Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Phil:

What ambiguity?

The questions follow the concept of a XYDH, a didactic question. The
reason for the questions is to get people to think,

In Christianity we continue that practice in the use of the catechism,
which is full of didactic questions. So many questions in Tanakh are
there not to express desire, a subjunctive mood, rather teaching, an
indicative mood.

Karl W. Randolph.

On Mon, Jun 22, 2009 at 2:22 PM, Phil Sumpter<philsumpter AT hotmail.com> wrote:
> What is the mood (or mode) of the the verbs in Ps 24:3 and 7/8?
>
> In v. 3 I would have thought indicative rather than subjunctive, as the 
> psalmist is not interested in theoretical possibilities but in actual 
> facts. He is interested in "who is allowed to" and not "who might be 
> allowed to." Or is there an implicit wish here, transforming the indicative 
> to a subjunctive?
>
> In v. 7 we have two imperatives and then a jussive. Is the jussive 
> indicative or subjunctive? I associate jussives with the expression of 
> wishes, and thus a subjunctive mood. It would seem, however, that the 
> jussive here (following an imperative verb sequence) has the function of 
> expressing either the purpose or the consequence of the previous 
> imperatives. In that case it would seem to be indicative.
>
> In short, there seems to be ambiguity in the Psalm concerning its modality, 
> which is ironic given its dramatic tenor. Is there a note of personal 
> yearning present, or are these just didactic/liturgical statements meant to 
> communicate a theological point? Is the poverty of the conjugation system a 
> hindrance to communication, or is the ambiguity intentional?
>
> Phil Sumpter
>
> http://narrativeandontology.blogspot.com/
>