim ’s editi on, printed by Daniel Bomberg in Venice (1524/25) on the basis of late medieval manuscripts. The other edition is the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS ). It is traditionally used in Univ ersiti es, and follows the oldest surviving manuscript of the complete Bible (presently in the St. Petersbu rg Public Library). It was cop ied in A.D . 1008 from exemplars w ritt en by the las t mem ber of th e Ben Asher F am ily.2

■The Masoretic Bible has been transmitted to us with all kinds of information compiled by the Masoretes in the margin of each page (Massora magna or “big massora ,” and M assora parva or “small massora”) and at the end of each book (Mass ora finalis) . For the meaning of trans. the Masoretic language see Israel Introduction to the Tiberian M asorah, E. J. Revell (Missoula, MT,Yeivin, 1979), 77-120; and Ernst Wurthwein, The Text o f the O ld Testament: A n Introduction t o the Biblica Hebraica, trans. Erroll F. Rhodes (London, 1980), 27-29.

2Probably a Ka raite family who played a leading part in the Masore tic work at Tiberias.

Signs

23

Order of the Books in the Hebrew Bible Tanakh ( ) TORAH

O')

rnin Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy

JT0N3? niac? bnp?]

NEB P IM Former Prophets:

1

Joshua Judges Samuel (1st and 2nd)

□,P9'K?

Kings (1st and 2nd) Latt er prop he ts: : f 1 Isaiah 2 Jeremiah 3 Ezekiel m Hosea s Joel Amos t, i Obadiah i Jonah
^¡P IO ;1 ytjhn Ditty

nj'V n a 1« T

Dinj PP3D ¡"CiS?

Haggain i'4 Zecharia h ii Malachi

•'Jli n ’TOT


24

KETÛBÎM cg-in? Rabbinic Bible (Snaith, ed.) (.'•i ) 1 2 3 >/ r t i 6 “t lo „ 12

Psalms Proverbs Job Song of Songs Ruth Lamentations Ecclesiastes Esther Daniel Ezra Nehemiah Chronicles

cr'pnii ’

av# on’ tpn Tip nn n o 1« nSü'P "inçx

x n iy

BHS Psalms Job Proverbs Ruth SongofSongs Ecclesiastes Lamentations Esther Daniel Ezra Nehemiah Chronicles

Cp'pniyi nn Tip n'pn'p nys “inçN: xnjy

2. The Text Besides the general division into books the Hebrew Bible knows a further divi sion into verses , chap ters, and liturgical parag raphs. The verse division already known the :Talmudic period centuries) is indicated by the in sign: (soph pasu q =(A.D. “endfourth-sixth of the verse”). The chapter division introduced since the 14th century is indicated by numbers or (and) Hebrew letters, according to their numerical value:1 N = Ch 1, 3 = Ch 2, or SO = Ch 11, a ’ = Ch 12; but 1E2 = Ch 15, T!3 = Ch 16.2 Th e liturgica l divisio n was alre ady k nown to a certain extent since the second century B.C . Diffe rent systems are found: a.

A divi sion into “open” and “closed ” parag raphs of the enti

He Bi ble (exce=pt“open”) for the Psalms). e open paragrap h (indic ated by brew S3, from ¡Tins marks a Th new paragraph after an empty 'The same procedure is used for verses in Jewish editions as well. 2To avoid the use of IT or 1’ which are both abbreviations of the Divine name m n \

Signs

25

or incomplete line. The clos ed paragrap h (indi cated by 0 , from na-inp = “closed”) makes a new paragraph after a short space within the same line. b. A division into 452 Sedarim ("HQ = “sequence, order”) of the entire Hebrew Bible, 167 of which are for the Pentateuch, according to the three-year reading cycle ( Palestinian usage). The beginning of a Seder is indicated by the sign 0 (See Gen 22:1 w hich starts t he 19th Seder).

i

c. A division into 54 parashot(from = “to explain, to comment, to divide”) is found only in the Pentateuch (in addition to the two other divisions), according to the one-year reading cycle (Babylonian usage); the beginning of a Parasha is indicated by the word ehs. It is noteworthy that the primary function of these biblical divisions is not so much to provide the reader with landmarks as to regulate the religious reading of the Bible. The words are not ju st words to be consulted for information or used for polemics; they are essentially words to be read and learned within a religious fr am e—as a pra yer .

V. E xerc ises (Signs ) *1.

Gen 22:1 -3: Nam e all the conso nants and vowels; poin t out letters that look alike.

*2.

a) Pra ctic e readin g in the read ing manual with the help of the tape; b) Write one line of each letter of the alphabet.

*3.

W rite Gen 22:1 in bloc k letters, in transliteratio n; lear n to read fluently.

*4. W rite Ge n 22:2-3 i n block letters, in transliterat ion; learn to read fluently. 5.

W rite Gen 22:4-7 in block letters, in transliteration; learn to read fluently.

Hebrew For Theologians Write Gen 22:8-12 in block letters, in transliteration; learn to read fluently. W rite Gen 22:13-19 in cursive let ters, in transliter ation; learn to read fluently. Read aloud two verses from the Hebrew Bible every day; hand over a repo rt at the beginning of each wee k (14 verses with th eir reference, the date and t he time of reading). At the end o f each week, time your reading and indicate it on the weekly report.

CHAPTER H MORPHOLOGY As far as morphology, i.e., the forms of the words, is concerned, we shall limit ourselves here to the main three categories of words, namely 1) the inseparable words, 2) the nouns, 3) the verbs.

,1

I. The Inseparable W ords Inseparable words are single letters: the definite article H, the interroga tive 0 , the prepositions 3 , ?, L?, 9 , and the conjunction Th ey do not have a separate existence a nd are at tached to the word they govern. By being so attached to the word they govern, these inseparable words create new wo rds (gramm atically speaking). In Heb rew, the relations hip af fects the identity. Indeed, nothing o r no one rema ins the same a s soon as it (he/she) is in relationsh ip with something (someone) else. Th e idea of totality and of unity so specific to Hebrew thought is here suggested.

A. The Article Only one form for all genders and numbers, ¡ noun; the first letter of the noun then receives a

■ F or exa mple:

"U?iin CTipJU

1, is always attached to the dagesh?

“th e la d,” Gen 22:12 “the days,” Mic 4:1

•Adverbs, numerals, conjunctions, etc., will be considered along the way in our treatment of the biblical texts (see Chapter IV). 2Probably because of the srcinal b (of the old form bn tike in Arabic) which has been assimilated. 27


28

Since the gutturals N, n, n, V, 1 , cannot receive a dagesh, by compen sation the patah under the article n is lengthened as can be seen in the following:

ynxn

“the God,” Gen 22:3 “the ea rth ,” Gen 22:18

Note, however, that this lengthening of the vowel of the article is not regular; it varies depending on the guttural and its vowel: thus before it, n, it remains n , <=----but before X, 17, ”), we have n, 4:— / and before ¡ 1, n, V, we have 0 ^

B. The Interrogative The particle 0 is prefixed to the noun it governs and generally takes hatef patah. Note the followi ng: "OrriX

“am I my bro ther ’s kee pe r?” Gen 4:9

Here also the vowel of the n interrogative varies when it comes before a guttural: thus before K, n, n, V, we have ¡1, t ——v and before i$, il, 0 , we have <-------

,

C. The Prepositions Th e foll owing prepositions: 3 (“in, with, by ”), ? (“ as, lik e”) , ‘p (“ to, for”) are normally pointed with sheva; the prepositions are prefixed to the word. Exam ples:

“IQ? 'S a ia ? i n 1? '

“in moun tain,” Gen 22 :14 “like stars of,” Gen 22:17 “to David ,” Ps 23:1

The preposition 1?? may also be prefixed to the word and will then become f? with a dagesh into the next letter (the first letter of the word),

indicating the assimil ation of the 3. This phenom enon is seen below :

A

(y \

y

Morphology

>

29

A oK “from Zion,” Mic 4:2 niy 3? 0

“fro m hills,” Mic 4:1 *

2

-+ S '«

II

CjoHv^V < X

but p rnQ “from far” (Gen 22:4), where the assim ilation o f the J causes the

hireq to become tsere, due to the impossibility of putting a dagesh in the guttural. When the prepositions 3, 3, or b are prefixed to a word beginning with a sheva, there is coll ision bet ween the two shevas, and as a result the sheva under the preposition becomes hireq: i , i skv B col li
tsntyV niN33

Wq

W'rec^ y

“to sla y,” Gen 22: 10 “in the pa stu res ,” Ps 23:2

When the preposi tions 3 , 3, or ‘p, joi n a word with an article, the lette r n of the article disappears, leaving however the two other signs of the article: the vowel which is normally under the article shifts under the preposition, and the dagesh rem ains in the first letter of the word . , ^

__ ,

O agilt '' «■•'
= i« o

svjYiS. c .j

^ p c i l h ^.

” 3y3 ‘ (" 3 3 “ 3) “in the bush,” Ge n 22:13 D. The Conjunct ions The conjunction 1 (and) is always inseparable, and is usually written J (with a sheva), but 1 (with a shureq) before a sheva and the consonants ECU (mnemotechnic “bum f” )- | .] X ttb l

“and no ,” Gen 22:12 “and your staff,” Ps 23:4

Note: All these inseparable words occur more than 1,000 times in the Bible. At this stage, we recommend that the student learn beyond these seven words, the 40 words which occur more than 1,000 times (see “Important Hebrew W ords” in Chapter III). These 40 words must be m emorized back and forth (Hebrew -English-Hebrew ); ignore fo r the mom ent the indications in parenthes is. By knowing these word s, the student will not onl y have a first hand feeling for the Hebrew words (to prepare him for the next step), but will also be able to practice fu rth er exercises.


30

II. Nouns and Pronouns In Hebrew , things are expres sed in an absolut e way ( absolut e sta te), or in relation to something else ( construct state). For example, if I say “T he absolute way; the word “donkey” donkey,” I refer to the “donkey” in an is independe nt. If I say the “don key o f the la d,” I ref er to the don key in relation to the lad; the word “donkey” is dependent, and is said to be in the construct state. Since the construct form expresses the idea of belonging pronominal or the genitive (possessive case), this form is also used with the suffix to express personal possession (“my donkey,” literally “the donkey of I ”). Thus we know in Heb rew t hree ki nds of nouns: the noun in absolute state, the noun in construct state and the noun with pronominal suffix. A. Th e Nou n in Abso lute State Since this noun is independent, its form remains complete whether it is masculine or feminine (gender), singular or plural (number), alone or qualified (adjective).

1. Gender Th e noun can be masculine or feminine, neve r neuter. masculine noun ends generally with the sound of a consonant. •qN1?»

The

“angel,” Gen 22:11 “the ram,” Gen 22:13

The feminine is usually i ndicated by the ending n or the vocal sound n T (ah). nfp-IN!?

“the knife,” Gen 22:6 “anything,” Gen 22:12

2. Number The noun knows two forms of plural. a. Th e usual plu ral is indicated by the ending D’o (im) for the masculine like in (“the woo ds,” Gen 22:9), (“p eop les,”

Morphology

31

Mic 4: 1) or the endi ng m (ot) for the feminine like in (“from hills,” Mic 4:1). b. The dual number is indicated by the ending D’9 (ayim ) for both genders; this plural is used for two objects which form an inseparable unity, like in □IT# “two eyes,” Gen 20:16.

*Table 2.4: Number and Gender Feminine

Masculine

rnv:q

niaq

(donkey)

Singular

niiinq

□niaq

(donkeys)

Plural

o?Tinq

(two donkeys)

Dual

Tl _

3. Th e Adjec tive

)1 1

t

'n

^

□ •In order to qualify the noun, sometimes an adjective 1 is used; it normally comes after the noun and agrees with it in gender and number. (Wjek'« a y e a s w'tfc 'noul'v hcmh-e-r <ê«Jec D'fiXy

“strong na tions ,” Mic 4:3

a. When the noun and the adjecti ve are both definit e, the adjective i s used attributively (in English this adjective comes before the noun). TwJwW cdjefWe □VlHlJn D’iJH

“the stron g na tio ns,” cf. Mic 4:3

b. When the noun is definite and the adjective indefinite, the adjective is used predicatively (in English this adjective comes after

'Adjectives axe rare in Hebrew.


32

B. The Noun in Construct Sta te Since this noun is dependent, it does not exist by itself, but only in relation t o another word. This i s another expression of t he Hebrew id ea of totality; the phrase “donkey of Abraham” is viewed as a global and indivisible unity. 1. It alwa ys precedes the word upon which it depends, and nothing can be put between the two words, e.g.: HP’

“angel of YHWH,” Gen 22:11

2. It has no article, bu t takes the benefit of the article

of the second

word upon which it depends, e.g.: rp -lb n “count ry of the M oriah ,” Gen 22:2 EHpO i n “mount of holiness,” i.e ., the holy mountai n, Jer 31:23 (This is anothe r way of exp ressing qualifi cation). 3. It tends to be abbreviated in order to articulate it closely to the following wo rd (hence its name: “ construct”). Th e wo rd in construct

state tends to lose its phonetic weight: the ending of the word as well as its vowels may be shortened. a. The Ending The ending of the word changes in feminine singular and in masculine plural. If the word is feminine, the long vocal becomes the short n . (n is replaced by n). J"» t c m nSZ7 “the lip (shore) of the sea ,” Gen 22:17 . (Note: H 5 iy has become nsfr.) If the word is masculine plural the final becomes tsere. „ ,, , > (p i) f ' W W mo Q *

e

-

drops and the hireq 9 oo

■’SJ? “wood of the offering,” Gen 22:6 (Note: D’SJ? has become ’’Si?.)

Morphology

33

2'plT '’ijbN “the God of Ja co b, ” Mic 4:2 (Note: O’ribh? has become b. The Vowels Often the vowels of the construct noun are changed depending on the specific class that noun belongs t o. Th e following i llustrates the vocal changes in the inflections of the nouns: 1) Fir st syllable:

v-jllaWU.

"13? «- "137 (wor d -» wor d of) ■H3 7 Q1~ 3 ? (words *■ words of) ’57 8 (land -» my land) ’'tiipy wipw (sun -> my sun)

% c -

T % ^ * - gu t '

2) La st syllable: lo-ji-V S 'jA V afa le.

*niff (lamb -* lamb of) "13? *- "13? (word -» word of) rnion *r n io q (she donke y -** she donkey of) » rs-l?» (eye, eye of) 3 J* p n *- pn «- p n (law, law of, my law) *« C . Th e N oun with Pron om ina l Suffi x

t

_ —. , Hvj lA* 9 , T \ ^

t •”t i CrOT ^

In Hebrew, the words “my donkey” will be rendered by attaching to the word donkey (1100) a suffix taken from the correspondent personal pronoun. Thus from the personal pronoun '38 (-0, the ending \ (i) is added to the construct form of the noun; thus 'HiIOq (my donkey) or ’“O? (my word), or (my king). Again, the same Hebrew concern for unity shines through this constructi on. Th e suffixes are united to the noun, to form a single word expressing the totality of the idea.


34

♦Table 2.5 Noun with Pronominal Suffix

Personal Pronouns

■niaq 'pis

my cup, donkey

you (m.s.) you (f.s.)

■qniaq ‘HOis

your (m.s.) cup, donkey your (f.s.) cup, donkey

N-in

he

riiaq ioi 3

his cup, donkey

N’n

she

r n ia q n ç ia

her cup, donkey

we

w''uSiafo -13012

our cup, donkey

I nns

05912

you (m.p.)

np^jiaq

ION n a n /n n

you (f.p.) they (m.p.)

15-naq p p is a n ia q 0912

your (f.p.) cup, donkey their (m.p.) cup, donkey

nan/in

they (f.p.)

pi aq içia

their (f.p.) cup, donkey

Examples:

your (m.p.) cup, donkey

, 33

“my son ,” Gen 22:7 ’Qi3 “my cu p,” Ps 23:5 TT n? “your unique,” Gen 22:2

1“P

“his ha nd ,” Gen 22:1 0

In plural, the pronominal suffix is separated from the noun by the yod 0 ) mark of the plural, except for the first person singular where the combination of the two yods (the first person and the plural) produces the sound ay. ' ;irT ^ Examples:

^ j\ “his lad s,” Gen 22:3 DPP5# r "5’

“th eir two, the two of them ,” Gen 22:8 “my han ds,” Ps 18:21

III. Th e Verbs Since the verbs express action, Hebrew grammarians have called the verb, bv'B (PoaT), which means action. Th ree features characterize Heb rew conjugati on: the root, two tenses, and seven forms. Also the Hebrew verb has two unconjugated “impersonal” moods.

Morphology

35

An other par ticulari ty o f the Hebrew verb is that all these aspects o f the verb are always expressed through a single wo rd. Th e form of that wo rd will change, prefixes or suffixes will be added to it, but there will always be only one word. When in other languages people would need 5 or 6 separated words to express a phrase (examples in English: he has acted with intensity, he towill to one act, word he hasconveying acted himself, etc. . .of.),the Hebrew will be able do cause it withyou only the totality action. A. The Root

1. The Basic Idea Th e root car ries t he basic idea of the verb. Most Hebrew roots have triliterals.l three consonants and are therefore called 3HX ~iiJX 17T’

“(idea of) lo ve, ” Gen 22 :2 “(idea of) saying,” Gen 22:1 “(idea of) sending,” Gen 22:10 “(idea of) kn ow ing,” Gen 22:12

2. Irregular Verbs The verb is said to be irregular if its root is composed with letters which do not fu nction regula rly .2 Such letter s are either guttu ral letter s (1, 17, n, n, X) because they cannot receive sheva or dagesh, or weak letters because they tend to drop (\ 1, n, X) or assimilate (3, b). In order to classify the different types of irregular verbs, the three lett ers o f the word b%$ (to act) are employ ed. Thus, the first letter of the root is indicated as its 3, the second letter of the root as its 17, and the third letter of the root as its b.

‘Words bi-literal great; roots (two consonants) are also□£,found in Hebrew. Example: CK,from mother; 13, stranger; D1?, heart; he rose, etc. 2In this chapter, only the conjugation of regular verbs (also called “strong verbs”) will be learned (see Paradigm A, pages 54-55); the conjugation of irregular verbs (also called “weak verbs”) will be learned later in Chapter IV: Texts (see Paradigms B-E, pages 168-175).


36

3 stands for the first letter of the root V stands for the second letter of the root b stands for the third letter of the root Since the firs t lett er of ttfan is the guttura l It, we say that is a 3 guttural verb. Since the second letter of ~n^ is the guttural n, we say that pnu is an U guttural verb. Since the third letter of is the guttural V, we say that iJDK? is a b guttural verb. Since the first letter of ION is X, we say that 173N is a N"D verb. Exam ples:

Ehn pns T027 1QN "ibn y-p KW Dip

(to saddle ), Gen 22 :3, is a 3 guttura l verb (to laugh), Gen 22:2, is a V guttural verb (to hear), Gen 22:18, is a b guttural verb (to say), Gen 22:1, is a N"D verb (to go), Ge n 22:2 , is a n"S verb (to know), Gen 22:1 2, is a ’"B verb (to lift), Gen 22:13, is a 3"3 verb (to raise), Gen 22:3, is a 1"JJ verb

B. Two Tenses Like in other Semitic languages, Hebrew knows two tenses, the Perfect and the I m p e r f e c t These tenses do not express, like in our languages, categories of time (past and future), but rather categories o f action. The C Perf ect expresses the idea o f an accomplished a ction; thec lmperfect expre sses the idea of an unaccomplishe d action ( in becoming). Thus Perf ect corresponds more or les s to our Past, and Imperfect t o o ur Future. Another striking peculiarity of the Hebrew tense is the use of the Perfect to express a future and the use of the Imperfect to express a past event. This p erm utation is generally possible by prefixing to the extant form a vav 'There is no present tense in Hebrew; this explains why the Imperfect form in the name of God in Exod 3:14 has been translated with a present by the Septuagint (“I am who I am”). In fact, this rendering is both right and wrong since the Hebrew Imperfect encompasses present and future; but rather than expressing a specific time, the Imperfect expresses a perspective, in this instance,

the eternal perspective of the God of Hope.

Morphology

37

(called “con secutive ” or “con vers ive”). This form is not ju st used to indicate the idea of the consecutive, it also has a real conversive effect . 1 Besides the historical ex planation w hich is sometim es given to that linguistic phenomenon, one may also interpret that phenom enon, on another level, as an expression of He brew thought. Past and Fu ture are actualized not only because the people of today is “one” with the people of yesterday and of tomor row (i dea o f corporate perso nality), bu t also because of God who can see past and future at the same time (prophecy).

1. The Perfect The Perfect tense has three forms: a. The simple Perfect is m ade of th e root o f the verb (form a-a) with a suffix (afformative) taken from the correspondent personal pronoun. Thus for the verb 1702?, to listen (Gen 22:18):

■The strict interpretation of this vav as only “consecutive” stumbles on two observations. 1) In many instances the form is used isolated, not within a sequence and therefore without the consecutive idea. (See Gen 22:1 for the Imperfect form, and Mic 4:1 for the Perfect form.) 2) The fact that we find Imperfect forms outsidethat of the (the Mesha inscription, with the meaning of awith past,vav confirms theBible Imperfect form was srcinallyetc.) the only existing form with all functions (hence the qualification of omnimodal or omnitemporal, see F. R. Blake, “The Hebrew waw Conversive,” JBL LXIII [1944]: 271-295). This evidence does not explain, however, the phenomenon of the Perfect with vav which remains a unique feature of the Hebrew language. If this form has been invented in Hebrew by a sort of analogy with the Imperfect, why did the same phenomenon not happen elsewhere? This shows, at least, that this way of expression, whatever the “historical” reconstruction may be, corresponds to the specific Hebrew frame of mind.

Hebrew For Theologians *Table 2.6: Simple Perfect I heard (m.f.)

■'fiÿSÇ

You heard(m.)

from 'JfcS nriN PS

You heard (f.) he heard

»00

wn N'n

she heard we heard you heard (m.)

□oy&cÿ

CÇiN

you heard (f.)

IÇiysiÿ

IÇiX

they heard (m.f.) Exam ples:

•U7ÇÇ

lü en

riVS® you hea rd, Gen 22:18 FlvB’n you with held, Gen 22:16 ’r i y i ’ I kne w, Gen 22:12

b. The Perfect with “con secutive-conversive” vav is made of the same form as the simple Perfect attached to the regular conjunc tion “vav” (and). Examples:

'I- 1?CO and they will go (not “they went”) Mic 4:2 and he will judge (not “he has judged”) Mic 4:3

c. The perfectum propheticum is a simple Perfect which refers to a future event . 1 Exam ple: FOTTI You applied oil, Ps 23:5

'Only the context and especially the presence o f Imperfect form s indicate the e sense of this form.

Morphology

39

2. The Im perfect The Imperfect has three forms. made or of less the root of from the verb Imperfectalsois more e-o) a.with a The prefixsimple (preformative), taken the (form corresponding personal prono un. The prefixes are the lett ers 'W 'nX (mnemotechnic word: atynty), punctuated with hireq (except for the guttural X which has segol). Thus from t he verb r |~n , to foll ow (Ps 23:6):

♦Table 2.7: Imperfect

\ -j f p n x I shall follow You will follow (m .) -'iou r]'~'irk-. You will follow (f.) He will follow

^

’38 nnx

’STnFl r|TV

x-in

<,w rpnCl<-'

N’n

You will follow (m.)

iov •ISl'in

ans

You will follow (f.)

)L njQ'TIFl^x

1

She will follow We shall follow

1

They will follow (m.) The y will follow (f.)

njDTIFi, J

10

NO TE: in the singular, 3rd feminine and 2nd masculine are identical; in th e plural, 3rd feminine and 2nd feminine are ident ical. b. The Imperfect with “consecutive-conversive” vav is made of the same form attached to the conjunction vav, this time punctuat ed with a patah and a strong dagesh in the “ atynty ” (the pronominal prefix or preform ative letter):

Hebrew For Theologian

40 Examples:

“ION"! he said (not “and he wil l sa y”) Gen 22:1 □SUPi] he rose early (not “and he will rise ear ly”), Gen 22:3 {Op-1! he called (not “and he will call”) Gen 22:14

c. The “volitive” Imperfect comes in t hree form s depending the person. 1) For the first perso n (singular and plu ral) a lengthe form of the Imperfect is used, characterized by the addition of the ending H (Cohortative). Example : n D l'X ______ 1 f

let me pursue, I am dete rmined to pursue, 2 Sam 22:38

2) For the s econd person a shortened form of the Imperfe ct is used, characterized by the dropping of the preformatives (Imperative)} Example: u b ’lj send!

Exod 4:4 (compar e with n ^ F I,

j 3) For the third person the same conson ant body is used as for the single Imperfect; only the last vowel is shortened (Jussive). ___ _____ _____ “You will send,” in Gen 22:12)

Example: ,rn let it be, Gen 1:3, 6 , 14; 30:34, etc. \ (Instead of rPPP; see Mic 4:1 .) u * — c : _____________ r ' ^ ‘We include the Imperative under the Imperfect not only because it displays the same form as the Imperfect, but also because it expresses like the Imperfect a non-accomplished action.

Morphology 3. Negation

^

41

t i k . - 1-,

The negation is expressed by the two adverbs ver b. Nb is gen erally used with the Perfect;

iib and b x before the

Example: rQÉ7n iib you did not withhold, Gen 22 :12 and also with the Imperfect when it applies to a permanent prohibition. Example: 3jjn

iib thou shalt not steal, Exod 20:15

bit is used with the Imperfect when it applies to an immediate prohibiExample: nb^F! bi< do not send, Gen 22:12

C. Seven Forms

^

Like a piece of dough cast into different molds producing different forms of the same dough, so the Hebrew root is cast into seven different molds producing seven different forms (ff'J’J? binyanim: constructions). If we take the root b u z (basic idea of action) and cast this root into the seven molds o f the verb , w e obtain seven forms o f the same material. Th e root, i.e., the three letters bV2, rem ains the same but with a different form. Thus, the basic meaning “action” is presented in seven different ways or aspects.

1. Na mes o f the For ms To see clearly the pro cess, we shall indi cate the seven forms o f b v s as they come out in the Perfect and in the third person masculine singu lar of the conjugati on. This gi ves the name o f the respe ctive form . Th us the seven forms are c alled: paal, niphal, piel, p ual, hiphil, hophal, hitpael.1

‘Those seven forms do not appear in all the verbs. In fact only seven verbs have all the seven forms (J?P5 , break; uncover; n^n, be sick; 2 3 ’, know; I 1?;, beget; “ips, visit).


42

1) 2) 3) 4)

bUB Paal = he acted , 1 (Simple form - active) bl’EO Niphal = he was acted (Simple form - passive) bVB Piel = he has acted with intensity (Intensive - active) bUB Pual = he has been acted With intensity (Intensive -

passive) 5) b Hiphil = he has caused to act (Causative - active) 6) b'JB'il Hophal = he has been caused to act (Causative passive) 7) bysnn Hitpael — he acted himself (Simple/Intensive reflexive)

2. Charac teristics o f Ea ch Form DC f* qal 1) bVB Paal = the most simple form (hence its other name = simpl e). We have already learn ed its conjugation in Perfect and in Imperfect; vowel of atynty: hireq ($) 3 2) bVB) Niphal = 3 before the root; vowel of atynty: hireq ($) Piel = dagesh in the secon d le tter o f the roo t, and the S O 3) ” __0 hireq (.) under the first letter of the root; vowel of atynty: sheva (X in the first person singular) U\D 4) "bl'B Pu al = dagesh in the second letter of the root, and

s' u 6<
the qibbutz fir person st lettersingular) o f the ro ot; vowel o f atynty: shevaQ (N‘under in thet he first 5) Hiphil = n befo re the roo t, and befo re the last letter of the root; vowel of atynty: patah everywhere 6) bysn Hophal = n befo re the root; vowel of atynty: short ^ qametz everywhere 7) 'bi'S n n Hitpael = nn before the root and dagesh in the second letter; vowel of atynty: hireq (X in the first person singular)

•The Paal knows also verbs which express physical or mental states of being; they are called “stative verbs.” They may show some characteristic forms of inflection: a form bv$or in the Perfect (Ex: he was heavy, or yiBJJ, he was small); and a form *?£?? in the Imperfect (Ex: lODX, I shall need). But as a whole, the stative verbs tend to become verbs of action in their meaning and in their vocalization.

43

Morphology

'Note that piel, pual, hitpael (intensive forms) receive a dagesh in the second letter of the root. The dagesh does not appear here because the ¡3 being a guttural cannot receive dagesh.

3. The Form o f the Perfe ct The P erfec t is made o f the f orm (paal , niphal, etc.) w ith the suf fixes of the Perfect, dependi ng on the persons. Examples o f Form s in Perfect: Paal Niphal Piel Pual Hiphil Hophal Hitpael

FQ&n

You have withheld, Gen 22:12 I have sworn, Gen 22:16 You have anointed, Ps 23:5

njtîH rq'pz/ri rg'jtÿn -liqaipn)

You have been anointed You have thrown, 2 Kgs 14:9 You are thrown out, Isa 14:19 And they will be blessed, Gen 22:18; (Perfect with consecutive-conversive vav; notice that the dagesh is not in the “I be  cause it is a guttural).

4. The For m o f the Imperfect The Imperfect is made of the form prefixes of the Im perfect (atynty).

(paal, niphal, etc.) with the

Note: a. The l etters (n, ]) prefixed to the forms drop before the preform ative. The dropping of the 3 brings by compensation a

dagesh thepreform first letter of the(atynty) root. are vocalized according to the b. in The atives differe nt forms. (See the Menorah of the Verbs, page 53.) Examples of forms in Imperfect: Paal Niphal 'V2N!

I shall need, Ps 23:1 It will be said , Gen 22 :14 ; note the tsere instead of hireq by compensation to the impossible dagesh (3 assimilated)

in guttural.


44

Piel

Pual Hiphii Hophal

r?-i: ‘ptj?’ »

Hitpael 33H3 “

I shall bless, Gen 22:17; note the qametz instead of patah by compensa tion to the impossible dagesh (form Piel ) in the ” 1. She will be made fat, Prov 11:25 He will make lie, Ps 23:22 They will be thrown, Isa 34:3; note that often the qibbutz comes in the first syllable, instead of the qametz. He shall be blessed, Isa 65:16

D . Two Imperso nal Moods Participle the Infinitive areastwo moods conjur and gatedThe form) whichand behave like nou ns fa rimpersonal as the express ion (no o f gende number is concerned.

1. The Participle Each form has its own participles. a. The participle of bVBis: active partic iple =

(acting);

passive participle = b w 3 (acted). b. The participle of by 53 is (being acted). Note the difference: T(Partici ple) versus . (P erfect) un der the second lette r of the root (17). c. The partici ple of is b y s a (act ing with intensit y); prefix D with the vowel of the atynty (/?). d. Th e participle of is ?¥§.!? (being acted with inten sity) ; prefix Q with the vowel of the atynty (ip). e. Th e participle of is (causing to act); pre fix D with the vowel of the atynty ( 0 ). f. Th e participle o f b y p n is (being caused to act) ; prefi x of with the vowel of the atynty (0). g. Th e particip le o f byBOtf is b VBCiD (acting ones elf); p refix 0 with the vowel of the atynty ( 0 ).

Morphology

45

Except for the paal and the niphal which keep about the same form, all the forms receive the prefix 0 with the vowel of the atynty (preformative). 2. The Infinitive Each form has its own Infinit ive. In most cases the Infinitive is prefixed with the preposition *p (like in the English infinitive: to . . .). a. Th e Infini tive of b'JBis atynty.

(to act) Im pe rfec t without

Example: tiPI!?1? to slay, Gen 22:10 b. The Infinitive of is (to be acted) Im perfect without atynty, yet a n instead, with the vowel of the atynty. c. The Infini tive of is (to act with intensity) Im per fect without atynty. d. Th e Infinitive of is bVB1? (to be acted with intensity) Imperfect without atynty. e. The Infi niti ve of b’P in is (to cause to act) Imperfect without atynty, yet a n instead, with the vowel of the atynty. f. The Infinitive of is (to be caused to act) Imperfect without atynty, yet a n instead with the vowel of the atynty. g. The Infinitive of b y s n n is b i'S ri n 1? (to act one self) Imp er fect without atynty, yet a H instead with the vowel of the atynty.

All like the withoutnote the forms atynty are (hence likeImperfect the Imperative); that the forms which ordinarily have a prefix ] or n loose it and receive instead a H with the vowel of the atynty. N.B. Another more rare Infinitive is to be noted, the Infinitive Ab solute, so called because it is used without prep osition (in absolut e).


46

The Infinitive Absolute usually comes before the Imperfect to express emphasis. Examp le: ^13^38 ^ 3 3 I will indeed bless you, Gen 22:17

3. The Negation The negation is express ed by the adverb (cons truct form from the absolute "Pi? “there is not”) which is commonly used before the noun. Examples:

T 1Q 0 Ti? V&

no one making afraid, Mic 4:4 there is not (one) to wo rk, Gen 2:5

E . The Parsing Game Once the student ha s learned by heart, 1) the t wo conjuga tions (Perfect and Imperfect) o f the Paal, 2) the name of the seven forms, 3) the vowels of the preformatives of the Imperfect in each form, he is able to recognize and indicate:

1. tense 2 . person

3. form 4. root 5. translation Examples: r g n x (Gen 22:2) 1) Th e verb ha s an afformative * tense: Perfect. 2) The suff ix is H (rem inds HFiN) -» person: seco nd per son mascu line singular. * form: Paal (or qal). 3) The form is (a-a) _T(reminds 4) Rem ove added lett ers (h ere only the suffix) -» roo t: 3HN to love. 5) Translati on: You loved. (Mic 4:4) 1) The verb has an af formative and is prefix ed by a vav * Perfect

with consecutive-conversive

vav.

Morphology

47

2) The afformative is 1 -» person: thir d masculine plural. 3) The form s is _T-* form : Paul (or qal). 4) Rem ove added letters (here the vav and the suffix 1) -* root: ION to say. 5) Trans lation: The y will say. y??: 1) 2) 3)

(Ps 23:2) Th e verb h as a pre form ative -> tense: Imp erfec t. The preforma tive is 1-* perso n: third masculine singular. Th e form has a ’ bef ore the last letter, and pata h under the preform ative -* form: Hiphil. 4) Rem ove added letters (here the two yods)-» root: to lie down. 5) Tra nslation: he will cause to lie. (Gen 22:10) 1) Th e verb has neither preform ative nor afformative, but by the preposition -» infinitive construct. 2) root: to slay.

preceded

IV. Excursus At this stage, the student is more or less able to recognize the forms of the He brew words , as inseparable wo rds, nouns or verbs. This tripart ite class ificat ion is convenient and helpful. This traditional orga nizatio n1 is, however, to a certain extent deceitful and artificial. Among the inseparable words we count many words which may be analyzed as nouns in construct stat e. Th e prep osition s, for exam ple, are shortened forms derived from an srcinal “substantive in construct state.”2 And reversely, verbs may behave like nouns. Example: “12T n ^n ri

In the Hos beginning Lord), 1:2 of the “he spoke” (o f the

•Kutscher, A History o f the Hebrew Language, 8-10, 35-43. 2See Moshe H. Goshen-Gottstein’s Grammar (Tel Aviv, 1966), 98, 150, 152.


48

Also within t he verb itse lf the clas sification is not e asy. p ast g |j Future are expressed by both the Perfect and the Imperfect.1 boundaries between the two times are erased making possible a back and for th m ovem ent between them. Fro m a linguistic poin t of view, this phenomenon suggests the existence of a single verbal usually been recognized as the Imp erfect.2 In Hebre w, theform verb which to seemshas have prec eded the noun. This observation has, o f cou rse, some implica tions in regards to the syntax; but it also tells us something about the mechanism of Hebrew thinking: the dynamics of the action prevails over the deliberations of the designation, making the grammatical classification difficult and above all artificial. Thus Hebrew morphology is not just the result of a mechanical gram matica l proc ess, it is also the product o f the dynam ics o f the thinking, a spiritual process. V. Ex ercises (M orphology) Inseparabl e W ords * 9.

Circle all the 13 articles in Gen 22:1- 5; p oin t out the 5 articles before gutturals and the 2 articles in prepositions.

*10 .

Circ le the 8 vavs, conjunction of coordination, in Gen 22:1-5.

*11.

Circ le the prep ositio ns 3 (2), *p (3), Ç (1) in Gen 22:1-5 .

Adjectives 12.

