An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

approach as the grammars must of necessity use by reason of space must rely on advanced
work which has tested all the evidence, and this advanced work we will provide here by
investigating the Psalms. 77
He also rejects the results of the comparative-historical school.
We do not take over…the results of comparative linguistic studies concerning the meaning of
the Semitic verb forms. Where one can end up, if he takes his starting point here,
Brockelmann has now shown very beautifully with the help of Bauer’s theories. Comparative
linguistics is only possible if the languages to be compared are understood on their own. 78
c This iconoclast launches his investigation with the “imperfectum consecutivum”
(wayyqtl). Having studied its occurrences after “perfectum” (qtl), after “imperfectum”
(yqtl), in a chain of “imperfecta consecutive,” and after nominal sentences, participles,
and infinitives, he draws the conclusion that it always denotes consequence or
dependence, regardless of time (hence the term the waw-consequential theory):
It has been shown that the so-called imperfectum consecutivum gives a consequence, and in
fact does so without regard to time. To be sure, the majority of passages have to be translated
in the past, yet we also find a considerable group which cannot be categorized in any time
period. 79
d Next he studies the “perfectum” in various kinds of psalms and situations. Here he
discovers that it can refer to perfect, present, and future actions, and that it can be
used in constructions which append explanatory facts to something pictured earlier.
From this study he draws the conclusion that the “perfectum” does not serve to refer
to a period of time but rather “reports an event which stands in no dependent
relationship but which is important in itself.” He argues that this can be proved in
three ways:
1. If a perfectum stands in isolation or at the beginning of a clause it expresses a
fact…
2. If a perfectum follows syndetically or asyndectically on an imperfectum or a
participle, it does not advance them but rather sets an explicating fact alongside of
them…
3. If several perfecta stand unconnected alongside of one another, they do not advance
the action, but itemize equally important facts…[Page 472]
By contrast, he notes, “Of the imperfectum it can be said right at the start that it
does not do all this; it reports an action that stands in a relationship.” 80
e Michel then turns to the significance of the conjugations in view of the acting
subject. After an in-depth examination of Psalm 1 he provisionally advances his thesis
77 Michel, Tempora und Satzstellung, 13.
78 Michel, Tempora und Satzstellung, 14; the last sentence has an attractive ring, but it
is not true in a straight-forward way, especially of ancient written languages,
especially those with no continuous tradition.
79 Michel, Tempora und Satzstellung, 41.
80 Michel, Tempora und Satzstellung, 98–99.