Exodus 2 - Strange Occurrences

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Jason Hare
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Exodus 2 - Strange Occurrences

Post by Jason Hare »

Have you read the second chapter of the Exodus? There are a lot of textual issues in that little chapter (of 25 verses).

The first odd thing is the fact that the names of the characters are lacking from 2:1 and don't appear in the text until 6:20.

2:1 — וַיֵּ֥לֶךְ‬ אִ֖ישׁ מִבֵּ֣ית לֵוִ֑י וַיִּקַּ֖ח ‬אֶת‬־בַּת‬־לֵוִֽי׃

6:20 — וַיִּקַּ֨ח עַמְרָ֜ם אֶת־יֹוכֶ֤בֶד דֹּֽדָתֹו֙ לֹ֣ו לְאִשָּׁ֔ה וַתֵּ֣לֶד לֹ֔ו אֶֽת־אַהֲרֹ֖ן וְאֶת־מֹשֶׁ֑ה‬ וּשְׁנֵי֙ חַיֵּ֣י עַמְרָ֔ם שֶׁ֧בַע‬ וּשְׁלֹשִׁ֛ים וּמְאַ֖ת שָׁנָֽה׃

Why wouldn't the names of the characters be introduced as soon as the story begins as part of the background information? What could the motivation be for delaying to inform the reader of the names of the parents of Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. (By the way, both the Samaritan Pentateuch and the Septuagint add Miriam to 6:20, while the Masoretic Text doesn't include her.) Along these lines, it's also odd that Yocheved is called simply בַּת־לֵוִי "the daughter of Levi," as if she were his direct daughter and his only one. Levi was some 350 years before her birth, so we are given to understand this as "a descendent of Levi," but it's written as if it were definite: "the daughter of Levi."

Also, the Septuagint changes דּוֹדָתוֹ "his aunt" to θυγατέρα τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ "his father's brother's daughter" (his cousin).

The whole "she saw him that he was good" in verse 2 brings to mind the creation of the world, where God "saw that it was good" on several occasions.

I'm not sure why we see הַצְּפִינוֹ instead of הַצְפִּינוֹ in verse 3. It's as if the dagesh has simply been placed in the wrong letter!

In verse 4, וַתֵּתַצַּב has apparently been written instead of וַתִּתְיַצַּב.

Verse 5 ends without a sof pasuk in the Leningrad Codex. Odd.

Verse 6 is all kinds of weird. It literally says: "and she opened, and she saw him the boy, and behold a youth crying." Normally, if there is also an explicit object, then אֵת is read as "with." So, "she saw him with the boy." That doesn't make sense, either. And why did the baby suddenly become a youth (נַ֫עַר)?

This is just the beginning of the odd features of Exodus chapter 2. I've never really taken note of its strangeness in the past, just reading through it quickly.

Any comments?
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Re: Exodus 2 - Strange Occurrences

Post by Jason Hare »

I turned this into a blog post, if anyone's interested.
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Re: Exodus 2 - Strange Occurrences

Post by S_Walch »

Even the LXX seems to have seen 2:6 as a bit odd, as instead of וַתִּפְתַּח֙ וַתִּרְאֵ֣הוּ אֶת־הַיֶּ֔לֶד וְהִנֵּה־נַ֖עַר בֹּכֶ֑ה, it has:

ἀνοίξασα δὲ ὁρᾷ παιδίον κλαῖον ἐν τῇ θίβει.
[and opening [​it​], she sees a little child crying in the ark {Jason}]

The LXX also makes clear as to who had compassion on him:

καὶ ἐφείσατο αὐτοῦ ἡ θυγάτηρ Φαραώ
[and the daughter of Pharaoh had compassion on him {Jason}]

To this I should also point out that among the DSS, 4QExodb (4Q13) also includes "the daughter of Pharaoh":

[ותפתח] ותראה את הילד וה[נה] נער [בוכה ותחמו]ל עליו בת פרעה [ותואמר מילדי העברים] זה

See image of this here, right-column on the 5th line down, right at the end.

So probably either the LXX and 4QExod demonstrate a slightly different Hebrew text-type compared to the Masoretic, or both have sought to make the subject of the verb much clearer.
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Re: Exodus 2 - Strange Occurrences

Post by ducky »

Hi,
Jason Hare wrote: Wed Nov 11, 2020 11:06 pm The first odd thing is the fact that the names of the characters are lacking from 2:1 and don't appear in the text until 6:20.