Trans late the following sentences into Heb rew .3 1) Good is the wo rd, 1 Kgs 2:42

•See Marcel S. R. Cohen, Le système verbal sémitique et l ’expression du temps (Paris, 1924), 17. (Cf. Hans Bauer and Pontus Leander, Historische Grammatik der hebräischen Sprache des Alten Testamentes [Halle and Hilde sheim, 1962], 169-170.) 2Ibid. 3The vocabulary required in these exercises of translation is made of words

occurring more than 1,000 times; for the checking of the translations, see the respective texts only afterwards.

Morphology 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7)

49

Th e good land , Deut 1:35 TL ' Weak (H5~) hands, Job 4:3 T j ' J I 71 Q t To a bad (in ) thing, Ps 141 :4 Like this big ( b il j) thing, Deut 4:32 ^ \ 3 ; I n a bad thing, Ecc l 8:3 Good words, Zech 1:13 ( J j_ L I ' ' I O'

Construct State *13.

Find th e six word s in construct state in Gen 22 :1-6 and indic ate their number and gender.

*14.

Tra nsla te the follow ing sentences: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6)

and th e word o f the Lord (is), Isa 2:3 The words o f the days, 2 Kgs 1: 18 In the laws of the Lord, 2 Kgs 10: 31 fath er of peop les, Gen 17 :4 the land of M oriah, Gen 22:2 the qu een of Sheba a nd the wisdo m (n ttljn ) of Solom on, 1 Kgs 10:4

Pronominal Suffix 15.

Find the 13 words with pronom inal suffi xes in Gen 22 :1-5 .

16.

Tr an sla te the follow ing sentences: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6)

I and my hou se , Josh 24:15 She (i s) the wife (T ON) of yo ur son, L ev 18:15 From o ur hand , Judg 13: 23 H er feast (in), and her Sabbath, Hos 2:13 in their (masculine) hand, Josh 21:42 The ir (fem inin e) child ren (“I1?’), Ge n 33 :2

Verbs 17.

Indicate the 15 Im perfe ct forms and the 3 Pe rfec t forms in Ge n 22:1-5.


50 18.

Classify a ll the verbs of Gen 22:1 -10 acc ording to the compos ition of their root. Example: HDJ Gen 22:1 H"1?.

*19.

Pa rse the following verb s (the basic meaning o f the root is indicated in parenthesis): 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8)

20.

Pa rse the following verbs (taken from Gen 22:1-1 9): 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9) 10)

21.

TFiQFl (hide), Ps 13:2 rniyipj (hide), Isa 40:2 7 (hide), Job 34:22 ~in$N (hid e), Gen 4:14 (hide) , Je r 23:24 ysp N (gather), Isa 56:8 Tj-na (bless ), Ps 135:21 (reig n), Dan 9:1

(rise early) , Gen 22:3 (split), Gen 22:3 “l/ON (say), Gen 22:3 (see), Gen 22:8 t o n ( s l a y ) , G en 22:10 n^n (send), Gen 22 :12 (know), Gen 22:12 (swe ar), Gen 22:16 '□ ra ii rn (to bles s), Gen 22:18 (hea r), Gen 22:18

Pe rfec t—Tran slate the following sentences: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6)

you r voice (îp ) I have hea rd, G en 3:10 and you have hea rd, Deut 9:2 Hav en ’t you (feminine singular) hea rd? 1 Kgs 1:11 With our ears flTN) we have heard, Ps 44:2 you (masculine plural) have not heard m y words, J er 25:8 The Lord has heard my s uppl ication (njrifl), Ps 6 :10

7) She heard all (*P3) the words of the Lord , Jos h 24:2 7 8) Our fathers have not heard, 2 Kgs 22:13

Morphology

51

9) He let you he ar His voice, Deut 4:36 10) The voice of the turtledove (IIP) is heard in our land, Song of Songs 2:12 22.

Imp erfect— Tran slate the following sente nces : 1) you (masculine singular) have said, I will not hea r, Je r 22:21 2) You shall not hear (masculine singular) the words of the prophet (N1?}), Deut 13:4 3) He will hea r, Pro v 15:29 4) Th e earth (feminine) will hea r, Isa 34:1 5) we shal l do and we shall hear, E xod 24:7 6) don ’t listen (mascu line plu ral), 2 Kgs 18:32 7) 8) 9) 10)

23.

yo ur (masculine singular ) ears w ill hear, Isa 30:21 The words will be heard, 1 Sam 17:31 I will make you he ar the word of God, 1 Sam 9:2 7 All the people will hear, Deut 17:13

Im per ativ e—Tra nslate the following sentences: 1) Earth , he ar the wo rd of the Lord , Jer 22:29 2) Let there be ligh singular) t (“HX), Gen 1:3my com man dm ents, ( ni^ Ç ), 3) keep (masculine (~ÎJÇ) Prov 4:4 4) keep (masculine singular) (liJÇ ) and seek (masc uline singular) (Birç) all the commandments of the Lord, 1 Chr 28:8 5) Be kept from passing (133 ;) this place , 2 Kgs 6:9 6) cause to hea r (masc uline plural) and say, Jer 4:5 7) Speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt, Exod 6:29

24.

Particip le—Tran slate the following sentences : 1) Like these words that you (masculine singular) are saying, Neh 6:8 2) Th ey are s aying : the Lord i s not seeing us, Ezek 8:12 3) Th ey are speaking a nd I will listen to them, Isa 6 5:24 4) forsak en (2TU), Prov 27:10 5) The king who is making hi m reign, Ezek 17:16

6) Am I being the kee per of my brother, G en 4:9


52 25.

Infinitive— Tra nslate the following sentences: 1) To cause to he ar your voice, Is a 58 :4 2) keep (Infinitive Abs olute) the day o f the Sabb ath to sanctify it (ZH£ Piel), Deut 5:12 3) Whe heard of then was king, Esth( Lite 2:8 rally: in the “to be heard ” of) the word 4) To hea r, Judg 2:17

26.

Different Form s (binyari )—Translate the following sentences: 1) a voice was hea rd, Gen 45:16 2) the jo y (nnfttj?) o f Jerusalem will be h eard from far, Neh 12:43 3) All the na tion s o f the earth wi ll be blessed, Gen 22:18 4) And you will (Proph etic Perfect) expuls e it, 1 Sam 6:8 5) He re I am expulsing you f rom the surfac e of th e earth, Je r 28:16 6) D on’t make your voice heard, Josh 6:10 7) And the Lo rd spoke (Imperfect vav consecutive) to Moses to say, Lev 4:1 8) The men we re expulsed, Gen 44:3 9) And we shal l cause to reig n a king, Isa 7:6

Morphology

53

*The Menorah of the Verbs

fThese forms receive dag esh in the second letter of the root (if not guttural).


54

*Paradigm A: The Strong _______________ igp, Bind; Simple Form

Paal (bind)

Person

’JTTCl?

Sg. 1 m/f. 2 m. 2 f. Perfect

Imperfect

Imperative

3 3 PI. 1 2 2 3

m. f. m/f. m. f. m./f.

Sg. 1 m/f. 2 m. 2 f. 3 m. 3 f. PI. 1 m/f. 2 m. 2 f. 3 m. 3 f.

N iphal (be bound)

çrçtfi?

ri?TO ifntppj

iî? mtpp

rritÿpj

T : It

■u:wpj

0071^ 7?

9

/

vafe

■ntÿpj

“iti/pn

“itÿpç 1#n ntÿpn

f’ •^¿P? "itöpn J

~£p: h£pn

*Ï0p3 r\ •rp^pn njf?pn* -> j jln tfp ? / / i nntopn j

/ ")#3 •ntÿpn

.

\ f _>*~ t?

'

nn^pn -ntfë? n n ^ p ri ... -itfjgg_ ntpph(i?)

Infinitive Participle

■

-i-wp,i5^p^

_ ^ i? 3

ft«*

Morphology

55

Verbs (Regular) npB, Oversee Intensive (Heavy) Form

"1Q3

Piel

Pual

Hitpael

Hiphil

Hophal

(bind fast)

(be bound fast)

(bind oneself, conspire)

(make overseer)

(be made overseer)

1pn$P ppti>p pp$p

■in n # p mtfp r : ~ '■. m : :tsip —

(jiip)

n#j? m tt sp : -137^P

n n fp •UP#P □PP$P lfln $ p m #p ~i#p*$ iräpp n fp p -i$p? -i$ p p

i

Causative Form,

H?P3 n^pp rnpräpn n fp : nn#pp

apn^p 1CH$p ■ntsp

nwp?p

•,p p p ? n

n$ppn rnt^ppn

n'psp nn’pon •13PP9P □ PP P 9 P 1PPP5P •H’PBP

np?n nnpbn t : t ■unpsn □PPP9P 1pnp?n

n'p^x -rp?p

np?H npsn np?n

*

IP P ^PP P •n # p p n n^pps nti?ppn nfppp

nwp’ -M" 1%5 ph n$p3 •m p n nn$pp

n$pp? n$ppp n$ppj ■ntfppp nn$ppp

-•n#p: nn$pp

■mfpp: nn^ppp

S : n^ .

Ì *

n$ppp

' i fÄ

l (v > )

7

-i$ p p p

■'ppprin rnpsn t : l- : t pnp?n

PPP9P pppon

•u p^pp p npp$ppn

nwpb? n$pp n fp n

... nt tipi \ >n^p(ip)

■’p n tèp p n pp& ppp pn^ppn

■ •n

'Ti??8 n ’pO’ n’p^p n’ps3 •H’p?n 7 nnppp •iTp?: >nnp9p

/

\

\

np?n

( t ^p^ dO?) ~TpDD

np?: np?p np?3 / /

i

-np5p nnpsn t

: i- :

t

•mp?: nnp?n

\ \

*i

P ?0

CHAPTER m VOCABULARY The lexicon of Old Testament Hebrew contains some 3,000 words which are deriv ed from some 1,500 roots. O f these, 103 occu r more than 500 times; 490 occur only once (hapax legomena); 150 are recognized as foreign words1usually referring to things imported from foreign countries. For the student, the term “vocabulary” is usually associated with the idea of lengthy lists of words facing their respective “fixed” meanings. Vocabulary means “words” to be looked up in the dictionary, or to be learned by heart mechanically, in a rote m anner. Besides the bo redo m this assignment implies, it does not do justice to the reality of Hebrew semantics. In this section the student will learn the Hebrew vocabulary in two ways. Firs t, he wi ll understand the dynam ic nature of the Heb rew w ord which is characterized by three phenomena: 1) the phenomenon of “ram ification” : the word m oves outside and ramifies its elf into a multiplici ty of relat ed wo rds; 2) the phenom enon of permutation: the wo rd m oves within itself and has its letters permuted, thereby producing related words; 3) the phenom enon of polysemy: the wo rd m oves on the semantic level into several different meanings. Secondly, he will learn the most important words, i.e., those words that occur the mos t in the Bible. A first list will provide him w ith the 40 words which occur more than 1000 times (to be learned from English to Hebrew and conversely); a second list will provide him with the 157 words which occur more than 200 times (to be learned only from Hebrew to ■Numerically the largest group o f foreign words comes from Akkadian (50%) followed by Egyptian (22%), and by Persian (18%), and infinally byTestament, Indian and Greek (10%). See Maximilian Ellenbogen, Foreign Words the Old Their Origin and Etymology (London, 1962). 57


58

En glish). In ord er to facili tate the learning of these words, they have be en classified according to their respective world of thought (God, man, space, time), and as far as possible, they have been enlightened by their ety mology or a related word. Thus, the student will learn “intelligently” not only through under standing the linguistic phenomena but also through a thinking process.

I. The Dynamic Natur e of the Hebrew Word A. Ramification Virtually eve ry Hebrew w ord goe s back to a root. Thus we have for , example: From the root: H33, to build, Gen 22:9 3 in 13 son, Gen 22:2 na daughter rP 3 house, famil y, Mic 4:2; Ps 23:6 From the root: to go up by on, Gen 22:9 burn t offering, that which goes up, Gen 22:2 the Most High (God), Gen 14:18 ascent, stair, Ps 120:1 This phenomenon implies two observations with regard to the Hebrew word. a) Th ere is a basic idea which is carried ov er through the diverse ramifications. i b) Subsequently the tracing of the correct ro ot of the word (etymology) is of great importance for the essential meaning of this word.

1. The Nature o f the Basic Idea

,

The b asic idea wh ich is contai ned in the Hebre w words is concrete and refers to an action and a totality.

Vocabulary

59

a. It refers to an action. The soul, the individual, meaning “to breathe.”

&S) (Ps 23:3), comes from a root

Grace,strongly “IQU .” (Psv-.23:6), assemble “- 4-- .^ b. It refers to a totality. The word for sin, nxan, is not only the act of sin, but also the result of sin, the guilt of sin, the punishment for sin, the sacrifice for sin, etc.

Hebrew For Theologians The wo rd for judgin g, not only refers to the sentence, but also to the act of collecting the evidence; it is both the act of charging and punishing the culprit, and the act of saving the innocent. When the Israelite refers to the rnin (law), he does not only thinklaw, of law a setofof life rules,which but also as the book contains this theasway is indicated bywhich this law, and ultimately the Israelite religion. The word for listening (I?/Jt£) does not just refer to the act of hearing with one’s ears, it also means the actual result of listen ing, that is the act of obeying. 2. The Trac ing o f the Root a. The Method The process of discovering the root (usually of three letters) consists at this stage at least of two operations: 1) Elim inate the prefixe s (and the inse parab le word any): for the verbs, the preformatives, and for the nouns, the two letters, 0 and n (mnemotechnic word: I’lUDKit, I believed him). C’-iD'in) M im ) rfotsoo)

Gen 22:1 Gen 22:17 Gen 22:6 Gen 22:13 Gen 22:2

2) Eliminate the suffixes; endings of gen der number, and pronominal suffixes. (D,|)1 9 'il(n) òl)?3 ?(t$ ) (n)75 B(Sn )

Gen 22:1 Gen 22:1 7 Gen 22:6

Vocabulary

61

b. A Warning The fact that two words are made o f the same letters does not mean that thes e two words are deri ved from the same root. Five letters carry the evidence of at least two srcinally various sounds:

X, t, v , n, 1?. Examples: S3 = g h, or c, or s. The S3 of n~ by^ (Gomorrah) comes from an srcinal

sound, g/i V (preserve d in our pronunc iation from the G reek transliteration); this S3 sound g h is different from the S3 of "HQS3 (Omri), sound c. The S3 of DSy, sound c (meaning “strong” in Mic 4:3) is different from the S3 sound of 0251?, sound gh (meaning “close” in Isa 33:15). The S3 of 1?3 jK, sound c (m eaning “fo ur”) is d iffer ent from the 1? of sound s (meanin g “lie do wn” in Ps 139:3; cf. y2“' in Ps 23 t2)~.----n = h or kh The nt H of bin, the sound “sand”khin (meaning Gen 22:17) is differe from rt ofh (meaningsound “to pierce” in Isa 53:5) ___ 1 E? = s or th (like thing) The tVof sound__j_(meaning “oil” in Ps 23:5) is diffe ren t from th e 27 o f ru bt?, sound th (meaning “eight”). T = z or hard dh (like “the”) The Tof 1?1T, sound z (meaning “seed” in Gen 22:17) is diffe rent from the T of(J?i“lf, jsound dh (meaning “arm” in Exod 6:6).

'See Roland E. Loasby, “‘Har-Magedon’ According to the Hebrew in the Setting of the Seven Last Plagues of Revelation 16,” Andrews University Seminary Studies 27 (Summer, 1989): 129-132.

Hebrew For Theologians 2S = s or z or d or c The IS of y y soundjrf (meaning “woo d” in Gen 22:9) is different from'EHe'S'of/nî?,: sound s (meaning “counsel” in Judg 20: 7), and also f r o i S u i e ^ o f sound s (meaning “spine” V e . .? in ; t'-Lev 3:9). -/ r ■ «■. f-{

i

*Table 3.8: Letters Representing Two Sounds

B. Permutation1

1. By Metathesis The permutation of consonants may produce either synonyms or antonyms. a. Synonyms anx PDK bit, Nb

to love , to desi re, Gen 22:2 wis h, to desire , Gen 24:5 negat ion, Gen 22:12 negation, Gen 22:12

‘For a more complete list, see A. Weizer, IW1?! NlpD, 183ff.

Vocabulary to know, conjugal relationship, Gen 22:12; cf. Gen 4:1 to betro th, Ex od 21:9 ài -^5 ■;? (, &■t m ki

-IJT Q’?

wa ter, Gen 1:6 sea, Gen 1:26 to increase, Gen 22:17 to inc rea se, Ps 138:3.

3DT b. Antonyms np'?

to take , Gen 22:2

p^n

to share, to give, Josh 14:5

nn3 non

to guide, to drive, Ps 23:3 to camp , to settle, Exod 19:2

"IQn rn p

what is missin g, Ps 23:1 the supe rfluous, what remains, Exod 26:12

nnn □ rn

kill without Deut9 7:2 to have mercy, mercy, Exod 33:1

By Phonetical Connection nn$ nn^

to bow, to prostrat e, Gen 22:5 to bow, Job 38: 40

nn5 nnn

to break, Mie 4:3 to bre ak, Isa 30:1 4

nb©

to send, Gen 22:1 0 to throw, Gen 37:22

£30^ nnt£

to slay, Gen 22 :10 to kill, Gen 9:15

63

D32? £05$

rod , scepter, Ps 23 :4 judge, Mie 4:3


64 COW

whip, Prov 26:3

3. By Alpha betic Orde r ^3 a?: T

np'? tspb

Negation, Gen 22:12 Negation, Isa 14:21 to go out, Mic 4:2 to present oneself, Exod 8:16 to present, Gen 47:2 to take, Gen 22:2 to take, to pick, S ong of Songs 6:2

C. Polysemy1 3N

father, Gen 22:7 master, 1 Sam 10:12 prince, Gen 45:8

n?3

house, Mic 4:1 tent, 2 Kgs 23:7 family, Neh Gen 2:3 7:1 place, temple, 1 Kgs 6:27

TP ?

to bless , Gen 22:17 to curse, 1 Kgs 21:10

“□"7

event, Gen 22:1 thing, 1 Sam 20:2 word, 1 Sam 17:29

'For more Hebrew words with several meanings, see James Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance o f the Bib le. The dictionary at the end of the concor dance provides all the different renderings of the word according to the Authorized English Version. By searching out these renderings in the main concordance and noting the corresponding number in the margin, the reader is able to find the passages where the Hebrew word occurs with its particular shade of meaning.

Vocabulary

65

cause, motif, Josh 5:4 problem, Exod 18:16 ■¡$3

oil, fatness, Ps 63:6 ashes, Lev 4:12 sword, Mic 4:3 drought, Deut 28:22

“P

hand, Gen 22 :10 power, strength, Is 8:11 side, Ex 2:5 place, Jer 6:3 lot, share, Gen 47:24 monum ent, 1 Sam 15:1 2

Ip D

to pay atte ntion to, to see, Exod 3:16 to visit, Gen 21:1 to punish, Jer 6:15 to number, 1 Sam 11:8 to appoint, Jer 15:3 to avenge, Hos 1:4

to rem em ber, 1 Sam 15:2 II. Im portant Heb rew W ords'

*A. 40 Word s Over 1000 Times2

1. God God (Strength; plural of majesty; cf. Allah)3

1) 2) 3)

"ISX

131

say (most freq uent word ) wo rd, thing, event; verb P iel : to speak

‘In order to facilitate the learning process, the words have not been organized according to the alphabetic order but rather according to the principle of association of ideas. 2To be known from English to Hebrew and conversely. 3The comments in parenthesis give the srcinal meaning of the root and as far as possible refer to related words which are familiar to the student.


66

. 4) 5) 6) 7)

nipy

do king (to own exclusively; cf. Moloch)

a:?:

to sit down father (cf.

Ab raham : father of multi

tude) 8) 9)

103 rnrp

(cf. Nathan, Nathanael: God has given) give Yahweh [read Adonay] , the Lord (to be, to speak)

10) 11)

n :n "W8

be, happen who, which, that (to go on, happy; cf. Asher)

2. Ma/z 12) 13) 14) 15) 16) 17) 18) 19) 20) 21) 22)

13 cy □y

man (social, weak) son (to build) people (be united, related) with (side; cf. people; cf. Immanuel: God

nx Vs

with us) with (close r than Gy, m ark of the accusa tive) all (complete, finish) face (turntoward; cf. Peniel: face of God)

HiO ysty T

see hear, obey (cf. Ishmael: God has heard) hand (strength; cf. letter Yod; cf. iTTVP Ju

IT !

dah) David (the beloved)

-ry n?3

earth, land, ground (delimited space) city (agitation?) house, family (to build; cf. Bethel: house of

T

3. Space 23) 24) 25)

God)

26) 27) 28) 29) 30) 31)

a ia aw by 1»

go out go, walk . enter, come return, repent on, against from, part of, than (portion; cf. the Manna)

Vocabulary 32) 33)

nj

34)

*6

67

toward this, masculine; HNT this, feminine; these, masculine/feminine. no, not (Perfect); bx (Imperfect); "pN (parti ciple)

4. Time 35) 36)

□v

37) 38)

*12 nsn

da y before (prepositi on *p [to] and the w ord □’}$: to the face of) until (pass on, advance) behold, lo

39) 40)

*■? ON

for, when, that, indeed if

157 Words Between 200 and 1000 Times'

1. God 1)

■¡HN

2) 3)

in x

4) 5)

on

6)

□«0;

V) 8) 9)

b?o P in

10)

-fxi?

God (power; cf. Israel: wre stling with God) L o rd , m y lo rd s (firm, basis, cf. god Adonis) one, unique (ide a of monotheis m and of unity) angel, messenger (to send; cf. Malachi: my angel) spirit, wind, air (onomatopoei a, idea of widening)

■>17 alive, life (plural of intensity; see HJD Eve) strength, army be strong host, army (cf. HIIT the Lo rd of Host) very, exceedingly, might

'To be learned from Hebrew to English.


68 11) 12) 13) 14) 15)

1133 b iij « 3: bn'N liii?

honor, glory (to be heavy) great fear God (tension between fear and joy) tent, tabernacle ark, chest

16) 17) 18) 19) 20) 21) 22) 23) 24)

■pns in'3

Aaron priest, cohen (divine?) Levi (to join) holy (to separate) altar (to slaughter) fire (social, man?) flock, sheep (good, docile) burnt offering (nÎ ? to go u p, to lift up) offering (to miss the goal)

wip 03jr? cyx 1N2S nVy

25)

1W

26) 27) 28)

Ktpj nojii 190

29)

3HN

30)

¡¡X

31) □ibts» 32)""-a®;

n i~

4- 33) 34) 35) 36) 37) 38) 39)

Kj

*40) - 41) 42) 43) t 44)

ms nn? ni_i3 ip V 3TI?

P1TJS rn in "10®

TT

iniquity, transgression (to er r from the way) lift up, bear (with pi?: forgive) offering (gift) kindness, grace, love (to assemble; cf. the Hassidim) love (idea of emotion and total commit ment) to know, to love (idea of conjugal relationship) peace (complete; ribbtj? Solomon) to save (wide cf. r® ’ Jesus: The Lord saves) please (cf. Hosanna! “Save please”) Ni.: be delivered; H i. : take away bless (knee, to kneel down) righteous, just (be straight) law, teaching (to aim, to shoot) keep, watch (stay awake; cf. Samaria) ju d g m e n t, ti m e o f ju d g m e n t, sen  tence, custom / Pi: command; commandment) cut off , make a covena nt covenant (to cut; cf. K"13:create) visit, number, remember leave, forsake (be remote, absent)

Vocabulary 45) 46) I 47) 48) ✓ 49) 50) •¡v 51) +52)

OKJ X’ DJ

n's 2n3 xsn

69

declaration, revelation (sigh) prophet (to call, speak) thus Hi: report, tell (IJJ against) write Pi.: seek who? (H!J what?) find

2. Man 53) 54) 55) 56) 57) + 58)

DIN DX

DT

+■ 59) 60)

D 1?

61)

n?

p ¿A1: 6 2 ) t ' 63)

BN'-I

nji?

eye, fountain (cf. the form of the letter

64) 65) 66) r 67) 68) 69)

man (red earth, or red blood) woman mother (be wide, womb or onomato poeia) life, self, living being (throat, breathe) flesh, living being blood (resemble?; idea of life and individuality) heart (seat of thoughts, mind, will, feelings) head (cf. rPC?X7 beginning, cf. Rosh Hashana) mouth (cf. the letter D; 'SI1? according to) call, meet, read (cf. the qorDan ) answer (cf. ’ ’ jy poor, humble) »)

*18

DDE? inr i 1?:

nose, anger (snort?) foot, leg lie down seed, posterity to bring forth (cf. 7 ^ child; rii nb in genealogy)

/

4

70) 71) 72) 73) 74)

*W3 n?

nx DE

lad| young man daughter brother (hearth, fire pot?) name, reputation (cf. the name Shem) family, clan


70

75) 76) 77) 78)

■na 3:ix ni? 719

people, nation (often non Israelite) enemy (cf. the name DT’S Job) Pharaoh (great house; or noble, eminent) Egypt (adversary; dual for Upper and

nnt?

Lower Egypt) Philistine wicked (be loose, ill regulated, abnor mal) evil (cf. JH friend, not the same srcin) war bread, food eat, devour drink

86) 87) 88)

■>)? noj 330

garment, Hi.: smitecoveri ng ' (cf. “12 3 to deceive?) sword

89)

13V

90) 91) 92)

3'py: n b w ij

serve, work (cf. 1 3 ^ servant) Jacob (the heel) Moses (to draw?) Saul (to enquire, ref. to necromancy)

79) 80) 81) 82) 83) 84) 85)

jjtsh

'

nipn'po □nb

3. Space 93) 94) 95) 96) 97) 98)

TV "0

99)

D?g

100) 101) 102) 103) / 1 04)

"1210

O1

T

OSP

heaven, sky (be high, lofty) ground, earth (red) wilderness (to be behind) field tree mountain (cf. Armageddon: mountain of Magedon ) water (cf. form of letter D suggesting waves) sea, West way, journey, custom there send, stretch out draw''near; Hi: to sacrifice (lî?

^ r C
»t.

offering)

Vocabulary 105) 106)

□ipo njqo

107) 108)

nj3 1-13

109) 110) 111) 112) 113) 114) 115)

1? $ nu;

15^ rs 3’3p -no

116) 117) 118) —119)

7]in(3) HDCi

120) 121 ) 122) 123) 124) 125) -126) -127) 128) 129)

Dip

~ITt

Q’t? 3HT nps HON n s: □3 T

130)

xbra

131) 132) 133) 134) 135) 136)

nsx n P^

71

place (to stand) camp, army (cf.local name Mahanaim: two camps) build Ni.: be firm; Hi.: prepare 0Q base, yes, so) st0“V < stretch out, bend b o u n d a ry gate between (cf. p? to understand) all around turn aside, apostatize in u nthe d e r ,middle, i n s t e a dwithin of *» df faU go down (cf. n"T the Jordan, flowing down) rise, resurrect s ta n d ,b ev ict o r io u s pu t vessel, utensil gold silver gather (cf. Asaph: reco rde r) add(cf. Joseph: he adds, increases) also be numerous, great (cf. 31 many; 131 Rabbi) be full, fulfill forearm p o s se ss, d(about isp o s seeighteen ss, in h e rinches) it take in h e r ita n c e (to give) Babylon (door o f God) Jerusalem (city of peace)

'Read yerushalayim] note the hireq under the D as an indication for this

reading (like Adonay in rnn?).


72

4. Time 137) -» 138)

nr

139) 4 140) 141) 142) 143)

nrira

144) 145)

t

time;”nnr now,^ this time still, again (turn about, repeat; 1#: wit T

niy

“ P P

zn'n njtf ^ i o :$ z 3

146) 147) 148) 149) 150) 151) 152)

ra n x 4 ran s

153) 154) 155) 156)

"ION oîr

157)

131

&

rs#

"f

nxib io°

n*?3 ~or

ness) appointed time or place (li?1: appoint) as, when night new moon, month (cf. EHn new) year (to repe at, cf. njtÔ Mishna: teach ing) two, masc. (repeat; note the dual form) three, fem.; ni^bcp three, masc.; thirty fo ur, fem.; forty five, fem. six, fem. (cf. our “six”); □'’ $ # sixty seven, fem.; y-lDE? week; nriU?? oath ten, fem. hundred thousand (cf. the letter X) behind, eternity afte r (what is concealed) forever, cease, finish pass over (cf. '''131? Hebrew: of the other side) remember (cf. ~QT male)

Conclusion This dynamic picture of Hebrew vocabulary is quite disturbing. Words move and seem to escape a fixed definit ion. This phenom enon of mo bility may be attributed t o two fac ts: 1) He brew w ords a re derived from verb s; thus the y have preserved in their semanti c the t races of the dynamic s which created them. Wo rds are generated from within the action. 2) Hebrew words are not distinct and closed within their own semantic “gh etto ,” they are open to each o ther t hrough the intricate pulse s o f their phonetic or alphabetic content. This flexibility may be one of the explanations for the limited vocabulary. Few wo rds to say much.

Certainly this particularity of the Hebrew words will make the task of

Vocabulary

73

interpretati on diff icult. Here the correct ety mologi cal analysis o f the wo rd is necessary but not enough. Also the s tatistical argument of the classical “w ord study ” will often be misleading. Fo r as Meir Weiss puts it, “the word is a wi ld growth in the persona l garden of the pa st.” 1 The meaning of the word depends ultimately on its context (of literary structure, history and ideas).

III. Exercises (Vocabula ry) 27. Fro m the foll owing words, derive n ew words (same roo t or not) ; give biblical references for each word (use A Hebrew and English Lexicon o f the Old Test amen t by F. Brown, S. Driver, and C. Briggs). 1) 2) □T ibxn 3) □pi? " 4) “T 5) 6) ■nrç 7) 8) DÇ 9) 10) n ç wç 28.

Gen 22:1 O H Gen 22:1 Gen 22:3 Gen 22:6 Gen 22:6 Gen 22:6 Gen 22:7 Gen 22:9 Gen 22:11 Gen 22:12

1)

Give two examples of words whose roots refe r to an action.

2)

Give two examples o f wo rds whose roots refe r to a totality.

3)

Give t wo examples of words which are made of the same letter s but do not derive from the same root (explain).

4)

Give two examples of synony ms which have their letters pe r muted or connected phonetically (explain).

5)

Give two examples of words which have several meanings.

’Meir Weiss, The Bible from Within (Jerusalem, 1984), 75.


74

29. *1)

Circ le the words you know , and give the basic meaning of the roots (words occurring more than 1000 times) in Gen 22:1-9.

2)

Circle the words you know, and give the ba sic meaning of the roots (words occurring more than 200 times) in Gen 22:1-9.

CHAPTER IV TEXTS At this stage, we sha ll not make an exege sis o f the biblical texts. The main purpose will be to familiarize the student with the words in their context. Thu s, o ur treatme nt of the text will focus on two assignm ents. 1. Each word or express ion wi ll be anal yzed and translated lit erally, with the concern of reminding and applying the previous data in grammar and vocabulary. 2. Along the way, when it is necessary, s upplem entary inform ation will be provided; on the other hand, when the same form or word is repeated, translation only will be indicated.

Text I. Genesis 22:1-19 Gen 22:1 1-

VP], “A nd it was (It came to pa ss )”

Analysis: 1) The verb h as a pref orm ative and is prefix ed by a vav with a patah -» Imperfect with vav consecutive; apocope.1 2) The preform ative is 1 -» person: third masculine singular. 3) Form: paal (qal) 4) Root: PPn, to be; verb group: n "b , w hich means that its last letter (b of bvs) is n. 'The grammatical term “ apocope ” (from the srcinal Greek meaning “cutting ofP) is used to indicate the loss of the end of the word.

75


76

Note: 1) Th e final n o f ¡TH has been dropped (apocop e), thus producing the shorter form Y P1 instead of the regular form r P ^ l (remem ber that the sheva becomes hireq in lengthened form, see for example: 13^ -* ^3^).yod, now has a sheva and therefore cannot be 2) The preformative, doubled by the dagesh (regular after consecutive vav). 3) The wo rd ’¡T] (also iTH), see Mic 4:1) exp resses the impersonal subject and is often used to introduce independent narratives. 2.

-ini?, “a fte r,” preposition

Note: 1) As pre position and con junction , the plu ral const ruc t 'HON is more frequent; generally used with the pronominal suffix (Gen 18:10). 2) Wo rds with the same root: -inx adjective: oth er (Lev 27:20) “ITIX behin d, back part (1 Chr 19:10) yrinN las t (2 Sam 19:12) n n q x far, future, end (Dan 10:14) 3.

□ " □ in , “the things (the eve nts, the words)” H

article 01'137 plural of n3T O f the same root is perhaps r n ¡3^, bee (see I sa 7:18 with th e implied meaning of murmuring). Other words with the same letters, but not necessarily of the same y root (different sounds behind the 1): the holy of holies, shrine (1 Kgs 6:5) ”13 pestil ence (Lev 26:25) - 137$ wildern ess (Ps 65:13)

Gen 22:1

Texts 4.

77

n^Nn n, article; note the lengthening of the patah under the article to compensate for the impossible dagesh in the guttural N. plural of the dem onstrative pronoun PIT (this) Note :

has an art icle l ike □’“D irt (adjective used attributi vely). 5.

DTjbx n), “and the God” ) H

Con junction of coordination Artic le with qametz before the guttural N Root (See Allah in Arabic.)

De spite its plural form it is used with a singular verb . This is a plural of intensity or of majesty. In Hebrew, the plural is not only used to indicate multiplicity, but also to express the idea of strength and intensity implied in life. Thus words like “heaven, w ater, face, blo od” are always used in the plural in order to express the idea of fullness of life contained in these not ions. Likew ise the plu ral form of God expresses the idea of power, of fullness of life, which is attached to His nature (cf. also the plural usage in Gen 1:26). 6.

n$ J, “tested” An aly sis :

1) No pre form ativ e -> Perfect 2) Th ird per son masculine singular 3) Form: piel (dagesh in the second letter of the root) 7.

4) Root: HOJ; verb group : H"b; ve rb whose last letter (b) is H. Tli$, note the dash ' called maqqef (without maqqef. fix), particle of the accusative.

Gen 22:1


78 8.

Drn^N , Abraham DH^N longer form of DnnN is composed of the two elements: 3 N, “ fath er ” “pr in ce ,” and Dn, “ex alte d.” The idea is “the exalted pr inc e (the noble man).” In Drn?K, the added element is DH from "¡ion “many nations” (1 Sam 4:1 4). See Gen 17: 4-5.

9.

"ION"], “and he said”

Analysis: 1) Imp erfec t and vav consecutive 2) Th ird masculine singular 3) Paal 4) Root: "ION Note: The Im perfect with vav consecutive always refers to a past action. "ION"] is the most frequent word and form in the Hebrew Bible. 10. T1?«, “to him ” preposition, construct form of the absolute form pronominal suffix third person masculine singular.

Note: The ’ before the pronominal suffix because of the srcinal root "bN (like b v , on; "11?, until). to me to thee TbA to him to her to us

plus

Gen 22:1

Texts to you to them

11.

-* (DDtl’bi?

79

Note the vocal change from X to fc? whe n the accent shifted to the last syllable.

“Abraham”

12. "IIJN"], “and he said” 13. 'ja il, “h ere I am ” nan, here, behold

Dagesh in the 3 deno tes a dou ble nun in the primitive root, with pronominal suffix first person The is 'OJn (Gen 6:17) without 3 because of its general but in pause, dagesh in thesingular. sheva\ usage with silluq (here): ’Jan. Gen 22:2 1. 2.

“and he said ” np , “take”

Analysis: 1) Im perative masculine singu lar 2) Root: n pb 3) Form: paal Note: 1) The b (first letter of the root) has dropped like in the verb group V'S (verbsofthat with J), “give!” probably(Hos because meaning opposite inj, begin “give”; 1FI, 9:14)the from ]n3. is the 2) O f the same root: learning, teaching (Deut 32:2) n pb n ip 1?® booty, pr ey , jaw (Num 31:11) D?Dpi?5 tong s, snu ffers (Exod 25:3 8) ©\\t-

Gen 22:2

80

3.

¡¡drew ForMogians

N J , “ p le a s e ”

In terjec

ti o n expressin» su p p l i ca ti on .

Note: ht e N3 i n Hosanm! (Save, please!) 4.

