Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Vadim Cherny <vadimcherny AT gmail.com>]

Weqatal is commonly used in very strong commands where the action is  
highly assured, almost done. Compare English, Have it done! Thus  
weqatal in commandments.

So here, too, wenatan means, "He assuredly should give his shoe." The  
ritual might seem funny to you but apparently it was very important  
for the people.

On a separate note, the ritual is perfectly sensible. Footwear is a  
sign of dignity in Mideast cultures (recall the Iraqi shoe-thrower).  
In halitza, shoe removal means abandoning dignity. In land acquisition  
(clearly related to halitza), passing the shoe means passing land,  
one's source of dignity. Sort of.

Vadim Cherny



---

Randall Buth wrote:

On Ruth dating, Ruth 4.7 needs mention.

A second dating puzzle is the venatan verb. In First Temple
Hebrew that form would imply 'and he used to give'. That is a
possible reading here, since strings of habitual actions can be
preceded with an 'aoristic' starting example (shalaf in this text).
However, it is also possible to read venatan as aoristic itself,
which is a growing Second Temple phenomenon and normal
in mishnaic Hebrew.