Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Bryan Rocine" <596547 AT ican.net>]

Dear friends,  I forward this message in a slightly edited form which I
have also sent to one of the list members.  I would appreciate hearing any
comments you might care to make.

Bryan


----------
> From: Bryan Rocine <596547 AT ican.net>
> 
> It seems that 1 Sam 8:2 is too much like a few other constructions to
> "text-criticize" it off-hand.  For instance, Gen 38:7(cf. 1 Chr 2:3),
39:2,
> 39:21, Jdg 1:19, 1 Kings 11:20, 18:7, 1 Chr. 23:11--these all have wayehi
> followed by a verbless clause that is *not* a temporal reference of some
> sort.  (btw, notice that none of these examples is from 1 Sam, in which
8:2
> is perhaps the only example of its kind.)  any thoughts?
> 
> Could the way:hiy of 1 Sam 8:2 break the causal chain that would have
> been
> implied without it?  In other words, could the writer be separating
> Samuel's placement of his sons as judges from the corrupt behavior of the
> sons, thereby making Samuel UN-responsible?  If we take out the way:hiy
are
> we more likely to impute IRresponsibility to Samuel for his placing of
his
> sons?
> 
> 
> The other wayehi + (non-temporal)verbless clause  strings I cite above
may
> also have this function "to break the causal chain."  E.g., the
wickedness
> of (er in Gen 38:7 is separated from his father's taking a wife for him
in
> the previous clause.  I realize "break the causal chain" may be an idea
> that seems at first blush to contradict your understanding of the
function
> of wayehi which is primarily macro-conjunctive, but perhaps not. 
> Personally, I call wayehi a transitional device.  As such a wayehi *both*
> joins and divides a text.  perhaps the special case of wayehi +
> (non-temporal)verbless clause does more to disjoin a text that would
> otherwise be "too coherent" than it does to conjoin parts of a discourse
> that would otherwise be too readily construed as independent.
> 
> Blessings,
> Bryan
> 

> 
> B. M. Rocine
> Associate Pastor
> Living Word Church
> 6101 Court St. Rd.
> Syracuse, NY 13208
> 
> 315-437-6744(w)
> 315-479-8267(h)