?j;i3TIK, y o u r son 13 with pron om inal suffix secondperson masculine singular Several applications: 13"]3 s o n of son, grandson(Exod 10:2) " r i l 13 D liJ

u n c l e ’ s son, cousin(Num 3 6 :11 )

13 s o n of Adam, human(Ps 49:3)

Expresses quality: b :0 ‘13 s o n o f m igh t, mi gh ty man (1 Sam 14:52) niQ 13 so n o f death, mortal man(2 Sam 12:5) Indicates how old one is: niNO E7ijr]“|3 (he was) fivehundred years old (Gen 5.32) 5.

^ iT C rn ^, y o u r unique T iT unique, only one, withthe pronominal suffix second person m asculine singular _ Note that th e qametz ha s bec omesheva with the pronominal suffix like in the construct state ("Qi1-*"'S?)Words of the same root: Adverbs i n ’ or m , together (Gen 22:6) ; "inij, one (Gen 22:2)

6.

whom Relative pronoun, used to mean: who, whom, which, what Words of the same root: rn t 2?8 sacred tree (1 Kgs 16:33)

to go forward 9:6) blessed, happy (Prov (Ps 2:12)

Gen 22:2

Texts

81

7 . FQDX, you (fully) love Analysis: 1) Perfect 2) Second(qal) perso n masculine singular 3) Paal 4) Root: 2HN Note that the meaning of the Perfect here is not so much to express a past event or a finished action, but rather to indicate the perfection of his love; the idea is that Abraham loved, has always loved, still loves and perfectly loves his son Isaac.

8. p n ^ T N , Isaac Root: pniS = to laugh (Gen 21:6) See the root pn 2? = to laugh ( Prov 29:9)

9. ) "lb], and go An aly sis:

1) Im perativ e with the conjunction of coord ination 1 (and) 2) Roo t: "ibn 3) Form: paal (qal)

Note: 1) The n first letter of the root has dropped (li ke in r\pb). 2) The regu lar form is ~^\b(with tsere ); we have here (wit h segol), because it is used with maqqef.

10. ^\b, yourself The preposition dative, etc.). Used here with masculine singular. This construction give emphasis to the

b expresses the idea of connection (genitive, the pronominal suffix of the second person (verb with b and pronominal suffix) is used to action, or simply to express a reflexive (get

Gen 22:2


82

yourself), or is a dative of interest implying the exclusion of anyone else from sharing this test. 11.

to Preposition (note the abbreviated form: opposition, or actual presence at a given place.

12.

b) denotes motion to,

(the) land, earth This means also earth (note the similarity of the root in the English word, “earth”; cf. also the German “£VJe”).

13. n n 'a n (of Mor iah) Note the construct form, ¡T~lbn yHN, “ the country of M oriah,” where the article comes at the second word. The et ymology of Moriah is not clear. Perhaps rela ted to t he verb “to see” (HX1) in the local name Abraham gives in verse 14, or (and) the verb “to fear” (NT’) in verse 12, by means of alliteration. Jewish tradition relates the etymology of Moriah to the name of Jerusalem through the roo t, -IT implied in the first syllable Th e prefix Q often indicates place; the suffix, PP, is the contracted form o f Yahweh . Moriah reappears only in 2 Chr 3:1. 14. n ^ y r n , and offer him up

Analysis: 1) Imperative 2) Second person masculine singular 3) Hiphil (Note the prefix ¡1, with the patah.) 4) Root: (to go up); verb grou p: n " 1? 5) Pronom inal suff ix -in (Third perso n mascu line singular)

Note: 1) The prono min al suffix has caused the dropping of the final n of the root. The p ronominal suf fix of the verb i s another way of Gen 22:2

Texts

83

expressi ng the accus ative of the personal pronoun. The prono mi nal suffix of the verb has more or less the same form as the pronominal suffix of the noun. me you (M)

He makes me to lie down. (Ps 23:2) I will bless yo u. (Gen 22:17)

^1

you (F) him

i, -in

•mbip

He offered him up. (Gen 22:13)

•inn

He will teach us. (Mie 4:2)

her us you (M, F)

1? >

them (M)

□¡J , □

them (F)

1, 10

2) Th e un der the V instead of , (under the guttural, the becomes hatef patah).

sheva

5. □$ , there Idea of distance, something far away Word of the same root IliSB = there (Gen 14:10); also perhaps □02? = to be desolat ed, deserted by men ( Gen 47:19 ); nip® = awful, dreadful event (Deut 28:37)

Gen 22:2


84 16.

for offering

bpreposition: for “o ffering ” from the verb T\b'J, idea of “going up.” The absence of an article indicates an indefinite sense for offering. 17. b y , upon, on

y by Note the relation between band Th e preposit ion expresses the idea of “on,” “upon,” but also the idea of direction towards, against (Gen 34:25). 18. n n x , one "inx is the absolute form of the construct form, “ION. 19. cr nri q, the mountai ns The vowel under the article is segol (0), because it comes before the guttural il with a qametz n. (See Table 4.9 below.)

regular before

*TabIe 4.9: Vocal Variations of the Article 0 Ex: O’TQ^n the things (Gen 22:1) N 2

n

Ex: DTibgn

the God (Gen 22:1)

"1 \

before

n n

n

Ex: D’-ino

the mountains (Gen 22:2)

before

2 n

n

Ex: “liann

the donkey (Gen 22:5)

n

20 . “l$8 , which

Gen 22:2

Texts 21.

85

I shall say Ana lysis :

1) Imperfect 2) Firs t perso n singular 3) Root: ION 4) Form: paal; verb group:

Note: 1) The X of the root “ ON disa ppe ars in the first perso n (to avoid two consecutive N) and is quiescent (not pronounced) in all the other persons. 2) The holem on the preformative in all persons: ION, * 10Nn, etc.

22 .

to you

Gen 22:3 1.

DDt^T], And he got up early Anal ysis :

1) Im per fect with vav con secutive (note the patah under the 1and the dagesh in the preformative); apocope 2) Th ird person masculine singular (prefo rma tive ’) 3) Hiphil (Note the patah _ under the preformative ’) 4) Root: DDE?

Note: 1) Th e basic idea of the root, DDE?, is “to ca rry on the sh ou lder” (DDE?); the place name Shechem (D5 S?) has probably been given because of the effect of shoulders by Mounts Ebal and Gerizim wh ere Shec hem was located. This wo rd belongs to the nomadic vocabulary when people used to get up early and load the shoulders (of the donkey) in ord er to move. By extens ion the word came to mean “to get up early in the morning.” 2) Th e infinitive absolute DDtpn is used as an adve rb mea ning “early” (Jer 7:13).

Gen 22:3


g6

3) Inst ead of the regu lar form, we have (with tsere instead of long hireq ). This short ening of the Imperfect (apocope) comes after the vav consecu tive. (This is not a jussive.) 2.

Dn^3N , Abraham

3.

1 ^ 3 3 , in the morn ing

3 is the contraction of the preposition

3 “in,” with the article

0

(3 + 0 = 3). Note the dagesh in “l£3 because of the article implied in the preposition. Words of the same root: “igS (piel) “to enquire,” seek (Lev 27: 33). See the related words: “cattle” (Gen 12:16). 4.

3 (Z7/~i) “to seek” (Deut 13:11) and

273q ^ , and he saddled

Analysis: 1) Im perfec t with vav consecutive 2) Third person masculi ne singul ar 3) Paul 4) Root: Eh n

Note: \ 1) The hatefpatah under the guttural n instead of sheva. 2) The patah under the preformative (influence of the guttural ¡ 5.

1).

n b n 'n i? , his donkey Word with the same letters but not necessarily of the same root: ~!0’n

cem ent, morta r, clay (Jer 18:6) homer, dry measure, load of a donkey (Isa 5:10) ( -r/.^-W) heap (E xod 8:1 0). See the play on wor ds with “h aq, donkey in Judg 15:16.

Gen 22:3

Texts

87

6. np ?l, and he took Analysis: 1) Im perfe ct with vav consecutive 2) Third pers on masculine singular 3) Paal 4) Root: npb

7. ' ’ac fnx , two ’¡¡tf is the construct form (two of) from the absolute form two (plural, dual). Words of the same root: n® to chan ge (Mai 3:6) iljty year (Amos 2:10) to repeat (1 Sam 26:8)

8.

of his young men Singular absolut e, plural, person masculine singular.

9.

with pronom inal suffix: third

1FIK, with him Analysis: 1) Prepo sition "K (not to be confused with the par ticle o f the accusative FIN) 2) With the pronom inal suffix third perso n sing ular (’FIN, with me ; with you; inx, with him; etc.) 3) The dagesh in the FI denotes a primitive root FI3N (assimilation).

10. FIN} and . . . particle of the accusative, her e without maqqef. 11. pn?? , Isaac

12. 135, his son; p , son, with pronom inal suffix third person masculine singular.

Gen 22:3


88 13.

and he split -

Analysis: 1) Im per fec t with vav consecutive 2) person under masculine singular 3) Third the preformative, and Piel (sheva letter of the root) 4) Root: Vp2

dagesh in the second

Note: 1) No dagesh in the preformative yod with a sheva. 2) Words o f the same root: Up3 fraction, ha lf shekel (Gen 24:22 ) nyp3 J?'j?3

vall ey, plai n (Gen 11:2) fissu re, brea ch (Amos 6:11)

14. ’’55J7, woods 15. nÎ ?, of offe ring 16. Op*!, and he arose »T

Analysis: 1) Im perfec t with vav consecutive; apocope 2) Third person masculine singular 3) Paal 4) Root: Dip; verb group: V’S? Note: 1) Vi? verbs m ean that the se cond letter of the roo t is 1 (see Para digm B, pages 168-169). e name thefrom rootthe is not take n, as usual, from the Perfect formTh(here: Dp)ofbut infinitive □•Ip, because this form brings out the characteristic letter of the root, i.e., 'I. -» The 1 is preserved: a. With its long vocalization 1in the Imp erfec t paal (Dpi<, □IpFi, etc.: I, you, will stand up, etc. . . .) with the long

Gen 22:3

Texts

b.

89

vowel qametz under the preform ative. Note the seco nd or third person feminine plural njp/ppiyi (you, they, will stand up) with the conjunctive yod before the suffix HJ. With its short vocalization 1 in the niphal. (Perfect OpJ ) he was stood up; Imperfect Dp? he will be stood up), and in the Intensive forms . 1

-» The 1 is not preserved: a. In the Perfe ct paal (Tiipp stood up HOp you stand up, etc.) note the patah under the first syllable Dp of every person (closed syllable) except for the third persons (masculine, feminine, singular, plural) which have long qametz 'OD (open syllable). b. In the hiphil because of its vocalization Dpi! 2) Apocop e of the last syll able D p -» Dp because of the conse cu tive vav (this is a short qametz Tto be pronounced o). The accent has moved back from the syllable Dp (here long qametz because accented to be pronoun ced d) to the prefo rm a tive Dp*]. 17.

and he went An aly sis :

1) 2) 3) 4)

Im per fec t with consecutive vav ; apocope Third person masculi ne singular Paal, verb group: n"S (like ’"S; belongs also to 1"D) Root: (See Gen 22: 2 note on wor d No . 9.)

I I Note: \L 1) The n, first letter o f the root has gone before the preform ative. These forms are characterized by the doubling of the last letter, here the D which gives the formpolel instead ofpiel (Perfect, DJJIp, he raised up; Imperfect, ®5ip’, he will raise up, etc.); the formpolal instead of pual (Perfect, DQp, he was raised up; Imperfect, OOp’, he will be raised up); the form hitpolel instead of hitpael (Perfect ODpCin, he raised himself; Imperfect DOprr, he will raise himself).

Gen 22:3


90

2) Apo cope of the last syllable because o f the vav consecuti ve: (with segol under b, instead of T]1?- tsere ) 18.

to

19. D ipa n, the place Words of the same root: ffip to stand n p ip height (Exod 38:1 8) npi“1 standing grain (mature) ( Exod 22:5) 20.

which

21. '-12$, he said

Analysis: 1) Perfect 2) Third perso n mascul ine singul ar 3) Paal 4) Root: "¡QN 22. V?, to him 23. c rrb N n , the God Gen 22:4 1.

□V'3, In the day 3 is the contraction of the preposition 3 with the article 0 (note the dagesh in the yod). DV day, as division o f time (this text) day, in opposition to night (Gen 7:4) Other usages: 1) With the article DTH toda y (Gen 22:1 4); Ninn DTS this particular day (eschatological formula, Mic 4:6)

Gen 22:4

Texts

91

2) Adverbs: 001% by day, Je r 15:9; espe cially the exp ress ion Dpi'’ by day and night, continually (Exod 13:21) 2

the third "'Crbt? is the ordinal number “third,” from the cardinal number tbvj = three.

Table 4.10: Numbers Feminine

Masculine

no8

10 8

one

erne? eft#

n?a*y

two three

»3 18

n » 3 i8

four

ntfuq

five

uiy

six

»3 $

n»32?

seven

njbiy

rgbc?

eight nine

12?»

ni^y

ten

The feminine form is the most simple one; the masculine is the same form ending with n from 3 to 10. The tens, 20 to 90, are expressed by the plural form. Example: CPC^t? = 30

Gen 22:4


92

The ordinal numbers are generally formed from the corresponding cardinal numbers by add ing \ (i) in the last syllable and between the last syllable and the previous one. Example: tiby * 'tp 1'?$ = the third 3.

and he lifted

Analysis: 1) Im perf ect with vav consecutive 2) Thir d perso n masculine singular 3) From: paal 4) Root: NEO; verb group: V'D Note: 1) Verb gro up: V'D, means that the first lette r is 3. The 1 drops before the preform ative, hence the dagesh in the next letter (here 202) The qametz of the last syllable results from the influence of the guttural X which lengthens the syllable (like n). 3) Figurative usages: E?Ñ“l Ni}-}, to lift up one’s head, to be bold (Judg 8:28), or to restore , to hon or (Gen 40 :13) ; PV t0 up sin, to forgive (Lev 10:17) 4) Words of the same root: X’tpj

4.

chie f, prince burden (Neh (Num 13:19) 1:16) oracle (Isa 14:28)

Dn~ON, Abraham r

t

: — “

l’ÿ = eye -> plural form is dual

construc t T V (here, with -

pronominal suffix third person masculine singular).

Note: 1) Th e paren tage o f !?£ with regard to the corr espo nding word in European languages (English: eye; German: Augen; French: ceil) 2) "py also means spring of wa ter (Gen 16:7). Gen 22:4

Texts

6.

93

and he saw An aly sis :

Im per fect with cons ecutive va v; apocope Th ird person mascul ine singular Root: n x -); verb group: n"b Form: paal

1) 2) 3) 4)

Note: 1) The preform ative receives a p a tah under the influence of the following ~i which like the gutturals is attracted by the sound a. 2) Apocope: the n o f HiO has been delet ed giving the form, N T 1, instead o f nN“P (see Gen 22:8 ), iden tical with t he hiphil apoco 7.

pated NT], he showed (2 Kgs 11:4). op ipn 'D N, the place

/ 8. prn Q , from afar off

0 from the preposition 10 (from) Note: The tsere under 0 instead of hireq compensates for the im possible dagesh which should come in the following letter (assimilation of the 3), but is impossible in the guttural "I. Gen 22:5

1. ION-’], and he said 2.

Dn-QK, Abra ham t

t

: — *

3. -b s, to 4.

THU], his young men

Gen 22:5


94

5. 13!?, stay, sit Analysis: 1) Imperative 2) Second perso n plural 3) Form: paal 4) Root: 35?'’; ve rb gro up: ’"3 Note: Th e ’"D verbs are verbs whose first letter o f the root is 1 (see Paradigm C, pages 170-171). 1) Th is 1 is pre ser ved in the paal Pe rfe ct ’Jil?©’; ri iff’; etc. (I sat, you sat, etc.). 2) This 1 disappear s when t he preformative of the Imp erfect paal is added, 3 # n , etc. (I will sit, you will sit, etc .). Note the tsere under the preformative (e  e pattern); to compensate for the loss of the yod the regular hireq has been lengthened to tsere. 3) This 1 becomes 1 in the niphal, the hiphil and the hophal. 6-

D31?, to yourselves \
7.

¡13, here Also used with the interrogative adve rb giving the form, iiD’S, where (Gen 37:16).

8.

’ IS! (what?

who? where?)

-a y, with nN (with) expresses closer association than □!?: compare the com pound preposition from the surrounding (1 Sam 10:9), and nXS from close proximity (Gen 27:30).

9. IIQCJD, donkey Note the article il before rj (see Table 4.9).

Gen 22:5

Texts

95

10. ’Jfcj], while I myself 1) Befor e a hatef, the conjunction of coordination the vowel of the hatef, here the patah.

vav (and) takes

2) The function of vav introduces a n antithetical clause (here rendered “while”). 11.v -U?33), and the young man 12.

we shall go (we are determ ined to go) An aly sis :

1) 2) 3) 4)

Im perfect, Firs t personcohortative mascul ine(Note pluralt he H at the end o f the form .) Form: paal Root: “jb n to go; verb gro up: n"E>

13. 'i y , until (as far as) Note the related words (idea of time) Tiy again, still (Gen 9:1 1, 15) ny “iyiO

for ever (Psd 21:7) time (Exo 18:22) appointed time (Exod 9:5)

14. n'3,there 'Vti " ¡13 also means “thus” (adverb of manner) Related words: H33 (composed with 3 and H3) = thus (Exod 12:11) np'N or T ’g (compose d wit h "N and H3 )= how? (Gen 26:9) 15. njCj0l?33, an
1) Im perfec t with conjunction o f coordination v av

Gen 22:5


96

2) First person plural 3) Form: hitpael

Note on etymology: 1) Tra ditional explanation, root: a. Phen omeno n o f metathesis: when the roo t of the verb begins with a sibilant, that is a hissing sound (D, iJ, 2? or Iff) the n and the sibilant change places, thus, instead of in&'nrt, we have the better sounding innttfn. b. The final n may be explained as denoting the cohortative. c. Note the sem antic relat ion betwe en the roo t inZ7 (to bow, prostrate) and the root Pint? (to bow down, to be cast down, Ps 42:7) and n ® (to meditate, Gen 24:6 3). See also the word ’’ill? (to lie down, perhaps from the root nnttf, Isa 51:23). These examples attest t he exist ence o f a roo t nntP, mttf, Pints, or m» with the basic meaning of prostrating, meditating. 2) M ore recent explanati on, root: nin a. This root is pref ixed with st as in Ugaritic or in Akkadian; this is a hista f cal , kind of reflexive (characterized by t) of the causative form s a f cel (characterized by s). b. The meaning of mn is to prostrate, to wind (like a serpent). See the Arabic tahawwa (fifth form) and especially the Ugaritic ysthwy. 16.

and we shall retur n (we want, we wish to return)

Analysis: 1) Im perfec t with conjunctive vav; cohortative 2) First person plural 3) Form: paal 4) Root: 31E7; verb group: V'y

Note: 1) The root 3W means:

to come bac k (here) to turn away (Num 14:43) to repent (Hos 3:5) to be restored (Ps 23:3)

Gen 22:5

Texts

97

2) Words of the same root: rn-lEi/p apostasy, Jer 2:19 answer, Job 34:36 17. Q3,i?8, to you Gen 22:6

1.

and he took

2.

Abraham

3. 4.

(the) woods n ^ y n , of the offering O^JI, and he put

Analysis: 1) Im perfec t with vav consecutive; apocope 2) Third person masculi ne singul ar 3) Paal 4) Root: O'tP; verb group: ’ "I? (also found DIE?, Exod 4:11 ) Note:

1) ’" y verb s beha ve lik e 1"1? verbs (see O p); the only diffe ren ce is in th e Imper fect C’t?; versus 0 p \ 2) Apocope because of the consecuti ve vav,the last syllable has been shortened into Dip. 3) Th e exp ression 3 1? Q1!?, litera lly put on e’s hea rt, i. e., to pay attention (Deut 32:46; Hag 1:5).

6. 'by, on 7. p n ^ :, Isaac

8.

his son

Gen 22:6


98 9.

np-?], and he took

10. H ’? , in his hand

Analysis: 3 prepositi on in, or by the means of ~P hand with pro nom inal suffix third person mas culin e singular Words of the same root: ITT paal: to throw (Jer 50:14) hipb.il: to thank, to confess (1 Kgs 8:33) rq in thanksgiving, offering (Lev 7:12) rnirn name Judah 11. »NnTIK, the fire Note the qametz under the article H before the guttural N. Words of the same root: 2713$ man, socia l dimension, Deu t 32:26 iETX man, Gen 2:23 12. nb SS SO Tl! ^, and the knife Note the hiphil participle form of the word Words of the same root: = to eat, Exod 34:28 bpSO = food, Gen 2:9

1/13.

and they went

Analysis: 1) Imp erfec t with vav consecutive 2) Third person masculine plural 3) Paal 4) Root : i b n ; verb group: ITS

Gen 22:6

Texts

99

14. □nM#, the two of them Analysis: 15.

(co nstru ct ’¡¡E?) wit h pro no minal suffix, thir d pe rso n masculine plural.

together Original form, T^n? (Jer 46:12); idea of becoming one (see the related word nni$, one).

(Jen 22:7

1.

and he said

2.

pn ^? , Isaac

3.

'bit, to

4.

□ni 3 N, Abraham

5.

VI1K, his father 3 N (father) with pronom inal suffix, third person mas culine singular

Note: The yod befo re the prono minal suffix denotes a prim itive ro ot HDK 0 and n are often interchangeable, see verbs n " b).

6. nON"], and he said 7.

'I3 N, my father

with pronominal suffix, first person

Note: Irregular plural in niN (feminine form) ni3N: fathers, ancestors (Exod 6:14) like Q$ (name) -» nlot? names (Exod 1:1)

8. nON-"1], and he said

Gen 22:7


100 9.

’iSn, here I am

Note: From njn (behold, here), with pronominal suffix first person; compare with v. 1, No. 13; the segol (instead of the normal sheva, or of tsere in pause) und er the 3 is exceptional. (See als o Gen 27:1 8.) 10. ’J?, my son

Note: The 2 has no dagesh. Rule: The begedkefet does not take dagesh when it follows an open sylla ble (here , the of ’33n). 11.

and he said

12. ru n , here (is) 13. 27NH, the fire 14.

and the woods

15. rPN}, but where (is)

Note: 1) Th e verb “to be ” is implied, it is never used in the pre sen t tense or to introduce a predicate. 2) Fun ction o f the vav: introduces an antithetical clause (here rendered “but”). 16. n ^ n , the lamb 17.

for offering

Gen 22:8 1.

“llJIN-’1], and he said

Gen 22:8

Texts 2.

nn^QN , Abraham

3.

cr rib x, God

101

4 . ‘“IN'T, he will see An aly sis :

1) 2) 3) 4)

Imperfect Th ird person masculine singular Paal Root: HK1 ; verb group: n"b

Note: Verb group: ~"b. In the Impe rfect, fi nal n remains in ev ery per son except when the person requires a specific termination; then n drops before vocal termination or changes into 1 before consonantal termin ation. (See Para digm D, pages 172-1 73.) Table 4.11: n"b Imperfect

(i>

I shall see you shall see (M) you shall see (F) he shall see

n $ 7in A ’¡STirn d'oof n \ ^ - 1^(0 ^ nx:?:

she shall see we shall see you shall see (M)

Vs > p

} r „a.

dfopTI •w-in iwf Ti

you shall see (F)

n r T

they shall see (M)

•1

they shall see (F)

T \j

Gen 22:8


102

5 . V?, fo r Him self, nuance of reflexive, or emphasis (God wi ll certainly see, provide)

Note: Dagesh dagesh in lamed; is a conjunctive so called because it comes from this the close connection between dagesh; two. words. Two main conditions for this dagesh : 1) Th e last vow el of the preceding word i s segol or qameti. 2) Com es on an accented syllable. ibTiin? Table 4.12: Dagesh Two Kinds of Dagesh Weak Dagesh (qal ) in Begedkefet Ex cep tion; rNo dagesh in begedkefet preceded by a word ending with an open syllable. Strong Dagesh (hazaq ) After article and vav consec utive * 711 Assimilation Verbal forms (piel, pual, hitpael) Conjunctive dagesh Trace of nun or double letter in srcinal root Exception: No dagesh in yod ’ or mem with a sheva

6 . Hf 0 , the lamb 7.

n^'y b, for offe ring

8. Gen 22:8

my son

Texts

9 . 0 ^ 2], and they went 10. Dn’Jlp, the two of them 11. 110!, together Gen 22:9

1. W a y , and they came Analysis: 1) Imp erfe ct with vav consecutive 2) Third person masculine plural 3) Paal 4) Root: N12; verb group: T'37

2.

to

3.

Qipo n, the place

4.

”¡$8 , which

5.

'IO N, he said

6 . lb , to him 7.

D T ibs n, the God

8 . p-?1, and he built Analysis: 1) Im perfec t with vav consecutive; apocope 2) Third person masculi ne singula r 3) Paal 4) Root: ¡123; verb group: 9.

Dt?, there

103

Gen 22:9


104 10. Dnn^X , Abra ham

11. 03!S>iT n$, the altar Words of the same root: n 3J to slaug hter, to sacrifice (Exod 20:24 ) n 3! sacrifice (Gen 31:54) Note the related word HZiCO cook (1 Sam 9:24), or the bodyguard (2 Kgs 25:8).

12. T pjP ], and he arranged Analysis: 1) Im per fec t with vav consecutive 2) Third perso n masculine singular 3) Paul 4) Root: ~py Note: 1) H atef patah under the guttural 17 inste ad o f sheva; affects the preform ative which receives the basic vowel, i.e., pata h (instead of hireq). 2) Vario- us meanings: arrange in order (Num 23:4) - arrange in battle (Judg 20:22) - compare, evaluate (Isa 40:11) 3) Words of the same root: order, roW (Exod 40:23) evaluation (Lev 5:15) nrni ?/2 battle line (1 Sam 4:2) 13. CTiSyrrn!*, the wood 14. I'pi72], and he bound

Analysis: 1) Im per fect with vav consecutive 2) Th ird perso n masculine singula r Gen 22:9

Texts

105

3) Paal 4) Root: "IpU

Note: 1) H atef patah under the guttural 13 instead of sh e w , affects the preform ative which receives patah. 2) The expre ssio n pn ?? r n p £ , the bind ing of Isaac characteri zes this event in Jew ish tradition. i 3) Word of the same root, “lp ¥ , stri ped (of Jac ob ’s sheep, Gen 30:40) 15. pn^ ?TiN , Isaac 16. 10?, his son 17. Diyj], and he put 18. ln x , him nx particle of the accusative with the pronominal suffix of the thir d person; HN bec omes n ’N (with holem) when it receives a pronominal suffix, except for the heavy suffix o f the second person plural. me TIN ION you (m) ^n'N you (f) him in'N her nn'N us ■un'N D3I1N <— you (m) you (f) them (m) □n'N them (f) W'N 19. 'iv,

on

20. 03TOn , the altar Gen 22:9


106

2 1 . bgQQ, upon is comp osed of the word (upon) and the inseparable preposition ID, hence tlie dagesh in the D of bl'Q (assimilation of the J). Th e force of the meaning “from ” in has been lost.

22.

to the woods Th e preposition after bySO i ndica tes the connection; it has qametz, b, because of the implied article H before the guttural ¡3.

Gen 22:10

1. n*?#-?], and he sent Analysis: 1) Imp erfect with vav consecutive 2) Th ird perso n masculine singula r 3) Paal 4) Root: nb>27 Note:

1) Patah under bin because of the influence of the guttural ¡ 1. 2) Word of the same root: n 1?#, weapon (Joel 2:8) 3) table (Ps 23:5). It has the same lette rs, but comes probably from a different root ( 2?is srcinally different).

2.

0 nT?N, Abraham

3.

H ^n N , his hand Note the idiomatic expression, 1"PTIX mean “he stretched out his hand.”

4. 5.

ng?], and he took the knife

“he sent his hand” to

Gen 22:10

Texts

107

6. tt'nt?'?, to slay Analysis: 1) infinitive con struct; prep osition 2) Paa/ 3) Roo t: tint? Note: 1) The preposition becomes b befo re the she va (collision of shevas). 2) The r elated root nn®, t o destroy ( Gen 6:17). 7.

133'nX, his son

Gen 22:11

1. Nip-?], ar|d he called Analysis: 1) Imp erfec t with vav consecutive 2) Th ird person masculine singular 3) Paal 4) Root: N ip Note: 1) Th e verb N ip means to call, to cr y (Judg 9:7), to name (Gen 4:26), to read aloud (Jer 36:6). 2) W ord of the same root: NlpfJ convocation, sacred assembl y (Exod 12:16), reading (Neh 8:8). Late r the wo rd Nlpi? came to mean the Holy Scr ipture s (the e xpr ess ion n i b i lj niN 'pip des ignates th e Rabbinic Bible). 3) The Arabic word, Koran, (of the same Semitic root) refers also to the sacred reading of the Muslims.

2. V^N, to him

Gen 22:11


108 3.

"HS'pE, (the) angel of Also means: - a messenger (Gen 32:4) - a prophet (Isa 42:19) - a priest (Mai 2:7) - a heavenly being (1 Chr 21:15)

Note: Th e wo rd "nNbiJ is he re in constru ct with n in?. Th e abso lute form is (with qametz under N). 4. rnn\

YHWH (my Lord)

1) The vowels of rn n ’ are taken from the wo rd my Lord , to indicate that “Adonai” should be read ( qere ). The hate f patah under the guttural N becomes sheva under yod, and the patah und er the clos ed syll able ^ becomes qametz under the open syllable H I. Thu s the addition o f the vow els by the Ma soretes h as followed the rules of Hebrew phonetics. The comb ination o f the tw o—the T etrag ram maton (the four letters, YHWH) and the vowels of Adonai-makes the artificial name Jehovah (probably 16th century srcin). 2) Th e meaning of Ptirp. a. The root m n means “to b e ,” or (see Ug arit ic) “to spea k.” In Hebrew the idea of existence and of word are related (cf. the word "13n, meaning thing, event and word). b. The form , mn% is probably to be analyzed as a hiphil. Imp erfect, third perso n, mean ing “he w ill cause to be. ” The approximate srcinal pronunciation is Yahweh. 5.

"¡0, from Prep osition exp ressing the idea o f srcin (from , ou t of). This preposition indicates also the comparison (than). Example: Vn$l2 VnjO in'an, the priest that is greater than his brethren (Lev 21:10).

Gen 22:11

Texts

109

comparative accounts for the This Hebrew expression of the Hebrew idea of total ity. “To com pare ” means in Hebrew to refe r to an object in relation to a total ity of which th is object i s a pa rt. Thus , “the priest is greater than his brethren” will be translated in Hebrew “the priest is greater out of his brethren.”

6.

the heav ens Probably related to the wo rd (Arabic shama: be high, lofty).

7.

expressing the idea of far distance

and he said

8. Drn:?K, Abraha m 9. o n n a x , Abr aham

10. "I0 X’’], and he said 11. ,J3n, here I am Gen 22:12

1.

and he said

2.

not, do not (negation for Imperfec t)

3. n ^ n , you shall send

Analysis: 1) 2) 3) 4)

Imperfect Second person mascu line singular Paal Root: nbw

4- n : , your hand; “P, hand, with pronominal suffix of second person masculine singular

Gen 22:12

110 5.

Hebrew For Theologians 'b x , to , on; the prep osition *?X may also connote agressivity (see Gen 4:8).

6. 7.

the young man

iWErb#], and don’t do Analysis: 1) Impe rfect; apocope; ju ssiv e 2) Second person masculine singular 3) Paul 4) Root: n&y; verb group: n"b Note: The ju ssiv e is found in the second and the third person singular and plural. With t he negation ^X, it expr esses a st rong prohibi tion.

8.

V?, to him

9.

anything From HOT nip: what and what, or from DiXIJ, DID: spot, point (Lev 21:17)

10.

becau se (since) Like fo r other conjunctions, the meaning of ’5 is very flexible a nd has a wide range of applications: - that, Gen 22:12 (below) - when, Gen 6:1

11. n n y , now 1) Fro m n # time (Hos 10:12) 2) Orig inal root n jy , hence the dagesh in the n of nni? (assimilation)

Gen 22:12

Texts

111

3) The terminati on Ht indicates prob ably the trace of a primitive accusative case end ing1 (like the old Arabic a), meaning this time, i.e., “now.” 12.

I have know n.

Analysis: -1) Perfect 2) First person masculine singular 3) Paal 4) Root: i n 1; verb gro up : V'D Note: 1) The meani ng of the Pe rfect i mplying comp lete knowledge 2) The word 27 T “to kn ow ” implies intellectual, as well as physical knowledge. This word i s used to expre ss the intimacy and the experience of the conjugal relationship (Gen 4:1). 13. ••’? , that Another usage of this conjunction (see 10) is to introduce a clause depending on a verb. 14. tO ’, fearing

Analysis: 1) Participle 2) Masculine singular 'Case endings have disappeared in biblical Hebrew. Only some rare words have preserved remains of the primitive forms. For instance the ending n, &, (accusative) to express direction (example: n 'j i ? “to Babel,” 2 Kgs 24:15); or the ending 1, o, (probably from the accusative; example: in ’fl “the beast of the earth,” Gen 1:24, cf. vs. 25); or the ending 1, u, in the proper names (nominative; example: bs-13? Gen 32:32); or the ending ’□ = y, in the proper names (genitive; example: “the king of righteousness,” Gen 14:18). The ancient Semitic declension had indeed three cases: nominative («), genitive (0, and accusative (a).

Gen 22:12


112

3) Co nstruct form (absolute X T -» JO?) 4) Root: N“P; verb group: V'S

Note: 1) Usu ally in relation to God 2) Word of the same root: ini] ( niphal ) something frightful, terrible, in relation to God (Judg 13:6) 3) Th e form pael characterizes g enerally the stative verbs —i. e., the verbs which express a state or a quality (intransitive meaning). Example: 123 heavy, Gen 41:31 15. □Tibx , God 16. n n x , you 17. K1?], for not Note the function of the conjunctive vav: it introduces a clause of cause (here rendered “for”). 18.

you hav e (not) withh eld

Analysis: 1) Perfect 2) Second person masculine singular 3) Paal 4) Root: *l^n 19. ^|J3TIN, you r son 20. TITrT' n!*, yo ur unique 21. ’Mi?, from me The preposition 1$ with the pronominal suffix of the first person. With heavy suffixes the simple form remain s (fo r exam ple: from you , plural); with light suffixe s, the 0 is double d ’’58$.

Gen 22:12

Texts

113

Gen 22:13

1. Xcf?], and he lifted 2.

□n'^QN, Abraham

3.

IV irn X , his eyes

4.

N T], and he saw

5.

Tlijrn, and here

6.

ram Words of the same root: b'K deer, 1 Kgs 5:3 leader, Exod 15:15 terebinth, Isa 1:29 perhaps also God, Gen 22:1

7.

8.

"inN;,1 after it was caught

Analysis: 1) Perfect 2 2) Third person masculi ne singul ar 3) Niphal 4) Root: TnN; verb group: N"D

‘Several manuscripts and versions have the word “inNl (one); 1 and T are often confused in Hebrew writing. 2Participle if we have a qametz Tn$3 as indicated in some manuscripts and versions; the Perfect fits better the reading "inx (after), whereas the participle fits better the reading “int< (one).

Gen 22:13


114

Note: 1) The hatefsegol under the guttural N instead of hireq (niphal ); this is a compromise between the sound “a” to which is attached the guttural and the required hireq. 2) Th e 3 influenced by t he guttural has taken the basic vow el segol. 9.

in the thicket ( 1) Preposition 2 with the article n, hence the dagesh in 0. 2) W ord of the same root: T] 3 $, verb, to interweave (Nah 1:10).

10.

by its horns

Analysis: 1) 3 preposition meaning “in” or “by means o P (inst rumental ). 2) The form segolate, p p , horn (fe minine singular) , has a dual plural D?pp (absolute form) which becomes ''¡Dp in construct state; the latter form is the one used here with the pronominal suffix (third person masculine singular) T'JIp. 3) The accent on v i l p has lengthened the regular pata h to a qametz under the 3. 4) p p has several mean ings: - wind instrument (”l?i27), Josh 6:5 - symbol of strength, Deut 33:17 - rays, Exod 34:29‘ Mr? ')

11.

and he went

12. D nia X , Abra ham 13. rip"], and he took 14.

the ram

'St. Jerome who understood p p in its primitive sense of “horn” translated the verse “Horns formed in his face” in the Vulgate. Later, drawing upon the Vulgate mistranslation, Michelangelo created his sculpture of Moses with two horns extended from his forehead.

Gen 22:13

Texts 15.

