Графични страници
PDF файл
ePub

fearful terror is

a profound sleep in

an (Gen. xxxv. 5; comp. 1 Sam. xiv. 15);

7 (1 Sam. xxvi. 12); elevated mountains

777 (Ps. xxxvi. 7); lofty cedars (Ps. lxxx. 11), though the two last instances may also involve the notion of being created by God or of belonging to Him.a

13. Hyperboles are, indeed, peculiarly in harmony with the emphatic nature of the Hebrew style; they are found, in every degree of boldness, not in the enthusiastic language of poets and prophets alone; even the simplest diction in prose, is generally tinctured with a spirit of poetical elevation; figurative expression, everywhere a sure characteristic of early literature, is pre-eminently an element in all eastern composition; and the fresh and vivid conceptions of the imagination predominate over the severe abstractions of balancing reason. Even in historical books we meet with phrases such as “Like an angel of God, so is my lord the king, to discern good and bad, to know everything on earth”—words addressed to David by the wise woman of Tekoah (2 Sam. xiv. 17, 20); or "my little finger is thicker than my father's loins" (1 Ki. xii. 10)—a simile intended to describe the relative power of Rehoboam and Solomon; and repeatedly the descendants of Abraham are compared to the sand on the sea-shore, or to the stars of heaven which cannot be counted for multitude,b although the Hebrews are, in other historical portions, called the smallest, the least numerous of all nations (Deut. vii. 7). In many passages it is indeed of the utmost importance for a correct interpretation to appreciate and to take into due account this spirit of hyperbole, to distinguish between plain statement and poetical amplification, and to discern the kernel of fact through the veil of metaphor and imagery.c

14. Sometimes emphasis is produced by a figure of speech, the opposite of hyperbole, namely Litotes, which, in representing the subject with reserve and moderation, throws upon it a considerably greater weight; e.g. the path of the wicked is not good, that is, detestable; he disdains not evil, that is, he delights in evil (Ps. xxxvi. 5; comp. Ezek. xx. 25). Sometimes this more restricted statement is in a negative form added after a positive and stronger assertion;

a Comp. Gen. xxx. 8; Cant. viii. 6. b Gen. xiii. 16; xv. 5; xxii. 17;

xli. 49; Jer. xxxiii. 22.

с

Comp. Isai. ix. 5, 6; liii., etc.

e.g. the remnant of Moab will be ¬y by very small, not great (Isai. xvi. 14) ; Israel is on account of constant idolatry called by a people silly and not wise (Deut. xxxii. 6).a

[merged small][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][merged small][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed]

a Comp. Judg. xiv. 16; Prov. xvii. 21; Ps. cvii. 38, etc.; see Hom. II. i. 416.

[ocr errors]

§ 76. THE SUBJECTIVE CASE.

1. The subject of a period may either be a noun or a pronoun, a participle or an infinitive used as a noun; and the personal pronoun is either distinctly expressed or implied in the verb (§ 75. 1); e. g.

(Gen. xiv. 22) I have lifted up my hand to the Lord';

הֲרִימוֹתִי ;Job i. 1) a man was in the land of Uz) אִישׁ הָיָה בְאֶרֶץ עוּץ

Sam. xvii. 10) I have defied the 1) אֲנִי חֲרַפְתִּי אֶת־מַעַרְכוֹת יִשְׂרָאֵל

ranks of Israel; pyy (Prov. xxii. 8) he who sows (the the sower of) iniquity, reaps calamity; n'a yn 110 (Job xxviii. 28) keeping aloof from evil is understanding.

a

2. If a noun is the subject, it has either the definite article or stands without it, in accordance with distinct rules (§ 83); e. g. 5.

a child has been born; and the child grew. But occasionally it is preceded by, the ordinary mark of the accusative (§ 25. 1). In far the greater number of these instances, the verb is in the third person singular of the passive (Niphal, Pual, or Hophal), though an active construction may have been in the author's mind; e.g. (Num. xxxii. 5) may this land be given to thy servants (that is, may you give this land to thy servants);

Josh. vii. 15) he shall be burnt and all) יִשְׂרֵף אֹתוֹ וְאֶת־כָּל־אֲשֶׁר־לוֹ

that belongs to him, that is, you shall burn him, etc. (comp. ver. 14); 77 (Gen. xxvii. 42) and they told Rebekah the words of Esau (in French, on rapporta); ¬ inix Da (Hos. x. 6) that also they will carry to Assyria.b