2:1 — וַיֵּ֥לֶךְ‬ אִ֖ישׁ מִבֵּ֣ית לֵוִ֑י וַיִּקַּ֖ח ‬אֶת‬־בַּת‬־לֵוִֽי׃

6:20 — וַיִּקַּ֨ח עַמְרָ֜ם אֶת־יֹוכֶ֤בֶד דֹּֽדָתֹו֙ לֹ֣ו לְאִשָּׁ֔ה וַתֵּ֣לֶד לֹ֔ו אֶֽת־אַהֲרֹ֖ן וְאֶת־מֹשֶׁ֑ה‬ וּשְׁנֵי֙ חַיֵּ֣י עַמְרָ֔ם שֶׁ֧בַע‬ וּשְׁלֹשִׁ֛ים וּמְאַ֖ת שָׁנָֽה׃

Why wouldn't the names of the characters be introduced as soon as the story begins as part of the background information? What could the motivation be for delaying to inform the reader of the names of the parents of Moses, Aaron, and Miriam?
This part of the story is told without details at all. As if the reader comes from a completely zero knowledge.
Not only that the mother and sister are not called by their names (and also the daughter of Pharao)...
Also Moses is not called by his name ("Moses" is not his given name by his parents).

The reader reads this part as if he was a stranger looking at the events.
And he sees a kid who's born, and then he's put in an ark, and then his sister looks, and then Pharaoh's daughter takes him and gives him a name, which we "hear" in our own ears, and therefore, this name is written.

So we are coming to this story as strangers that observe from the side and we don't know anything except the details that the events alone tell us.
Jason Hare wrote: Wed Nov 11, 2020 11:06 pm (By the way, both the Samaritan Pentateuch and the Septuagint add Miriam to 6:20, while the Masoretic Text doesn't include her.)
This record is about the heads of the houses, and women are not included.
I think that the Samaritan and Septuagint just add her name as a copy of Numbers 26:59:
ותלד לעמרם את אהרן ואת משה ואת מרים אחתם
Jason Hare wrote: Wed Nov 11, 2020 11:06 pm Along these lines, it's also odd that Yocheved is called simply בַּת־לֵוִי "the daughter of Levi," as if she were his direct daughter and his only one. Levi was some 350 years before her birth, so we are given to understand this as "a descendent of Levi," but it's written as if it were definite: "the daughter of Levi."

Also, the Septuagint changes דּוֹדָתוֹ "his aunt" to θυγατέρα τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ "his father's brother's daughter" (his cousin).
I guess it seemed a little bit "not worthy" because the law says that it is not allowed for a person to marry his aunt, and so they changed it to a cousin.
(But The law is from the Torah that was given after this event).

Anyway, in Numbers 26:59 comfirms that she was Levi's daughter:
וְשֵׁם אֵשֶׁת עַמְרָם יוֹכֶבֶד בַּת לֵוִי אֲשֶׁר יָלְדָה אֹתָהּ לְלֵוִי בְּמִצְרָיִם וַתֵּלֶד לְעַמְרָם אֶת אַהֲרֹן וְאֶת מֹשֶׁה וְאֵת מִרְיָם אֲחֹתָם
Jason Hare wrote: Wed Nov 11, 2020 11:06 pm The whole "she saw him that he was good" in verse 2 brings to mind the creation of the world, where God "saw that it was good" on several occasions.
Therefore, one of the things that the Midrash says is that when he was born, the house was filled with light (because the כי טוב brings a reference of:
וירא אלהים את האור כי טוב).

