Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Vadim Cherny <vadimcherny AT gmail.com>]

Genesis 20:20-21 has always bothered me. How come that God cannot make  
his mind on the most important issue, whether the altar should be of  
earth or stone? Just after explicitly commanding to make the altar of  
earth, he says, "And if you would make an altar of stone." That makes  
no sense.

One possibility is that Gen20:20 employs future anterior tense ("I  
shall have done the job when you arrive"). In such structure, weqatal  
would be past participle. With suitable ellipse, the text would mean  
that WHEN Hebrews start bringing sacrifices (near future), they must  
build an altar of earth to accommodate for those ad hoc offerings. And  
when (later) they will build a stone altar, it must be made of unhewn  
stones.

Vadim Cherny