Post by TWTY-Admin » Tue Mar 03, 2015 7:35 pm
Hi sestir, thanks for the kind words
As with regards to ואכלתם, I took ואכלתם as indicating a command due to the context going back to v5, where we have the initial imperfect verb starting the command (תדרשו - you shall seek), then followed by the usual strings of waw+perfect (and you shall go...and you shall bring...and you shall eat...and you shall rejoice) - the entirety of v5-7 appear as a list of consecutive commands in the way I was reading it.
It could be that the "and you shall seek" is the command, and the following waw+perfects are therefore just the logical consequence of the Yisra'elites completing the command: they shall seek this place where Yahuweh has chosen to place His name, and upon finding it, therefore as a consequence they shall go there, and they shall bring their offerings, and they shall eat, and they shall rejoice.
We see similar situation in v3, where we have the initial imperfect verb ("and you shall chop down") followed by the waw+perfect ("and you shall blot out"). From the context, I don't see either of these verbs being anything other than commands.
Do you see anything in the context that determines that the waw+perfects are any less a command than the imperfects?
Hi sestir, thanks for the kind words :)
As with regards to ואכלתם, I took ואכלתם as indicating a command due to the context going back to v5, where we have the initial imperfect verb starting the command (תדרשו - you shall seek), then followed by the usual strings of waw+perfect (and you shall go...and you shall bring...and you shall eat...and you shall rejoice) - the entirety of v5-7 appear as a list of consecutive commands in the way I was reading it.
It could be that the "and you shall seek" is the command, and the following waw+perfects are therefore just the logical consequence of the Yisra'elites completing the command: they shall seek this place where Yahuweh has chosen to place His name, and upon finding it, therefore as a consequence they shall go there, and they shall bring their offerings, and they shall eat, and they shall rejoice.
We see similar situation in v3, where we have the initial imperfect verb ("and you shall chop down") followed by the waw+perfect ("and you shall blot out"). From the context, I don't see either of these verbs being anything other than commands.
Do you see anything in the context that determines that the waw+perfects are any less a command than the imperfects?