Subject: [b-hebrew] Future anterior tense in Tanakh
Date: Sat, 27 Feb 2010 21:57:20 +0200
Genesis 20:20-21 has always bothered me. How come that God cannot make
his mind on the most important issue, whether the altar should be of
earth or stone? Just after explicitly commanding to make the altar of
earth, he says, "And if you would make an altar of stone." That makes
no sense.
One possibility is that Gen20:20 employs future anterior tense ("I
shall have done the job when you arrive"). In such structure, weqatal
would be past participle. With suitable ellipse, the text would mean
that WHEN Hebrews start bringing sacrifices (near future), they must
build an altar of earth to accommodate for those ad hoc offerings. And
when (later) they will build a stone altar, it must be made of unhewn
stones.
Vadim Cherny
[b-hebrew] Future anterior tense in Tanakh,
Vadim Cherny, 02/27/2010