115

and he offe red it up

Analysis: 1) Imp erfect with consecutive vav 2) 3) \ 4)

Third masculine singu lar with pronom inal suffi x (third personperson masculine singular) Hiphil Root: nbiJ; verb group: n "b

Note: 1) The ha tef patah comes under the guttural V instead of sheva (laryngals are attracted by the sound “a”). 2) The n of the root has been dropped before the prono minal suffix. 16.

for offer ing

17. n n n , instead 1) Preposition, means “u nder, be ne ath ,” Gen 7:19 2) In idiomatic expression: - the plac e in which one stands: VFiqO int? stay ev ery on e in his place, Exod 16:29 - in place of, inst ead of, nnn eye for eye, Exo d 21 :24 18. 133, his son.

Gen 22:14

1• Knp?], and he calle d 2.

Dqn?!!?, Abraham

3.

"Dtp, name 1) In con struct state with the follow ing word 2) D!J? has several meanings a. Nam e, Gen 26:33

Gen 22:14


116 b. c.

Reputation; note the play on words between D# (name) and •¡0 # (oil, perfume) in Eccl 7:1: 3it2 0«? 3i£2: A good name is better than a good oil. Monu ment, Is a 55:13 , note the idiom atic exp ress ion 0271 ”P (literally “hand and name”) which means “memorial” (Isa 56:5).

4. ^f'5.

Dipipn, (of) the plac e K-inn, this very one 1) Liter ally “the it ” (here referrin g to place) or “the h e .” Nin, th ird person masculine singular is used as a demonstrative, “this very For example: NlHil Di"3 , in that very day, Mic 4:6. 2) place.” Othe r usages: a. Perso nal prono un (subject) , emphatic: “h e” or “it ” (Gen 3:15) b. Used as emphatic predicate of God: X-in ’’JS, ’JiS, L I am He. Deut 32:39 (cf. Isa 41:4)‘ c. In a neuter sense, “th at, ” “it ”; also with an em phatic n ote: ■’FT QI N il, that (is) what I said (Ex od 16:23)

6 . HjrP, the Lord 7.

nx~T, will see

8. 11^ 8 , so that 1) This is anot her meaning o f "l${$ clos e to ’3. 2) May also have a causal force: KOO bec aus e he defile d (Gen 34:13).

’The Septuagint usually translates this expression byego eimi, I am, as in Exod 3:14 (cf. John 8:58).

Gen 22:14

Texts

9.

117

it will be said

Analysis: 1) Imperfect 2) 3) Third Niphalperson masculine singular 4) Root: ”iaX; verb grou p:

Note: Tsere is used under the preformative yod instead of hireq as a compensation for the impossible dagesh (assimilation of the J of niphal) in the guttural N.

10. OV’H, today Literall y “ the day ” with a dem onstrative force, namely, “this day ”

11. i n ? , in (the) mount ain 3 preposition, without the article n, in construct state with the following word 12. rn n :, of the Lord 13. rUSH’, it will be seen.

Analysis: 1) Imperfect 2) Third person masculine singular 3) Niphal 4) Root: HNI; verb group: T\"b Note: Tsere is used under the preformative yod instead of hireq as a compensation for the impossible dagesh (assimilation of the 3 of niphal) in the guttural ” 1.

Gen 22:14


118 Ge n 22:1 5

1. Nip? ], and he called 2 . 'qs'pO, (the) angel 3.

rU T , (of) the Lord

4. 5.

to o rn iX , Abraham

6 . IT}#, a seco nd time 1) Feminin e ordinal num bber; thethe mascu line form is ''327 2) He re used a s an adver with feminine e nding n . because t he femin ine word DJ?5 (time) is impli ed. See r p y 3 # 0 0 ^ 3 3 , the seventh time (Josh 6:16). 7.

"|f5, from

8.

the heavens (Fo r the plu ral form , see ou r com me nt on v. 1, No. 5.)

Gen 22:16

1. 2.

and he said ’2 , by (in) Myself Preposition 3, with pronominal suffix first person

3.

■|n y 3 S?J, I have sworn Ana lysis :

1) Perfect 2) Fi rst person singular 3) Niphal

Gen 22:15, 16

Texts

119

4) Root: 17327

Note: 1) Here the Pe rfect tense expresses the completeness o f God ’s swearing; it is definitive. 2) Wo rds of the same root: 173# seven (Gen 21:28) ny-1327 oath (Gen 26:3) 4?13t£ week, period o f seven days (Dan 9:27) 4.

dec laration (oracle)

This word is always used in construct state and before divine ___ names by the prophet citing the divine word (Isa 14:22; Amos 2:11). 5.

Hin?, (of) the Lord

6. ’S, since 1) This is anoth er usag e fo r the con junc tion ’’3. 2) Note the constr ucti on (v. 17) , 3 ...,3 ; the first introduces the clause of reason or cause; the second "'3 (v. 17), introduces the clause of result (cf. 1 Kgs 1:30). 7.

"I#*? li?:, because that

Note: 1) This l ocution is rare ly used; with ’ 3 it deno tes a strong causal nuance. 2) Words of the same root: Hi]? to be occup ied, worrie d (Ec cl 1:13) ]î7 con cern , occupation (Eccl 1:13) yjtib for the mo tif of, on account o f (Ps 23:3) 3) Other words with the same’lett ers, but not nec essarily of the same root. ¡131? ' to answer (Mic 6:5) ¡131? to be afflicted, humiliated (Ps 119:107) ’’jy poor (Ps 10:2)

Gen 22:16


120

8. n 't? ? , you have done An aly sis:

1) 2) 3) 4)

Perfect Second person masculine singular Paal Root: ntPl?; ver b grou p: n"b

Note: n"b verbs in Perfect 1) The final n remains only in the third person masculine singular HE?17, he made (fem inine she made). 2) The final H drops out before a vocal ending (only -tiPI?, they made) and changes into , befo re a consona ntal ending, I made. (See Paradigm D, pages 172-173.) Table 4.13: n"b Perfect I made

ijvc?y

you made (singular masculine)

rri?y

you made (singular feminine)

fl'jpy

he made

n

she made

nne?i?

we made

irtpy

you made (plural masculine)

a p ’tpil

r :

.

t

you made (plural feminine) they made

9.

'I^ O T IK , the thing

10. ru n , (the) this (this thing) Note on the demonstrative pronoun HT, this.

1271?

Gen 22:16

Texts

121

1) Is used like the adjec tive (follows the sub stan tive and can also receive the article n). 2) Used as an adve rb whe n attached to certa in word s, ¡IT ’N, wh ich, where (Job 28:20). 3) Fem inin e word nXT; a. When related to feminine wo rd (Gen 2:23 ) b. With a neuter sense J1NT you did this (Gen 3:14) c. The locution nNT V33 , in spite of this (Ps 78:3 2)

11. X1?}, and not 12. rp i£ n, you (did not) withdraw

3 vl! rt =

13. T|33*n$, your son 14. ^TO^TiX, your unique

Note the segol unde r the “ I; the regu lar sheva has been lengthened under the influence of the accent (pause).

Gen 22:17

1. ’3 , then; conjunction introducing the result clause (see above, v. 16, No. 6). 2. 7 1 3 , (to) bless Analysis: 1) infinitive absolute 2) Piel 3) Root: 7~I3

Note: 1) The qametz under 3 (instead of patah ) to compensate for the impossible dagesh (piel) in the guttural * 1. 2) Th e infinitive absolute expresses the idea of the verb (idea of blessing).

Gen 22:17


122

3.

I shall bless you

$ £ + . A nalysis: 'I'y' 1) Imp erfec t with pronom inal suffix (s econd perso n masculine ■•'r singular) 2) First person masculine singular 3) Piel 4) Root: 113 Note: 1) Th e form , Tp;p (infinitiv e abso lute), follow ed by the Imperfect meaning literally “bless I will bless”; this pleonastic language is used to emphasize the certainty of the statement, thus meaning: “I shall certainly bless you.” 2) The tsere under “I has been short ened into segol because of the additi on of the pronom inal suffix. 4.

rt3 ^ni, and (to) cause increase

Analysis: 1) infinitive absolute with conjunction of coord ination vav. 2) Hiphil 3) Root: n3"l; verb gro up: H"1? Note: 1) Th e form, n3~in, i nstead of the common form H 3 jH, which is used as an adverb in the sense of “much” (Gen 41:49). 2) Words of the same root: 3j Adjecti ve, great (Gen 24:25) 3T Nou n, ch ief (Dan 1:3) 33"l Ve rb, to be num erous (Gen 6:1) n33"p No un, my riad (Gen 24:60) 5.

n|H i$ Noun , locust (Joel 1:4) n? 7lK, I shall cause to increase

Analysis: 1) Imperfect Gen 22:1 7

Texts

123

2) First perso n masculine singular Gen 22:17 3) Hiphil 4) Root: r n “l; verb group :

Note: Like the preceding form, the infini tive absolute i s followed by the Imperfect to emphasize the certainty of the promise “I shall certainly cause to increase.”

6.

yo ur seed (from the absolute form IHT seed, with pro no mi nal suffix [second person masculine singular])

Note: Segolate form like Tjbfj which becom es in the declined form. H atef patah sheva under the guttural V instead of sheva Words of the same root: Mil to sow (Gen 47:23 ) y~lt veg etable (Da n 1:12) 4) Words wit h the same letters but not o f the sam e roo t (T has a different sound): arm , strength (Exod 6 :6) 7.

■3' 3123 , like the stars of 3, like 3313 , star (abso lute form); □''3313 st ars - » ,3313 con struct stat e plural (stars of)

Note: 1) Used metaphorically, w hen the word is plu ral it refe rs to the posterity, and when the word is singular to a supernatural being (Num 24:17; Isa 14:13). 2) Th e name Bar Koc hba N 3313 1 3, son o f the star (Aramaic); Jewis h leader o f the s econd Revolt agai nst Rom e (A .D. 132-135).

8. CPQ©n, the heavens

Gen 22:17


124

9.

bin 6 ], ar,d

the sand

Note: The article is implied under 3 with

pa tah before the guttural H.

Words of the same root: bin Verb, to whirl, dance (Judg 21:21) binip Noun, dance (Ps 30:12)

10. “IK?S, which, that 11.

on

12.

(the) sho re; con struc t state from the abso lute form , HStj?

Note: 1) The final H becomes n in feminine nouns in the construct state. 2) Oth er meanings: lip (Isa 29:1 3), language (Gen 11:1) 3) Word o f the same roo t, perhaps D ^t?, moustache (Mic 3:7) 13. DVI, (of) the sea Means also “West” (Gen 13:14), i.e., position of the Mediter ranean Sea from the point of view of Palestine. 14.

and he will take possession (inherit ) Ana lysis :

1) Imp erfe ct with conjunction of coordina tion 2) Third pers on masculi ne singula r 3) Paal 4) Root: KTP; verb group: V'S

Note: 1) Eh ; is a stative ver b (like N'T).

Gen 22:17

Texts

125

2) Imp erfect o f stative verbs usua lly f ollow the patter n b y?? ; i f they are '"D, they generally keep the yod of the root . 1 Examples : 1 3?? he will be heavy (Exod 9:7) N T 1 he will fear (Amos 3:8) EH-1;1 he will inherit (Gen 22:17) 3) The yod of the root is mute, however, (no vowel) and tends, the refo re, to disappea r. Thus ou r Eh?!; also KT’], he will fear (Jer 26:21). 4) The form of the infinitiv e construc t of the "l"D is wo rth noting; they generally loose the yod in the beginning, and as a compensa/tion receive a n in the end. I Examples: i"D$ from to sit (1 Sam 7:2) ntJH from E7T, to inherit (Deut 2:31) 15.

your seed

-16.

n x , the door Word in construct state with the following word (same form in absolute state).

Note: 1) Word Word with of thethe same rool etters, t, (2 Chr 31:14) 2) same butpon rter ot necessarily of the same r oot (different srcinal sounds in W): Verb, to measure, evaluate (Gen 26:12) Adjective, disgusting (Jer 29:17) 17. V3’k , (of) his enemies

1)

enemies of (construct form in plural), with pron om inal suffix third person (from 2 ’N,

absolu te form)

‘Compare with the form of the Imperfect in active verbs V'S: 2 E?’, he will sit (Gen 22:19).

Gen 22:17

« n


126

2) Words of the same root: rO ’N enmity (Gen 3:15) 31"}$ the name Job (obje ct of enm ity) (Job 1:1)

Gen 22:18

1. •13I]5liprn, and they will bless themselves Ana lys is:

1) 2) 3) 4)

Pe rfect with vav consecutive (prophetic Perfect) Third person mascul ine plural Hitpael Root : T O

Note: 1) Hitpael conveys the idea of reflection, denoting a nuance of participation in the blessing. 2) Qametz under 3 (instead of patah) to compensate for the dagesh that is required in the hitpael, but is impossible in the guttural 1. 3) H atef pa ta h under the guttural 1 instead of the regular sheva. (Gutturals are attracted by the sound a.)

2.

(in) yo ur seed

Note: No dagesh in the begedkefet 3 because it follows a word ending with the open syllable 13-. 3.

b'3, all More usual form; "33 (short (Ps 23:6).

qametz pronounced o), with maqqefj

Words of same root: b,I?3 Adjective, entire, whole (Exod 28:31) n^3 Verb, to finish, be complet e (Gen 2:2) ¡1^3?? Noun , comp leteness, per fectio n (2 Chr 4:2 1)

Gen 22:18

Texts

127

"ia, peoples (of) Con struct form from D?i3 (plural absolute o f *’i3) Words of the same root: r13n ? body 18) back (1(Gen Kgs47: 14:9) Note the related word HpU, body (1 Chr 10:12). n $ n , the earth

I D|~y, following (as a result of, since) Words of the same root: 3 pV 3'pjT

heel, footprint (Gen 3:15) to follow; adverb, the heel (Hos 12:4) insidious, deceitful (Jer 17:9) Jacob (Gen 25:26)

that, which riyi 2$, you have heard An al ys is:

1) 2) 3) 4)

Perfect Second perso n masculine singular Paal Root: VtiUi; stative verb

Note: 1) The use o f the Perf ect sugge sts that Abraham heard, obey ed completely. 2) Wh en followed by 3, or it means “to ob ey” (1 Sam 8:7, Gen 3:17). 3) Words o f the same root: nu-IEt? Re port, tidings (2 Sam 4:4) •¡itfiptf Simon (Gen 29:33) Ishmael (Gen 16:11) Gen 22:18


128

9 . ',L?p 3 , (in) my voice 3

preposition “in” constru ct form of *?ip (absolute form ); with p rono minal suf fix (first person masculine singular)

Note: 1) Also means “s ou nd” (Exod 9:23 ). 2) Wo rds of the same root, perhaps: b b g Verb, to be light, easy (Amos 2:15) Noun, curse (Gen 27:12) Gen 22:19

1.

and he return ed

Analysis: 1) Imp erfec t; con secuti ve vav; apoc ope 2) Third person masculine singular 3) Paal 4) Root: 31127; verb group: V’V Note: The apocopated form of 3TO is 3$ (short 2.

3.

0m 3K , Ab raham t

r

:“ "

"bi*, to

4.

his young men

5.

and they rose

Analysis: 1) Imperfect; vav consecutive 2) Third person masculi ne plural 3) Paal 4) Root: D p; verb group: V'S Gen 22:19

qametz pronounced

Texts

129

Note: Co mp are with v. 3, No . 16, wh ere the form is (shor t qametz under the p); here we have a qibbutz inst ead o f short qametz although it is the same form (Imperfect consecutive); cf. DpXl in 1 Kgs 3:21. The third person masculine plural (our form) and the first person singular are the only persons of the Imperfect consecutive to keep the regular non-apocopated form (with D p or Dip).

6. ID“?;’], and they went 7.

HO ., together

8.

to

V IN?, Beersheba

9.

IN ? U3t£

well seven, oath

Analysis: 1) Imperfect; vav consecutive; apocope 2) Th ird person masculine singular 3) Paal 4. Root: 32?1; verb group: V'D 11. 0 m 3 N , Abraham r

t

: — *

12. JJ3t7 1 N3 3 , in Beersheba

Note: The preposition 3 has received (collision of two shevas).

hireq instead of the regular

sheva

Gen 22:19


130

Text II. Psalm 23:1-6 Ps 23:1 1.

liOJIJ, Song (melody) Note: 1) Tec hnic al term in some titles in the Psalm s 2) Words from the same root: “liJT Ve rb, to sing (to God), Ps 27:6 to play musical instruments (to God), Ps 149:3 rHiJT melod y, song in pra ise of God , Ps 81:3 “PiJT song (to God and sec ula r), Isa 25:5 3) Wo rds with the same letters but not necessarily of the same root (T is different): verb, to trim, prune, Lev 25:3, 4

2.

I ) -}1?, of David

b preposition expressing the idea of connection; may also mean “concerning Da vid ,” or “bel onging to Da vid” (collect ion o f Psalms). *? this pre po sitio n is ver y flexible. • denotes direction (to, towards), Ps 99:5 • expresses locality (at, near), Gen 49:13 • expresses time (towards), Gen 3:8 • transition into new state (into), Gen 2:22 • belonging to, Deut 22:14 • conce rning, about, Gen 20:13 • purpose (in order to), Gen 1:17

11 7, David Note the passive form of the noun, (Cant 1:13).

Ps 23:1

meaning “beloved”

Texts

131

Compare with the forms of: rPtp/p Mess iah, Dan 9:25 K’DJ pro ph et, Gen 20:7 K’tpj pri nce, Ezek 7:2 7 3. 4.

nin ?, the Lord ’i n , (is) my Sheph erd Not e:

\

1) The part icipl e form; m ascul ine singular with prono min al suffi x (first person mas culine si ngul ar); from the verb n m (to pasture, to tend), paal, verb group n"b 2) Meaning: Tran sitive sense:

to give pas ture,5:2Gen 30;31 to tend, rule, tototeach, 2 Sam to guide, Prov 10:21 Intran sitive sense: to gra ze, to feed , Gen 41 :2 3) Words of the same root : H jn p , pasturage, Gen 47:4 4) Words with the same letters, but not necessarily from the same root (different V): JJT frie nd, De ut 5:2 0 m u f e l l o w (see the name of Ruth), E xod 11:2 longi ng, desi ring (see n m ; to desire), Eccl 1: 14 in bad, evil (see perh aps I7I71; to bre ak ), Ge n 6:5 5) The verb “to be” is not ne eded to intr oduce the predicate, especially when present time is implied. 5.

6.

Kb, no I shall (not) be in need

Analysis: 1) Imperfect 2) Firs t person masculine singular 3) Paal 4) Root : i o n (to be in need; stative verb)

Ps 23:1


132

Note: 1) Th e vow el aunder the last syllable (form, is cha racteristic of the stative verbs (qametz instead of patah because of pause). 2) Words from the same root:

10 0 -)!?n

povert Provsive 28:22 needyy,(Pas form ), Ecc l 6:2

Ps 23:2

1. rnXJ3 , in (the) pastures Note: 1) The hireq under the preposition 3, “in,” collision of two

shevas )

comes absolute pasture, meadow; plural 2) nifO construct nij from (Zephthe 2:6), usuallyform niN}, (here). 3) See the related word rn 3, to rest, Exod 23:12.

2.

(of) fre sh grass

Note: 1) The related word Eftl, verb , to tread, to thresh, Je r 50:11 2) The rela ted wo rd Nlitf (me tathe sis and ttf/E?): field, G en 2:5 3.

’’J5T 3 T , he wil l mak e me l ie down

Analysis: 1) Imp erfect, with pronom inal suffix (first pers on masculine singular) 2) Third person mascul ine singular 3) Hiphil 4) Root Y 31 to lie down Words from the same root: 1731 verb, to lie dow n (17/2), Lev 20:16 7 3 1 dwelling place, Isa 35:7

Ps 23:2

Texts 4.

133

'by, by This preposition is very flexible: • upon, Gen 1:11 • ex press es exces s, p reem inen ce (see "¡0 ), Gen 48:22 • expresses addition, Ps 69:28 • denotes proximity (by), Gen 14:6 » • exp resses mo tion, direc tion, Gen 2:5

Note the expre ssion by bi$ upwards, Hos 11:7. 5.

’iJ, (the waters ) Construct form from the absolute Q ?0 (always plural) Note the related word (metathesis) 0 ], sea, Gen 1:10.

6 . n in jp , (of) quietness Plu ral o f nn-U/J • resting plac e, Mic 2:10 • quietness, rest, 1 Chr 22:9

Note: 1) Th e construct form used to express qualifi cati on. The phra se “the waters of quietness” means “the quiet waters.” 2) A number of plurals (especi ally in poetry) are us ed to intensify the idea of the root (plural of amplification). Godhead (idea of power), Job 1:16 rvn-'QJ excep tional strength, Job 41 :4 n im o n great ly bel ove d, Dan 9:23 D’iStp grea t compassion, Gen 43:14 niO£J complete vengeance, Judg 11:36 3) Words from the same root: rm to rest, Exod 20:11 n i the name of No ah, Gen 5:29 (cf. the related wor d ODJ, to comfort, Gen 5:29)

Ps 23:2


134 7.

’’3^02?, he will lead me

Analysis: 1) Imp erfect with pronom inal suffix (first perso n masculine/feminine singular) 2) Th ird perso n masculine singular 3) Piel 4) Root: bn], to lead Note:

1) H ate fp atah under the guttural H instead of sheva. (Gu tturals are attracted by the sound a.) 2) The dagesh is impossible in the guttural ¡ 1; yet the preceding vowel is not lengthened by compensation (before il or n, the vowel remains short). 3) Meanings: • to lead to a watering place, Isa 49:10 • to refresh, Gen 47:17 • to lead to a goal, Exod 15:13 4) Words of the same root: b b n 2 pasture, watering place, Isa 7:19 Related words: bn3 (n/n) torrent, Isa 7:19 nn ] (n/b ) stream river, Gen 2:10. Ps 23:3

1. ■’$52, my breath (life, being, soul) Construct form from the absolute

segolate ©53

Several meanings: • that which breathes, Jer 15:9 • life, Exod 21:23 • the man himself, the person, Gen 17:14 • “my soul” means “me,” Judg 16:30 • seat of appetites, Ps 107:9

Ps 23:3

Texts

135

• seat of emotions, Deut 12:20 • seat of mental acts, Ps 139:14 Note the related words: nn ip sj$ 3tJ?J *]#} p£7J / 7]t£?j/

to breathe , to2:7 blow, Jer 15:9 breat h, Gen to blow, Isa 40:7 (metathe sis and 3/D) to blow , Ex od 15:10 (metathesis) to kiss, to smell, Cant 1:2 (metathesis and p/D) to bite, Am os 5:19 (meta thes is and D/D)

2. 331$?, he will restore An aly sis :

1) 2) 3) 4)

Imperfect Third perso n masculine singular Pi el (polel) Root: 3127; verb group: 1"I?

Note: 1) VI? verbs (see note on Gen 22 :3, w ord No. 16) hav e the form polel instead of piel\ the 2 of the root is doubled (as in 33127), hence the name of the form polel. Otherw ise, the conjugation remains the same. 2) The polel (piel of 1"i?) has a causative force here: to bring back (Ps 60:3). 3) It has the same me anin g as in the hiphil ; remember that in the hiphil, the 1 drops and is replaced by ’: e. g.: Perf ect 3 , 2?n he broug ht back (Gen 14:16 ) Imp erfect 3 ’ltjr he will bring back (Gen 50:1 5) 3.

' 5DJ2, he will guide me An aly sis :

1) 2) 3) 4)

Imp erfect with prono minal suffi x (first pe rso n mascu line singular) Th ird person masculine singul ar Hiphil Root: nra, to guide; verb group: n"b

Ps 23:3


136 Note:

1) Th e final H of the root has drop ped out before th e pronominal suffix (the regular hiphil of HID would be H 0 J2). 2) The connective vowel tsere has taken the place of segol under n (in Perfect, the connective vowel is patah. Example: ’JOJ, he guided me, Gen 24:27). 4.

in (the) tracks

Analysis: 1) 5 (preposition “in”); no dagesh beca use it is preced ed by the open syllable 2) plural construc t of bii?® Words of the same root: heifer, Gen 15:9 cart, 1 Sam 6:7 adjective, round, 1 Kgs 7:23 5.

P 7 £, (of) righteousness Meanings: 1) Wh at is right, normal, straight, Deu t 25:15 (ou r text) 2) Righteousness in governm ent, Lev 19: 15 3) Righ teousness in salvation, Isa 62:1 Note the construct form to express qualification; the phrase “paths of righteousness” means “right paths.”

6.

for the sake of (on accou nt of)

7.

his name 027 with pronominal suffix (third person masculine singular)

Ps 23:4

1. 02, even (also)

Ps 23:4

Texts

137

2. "’3 , though (when) The association ’3 Q3 is often used to express a concession (Isa 1:15).

3.

I shall go

Analysis: 1) Imperfect 2) Firs t pers on masc uline singul ar 3) Paul 4) Root: "]bn; verb group : n" S 4.

K"’33, in (the) valley

3 preposition “in” construct form from K’J (absolute form), Num 21:20

Note: 1) The expression . . . ’3, Jos h 15:8, valle y of Hin nom (from which our “Gehenna”). 2) Word of the same roo t HNJ, verb , to rise up (o f waters), Ezek 47:5. 5.

n.]0i?3 , (of) the shadow of death Composite noun, bs shadow, and niip death

Note: 1) The expression shadow o f deat h expresses t he dark cha racter of death. 2) Words related to to grow dark, Neh 13:19 image, likeness, Gen 1:26 Words with same letters but not of the same root: bb'g verb , to tingle, 1 Sam 3:11 cymbals, Ps 150:5

Ps 23:4


138

3) Words related to nip : n-lD verb, to die , Gen 2:1 7 n)J man (mo rtal), Isa 3:25

6 . -V6 , No 7.

NT N, I shall (not) fear

Analysis: 1) Imperfect 2) Fir st perso n masculine singular 3) Paal 4) Root: N'T'; verb grou p: V'S; stative verb Note:

The yod of the root remains after the preformative ( atynty ), and affect s the preced ing vowel under t he N of the atynty. the segol be comes hireq.

8 . J n , evil Meaning: injury, Gen 30:15 31:29 ethical harm, evil, Deut Words of the same root: evil, misery, distress, Prov 1:33 B in verb , to be evil , disp leasing, Num 11:10 Perhaps UBl, verb (cf. 7 ^ 1) to break Jer 11:16 9.

for

10. n n x , you (thou) Note:

1) Second perso n masculine singular 2) Dagesh in fl from an srcinal form

anta (assimilated noun)

Ps 23:4

Texts

11.

139

with me

Note: 1) Th e word 'Hi ji? is pro bab ly the contraction o f the two wo rds: □£?, with, and my hand; it convey s the idea of close active association. 2) Th e verb, to be, is not ne eded to introd uce the pred icate.

12.

your rod £23#

Absol ute form ( segolate ) with pronominal suffix (second person masculine singular)

Note: 1) Means: rod, Exod 21 :20 ; scepter, Isa 14:5; tribe, Gen 49:16 2) The related word, £2"'37)g? (with 1), Esth 5:2 13. TJFlJIJtJ/TJ-'l, and your staff 1) Th e conjunct ion of coordination ) has become 1 before 0 (^013). 2) From (absol ute form), with pronom inal suffi x (sec ond person masculine singular) Word of the same root:

verb, to lean, support, Num 21:15

14. n $ n , they Words of th e same r oot: n!pn roa r (of peoples, waves), Ps 46:7 •pan roar, crowd, great number, 2 Chr 11:23 □OH ver b, he mak es a noise, Isa 28:28 15. ''iQn3?, (they) will comfort me Ana lysi s:

1) Im perfect with pron om inal suffix (first pe rso n mascu line singular) 2) Th ird person masculine plural 3) Piel

Ps 23:4


140

4) Root: on: to comfort Not e:

1) H atef patah under the guttural n instead of sheva

Dagesh is inadmissible in the guttural n, but no lengthening of the preceding vowel is required before n. (See v. 2, No. 7.) 3) The shurek has been shortened into qibbutz because of the addition of the pronom inal suffix M which has lengthene d the word. 2)

Ps 23:5

1■ 'i p y n , you will prepare An aly sis:

1) 2) 3) 4)

Imperfect Second person masculine singular Paal Root: 7|U?, to pre pare

2 . MS1 —r ?, : ' before me b preposition, to MS Construc t form from the absolu te for m plu ral □MS face (Gen 43:3 1), with the pro nominal suffix (fir st person masculine singular); means literally “to my face” Note:

1) The usage o f QMS in some exp ressio ns: □MS b $ QMS face to face, Gen 32:31 “hnXQ-l and(Deut behind (2 Sam 10:9) □MS1? DM?? before formerly 2:12) MS*? at the fac e of, in the presence of, Gen 18:22 2) Words of the same root: HJS ver b, to tur n, Gen 24:4 9 HIJM? within, Lev 10:18 n3S corne r, 2 Kgs 14:13

Ps 23:5

141

Texts 3. 4.

table “133, in the front of - what is conspicuous, Exod 34:10 - against, Job 10:17 Note :

1) Ex pression “ JJJ?, corresp ond ing to, Ge n 2:18 . 2) Words of the same root: 133 verb (hiphil), to declare, to tell, Gen 9:22 T33 leader, Dan 9:25 5.

1“n35, rîy enemies Noun from the participle form masculine plural of the root ~1~13S (paal ): to show hostility, to vex, Is 11:13; with pronominal suffix (first person masculine singular) Words of the same root: “i^ enem y, Esth 7:6 “113a rock, Exod 17:6 Words with the same letters but not of the same root (35 is different): ~n33 to bind, Exod 12:34 narrow, Num 22:26

6. n3’.iH, you have anointed Ana lys is:

1) 2) 3) 4)

Perfect Second person masculine singula r Piel Root: 1EH, to be fat; stative verb

Note:

1) The piel has here a causative form, meaning “to make fat, ” Prov 15:30.

Ps 23:5


142

2) Words of the same root: ■¡#3 fatness, ashes, Lev 1:16 7.

'¡¡pf3, with the oil

3 , preposition with the article; without

dagesh in the begedkefet

3 because of the preceding open vowel JV Words of the same root: ■¡02? fat, robust, Gen 49:20 Word with the same letters but not of the same root (not the same n jb $ eight, Judg 3:8

V):

8 . ’¡pKI, my head E7K1 with pronominal suffix (first person masculine singular) Words of the same root: ■jiErta first, Isa 41:4 rPipiO beginning, Gen 1:1 With the same letters but not of the same root: E>K~i (or E?ri) poison, Jer 9:14; Deut 32:32 9.

'913 , my cup 013 with pronominal suffix (first person masculine singular) Related words: O'1? bag , purse , Deut 25:13 HQ3

to cover, to clothe, Judg 4:19

10. rP I“!, satu ration , ove r flow Words of the same root: nn verb, to be satur ated (See Ps 36:9 , also associated with 101.)

Ps 23:5

143

Texts Note the related word, n j i 1 (by metathesis) early rain, Deut 11:14. Ps 23:6

1. T]N, only (surely) Interjection meaning “surely,” “no doubt,” Gen 26:9; only, Gen 23:13.

2.

hap piness (good thing) Words from same root: 21C2 verb, to be deli ghtful , Num 24:5 adjective, pleasant, good, Ps 133:1

3.

anc*grace The conjunction 1has become ) before an accented syllable n (also the case before monosyllabic words). Example: n$ 1, he died, Exod 21:12). “IQH, meaning: 1) Kindn ess, grace (men to men), Ps 1 41:5 2) Lov e to God, piety (Jer 2:2) 3) Lovely appearance, Isa 40:6 Words from the same root: TQn kind, pious , Ps 4:4 rr v p q stork, Lev 11:19 Words with the same letters but not same root TyH

4.

(0 is different):

shame, reproac h, Lev 20:17 they will pu rsue me

An alys is:

1) Imp erfect with pron om inal suffi x (first pe rso n masculine s ingular) 2) Third person masculine plural

Ps 23:6


144

3) Paal 4) Root: rj"H , to pur sue Note the aggressive connotation: 1) To purs ue (wi th hostile purp ose), Gen 31:23 2) To purs ue (knowledge o f God), Hos 6:3 5.

b>3, all

6 . ’ft?, days Construct form from the plural absolute 7.

” 0 , (of) my life Construct form from the absolute □,?n, life, with pronominal suffix (first person masculine singular)

Note: 1) Plu ral of intensity 2) Dagesh in yod, probably denoting assimilation of vav from primitive root (see the connection between the name Hjn, Eve, and the word □v? 0 , living, in Gen 3:20). 3) Words of same root: rp n ver b, to live, 2 Kgs 1:2 Tl adjective, alive, living, Job 19:25 rr n animal, Gen 8:17

8 . ’ni g h , and my staying } conjunction of coordination : and. 1) Co nstr uct form with prono minal suffix (first pe rso n masculine singular) derived from the infiniti ve rQ $ , of (to stay, to sit) by analogy to segolates(for examp le: my king , from the segolate cf., how ever, VQtp, in Ps 27:4).

Ps 23:6

Texts

145

2) Or should be corrected into (Per fect first perso n singular). 3) Do not confuse with the same form , ,FQ5?, I shall retu rn (P erfec t first person singular of 3-1S2); the context does not allow this interpr etat ion because o f the pr epositi on ? .

9. TP 3 3 , in (the) house \

10. rn n :, (of) the Lord

11.

for length Preposition b, to, for Words from the same root: verb (especially in hiphil), to prolong, Deut 4:26 (construct form of T?N) adjective, long, in expression like "niN, long of nose ( = patien t), Pro v 14:29 riDnK heali ng (of a wound ), Jer 30:17

12. D’D;, of days No te: tj n

Thethe whole CD;(Ps 91:16; O , length of days, is often used to express ideaexpression of continuity Deut 30:20, etc.).

Ps 23:6


146

Text III. M icah 4:1-4 M ic 4: 1

1. nV[], and it will be (it shall com e to pass) An alys is:

1) 2) 3) 4)

Perfect; consec utive vav; prophetic Perfect Third pers on masculine singul ar Paul Root : r r n , to be; verb grou p: n"b

2 . rr~inN 3 , in the end (latter part) 3 prepo sition in Note rrnqs:

1) Th e word is always in construct st ate. 2) Meaning , extrem ity, end: applies to space (far islands), Ps 139:9 to time (far future), Isa 41:22 to man (posterity), Ps 37:37 3) Word s o f the same root : see i n x in Gen 22:1 3.

D ^ H , of the days The rv~Oii 3 is a technical expression to designate the end of the days (for this eschatological terminology, see Dan 12:8, Gen 49:1).

4.

¡TIT , it will be Ana lysis :

1) 2) 3) 4)

Imperfect Third per son masculine singular Paal Root: r r n ; verb group : n" b

Mic 4:1

Texts Note: The expression, rrn$ n 3:14. / 5.

147

??8 iTTTN, I will be what I will be, Exod

1 0 , mountain (of) Word in construct (same form, “in, in absolute)

6 . TP3, house (of) Construct form from the absolute n 7.

?3

m n? , the Lord Note the construct form , HTH’ rP 3 i n , moun tain of the hous e of YHWH, where the two words "in and n ’3 are in construct state with the word nin?f

8 . TDJ, established Analysis: 1) Participle 2) Mascu line singular 3) Niphal 4) Root: IIS, to be firm ; ver b grou p: Vi?

Note: 1) The partici ple with n v i (to be) to express the durative aspect of the verb: it will be (it will stay) established. 2) Do not confuse with: a. The Perfect niphal third person masculine singular '¡ 1D3 (he b.

has been established) same form; . . . n : » ) , ’rUIS} (I, you have been established) The Imperfect niphal first pers on plur al (we shall be established) with hireq under the nun (atynty ); . . . ,p3n,'p3Ni (I, you sha ll establish). See Gen 22:3 , note on word No. 16.

M e 4:1


148

9. m i 3 , in top

3 preposition, in Note on tfftO:

- head, Gen 40:16 - beginning, Judg 7:19 - best, Exod 30:23

10.

of the moun tains

11.

and will be exalted Ana lysi s:

1) 2) 3) 4)

Perfec t; consecutive conversiv e vav; prophetic Perfect Th ird person masculine singular Niphal Root: NtJJ, to lift, to carry; ver b group : V'D and N"b

Not e:

1) Dagesh in B? to com pen sate for the assim ilated 3 of the ro ot T'S, before the nun of the 2) Verbs: K"b The final X has syllable is always an Imperfect second and becomes S, njN&Fl.

niphal. lost its consonantal value; then the last open a, except before the ending ¡ 1^ in third person feminine plural, where it

Note:

The con jugation of the N ''1? ve rbs is often influen ced by that of n"*?. 12.

