Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Herman Meester <crazymulgogi AT gmail.com>]

Harold, below you have a point: why could בראשית BR)$YT not just mean
"first", "in the beginning" or something like that? It's true that we
wouldn't always need a definite noun with ראשית R)$YT. There must be a
lot of scholarly articles about this matter, so we wouldn't have to do
all that over (I mean, to take a good look at ראשית R)$YT).

I was also aware of the idea that the first clause is a kind of
preliminary summary or even "title", but I have my doubts about that.
First, it opens up a load of additional problems: what is the exact
"heading"? etc.; will it really make the rest easier?
Second, are there any traditions about biblical books having clear
(intended) titles? It has always been treated as part of the text;
wouldn't we expect only nominal clauses to be "titles"? And so on.

What I was trying to do is accept the text we have, which is what my
teachers in Leiden have been trying to convince me makes most sense.
But I agree there may be some problems with the reading that Alter
(and the ArtScroll Chumash, many others, and I ;) ) prefer. However,
you use examples (Isa 46, Prov 4)) from poetry, which in BHebrew has a
different syntax than prose has. We should be very careful using
examples in poetry to back what we think happens in prose.

Greetings, Herman


> >(Herman said)  If we say that the masoretes made a mistake, this amounts to
> >insult.Does anyone really think that the masoretes didn't see the
> >problem ofGen. 1,1-3?
>
> HH: I agree, but perhaps R)$YT can be used definitely without the
> article. This happens with numerous basic words in various languages.
> In Isa 46:10 the expression MR)$YT means "from the beginning," even
> though there is no definite article. R)$YT is used without the
> article at Prov 4:7, where it means something like "the first thing"
> or "the primary thing."