Also, as we said before, Moses is not his real given name. The Midrash counts him seven names. And one of the names is טוב/טוביה).
Jason Hare wrote: Wed Nov 11, 2020 11:06 pm I'm not sure why we see הַצְּפִינוֹ instead of הַצְפִּינוֹ in verse 3. It's as if the dagesh has simply been placed in the wrong letter!
In emphatic letters that come with Sheva, sometimes they come with Dagesh. I guess it is to make sure that the letter would be pronounced correctly.
It comes in עצבון for example (ארבה עצבונך) and also in עקבי-סוס and also in the word מקדש (in 15:17).
Jason Hare wrote: Wed Nov 11, 2020 11:06 pm In verse 4, וַתֵּתַצַּב has apparently been written instead of וַתִּתְיַצַּב.
This is an Hiphil conjugation, from its T form.
it is a rare case of an archaic form
hitaph'al/hitaph'el
so in this case the root is יצב and its Hiphil form would be איצב (with Aleph in this case).
and it was תִּתְאַיְצַב>תֵּתַצַּב
Jason Hare wrote: Wed Nov 11, 2020 11:06 pm Verse 5 ends without a sof pasuk in the Leningrad Codex. Odd.
According to what I see, there is Sof Pasuq there.

You are probably talking about the two dots :
These dots are not a cantillation mark.
The Sof Pasuq is the little line under the letter ח in תקחה.

But indeed this Codex uses also the two dots next to the Sof-Pasuq, and for some reason, as you said, they are missing there. (but it doesn't mean that the verse doesn't end).
Jason Hare wrote: Wed Nov 11, 2020 11:06 pm Verse 6 is all kinds of weird. It literally says: "and she opened, and she saw him the boy, and behold a youth crying."
Sometimes, after the objective pronoun, comes the specific object.
other examples are 'יביאה את תרומת ה in 35:5
or similar cases of doubled object
like בבואו האיש In Ezekiel 10:3
or והוא צוה לי אחי in 1Samuel 20:29
or אשר לא יעבדו אותו את נבוכדנצר in Jer. 27:8
and so on...
Jason Hare wrote: Wed Nov 11, 2020 11:06 pm Normally, if there is also an explicit object, then אֵת is read as "with." So, "she saw him with the boy."
That is why the Midrash says that she saw the Shechina with him. (as reading the את as "with").
Jason Hare wrote: Wed Nov 11, 2020 11:06 pm And why did the baby suddenly become a youth (נַ֫עַר)?
The word נער is used also for a baby born and a boy and a lad.

for example:
Judges 13:8 מה נעשה לנער היולד
2Sam 12:16 ויבקש דוד את האלהים בעד הנער
Both cases of talking about a baby.

Also in the second example in 2Sam, the boy is first called ילד and then נער - just like here (in Exodus).
It could be a style to put the נער next to another word like ילד or בן (in Judges) to vary the text.
Jason Hare wrote: Wed Nov 11, 2020 11:06 pm This is just the beginning of the odd features of Exodus chapter 2. I've never really taken note of its strangeness in the past, just reading through it quickly.
There are also לדעה vs. the common לדעת
and also היליכי as הוליכי.
S_Walch wrote: Thu Nov 12, 2020 9:51 am Even the LXX seems to have seen 2:6 as a bit odd, as instead of וַתִּפְתַּח֙ וַתִּרְאֵ֣הוּ אֶת־הַיֶּ֔לֶד וְהִנֵּה־נַ֖עַר בֹּכֶ֑ה, it has:
ἀνοίξασα δὲ ὁρᾷ παιδίον κλαῖον ἐν τῇ θίβει.

The LXX also makes clear as to who had compassion for him:
καὶ ἐφείσατο αὐτοῦ ἡ θυγάτηρ Φαραώ

To this I should also point out that among the DSS, 4QExodb (4Q13) also includes "the daughter of Pharaoh":
[ותפתח] ותראה את הילד וה[נה] נער [בוכה ותחמו]ל עליו בת פרעה [ותואמר מילדי העברים] זה

So probably either the LXX and 4QExod demonstrate a slightly different Hebrew text-type compared to the Masoretic, or both have sought to make the subject of the verb much clearer.
I think that it is about making it clearer.
Making sure that the reader will understand that it was the daughter of Pharao that felt the compassion (and that it doesn't talk about the maid).

and as for the other verse of ותראהו - they just translate the verse's meaning and not accurate literally.
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Re: Exodus 2 - Strange Occurrences

Post by ducky »

Another thing to add...

When it is said ותראהו את הילד...
One can say that the Suffix letter ו=w of ותראהו doesn't fit and so it should be fixed to ותראה את הילד - As it is seen in DSS.

But that would be wrong too, Because if the verb really came without a pronoun suffix, then the form would not be ותראה...
It would be ותרא (without the last letter H).

