Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Heard, Christopher" <Christopher.Heard AT pepperdine.edu>]

On 12/27/04 6:02 PM, "Karl Randolph" <kwrandolph AT email.com> wrote:
> I just checked all the verses where both N%Y) and RW$ are found in the save
> verse, which number 12 in Tanakh. Only in  Ezekiel do we find this format of
> use, this context of the two words. All the others exept Number 10:4 have 
> the
> words separated by other words, a separation that indicates a natural flow 
> of
> meaning, and in Numbers the context indicates that these words are in two
> different phrases.

Karl, N&)Y followed by RO)$ is also attested in Numbers 36:1.

I wonder if you might expand on your statement that "in Numbers the context
indicates that these words are in two different phrases." How does the
content in Numbers indicate that _in distinction from_ the context in
Ezekiel? And what do you mean by "context" and how widely are you casting
the "context"? It seems to me that the immediate grammatico-syntactical
context makes the phrases in Num 10:4; 36:1; Ezek 38:2, 3; 39:1 look
parallel in construction.

Num 10:4 HANN:&IY)IYM RF)$"Y )LP"Y YI&RF)"L
Num 36:1 HANN:&IY)IYM RF)$"Y )FBWT LIBN"Y YI&RF)"L
Ezk 38:2 N:&IY) RO)$ ME$EK W:TUBFL
(Ezk 38:3 and 39:1 are the same as 38:2)

Those look syntactically parallel to me. Also the Masoretic accentuation,
for whatever it's worth, divides these phrases _the same way_. In each of
the five cases of N&Y) + RO)$, the Masoretes accent N&Y) with zaqef (zaqef
qatan in Num, zaqef gadol in Ezek), thus marking N&Y) as the end of a
phrase. I can't really see any syntactical distinctiveness of Num 10:4; 36:1
over against Ezk 38:2, 3; 39:1. The syntax looks analogous to me.

As I suggested in my long post of 12/25, RO)$ and N&Y) seem to be appositive
in each of the 5 cases where they appear side-by-side.

Chris

-- 
R. Christopher Heard
Assistant Professor of Religion
Armstrong Fellow in Religion
Pepperdine University
http://faculty.pepperdine.edu/cheard
http://www.iTanakh.org
http://www.semioticsandexegesis.info