Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Nir:

On Wed, Aug 29, 2012 at 8:59 AM, Nir cohen - Prof. Mat. 
<nir AT ccet.ufrn.br>wrote:

>  karl,
>
> see also my recent reply to steve miller.
> > in case of gen 1:1 i must side with jerry, since at that point in
>
> > nir: 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.
>>
>
> >
> > karl: What? From the sounds of it, there were multiple places that were
> included in the appellation of “heavens” שמים and at least one of which was
> present in Genesis 1:1.
>
> well, in gen 1:8 and 1:10 the naming of these objects is cited. it is
> therefore assumed the narrator wanted to imply that these onjects were
> still not
> formed in 1:1-2. thus, as i wrote to steve, i interpret "haarec" in 1:2 as
> "the (pre land+sky) universe". but this was not the main point:...
>

As I mentioned also to Jerry, these terms are used in more than one way in
Tanakh, so unless there are contextual reasons to restrict them to only one
of their uses, contextual clues I don’t find in this chapter, this is a
stretch I don’t see supported by the text.

>
> > ...Though I can see your point, namely that this first verse carries the
> big picture, and as we get further into the chapter, more and more details
> come out.
>
> yes, this is what i had in mind.
>
> > But is that accurate? As it stands, we have the original creation, where
> “The earth came into being lifeless and still, and darkness upon the face
> of the deep and God’s spirit resting upon the face of the waters.” The rest
> of the chapter adding motion and life.
>
> the text says HAYTA, in QATAL, and not VATIHYEH in yiqtol. thus the
> plausible translation would be "was/had been"
> and not necessarily "became" as you imply.
>

Here we deal with a grammatical question, also of meaning. The Qatal refers
to a primary, indicative meaning. The Yiqtol when used for an indicative,
refers to a secondary, indicative meaning. It’s sometimes a judgment call
whether a Qatal or Yiqtol is to be used in a particular context. There are
other verses where I expected a Yiqtol, but instead found a Qatal.

An interpretation here could be that the first verse referred to the
universe, the second verse focussed on the earth, hence the use of the
Qatal.

As for the tense, Biblical Hebrew had no tenses. That came with Mishnaic
and later Hebrew. Tense was indicated by context, and here there is no
context to indicate “had been” to be the meaning. “Was” can still refer to
an earth that was just created in the first verse.

>
>
> >
>>
>> 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.
>> >
>
>
> >
> > The present division of chapters and verses came millennia after these
> words were written. What is now put at the beginning of a section, may show
> incorrect positioning contrary to the desires of the original authors.
>
> granted. but this is the text we have to grope with.
>

And that’s why we are groping.

>
>  Consider Genesis 6:9 and 37:2.
>>
>>
>> > "these are the generations..." is a summary, "and unto them..." is
>> already
>> > part of the detailed narrative.
>> >
>
>
> i think that indeed 37:2 is a summary of previous material.
>
> but 6:9 is clearly a title. observe that TOLDOT should not be translated
> as HISTORY but as DESCENDANTS, hence refers to the text which follows.
>
> Here we have three words—do they belong to what precedes or follows them?
Forget the verse divisions, they can be wrong.

Noah’s three sons were already mentioned in Genesis 5:32, so if you want to
say it refers to generations, it could still refer to the preceding. It’s
pretty obvious that this use is at the cusp of where one narrative ends,
and another starts. This is a judgment call, but I come down on the side
that it means “This is the production (narration) of Noah” followed by the
one his sons wrote.

>
> nir cohen
>
> Karl W. Randolph.