Re: Mediterranean flood
George Murphy (gmurphy@raex.com)
Sat, 02 Oct 1999 17:37:34 -0400
PHSEELY@aol.com wrote:
>
> George and Glenn wrote:
>
> << > Focussing on the 1st line, the Hebrew construction (waw consecutive:
> _ki
> hu'
> >'amar wayehi_) suggests that the action of the second verb follows that of
> the first
> >with nothing intervening. It would be good for somebody with greater
> Hebrew expertise
> >than I to comment on this both in regard to Gen.1 and Ps.33.
>
> I too would be interested in hearing more of this. >>
>
> Even though CA Briggs, an editor of the classic Hebrew lexicon, B(riggs)DB
> expresses George's tentative opinion of the meaning of the waw consecutive in
> Psalm 33:9 and I agree on historical grounds that an immediate creation is
> the historical-grammatical, i.e. original meaning of both Psalm 33:9 and the
> various phrases in Gen 1; and further that placing a time gap longer than
> 24-hours between the command and the fulfillment is an unnatural reading of
> both Gen 1 and Psalm 33:9, nevertheless, I do not believe Glenn's reading can
> be falsified by the Hebrew grammar per se.
>
> In order for the Hebrew grammar to falsify Glenn's reading, there would have
> to be a rule that an imperative or jussive when followed by a waw consecutive
> expressing the fulfillment of that command does not allow any time to
> intervene between the command and the fulfillment. I do not profess to know
> any more about Hebrew grammar than George does; but, I have done a little
> checking and I find no such rule. In addition, such a rule seems improbable.
> That is, if a king ordered, e.g. the building of a temple and in time it was
> built, it seems to me that there would be no reason the Hebrew grammar could
> not use a waw consecutive and say, "He spoke and the temple was built."
>
> Further, there is a partial parallel to Psalm 33:9 in Psalm 105:34. The
> latter says, "He (God) spoke (same verb and form as in Psalm 33:9) and came
> (waw consecutive) the locust…". But, when you go back to Exodus 19:13 and
> look at the details, you read, "…and the Lord directed an east wind on the
> land all that day and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind
> brought the locusts." Clearly there is a time gap (and the use of means) in
> Ps 105:34 between "He spake" "and the locust came." The most that could be
> claimed is that the action which in time resulted in the effect began
> immediately upon the issuing of the divine command.
There is probably no strict rule of the sort you mentioned & I don't think
(as I noted in a parallel) that it's necessary to insist that the consequence of
the command be instantaneous. I think the question is, however, whether the sense of
the waw consecutive with two indicatives allows the intervention, even though tacitly,
of other events, which are part of the same overall action.
George
--
George L. Murphy
gmurphy@raex.com
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/