From: Harold Holmyard <hholmyard3 AT earthlink.net>
To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] David's article
Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2007 22:14:09 -0500
Dear David,
Here is Ehrensvärd's sixth example, taken from
Gen 16:7:
(6) The angel of the Lord found Hagar near the
spring [(YN HM] ("Spring of water") in
the desert, the spring by the road to Shur (Gen 16,7)
This was probably a known spring, and in addition,
it is a case of
cataphoric 15 reference: “the spring in the
desert, [i.e.] the spring by
the road to Shur”.
The problem with this argument is that the
biblical author would start by saying "by the
spring of water in the wilderness." Is he saying
that there was only one spring in the entire
wilderness? I highly doubt it but that's what the
words would imply. If he clarifies "by the spring
of water in the wilderness" with "by the spring
beside the road to Shur," he seems to be
excessively wordy. It seems he could have just
said "by the spring in the wilderness beside the
road to Shur." A certain indefiniteness can
explain his otherwise repetitive wording: "by a
spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring
beside the road to Shur."
It seems to me that it is the capacity of the
Hebrew article to express a generic idea for cases
where in English we'd use the indefinite that
allows for a certain indefiniteness (a generic
quality) to these examples treated by Ehrensvärd.