Re: strange verb question
Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2019 9:10 pm
Gen. 23:5-7 reads
וַיַּעֲנוּ בְנֵי חֵת אֶת אַבְרָהָם לֵאמֹר לוֹ. שְׁמָעֵנוּ אֲדֹנִי נְשִׂיא אֱלֹהִים אַתָּה בְּתוֹכֵנוּ בְּמִבְחַר קְבָרֵינוּ קְבֹר אֶת מֵתֶךָ אִישׁ מִמֶּנּוּ אֶת קִבְרוֹ לֹא יִכְלֶה מִמְּךָ מִקְּבֹר מֵתֶךָ. וַיָּקָם אַבְרָהָם וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ לְעַם-הָאָרֶץ לִבְנֵי-חֵת
KJV: Hear us, my lord: thou art a mighty prince among us: in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead; none of us shall withhold from thee his sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury thy dead.
NIV: “Sir, listen to us. You are a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will refuse you his tomb for burying your dead.”
The context makes it clear that there was a spirit of mutual respect and goodwill between Abraham and the Hittites of the Hebron hills, who accepted him and wanted him to live among them, and were possibly all from the same region of what is today eastern Turkey or northern Syria between the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers. But, we need still to distinguish between the public display of ceremonial politeness and the eventual practical nitty-gritty details of property transfer.
Hence יִכְלֶה is, indeed, 'withhold' as translated. It is from the root כלה KLH in which the end ה H is a radical letter. The root כלה is a member of the Hebrew root family:
גלא, גלה, גלע
חלא, חלה
כלא, כלה
קלע
גלל, הלל, חלל, כלל, קלל
'include, contain'.
The initial IY of יִכְלֶה = היא-כלה is the identifier היא for the owner of the cave.
Isaac Fried, Boston University
וַיַּעֲנוּ בְנֵי חֵת אֶת אַבְרָהָם לֵאמֹר לוֹ. שְׁמָעֵנוּ אֲדֹנִי נְשִׂיא אֱלֹהִים אַתָּה בְּתוֹכֵנוּ בְּמִבְחַר קְבָרֵינוּ קְבֹר אֶת מֵתֶךָ אִישׁ מִמֶּנּוּ אֶת קִבְרוֹ לֹא יִכְלֶה מִמְּךָ מִקְּבֹר מֵתֶךָ. וַיָּקָם אַבְרָהָם וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ לְעַם-הָאָרֶץ לִבְנֵי-חֵת
KJV: Hear us, my lord: thou art a mighty prince among us: in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead; none of us shall withhold from thee his sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury thy dead.
NIV: “Sir, listen to us. You are a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will refuse you his tomb for burying your dead.”
The context makes it clear that there was a spirit of mutual respect and goodwill between Abraham and the Hittites of the Hebron hills, who accepted him and wanted him to live among them, and were possibly all from the same region of what is today eastern Turkey or northern Syria between the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers. But, we need still to distinguish between the public display of ceremonial politeness and the eventual practical nitty-gritty details of property transfer.
Hence יִכְלֶה is, indeed, 'withhold' as translated. It is from the root כלה KLH in which the end ה H is a radical letter. The root כלה is a member of the Hebrew root family:
גלא, גלה, גלע
חלא, חלה
כלא, כלה
קלע
גלל, הלל, חלל, כלל, קלל
'include, contain'.
The initial IY of יִכְלֶה = היא-כלה is the identifier היא for the owner of the cave.
Isaac Fried, Boston University