Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Naama Zahavi-Ely <nxzaha AT wm.edu>]

My understanding of this verse is not "because of YHWH (who) came down upon 
it with fire", but
rather "because of the coming down of YHWH upon it with fire" (or, if you 
like, "because YHWH came
down upon it with fire" -- but it is the verb, not the noun, that is being 
referred to by the
"because").  In other words, not because of the person, but because of the 
action.  This is made
clear by the order of the words -- precisely the peculiarity you bring up.  
In fact, moving the
BF)"$ to any other location wouldn't have worked -- it would sound all wrong. 
 This construction is
hard to translate into English without losing some aspects of its meaning -- 
but that's a problem
of English, not of the Hebrew original.

Best,

Naama Zahavi-Ely
nxzaha AT wm.edu

> Subject: Structure of Exod 19:18
> From: "Dave Washburn" <dwashbur AT nyx.net>
> Date: Sun, 11 Jun 2000 18:53:02 -0700
> X-Message-Number: 3
>
> I'm curious about the clause MIP.:N"Y )A:$ER YFRAD (FLFYW
> YHWH BF)"$ in this passage.  Specifically, the arrangement of
> words seems...odd.  From my transformational POV, it looks as
> though the )$R clause has been moved ahead of YHWH; the deep
> (pre-movement) clause would have been MIP.:N"Y YHWH )A:$ER
> YFRAD (FLFYW BF)"$, "from the face of YHWH who descended
> upon it in fire."  The problem is the last word, BF)"$.  Why didn't it
> get moved with the rest of the clause?  The rest of the clause
> appears to have been moved into a position between MIP.:N"Y and
> YHWH, making the )$R clause the nomen rectum of the construct
> chain.  Maybe BF)"$ did get moved, then YHWH was moved up for
> some reason?  Or maybe it's a scribal problem?  I'm curious as to
> what some of you discourse folks think of this clause, I'm also
> curious about what Vince thinks of it.  For a constituent movement
> fan like me, it's a bit of a mystery.
>
> Dave Washburn
> http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur
> "In the face of an obstacle which is impossible to
> overcome, stubborness is stupid."  Simone de Beauvoir
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>