Jan 03 2006

1 Samuel 2:18-21

Published by Hardy at 8:51 am under Grammar, Samuel

וּשְׁמוּאֵל מְשָׁרֵת אֶת־פְּנֵי יְהוָה נַעַר חָגוּר אֵפוֹד בָּד׃ 19 וּמְעִיל קָטֹן תַּעֲשֶׂה־לּוֹ אִמּוֹ וְהַעַלְתָה לוֹ מִיָּמִים יָמִימָה בַּעֲלוֹתָהּ אֶת־אִישָׁהּ לִזְבֹּחַ אֶת־זֶבַח הַיָּמִים׃ 20 וּבֵרַךְ עֵלִי אֶת־אֶלְקָנָה וְאֶת־אִשְׁתּוֹ וְאָמַר יָשֵׂם יְהוָה לְךָ זֶרַע מִן־הָאִשָּׁה הַזֹּאת תַּחַת הַשְּׁאֵלָה אֲשֶׁר שָׁאַל לַיהוָה וְהָלְכוּ לִמְקֹמוֹ׃ 21 כִּי־פָקַד יְהוָה אֶת־חַנָּה וַתַּהַר וַתֵּלֶד שְׁלֹשָׁה־בָנִים וּשְׁתֵּי בָנוֹת וַיִּגְדַּל הַנַּעַר שְׁמוּאֵל עִם־יְהוָה׃ ס

Vocabulary

Verse 18

שׁרת  verb (Piel participle): “minister”

חגר  verb (Qal passive participle: “gird” (BDB, 291) 

אפוד  noun: “ephod, priestly garment” (BDB, 65)

בד  “white linen” (BDB, 94) 

Syntax & Miscellaneous

  • The first clause, וּשְׁמוּאֵל מְשָׁרֵת אֶת־פְּנֵי יְהוָה, is a periphrastic construction with the object marked by את.
  • Notice the disjunctive waw (waw+nonverb) which marks a break in the narrative.
  • The exact phrase, אפוד בד, is used only in Samuel and Chronicles (1 Samuel 22:18 [worn by the priests Doeg the Edomite killed], 2 Sam 6:14 [David’s ark dance], 1 Chronicles 15:27 [description of David’s garments when the ark returned to Jerusalem; parallel to 2 Samuel 6]); מכנסי בד is found in Leviticus and Exodus as descriptive of this priestly undergarment.

Vocabulary

Verse 19

מעיל  noun: “robe” (BDB, 591)

קטן  “small”

Verse 20

שׁאלה  “thing/one asked for” (BDB, 982)    

Verse 21

חנה  name: “Hannah”

הרה  verb: “to conceive” (BDB, 247)

Syntax & Misc.

Verse 19

  • The typology (i.e. sentence order of syntactic units) of the first clause is O—V—IO—S.
  • The temporal idiom, מִיָּמִים יָמִימָה, is used to mean “regularly” or “yearly,” distributive usage (cf. 1 Sam 1:3; Exodus 13:10; Judges 11:40, 21:19).
  • The beth preposition is used temporally “when.”

Verse 20

  • Notice the parallel with this verse and Genesis 4:25—the promise of a replacement for a lost son.

Verse 21

  • The final he of the waw-consecutive imperfect verb, הרה, is apocopated (lost due to the retraction of stress).
  • The name Samuel is in apposition to the word, child, הַנַּעַר שְׁמוּאֵל.

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