So the form of ותראהו actually had two letters more than the ותרא - and so we cannot say that it is some sort of "typo" of one letter.
Because the H supports the W, and the W supports the H - making the ותראהו the right word in this place.

And DSS, IMO, just dropped the suffix W to cancel one of the two object-references - and left it ותראה - a not expected form to use, and by that giving another support that the form that they saw was as MT's one.
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Re: Exodus 2 - Strange Occurrences

Post by S_Walch »

I disagree that just ־ה is wrong or incorrect, as it can quite easily refer to the reed basket from v5:

וַתֵּ֤רֶא אֶת־הַתֵּבָה בְּת֣וֹךְ הַסּ֔וּף

If this is continued with the DSS Hebrew:

[ותפתח] ותראה את הילד וה[נה] נער [בוכה ותחמו]ל עליו בת פרעה [ותואמר מילדי העברים] זה

Here we have ... and she saw the reed basket in the midst of the rushes... And she opened it, and she saw it was with the child (= it contained the child), and behold, a baby crying. So the daughter of Pharaoh took pity upon him...

Would seem the LXX translator was interpreting it this way, and instead of the suffix ־ה it was fleshed out to say ἐν τῇ θίβει/in the basket to make the pronoun suffix explicit.

I wouldn't agree that the W supports the H.

Needless to saw, it does look like some sort of corruption has occurred here in the Hebrew text, with either the LXX translator fixing it so it was readable, or also just as likely there was a different Hebrew Vorlage used, to which 4QExodb is related.
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Re: Exodus 2 - Strange Occurrences

Post by Jason Hare »

ducky wrote: Thu Nov 12, 2020 7:22 pm Anyway, in Numbers 26:59 comfirms that she was Levi's daughter:
וְשֵׁם אֵשֶׁת עַמְרָם יוֹכֶבֶד בַּת לֵוִי אֲשֶׁר יָלְדָה אֹתָהּ לְלֵוִי בְּמִצְרָיִם וַתֵּלֶד לְעַמְרָם אֶת אַהֲרֹן וְאֶת מֹשֶׁה וְאֵת מִרְיָם אֲחֹתָם
Yes, I realize that. According to the Stone Chumash, Rashi claims that she was around 130 years old when she gave birth to Moses as the result of a miracle. I'm not personally interested in miracle claims, especially when no such claim is explicitly made in the text of the Torah itself. It seems to me that claiming that Yochéved is 130 years old here is like claiming that Rebekah was 2 years old when she was chosen as a wife for Isaac. That seems absurd according to what the text says about her, and I reject such claims.
ducky wrote: Thu Nov 12, 2020 7:22 pm Therefore, one of the things that the Midrash says is that when he was born, the house was filled with light (because the כי טוב brings a reference of:
וירא אלהים את האור כי טוב).

Also, as we said before, Moses is not his real given name. The Midrash counts him seven names. And one of the names is טוב/טוביה).
It would be awesome if we had a mention of his given name from birth. Is it possible that Yochéved was so frightened that he would not survive that she didn't herself give him a name? We don't have any indication of a name for him other than Moses (despite the "seven names" claim).
ducky wrote: Thu Nov 12, 2020 7:22 pm In emphatic letters that come with Sheva, sometimes they come with Dagesh. I guess it is to make sure that the letter would be pronounced correctly.
It comes in עצבון for example (ארבה עצבונך) and also in עקבי-סוס and also in the word מקדש (in 15:17).
I was reading "sheva" as שבע rather than as שווא! That took me a few minutes of thought to figure out what "emphatic letters that come with שבע" might possibly mean.

So, I see that you're quoting אַרְבֶּה עִצְּבוֹנֵךְ from Genesis 3:17, and that's a great example. I don't know what 15:17 means after מקדש, though. I'd like to see that example, but I don't know where to look it up. I checked both Genesis 15:17 (because your previous reference came from Genesis 3:17) and Exodus 15:17 (because it's our topic generally). I don't want to go book-by-book, so I don't know what instance of מקדש you might be talking about, though I would like to look it up.
ducky wrote: Thu Nov 12, 2020 7:22 pm
Jason Hare wrote: Wed Nov 11, 2020 11:06 pm In verse 4, וַתֵּתַצַּב has apparently been written instead of וַתִּתְיַצַּב.
This is an Hiphil conjugation, from its T form.
it is a rare case of an archaic form
hitaph'al/hitaph'el
so in this case the root is יצב and its Hiphil form would be איצב (with Aleph in this case).
and it was תִּתְאַיְצַב>תֵּתַצַּב
I've never heard of hiphil verbs having a T form. What does that mean? Do you mean imperfect second person? Or, do you mean to use T like we use G, N, D, Du, H/C, Hu/Cu, and tD for qal, niphal, piel, pual, hiphil, huphal, and hitpael? Do you mean to use T as a stem label? You're using non-standard nomenclature, and I don't really know what you're trying to say.

