Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Harold Holmyard <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Bob MacDonald wrote:
> They (reference grammars) sound very useful. (I checked my local library and
> didn't find one in the catalogue - but they must have something...)
>
> This Lamed of interest is identified with the ethical dative - on which
> there is a short section in the BDB but it doesn't list Ct 2:10 - needle in
> a haystack here!
>   

HH: Yes, that's it. Here's one entry from GKC pertaining to the ethical 
dative:

The following uses of lamed properly belong to the government of the 
verb: . . .

2. To introduce the dativus commodi. This daticus commodi (or incommodi, 
e.g. Ez 37:11) is used -- especially in colloquial language and in later 
style -- in the form of a pronoun with lamed, as an apparently 
pleonastic dativus ethicus, with many verbs, in order to give emphasis 
to the significance of the occurrence in question _for_ a particular 
subject. In this construction the person of the pronoun must always 
agree with that of the verbal form. By far the most frequent use of this 
lamed is with the pronoun of the second person after imperatives, e.g. 
"go, get thee away," Gen 12:1; 22:2; Deut 2:13 (also in the feminine Ct  
2:10, 13).
_______

HH: So GKC actually cites the verse you were asking about, and the verb. 
Dativus commodi or incommodi is the same idea as dative of advantage or 
disadvantage.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard