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b-hebrew - Re: _)aSHER_ in Ex. 3:14 (was "I AM")

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  • From: "David Stabnow" <dstabno AT lifeway.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: Re: _)aSHER_ in Ex. 3:14 (was "I AM")
  • Date: Wed, 9 May 2001 12:39:35 -0500


Earlier, I wrote, "The reader expects a predicate nominative. Without it,
the clause is ontological, and BH does not use _HYH_ that way."

Actually, BH does use _HYH_ ontologically without a predicate nominative,
but only with the negative. See Exod 20:32 and Eccl 4:3. My theory is
that the writer uses _)YN_ when the tense/aspect is not important, and some
form of _L) HYH_ to make tense/aspect explicit.

If this pertains to affirmative statements mutatis mutandis, perhaps God
could have said _)NY Y$ )NY_ "I am I EXIST" if tense/aspect were not
important. That He used _HYH_ implies that tense/aspect is important.
Whether it implies present, future, habitual, or something else is,
apparently, debatable.

Dave Stabnow





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