Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Steve Miller" <smille10 AT sbcglobal.net>]

> From: Nir cohen - Prof. Mat.
> Sent: Tuesday, August 28, 2012 9:52 AM
> To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: [b-hebrew] beginning or end?
> 
> karl,
> 
> in case of gen 1:1 i must side with jerry, since at that point in the story 
> the sky
> was still not separated from the land, hence still did not exist, making 1:1
> NECESSARILY a summary of the entire chapter. consider also:

[Steve Miller:] In v1 God created the heavens and the earth. In the following 
verses, the planet earth already existed.  So, v1 cannot be a summary, but an 
action. In vv9-10 He made the dry land and named that "earth".  That is a 
different meaning of the word earth: the planet earth in v1, and the dry land 
in v10. Similarly in v1, the heavens is the universe, but in v8, God made the 
atmosphere around the earth and named that "heavens" also.  "Day" has 3 
meanings in Gen 1-2:4.

> 
> Genesis Chapter 22 בְּרֵאשִׁית
> א  וַיְהִי, אַחַר הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה, וְהָאֱלֹהִים, נִסָּה אֶת-אַבְרָהָם; 
> וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו, אַבְרָהָם וַיֹּאמֶר
> הִנֵּנִי.     1 And it came to pass after these things, that God did prove
> Abraham,
> and said unto him: 'Abraham'; and he said: 'Here am I.'
> 
> here, too, "god proved abraham" is a summary of the entire chapter, while
> "and said to him" is already the starting point of the more detailed 
> narrative.

[Steve Miller:] This does seem to be a summary followed by "and". I didn't 
know such a case existed. Thanks for finding this.
The "and"'s here in both of your examples are vav-consecutives, while in 1:2 
it is an "and" attached to a noun, which has a different meaning. The 
vav-consecutive, which is much more common, continues the main story line, 
while a sentence starting with "and"-noun indicates a break in the story 
line, often indicating a chapter break.

An odd thing about this verse is that here we have a summary followed by an 
"and", which should not be allowed in English, yet it sounds fine in English. 
Yet, if I were to change the structure to be more like Gen 1:1-2:
And it came to pass after these things that God proved Abraham. And Abraham 
was 100 years old.
Then it doesn't sound right in English. The "and" needs to be removed. I 
don't know why. It just doesn't sound right.

> consider also:
> 
> Genesis Chapter 10 בְּרֵאשִׁית
> א  וְאֵלֶּה תּוֹלְדֹת בְּנֵי-נֹחַ, שֵׁם חָם וָיָפֶת; וַיִּוָּלְדוּ לָהֶם 
> בָּנִים, אַחַר הַמַּבּוּל.   1 Now these
> are
> the generations of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth; and unto
> them were sons born after the flood.
> 
> "these are the generations..." is a summary, "and unto them..." is already
> part of the detailed narrative.

[Steve Miller:] Here the whole verse could be taken as the summary.  Then it 
is not followed by "and". 

Here also 10:1 sounds fine in English, even taking 10:1a as the summary and 
10:1b as the details. But if you change the structure to be like Gen 1:1-2:
And these are the generations of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham and Japheth. And 
Japheth was 60 years old.
Then it doesn't sound right.

> 
> etc etc
[Steve Miller:] If you have more examples of opening summaries followed by 
"and", I'd like to see them.

> nir cohen
> 
> >> karl: There was a very ancient literary style in which the titular or
> >> summary
> statement was at the end of a chapter or document, not the beginning. I’m
> not the only one, but others, too, have noted that Genesis can be broken up
> into several such chapters, with the summary “This is the bringing forth…”
> as the closing statement. That makes the summary, titular verse of Genesis
> 1 to be Genesis 2:4.
[Steve Miller:] I agree. Gen 2:4 summarizes Gen 1. It does not summarize the 
verses which follow, which are details about the creation of man. 

Sincerely yours,
Steve Miller
Detroit
www.voiceInWilderness.info
Though an army should encamp against me,
my heart won't fear from anxiety.
Though a war rise up against me to rent,
in this thing I will be confident. (Ps 27:3)