Kin, it

Often the pro nou n, je ct.

it (or he), emph aticall y resume s the sub

Mic 4:1

Texts

149

13. n 1272373, above the hills Preposition 1$; the 3 has bee n assim ilated , h enc e the dagesh in the 3.

Note: 1) The com parative usage of ]7J me aning “ hig he r than the hil ls ,” literally “high (exalted) away from the hills” 2) No te on - plural of ny??, hill, 2 Sam 2:25 - words of the same root: 5T33, cup, bowl, Gen 44:12 mj7337J, turban (of priest: conical form), Lev 8:13 - note the related word: ¡13J high, Gen 7:19 14. 11Q31, and they shall flow

Analysis: 1) Perfec t; conversive vav; prophetic Perfect 2) Th ird perso n masculi ne plural 3) Paal 4) Root: ~IH3, to follow Note: 1) H atefpatah under the guttural n instead of 2) W ords of same root: “IH3, stream, river, Gen 2:10 1113, is to shine, Isa 60:5 15.

sheva.

to him The preposition, by, generally means “on, upon,” and may also express the idea of direction with a special connotation of pressure— meaning here that the peoples will press to this city (cf. Isa 2:2 where the preposition, b^, to, is used).

16.

peoples

Mic 4:1


150 M ic 4 :2

1. « ‘pO), and they will come

|

Ana lys is:

1) 2) 3) 4)

Perfe ct; conversive vav; prophetic Perfect Third masculine plural Paal Root: *f ?n, to go; verb group: n"B

2 . Q?ia, nations 3.

CP3 j, num erous Masculine plural adjective; agrees with the word nations

4.

nip K], and they will say An ys is : conversive vav ; prophetic Perfect 1) alPerfect;

2) Th ird plural 3) Paal 4) Roo t: IftX, to say; verb grou p: K"3 5. O 1?, go An al ys is :

1) 2) 3) 4)

6.

Imperative Masculine plural Paal Root: ib n , to go up; verb group: IT'S ^ and let us go up

An al ys is :

1) Imp erfect; cohortative (context ) 2) First person mascu line plural

Mic 4:2

Texts

151

3) Paul 4) Root: nbv, to go up; verb group:

Note: 1) H atef patah under the guttural I? instead of

sheva; affects the

preceding vowel hence the pata h under the preformative like in hiphil. 2) The context only determines if the verb is cohortative; the root being T\"b one cannot add another n. See the Imp erative of the preceding verb 13“? and the clear cohortative form in the next verse, 7.

"bK, to

8. "in , mount ain Construct state, same form as the absolute “in. 9.

niH ’, of the Lord

10.

and to

11. m 3 , the house Construct state from the absolute rPJ. 12.

of the God Construct state from the absolute

13. 3pJ?2, of Jaco b Note the construct state of the two words 3pJT

n 'J .

Mic 4:2


152

Analysis: 1) Imp erfect; conju nction of coord ination; prono min al suff ix (first person masculine plural) 2) Third person masculine singular Hiphil 3) Root 4) : m \ to shoot; verb group: V'B Not e:

1) The 1 of the roo t PIT has become 1after the preform ative (cf. Gen 22:5, note on word No. 5). 2) The final n has dropp ed out before the pron om ina l suffix -13. 3) Mean ing of the root m \ Paal: to throw, Exod 19:13 4) Words of the same root: n i l 1, early rain ( October-Novem ber), Deu t 11:14 rniO, teacher, Prov 5:13 m in , law, Exod 12:49 T

*

'

15. V^'VIO, fro m his ways Not e:

1) The prepo sition ij from 10; the 3 has been assimilated, hence the dagesh in the 1 . 2) T'Jjni from t he absol ute □"O ni (si ngular segolate TJ“I 3 with pronominal suffix [third person masculine singular]) 3) T'5 ~rl read the ending 1\ , av (transliteration: dw). 4) On the meaning of toward, 1 Kgs 8:44 usage, Gen 31:35 intentions, 1 Kgs 13:33 5) Words of the same root: T!R verb, to tread, Num 24:17 16.

that we may go

Mic 4:2

Texts

153

Analysis: 1) Im perfect; conjunction of coordination; coho rtative 2) Fir st person masculine plural 3) Paal 4) Root: l ^ n , to go; verb gro up: n" 3 Note: - This cohortative with “vav conjunct ion o f coord ination ” is used to express an intention, an intended consequence. Exam ple: Gen 27 :4, (bring it to me) that I may eat. 17. rn 'r n 'N ? , in his paths

3in rn rn 'K const ruct form fr om the absolute ni n~iN (sing ular/rn X ) j with pronom inal suffix (third person masculine singular) ' ----- ' Words of the same root: nrn« meal, Prov 15:17 18.

for

19. ’¡V’SO, from Zion Q preposition from 10 ’¡V’S stro nghold captured b y D avid, 2 Sam 5 :7. Words of the same root: ■¡T2 dryness, Isa 25:5 ITS drought, Ezek 19:13 Words with same letters but from another root: ■¡•■P 5 signpos t, monum ent, Ezek 39:15 HIS?? com mandm ent, Deu t 8:1

Mic 4:2


154

2 0 . KJffl, will go out Analysis: 1) Imperfect 2) Third person feminine singular 3) Paal 4) Root: K2T; verb group: V'S and 21. rnin,

law

Other meanings: 1) Hum an instruction, Pro v 13:14 2) Divine instruction, Dan 9:10 3) Codes of law, Exod 24:12 4) Way of life, 2 Sam 7:19

22 . --Q 11, and word Conjunction 1(instead of ]) before sheva ; 1 3 ? construct form fr om the absolute "O'? 23. nin ?, of the Lord 24. Q^lÿ-ITÇ, fro m Jeru sale m 1) Th e pre pos ition Ç from ]Ç, 3 has bee n assim ilated; b ut no dagesh (by compensation) in the 1with sheva because 1 with sheva cannot be doubled, hence the form , IJ with long hireq. 2) The name p^Ç-IT: a. Com posed with -IT; root: H T, to cast (Job 38 :6, w ith the sense of laying foundation), and ofeÿ, peace, meaning b.

Mic 4:2

“fou ndat midrashic ion of pea ce.” Popular etymology relates IT to Moriah (allusion to Abra ha m’s sacrifice) and to Melch ized ek (Genesis Rabbah 56:10; cf. Midrash Tehillim 76:3).

Texts

155

3) Wr itten D ^ I T yerushalem (ktiv ), but read yerushalayim . The reading ( qere) is indicated by the vowels under the last two letters (a, f )~ a dual form whi ch may have pres erved the oldest pronunciation of Jerusalem (ayini). Mic 4:3

1. ED5 $], and he will judge Analysis: 1) Pe rfect; conversive vav; prophetic Perfect 2) Th ird person masculine singular 3) Paal 4) Root: CDDE7, to judge Note on meaning: to govern, 1 Kgs 3:9 to deliver, Ps 10:18 to punish, Ezek 7:3 Word from the same root: judgment (E xod 21:31)

2. I1? , betwe en 1) Th e act of judg ing £05^ often goes with this preposition (Exod 18:16) becaus e judg ing implies discerning “b etw een ” two parties. 2) Us ag e of "pa, betwee n T31 - - - T*3, Gen 13:3 b . . . f a , Ge n 1:6 3) Words from same root: ■pa, verb, to discern, njpa, intelligence, ProvDan 3:5 9:23 3.

CPSy, peoples

4.

D’'3'n, numerous

Mic 4:3


156

5 . ¡T pi n) , and will convict Analysis: 1) Perfect; conversive vav; proph etic Perfec t 2) ird perso masculine 3) Th Hiphil {pualn not attested singular in the Bible) 4) Root: rD"1; verb group: ’"S

Note: 1) Th e ’ of the root r o 1 has becom e 1 afte r the n of the hiphil (cf. Mic 4:3, note on word No. 14 and Gen 22:5, note on word No. 5). 2) Meanings: to to to

decide, convict Gen 31:42 (with preposition chide, Job 22:4 correct, Job 13:10

b), Isa 2:4, Job 32:12

Word from the same root: nn?in, argument, Ps 38:15

6. 7.

(to) natio ns

U'Wy.., mighty Plural of the adjective □■'isg, mighty, agrees in gender with the noun nations. Words with the same root: might, Isa 40:29 bone, Mic 3:2 Word with the same letters but not from the same root (S is different): □Si? verb, to shut (the eyes), Isa 29: 10

8 . pi nT Ti?, until far

Mic 4:3

157

Texts

9

the y will crush (beat into pieces)

Analysis: 1) Perfe ct; conversive vav\ prophetic Perfect 2) Thi rd person mascu line plural 3) Piel 4) Root: nna, to crush; verb group: ¡3" ¡3 Note: 1) ve rbs are verbs whose second letter is repeated (see Paradigm E, pag es 174-1 75). The same two letters tend to fuse into one ; hence we note two possibilities: either the two letters remain (rare) (for example: n-in3, beaten, Isa 30:14), or we have only one doubled letter, i.e., with a dagesh (more frequent)—if there is a vowel after it (for example: YliFQ, I have beaten, Ps 89:24). 2) W ord s from the same root: rP ri3 , crushed , in the expression rvn^p oil crushed (Exod 29:40) refers to the oil made by crushing the olives in a mortar. HFQIp, crushed fragments, Isa 30:14 3) Note the relat ed word: 27035 (ttf/n), mortar, Prov 27:22

10. □n, n'3 "ia , their swor ds Construct form from the absolute ni3"in (singular 330 segolate ) with pronominal suffix (third person masculine plural); cf. Isa 2:4, where we have Dni3~)U,probably the oldest form.

Note: 1) W or d from the same root: 3 jil, to attack, Jer 50:21 2) Re lated words : □~n ver b (D/O by phone tics), to exterm inate, Josh 8:26 □30 (3/0 by phonetics), devoted thing, ban, Josh 6:17 :nn (3/3 by alphabetic order), to quake, Ps 18:46 ~nn (1/3/3 by alphabetic order), to tremble, Isa 19:16

Mic 4:3


158

3) Words with the same letters but not from the same roo t (rt is different, note the semantic parentage however): 23i n , desolation, Isa 61:4 Din, to mutilate, Lev 21:18

11. DT1N1?, into plowshares preposition to; denotes the movement of change nt? plowshare; note dagesh in n, denoting perhaps an srcinal Words with the same letters but not from the same root: n*s, with nx, before accusative

12. D^’O’rPJCj], and their spears Construct form from the absolute nirPJC] (rPJO singular) with pronominal suffix (third person masculine plural) Words from the same root: njn verb, to encamp, Gen 26:17 H305, camp, Gen 32:3 13. n n o i i 1?, into prunin g knives b preposition, to; denotes the movement of change. rni?!5 pruning knife; note the form of the Participle

hiphil.

Words from the same root: “I7JT verb, to trim, to prune, Lev 25:3 rniOT, branch, Ezek 8:17 Words with the same letters but not from the same root (different T): ■HOT??, melody, psalm, Ps 23:1 14. "N*?, no

Mic 4:3

3

Texts

15.

159

the y will (not) lift

16. ”’13, people Note the plural of the verb in accordance to the meaning of ’13 (people) which has a collective sense. 17.

to (against)

18. ’is, people 19. 2 ^ 0 , sword

20. "Nbl, and no 21. Vnî?1??, they will (not) study Analysis: 1) Imperfect 2) Th ird person mascul ine plural 3) Paal 4) Root: lO b, to study Note: Co mp are with Isa 2:4 w here we have the form H ü 1?? (without J); the 3 has been added in Mic 4 to avoid having two vowels following each other (hiatus), here before ô (cf. ïlJ?T, before ü, in Deut 8:3, 16).

22. TIJJ, again The adverb 111? is used to express the idea of repetition and continuance (still, yet, again, besides). - besides, still, Gen 19:12 - with the negation means, “no longer,” (our passage)

Mic 4:3


160

Words from the same root; see Gen 22:5 (cf. word No. 13): witness, Gen 31:44 T liy verb, t o restor e, Ps 14 6:9 23. nran bn, war Words from the same root: □nb verb, to fight, come to close quarters, Judg 9:17 Din1?, intestines (idea of presse d toge ther ), Job 2 0:2 3, Zeph 1:17 □n^, bread, compact food, Exod 29:23

Mic 4:4 1. -IStSTl, and they will sit Analysis: 1) Perfec t; conversive vav ; prophetic Perfect 2) Third perso n masculine plural 3) Paal 4) Root: 32;'’, to sit; verb group: ’"S

2 . t!TN, man (everyone) Note: 1) The word KPN, man, is often used to exp ress the idea of “each,” “ev eryo ne” with re ference to persons (here) or even animals (Gen 15:10). 2) Th e verb is in plural because 2TN is understood as a collective. 3) Th e use t'TX't'TK, one another, Exod 36:4 4) Words from the same root: litTK , 1pupil of eye, Deut 32:10 verb, to found (idea of firmness), Isa 46:8 2T, there is (being), 2 Sam 9:1 5) Words with the same letters but no t necessarily from the same root. 'The suffix 11 is a diminutive ending, meaning here “the little man” (reflection in the eye).

Mic 4:4

Texts

161

woman, Gen 2:23 tSJN, to be weak, 2 Sam 12:15 EHJN, mankind (idea of sociability), Jer 20:10 6) T he plural form, men (Gen 12:20), should be related to E7JN rather the original of een thise two groups men (Isa 53:3 ). than Th e to etym ological distinctiplural on betw is not settled however (see especially the connection between KTN and in Gen 2:23).

3. nnFl, un de r 4.

^ 93, his vine Co nstruct form from the absolute person masculine singular)

5.

nnn],

"¡53w ith pronomina l suffix (thir d

and under

6. ir^NFi, his fig tree Construct form from the absolute njKIjl with pronominal suffix (third person masculine singular) Words from the same root: ¡UN verb, to be opportune, Prov 12:21 ¡13X11, opportunity, time of copulation, Jer 2:24 7.

■pN), and no

) conjunction of coordination, and PN construct form from the absolute ]?>?, nothing, Isa 40:17 Note: particle of negation used before the noun or the participle (here), meaning “there is not,” corresponding to the affirmative ET, “there is.”

8. T ’-IOQ, cau sing to trem ble (frighte ning) Mic 4:4


162

Analysis: 1) Participle 2) Masculine singular 3) Hiphil 4) Root: T in , to tremble Note: 1) H atefp ata h under the guttural n, instead of 2) Word from the same root: nnnq trembling, anxiety, Gen 27:33 9.

sheva.

for

10. ’ 9 , (the) mouth ’S is the construct form of n§ mouth

Note: 1) No dagesh in the begedkefet 3 becaus e it follows the open syllable "3. 2) Other meanings: - edge of sword, Prov 5:4 -- opening, 29:210:21 extremity,Gen 2 Kgs 3) Used with the preposition b, ’D*? means “according to,” Lev 25:16. 11. T iT , (of) the Lord

12. niN 3 S, of armies 1) Plural form of the word 2) Several meanings: • army, Gen 21:22 • angels, Dan 8:10 • stars, Deut 4:19 • units, Num 4:3, 23

Mic 4:4

163

Texts Word from the same root: verb, to wage war, Num 31:7, or to serve in the sanctuary, Num 4:23 13. 1 3 ?, has spoken

Analysis: 1) Perfect 2) Th ird person masculine singular 3) Piel 4) Root: 131, to speak

Mic 4:4


164

IV . Exe rcises (Text s) Gen 22:1-19 *30. Ana each word (etymology , parsin g o f verbs) and t ranslate (Genlyze 22:1-19). 31. Find words with pro nominal suffixes, and indic ate the person, in Gen 22:1-10 (31 cases). 32. Tran slate the following sente nces: 1) And he said to him, Gen 22:1. 2) 3) 4) 5) 6)

I will say to you (singular masc uline), Gen 22:2. And he said to me, Gen 24:4 0. And the men said to us, Gen 42:33 . Fro m he r to you a son, Gen 17:16 . And he said to them (masculine plu ral), Gen 24:6 .

33. Explain the 23 dagesh in Gen 22:1-5. 34. Tran slate the following sentenc es: 1) Th e Lor d took (n pb ) you (masculine plu ral), Deut 4:20. 2) Israe l took my land, Judg 11: 13. 3) And he took them (masculine plura l) from their hand, Exod 29:25. 4) I have taken you (masculine plura l) from there, G en 27:45. 5) The Lord sent (nbttf) me, 1 Sam 15:1. 6) Th e Lo rd has not sent you (mascu line singular), Je r 28:15. 7) came a country wh23:32. ere you sent us, Num 13:27. 8) IWe have not tosent them, Jer 9) And Moses sent them (masculine plu ral), Num 31:6. 35. Tra nslate the following sentences: 1) For from her you have been taken (npb), Gen 3:19. 2) Do not hide (“ino hiphil ) your face from me, Ps 27:9. 3) And kings from you will go out, Gen 17:6.

4) Send from you, one, Gen 42:16 .

Texts 5)

165

You s hall not eat from it, Gen 2:17.

36. Verbs: 1"J? (Dip rise, arise, stand), translate the following sentences: 1) A pr ophet has not arisen in Israel like Moses, D eut 34:10. 2) Y ou w ill stand (prophetic Perfect) and you will speak to them, Jer 1:17. 3) I w ill rise against (on) the house of Jeroboam , Amos 7:9. 4) E ver y m an in Israel stood up from his place, Judg 20:33. 5) Y ou hav e stood up ins tead of your fathers, Num 32:1 4. 6) W e stood up , Ps 20:9. 7) 8) 9) 10) 11) 12)

Stan up (masc war, dObad 1. uline plural) and let us stand up upon he r for A pro ph et shall stand up, Deut 13:2. I w ill ma ke my covenant stand up with you, Gen 9:11. T o stan d up t o me, 1 Sam 22:13. I w ill ca use a prop he t to stand up for them, De ut 18:18. M ose s ca use d the tabe rna cle to stand up ("¡SEto), Exo d 40:18. 13) A nd th ey sto od up to make it stand up from the earth, 2 Sam 12:17. 14) D eb or ah stood up and went, Judg 4:9. 15) A nd h e stoo d up and wen t to the place, Gen 22:3. 37. Verbs: n " b (H iO , see), translate the followi ng sent ence s: 1) Sam uel sa w Saul, 1 Sam 9:17. 2) W hat ha ve you (mascul ine singul ar) seen that you have done, Gen 20:10. 3) I hav e see n you right eous ( p’OS), Gen 7:1. 4) O u r eyes have not see n, Deut 21:7. 5) Y ou (m ascu line plural ) hav e seen what I have done, Exod 19:4. 6) W e hav e seen that the Lord (i s) with you, Gen 26:28. 7) A ll th e ea rth that you (masculine sing ular) are seeing, Gen 13:15. 8) A ll the pe op le were s eeing the voi ces , Exod 20:18.

9) S ee (m ascu line singul ar) with yo ur eyes, Ezek 40:4. 10) S ee (m ascu line plural) what you are doing, 2 Chr 19: 6.


166 11) 12) 13) 14)

I said: I shall not see, Isa 38:11. No w, you wi ll see wh at I will do to Ph ara oh , E xod 6:1. The Lord wil l see to him a lamb for offe ring, Gen 22:8. And the wom en saw, Gen 3:6.

38. Consonantal Text 1) Write down the consonantal text of Gen 22:1 -2; add v owels by yourself and check afterwards. 2) Learn to read the text of Gen 22:1-5 without vowels. Ps 23 *39. Analyze Ps 23. each wo rd (et ymology, pa rsing of verb s) and translate 40. Tran slate the following sente nces:

1) To restore ( hiphil ) the king to his house, 2 Sam 19:11. 2) He has not brought back his hand, Josh 8:26. 3) I will not bring back the people, Deut 17:16. 4) To bring back (polel) Jacob to him, Isa 49:5.

41.

5)

You will come back to the Lord your God, Deut 30:10

1) 2) 3) 4)

Learn by heart Ps 23 in Hebrew. Write down the transliteration of Ps 23. Write down the consonantal text of Ps 23. Add the vowels to the consonantal text of Ps 23.

Mic 4:1-4 *42. Analyze each word (etymology, parsing of verbs) and tran slate Mic 4:1-4. 43. Verb s: Vi? (]13, establish ), translate the follow ing sentences: 1) 2) 3) 4)

Man will not be established, Prov 12:3. The wo rd is establishe d from God, Gen 41:32. I have establ ished, 2 Sam 7:13. My hand shall be establi shed, Ps 89:22.

Texts 5)

And you (masculine singula r) have established you, 2 Sam 7:24.

44. Verbs: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7)

167

(polel) for

(NZ7J, left up), tran sla te the follow ing sente nces :

I have lifte d up yo ur face (masculine sing ular), Gen 19:21. You (masculi ne singular) have lifted up , 2 Kgs 19:4. I will lift up my hand to them, E zek 20 :5. The Lord will lift up his face to you, N um 6:26. We shall lift up, Lam 3:41. He has been lifted up, Exod 25:28. He has lifted up (with intensity), 2 Sam 5:12.

45. Verbs: V"V (330, turn about), translate the following sentences: 1) I hav e turned abo ut, Ecc l 7:25 . 2) He turned about, 1 Sam 7:16 . 3) Turning about in the city, Cant 3:3. 4) Th e Jordan will turn about, Ps 114: 5. 5) David tur ned about (Imperfect consecutive) to bless h is house, 1 Chr 16:43. 46.

1) Write the consonantal text of Mic 4:1 -2 and its transl itera tion. 2) Le arn to read the consonan tal text of M ic 4:1-2.


168

Paradigm B: Verb

_________ «P, Simple Form Person

Sg. 1 m/f.

P aal (arise)

N iphal (be arisen)

'niöpj

/ 'W Q

2 m. 2 f.

WQ

3 m.

Perfect PL

°i?

naipj ■uiapj

3 f. 1 m/f. 2 m.

Dçiinpj

düçp

2 f. 3 m/f. Sg. 1 m/f. 2 m. 2 f. 3 m.

Imperfect

3 f. P I.

1 m/f. 2 m. 2 f. 3 m. 3 f.

Imperative Infinitive Participle

Ciin-ip} ninp? D pJ

! ' ,^ i? D pX DpPI ’OPR op; D pn D pJ ■mpn nrçpn ■ id

p

nrçpp ... Dp Dpi*?), Dp

:

içiinp? ■înipj Dipi? Dipl? •'Dipn Dip: Dipn Dip? •lDipn njippiji •inip? njpipri ... Dipn

D ipn (^),' Dip: Dip?

Texts

169

cayin vav (Vi?)

Arise Intensive (Heavy) Form

Piel (P olel) (rise up) *

Pual , (Polal)

H itpael (Hitpolel)

(be raised up)

(raise oneself)

■’n ip a'p nDDip

•'FIDDIp nDDip

nDDip □Dip nDDip

ODDÌp □Dip HD Dip

•UDDip □nDDip lODDip •iddìp

C ausative F orm

H iphil (cause to arise)

(be caused to arise)

^niD'pq n iD p q

■'ODpin ODpiO

nio-pq crp n riD 'p n •iJiD'pq □CriD’pq ID iD 'pq iD p n

ODpin □pin nD pin UDpin □ADpin lODp-in lapin

nDDipJpn ODDipon □Diprin nDDipon

•i^DDip •UDDipTO □qDDipnO □flDDip IDDDip ■¡qDDipOO iDDipqn •IDTpip

H ophal

□Dips

□Dip«

□Dipnx

D'P$

□piN

□Q ipn "DDPO □Dip]1 □Dipri □DipJ ■iDDipn

□Dipifl •'DDipo □Dip’

□Dipno ■’DDipnn □DipO?

□'po ’D’p o

nJDDipO

□DipO □Dip? •iDDipP HJDDipJil

□DipOO □DipOJ •iDDipOO njDDipori

□pin •’Dp-io □ p i1 □pin

iDip? njDDipo

IDfpip? n^DDipP

□Dip

q ’p : :0 -

nrspo

□p13 •iDpin njDpin

■IDDipO? njDDipOO

•lap; nrD'pOy

IDp-V njDpin

□Dippn

... npn

□ 0 Ìp(£>

□Dip i1?)

□DipooC1?)

□DipD

□DipD

□DipnD

BTJ iD p n

□pn^) O’PD

□p-m(^) □piD

170


Paradigm C : Verb 3ft, Simple

Paal

Person

(sit, dwell)

~'S

"ri?#;

Sg. 1 m/f. 2 m. 2 f. 3 m.

Perfect

e) r,^.

M 2 ft

3 f. PI. 1 m/f.

•u?ft

2 m.

D£Qft

2 f.

1E?ft 12$;

3 m/f.

t :t nnft

Sg. 1 m/f. 2 m. 2 f.

■gtfn

3 m.

Imperfect

3 f. PI. 1 m./f. 2 m.

im im ■Ufn

2 f. 3 m.

•in?/:

3 f.

Imperative Infinitive Participle

... 2W

ri2W(i) , 212?:

2 -lty: , 2t '

Texts

171

Pey Yod p"3) Sit Form

Causative Form

N iphal

H iphil

(be inhabited)

H ophal

(cause to dwell) .

(be made to dwell)

’nriinn

rg^-in

natfu 31013 nattfi: t

:

¡jia t fin a ^ in

ijq ijh n a t jh n

n rrtjh n

nagnn

•upgiin

•■uaann a n a tf-n

D 0 3 ^ in legten •ìatjh: atft# atfin •gtf-w • : t

■’ n a t f - i n

•

nty-r a tjn n

* *T*

a$33 mtîn : t •

njatfin

■trttfin

ICia^n •la t^ n

r r c y iN

atp-iN

a ^ im

a t f -i n •>3^n

•»aîn a^v a ’ tfhn a'tfia •laîn

a^-v aghn atf-u •W in rgaenn

•13^? ruatinn

njatfin la^r njatfin

njatf-w

... acnn *• •

... a#in

T

atsnn^)

nu>)l

a c in i'? ), a tp in anpin

•m-r

atf-in atrà


172 .

Paradigm D: Verb ______________ÿ i ,

Simple Form Person

Paal

N iphal

(uncover)

(be uncovered)

vrbs rrbii

Sg. 1 m/f. 2 m. 2 f. 3 m. 3 f.

Perfect P I.

1 m/f. 2 m.

rvtyj nbü nnb3 •irbj nrrb-i

T : T

20^35 10^3?

2 f.

••03

3 m/f.

•^33

n^?38

Sg. 1 m/f. 2 m. 3 m.

Imperfect

3 f. P I.

■’bsn •

■’b jn nbr nbon

2 f.

T•

ni?r nban ribs: 03Ç1 VT *

1 m/f. 2 m. 2 f.

VT*

■lbjn nr^n

nr^ri *3?

t>r.

3 m.

T*

nrâçi

3 f.

Imperative

T

...

nb?

...

¥T*

n^ü

Infinitive

nibjcb), ribs

nibanb, nb33

Participle

Ciba)n^3

n^3?

Texts

173

Jju n ed H ey (n"b) Uncover Intensive (Heavy) F orm

C ausative Form

Piel

Pual

H itp ael

H iphil

H ophal

(reveal)

(be revealed)

(reveal itself)

(carry into exile)

(be carried into exile)

’ivba n’ba n’ba nba nnba •la’ba □n’ba in’ba ■iba

n*,iP3 n*1¿>3 n’ba nb? nnb? -ía^ba DiTba •¡O'b? •iba

nba« nbaiji

nba« nbao

’barí nba; nban nbaa nban nrban •iba;

•’bao ni??=

nbap nbaa nbao nrbô

■’¡vbaon rrbaon rr'bsnn nbson nnbaon ■la^bann □n^baon irrbann ■ibano

"rrban rrban n^ban nban nn *?an •laân □n^bao lO'ban ■iban

'rrban rrban n^ban nban nnban •la’ban an'ban urban •iban

nbaos nbaon

nbax nban

nbax nban

•’bson nbao; nbano nbao? •ibann nrbann ■ibao?

■'ban nbaü nban nbaa iban nrban ’ -Va;

"ban nba' v :T nban y: T nbaa iban na^ban T v:T -iba1 :T

nrbao ... nba

nrbap

nrbaon ... nbaon

na’ban ... nban

T •• : T na'ban

niba(b)

niba(b)

nibaon(b)

niban(b)

nban

nba^

nba$

nbao

nba??

n ¿»ari??

174

Hebrew For Theologians . ' /V cl\ v

j.' \ ( > Paradigm E: Verb .ft I.-, i

¡iS

_ _

Simple Person

Paal (turn about)

Sg. 1 m/f. 2 m. 2 f. 3 m. Perfect

3 f. PI. 1 m/f. 2 ra. 2 f. 3 m/f. Sg. 1 m/f.

22 m. f. Imperfect

3 m. 3 f. PI. 1 m/f. 2 m. 2 f. 3 m. 3 f.

Imperative

'*0130 niao •niao (30)339 (nao)naao •13130 □ciao

\

1D130 (iao)iaao (a'Oi$)30K (a'on)a'ori Caon)’abn (3b:)ab; (abri)abn (abj)3bj (laon)iabn (n T 3 3 b n )n ra p ^ (iap:)iab: (n:abn)nr| 9^ ... ab

Infinitive

ab(b), aiao

Participle

(aia;?), aaio

Texts cayin Doubled Turn About

(U"i?)

Form

Causative Form

N iphal

H iphil

(be turned about)

>

175

H ophal

(cause to turn about)

(be caused to turn about)

'niso-in

TiaQJ niao?

■’n i a p q

niao?

rriapo

niao-irt niao-m

aoo

ao-in

30?

nao? 00130? 10130? •130?

niaprj

H30Ü

nao-m

•uiapo 001303

-uiao-in □oiao-in

101300

loiao-m •lao-in

_ -1 3 0 0

35!?

30N

300

30n

■'35H

'a o n

no:

35 :

non

300

30?

•moo nrson •mo? oraon ... non

n or -

t h

•1300

oraoo ■iso: oraoo

aow ao-iri 'a o - i n ao-v ao-in ao-i: •iao-in nrao-in ■iao-r nrao-in

300

n o n i1?) , a io *

3 0 0 ( i?)

30?

309

a o -m c 1?) 39m

CHAPTER Y SYNTAX Syntax will be understood in its stricter sense as the Greek etymology of the term suggests, namely as the “together ( syn) arrangement” ( tassein ) of the word s. This definition means that we shall essentially pa y attention to the life of the Hebrew discourse as a whole :1 the way it is organized (word order), the way it is articulated (the vav), and the way it flows (the accents).

I. The O rgan ization o f the Discourse: Word Order The Hebrew sentence is generally made up of the subject and the predicate. The predicate may be a noun (nominal clause) or a verb (verbal clause). In a nom inal clause, the rule is simple; unless emph asis is intended, the natural order of the words is: subject, predicate. Examp les:

'’i n i Hirp ’’11}VHFIN

the Lord (is) my Shepherd, Ps 23:1 you (are) with me, Ps 23:4

Em phas is on predicate: nriN □ Tib x NT1, fearing God you, Gen 22:12 In verb al clauses, the situat ion is more complex depending on w hether the verb is in the Perfect or Imperfect, and also whether it is used with an object or not. ‘The so-called syntax of the parts of the Hebrew discourse (nouns, verbs, etc.) has been indicated especially in the course of “the texts.” For more on syntax, see especially Bruce K. Waltke and M. O’Connor, An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax (Winona Lake, IN, 1990).

177


178

a) If the verb is in the Pe rfect, unless emph asis i s intended, th e verb tends to come after the subject. Examples: God tested, Gen 22:1 the mouth of Lo rd . . . spoke, M ic4 :4

131 . . . njn? ’9

Emphasis on verb: niPP “liJN, said the Lord, Jer 45:25 b) If the verb is in the Imperfect, unless emphasis is intended, the verb tends to come before the subject. Examples: -in n;n ? ’ia WET iib

it will be the mou ntain, Mic 4:1 they will not lift up peo ple, Mic 4:3

Emphasis on subject: n?^J 1 {?3ni ’38 I and the young man we shall go , Ge n 22:5 i'pTIXT Q,ri i?8 God him self will see, Gen 22:8 c) Th e object usually t akes t he third position regardless place of the verb.

of the

Examples: Dnn38Tli<; n?J And God tested Abra ham (S.V.C.) n ^y rj o n n ax ng?] And too k Abraha m the wood of the offering, Gen 22:6 Tw o exceptions, how ever: the object comes at the beginn ing o f the sentence if emphasis is intended or if it is a temporal object. Emphasis on object: nnin NSC crn ^ n

Tem poral object : X#-1] n; n? D’ijjo n'HOX?

Bipijo

from Zion shall go out Torah, Mic 4:2 the place that said to him God, Gen 22:3

the third day he raised, Gen 22 :4 In the latter days it will be, M ic 4:1

Syntax II . Th e Articulati on of the Discourse : The

179

\

Vav

To articulate his di scourse, the Hebre w uses several kinds of particles: conjunctions such as ’S (because, if, that, if, cf. Gen 22:12, Ps 23:4), (because , that , who, whi ch, what, cf. Gen 22 :2,3 ,14 ), prepositions suc h as ‘p (to, in order to; cf. Gen 22:10), U ?2 (because, cf. Gen 22:16), verbs such as Tl?] (and it came to pass, cf. Gen 22 :1 , M ic 4:1 ), "ION"] to articulate dialogues (and he said, cf. Gen 22:1-19), adverbs such as Hjjn (behold, lo; cf. Gen 22:13 etc...). All these particles can be learned through a list of vocabulary or through consulting the dictionary. The most important, and indeed the most frequently used articulating word in Hebrew discourse is the vav, which is so rich and so dynamic that it cannot be apprehended simply by consulting the dictionary; the vav, therefore, deservesfunction a specialoftreatment. The primary the vav, whether it comes before a verb (Perfect, Imp erfect) or before a noun, is to in dicate a correlation. However the great semantic flexibility (see Polysemy) of the vav allows for a wide range o f meani ngs. Depending on the context this correlation can be und erstood “positive ly” in the sense of an addition, or “negatively” in the sense of an opposi tion. “Po sitiv ely ” the vav may introduce a close connection, a sup plement of information, a conti nuati on, an emphasis, an explanation, a consequence. “Negatively” the vav may introduce a distinction or a separation, a comparison, and eventually a contrast.

A. The Vav o f Additi on

1.

Close con nection ( viewed as a unity)

’J8 "ip m 31ii

I and the young man (Gen 22:5) Goodness and mercy (Ps 23:6)

2. Supplement o f inf ormat ion 133 p n ? 1 rw i W n i* np :i, He took two of his young men with him and (also) his son Isaac (Gen 22:3)


180 3.

Continuation (sequential)

S° yourself . . . and (then) offer him (Gen

22 :2) N'T] saw (Gen 22:4) 4.

N#?], Abraham lifted his eyes and (then) he

Explan ation (epexegetical)

^133-nN 6* ] n-jn "iDin-nis: ¡Vipy You h ave do ne this thing, that is you have not spared your son (Gen 22:16) 5.

Empha sis

FQ#n n 'pn) n x □■'ribx N l’"1? I kno w tha t you fear God, (even) you have not spared your son (Gen 22:12) 6.

Consequence

opaiTDB? DniDKl Nip?], Therefore Ab raham called the place (Gen 22:14) VJTnN DV 3 , On the third day (then) Abraham lifted his eyes (Gen 22:4) B. The Vav of Opposition 1. A distinction ( mark o f new beginning)'

. . . 3pT DniaiS], And Abraham was old (Gen 24:1) nir n "P^K Nip?] , Then (turni ng point ) the angel o f the Lord called (Gen 22:11)

'In the synagogue scroll, the vav marks normally the beginning of a new column (cf. Israel Yeivin, Introduction to the Tiberian Masorah, ed. and trans. E. J. Revell, Masoretic Studies 5 [Missoula, MT, 1980], 43).

Syntax 2.

