Dear Bryan:
I would really like evidence from outside of the Torah. I think there
was a large span of time between the penning of the Torah narratives
and that of Judges, and it would account for differences in language.
I do not have time right now to look anything up, but I have assumed
(I know this is risky business) that by the time of the writing of the
Judges narrative, the use of HYH with a lamed prefix had become more
standard. In the language of the Torah, the lamed prefix was not yet
used as the standard mark of change with the HYH verb.
I hope to be able to look into this later, but this is an assumption I
have worked from for a little while. Do you have any information about
HYH plus L-prefix as it may appear either in the Torah or in later
texts?
Todah,
Yonah
On 10/4/06, B. M. Rocine <brocine AT twcny.rr.com> wrote:
Dear Yonah:
Certainly, the root HYH does not require the complement le- to mean
"become." See Gen 3:22:
hen ha'adam hayah ke'axad mimmennu
"Look the man has become like one of us..."
Gen 19:26:
vattehiy netsiyb melax
"And she became a pillar of salt."
Gen 21:20
vayhiy robeh qashshat
"And he became an archer."
On the matter of a wayyiqtol of HYH specifically: We can't have it two
ways at once. If HYH is a copula, it would rarely if ever move the
story time of a narrative forward. If that's the case, the idea that
wayyiqtol is a storyline verb is weakened. On the other hand, if we
accept wayyiqtol as the storyline verb form, the idea that wayyiqtol of
HYH must refer to a happening or an occurrence of some sort is
strengthened. Wayyiqtol of HYH would refer to a situation that
"completed" or "became complete."
Shalom,
Bryan
Yonah Mishael wrote:
I would assume that the form WYHYW ויהיו in Judges 16:30 functions as
most wa-cons forms do in a narrative—that is, it establishes this as a
part of the main story line, by which the author is providing primary
information. The point is the culmination of Samson's life as a fight
against the Philistines, the loss of which caused the destruction of
even more of his enemies than the entire period of his life had
realized. This is what I get from it anyway. I don't think it
necessarily has any "becoming" associated with it.
Wouldn't it be most common by the time that the Judges was penned to
express "become" with the HYH plus the L-prefix?
Yours,
Yonah
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