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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Future anterior tense in Tanakh

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  • From: Vadim Cherny <vadimcherny AT gmail.com>
  • To: <steve AT voiceinwilderness.info>
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Future anterior tense in Tanakh
  • Date: Mon, 8 Mar 2010 11:06:20 +0200

My Exodus 20 has 22 verses, though perhaps Christians have it differently. No, in this case adamah cannot include stones because

1. The verses clearly differentiate between the two altars.
2. Adamah in the sense of material rather than territory never includes stones.
3. The text speaks of ad hoc altars at many places in Sinai, though transportation of stone altar would be too cumbersome and, at any rate, unattested in the detailed description of transporting the Tabernacle.

Vadim Cherny



On Mar 8, 2010, at 3:34 AM, Steve Miller wrote:

Vadim,
Do you mean Exo 20:24-25? I am guessing that adamah can include stone.

Sincerely,
-Steve Miller


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






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