I've never heard of a התאפעל stem. You're saying that תִּתְאַיְצַב titʾay(ə)ṣaḇ reduced to תֵּתַצַּב. I don't see how the initial syllable would have become open if that were the case. There's too much change to be explained: how tit|ʾa- became tē|ta-; why the entire vocalic structure of the א syllable would be lost. Why wouldn't it remain as תִּתַּצַּב at the very least, to preserve the closed syllable even with the collapse? I don't see that this is really justifiable. It looks much more likely that the י was simply not written (accidentally).
ducky wrote: Thu Nov 12, 2020 7:22 pm According to what I see, there is Sof Pasuq there.

You are probably talking about the two dots :
These dots are not a cantillation mark.
The Sof Pasuq is the little line under the letter ח in תקחה.
This might be my own non-standard nomenclature. I've always called ׃ "sof pasuq" and ◌ֽ "silluq" (rather than "meteg") when paired with sof pasuq. Am I wrong in that? According to this Wikipedia entry, you're right, and ◌ֽ is called both "silluq" and "sof pasuq," and the two dots that end the verse are not part of the trope system at all. I'm a bit confused on who to believe. That's not how I learned trope (הטעמים).
ducky wrote: Thu Nov 12, 2020 7:22 pm But indeed this Codex uses also the two dots next to the Sof-Pasuq, and for some reason, as you said, they are missing there. (but it doesn't mean that the verse doesn't end).
Still, it's interesting. :)
ducky wrote: Thu Nov 12, 2020 7:22 pm Sometimes, after the objective pronoun, comes the specific object.
other examples are 'יביאה את תרומת ה in 35:5
or similar cases of doubled object
like בבואו האיש In Ezekiel 10:3
or והוא צוה לי אחי in 1Samuel 20:29
or אשר לא יעבדו אותו את נבוכדנצר in Jer. 27:8
and so on...
Fantastic!
ducky wrote: Thu Nov 12, 2020 7:22 pm The word נער is used also for a baby born and a boy and a lad.

for example:
Judges 13:8 מה נעשה לנער היולד
2Sam 12:16 ויבקש דוד את האלהים בעד הנער
Both cases of talking about a baby.

Also in the second example in 2Sam, the boy is first called ילד and then נער - just like here (in Exodus).
It could be a style to put the נער next to another word like ילד or בן (in Judges) to vary the text.
Also, fantastic.
ducky wrote: Thu Nov 12, 2020 7:22 pm There are also לדעה vs. the common לדעת
and also היליכי as הוליכי.
לְדֵעָה doesn't strike me as unusual to the same degree, since it calls to mind forms like לְיִרְאָה and לְאַהֲבָה that are used as if indistinguishable from an infinitive construct.

I did bring up הֵילִ֫יכִי in my blog post.

Thanks,
Jason
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Re: Exodus 2 - Strange Occurrences

Post by Jason Hare »

ducky wrote: Fri Nov 13, 2020 10:46 am And DSS, IMO, just dropped the suffix W to cancel one of the two object-references - and left it ותראה - a not expected form to use, and by that giving another support that the form that they saw was as MT's one.
An interesting approach. By writing ותראה in the DSS, which is a non-standard form (vav with imperfect [וְתִרְאֶה would expect an irreal context] rather than vav-consecutive [which is וַתֵּ֫רֶא]), we see that it was an attempt at correction by removing the vav, which means that the form that they were copying from most likely had the vav. Otherwise, they would have written the real form ותרא.