3. However, in some cases such conception is impossible on account

אַל־יִמְעַט לְפָנֶיךָ אֵת .of the entransitive meaning of the verb ; e. g

[ocr errors]

(Neh. ix. 32) let not all the trouble appear little before

Compare Gen. ii. 18; xxix. 19; Prov. xxi. 15, etc.

b Comp. Gen. iv. 18; xvii. 5; xxi. 5; xl. 20; Exod. x. 8; xxi. 28; xxv. 28;

xxvii. 7; Lev. x. 18; xvi. 27; Num.
xiv. 21; xxvi. 55, 60; Deut. xii. 22;
2 Sam. xxi. 22; 1 Ki. ii. 21; Jer. xxxv.
14; xxxviii. 4; 1.20; Prov. xvi. 33.

[ocr errors]

water; (2 Ki. x. 15) is thy heart righteous ? a In such passages the particle has, in some degree, evidently retained its original demonstrative meaning that (from Mix sign;

etc.)-let not all that trouble appear little before ,אוֹתְךָ אוֹתִי hence

thee; that ax fell into the water, etc. This is, for instance, obvious

Ezek. xlvii. 17-19) that is the north) וְאֵת פְּאַת צָפוֹן in phrases like ; (זאת פְּאַת־יָם ,20 .comp. ver) זאת is equivalent to אֵת side, where ; xliii. 7) this is the place of My throne) אֶת־־מְקוֹם כִּסְאִי and so Dan. ix. 1) all that evil has come) אֵת כָּל־הָרָעָה הַזֹּאת בָּאָה עָלֵינוּ

זןד

over us (comp. 2 Sam. xi. 25).

4. Thus the particle assumes sometimes the power of the article, which also has properly demonstrative force, especially before a noun in the construct state, which does not admit the article; e. g. is too

אֶת־כָּל־ ;(17 .the sinn of Peor ? (Josh. xxii אֶת־עֲוֹן פְּעוֹר little for us .(22 .all the fishes of the sea (Num. xi דְּגֵי הַיָּם

[merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[ocr errors][subsumed]

§ 77. AGREEMENT OF NOUNS, ADJECTIVES,

PRONOUNS, AND VERBS.

1. In Hebrew, as in all other languages, the adjective agrees, in number and gender, with its noun, the subject with its predicate, the pronoun with the substantive, to which it refers; e.g. navn nian

Prov. xix. 21) Many thoughts are in) בְּלֶב אִישׁ וַעֲצַת יְהוָה הִיא תָקוּם

the heart of man, but the council of God-that will stand.

2. It is no more than an external incongruity, if a noun of common gender is, in the same proposition, promiscuously joined with the masculine and the feminine; e.g. 777 (1 Ki. xix. 11) a (Ps. Ixiii. 2) a waste and arid fire (Job. xx. 26); 777 way (1 Ki. xiii. 10;

great and strong wind land, and so we find Isai. xxxv. 8);

p camp (Gen. xxxii. 9); Dip place (xix. 13);

graved שְׁאוֹל ;(40 .eyes (2 Chr. vi עֵינַיִם ; soul נֶפֶשׁ

3. As neither verbs, nor adjectives, nor pronouns have a dual, they stand in the plural when referring to a substantive in the dual; e.g. Mina Dp (Dan. viii. 3) high horns;

[blocks in formation]

(Job

4. As some nouns are more commonly used in dual than in plural (§ 29. 1), it is easy to understand why they are frequently employed in the former number even where the latter is properly required; e.g. D']' nya (Zech. iii. 9) seven eyes; y (Lev. xi. 23) four feet; (1 Ki. xix. 18) all knees.f

5. However, in no part of the Syntax does the tendency of free constructions according to the sense, in preference to a strict grammatical connection, appear more strongly than in the principles of agreement. The deviations are, in this respect, almost as numerous

a

Comp. Hos. iv. 19; Prov. xviii. 14.

b Comp. Isa. xxxiii. 9.

© Gen. xlvi. 27; Levit. ii. 1; v.

xviii. 29; xx. 6; xxii. 6.

d Isai. xiv. 9; 2 Chron. viii. 15.

.1;

e Comp. Isai. xxx. 3; Job iv. 3, 4; x. 8; xx. 10, etc.

Comp. 1 Sam. ii. 13; Isai. xiii.7 ; Ps. xviii. 28; Prov. vi. 17, 18; see also § 85, 5.

« ПредишнаНапред »