I would say that not only is the Torah very specific, but I would say that we should (at least temporarily) assume the choices a speaker/writer has made in *any* document are purposeful. This mental giving of oneself to any text is really only another term for *reading* or *close reading*.HH: The problem is that writing style is a personal matter, and I cannot explain why other people choose this word rather than that, or this sentence organization rather than some other one. Since writing is self-expression, which is often somewhat spontaneous and uncalculated, even the writer might not be able to give clear reasons why he chose one form or expression over another possible one. I am often surprised by the things I write.
Unfortunately there are a lot of linguistic choices the writers of the Tanakh have made that are not commonly even noticed, let alone appreciated or understood. We can hardly get past the first verse or two of Bere'shit before we are stumped as to why Moshe used the linguistic options he did. In my more discouraged moods it makes me wonder if we can read Hebrew. In my encouraged moods, it makes reading the Tanakh like a pioneering adventure or like mining for gold.
Case in point: Why did Moshe use qatal of HYH in Gen. 1:2 veha'arets hayetah tohu vabohu rather than a noun sentence?
Did you ever hear Orson Well's old radio broadcast of "War of the Worlds"? As NYC being put in a death sleep by the poison gas of invading Martians a lone human voice keeps repeating over a two-way radio "Is anybody there? Is anybody there?"
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