181

Contempo rary situation

n '3 'i y n rj n ] . . . nb Sit your selves her e . . . while I and the young man we shall go until there (Gen 22:5)

3. Contrast nsra rPfcO ■ • • lamb (Gen 22:7)

n jn , Here is the fire . . . but where is the

Note: The “vav of addition” always comes before a verb when it is used to introduce subordinate clauses (3,6); the “vav of opposition” always comes before a non-verb when it is used to introduce a non-sequential relation (2, 3). The same word vav expresses the many facets of the idea of correlatio n. The various shade s seem to blend into each othe r as colors on a palet te. We have gi ven some illust rati ons of that pheno me non. Th ey are far from being exhaustive how ever, b ut they indicate at least a principle, a direction of thought. The re is no way of determ ining a fixed and definitive pattern. Eve ry meaning depends on the life of the context. This use of the vav keyword in the articulation of the Hebrew discourse, is al so indi cative of a certain frame o f mind. Th e Heb rew thinks hi s discourse as a wh ole, is a totality. And the rich variety o f potential meanings behind the vav shows the dynamic interrelationship of the context and an aptitude for flexibili ty. Th e Hebre w thinks in synthesis rath er than in analysi s. Certainly this consideration bear s im portan t implicati ons on the level of interpreta tion. Th e exegete mus t respect and follows the moving fluctuations of the vav if he wants to understand and expose correctly the Hebrew text. III. Th e Flowing of the Discourse: The Accen ts The accents are different in prosaic text (the 21 books) and in the first three book s of the Hagio grap ha (3VK, Job ; Prov erb s; D,£?n n, Psalms: mnemotechnic word n"72N, “truth,” formed with the first letter of

182


each book ) . 1 The words of the verses are separated by the disjunctive accents or connected by the conjunctive accents according to the rules of syntax and the logic of the discourse.

A. Disjunctive Accents

1. Role an d Value The verse is unequally divided from the most important division marking the end of the verse or its middle, to the least important one usually affe cting small words. Th e division is operated according to the principle of dichotomy by means of disjunctive accents graded along a straight hierarchical organization (hence the comparison of the disjunctive accents to the Lord s o f the Medieval Society). The first category of disjunctives (Grade I, also called Emperors) divide the vers e into two secti ons. Th e seco nd category o f disjunctives (G rade II, also called Kings) divide each of these two sections which are in their turn subdivided by a third category of disjunctives (Grade III, also called Dukes) into subsections which are also subdivided by a fourth category of disjunctives (Grade IV, also called Counts). This means that a unit ending with Grade I is divided by Grade II; a unit ending with II is divided by III; a unit ending with III is divided by IV.

I iv iii iv II iv iii iv I iv ill iv II iv iii iv I This dichotomic role of the disjunctive accents reveals that the values of these accents are not absolute. Th eir values d epend 'For more on the accents, see especially William Wickes, Two Treatises on the Accentuation of the Old Testament , ed. Harry M. Orlinsky (New York, 1970); C. D. Ginsburg, Introduction to the MassoreticoCritical Edition o f the Hebrew Bible, ed. Harry M. Orlinsky (New York, 1966); Israel Yeivin, Introduction to the Tiberian Masorah.

Syntax

,

183

essentially on their relative place . In fact, the far the r a disjunctive is from its superior, the greater value it has; thus, in a shorter verse, a king (Grade II) has less value than a count (Grade IV) in a long verse; also, if the same accent is used several times, the first usage has greater value than the next ones.

2.

Tabl e o f Disjunct ive Ac cents a)

In Prosaic Texts (21 books) Grade I (Emperor)

Silluq, “end,” before

so fp a su q , the verse

(1)

•(()

(2)

divider (•) ( ) Athnah, “the causing to rest,” dividing the verse in two parts.

Grade II (Kings) (3) (4) (5)

( ) Segolta, form of segol, “grapes,” points to the form of the sign. ( *) Shalshelet, “chain,” points to the melody, kind of double-t rill. i: ( ) Zaqef, “upright,” points the upright finger to mark it in the cantillation (same disjunctive value as small Z aqef but with stronger tone).

(6)

( ) Small Zaqef, “upright”

(7)

( ) Rebia, “resting” from Aramaic 173*1 = He brew 73*1 ( ) Tifha, “handbreadth,” points to the manual sign to mark a slow melody.

( 8)

❖


184

Grade HI (Dukes) (9)

(10)

( ) Zarqa, “to sprinkle,” points to the character of melody “a turn.”

Pashta, ( ) voice “exmelody. tend ing, ” points to a n extension of the in the

(11) ( ) Yetib, “to dwell,” Hebrew 3#?, points to an extension of the voice; same disjunctive value as Pashta but different melody. (12) ( ) Tebir, “to break,” Hebrew " 13$, points to the broken note. Grade IV (Counts) ( ) Geresh, “expulsion,” points to the high note produced by the expulsion of the voice. it (14) ( ) Gershayim, “double Geresh same disjunc tive value as Geresh but different melody (15) ( h Pazer, “ to s ca tte r,” poin ts to th e m elody, kind of trill. •w (16) ( ) Great Pazer , or Qame para, “cow-horns,” same disjunctive value as Pazer but different melody (13)

P

(17) ( ) Telisha, “to pluck out,” points to the very high note obtained by drawing out the voice. (18) ( ) Legarmeh, “for itself,” points to the disjunc tive quality of the accent in contrast to the usually

b)

conjunctive munah ), see below. In Poetic Texts (Psalm, Job , Proverbs, n"DK) Grade I (Emperors) (1)

: ( , ) Silluq

Syntax

185

(2)

( ) Oleh weyored, “ascending and descending,” points to the back and forth modulation; divides the verse in two parts in long verses.

(3)

( ) Athnah, divides the verse in two parts in short verses; in longer verses follows Oleh weyored.

Grade II (Kings) ♦

(4)

( ) Gr eat, Rebia

(5)

( ) Rebia mugrash, “ Rebia with geresh ”

(6)

l( ) Gre at Shalshelet

*r

Grade III (Dukes) (7)

( ) Sinnor, “canal,” points to the meandering modulation. ♦

(8)

( ) Small Rebia

(9)

( ) Dehi, “thrust back,” points to the backward inclination of the sign.

Grade IV (Counts) (10)

( ^) Pazer

(11)

IQ ) Mehuppakh legarmeh, “mehuppakh by itself,” points to the disjunctive quality of the accent, in contrast to the usually conjunctive

mehuppakh ( ), see below . (12)

l(V) Azla legarmeh, “ azla by itself” points to the disjunctive quality of the accent, in contrast to the usually conjunctive azla ( ), see below.


186 3.

Disjunctives and Syntax

The division o f the sen tence by the d isjunctive accents depen ds not only on the logic o f the disc ourse but also on the intention o f emphasis which determines which part of that sentence should appear first Thus, if the subject or the object precedes the verb, it indicates emphasis and is therefore generally marked off with a disjunctive. This order goes against the general tendency of Hebrew discourse, to have the verb in the first position, except if an emphasis is intended. The verb will not be marked off with a disjunctive but with a conjunc tive (see below) because the dynamic of the verb pushes forward. Examples: When subje ctprecedes: prec ede s: TJ3 93Tyxj I 1 0i^8 I9 J3 I i fGen 22:139:4 When object k'? ip? a , Gen But, when verb precedes : D’p ; In in ^ n ^ ? Ps 23:6

B.

Conjunctive Accents 1.

Role and Value

The conjunctive precedes and is related to the disjunctive just as the servant precedes and is related to his lord (hence the comparison of the conjunctive accents to the servants of the Medieval Society). There is no hierarchy which regulates the use of conjunctives, but every conjunctive is the servant of only one lord (except for two, munah and merka, which serve several lords ). On the other hand , one lord may have several different conjunctives, alternatively or simulta neously. 2.

Table o f Conjunctive Accen ts

a)

In Prosaic Texts (21 books) -"(1 )

( ) Munah, “rest,” points to the sustained note, or the position of the sign in the form of a shofar under the word; this is the most frequent con junctive.

Syntax (2)

 (3)

( <) Mahpak, “inverted,” from the root points to the descending and ascending modula tion, or to the inverted position of the sign in the form of a shofar. ( ) Merka,“lo ng ,” from the roo t the prolonging modulation.

points to

(4)

{ ) Double Merka

(5)

( ) Darga, “scale,” points to the descending scale through the octave.

(6)

( ) Azla, “going on,” indicates that we should not pause in the melody, in contrast to the disjunctive Pashta, with the same sign. ( ) Little telisha

(7)

b)

187

(8)

(Y) Galgal, “wheel” or yerah, “moon,” points to the form of the sign.

(9)

) Mayyela, “inclined,” points to the form of the sign.

In Poetic Texts (Psalms, Job, Proverbs, n"DK (1)

( j ) Munah

(2)

( ) Merka d ( ) Illuy,“su spe nd ed ,” from the roo t points to the position of the accent in the form of a shofar.

(3)

(4)

Q ) Tarha, “slow, heavy,” points to the slow modulation.

(5)

(Y) Galgal or yerah

(6) (7) (8)

) Mahpak C)Azla *

( ) Small shalshelet


188 (9)

3.

i

( ) Sinnorit, feminine of sinnor, to distinguish from the disjunctive sinnor with the same sign.

Conjuncti ves an d Synta x

The conjunctive accents relate the words which are connected by the grammar and the meaning, such as the verb or the predicate to the subject, the verb to the object, words in construct, pair of words, etc. Examples: Verb and subject Pre dic ate and subject Verb and Words in object construct Pair of words

Gen 22:10 Ps 23:5

rH~l ^K ilT lX

Gen Gen 22:13 22:6 Ps 23:4

♦Table 5.14: Main Accents Disjunctives: •( ) Silluq = end of verse ( ) Athnah — middle of verse Conjunctives: (j ) Munah

) Merka C. Application Genesis 22:1:

ill qn35KT1X ii nvibxn] ii n

i ins n ii d h -i ? k

ii r f s

It-shall-come-to-pass, after these things, God tested Abraham;

and-he-said to-him Abraham, and-he-said here-I-am.

189

Syntax Psalm 23:1:

npns*

ii '¿n mn? m i n 1? iipro

Psalm of-David;

YHWH (is) my-Shepherd, I-shall-not want.

Micah 4:1:

ii onnn e/n t ? i iinj rynj-n-g in rr n 1' n c& jo n n q s ? i n ^ i ••□’p y

ii

n q jj m ni j?$ w xi n

It-shall-come-to pass in-the-after of-days, shall the mountain of-the-h ou se-of-i7 iW /iestablish ed , on-the-t op of-mountains, and- shall be-exalted it, above the hills; and-shall-flow to-it, peoples.

Conclusion Hebrew syntax does no t displ ay a stable picture. Th e regu lar order of the words is often disturbed by the need for emphasis, showing greater sensitivity to movem ents o f life than to gramma tical require ments. Also the vav which articulat es the H ebrew d iscourse indicates the impo rtance o f the interrelated totality, and betrays thereby a point of view of synthesis rather than of lysis; the relates the d ifferent o f the discourse in many ways to ana be determ inedvav according to the life of parts the context. Th e observ ation of Hebrew syntax shows that the idea of totality and the idea of living relationship between the different parts constitute the nerve which animates the Heb rew discou rse. Ano ther symptom o f this dynam ic can be perceived in the fact that the discourse tends to begin with the verb in the Imperfect, again confirming previous observations on Hebrew thinking: the action comes first and generates the rest. The function of the accents is both grammatical, to indicate the interrelationship of the words, and liturgical, to regulate the public reading of the text. Th is twofold role o f the accents s hows again the connection between language and the religious truth. The meaning is preserved by the sacred readin g. It is also notew orthy that the value o f the accent, as a mark of punctuation is always relative, depending both on the word to which it

190


is attached and the context . 1 Thus the living meaning governs the interpretation of the grammatical signs; the two are related, the how following the fluctuations of the what.

IV . Exerc ises (Synt ax) *47.

Indicate the ord er of the phrases (p lace of s.v .o .) in Gen 22:1-10

*48.

Indicate the disjunctive accents and their resp ective grade, and conjunctive accents, in Gen 22:1-5.

49.

Indicate the disjunctive accents, their resp ectiv e grade , and the conjunctive accents, in Ps 23:1-3.

50.

Find in Gen 22:1-19 two vavs of addition and two tion (identify their specific function).

vavs

of opposi

■The great disjunctive Athnah, for instance, may sometimes indicate a very important break (as in Gen 1:4) and sometimes a very little one (as Gen 1:1). It may even function like a conjunctive, especially in enumerations and in numbers (see Lev 12:5; Num 1:46; see also perhaps Dan 9:25).

CHAPTER VI HEBREW THOUGHT Introduction Biblical theologians , 1 philosophers ,2 and linguists 3 have united their efforts to t race and describe Heb rew thought as i t is reflected in the H eb rew language within the context of biblical civilization. The concept of “Hebrew Thought” implies 1) the assumption that the Hebrew Bible has been written by human persons who belonged to a specific culture and tradition, lived a specific experience, spoke a specific language and therefore had a specific way of thinking, 2) the observation 'See for instance classics like Gerhard von Rad, Old Testament Theology, trans. J. A. Baker (Philadelphia, 1961); Otto Procksch, Theologie des Alten Testaments (Giitersloh, 1949); Edmond Jacob, Theol ogy o f the O ld Testament, trans. Arthur W. Heathcote and Philip J. Allcock (New York, 1958); André The Prophetic Existence Neher, 13-93. Brunswick, NJ, 1969); André Lacocque, But A s For M e (Atlanta, 1979), (South

2See Claude Tresmontant, A Study o f Hebrew Thought, trans. Michael F. Gibson (New York, 1960); Thorleif Boman, Hebrew Thought Compared with Greek, trans. Jules L. Moreau (Philadelphia, 1960); Johannes Pedersen, Israel: Its Life and Culture, trans. Mrs. Aslaug Moller (London, 1926); Abraham J. Heschel, God in Search o f Man: A Philosophy o f Judaism (New York, 1976); idem, I Asked fo r Wonder: A Spiritual Anthology (New York, 1983); idem, Man is not alone; A Philosophy o f Religion (New York, 1972); idem, The Prophets (New York, 1969); idem, The Sabbath; Its Meani ng fo r Modem Man (New York, 1951). 3See, for instance, J. Weingreen, Classical Hebrew Composition (Oxford, 1957); Edward Horowitz, How the Hebrew Grew (Hoboken, NJ, 1960); Theodore H. Robinson, The Genius of Hebrew Grammar: A Presidential Address Delivered to the Society for Old Testament Study, December 1927 (London, 1928). 191

192

Hebrew For Theologians v 'V*

that there is a common thread of thought throughout the Old Testament and therefore the recognition of a certain philosophical unity in the Hebrew Bible. Th e forme r presuppo sition al lows for “a philoso phical” app roach focusing on the mentality, the ideas, and the thoughts of the Hebrew people; the latter presupposition allows for “a synthetic” approach taking the Heb rew Bible as a whole. This “ sync hro nic-ph ilosoph ical” a pproach does not exclude, howe ver, the diachro nic appr oac h. Indee d, the diachro nic or the systematic analysis of the biblical concepts which pertain to the discipline of “Old Testament Theology” is necessary and complements the exposition of Hebrew thought as much as it needs it for its own purposes in order to develop a correct Ol d Testam ent Theology. For Hebrew thought takes us to the very heart of Old Testament Theology; it is the essence of Old Testament Theology. Ou r presentat ion o f Hebrew thought will proc eed by steps. First, a s a preliminary, we shall define the nature of Hebrew thought; then we will describe this thought through four basic concepts and around which, like around axes, revolve most biblical ideas, namely, the Hebrew concepts of the world, time, man, and God. This picture of Hebrew thought does not purport, however, to be exhaustive as we are only concerned with drawing a synthesis of the main trends, a mere essay indicati ng directions of though t. Als o, o ur presenta tion will be based on, or will refer to, what we have already observed and describ ed infrom the the gramlanguage mar, thetovocab syntax. Before, we proceeded the ulary, thought;the now, we shall proceed conversely from the thought to the categories of language.

I. The Nature of Hebrew Thought A . Action Precede s Thought We shal l start with a paradox:

Heb rew thought as expressed in th e

Bible thought.o r of Thtime, e Bible not pro vid ehtany on ruct th e concepti sonot f thea world, et c.does He brew thoug doestreatise not const the truth as a philosophical system; rather it is essentially the response to an event. Thu s, in He brew , it is the thought that f ollows the eve nt and not the reverse. This phenomen on has already been notic ed on the level o f the language. We find it in the nature of the Hebrew word etymologically derived from the verb, thereby att esting t hat t he action h ad preceded the thinking process of desi gnati on. We find it i n Hebre w synt ax whi ch legislat es the o rd er of i

\ if'

Hebrew Thought

193

the ph rase and put s the verb expressing the action be fore the consciousness of the thinking subject. The same truth i s taught through out the Hebrew S criptures. The fact that the Hebrew Bible starts with the event of Creation points to that movement . Salvation history begins with an even t in wh ich the hum an genius is totally absent . Th e hum an invo lvem ent is desc ribed on ly as a passive reception, or an enjoyed reaction that comes after the event, in the “spiritual” life of the Sabbath ( Gen 2:1-3, cf. Ex od 20:8-11). Like wise the Israelite theology of salvation is drawn out of the event of Exodus, which will rem ain in biblical tr adition the basic eve nt o f referen ce fo r any spirit ual elab oration ( Exod 20:2; Deu t 5:6; Isa 40:3 ). Th e same princ iple shi nes through the Israelite respon se to God ’s giving of the law: “We shall do, then we shall obe y,” (Exod 24 :7). Here again the spiritual opera of hearing, theevents, doing. This thought order tion is also reflected understanding, in the way theproceeds Hebrewsfrom report proceeding from the actual even t to the cause which prod uce d it. Instead o f thinking from cause to effect as Modern Western thinking tends to do, Ancient Hebrew thinking reasons from effect to cause. For exam ple in Mic 1:10-15, the cities that mourn for the exiles are listed before the cities that gave up exiles. Fir st the effect, then t he cau se . 1 Indeed the mechanism of Heb rew thinki ng stands at the opposite to the C artesian cogito, the latter being the basic presupposition in Western methodology. Instead o f stating “I think, therefore I am,” Hebrew thought proclaims “I am, therefore I think. ” Here th e thought is not init iated and controlled by the thoug ht, bu t is generated and governed by the adventures of history.

B. Knowledge and Intelli gence An other incident al implication of t his principle is found in the Hebrew concept of know ledge and of intelligence. Since the thoug ht comes a osteriori, as a result of the event, the Hebrew comes to know something out o f the exis tential exper ience with it. The Hebrew w ord in ? which expresses the idea of knowledge is also used to express the dynamics of the conjugal relationship between man and woman (Gen 4:1, 17; Gen 19:8) or even, in a figurative way between God and human beings (Ps 16:11; Jer 9:23-24; Hos 8:2). To know means “to live w ith .” “Kn ow ing” d oes not ‘See especially William Shea, Selected Studies in Prophetic Interpretation, rev. ed. (Washington, DC, 1991), 163.


194

consist in observing and analyzing the object; it is the result of experience a walk with so meone (Ps 95:1 0), and implies a perso nal commit ment to the object or the person to be known. The same process may be recognized in the way Hebrew intelligence func tions . In Heb rew inte lligen ce is not as we tend to believe in Western thi nkin g, th e ability to judg e and criticize some thing from out side. On the co ntra ry it is in essence t he ability t o receive. Signifi cantl y, the Hebrew seat of intelligence lies in the ears (Isa 50:5; Job 12:11; Neh 8:3; Jer 6:10cf. R ev 2:7 ; 3:22 ). Intelli gen ce is the ability to listen, to be open to the expe rience which com es first. This proces s is clearly indicated in the already mentioned phrase nt yy j” (Exod 24:7 ). The operation of the intelligence which is contained in the word J? 0 iy (to listen) follows the perform ance of the action niyy. No wonder then that intelligence has been understood in the Bible not as a mere intellectual ability but as a gift to be received from outside, thus belonging to the category of Revelation (Ps 119:125 , 144; Job 32:8). Only if we have heard, i f we have receive d, are we able to behave as an intel ligent person. This is the reason why the act of intelligence is desc ribed as the operation o f distinguishing between g ood and evil (¡IJ’3 “intelligence” is derived from the root "P3“between”), thereb y imp lying the in form ation o f Revelation ( 1 Kgs 3 :9 ;‘ 2 Sam 14:17). Signifi cantly the word f S which is on e o f the key words o f the book of Daniel is related to the prophetic Revelation (Dan 8:15, 17, 27; 9:2, 22, 23; 11:33; 12:8-10).

C. Silence This Hebrew emphasis on the ability of listening as the act of intelligen ce expl ains the imp ortanc e o f silence in He brew thought. Silence functions as the nerve o f the rel ationship between God and man. It lies in the heart of Revelation on the level of God (1 Kgs 19:12)2 and on the level of man (De ut 27:9 ). It also belongs to the existential experien ce of that relationship, on the level 22:2) and on 2)the. level of men 62:1 , in Hebrew verse 2; of 65 God :1, (Ps in Hebrew verse Silence also (Ps plays a ‘Note that the English word “understand” in the text (NKJV) is the translation of the Hebrew word VDtt “to listen, to hear.” 2The Hebrew phrase generally translated by “a still small voice” (NKJV) means literally “the voice of a thin silence” (see NRSV; cf. also A. Graeme Auld, I, II Kings [Philadelphia, 1986], 127).

Hebrew Thought

195

decisive role in the relationship between human beings as an expression of fear (Amos 5:13 ), o f indifference (2 Kgs 7:9), but als o as the manifestati on of respect (Job 2:13) and of love (1 Sam 18:1).*

D. The Totali ty Knowledge and intelligence are never descxibed as mere mental faculties, but in the totalit y o f the ir function. “To k no w” is not only a mental process or the result of sensation, it is also the concrete act of its appli cation in life, involving the wh ole person i n that exp erien ce. “To understand” is not only an intellectual operation; it is also the concrete act of making the righ t choi ce, and applying that choice in lif e. Th e totali ty of the notion i s convey ed. It is one of Pe de rsen ’s merits to hav e shown how .2 For the Hebrew, fundamental the notion of totality is in Hebrew thought to think is to grasp the total ity. Th e vocabulary a s well a s the gram mar are indicative of that particular f rame o f mind. The root o f the word encom passes the totality of the notion. The root “OH means “to speak” and “to act.” Th e wo rd is the act. When God speaks , He acts (Isa 55 :11). The root which designates the notion of sin Ktjn may mean the act of sin (Isa 31:7), the blame for that act (Gen 43:9), the guilt of sin (Deut 15:9), the punishment for sin (Zech 14:19), the sacrifice for sin (Lev 7:37). The same phenomenon may be observed in the terms expressing the idea of faith, justice , grac e, etc. The gram mar bears the same character. Regardless o f the nu mb er o f syllable s each word is stres sed with one accent and is theref ore perce ived in i ts totality. This emphasis on total ity is also expressed in the geniti ve form (construct state). The two words which determine each other are understood as a total unity; the two words are governed by the sa me arti cle and the same a ccent . An other token of this trend may be recognized in the frequent use of “merismus,” this way of expressi ng totalit y through the associ ation of contrary motifs : North an d South (Ps 89:12), rich and poor (Prov 22:2), evening and morning (Gen 1:5), old and young (Gen 19:4). 'The text says: “and it was so, when he had finished speaking . . . ” David could have reminded Saul who he was, that is the musician who used to play the harp when the king was visited by an evil spirit (1 Sam 16:23). Instead, David refrains from speaking further, and this “silence” impresses Jonathan who then started to love David “as his own soul. ” 2Johannes Pedersen, Israel, Its Life and Culture, 108.

196


Incarnated in life, Hebrew thought conveys the totality o f the concepts (world, time, man, and God) even to its contradictions through the tension between opposite poles.

II. The Heb rew Concept of the World space The Hebrews had no specific word to express their idea of the whe re they lived. They h ad therefor e to res ort to a paraphrase like D’ij# yiKT, “heavens and earth,” an expression which they always associated with the idea o f Creation (Gen 1:1; Isa 65:17; J er 33:25; Ps 115:15; 121:2; 124:8; 134:3; 146:6 , etc). Thus the He brew conc ept of the world is fundam entally committed t o the doctrine of Creation. No w the expression yiX I heaven and earth, applies only to the huma n univers e and does not re fe r to worlds which are beyond the human experienc e. The Hebrew concept of the world refers only to the created world in which man is a part. The Hebrew is not concerned with other worlds (although he does not ignore them, Job 38:7; Ps 148:2-4) nor is he with the scientific objective rea lity o f the world. Only the created wo rld as it relate s to him interests him. Starting from there, “his created w or ld ,” the Hebr ew will draw all his theological implications.

A . The Worl d is Limited and Infini te

1. The World is Lim ited Th e concept that t he world has been created implies first o f all that the world is an object with no power in itself whatsoever, therefore owing its exis tence t o an external power. The divine owne rship (Ps 82:8; 1 Chr 29:11) and sovereignty (1 Chr 29:12, Job 38:23) of the wo rld a re related to the idea of Creation . In that connection it is significa nt that the technical term has only God as a subject. implies worlicantly d camealways out asassociated somethingwith new.the idea The ver bIt also “to cr ea tethat ,” isthe signif of newness (Jer 31:22; Isa 65:17; Ps 51:10). Thus , to the concept of “ge ne sis ” implyi ng an organic (genet ic) link between the “ not ye t” and the “being,” the Bible opposes the concept of Creation implying an esse ntial breech between the actual world and wh at is before . The world is not perceived as preexistent, either being God (ancient mythology) or coming from God (emanatism, pantheism ). Th e space o f the Hebrew is void of gods, it is demythologi zed. The sun, the

Hebrew Thought

197

moon and the trees are not gods to be worshiped but limited things to be used. This concern explains why the author o f Genesis 1 is so reluctan t to use the common names of 2/'¡5# and OTC respectively for sun and moon whic h are a lso name s o f common pagan deities. He prefe rs to refer to them as to ordinary instruments, the great and the small lamps (Gen 1:16). - 2. The Wo rld is Infin ite On the other hand because it is created, the world comes to man as somethi ng whic h precedes and t herefore surpasses him. Th e world also escapes human a pprehensi on. This ambivalent percep tion of the wo rld is indicated on the linguistic level. Beside s the vag ue expres sion flN l l T£‘4? (heave n and earth) the Hebrew uses two specifi c words when he wants to refer to the earthly world: yiK (Ps 22:27; Isa 23:17) and (Ps 73:1 2; Isa 64:4). ypN connotes the idea of limitation; it may also mean the country distinct from another country (Gen 12:1; 47:27); or the dry land as it is distinct from water (Gen 1:10); or simply the earth as it is disti nct from heaven (Gen 1:1). T he word on the other hand connotes the idea of the unseen (Job 28:21) and is commonly used to express the idea of infinity and eternity (Isa 26:4; Ezek 37:25).

3. A V ital Tensi on These two perceptions of the world are suggested in Genesis 1 and 2, in the way man is situated in reg ard to the wo rld. In Genesis 1 man is los t in the infinite of a world which has prece ded him. In Genesis 2 man occupies the whole space and everything evolves around him in or de r to serve him. So, the Bible sometimes describes man as the lord of the world having dominion over nature (Gen 1:28; Gen 2:19-20; Gen 9:2; Ps 8 :6- 8), sometimes as an insignificant creature over whelmed by the infinite grandeur of the Universe (Ps 8:3-4; Job 7:17; Job 38-41). It is also noteworthy that these two views are often used in the same context (see especially Ps 8 and Gen 1 and 2), so as to convey the idea that both should be assumed together. In fact this tension i s vital since it preserves man fr om two often experi enced pitf alls, namely idolatry and ecological abuse.

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Hebrew For Theologians B . The W orld is Good and Bad

1. The World is Good The second srcinal idea of the Bible is that the world has been created good (31B Gen 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21) and even very good (aits INfp Gen 1:31). Para dox ically, because the world i s not divine, because it is created, it is not perceived as a threat (dualism) or as a dege neracy (panth eism, emanatism). Instead, it is accep ted and enjoyed (Eccl 9:9; 11:7; Josh 1:15). The Heb rew assumes his space and finds his happiness within this space and does not despise the sensual pleasure of food, beauty, perfume, etc. (Song of Songs 4:10 -11; D eu t 14:26; Num 13:23, 27). Man has the rig ht and even the duty to enjoy the good (Gen 1:28-29; Gen 2:16; Eccl 2:24, 26). 2. The World is Bad On the other hand, the world is also perceived as bad, and this bad is fully recogn ized as such. No room here for a philosophy wh ich wo uld deny it s existence or transf orm it into something good. The bad does exist and is considered something negativ e. Evil is an unplanned, unf air and7:11; a bnorma accident,5:8). andThis an unavoidable (Gen 3:1bad7-19; Job 2:10; Eccl l1:14-15, cohabitationreality of good and makes the appreciat ion o f the world ambiguo us. The enjoyment of the good always has its counterpart of bitterness and death and is therefore to be tempered by the restriction of ethics (Eccl 11:9).

3. The Te nsi on o f Hope Thus both good and bad are assumed as such and this tension is important because it nurtures in man his hope for something better. Within the experience of evil and death man keeps touch with good, and it is this very conflictual situation which will inspire his revolt (Gen 18:22-32; Job 3:3; 31:35-36; Ps 83:1) and his yearning for another order (Ps 6:3, 74:10; 94:1-3; 130:5-6; Job 19:27).

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C. The Unity o f the Worl d

1. In Creat ion Now, if the contradiction is assumed and the tw o views of the world do not exclude each other, it is essentially because the world is also perceive d as one. The uni ty of the world i s indeed another implicat ion of the idea of Creati on. The fact that the beginning of mankind is connect ed with the beginning o f the world, and the fac t that the world has been created as a whole and in relation to man, indicates an organic unity of the world within itself and as it relates to man.

2. In Histor y Th e nature o f this relationship is suc h that the history of the whole wo rld is described as dependent upon man’s acti ons. The srcinal “g oo d” creation becomes bad as soon as man disobeys God. Evil an d death enter the world and the ecological balance has been upset due to the si n of man . This les son of dependence i s repeated o ver and over again in th e Scri ptures. In Genesi s 4, as a result of his murde r, Cain had to be protected (Gen 4:15). The text does not specify from what, but it is clear that animals are implied since these are the only beings left besides parents. land The same underlies t he Hebrew concept o f thehispromised which hasprinciple the prop erty of “vomiting out” its sinfu l inhabitants (Lev 18:25, 28). Th e iniquity of the Israelites who kill, steal and commit adultery (Hos 4:2) affects the character of the land which “will mourn . . . and waste away with the beasts . . . the bird s and the fish” (Hos 4:3). Likewise the mere lie of the individual Achan has an incidence upon the immediate surroundings. Not only will the whole people be hurt but the space in which the sin takes place, the valley, is hit an d becomes the “valley o f trou ble” (Josh 7:10 -26). Thu s the geography seems to bear wit ness to the iniqui ty. And this principle is so vivid for the prophets that they go so far as to infer the fate of the nation merely from the meaning of the names of the citi es where that nat ion dwells (Mic 1:10-16). As a matter o f fact, the world is intimately associated with its inhabitants (Isa 49:13; Jer 51:48; Ps 96:11; 1 Chr 16:31) and man’s success or failure involves the failure or success of all creation (Isa 51:6; 44:23; 45:18).


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3. In the E nd This principle of Unity is one of the characteristic features of biblical eschatology. Along with the end of human conflicts, the prophet refers to a covenant with the animals which will not hurt any mospoiled re (Hosby2:18 Andtosi the nce problem the srcinal hasthe been evil,; Isa the 11:6-9). only solution of Creation evil is then return to the srcinal state of Creation; to make salvation of man possible a new Creation of the whole world will be necessary (Isa 65:17 ; 66 :22). Thus the unity of the world i s consistent from the beginning to the end.

III. The Hebrew Conc ept of Time The Hebrew did not formulate an abstract concept of time as an external entity p er se. The H ebrew conc ept of time is bound up wit h its con tent a nd even identif ied wit h it. “The prece dence o f the time content as opposed to the chronological statement of time can be observed in the linguistic phenomenon that the Hebrew verb does not have any real tenses. Actions are determined primarily by the content-aspect of being completed, . ”1 Thus when the not by the time categories past, present, and future Hebrew will need to express the idea of past and future, he will have to do it from the perspective of this essential connection between time and man. The idea of past and future is rendered through the spatial terms “before” □ Ip (Ps 139:5) and “afte r” “inx (Gen 22:1). The pa st is then unders tood as something already here, before man, whereas the future is understood as something coming after him and not yet experienced. Th ese two dimen sions of time do not exist p e r se. They are o nly perc eived subj ectivel y in relation to the real man in space. Thus time i s created along wit h the Un ivers e. Th e light is called “d ay” and the dark ness is called “nig ht.” God marks the time, and the luminaries are created later to hold the same function (Gen 1:4, 14). Tim e is then received li ke the Un iverse as a gift (Eccl 3:1) and is there fore perceived as something positive. In contrast to Greek thought where the idea of time is associated with death and is feared as a threat, in Hebrew thought time is understood as life and is therefore fully accepted as something good. ’E. Jenni, “Time,” in The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, IV (New York, 1962), 646.

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. Tim e is New and Rhythmic

1. Time is New a. A Time for Every thing Since time is related to the life of the event, time implies a new a nd uni que experience . Hu ma n life is made of a successi on of sever al times. Th erefore t he Hebrew speaks of “times” “my times are in you r ha nd ” (Ps 31:15; Job 24:1). Tim e (ni?) is the moment at which something happens (2 Ch r 25:27 ; 1 Kgs 11:4; Jer 50:16). This mea ns that every event has its time. Th ere is a time to gather the cattle (Gen 29:7), a time when the kings go out to battle (2 Sam 11:1), a time for the tree to give its fruit (Ps 1:3), a time to be born, a time to die, etc. (Eccl 3:2ff.), a time for every purpose (Eccl 8:6). b. The Concept of History Another implication of this identification between time and event is the Hebrew understand ing of History. Contrary t o the Moira of the Greeks or to the “forces” of Hegel, the Hebrew course of events is not imposed from outside but belongs to the human experience. Heb rew language conveys this idea of history through the word 131 which means both “event” (Gen 22:1) and “word” (Mic 4:2). The even t is thus understood as the expressi on, the word of the person . Th e expressio n riobt? 1~3? may either mean the events (actions) of Solomon (1 Kgs 11:41) or the words of Solomon (1 Kgs 5:7 , in He brew verse 21). Signifi cantly, th e expression ,!51 “the actions (or words) of the days,” is used s theHebrew title ofwants the books of Chthe ronicles. the same li nes, whenathe to express idea of Along an unlimited time in human history he use s the ex pression 111] l i l “gene ration after genera tion” ( Isa 61:4) or l i l b li l? ? “from genera tion to genera tion ” (Isa 34:10). This referen ce to “gen era tion” agai n shows t hat the concept of time, is associated with the human beings who live in that period of time.

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Hebrew For Theologians c. The Concept of Etern ity Undoubtedly the relation between time and life reaches its climax i n the Heb rew concept o f Eternity. Tim e doe s not stop there. On the contrary the content f time thatis issuggested life, will by never be interrupted there. ,This view ofo Eternity the prophets through the image of the sun which will never set (Isa 60 :19 ff.; Zech 14:7). This understanding of Eternity is also reflected on a linguistic level through the word This word which is also used with a spatial connotation to designate the Infinite (see above) implies on a temporal level the idea of an experienc e whi ch is beyond the human apprehen sion. Man has only the t houg ht (the intuit ion) of Etern ity (Eccl 3:11 ). This does no t mean that Etern ity is beyon d him. Instead, time i s still there, but its “eternal” quality escapes human eyes. For instance if the wo rd is used to qualif y the covenan t of the rainbo w (Gen 9:1 6), it is to say that this covena nt will ne ve r set down . Fo r us this is ju st a thought because this perception does not belong to t he human experience. Eternity is not the end o f time, but is a time which has no end. This means that Ete rnity will always be provided with new events. In essence, biblical eschatology implies the new. ). It Etern is theityCrea a new heavens earthabsolute (Isa 65:17 is tion charaofcterized the refo reandbyn ew the intensi ficati on of “new ness .” Thus, in Etern ity, ti me is more present than ever.

