Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Dave Washburn" <dwashbur AT nyx.net>]

Randall,
> vayyixtov David Washburn
> >In my schema, had bereshit not been
> >fronted (or otherwise preceding the bara clause) and the verb was
> >first, we would have had a wayyiqtol.
> >
> >Boy, is that gonna raise some hackles :-)
>
> Pas de probleme.
>
>        vayyivra elohim et hashamayim vet ha-arets (bereshit).
>
> It's OK, but on the border.

On the border of what?

> However, if the sentence begins with vayyivra, then I would actually prefer
> deleting 'bereshit' and not including it in its default position as an
> adjunct. Retaining the word 'bereshit' in such a rewritten sentence would
> skew the focus and put too much salience on 'bereshit'.

I'm not sure I agree.  If it were the second or third word I suspect it
would have had much less emphasis.  As the last word, as in your
hypothetical sentence above, I agree that attention would be drawn
to it.

> Of course, "vayyivra elohim ..." also changes the overall focus or function
> of the sentence since it becomes the grand, marked act/event of the
> chapter. The MT, (reading bereshit as an absolute adverbial phrase and not
> a construct), functions more as a title than a storyline event itself.
> Verse 2, of course, is a setting and second beginning for verse 3.

This is a good discourse-based analysis, but I'm still back at the
syntax level.  It seems to me that  B:R"$IYT is fronted to indicate
that we're starting from the very beginning; as one otherwise rather
annoying study Bible put it, the Bible begins with God, not with
philosophical arguments for his existence.  I frankly don't think it's
a "title" at all; I can't help but wonder if this kind of designation (and
its presentation as a discourse function) is a tad anachronistic.  I
think the action begins right there with BFRF).  1:2 is contrastive:
but the earth was tohu and bohu, however one chooses to
understand these terms, with darkness on the face of the tehom
and the Spirit of God hovering over the mayim that apparently cover
the tehom.  All at once, in the midst of this initial created state,
God says Y:HIY )OWR and away we go with the formation stage.
But there are two clear stages here: creation and molding of said
creation.


Dave Washburn
http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur
"Éist le glór Dé."