Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Yitzhak Sapir" <yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com>]

On 11/15/06, Bryant J. Williams III wrote:
> Dear Yitzhak,
>
> I have been reading the discussion of Haggai 2. It seems that everyone is
> getting away from the text in question and we probably should return to it.
>
> Malachi 3:1 uses a different Hebrew word, chapetz, for the idea of "delight,
> pleasure" (See TWOT, Volume 1, pages 709-710),
> Malachi 3:1, "and YHWH, whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple, the
> messenger of the covenant in whom you delight in: behold, he shall come,
> saith the YHWH Sebaoth."
> chamdath is used in Haggai 2;7, ..."and 'the desire' of all nations shall
> come,..."
>
> Now, my question, should we not be looking at the future use of BO
> (BETH-ALEPH-HOLEM "come" that is in common with both passages?

Reviewing the verse in Haggai again with special attention to the root BW),
I think the best explanation for the verse is a textual one.  "xmdt kl hgwym"
is an alternate version of "kl hgwym" earlier in the verse.  Either version 
can
be read perfectly well grammatically, and makes perfect sense:
1) whr($ty )t-kl-hwym wb)w
2) whr($ty xmdt kl-hgwym wb)w
With the alternate version placed at the end of this verse portion, it appears
as if the word wb)w somehow begins a new sentence which is leading to the
problems in interpretation of this verse.  A similar example brought by Tov in
Introduction to Textual Criticism deals with Deut 12:5.

I do not see the significance of bw), however.  I do not think that it carries
special "messianic" overtones, just as "xmdt" does not, and just as the
combination of xwtm and the arm does not (see for example, Song of Songs
8:6).  In any case, the root xpc plays a different grammatical role in your
verses in Malachi than the root for xmd in this verse of Haggai, so it appears
that the placement of those two "synonyms" is rather coincidental.

Yitzhak Sapir