2. Time is Rh ythm ic Besides this “punctual” conception of time, Hebrew thought attests also a rhyth mic conception o f time. Tim e is always new , ye t it is also determined by rhythms. History i s not reprod ucing i tself, new e vents always occur, yet they also participate in the natural movement of regular repetitions . 1 'This is why the word “rhythmic” is preferable over the word “cyclic” to qualify the Hebrew concept of time. The book of Ecclesiastes stating that “ what has been is what will be” (Eccl 1:9) should not be understood along these lines, and so inteiprete d as an influence of the Greek cyclic view. The teaching of

Ecclesiastes is not the cyclic of is history but about the continuity of what he sees as about identical. Whatmovement he observes not cyclic but static. “There

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a. Astrologi cal Time Tim e is i ndica ted by the heaven ly luminaries w hich govern the rhythms of seasons, days and years (Gen 1:14). The time of the day and the night, as well as the time of months and seasons depends on an astrological rhythm (Gen 1:16; 1 Sam 20 :5, 27). Even the various times during the day are mea sured through the different intensities of light and warmth of the heavenly luminaries (1 Sam 11:9, 11). b. Biological Time The life of the body manifests itself not only through the fact that it goes on and knows new feelings and experiences, but also through the fact that it responds to rhythms. Just as continuity, rhythm is sign of life. Thus the rhythm o f breathing guarantees life; if one stops breathing one stops living ( 1 Kgs 17:17) . An other example o f the dimension of rhythm in time is the way the phenomenon of menstruation is underst ood. The word r n y “m enstruat ion” is derived either from a root meaning “to reckon” ( 111?) or from a root me aning “ to rep ea t” (TIU). Wh atever the etym ologica l tracing o f this word may be, both imply the signi ficance o f rhythm in life. It is indeed notewo rthy that not only the biological l ife but also the social and conjugal life were determined by this rhythm (Lev 15:33; 18:19). c. Religious Time Likewise, the feasts for the Israelites are recurring experiences which ma rk the rhythm of their time. The word "I# 1D meaning “appointed time,” “fixed times” (from the verb IIT to appoint) conveys the nuance of such a specific time with an emphasis on the sameness of the content (Gen 1:14; is nothing new under the sun” (Eccl 1:9). This idea should be understood from within the fr amework of his thought basically dealing with the concept o f vanity. His point is that history is not moving, nothing new happens and is therefore a non-sense, a vanity. It is death. Note that on the other hand the same book holds the “punctual” view of time (Eccl 3:Iff.).

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Hebrew For Theologians Hos 9:5 ). The se appointed times were not created by men The ecclesiastical year and the civil year did not coincide These were times which were appointed from outside by God himself.

B. Tim e is Chronological and Synchronic al In Hebrew, the capacity of representing time as a chronological line wen t side by side with the capacity o f actualizati on w hich associated dis tant events and made them simultaneous.

1. Time is Chronological a. Chronological Progressi on Even ts are described in a chronological mann er. The divine interventions are recorded and situated in time chronologically. Histo ry has a beginning and develops towards an end. This acute consciousness of the chronological movement of history is already reflec ted in the overall structure of the canonical Bible. The Bible opens with Creation (Gen 1) and closes with the end of human history in the perspective of the Kingdom of God (Mai 4; 2 Chr 36 :21 -23 ).1 In the course of the Israel ite history, salvat ion history is rem emb ered in a chronol ogical manner eith er from Abraham t o the entry of Canaan (Deut 26:5-9; Josh 24 :2-13), or from the f irst man to t he post -exi lic peri od (1 Ch r 1 - 2 Chr 36) ; likewi se the apocalyptic vision of History follows the same line; it starts with the first kingdom with a hint to Creation (Dan 2:37-38; 7:2) and develops chronologically up to the end of human history (Dan 2, 7 , 8). The word n it^ F i “genealogy ” (Gen 5:1 ; 1 Chr 1:29) which is another word for History (Gen 2:4; Num 3:1) is another ind ication of that chronological concept of time. Indeed the genealogies regularly articulate the biblical record and increase thus the chronological impression and the forward progression of History.

‘This principle seems also to have governed the canonical arrangement of the

New Testament (see Matt 1:1-17; John 1:1-5; and Rev 22:12-21).

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b. Future-O rientation This future-orientation is actually one of the most striking particularities of Hebrew theology. As soon as the H ebrew appear sal greatest vation hist ory,ples. he b ecome s futur AbraGhaen m is one sofinthe exam His call “to e-oriented. go ” (Gen 12:1; 22 : 1), which characterizes his spiritual journey, marks from the beginning to the end his movement towards a future he did not know. Th e prom ise which point s to the future lies in the he art o f the patriarchal reli gion ( Gen 13: 15; 22:15-18; Exod 6:3-4). W he n the people o f Israel are call ed out of Egypt, they become sud den ly a people turned towards the future, with a promised land in perspective (Gen 50:22-25; Exod 3:17; 12:25; Num 10:29; D eut 6:3-2 3; 29:13). Even her God defines him self with a fu tu re perspective “¡Tfti* “I will be what I will b e” (Exod 3:14) . The assurances given to Davi d were both a fulfillment o f earlier promises and steps towards their future fulfillment (2 Sam 3:18; 7:18-29). Later t he prophets w ill illustr ate t heir exp ecta tion of a new future by reference to the people wandering in the desert and not yet arrived at the promised land (Hos 2:14-15; Jer 31:2-14; Ezek 20:35-37). This openness towar ds the ne w can be o bser ved i n the H eb rew lang uage. The importance of the Imperfect— cert ainl y the o rigi na l verbal form—and above all the witness of the syntax which projects the subject after the verb, are even on the unconscious level of the language indicative of this openness towards the new. Finding himself in the wake of the action, the Hebrew forges his identity in the becoming of his movement towards the future. c. The Ide a of Eschatology This concept o f time bears also an inci dence upon the H eb re w eschatology which is nothing but the expectation of something coming after the end, bringing along a kingdom where the future will be insured. Sign ificantl y, one of the keywords o f th e eschatological terminology is rvinK, “that which comes after w ar ds .” Bibli cal escha tology t eache s tha t there is an “af ter w ar ds ” beyond the end, and the conviction of this future is hope (Jer

29:11; Dan 10:14).


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This dynamic idea of eschatology affects the Hebrew concept of ete rnity . Th us the He bre w wo rd 13? or “I^'l in the expression “Ji?1?, “fore ver” (Ps 111: 3), or “fo reve r” (Ps 9 :g) comes from the root nil?, “to pass on,” “to advance” (Job 28:8)' pointing to the continual advance of time into the future. 2. Time is Sytichronical This linear and chronological view of time has not prevented the He brew from als o conceiving the principl e o f simult aneit y. The synchronic view of time is made possible precisely because the content of tim e prevails o ver chronology. Events which are distant in time can, if their content is similar, be regarded as simultaneous. a. In the Feasts This process of conversion is especially intense through the experience of the feasts which actualize the past or the future even t. The past eve nt o f Crea tion is actualized in the Sabbath (Exod 20:11). The past event of the wandering in the wi lderness is actualized in the feast o f Taberna cles (Lev 23: 43). Likewise, the future event of God’s salvation may be actualized in the Sabbath, the sabba tical ye ar or even in the institution o f the Jubilee (Ps 92:4; Jer 25:9-12; Isa 61:1, 2; Dan 9:2, 24-27). b. In Events This phenom enon howev er is not unique to the feasts. The same principle is used by the prophets who may base their predictions of a future event on the reference to a past event. The past event of Creation will be reactualized in the Exodus (Exod 15:8) or in the retu rn from the Exile (Isa 42:5 -9). Th e past e vent of the Exodus w ill be reactual ized in the return from the Exil e (Jer 31:1-8). The past event of the return f rom the exile will be reactua lized in the final salvation (Ezek 37:2 1-28 ). Th e more specifi c battle of Jezreel of the past (2 Kgs 10:11 ) will be reactual ized in another future batde (Hos 1:4,11) . This phenomenon of actualization i s e ven attested on the linguis tic level through the use of the perfectum propheticutn. In Je r 32:37-44 for instance, th e

Perfect tense is used to express the certainty of the hope of the

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restoration. This future event i s so sure tha t it is pe rce ive d as if it were already accomplished. In most versions i t has significantly been rendered by a future. Behold I ha ve already gat her ed t hem o f all countri es, . . . I have already brought them back to this place, and I have already caused them to dwell safely: . . . Yes I have already rejoiced over them to do them good, and I have assuredly planted them in this land. . . . (Jer 32:37-41) c. In Hebre w Gram mar In addition to the regular usage of tenses which express completed or uncompleted actions, Hebrew grammar has the capacity of reversing the two categories of time by the use of the so-cal led “consecutive-conversive va v.” So, the ten se of the “Perfect” which is commonly used to refer to an action in the past is suddenly reversed and points instead to a future event (Jer 32:44). This capacit y of synchronization may be explained through the Hebrew concept o f the “corporate pe rso na lity.” The elected people of Israel i s in solidar ity wit h the people o f past and future generations; so the past and the future event may be perceived as their own in the present (Deut 29:9-14). Indeed, the chronological reality of History is not ignored, but through his identification with the past and future events, the Hebrew places himself in the historical perspective.

IV. The Hebrew Conce pt of M an Like the world and time, man is defined as the result of a creative act. The description of this operation is given in Gen 2:7: “And the Lord God formed of manlife; of the the ground and breathed nostrils othe breath and dust manofbecame a living bein g.” into Thehis material f man is completely earthly. The re is nothing divine in him. The etym ology o f DIK man (Gen 2:7) from n ip l^ , ground (Gen 2:7), has preserved on a linguist ic level this understanding of man. Man is nothi ng but dust (Gen 3:19; Eccl 3:20 ; 12:7; Ps 30:9) and this earthly nature is consta ntly rem inded through the rit uals o f repentance (J osh 7 : 6 ; Job 2:12 ; N eh 9:1). Yet the description of man’s creation suggests also that to the earthly element, God has added a new elem ent, “bre ath” ¡10273. Man is not only an earth ly be ing, he is a


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breathing being. This capacity is implied in the word which designates the final prod uc t coming from the com binat ion o f the two elements “eart h” and “br ea th .” The word S'53 is a term applied to men and animals as well (Gen 2:7, 19). Etym ologically i t connotes the ide a of bre ath (Jer 1 5:9). The text however suggests that man is more than just the addition of two elements. Man is in fact the result o f two divine operati ons. The de finition of man is not static, referring to the analysis of the composition of man, it is dynam ic, telli ng about the creative acti on o f God. Th us man is designed to be a complex creature.

A. Alive and Spir it ual The first implication we may infer from the story of this creative act is that ma n’s life is directly dep endent on h is relations hip wit h God. God breathes into man’s nostrils and man becomes alive. Life is then a dimen sion of the “en cou nter” between God and man. Th e notion of “air” or “ br ea th ” ITH (Job 15:30; Isa 26:18) w hich refe rs to the Heb rew princ iple of life (Gen 6:17; 7:15; cf. Gen 1:2; Job 33:4; Isa 38:16), refers also to the Heb rew principle of spirit uality (Num 27:18; Isa 63 :10, 11). Th ere is no disti nction between the n n of God and that of man (Ps 104: 30). The lesso n o f this identification is dou ble. Firs t it means that man owes his life to God. a God gave yhim n il, the Man breath.exists God is his Creator. It walso implies philosoph of the existence. only i n relationship ith God. Man is religious, or he does not exist. Th e religious dimension is not simply an answer to spiritual needs, it is a biological necessity (Gen 2:1 7; cf. 3:17 , 19). The Israelite of the Bible does not envisage life without that dimension. This wou ld be an absurdity (Ps 14:1). Religion is not a choice , it is simpl y the observation o f a fact. We cannot omit the spiritua l life as we cannot omit breathing . On the oth er hand, i f a man stops breath ing, he stops having a spiritual li fe; the dead cann ot worship (Ps 115:17).

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B. Unique and One

1. M an is Uniqu e It has the beenidea saidof that Israel is the. 1only have conceived individuality Theculture reason soforfarthisto boldness stems perhaps i n the mon otheist ic way of thinking. God being conceived as unique (Deut 6:4), man who was designed to reflect Him was to be unique also. The same emph asis on man ’s individuali ty rec urs in Genesis 2 w here the Crea tion o f man is told in contrast to that of the animals (Gen 2:7; cf. 2:1 9). Man alone receives the vital breath in his nostri ls directl y from God, a token that only man was considered as an individual. The animals are created in con form ity to speci es (Gen 1:24, 25). This principle of individual ity is particula rly vi vid in Heb rew ps ychology. The uniquene ss of the human person makes him or he r impossi ble to rem ain l ocked i n a defini tive cat egory. M an is always free to be different and can say “no” even to God (Gen 3:6; Gen 18:25; 1 Sam 15:11). Man can also be free and chan ge his ways and repen t (Jonah 3:5-10). The Hebrew method of giving names i s indicative of that thought. Every man r eceives a name wh ich wil l be specific to him, as an expression of his unique identity and history (Gen 1 Ch r 22:of9;hisIsaname; 8:3; ifGheenchanges 10:25).his Yet will be “stuck”16:11; under the label waysnoandman shifts to anothe r history, hi s name is changed accordingly. Ab ram becomes Abraham (Gen 17:5). Jacob becomes Israel (Gen 32:28). Lo Ammi becomes Ammi (Hos 2:1 ). In essence, man is different and hi s m yster y always remains a wo nde r (Ps 8:4-6). It is the awarene ss of that difference, and the respect for that difference which underlie the Heb rew principle of love. “You s hall love yo ur neigh bor a s yo urse lf” (Lev 19:18) is not a narcissist concept of love, but on the contrary the reco gnition t hat my neighbor deserves the same resp ect as myself. Fo r love implies the right for diff erence. It is the abili ty to notice t he other in spite o f myself. One o f the implicati ons o f this principle is t he so often mis unde rstood “ eye for e ye, t oot h for tooth . . . ” (Ex od 21: 24). This law has not hing t o do with some i dea of reven ge. It is simpl y the practical application of the respect for the difference. The Israelite had to learn in his flesh that his neighbor needed the same space as he

■See Bemard-Henri Levy, Le testament de Dieu (Paris, 1979), 75-92.


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himself. This very idea is in fact suggeste d in the preposition no n “u nd er” translated “ fo r. ” Co ncretely it means that the neighbor’s eye or tooth is supposed to occupy the same space as mine: eye under eye tooth under tooth. More than ju st the passive tolerance for the difference, active openness to that difference the prerequisite love. Th etherecognition of that differen ce is isactually defi nedforas the prevention for murder. The very reason why man shall not kill his neighbor is related to the fact that man has been created in the image of God (Gen 9:5-6). Killing a ma n means the des truction of what is unique in space and time— a kind o f deicide. Thus killing stands as the con trary of love: as much a s love is t he affirmation o f the difference, murder is its negation (Gen 4:4-8). 2. M an is One Another implication of the creation of man in Gen 2:7 is that man is conceived as a whole. Man becam e a living #93 (sou l). Thus it would be inappropriate to say that man has a soul; man is a soul. The Hebrew conception of man makes no room for a dualistic theory of man. Th e word #53 which is comm only translated by “sou l” implies in fact all the funct ions of man, spiritual, men tal, em otiona l, as well as physical. The E7Ç3 can be hungry (Ps 107:9; Deut 12:20), thirsty (Ps 143:6), satisfied (Jer 31:14), enjoy good food (Isa 55:2); it can also love (Gen 34:3; Song of Songs 1:7), be troubled (Ps 31:9), cry (Ps 119:20), make research (Lam 3:25), know (Ps 139:14), be wise (Prov 3:2 2), worship and praise God (Ps 103: 1; Ps 146:1). The same principle applies for the human organs. Guts DOT have compassion (Gen 43 :30 ); k idneys nV'
sam e (Eccl 9:5). Death is total ju st as life.

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C. Set Apart and Socia l

1. M an is Set Apart The process of “being set apart” follows the biblical man through out salvat ion history. setator. apa rt In outfact, of his environme nt for a speciIn al the relatibeginning, onship withman thei sCre he begins his life with this experience of a time which is set apart (Gen 2:3). Then history unfol ds a series of separations from the rest of mankind. Seth (Gen 4:25 ), No ah (Ge n 7:1), A braham (Gen 12:1), Jacob (Gen 25:23), the people of Israel (Amos 3:2) and finally the eschatological remnant (Zeph 3:13) are separated from the rest of the fami ly or of the nat ions . The reason fo r this separation i s that t hey are designed to be holy (Lev 21:6 ). Holiness implies separation . Israel must leave Egyp t and experience the l onely w anderings in the desert in orde r to learn t o be holy ( Num 23 :9, Ezek 20:8-12). As soon a s they intend to relate to the others and to behave like them, they loose their vocation fo r holiness (Deut 12:27-30; 1 Sam 8:7 , 8 , 20). Even in exile they must rema in apart from the r est (Dan 3:12). This requirem ent is not simply a faithf ulness to a political enti ty. It is not ju st the remem brance of a belonging. “To be set ap art” i mplies a perpetual choice in daily life, a special choice of food (Gen 1:29; 9:4; Lev 11; Dan 1:8), of the spouse (Gen 27:46; Judg 3:6), days (Lev 23), and places (Deut 12:5). Man is not only set apart in space, he is set apart in his existence by what he does and what he is.

2. M an is Social Man is also defined in rel ationship with the outside. Whe n Gen 2 describes the creation of man, the accent is put on his sociability (Gen 2:1 8). The H ebre w w ord ETN which is use d in that con text (it is absent in Gen 1) may well have The beenetymology chosen because o word f the suggests particu lar ial”c dimension it connotes. o f the thi“soc s basi idea since the word ETN is derived from the root EON which conveys the idea of weakness, o f socia bili ty, of dependence a nd need. No wonder then that the word ETN appears only at the last step of the chapter when the social dimension of man is finally realized in the cou ple (Gen 2:22 -25). Like wise, in Gen 1 man is prese nted as male and female (Gen 1:27); not that the text suggests that the srcinal man was androgynou s, but o n account of this total view o f man. Th e stor y

212

Hebrew For Theologians of the creation of the wom an out o f man’s sid e makes men and wo men a part of the same totality and has its counterpart on a linguistic level since the two words for wom an and man and are related (Gen 2:23). Beyond the couple, man belongs also to another body such as the fam ily, the tribe and ultim ately the people . The son 13 or the daughter n3 belong to the larger group n '3 which means family (2 Sam 3 : 1) tribe (1 Kgs 11:28), the peop le (Amo s 5:1) . The wo rds ar e etymologically related, pointing to the Hebrew concept of corporate personality. The same concept accounts for the identification between the forebear and his desce ndants ( Gen 10). Abraham conta ins in him self all the nations he is supposed to eng end er (Gen 12 :3). Jacob designate s the patriarch and those descended from him (Gen 25:26; cf. Isa 43:1). Adam, the name of the first man, will become the generic name for man. The organic link betw een the grou p and its mem bers is s uch that the slightest mistake of a member will affect the totality of the group, the prese nt and the future ( Gen 3:19; 9:25-27; Josh 7). Th e covenant made with one man concerns his family and his descendants as well (Gen 9:9-10 , 16; Isa 61:9). Th e blessing and the curse function in the same way (Deut 5:9-10). This identification o f the individual and his group is even reflected in Hebrew grammar, for instance in the usage o f the so called “collective singular. ” Instead of saying the Assyri ans, the Canaanites, the Arabians (in plura l), the Heb rew will rathe r use the singular and say the Assyrian (Num 24:22), the Canaanite (Hos 12:7), the Arabian (Isa 13:20), etc.

3. Holy and Hu man The biblical man has the double duty as Abraham Heschel puts it, “to be holy and human . ”1 The tension between the two requirements is difficult to bear, but it is vital because it prevents the excesses of fanaticism and the seducti on o f liberalism, the pride of isolationism and the compromises with sin.

'Abraham Heschel, God in Search o f Man (New York, 1955), 238.

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213

V. The H ebrew Concept of God Like the concepts of the world, time and man, the Hebrew concept of God is also very much indebted to the idea of Cr eation . God is the Creator. The reali ty of God imposes itself beyond a ll dem onstration. He exists re the time afrom nd man (Ps 90:2). H e isw there a conce ptbefo which ha sworld, germinated bel ow. The Hebre does fore not not try to define or analyze this concept. In fact, God is unco nce ivable . It is impossi ble t o represent Him (Exod 20:4). The only certainty is that He is living. The expressi on “God (or the Lord) is living” i s one of the most frequent phrases about God (Josh 3:10; Judg 3:19; 1 Sam 14:39; 25:34; Ezek 5:11; Ps 84: 3, etc.). God’s exis tence is never questioned. On ly the fool says “The re is no G od ” (Ps 14: 1; Job 2:10). On the oth er hand , God’s reality is experienced in space (Deut 26:15), in time (Exod 20:8-11) and Gen 18) . The se two evidences withliving each other.am ong Godmen is (unconceivable, unseen, yet Heseem is a in contensi creteon and realit y. Th e He brew concept of God r eflects the complexity o f this tension and accounts for the fact that God can never be apprehended. A. God is F ar and Near

1. God is Far This concept is implicit in the idea o f Cre ation (Job 38 :4). In Genesis 1 God is depicted as the great God who transcends the Universe (Gen 1:1). T he name which designates Him in that context confi rms thi s view. The root n bt t conv eys t he idea of stre ngth and preeminence which is reinforced by the plural form, expression of intensity or of majesty. God is far away in space. He dw ells in a place very far away in heaven (Ps 113:5; Isa 14:13-14), a place loca lized: “above the stars . . . on the fart hest sides o f the N orth ” (Is a 14:13-14), a way of saying that God is as far away as one could be. God i s also far in time. He is eternal (Jer 10:10 ). He is ver y far in the pas t and very fa r in the future. “H e is the firs t and the la st ” (Isa 41:4 ). This expre ssion d oes not mean that He has a beginning and an end. God is not described in Himself, from an ontological standpoint . He is described from th e human point of view. Thu s, G od’s et ernity is not described as an atemporal quality. Go d’s etern ity has a time quality s ince it paralle ls human t ime. “The Lord shall endu re for ever . . . ” and His “ye ars are thro ughout all generat ions” (Ps 102:12, 2 4).


214

His being in time does not mean however that He is determined by time , as if time were an outsi de pow er. God sti ll controls ti me which means that He is able to fix time (Gen 1:4-5; Ps 75:2), to change time (Dan 2:21) . He is even able t o push time beyond i ts bord ers (Josh 10:12; Isa 38:8). This “ mo tion” of time may be observed in the Hebrew verbs whose reference to past and future may be reversed through the phenomenon o f the conversive vav. God is far from man. This means that God escapes any control; He does whatever He pleases (Ps 115:3). God’s distance is also the most painful experience man endu res. It is associated with suffering (Job 13:24; Ps 13:1-2), death (Deut 32:20; Ps 89:46-48), and sin (Isa 57:17; 59:2).

2. God is Near The idea that God is near is also implicit in the event of Creation. In orde r to crea te, God had to come down (Ps 113:6; Ps 8:4). In Genesis 2, the second Creation story, God is depicted as a God who is near. Th e contact between G od and man is even physical (Gen 2:7). Th e wh ole text is concerned with this relationship. Th e name YHWH which designates God in that context confirms t hat emp hasis. The etymology of the name YHWH which seems to be alluded to in Exod 3:13-14 conveys the idea of a God who is with man (Exod 3:17), the God f Ababstract raham , princip Isaac, and (Exod powe 3:15). r. Th God of the Bible is noto an le orJacob an ethereal Hee is described asa concrete and physical being with hands (Gen 49:24; Ps 75:8), a nose (Isa 65 :5), a mouth (Deut 8:3), and bowe ls (Isa 63:1 5). The principl e of the Imago Dei which is generally interpreted rather on the plane of man, has its implication al so on the plane o f God. Th e fact that man has been created in the image o f God implies a reciprocal resemblan ce. Moreover the image of God should not be limited to the spiritual dimension. The Hebrew concept of man as a tota lity where the physical dimension is considered as important as the spiritual one, confirm s this perception. God is as concrete and physical as man is. He walks (Deut 20:4; Gen 3:8), speaks (Gen 17:22; Isa 65:12), fights (Gen 32:22-32; Exod 14:14, 25) and even touches physically (Gen 32:2 5; Ps 23:5). God even dwells among the peo ple (Num 5:3 ; 1 Kgs 6:13; Ps 22:3; Zech 2:11), more precisely in Jerusalem (Ps 135:21), in the Sanctuary (Exod 15:17; 29:43-46 ). God is in time. The Israelite calendar is saturated with times in which God is particularly

present. The feasts, the Sabbaths, are appointments in time where God

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215

and man mee t together (Lev 23:2). The most obvi ous prese nce o f God in time is in History . God reveals Him self through events. Creation, Exodus, personal experiences, eschatological salvation, are God’s insert ions in th e time of man. History i s contr olled from above (Dan 4:35) and f ollows a li ne which is predicted by God H im self (I sa 46:10). God is with man. God’s relationsh ip wit h man is therefo re fulfilled on the level of existen ce and History. This experience is descri bed as a coven ant r P l? where God and man e ngage like partners in the same action. Indeed the experience o f covenant carries implications on both leve ls. On the level of God it implies an act of grace. God has take n the initi ative to make a covenant with man (Exod 6:4; Je r 31:31). He has come down to ma n (2 Sam 22:10 ; E xod 34:5). Indeed, gra ce 1 0 0 is an inherent part of the event of covenant (Deut 7:9; Dan 9:4; Exod 15:13; 1 Kgs 8:23; Ps 89:49). It means specifically a pow erfu l action through which God expresses his strong loving relationship to man (Gen 32:10; Ps 17:7). On the level of man it implies a life according to the prescriptions of the rnin, the law graciously granted to man (Exod 24:12; Deut 33;4; Neh 9:34; Ps 119 :29) . The word rn in usually translated “law,” means more, indeed, than just the legalistic observance, it means a way to walk in, a direction in life (Neh 10:29; Ps 119:105 ). The way of r n in is actually the human response t o the divine nQO (Ps 119:41-45).

3. Univers al an d Particular This presence of God in space, in time, and with man, is one of the most difficult ideas of He brew thought. The Un iversal God o f gods (Deut 10:17), who has all power and wisdom (2 Sam 14:20; Job 15:8; Dan 2:20-23), who is everywhere (Ps 139:7-12), is also known as the God who is “one” (Deut 4:35; 6:4; 32:39), to be met only in one specif ic place (Deut 12:5 ; Neh 1:9). This parado x lies in the heart of the mystery of Revelatio n. It simpl y mean s that t he Great God ha s revealed H imreference self to human beings. to know oneillus has to pass by the to man . 1 The Then, phenomenon of God, prophecy trates the requ irem ent. The K’DJ (prophet) is the man who comm uni cates God’s message in his own articulated words (Exod 7:1; Hos 'This concept will reach its climax in the New Testament idea o f incarnation (John 1:1-5; Heb 1:1-2).


2'16

12:10). The universal salvat ion passes by the refere nce to a particular people (Ps 67:1-2; cf. John 4:22), a particular man (Gen 12:3; cf. John 14:6), a particular history (Ps 98:1-3). B. Th e Tension of Reli gion The biblica l man has ass umed the contradict ion. For him the God who is far away is als o very close (Jer 23:23). The God o f ju stic e is also the God o f grace (Ps 112: 4; 116:5 ). The Hebrew word conveys both the connotation o f grac e and justice (Mai 4:2; Ps 5:8 ; Joel 2:23). The Go d wh o is eve ryw her e is also the God who is particularly here . Th e unique Go d is also the God who holds all powe r. It is the same God. The tensions of that religion are preserved ritually in the gestures of worship and psychologically in the sacred fear.

1. Worship Whether the Israelite prays or performs a sacrifice, he expresses his awa reness o f that tension. In his pray ers he addresses the God of heaven (Neh 1:4; Ps 136:26) as a Shepherd (Ps 23), or a Father (Ps 89:26; Matt 6:9) who draws close to man. It is notewo rthy that the act of sacrifice carries the same tension; while it reminds the Israelite that he could not approach God by himself (Jer 30:21), it is also used as a sign o f God ’s pro xim ity (Exod 29:42). The root of the word 'QT1? sacrifice (Lev 1:2) derived from the root meaning “nea r,” may we ll have preserv ed thi s dynamics. Significant ly, the biblical idea of worsh ip is often as sociated wit h the idea of Creation (Ps 95:6; 102:18; Neh 9:6; cf. Rev 14:7). Only the Creator deserves worship. For through the act of Creation, God has shown both His power and His gra ce. He is gre at enough to be awed and near enough to be loved; worship necessarily implies that tension between the sense of the distance of God and yet the intimate experience of His proximity. 2. The Fear o f God The Hebrew concept of the fear of God rnn? ni$Tl? is an important element of Hebrew religion (Ps 111:10; Prov 1:7; Josh 4:24; Isa 11:3). It expresses the consciousness of God’s eye upon us wherever we are (Ps 33:18; Job 28:24-28). In this concept, G od ’s jus tice and love ar e intertwin ed. God is every wh ere and therefore He is able to watch up on

Hebrew Thought

I

217

us: He is the Judge (P s 139; 50:1-6; Ps 33:13-15; Prov 24:12 ; Ez ek 8:12). He is everywh ere and therefore He i s able to protec t us from any harm: He is the Savior (Exod 3:7-8; Ps 106:43- 44; 138:6-7). Th e “fear o f Go d” asso ciates bot h dimensi ons o f justice and love (Deut 10:12 -13). Thus, the Hebrew concept of “fear of God” assumes a real tension between joy fear and and trembling (Ps 1:5). 2:11), fear and trust (Exod 14:31), and between love (Neh

| Conclusion The study of Hebrew thought is a relevant concern i ndeed. First, because the thought of the Hebrews did exist in reality. The influence of i| Hebre w langua ge and civili zation, in additi on to the unique exp erienc e of prophecy have certainly played a role in the shaping of Hebrew mentality. I; If recognize the vali ditydiv ofersity t his principle, shall expect t he Bible as we a whole, in spite of its , displays we a specific wa y that o f thinking. Second, because we cannot have access to the universal Truth, that is God’s Revelation, without passing through the humble references to its 1 his toric al witness that is the particular people of Israel. Those who cl aim % to hold to the divine Truth while despising its human witness, stumble on this basic requiremen t. As a matter of fact, t his view , sometimes expressed by Old Testament scholars, not only falls in the dualistic trap which dissociates the spirit from the flesh, but also betrays the old anti-Semitic : bias.This principle does not mean, however, that we have to think exactly the same way as did the ancient Hebrews; our own languages and cultures as well a s o ur historical adventures with God today are differen t than theirs. But this “subjective” experience with Israel will at least help us to ? understan d the bibli cal message the way it was understood by the men who conveyed it . This sympathetic approac h will draw the perso n o f the Bible ;; close to us on a spiritual level; and the intimacy thus created may well 1 affect our li ves and even our civi lization. |

raison Thisusishow actually the but of the us biblical necessarily § to teach to think, rathed ’etre r to teach how totruth: comm not it ourselves to the same God. This is what makes the influence of the Bibl e essentially different from any other cul tural product. As Abraham Heschel observes : “So crates tau ght us that a life withou t thinking is not worth living . . . . The Bible taught us that life without commitment is not worth living; that

218


thinking withou t roots w ill be ar flowers but no fruits. Ou r commitment is to God, and our roots are in the prophetic events of Israel . ”1 V I. Exercises (Hebrew Th ough t) 56.

Give one linguistic example i n Gen 22 which would ill ustrat e the principle that in Hebrew action precedes thought.

57.

What are the wo rds expressing th e Heb rew concept of knowledge and of intel ligenc e?

58.

How is the emphasis on totality (synthesis) exp resse d in Hebrew vocabulary and grammar (give examples)?

59.

What are the wo rds expressing t he He brew idea of the world? Indicate their basic meaning, their etymology and their diverse applications.

60.

Same question for the He brew idea of time, history a nd eternity.

61.

How does He brew gram mar and voc abular y expres s the idea of past and future?

62.

What are the two main words expressing the Hebrew idea of man? Indicate their basic meaning and their etymology.

63.

Indicate sever al He brew w ords for human organs a nd indicate their “spiritual” function.

64.

What are the two main words express ing the Hebrew idea of God? Indicate their basic meaning and their etymology?

*65.

Indicate severa l Hebrew words expressing the Hebre w concept of religion (law, covenant, prophet, grace, justice, holiness, sacrifice, fear of God), and explain th em on the basis o f their etymology, a!;

‘Heschel, God in Search o f Man, 216.

HEBREW IN A NUTSHELL I. The Letters A. 22 Co nsonants

1

n

n

i

3

3

3

3

N

w

h

d

d

g

g

b

b

D

(1 )

=

3

a

n

T

1

k

k

k

y

t

h

z

(*1)

S

3

U

0

( 1)

^

(□)

0

P

P

P

C

s

n

n

n

C2

w

"1

P

(r)

*

t

t

§

s

r

q

s

s

n

m

B. The Vowel s _ p a tah (a); „ hatef patah (a) T qametz (a); T. hatef qametz (o ); r short qametz (o) i, □ holem (o); 1 shureq («); s qibbutz (u)

m

219

220


_ segol (e); vi ha te f segol (e); . sheva (e); „ tsere (S) . hireq (/); \ long hireq (i) Note: The long vowels are transcribed with a

hat on them. Long

vowels come generally in open syllables (ending with the sound of the vowel “ ba ”), while short vowels generally come in closed syllables (ending with the sound of the consonant “ ab ”).

C. Two Shevas and Two Dageshes

Sheva nah (quiet) = silent e, at the end of a syllable Sheva nac (mobile) = pronounced e, at the beginning of a syllable 3 Dagesh qal (weak) = explosive letter, in begedkefet (beginning of syllable) Q Dagesh hazaq (strong) = doubling letter in other l etters ( not gutturals) □ □□ □ □□

2. Particles The article (the), QH; before guttural, ¡1 or il The interrogative, 0 ; before guttural, ¡1 or 0 The vav (and), ]; before ( bumpj) or sheva, 1

3. Prepositions

b y (on) b, bit, (to)

? (in) nnn (under);

5 (like)

4. Nouns A. Gender and Number “liOCI, donkey (M.S.) -» D'HTOq, donkeys (M.P.) rniorj, donkey (F.S.) -* niliarj, donkeys (F.P.)

Hebrew in a Nutshell

221

B. W ith Adject ive 31t3 -lioq, a good donkey (adjective after the noun) 3i£2ll 110QO, the good donkey (adjective has an article like the noun) 31£2 n o o n , the donkey i s good (adjective ha s no art icle) C. Construct ”Iî?0 "liftO, the donkey of the king (the article before the second noun) Vocal changes of the construct: (words of) '' 113? * (words) (word of) " (kings of) *(kings) D ^ i p ; (king of)

13? * (word) 1 5 ? *- (king)

Pronouns

Personal Pronoun

Pronoun Suffix

'38

I

’013

my cup

nnN

you(M.S.)

■qçis*

your cup (M.S.)

OK

you (F.S.)

?Qi3*

your cup (F.S.)

xin

he

1013*

his cup

to n

she

n ç i 3*

her cup

•13038

we

13013*

our cup

□HK

you (M.P.)

□3Ç13*

your cup (M.P.)

108

you (F.P.)

130Í3*

your cup (F.P.)

DO

they (M.P.)

□Ç13*

their cup (M.P.)

they (F.P.)

1Ç13*

their cup (F.P.)

10

‘(Plural: 1 before the suffix)


222

6. Verbs Perfect

’030? 0? 0?

Imperfect (TUTIK = Atynty before the root)

I wrote you wrote (M.S.)

303$ 3F130

I shall write you will write (M.S.)

you wrote (F.S.)

’3030

you will write (F.S.)

3D?

he wrote

303?

he will write

rgo?

she wrote

3030

she will write

•13303

we wrote

3033

we shall write

□0303 10303

you wrote (M.P.) you wrote (S.P.)

■13030 nj3030

you will write (M.P.) you will write (S.P.)

•130?

they wrote (M.P.)

■1303?

they will write (M.P.)

•130?

they wrote (F.P.)

nj?030

they will write (F.P.)

A. Forms

PielPual Hitpael Names: ; HiphilHophal; Imperfect:PaalNiphal; the Atynty carries Hireq in Paal, Niphal, Hitpael Sheva in Piel, Pual Patah in Hiphil Short Qametz in Hophal Participle: prefixe d by Q in eve ry form (ex ce pt paal and niphal), with the vowel of the atynty. B. Irreg ular Verbs T 's, V'S, '"S ^ h ^ J , % \rem ain in the. Pe rfect, but drops ou t in the Imperfect (in V'3 conpcnsated by dagesh). | Vi? = the 1 remains in the Imperfect, but drops out in the Perfect.

Hebrew in a Nutshell

223

/ n " b , = the n remai ns in the Imperf ect , but change s into yod in the 'Perfect. 7. V ocabu lar y ( The 28 M ost Im po rtan t H ebrew W ords in Theo logy ) 1 . c p r bi i . God

15. v v :

save

2.

say

16. P'TS

righteous

3.

word

17. n iin

law

4. rn n :

TheLord

5. r r n

be to

6 . 3-12?

return

20. i n

mountain

7.

angel

21.

self,being

8. n n

Spirit

22.

serve

9.

grace, piety

23.

