Biblical Hebrew Forum

[yochanan bitan <ButhFam AT compuserve.com>]

dear bryan,

>The rule, [X-Qatal is not sequential--rb] while perhaps not absolute, is
overwhelming.   
>Given world knowledge, some of the
>above examples *could* be sequential and therefore moving story time
>forward.  However, I think only one, Jon 1:4, is a clear example of an
>X-qatal which moves forward the story time. 

we differ here. the evidence for the rule is not overwhelming. 'x-qatal
mismatch' is part of the flexibility inherent in a language with a small
number of explicit options.

even moabite:
... and so israel perished forever.

more importantly, both writer/reader, speaker/listerner, are able to use
the mismatch of real-world knowledge and grammatical 'pause/backtrack'
structure for rhetorical effect. see buth 1995 for additional detail. 
on jonah 1.4 above, 1.4a begins a new structure/paragraph. 1.4c is a
rhetorically underlined, pregnant predicament, inciting incident. 
(1.5b is your run-of-the-mill, plain vanilla backtrack.)

braxot
randall buth