21st Century Bible Hebrew -- imperatives

I apologize for this being posted so late. My personal calendar is off by a day.

Imperatives in BH have a feature I don’t know of in any other language; if you know better, post here.

In BH an imperative is used a) from a person authorized to issue it;  b) to a person who can be relied on to execute it. This is an important reason why Torah has to use other grammar for the commandments and later we’ll see a specific piece of grammar which points out why. You already know what it is if you have read your Torah carefully.

Gd uses imperatives to Mosheh who can be trusted to carry them out. Except for one time. In Numbers 20:8, Gd uses the 2^nd person commandment, not the imperative. This is a spoiler: this one time, Mosheh will not do what Gd says.

ח קַ֣ח אֶת־הַמַּטֶּ֗ה וְהַקְהֵ֤ל אֶת־הָֽעֵדָה֙ אַתָּה֙ וְאַֽהֲרֹ֣ן אָחִ֔יךָ וְדִבַּרְתֶּ֧ם אֶל־הַסֶּ֛לַע לְעֵֽינֵיהֶ֖ם וְנָתַ֣ן מֵימָ֑יו וְהֽוֹצֵאתָ֙ לָהֶ֥ם מַ֨יִם֙ מִן־הַסֶּ֔לַע וְהִשְׁקִיתָ֥ אֶת־הָֽעֵדָ֖ה וְאֶת־בְּעִירָֽם:

This is the second time Gd brings water from the rock, only Mosheh strikes the rock instead of speaking to it. It is why he is prohibited from entering the Holy Land – but it was an object lesson in the rejection of miracles as running Jewish culture, which he laid out in words in Deuteronomy 30:12-14.

On the other hand, in Genesis 23 when Avraham is negotiating for a place to put Sarah’s bones, the people he is negotiating with keep using imperative. Avraham does not do what they say. They are not reliable.

ה וַיַּֽעֲנ֧וּ בְנֵי־חֵ֛ת אֶת־אַבְרָהָ֖ם לֵאמֹ֥ר לֽוֹ: ו שְׁמָעֵ֣נוּ ׀ אֲדֹנִ֗י נְשִׂ֨יא אֱלֹהִ֤ים אַתָּה֙ בְּתוֹכֵ֔נוּ בְּמִבְחַ֣ר קְבָרֵ֔ינוּ קְבֹ֖ר אֶת־מֵתֶ֑ךָ אִ֣ישׁ מִמֶּ֔נּוּ אֶת־קִבְר֛וֹ לֹֽא־יִכְלֶ֥ה מִמְּךָ֖ מִקְּבֹ֥ר מֵתֶֽךָ: …

י וְעֶפְר֥וֹן יֹשֵׁ֖ב בְּת֣וֹךְ בְּנֵי־חֵ֑ת וַיַּ֩עַן֩ עֶפְר֨וֹן הַֽחִתִּ֤י אֶת־אַבְרָהָם֙ בְּאָזְנֵ֣י בְנֵי־חֵ֔ת לְכֹ֛ל בָּאֵ֥י שַֽׁעַר־עִיר֖וֹ לֵאמֹֽר:

יא לֹֽא־אֲדֹנִ֣י שְׁמָעֵ֔נִי הַשָּׂדֶה֙ נָתַ֣תִּי לָ֔ךְ וְהַמְּעָרָ֥ה אֲשֶׁר־בּ֖וֹ לְךָ֣ נְתַתִּ֑יהָ לְעֵינֵ֧י בְנֵֽי־עַמִּ֛י נְתַתִּ֥יהָ לָּ֖ךְ קְבֹ֥ר מֵתֶֽךָ: …

יד וַיַּ֧עַן עֶפְר֛וֹן אֶת־אַבְרָהָ֖ם לֵאמֹ֥ר לֽוֹ:

טו אֲדֹנִ֣י שְׁמָעֵ֔נִי אֶ֩רֶץ֩ אַרְבַּ֨ע מֵאֹ֧ת שֶֽׁקֶל־כֶּ֛סֶף בֵּינִ֥י וּבֵֽינְךָ֖ מַה־הִ֑וא וְאֶת־מֵֽתְךָ֖ קְבֹֽר:

If you have more questions about grammar and telling people to do things, let me know.

Now I’m going to use imperatives as the starting point for a discussion of modal morphology.

Modality means reflecting the thoughts or beliefs or intentions of the “speaker”.

Some languages Some do it through periphrasis, using auxiliary verbs that express the mode or mood, with the verb that expresses what the mood is about. So “I want to eat” is periphrasis for a kind of modal. BH does it with morphology.

There are three kinds of modality: deontic; epistemic; and oblique. We’ve seen some but not all of them already.