Biblical Hebrew Forum

["B. M. Rocine" <brocine AT twcny.rr.com>]

Hi Jill, Here's the scoop on behibbar'am:

*be* = prefix "in"

*hi* (including the gemination or doubling of the bet caused by the 
dagesh forte) = the sign of the niphal infinitive.  An imperative would 
not be prefixed by *be*

br' = the root, which in the niphal stem mean "be created"

am = suffix meaning "their", in this case "the heavens and earth's"

putting it all together:
in-being created-their
or
in their being created

In Hebrew, the suffix on an infinitive is sometimes the subject of the 
verb and sometime the object of the verb.  Context will usually clarify 
which.

An infinitive prefixed by bet is often used to set the time of a 
narrative as in

Gen 4:8 vayhi bihyotam bassadeh
And it happened in their coming into the field

An infinitive with prefixed bet is most often translated "when" as in 
"when they came into the field" or "when they were created."

We have two bet + infinitive constructions in Gen 2:4, behibbar'am and 
beyom `asot .  Some people think that the two constructions are the 
ending and beginning, respectively, of two sentences.  Such an 
interpretation creates a complex sentence that begins in 2:4b and 
continues through v. 7.  See the NIV translation:

Genesis 2:4b-7  "When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens--  5 
and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of 
the field had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the 
earth and there was no man to work the ground,  6 but streams came up 
from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground--  7 the LORD 
God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his 
nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being."

This is an interesting interpretation because this sentence may parallel 
Gen. 1:1-2 nicely (Fox translation):

"At the beginning of God's creating of the heavens and the earth, when 
the earth was wild and waste, darkness over the face of Ocean, 
rushing-spirit of God hovering over the face of the waters--God said, 
'Let there be light!'"

Shalom, Bryan



> About the verb behibar'am. I still don't understand it. If it is an 
> infinitive or imperative, the suffix doesn't make sense to me. If it is 
> past tense, both the prefix and suffix don't make sense.


--
B. M. Rocine
Living Word Church
6101 Court St. Rd.
Syracuse, NY 13026
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