An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

coordinate elements in the compound phrase introduced by ˓l and controlled by
yšw˓h.” 12
[Page 141] 9.4 Uses of the Construct-Genitive Relation
a Two nouns juxtaposed can form a construct phrase in Hebrew. In the structure
construct + genitive, the genitive modifies the construct, just as in substantive +
attributive adjective, the adjective modifies the substantive. There are three
English constructions, apparently similar to the Hebrew construct phrase, that it
may be useful to review: (a) noun-noun compounds (‘windmill, ashtray, figtree,
pigpen’), (b) ’s-genitives (‘Moses’ brother, Isaiah’s sign’), (c) periphrastic
genitives (‘word of God, length of years’). In the first case, the similarity is
superficial: the relationship in Hebrew of construct + genitive is a major
inflectional link, while the English process is much less productive. The two
English genitives are the proper analogues, and of the two the periphrastic
genitive is more similar, for in it the head word comes first; in the ‘s-genitive (as
in noun-noun compounds) the head word comes second. English periphrastic
genitives, in fact, show some of the same complexity of meaning characteristic of
Hebrew construct chains. The phrase ‘love of God’ ( םיהלֹ ִ א ֱ ת ַבהֲ אַ
) is
ambiguous in both languages; it may mean either ‘God’s love (for someone)’ or
‘(someone’s) love for God.’ This example illustrates the importance of
establishing the possible meanings of the genitive case, sometimes called the
“species of the genitive.” 13
b In the next several sections we set forth a traditional classification of the species,
by which we mean the various notions signified by this polysemic construction
(see 3.2.3). By what procedure do grammarians come up with these classes of
meanings? And how can a reader identify the workings of a genitive in a specific
text? Our analysis of the procedure for identifying and classifying the genitive
(and other grammatical constructions) falls into three parts.
c To explain the procedure, we turn first to the distinction between surface structure
and underlying structure (see 3.5). Possible deep structures are grammatical
options aligning elements of a situation. In certain circumstances, one might speak
of the idea that God loves people with the prosaic sentence ‘God loves people’; in
12 Freedman, “Broken Construct Chain,” 535 (rpt. p. 340); cf. O’Connor, Hebrew
Verse Structure, 234 (on this text), 371–90 (on this type of phrase).
13 Paul Friedrich mentions a total of seventy-eight subtypes of the genitive in Homeric
Greek; see Proto-Indo-European Syntax: The Order of Meaningful Elements (Journal
of Indo-European Studies Monograph 1; Butte: Montana College of Mineral Science
and Technology, 1975) 13.