Biblical Hebrew Forum

[John Ronning <ronning AT ilink.nis.za>]

Peter wrote:

> Dear John,
>
> I accept that you have made a strong case with your Genesis 42 example
> for wayyiqtol not being inherently strictly sequential. I would judge
> that if you could come up with 2-3 other non-sequential cases as
> strong as your number 9 (to reduce the chance that this is a corrupted
> text, a seam between sources, or a simple error) your case is well
> proved.

Dear Peter,

I think it would not be hard to find many more than 2 or 3 more such 
examples; maybe
we can do a few at a time to see if they meet your criteria:

Exodus 4:30
1. wayedabber      and Aaron spoke all the words which the LORD
                             had spoken to Moses.
2. wayya`as           He then performed the signs in the sight of the people.
4:31
3. wayya'amen       So the people believed;
4. wayyishme`u      and they heard that the LORD was concerned about
                              the sons of Israel and that He had seen their
affliction,
5. wayyiqqedu        then they bowed low
6. wayyishtaxawu    and worshiped.

If 1 and 2 are sequential, 3 and 4 are backwards (they obviously heard the 
words that
were spoken by Aaron when he spoke them, not somehow after he performed the 
signs and
after they believed).  Actual sequence - probably 1-2 overlapping, the rest 
follow
1-2, with 3-4 overlapping, followed by 5-6.

The last part of Exodus 4 seems to be filled with dischronologies:
4:19 seems to be a flashback (done with wayyomer) to when Moses was on the 
mountain
but it's not narrated until he gets ready to leave with his wife and sons.
Then there's another flashback to the mountain in v. 21 (wayyomer again) 
after v. 20
has stated that Moses returned to (or towards) Egypt.  wayiqqax in v. 20 
would be
absurd, taken sequentially (he took the staff after he left?)
Then the biggest flashback of all is after we've had the information about 
the Lord
seeking to kill Moses on his way back to Egypt, and v. 27 tells us (wayyomer 
again)
that the Lord told Aaron to go meet Moses on the mountain, and then the verse 
goes on
to tell us that Aaron met Moses on the mountain (this is the chain that leads 
up to
the verses I started off with).


Gen 4:25 is a flashback with wayyeda` (Adam knew his wife) after tracing 
Cain's
descendents down to Lamech - I don't know if you accept this type of example 
as
against sequential wayyiqtol since it is a start of the "paragraph" - there 
are many
such examples.  E.g. Gen 28:10 wayyece' Ya`akob mibbe'er sheba (acc. to v. 7 
Jacob
already left, then vv. 8-9 we have an interluding account of Esau going to 
get a wife
from the house of Ishmael).
Gen 29:24 (wayyitten) probably goes with 29:23 logically, not chronologically 
(do we
have to assume that Laban gave Zilpah to Leah after Jacob went into Leah but 
before
morning [v. 25]?)
Gen 29:31 wayyar' Yhwh  The Lord saw that Leah was "hated" (it didn't take 
Him 7 years
[v. 30] to notice, as the following verses make clear)
Gen 37:6  wayyo'mer goes with wayyagged from the previous verse but has to be 
prior to
wayyosiphu from the previous verse.
Gen 50:15 wayyir'u  'axey Yoseph ki meth 'abihem (I think it's safe to say 
that
Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead before they took his body to 
Canaan
for burial, which is related in the previous verses).

I'll let you digest those for a while, then we'll see if we need to go on.

Yours,

John