Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - Re: Jonathan's use of _wl)_

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: ben.crick AT argonet.co.uk (Ben Crick)
  • To: b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: Re: Jonathan's use of _wl)_
  • Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2001 22:26:19 +0100


On Tue 24 Apr 2001 (09:29:23), dstabno AT lifeway.com wrote:
> Is it possible that in this unique situation Jonathan is using language
> in an unusual way? Is the writer of Samuel recording some kind of idiomatic
> usage or a dialect, or even sarcasm? How could we determine if this is
> the case? Does modern Hebrew shed any light on it?

Dear Dave,

The text of the books of Samuel is notoriously difficult. SR Driver wrote
a whole book about it. /Notes on the Hebrew Text of the Books of Samuel/,
Oxford, 1890. On pp 128-130 you will find his notes on 1 Samuel 20:9, 12,
and 14-16.

In verse 9, Driver suggests that the W:Lo' is asking a rhetorical question,
as in Exodus 8:22 MT (26 English). "Shall I not tell you?". He points out
that others suggest an aposiopesis "If I do not tell you, *then may the LORD
do so to me and more also...*" (the Covenant formula, verse 13a). The W:Lo'
in verse 12 is taken this way.

Verse 12 seems to have a protasis introduced by KiY, with verse 13a as the
apodosis introduced by KoH. Is Jonathan's speech a /prayer/ to YHWH, or is
it a solemn oath in the name of YHWH? The 2nd ms pronouns refer not to YHWH
but to David. The Revised Version takes YHWH as vocative, and adds `eD after
DaWiD: "Be witness, O LORD, God of Israel...", following the Syriac. The LXX
adds OIDEN after KURIOS hO QEOS ISRAHL, reading YaDa` into the Hebrew.

In verses 14-15, Driver says that the second W:Lo' is resumptive of the
first;
but he allows that "most moderns" prefer to point it W:Lu' (with qibbuts),
yielding "And /mayest thou/, if I am still alive, /mayest thou/ show toward
me, etc."; compare 2 Samuel 18:12 (W:Lu' for W:Lo').

Driver says that the repetition of W:Lo' in verse 15 is "more awkward even
than in v 14". What we have here is an anacoluthon as it stands. Perhaps,
suggests Driver, we ought to follow the solution presented in the LXX:
uniting 15b to 16, and treating it as a continuation of Jonathan's speech.
Jonathan wishes to be exempted from the House of David's destruction of the
House of Saul (see LXX).

I'll leave modern Hebrew to others.

Shalom
Ben
--
Revd Ben Crick, BA CF
<ben.crick AT argonet.co.uk>
232 Canterbury Road, Birchington, Kent, CT7 9TD (UK)
http://www.cnetwork.co.uk/crick.htm






  • Jonathan's use of _wl)_, David Stabnow, 04/24/2001
    • <Possible follow-up(s)>
    • Re: Jonathan's use of _wl)_, Ben Crick, 04/24/2001

Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page