What is "a complete whole," and how, or in what sense, is it different from
an "incomplete whole"?
Best regards,
Rolf Furuli
Stavern
Norway
Onsdag 5. Desember 2012 19:15 CET skrev Jerry Shepherd
<jshepherd53 AT gmail.com>:
> Hi Barry,
>
> My apologies about not replying to this query earlier -- lots of papers and
> exams to mark, amid other responsibilities. But, in any case, here goes.
>
> (1) I am in basic agreement with you, and it seems most of the other
> respondents, that there is no prophetic past tense, per se, in Hebrew.
>
> (2) The idea of the prophetic past tense probably arises from the desire to
> make passages like Isaiah 53 pertain only to a future figure, rather than
> being about a more immediate personage in the author's own time and context.
>
> (3) Having said that, I am, however, not convinced that the Hebrew verbal
> system is tenseless. To be sure, context is the real determining factor,
> but it seems to me that it can be appropriately stated that there is at
> least a general tendency to use particular verb forms to describe past
> situations, others to describe present situations, and others to describe
> future situations. Wayyiqtol is overwhelmingly past tense. Qatal is
> primarily past and present. Yiqtol is primarily present and future.
> Qotel, when used as the main verb, is primarily present and future. For
> these last two, I'd be hard pressed to say whether present or future is
> more predominant. No one ever sits down and designs a spoken language, and
> I am not arguing that these verb forms were actually marked for tense.
> However, usage over time tends to fall into patterns, and I would argue
> these patterns of usage developed over time.
>
> (4) If, as seems reasonable, the Hebrew verbal system is best understood as
> being aspectual, we can still see how certain aspects would lend themselves
> to certain tenses. So the perfect, understood as "action seen as a
> complete whole," lends itself to describing past actions. So, perhaps it
> is possible for a prophet, when describing a future situation, to use a
> perfect form of the verb, and the use of that form would have been a bit
> jarring to the hearers or readers. I wouldn't refer to this a prophetic
> past tense; but the use of the perfect could have a "certainty" or
> "wholeness" quality to it that would not be so easily conveyed by imperfect
> or participle. Others may tell you I'm out to lunch on this one; and that
> may be the case.
>
> I, too, would be interested in seeing Rolf's comments.
>
> Blessings,
>
> Jerry
>
> Jerry Shepherd
> Taylor Seminary
> Edmonton, Alberta
> jshepherd53 AT gmail.com