10. NT

fear (of God)

24. 0^117

eternity

11. $ 1 ?

holy

25. 131

remember

12 . nxgn 13.i n ;

sin know

26. N l? 27. nip!?

create truth

14.

peace

28.

listen, obey

18.

nn?

covenant prophet

19.

aj

blood

8 . Syntax A. O rder of W or ds Verb, subject, object B . A rti culations of the Vav

Vav of addition (connection, explanation, consequence, etc.), before a verb


224

Vav of opposition (distinction, contrast, etc.), before a non verb C. Accents Disjunctive:

Silluq {■ ,); Athnah (A); etc.

Conjunctive:

Munah (, ); Merka ( ); etc.

9. The M ain Princi ples of H ebrew Thought 1. Th e action precede s the thought (“I am there fore I thin k”). 2. Know ing is experiencing with; subjective rath er than obje ctive (synthesis rather than analysis). 3. The world i s created one (limitati on and unity). 4. The Heb rew conc ept of time is bound up with its content (emphasis on history). 5. Ma n is “human and ho ly” (social and special). 6. God is nea r and far (worship i mplies fear and lov e).

APPENDIX: FURTHER STEPS At this stage, the student may pursue his effort in four directions, depending on his own skills or interests: 1) improve his knowledge of the Hebrew language (Advanced Hebrew), 2) focus on specific texts (Exegesis), 3) focus on specific words (Word study), 4) apply his knowledge for practical purposes (Sermon). We shall propose here guidelines for each of these four basic assignments.

Advanced Hebrew For further study of the Hebrew language, it is enough after this introduction to keep working on a variety of selected texts (different in regard to diffi culty, literary genre, b ooks, historical period). Fo r each text we suggest the following guidelines: 1. Ana lyze all the nouns and adjectives (etymology, gram matical (A Hebrew and English Lexicon of function) with the help of dictionaries the Old Testament by F. Brown, S. Driver, and C. Briggs; Lexicon in Veteris Testamenti Libros by L. Koehler and W. Baumgartner). 2. Pa rse all the verbs. 3. Lea rn the vocabulary of the text. 4. Translate. 5. Recog nize the accents of the text (names, grade s, disjunctives, conjunctives).

6 . Decipher the Apparatus at the bottom o f the page o f BHS with the help of William R. Scott’s 1987).

A Simplified Guide to BHS (Berkeley, CA, 225


226

7. Study the secti ons in gram mars (An Introduc tion to B iblical Heb rew Syntax by B. W altke a nd M. O ’Connor; Ge seniu s’ Hebrew Grammar by E Kautzsch and A. Cowley; Grammaire de I ’Hebre u Biblique by J. Jouon) where your text is used as an illustration to the grammatical points thereby treated (proceed from the index of Scripture references).

8 . Lea rn to read th e text f luently (practice readin g it witho ut vowels). Exegesis A. General Remarks Definition: The word “exegesis” comes from the Greek word exege omai, which basically means “to lead out, to bring out” the meaning of a specific text. Necessity: As applied to the biblical text, exegesis becomes a religious necessity, not only because it concerns the word of God; but also because it implies a gap between the source which srcinated the “word,” and the 1) a gap between the text and the reader of today; receiver, i.e., ourselves: 2) a gap between the biblical author and the reader of today; 3) a gap between the God who inspired this word and the religious interpretation of today. Exegesis consis ts essentially in narrowing these gaps as muc h as possible. Methodology: Thus, exegetical work pertains to Science, to Art, but also to Faith. It is a Science: it must proceed rigorou sly u nder the control o f as much information as possible, for the data are historically remote. It is an Art: it implies intuition, literary sensitivity, and even poetic creativity for it is first of all an experience with a text. It is a Faith: it concerns a prophetic word that is a word which has been inspired by a God with whom the exegete entertains a special relationship.

B. Specif ic Remarks Presupposition: The text which is the only actual data we have so far will be considered as such, in its “finished state,” as the fundamental presupposition of our exegetical enterprise. A basic knowledge and understanding of the vocabulary of the text, and its grammatical structure

Appendix: Further Steps

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is then implied before engaging in the exegeti cal w ork (for thi s p reliminary work, see our guidelines above in “Advanced Hebrew”). A Basic Principle. Read the text repeated ly in i ts srcinal lang uag e with great attention (close reading) and fresh eyes (forget what you know about that text), and ask at every step, at every word, the key question“why?” (Why does the author/the text, say what he /it says? Why does the auth or/ the text say it that way?). Strategy. The exegetical work will be described through seven assignments leading ultimately to the exegetical paper (the eighth assign ment). Thes e eight assignments cover 35 exercises; they are by no means chronological steps, but may be integrated according to a different organization.

I. Textual 1. Note the most important textual variants. Co mpare independent sources (eg. M T, LXX , Qumran; see especial ly App aratus BHS). Try to translat e the m back into Hebrew and explain them. Choose the best version and justify (textual criticism). 2. W rite down (without vow els) the consonan tal text and try different possibilities of reading. best choice and justify it.Compare with the Masoretic version. Make your 3. M aster the meaning of all the accen ts o f the text (learn their na me and their grad e). Pu t the punctuation on the text follow ing the indicati ons o f the hierarchy of the accent s. Com pare t his punctuation wit h the on e sugges ted in the other ancie nt versions. Make yo ur best choic e and justify it. 4. W rite a first literal transl ation r ecording you r choices .

II. Linguistic 5. No te the gramm atic al diffi culti es. Explain t hem with the help of technical tools (grammars, articles, etc.).

6 . Note and explain the gram matical and syntactical irregularities (because of the history of the language, of the specific language of the

author, or of an intention of the author).


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7. Note and explain the ra re words and expression s (less than 5 occurrences including hapax legomena).

8 . Analyze the syntactical relatio ns betw een claus es; indicate the specific nuances expressed by the articulating vara and particles. 9. Rend er yo ur observations in you r translation.

III. Literary 10. Situate you r text within t he literary s tructure of the wh ole book. Explain the logic of this sequence and the position of the text. 11. Indicate the delimitations o f the text (beginn ing and end). Indicate the clues (Masoretic, structural) which justify this delimitation. 12. Depending on the literary nature o f the text, p rep are a poetic analysis of the passage. Po int out the parallelism s, play on words, alliterations a nd other poetic devices. Analyze the meter of the passage (accents, syllables). 13. No te the words which occur most frequently in the te xt, or (and) those which are distributed according to a regular pattern; detect the key word(s) of the text. 14. Establish the literary stru cture of the text; show how some clu es (key words, poetic devices) serve that structure. 15. Do a word study of the most crucial key word(s) o f the text (s ee below). 16. Show how the literary structure , the key wo rd(s) and othe r poetic devices se rve the specific meaning o f the text. Copy the text accord ing to its literary structure (bring out parallelisms, stanzas, etc.). 17. Detect t he literary genr e of the text (narrative, hym ns, lament s, poetry, genealogy, etc.), and compare with other texts of the same genre, in ord er to establish the validi ty o f the genre you are referring to. Show how the literary genre serves the meaning of the text.


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18. De tect an d exam ine the discrepan cies and the repe titions in the text and explain them in regard to its historical composition or (and) its literary construct ion. Address th e questi on of the literary unit y and the authorship of the passage.

IV. Historical 19. Pinpo int the wo rds and forms which betra y its histo rical setting. As far as possible, justify your choice by reference to the evolution of the language. 20. Pinpoint the wo rds, expressions, ideas, etc ., w hich allude to specific events, situations, persons, places or times. 21. Situate the text in its historical context ; establish, if pos sible, the events which may have generated what the text says and the events which may have been generated by what the text says. 22. Evalua te critically the divers e opinions conc erning the date of the book to which the text belongs.

V. Theological 23. On the basis of your observation of the text as a whole, its literary structure and its key words, its literary genre, etc., establish the central idea of the passage. Indica te why thi s idea i s centra l in the passag e, and how (on the stylistic level) the author makes it central. 24. Situa te this idea within the theolo gy o f the book, of the He brew Scriptu res, and of the whole Bible. Relate this idea to the classical theological concepts (God, man, salvation, eschatology, etc.), to the system of Hebrew thinking, and to the doctrine of your religious community. 25. Detect other secondary ideas of the passage. Show how they are related t o the central idea, and how they ar e themselves interrelated. W rite a short statement exposing the coherent unity between all these ideas. 26. Courageously, but prudently, point out the theological problems this passage may arouse, in relation to biblical theology in general or to

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you r doctrines i n particular. Discuss the nat ure of these problem s, and if possible propose a solution.

VI. Interpretation 27. Proph etic inter pretati on: Examine the use of this passage throug hout th e Scri ptures. Using a He brew and an English concor dance, find t he biblical passages whic h re fer o r allude to your text . Establish ho w yo ur passag e is transmitted, and i nterpreted in those new contexts . Show how those texts allude to your passage through the use of echoes, repeti tions of unique associations of words or of ideas, the same key words, etc. Indicate the exegeti cal method use d in the new passage (herme neutics), and show to what extent this new “reading” fits, confirms, enlightens, enriches, or even differs from the or iginal one. Ex plain the new meaning i n relation to the new con text. Indicate the elemen ts of interp retation you decide d to adop t in you r own interpr etati on and translati on. Justify yo ur choi ce. 28. Tradition al interpretation: I nves tigate the interp retatio n of the passage in Jewish (especially Mishna, Talmud, Midrash), Christian (especially the Church Fathers and the Reformers), and even Moslem (especially the Ko ran and the Hadith) classical traditions. Ga ther al l the passages which quote and interpret your passage. Compare them within the different tradi tions. For eac h tradit ion, w rite a st atement which capsu lizes the cha racteristics of its interpretation(s ). Com pare with the srcinal mean ing and with its “prop he tic” interpreta tion. Indicate the exegetical method used in each tradition (hermeneutics), and show to what extent this interpretation fits, confirms, enlightens, enriches, or even differs from the srcinal one. Explain the new applications in relation to the theological setting of these tr adit ions. Indic ate the element s o f interpretation you deci ded to adopt in your own interpretati on and t ranslation. Justify your choice. 29. Critical interpret ation: C onsult mod ern bibli cal comm entari es, dissertati ons, articl es, etc ., deali ng wit h y our passage and being represe nta tive of modern schools of interpretation (historical-critical, structuralist, materialist ic, psyc ho-analyti cal, rhetorical, etc.). Desc ribe their respective interpretati ons of the pa ssage. Indicat e in each case the exegetic al method (hermeneutics), and show to what extent this interpretation fits, confirms, enlightens, enriches, or even diff ers from t he ori ginal one. Exp lain t he new

interpretation in relat ion to the philosophi cal presupposition insp iring each


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method. Indic ate the element s of interpretation you decided to adopt i n yo ur own i nterpretation and transl ation. Justify yo ur choi ce. 30. Write you r final transl ation in good English while integrating the results of your research. Try to be both comm unicati ve, and faithf ul to the intenti ons of the srci nal text. Com pare yo ur translation with mo dern English translations, and justify your choice when you differ significantly from them.

VII. Relevance 31. Infer from your “total” exegesis of the text, less ons which are relevant for the church in regard to doctrine, as well as in regard to the religious life of the community. 32. Interpre t the text from an exis tent ial poin t of view, u nd er the control o f your exegesis . Note the l esson(s ) o f the t ext which speak to man in general, and to you personally in your situation now. 33. Investigate the possibilities of exploiti ng yo ur exege sis for one or several sermons (see below).

VIII. The Exegeti cal Paper 34. Organize your mater ial depending o n the form of pa pe r you choose . Th ere are several options: 1) the technical pape r: you follow the seven steps o f yo ur research as indica ted above; 2) the commentary paper: you follow the text verse by verse, from the beginning to the end; 3) the issue relat ed paper: you addres s one or severa l issues o f the text an d follow the logical order of the arguments; 4) the topical paper: you organize your paper around theological motifs and follow the logical order of these motifs; 5) the essay paper: you discuss the passage in a free-flowing fashion. Whatever form of writing you may choose, integrate your research and the scholarly dis cussi on covered in the seven assignments in yo ur pap er. Make a clear distinction between your contribution and what you have found elsewhere (refer diligently to your sources and discuss critically). 35.

Write your Introducti on wh ere you justify the choice of you r

resea rch, and raise theyou issues i n regardyour to research, the s cholarly scussion. your Conclusion where summarize and di remind of the Write


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issues raised in the Introduction; indicate the solutions you propose and your contribution as well as the problems which are still to be addressed

Note: Five main qualities make a good paper: 1) well informed 2) srcinal, 3) rigorously argued, well written, well presented Kate A Manual fo r 4) Writers o f Term5) Papers, Theses,(see and DissertaL. Turabian, tions, 5th ed., rev. and expan. [Chicago, 1987]).

The Word Study Definition'. The word study is a systematic analysis of the meaning(s) of one pa rticular word. Goals and Limits: To arrive at its specific meaning in a particular biblical text (exegesis), or to indicate the direction(s) of Hebrew thinking (theology). We shou ld keep in mind, ho we ver, that t he meanin g of the word depends ultimately on the context in which it is used; the word study provides just an orientation within which we have to seek the specific me aning. The absolute meaning of the word do es not exist as such. Besides the rig or which the systematic anal ysis requires from the research er, this dynamic implies for him great flexibility, intuition, and serious consideration of the living context of the word (see Moisés Silva, Biblical Words and Their Meaning: An Introduction to Lexical Semantics [Grand Rapids, 1983]). Methodology: The methodology of this study varies, depending on the frequency of the word; if the number of its occurrences is very little (less than 10), or if it is an hapax legomenon, the statistical and historical argu me nt is not significant (see especially 2 and 3) . As the data are not the same for every word, the 15 steps we propose here are therefore theoretical and will not work the s ame way for every word. To safeguard the specificity of the biblical meaning, and allow a fresh approach to it, we sugg est the foll proce ss from (information from from the Hebrew word itself andowing its translations) to the the center periphery (information its cognates and the technical studies).

I. The Hebrew Word 1. Use a Hebrew lexicon: find the basic meaning, and its secondar meaning, in the Bible; write them down with one or two references as an illustration for each meanin g. See Francis Brown, S . R. Driv er, and

Charles A. Briggs,

A Hebrew and English Lexicon o f the Old Testament


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f (Oxford, 1966); L udw ig Ko ehler and Wa lter Baum gartn er, Lexicon in Veteris Testamenti Libros (Leiden, 1958). 2. Use a Hebrew concordance: write down the total frequency of the word; its distribution the biblical books (a diagram thisConcordan data is recommended). SeeinSolomon Mande lkern, Veterisrecording Testamenti tiae Hebraicae atque Chaldaicae (Jerusalem, 1969); Abraham Even-Shoshan, ed., A New Concordance o fthe Old Testament (Grand Rapids, 1984). 3. Use a Hebrew concordance and a Hebrew grammar: analyze the syntax of the word (grammatical form, place in the sentence) according to its distribution in the biblical books (a diagram recording this data is recommended). 4. Use a Hebrew concordance and a Hebrew lexicon: find the various words w ith whic h this word is usuall y associa ted; ind icate t he frequenc y o f the respective associations and give the respective basic meanings of the associated wo rds. Find idiom atic expressio ns in which th e wo rd may be used. Find synonyms a nd antonyms o f the word (with the help of topical concordances such as Orville J. Nave, N a ve’s Topical Bible (Chicago, 1974). See also Ro bert B. Girdlestone, Synonyms o f the Old Testame nt. 5. Use a Hebrew concordance and a Bible (H ebrew and English): find biblical texts where this word plays the role of a keyw ord; indicate the connection between the word and this context.

6 . Use a general Hebrew thesaurus and other lexicons: find i f possible the non-Old Testament usages of the word (inscriptions, Rabbinic litera ture); indicate their respective meaning and describe the history of their evoluti on. See Charles-Francois Jean an d Jacob Hoftijzer, Dictionnaire des inscriptions semitiques de I ’ou est (Leiden, 1965); Marcus Jastrow, A Dictionary o f the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yherushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature, 2 vols. (New York, 1962).

II. Translations 7. Find and write down t he di verse renderings o f the word in anci ent versions (the Greek Septuagint, the New Testament, the Latin Vulgate), for each meaning, give a dict ionary definiti on o f the Greek and the Latin w ord,


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and as far as possible provide with an example of a sentence (with reference) in which the word is used.

8. Find and write dow n the diverse rende rings o f the word in modern English translations (such as the

Jerusalem Bible, the New International

Version, the New King James Version ); for each meaning provide one or two references.

III. Cognates 9. Use a Hebrew Lexicon: find the Hebrew words of the same root; indicate their respective basic and secondary meaning(s). 10. Use a Hebrew Lexicon: find the Hebrew words which belong to the same phonetic family (at least two common letters); indicate their respective basic and secondary meaning(s). 11. Use a Hebrew Lexicon and other Language Dictionaries: find words of the same root and indicate their respective basic and secondary meaning(s) in other Semitic languages (such as Akkadian, Ugaritic, Aramaic, Arabic), unless this word is derived from a non-Semitic language (see t hen in the correspond ing family of languages). Trac e the etymology of the word (attested or reconstructed), and write a statement summarizing the common basic idea of these words.

IV. Technical Studie s 12. Use a bib liograp hic aid such as Elenchus (since 1988 in Ephemeri des Theologicae Lovanienses ) or Old Testament Abstracts, etc.: set up a bibliography of articles in journals and biblicaltheological dictionaries, dissertations, and books on this word or on related words (synonyms, antonyms). See G. Johannes Botter weck and Helm er Ringgren, ed s., Theological Dict ionary o f the Old Testament, vols. 1-6 (Grand Rapids, 1974-19 90), in progress; R. L aird Harris, e d ., Theol ogic al Wordbook o f the Old Testament, 2 vols. (Chicago, 1980). 13. Read through these works and write a sum ma ry o f the state o f the question; compare critically with your own observations and conclusions.


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V. Synthesis and Conclusi on 14. W rite a nuanced syn thes is of you r researc h: de lineate the wide range of meanings and directions of thought which are attested while indicating those which are mostly represented. 15. Apply your fi ndin gs to underst and the specifi c meaning o f the word in the given text (for exegesis), or to grasp the Hebrew category of thinking (for theology).

The Sermon Here are some guidelines to make your study of Hebrew language and thought relevant and practical in your “present ministry of the word.”

I. The Three Qualit ies of a Good “Bibli cal Serm on” In order to be faithful to the biblical message, and also to be efficient, this sermon should be creative, communicative, and true.

1. Creative Seek out new ground (texts, words, ideas, stories, etc.). Do not echo others; do not repeat yourself. Be open to surprises.

2. Communicative Be committed: be intellectually convinced of what you say; be existential ly comm itted to your message; integrate th is m essage in yo ur life, in your thought. Be(do clear: modest (focus on few ideas); be organized (plan); be simple not be technical). Be relevant: meet the needs, the interests, and the sensitivity of your people where they are.

3. True Focus on the sacred word.

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Be interested in the truth rather than in the reflection of, or support for your concerns and opinions. Preach from the text and not through the text. Avoid shallowness (you are dealing with sacred material).

II. Tw o Categories o f Sermons Your study of Hebrew will inspire you and will more or less affect several of you r sermons. We shall concentrate here only on the two categories of sermons which are directly generated by the Hebrew information, namely the sermon on the biblical text and the sermon on the Hebrew word.

1. On the Text a) Choice From your studies (the Bible, courses, books, discussions, etc.). From yourself (biblical texts you like or even dislike, texts that speak to you personally). From a definite program (liturgical: the text of the week; didactic: key-text in doctrine; circumstantial: text related to a similar occasion).

b) Preparation (See above “E xegesis”) Read the text i n your v ersion r epeatedly over a long period of time (one to two weeks to allow maturation and saturation). Consult the Hebrew srcinal and one or two English translations. Detect words which are repeated, the key word(s), other important words (names of places, of persons); with the use of a He brew lexico n indicate their respective basic and secondary meanings. Outline the literary structure of the text, note the parallelisms, the play on words, and other stylistic devices. Situate the text in its literary, historical, and theological context. Look at the text as a whole: deduce the main idea(s) of the text. Read s ome literature (especially commentaries) about this text (only after your personal work, to safeguard your creativity). Write down all the ideas or situations in the text which appear significant to us today.


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Write down other ideas, historical or personal experiences which cross your mind by way of association.

c) Exposition (Plan) 1) Introduction: situate the text in its context and in your context (its significance then and now). 2) Developm ent, several options: Progress according to t he chronological ord er o f the t ext (from beginning to end). Section 1 -* Idea A Section 2 -» Idea B Section 3 -*■Idea C, etc. Progress accordi ng to th e lit erary structure o f the text; e.g ., if the text displays the parallelisms A B C / Al Bl Cl, treat A with Al, B with Bl, and C with Cl. Progress according to the ideas of the text (follow a logical order: Idea A -» B -> C). Idea A -* Verses 1, 2 Idea B -> Verses 12, 15, 16 Idea C -> Verses 4, 6 , 7 3) Conclusion: sum marize , apply to life.

2. On the Hebrew Word a) Choice From your studies (Hebrew vocabulary, biblical dictionaries, courses, etc.). From yourself (the word which struck you, names of biblical persons, or places, etc.). From a definite program (didactical: theological words; existential: related to life; circumstantial: word or name related to a special occasion).

b) Preparation (See above “ The Word Study ”) Write down all the various meanings of the word in relation to

their respective context; find a practical application, and an illustration (story, experience) for each meaning.

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Hebrew For Theologians c) Exposition (Outline) 1) Introduction: Justify the choice o f you r word; situa te the wo rd (its imp ortance in the Bible and for us). Indicate the basic meaning. 2) De velopm ent, seve ral options : If this word has several meanings, one section for each mean ing. Derived words from the same root: one section for each word. Focus on the basic meaning of the word and develop this basic idea deductively. 3) Conclusion: Synthes is o f the diverse m eanings and appli ca tions; show the connection between them; apply to life.

ANALYTICAL INDEX absolute state 30, 125 abstract 25, 200, 214 acce nts xxxii, 12, 19, 177, 183, 184, 188-192, 224, 225 , 227 , 228 accusative 66, 77, 83, 87, 105, 111, 158

cohortative 40, 95, 96, 150, 151, 153 concordances 233 conjunctions 27, 29, 110, 180 consonants 1, 2 , 12, 16, 20 , 21, 25, 29, 35, 62, 219 construc t state 30, 32, 47, 49,

adjective 30, 31, 76, 77, 12 1, 122, 125, 126, 136, 143-145, 150, 156, 221 alph abet xxii, xxx , 2, 3, 12, 13, 15, 16, 25 anti-Semitic xxii, 217 apocope 75, 76 , 85, 86, 88-90, 93, 97, 103, 110, 128, 129 article 27-29, 32, 76 , 77, 82 , 84, 86, 90, 94, 98, 102, 106, 114, 117, 121, 124, 142, 195, 220, 221 assimilation 28, 29, 87, 93, 102, 106, 110, 117, 144 Barr, James xii, xxi begedkefet 14, 100, 102, 126,

80, 114, 115, 117, 119, 123-125, 146, 147, 151, 195 context x, xiv, xxiii, xxiv, XXV, xxvi., 21, 38, 73, 75, 145, 150, 151, 180, 183, 191, 192, 191, 197, 211, 213, 214, 229, 230, 232, 233, 236, 237 corpo rate personality 37, 207,

142, books 162,233 220 biblical Boman, Thorleif xii, 191 Buber, Martin xvii cases xxv , 19, 45, 111, 1 64 cogito 193

2 1 1-:216 dagesh 14, 27-29, 35, 39, 42-44, 53, , 76, 77, 79, 85-8!8, 90 , 92, 93, 100, 102, 106, 110, 114, 117, 121, 126, 134, 136, 138, 140, 142, 144, 148, 149,

212

coven ant xiv, xvii, xx, 59, 68 , 165, 200, 202, 212, 215, 218, 223 creation 1 xiii, xvii, 15, 193, 196, 199, 200, 202, 204, 206, 207, 209, 210,

239

240


152, 154, 157, 158, 162, 164, 220, 222 demonstrative 77, 116, 117,

120

He brew thought xiii, xxv, xxvi, xxx, xxxi, xxxii, 27, 37, 191-193, 194-196, 200, 202, 215, 217, 218, 224

dictionaries 234,92,237114 , dual 31, 70, 225 72, , 87, 155 Elohim (¡rri^ N) 65, 77, 213 emph asis 46, 81, 94, 102, 177-181, 188, 191, 194, 195, 203, 209, 214, 218, 224 eschatology 200 , 202, 205, 206, 229 etern ity 72, 197, 202, 206, 213, 218, 223 etymolog y xvi, xviii, xxii, 57, 58, 82, 96, 154, 164, 166, 177, 207, 211, 214, 218, 225, 234 exegesis xxxii, 15 , 75, 225,

hermeneutics 230 xvii, xxiii, He schel, Abraham 191, 212, 217, 218 hiatus 159 hiphil 41-4 4, 47, 55, 82, 85, 89, 93, 94, 98, 108, 115, 122, 123, 132, 135, 136, 141, 145, 151, 152, 156, 158, 162, 164, 166, 169, 171, 173, 175, 222 histafcal 96 hitpael 41-44, 55, 89, 96, 102, 126, 169, 173, 222 hitpolel 89, 169 holiness xv, xvii, xviii, 32, 211, 218 holy lang uag e ix, xv, xvii,

231,226 232, 235, 236 faith226,195, fear o f God 216-218 God x, xii, xiii, xiv, xv, xvi, xvii, xviii, xx, xxi, xxvii, 15, 20, 28, 33, 36, 37, 51, 58, 65-68, 71, 77, 84, 90, 101-103, 112, 113, 116, 119, 130, 143, 144, 151,

xix,36,XX,198, xxi205, 206 hope hophal 41-44, 55, 94, 169 , 171, 173, 175, 222 imperative 40, 45, 51, 54, 79, 81, 82, 94, 150, 151, 168 170, 172, 174 imp erfect xxx, xxxi, 36-43, 45-49, 51, 52, 54, 67, 75, 78, 85-89, 92, 93, 94-98, 101, 103, 104, 106-110, 115, 117, 122-125, 128, 129, 131, 132, 134, 135, 137-140, 143, 146-148, 150, 152, 153, 154, 159, 167, 168, 170, 172, 174, 178-180, 191, 205, 222,

166, 178-181, 191-197, 199, 200, 204-210, 212-218, 223, 224, 226, 229 gram ma rs xxvi, 226, 227 hapax legomenon 232 hatef 5, 18, 19, 28, 83, 86, 95, 104, 105, 108, 114,

115, 123, 162, 126, 219, 134, 220 140, 149, 151,

223

Analytical Index

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infinitive 44-47, 52, 54 , 85, 88, 107, 121-123, 125, 144, 168, 170, 172, 174 intelligence 59, 155, 193-195,

Milrac 19, 20 M ilcel 19, 20 mo dern Heb rew x, xi, xxiv,

218 interrogative 27, 28, 94, 220 Jac ob, Edm ond xxi, 191 Jenni, E. 200 Jerus alem x, xv, xvi, xvii, xviii, 15, 18, 52, 72, 73, 82, 154, 155, 214, 233, 234 jussive 40, 86, 110

names xiv,12,xvi16, i, xviii, xxxi, xiii, 2, 11, 41, 99, 111, 119, 197, 199, 209, 222 , 225, 236, 237 negation 41, 46 , 62, 64, 109, 110, 159, 161, 210 Neher, André iii, xii, 191 New Testam ent xvii, xviii, xx, xxii, 204, 215, 233

ju stice xxv, 57, 195, 216-218 Ketib 20 keyw ord 183, 233 know ledge x, xxiii, xxiv, xxv, 111, 144, 193, 195, 218, 225, 226 La cocq ue, An dré xxi, 191 law 33, 59, 60, 68, 152, 154, 193, 209, 215, 218, 223 lov e 15, 35, 46, 62, 68, 81, 143, 195, 209, 210, 216, 217, 224 Lu ther, Martin xix, xx man xii, xiii, xiv, xviii, xxiv, 16, 58, 66, 68, 69, 78, 80, 95, 98, 110, 134, 138, 146, 160, 165, 166, 179, 181, 82, 191-193, 194, 196-200, 202, 204, 207-216, 218, 224, 229, 231 mappiq 14, 19 maqqef 77, 81, 87, 126 Mas sora 21, 22 Matres lectiords 21 Meir, Weiss 73 meter 228

niphal 41-43, 45, 54, 89, 94, 112-114, 117, 118, 147, 148, 168, 171, 172, 175, 222 numb ers 23, 24, 27, 91, 92, 192 object 177, 178, 186, 188, 223 paal 41-43, 45-47, 54, 75, 78, 79, 81, 85-90, 92-98, 101, 103-107, 109, 110-112, 120, 124, 127-129, 131, 137, 138, 140, 141, 144, 146, 149-155, 159, 160, 168, 170, 172, 174, 222 parallelisms 228, 236, 237

12

Parasha 46, 25 164, 166 parsing participle 44, 51, 54, 67, 98, 111, 113, 131, 141, 147, 158, 161, 162, 168, 170, 172, 174, 222 passive 42, 44, 130, 132, 193, 210 pause 79, 100, 121, 132, 189

Midrash xv, xvi, 15 4, 230

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perfect xxiv, xxx, 36-38, 41-44, 46, 48-50, 52, 54, 67, 77, 81, 88-90, 94, 111-113, 118-120, 126, 127, 135, 136, 141, 145, 146, 147-150, 155-157, 160, 163, 165, 168, 170, 172, 174, 178, 179, 180, 206, 207, 222, 223 peifectum propheticum 38, 206 personal pronouns xxx, 34

135, 136, 139-144, 152, 153, 157, 158, 161 pronouns xxx, 30, 34, 221 prophetic xiii, xviii, 52, 126 146, 148-150, 155-157, 160, 165, 191, 193, 194, 218, 226, 230 psychology 209 pual 41-44, 55, 89, 102, 156, 169, 173, 222 qametz 11, 17- 19, 42, 44, 77, 80, 84, 89, 92, 98, 102,

phonetics xxv, 15, 16, 108, 157 piel 41-44 , 52, 55, 66, 77, 86, 88, 89, 102, 121, 122, 134, 135, 139, 141, 157, 163, 169, 173, 222 plural 30-32, 34, 39, 40, 47, 50, 51, 65, 67, 76, 77, 87,

106, 108, 113, 114, 121, 126, 128, 129, 132, 219, roo t 19, 20 , 34-3 7, 39, 41-44, 46, 47, 50, 53, 58-61, 65, 73, 75-83, 85-90, 92-99, 101-115, 117, 119-163,

89, 103,91,105, 92, 110, 94, 95, 99, 112,96, 98, 114, 118, 120, 123, 125, 126-129, 132, 133, 136, 139-141, 143, 144, 147-149, 150, 152, 153, 156-162, 164, 165, 212, 213, 221 polel 89, 135, 166, 167, 169 polysemy 57, 64, 180 prayer 16, 25 predicate 100, 116, 131, 139, 177, 178, 190 prepositions xxii, 27-29, 47, 48, 180, 220 pronominal suffix 30, 33, 34, 49, 76, 78-83, 87, 92,

189, 213, 194, 216, 195, 222, 203, 234, 206, 211, 238 Sabbath xvii, 49, 52, 191, 193, 206 sedarim 25 segolate 114, 123, 134, 139, 144, 152, 157 semantics xii, 57, 232 Semitic language s x, 36, 234 Septuagint 36 , 116, 233 sermon xxii, xxxi i, 225, 235, 236 sheva 5, 12, 17, 18, 28, 29, 35, 42, 76, 79, 80, 83, 86, 88, 100, 102, 104, 105, 107, 108, 115, 121, 123,

222 Qere 20, 108, 155

98-100, 105, 109, 112, 114, 115, 118, 122, 123, 125, 128, 131, 132, 134,

126, 129, 134, 140, 149, 151, 154, 162, 220, 222 silence xii, xix, 194, 195

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Analytical Index sin 9, 13, 59, 92, 195, 199 , 212 , 214 , 223 spac e 25, 58, 66, 70, 146, 196-200, 209-211, 213, 215 stative 138,verb 141 124, 127, 131, strong verb s 35, 54-55 subject 76, 116, 148, 177, 179, 188, 190, 193, 196, 205, 223 synonyms 62, 74, 233, 234 synta x xxv, xxv i, 19, 48, 177, 183, 188, 190-193, 205,

155-157, 160, 169, 177, 180, 181, 182, 183, 191, 207, 214, 220, 223, 224 verb groups: N"D 94, 36, 138, 85, 144, 117 145, ’"D 170, 171, 222 T'D 79, 92, 222 VI? 88, 89, 96, 129, 135, 147, 165, 166, 168, 169, 222 97

i v y 157, 167, 174, 175

22 3, 226, 233 Tal mu d xi, xv, xvi, 230, 233 Tanakh 22, 23 tenses 34, 36, 200, 207 textual criticism 227 theolog y ii, ix, xii, xiii, xix, xx, xxi, 191-193, 205, 223, 229, 232, 235 time xx, xxi, xxiv, xxvii, xxxi, 18, 26, 36, 37, 39, 58, 67, 68, 72, 90, 95, 110, 111, 118, 130, 131, 146, 161, 192, 196, 200, 201, 202-207, 210, 211, 213-2 15 , 218 , 224, 236 totality xvii, 27, 32, 33, 35, 58, 59, 73, 109, 183, 191,

148, 167 75, 76, 93, 101, 120, 135, 136, 165, 172, 173, 223 ver bal forms xxxi, 10 2 voc abulary xxii, xxv, xxix, xxx, xxxi, 15, 48, 57, 72, 73, 75, 85, 180, 192, 195, 218, 223, 225, 226 , 237 von Rad, Gerha rd xx, xxi, 191 vow els xxx, xxx i, 1-3, 12, 16-21, 25, 32, 33, 46, 108, 155, 159, 166, 219, 220, 226, 227 Waltke, Bruce K. and M. O’Connor xxvi, 177, 226

195, 196, 210, 212, 214, 218 Tr esm ont an t, Claude 191 universal xviii, 215-217 vav xxx ii, 8, 12, 13, 36-39, 43, 46, 47, 52, 75, 76, 78, 85-90, 92, 93, 95-98, 100, 102-104, 106, 107, 112, 115, 122, 126, 128, 129,

we ak verbs word orde r 35, 177 168- 175 world ix, xvi, xx, xxi, xxiii, 1, 21, 58, 192, 196-200, 207, 213, 218, 224 worship 95, 208, 210, 21 6, 224 YHWH xiv, 15, 20, 32, 108, 147, 191, 214

144, 146, 148-150, 153,

COMPANION TAPE TO HEBREW FOR THEOLOGIANS (Length: 60 minutes)

Contents: Side one:

The signs (accompanies pp. 3-11 o f the book) . Alphabet (consonants and vowels) • Reading exercises (letter by letter)

Side two:

Th e texts : Genesis 22:1-19 , Psalm 23, Micah 4:1-4 (accompanies pp. 3-11 of the book) • Reading (verse by verse) • Chanting (Sephardic Masoretic cantillation)

Ordering Information: Address: Dr. Jacque s Doukhan, Andrew s University Theological Seminary, Old Testament Department, Berrien Springs, MI 49104-1500; Telephone No. (616) 471-2861 Price:

$7.0 0 (shippi ng and handling included; Michigan residents please add 4 % for Michigan sales tax; this price is subject to change)

245

HEBREW FOR THEOLOGIANS •

A Textbook fo r the Study o f Biblical H ebrew m Relation to Hebrew Thinking

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JacquesB. Doukhan

This book is unique in its methodology, both inductive and deductive in its perspective. The Inductive pari consists of an introduction of the general principles of Hebrew signs ¡(léít'ers,; nias oret ic a ccents, etc.)» m orph ology , s yntax , style ’and vocabulary. The Deductive part consists of the word-byword study of three texts (Genesis 22:1-19,; Psalm 4:1- 4), /

23 : Micah

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I Withb iiil]ignoring tfi e ph ilolog ical reality, the author pre: sents th | tháraciertsti c feat ures pf \ lebrew langu age b y refer ence to! the; dyn am ic^ of H ebre w jhihktog. T he last section' i s de voted roje î essay on the. system : of Hebre w, though t (the ,w ay iji iunctiöns; concepts of the world, time, men and God).. ;

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, Tab les.and srcinal;m nem onic; dev ices are . provided, and exerci ses, fo jlo w e a c fi section! interesting for the Hebrew studen t •(beginner 'and advanced) and the syst ema tic theolo gian. The bo ok algo includes vocab ulary lists, a glossary, verb ifcharts and an index A 45 -minute casse tte, tape to acc omp any 'the textb ook ‘(with Heb rew c antiiatipns of the stu died 'texts) is also available fro m the author. '\ ;

ISBN 0 -8 191 -9269-4'

Hebrew for Theologians, Jacques Doukhan.pdf

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