Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Bruce:

On Mon, Jun 29, 2009 at 11:43 AM, Bruce Prince<bruceprince AT bigpond.com> wrote:
> Dear Folks
>
>
>
> I'm wondering if you learned people can tell me if there is anything in the
> Hebrew grammar to indicate whether Esau was already on his way to meet Jacob
> when the messengers approached him, or was Esau NOW on his way to meet his
> brother as a result of Jacob's messengers approaching him?
>
>
>
> Thanks
>
>
>
> Bruce Prince
>
> Australia
>
>
The text doesn’t say explicitly, just implies, that Esau was on his
way because of the messengers. It says that the messengers were sent
to the land of Seir to Esau (verse 3), it says nothing meeting Esau on
the way, which implies that they got all the way to Seir to Esau’s
dwelling place. Hence Esau gathered up his 400 men and came because of
receiving the message from Jacob, not before.

Karl W. Randolph.