Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Lee R. Martin" <lmartin AT vol.com>]

Dear Friends,
For a good discussion of x-qatal, I would recommend Niccacci, sections 15-21, 
39-50;
and Lambdin sections 132 & 197.

Lee R. Martin

Bryan Rocine wrote:

> Hi John,
>
> you wrote:
>
> > Peter_Kirk AT SIL.ORG wrote:
> >
> > > Interesting, I had never looked at the X + qatal in Gen 4:1 before.
> > > Two possibilities: this is sequential and a genuine exception to the
> > > regular pattern;
> >
> > Peter (or anyone), is it a "regular pattern" that when you have the
> > start of a new episode (as opposed to X + qatal within a story), X +
> > qatal is a flashback/pluperfect?
> >
>
> We are discussing just your question elsewhere on list, in a couple posts
> entitled Qatal, 1Ki 11:1, and my latest blooper which was meant to be
> off-list but which I sent to everyone.  I am suggesting that yes, an
> episode-initial or paragraph-initial X-qatal gives antecedent information,
> but Randall says that my idea not so reliable.  I would like to explore the
> thought some more, so let me put forward, more properly for list
> consumption, the query I posted to Randall on this topic:
>
> Gen 3:24 reads (I'm labelling clauses with letters):
>
> a.   "And he drove out (wayyiqtol) the man,
> b.  and he placed (wayyiqtol) to the east of the Garden of Eden..."
>
> Consider the writer's options for his next clauses (Gen 4:1):
>
> option (c1 and d)
> vayhi beda`at ha'adam 'et xavah 'ishto vat.ahar
> "And then it happened (wayyiqtol hyh) when the man knew (infinitive) Xavah
> his wife that she became pregnant (wayyiqtol)."
>
> option (c2 and d)
> vay.eda` ha'adam 'et xavah 'ishto vat.ahar
> "And then the man knew (wayyiqtol) ...and she became pregnant.
>
> option (c3 and d) the actual text:
> veha'adam yada` 'et xavah 'ihsto vat.ahar
> "Now the man, he had known (qatal)...and she had become pregnant."
>
> Of course, our knowledge of the world (and the birds and the bees in
> particular  ;-)  ) tells us
> the events of 4:1 are in sequence, but do the linguistic options I list
> above for describing the events denote any recognizable difference in how
> they temporally relate c and d (4:1) to a and b (3:24)?  (This question is
> more or less the question of Peter Kirk about sex in the garden for which
> Nachman brought up the Rashi commentary.)  Is 4:1 in sequence with 3:24 or
> not or can't we tell?  Do my translations appropriately represent the
> differences in the Hebrew?
>
> Thanks for your coments!
>
> Bryan
>
> B. M. Rocine
> Associate Pastor
> Living Word Church
> 6101 Court St. Rd.
> Syracuse, NY 13208
>
> 315-437-6744(w)
> 315-479-8267(h)
>
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--

Lee R. Martin
Pastor, Prospect Church of God, Cleveland, Tennessee
Instructor in Hebrew and Old Testament
Church of God Theological Seminary
http://www.earth.vol.com/~lmartin/