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b-hebrew - Qatal, 1 Kings 11:1

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  • From: Peter_Kirk AT SIL.ORG
  • To: b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: Qatal, 1 Kings 11:1
  • Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1999 13:04:48 -0500 (EST)


If we follow the regular understanding of N + qatal in 1 Kings 11:1,
the point is not that Solomon "had a thing for" foreign women or
"habitually fell in love with them". I guess that would require a
participle. Here, rather, the sense is pluperfect: at some time
previous to the events described in the previous passage, Solomon "had
fallen in love with" many foreign women and so was, at the narrative
time, in a state of love regarding them - cf an English or Greek
perfect or pluperfect tense. Indeed, they had become his wives and
concubines. I understand Bryan's conception of the qatal as stative as
relating in that way to its pluperfect "flashback" sense - is that
right, Bryan? Maybe the older grammarians were not as wrong as we
sometimes think in calling the qatal form "perfect".

On the other hand there are cases where qatal cannot be stative e.g.
Exodus 36:11 where wayyiqtol and qatal are parallel. Or is Bryan
suggesting that all such cases are late?

Peter Kirk




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