Abstract: This article serves two purposes: first, it underscores the pivotal role of Hebrew terminology in the Middle Ages, particularly its importance in the study of language grammar, and the profound questions that research should address to comprehend it. If we consider terminology as the "meta-language of language," a mirror of a language's linguistic thought, then we can delve into the linguistic perspectives it articulates. The second purpose is to illuminate the grammatical terms that emerged in the Jewish center of Byzantium and that reflect the linguistic tradition in this community, specifically in the essay Eškol Ha-Kop̅er of the Byzantine Karaite sage Yehuda Hadassi (the 12th century). So, in the second chapter, I will trace Hadassi's terms related to phonology and morphology while trying to demonstrate their origins, unique characters, and connection to the grammatical concepts they express. As I shall show, in the 12th century in Byzantium, Hebrew grammatical terminology was still in its formative stage. Hadassi's use of the early Karaite terms and epithets, along with Byzantine-Karaite ones, Tiberian school, and Andalusian system terms, the traditional and the innovative, showcases the diversity of their origins. Some terms are exclusive to the Byzantine school, and some are believed to be his own creations. This diversity and the unique characteristics of the terms make the 12th-century Hebrew grammatical terminology a fascinating subject of study. Another prominent characteristic of that school's grammatical terminology is that its terms were more "descriptive" than "defining." This means that many of the terms used by Hadassi are figurative and even picturesque, indicating their immaturity. Some of them are worded in a cumbersome way. Despite their immaturity and awkwardness, the terms have generally succeeded in satisfactorily clarifying the grammatical phenomena and reflecting the linguistic perceptions that prevailed at their times.
Abstract: Scholarship on constituent order in Biblical Hebrew is largely limited to the analysis of narrative prose. Those few studies which pay attention to poetic literature enjoy no consensus concerning the roles which Information Structure and poetics play in determining the clausal constituent order, nor do they concern themselves with the implications of deviant constituent order for larger patterns of discourse structure. In this paper, I argue for the analytical primacy of poetic cognition over Information Structure – which may or may not coincide one with the other. Constituent order patterns used to structure poetic discourse through shaping line groupings include repetition, symmetry and constituent-specific strategies of tail-head linkage and inclusio, of which I will illustrate with examples drawn from Psalms 1–25, 51 and 91. These structures account for non-default constituent order at the clause-level – when Information Structure lacks explanatory power – and shed light on the previously unappreciated contribution of constituent order patterns across poetic lines in determining larger discourse structures.
Abstract: The intersection of literary structure and leitmotif presents a fertile ground for research in the Hebrew Bible. Rather than attending to various forms of parallelism and strophic formula, all of which are commonplace for poetic analysis, this article addresses the deep structure of Lamentations 2:1–10 in three parts. First, unit delimitation is reasoned by the exceptionally rare occurrence of an extended third-person account with god being described as the agent. Second, unit segmentation is identified by juxtaposed paratactic rhetorical devices denoting an irrevocable reality. Third, the semantic architecture is selectively traced by identifying inclusios indicative of finality. Combined, the text reveals one of the darkest sagas in the Hebrew Bible, where death hopelessly and impassably lives beyond all means of ascent.
Abstract: The following essay considers the re-use of Exodus 32–34 in Numbers 11 with an eye toward the interplay between divine anger and divine favor as they relate to Yhwh's interactions with Moses and Israel. After an opening section outlining recent scholarship on Numbers 11, the core of the essay documents both lexical and thematic elements shared between the texts, which, when taken together, suggest an intentional connection. This, then, leads to the concluding section, wherein I consider how apprehending the relationship between Exodus 32–34 and Numbers 11 may interact with our understanding of the chapter's composition, its function within Torah's narrative arc, and what we are to make of its characterization of Moses.
Abstract: The account of Yhwh's support of Moses in Numbers 12 raises some key questions concerning Moses's status as Yhwh's spokesman in the Wilderness narratives. The narrative states that Moses had taken a Cushite wife and that his Levite siblings, Miriam and Aaron, objected to his intermarriage. Although some interpreters have argued that Moses had taken a new wife after having allegedly divorced Zipporah, such a contention does not stand up to scrutiny, insofar as Zipporah bat Jethro, as the daughter of a Midianite priest, would have been considered a Cushite in ancient Israel and Judah. The key issue in the narrative is Zipporah's non-Israelite identity, particularly because Moses is a Levite who would be forbidden to marry a foreign woman as stipulated in Lev 21.10–15, esp. vv. 14–15. Yhwh's support of Moses in this instance is surprising. But consideration of several intertextual references indicate that Zipporah is a suitable mate for Moses. Consideration of Exodus 2 and Exodus 18 indicate that no divorce took place between Moses and Zipporah, so that she is indeed still Moses's wife. Examination of references in Song 1:5 and Hab 3:7 indicate that Zipporah is indeed a Cushite due to her dark skin. Despite warnings against the marriage of foreign women in Exod 23:27–33; 34:10–16; and Deut 7:1–8, and a polemic against Midianite women in Num 25:6–16, the account of Zipporah's circumcision of her son, Gershom, in Exod 4:24–26 demonstrates that she is a righteous Gentile that makes her a suitable mate for Moses in the eyes of Yhwh.
