Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Israel "in" Egypt 215 or 430 years ?

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
  • To: "Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Israel "in" Egypt 215 or 430 years ?
  • Date: Fri, 20 Aug 2004 12:49:33 +0100

On 20/08/2004 00:03, Harold R. Holmyard III wrote:

...
HH: It's true that the fathers were in a country not their own, but the following verbs seem to give clarity by their form. The first one is W(BDWM, which, whatever its precise meaning, implies a 3mp subject and a 3mp object. There has to be an antecedent for both pronouns. The antecedent for one is "your seed," and the antecedent for the other has to be "a land which is not theirs." So it is a land that is not theirs that will enslave them and afflict them. This needs to be a particular land, I think, the one whose inhabitants enslave and afflict them.


I don't think the singular B.:)EREC should be pressed to mean a single country, especially as it is taken up with a plural pronoun, just as the singular ZAR:(:AKF is taken up with a plural pronoun. The meaning may be that "each of your descendants will live in a country not his/her own", referring to various different countries. Remember that Isaac lived in the land of the Philistines for many years (ch.26) and Jacob served and was to some extent oppressed by Laban in Aram for many years (chs.29-31). So the plural object could refer to the various countries.

I have just noticed something fascinating here. We have

WA(:ABFDW.M "and they will serve them"
W:(IN.W. )OTFM "and they will afflict them"

In the first clause, we presume that the subject is the Israelites and the object is presumably the strange countries or their people (as explicitly in the next verse), but in the second, the subject and object are reversed. Is this switch reference signalled by the use of the full non-suffix pronoun in the second clause, or is it taken only from the context?

I also note the form DFN in the next verse, translated "I will judge/punish", but surely this must be a participle?

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/






Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page