Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

Dear Kirk,

You wrote of the "b" section of 1 Ki 1:40:
> The first three words are clear syntactically: conj + subject + verbal
> participle + adverbial phrase (of instrument). The last three words are
more
> problamatic. My first reaction is to understand an elided beth and
include
> w.&:m"xiym with the previous and so we have a second adverbial phrase
(they
> fluted with flutes and with "joys"). But that leaves us with what to do
with the
> last two. If they are an ordinary noun/adjective pair, then what is their
> syntactic function? Could we understand them instead as a verbless clause
which
> is tacked on "asyndetically," without conjunction, to modify w.&:m"xiym?
If it
> is a simple phrase modifying &:m"xiym, then why the shift in number to
the
> singular with &im:xfh? So we have a free translation something like: "And
the
> people played their flutes with joy--and that joy was great."
> 
> The fact that the words of the same root--&MX--follow one right after the
other
> tempts me to end the first clause at b.ax:aliliym, w.&:m"xiym becomes the
> subject of a verbless clause, with &im:xfh g:dowlfh as a noun/adjective
noun
> phrase becomes the predicate. So our free translation becomes "And the
people
> played flutes, and the rejoicing was a great joy." Or something like.
> 
> Which leads me to a *third* reading: the plural adjective is its own
clause
> (predicate adjective agreeing with the collective), with the understood
subject
> being hf`fm! So there could be three clauses here: "And the people played
> flutes, they were filled with joy--and that joy was great."
> 
> I'm leaning towards the third alternative reading. Which is yours and
why?

oh...so you want us to parse adjectives correctly, too, eh?    ;-)

I misread the adjective, too.  And I'll give you a number four, the
slightest of variations on your three.  Two clauses.  In this reading, the
participle is compounded with a predicate adjective us:mexiym, both
agreeing with and modifying ha`am = one clause.  And sim:xah g:dolah = a
second.  "The people were playing on their flutes and were joyous--how
great a joy."  

Why.  The vav on us:mexiym is the pivot point of my thought.  In the lack
of something after us:mexiym which agrees with it in number and gender, I
abandon the likelihood that the vav may mark an initial clause boundary.  I
am therefore prompted to look for something to the left of the vav that
agrees with the adjective.  but because of the vav, another condition must
also be fulfilled:  there must also be another element before the vav which
*also* agrees, as a partner in a compound, with the adjective's object.  My
possibilities are happily limited by the need to find *both* the
adjective's partner and its object.  The pair that occurs to me is the
participle for a partner and ha`am for an object.  Of course, this analysis
is weakened by its dependence on number agreement in view of the B Hebrew
propensity for a lack thereof, especially with collective nouns.

I realize I'm talking my way through this kind of tediously, but I am
keeping in mind your tagging efforts.  It's the kind of talk you're looking
for isn't it?

Thanjks for the neat problem.  One thing that makes it tricky and fun is
that the adjective is pulled left by the vav and its agreement in number
with several words there, at the same time it's pulled right by the
identical root.

Shalom,
Bryan


B. M. Rocine
Associate Pastor
Living Word Church
6101 Court St. Rd.
Syracuse, NY 13208

315-437-6744(w)
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