Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Herman Meester <crazymulgogi AT gmail.com>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Herman Meester <crazymulgogi AT gmail.com>
Date: 20-nov-2005 20:23
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Preposition "el"
To: Michael Avraham <koufax1959 AT yahoo.com>


Hi Michael,
In the lines (1K8,48)

we-shavu ELekha
   be-khol levavam
   u-ve-khol nafsham
         **be-eretz oyevekhem** asher shavu otam
we-hitpallu ELekha
        **derekh artzam** asher natatta la-avotam
                   ha`ir asher bacharta
                   we-habbayit asher banita lishmekha

We can see that the text is carefully constructed; two times [el] is
used (elekha) for G"d; then we see that "be'eretz oyevekhem" has its
parallel in "derekh artzam"; by the way, derekh not only has in
apposition to it the word artzam (...), but also ha`ir (...) and
habbayit (...). Derekh here meaning literally "in the direction of..."
nicely contrasts with BE-eretz, where the "they" are and apparently
don't want to be.
So in my mini-analysis above, composition is mainly what I think makes
words show up in texts. If not [derekh], but [el] would be used, the
nice contrast would be a little blurred and the sense of space of
praying "in the direction of" isn't there.
regards
Herman

2005/11/20, Michael Avraham <koufax1959 AT yahoo.com>:
> Hello again Mr. Holmyard,
>
>    Yes, I did mean verse 48. And sorry I was a to vague on the question, I 
> will specificy.
>
>   I am not asking about all prepositions, I am asking specifically about 
> the preposition   )L  (I believe you explained that "el" should be written 
> that way). Can )L take more than one object?
>
>   In the examples of 1 Kings 8, )L is used as a preposition in several 
> places and then in verse 48 DRK(derech) is used. Why?
>
>
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