Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Harold Holmyard <hholmyard3 AT earthlink.net>]

Dear Joseph,
> > If you don't like Gesenius, I will give you the same  information from
> > Waltke-O'Connor, Biblical Hebrew Syntax (1990)  #15.5.1e, quoting:
> > The article may also mark nouns definite in the  imagination,  
> > designating either a particular person or thing  necessarily understood to be  present or vividly portraying  someone or something whose identity is not
> > otherwise indicated . . .  .  In some cases the proper English  
> > rendering is  indefinite:
> >
> > Gen 18:7 He gave (it) to _a servant_.
> >     

I apologize. I gave a wrong reference. It is Waltke-O'Connor, Biblical 
Hebrew Syntax (1990) #13.5.1e.
> JW:
> Yes, looking for examples in the Hebrew Bible is excellent evidence  for 
> meaning. Regarding Genesis 18:7 though a better question than how the 
> Hebrew definite article was translated is how it should 
> have been  translated. For reference purposes:
>
> (_http://www.scripture4all.org/OnlineInterlinear/OTpdf/gen18.pdf_ 
> (http://www.scripture4all.org/OnlineInterlinear/OTpdf/gen18.pdf) ) 
>  
> _http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0118.htm_ 
> (http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0118.htm) 
>  
> ז  וְאֶל-הַבָּקָר, רָץ אַבְרָהָם; וַיִּקַּח  בֶּן-בָּקָר
>  רַךְ וָטוֹב, וַיִּתֵּן אֶל-הַנַּעַר, וַיְמַהֵר, 
> לַעֲשׂוֹת אֹתוֹ. 7 And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetched a calf tender and  
> good, and gave it unto the servant; and he hastened to dress it.
>  
> This wasn't just any old lad, was it? It was Abraham's servant. The  Definite 
> article is what makes that clear. Once again, it sounds okay either way  in 
> English so I don't see an Indefinite translation forced or even preferred  
> here.
>
>
> Since we all agree that the Hebrew definite article for the most part,  
> serves 
> the same purpose as the English definite article, I'm still looking  for 
> really good 
> multiple examples of Hebrew usage that would clearly have an Indefinite  
> English 
> translation in order to support an Indefinite English translation for 7:14.  
> This is 
> all before we look at the surrounding Specific context of 7:14.

HH: I gave number of other references: Gen 42:23 (interpreter); Gen 
14:13 (one who had escaped); Num 11:27 (a young man); 2 Sam 15:13 (a 
messenger); 1 Sam 1:4 (one day).

The reality is that the article is not used exactly the same in Hebrew 
as in English. The generic use of the definite article is somewhat 
different than English. See the word "famine" in Isa 29:8. See how it is 
used with "silver" in Gen 13:2, or with "crimson" in Isa 1:18, or with 
"blindness" in Gen 19:11. In all these English would use "a/an" or 
nothing, not "the."

Yours,
Harold Holmyard