21st Century Bible Hebrew -- evidentiary epistemic

The next class of modal morphology ought to be familiar to you by now: the epistemic. An epistemic is about the speaker’s investment in the truth of what is said. That gets us around confusion with epistemology which is the study of how we know what we know.

There are two versions in BH, the evidentiary/certainty, and the uncertainty.

They are both based on the imperfect.

The evidentiary epistemic is always followed by a clause using narrative past which is the evidence for the epistemic. There can be more than one verse between the epistemic and the evidence; one example is Genesis 14:1-8.

א וַיְהִ֗י בִּימֵי֙ אַמְרָפֶ֣ל מֶֽלֶךְ־שִׁנְעָ֔ר אַרְי֖וֹךְ מֶ֣לֶךְ אֶלָּסָ֑ר כְּדָרְלָעֹ֨מֶר֙ מֶ֣לֶךְ עֵילָ֔ם וְתִדְעָ֖ל מֶ֥לֶךְ גּוֹיִֽם:

ב עָשׂ֣וּ מִלְחָמָ֗ה אֶת־בֶּ֨רַע֙ מֶ֣לֶךְ סְדֹ֔ם וְאֶת־בִּרְשַׁ֖ע מֶ֣לֶךְ עֲמֹרָ֑ה שִׁנְאָ֣ב ׀ מֶ֣לֶךְ אַדְמָ֗ה וְשֶׁמְאֵ֨בֶר֙ מֶ֣לֶךְ צְבֹיִי֔ם [צְבוֹיִ֔ם] וּמֶ֥לֶךְ בֶּ֖לַע הִיא־צֹֽעַר:

ג כָּל־אֵ֨לֶּה֙ חָֽבְר֔וּ אֶל־עֵ֖מֶק הַשִּׂדִּ֑ים ה֖וּא יָ֥ם הַמֶּֽלַח:

ד שְׁתֵּ֤ים עֶשְׂרֵה֙ שָׁנָ֔ה עָֽבְד֖וּ אֶת־כְּדָרְלָעֹ֑מֶר וּשְׁלשׁ־עֶשְׂרֵ֥ה שָׁנָ֖ה מָרָֽדוּ:

ה וּבְאַרְבַּע֩ עֶשְׂרֵ֨ה שָׁנָ֜ה בָּ֣א כְדָרְלָעֹ֗מֶר וְהַמְּלָכִים֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר אִתּ֔וֹ וַיַּכּ֤וּ אֶת־רְפָאִים֙ בְּעַשְׁתְּרֹ֣ת קַרְנַ֔יִם וְאֶת־הַזּוּזִ֖ים בְּהָ֑ם וְאֵת֙ הָֽאֵימִ֔ים בְּשָׁוֵ֖ה קִרְיָתָֽיִם: ו וְאֶת־הַֽחֹרִ֖י בְּהַֽרֲרָ֣ם שֵׂעִ֑יר עַ֚ד אֵ֣יל פָּארָ֔ן אֲשֶׁ֖ר עַל־הַמִּדְבָּֽר:

ז וַ֠יָּשֻׁ֠בוּ וַיָּבֹ֜אוּ אֶל־עֵ֤ין מִשְׁפָּט֙ הִ֣וא קָדֵ֔שׁ וַיַּכּ֕וּ אֶת־כָּל־שְׂדֵ֖ה הָֽעֲמָֽלֵקִ֑י וְגַם֙ אֶת־הָ֣אֱמֹרִ֔י הַיּשֵׁ֖ב בְּחַֽצֲצֹ֥ן תָּמָֽר:

ח וַיֵּצֵ֨א מֶֽלֶךְ־סְדֹ֜ם וּמֶ֣לֶךְ עֲמֹרָ֗ה וּמֶ֤לֶךְ אַדְמָה֙ וּמֶ֣לֶךְ צְבֹיִי֔ם [צְבוֹיִ֔ם] וּמֶ֥לֶךְ בֶּ֖לַע הִוא־צֹ֑עַר וַיַּֽעַרְכ֤וּ אִתָּם֙ מִלְחָמָ֔ה בְּעֵ֖מֶק הַשִּׂדִּֽים:

Everything in verses 2-7 are the backstory of why the kings of the Cities of the Plain went out to war.

One of the most important things about the evidentiary epistemic is that it is the grammatical equivalent of Olrik’s origin localization, a place name used to identify where an important cultural or historical event took place.At some point in the culture's history, and possibly for a long time, this place is visible to the audience and that is the evidence of the truth of what the narrator is saying.

The evidentiary epistemic uses cultural knowledge or the current state of affairs as the evidence and it is always the only evidence needed because everybody knows about it. Without that knowledge, the speaker can’t use the epistemic.

Va-y’hi at the start of a narrative is a special case of this. It gives the timing of an event, based on known historical events. That’s what happens here in Genesis 14. It shows up the same way in other places in Torah. But at the end of a stretch of text, it has a different use.