Brilliant!
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Jason Hare
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Re: Exodus 2 - Strange Occurrences

Post by Jason Hare »

S_Walch wrote: Thu Nov 12, 2020 9:51 am Even the LXX seems to have seen 2:6 as a bit odd, as instead of וַתִּפְתַּח֙ וַתִּרְאֵ֣הוּ אֶת־הַיֶּ֔לֶד וְהִנֵּה־נַ֖עַר בֹּכֶ֑ה, it has:

ἀνοίξασα δὲ ὁρᾷ παιδίον κλαῖον ἐν τῇ θίβει.

The LXX also makes clear as to who had compassion on him:

καὶ ἐφείσατο αὐτοῦ ἡ θυγάτηρ Φαραώ

To this I should also point out that among the DSS, 4QExodb (4Q13) also includes "the daughter of Pharaoh":

[ותפתח] ותראה את הילד וה[נה] נער [בוכה ותחמו]ל עליו בת פרעה [ותואמר מילדי העברים] זה

See image of this here, right-column on the 5th line down, right at the end.

So probably either the LXX and 4QExod demonstrate a slightly different Hebrew text-type compared to the Masoretic, or both have sought to make the subject of the verb much clearer.
The LXX reads stranger and stranger to me. It seems so odd to write what it does:

ἀνοίξασα δὲ ὁρᾷ παιδίον κλαῖον ἐν τῇ θίβει, καὶ ἐφείσατο αὐτοῦ ἡ θυγάτηρ Φαραω καὶ ἔφη Ἀπὸ τῶν παιδίων τῶν Εβραίων τοῦτο.
[and opening [​it], she sees a little child crying in the ark, and the daughter of Pharaoh takes pity on him and says, "This [child] is from the children of the Hebrews." {Jason}]

Why would ἡ θυγάτηρ Φαραω [the daughter of Pharaoh {Jason}] be delayed until the end of the second phrase? I can see that it's in the same position in the DSS, but I think that's an addition to the text (hence, its position). Perhaps the LXX was translating from a Hebrew text that had already included that addition, though.

It also feels really strange to have ἔφη in a position that is not post-positive. I've only just begun reading the LXX with any regularity, and its style is still jarring to me!
Jason Hare
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kwrandolph
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Re: Exodus 2 - Strange Occurrences

Post by kwrandolph »

Any comments? Well, a couple.
Jason Hare wrote: Wed Nov 11, 2020 11:06 pm Have you read the second chapter of the Exodus? There are a lot of textual issues in that little chapter (of 25 verses).

The first odd thing is the fact that the names of the characters are lacking from 2:1 and don't appear in the text until 6:20.

2:1 — וַיֵּ֥לֶךְ אִ֖ישׁ מִבֵּ֣ית לֵוִ֑י וַיִּקַּ֖ח אֶת־בַּת־לֵוִֽי׃

Why wouldn't the names of the characters be introduced as soon as the story begins as part of the background information?
Moses apparently thought the names were unimportant in this place in the narrative, especially since he named them later.
Jason Hare wrote: Wed Nov 11, 2020 11:06 pmAlong these lines, it's also odd that Yocheved is called simply בַּת־לֵוִי "the daughter of Levi," as if she were his direct daughter and his only one. Levi was some 350 years before her birth, so we are given to understand this as "a descendent of Levi," but it's written as if it were definite: "the daughter of Levi."
The word את is a direct object indicator, not a definite article.

Calling her “a daughter of Levi” is consistent with the practice of calling the people of Israel “sons of Israel” many generations after Israel died.
Jason Hare wrote: Wed Nov 11, 2020 11:06 pmI'm not sure why we see הַצְּפִינוֹ instead of הַצְפִּינוֹ in verse 3. It's as if the dagesh has simply been placed in the wrong letter!
I won’t argue about those crazy dots that are often wrong, even for meaning.
Jason Hare wrote: Wed Nov 11, 2020 11:06 pmIn verse 4, וַתֵּתַצַּב has apparently been written instead of וַתִּתְיַצַּב.
The verb is נצב not יצב.
Jason Hare wrote: Wed Nov 11, 2020 11:06 pmVerse 5 ends without a sof pasuk in the Leningrad Codex. Odd.
Verse 6 is a continuation of verse 5. Here’s an example where the versification doesn’t follow the text.
Jason Hare wrote: Wed Nov 11, 2020 11:06 pmVerse 6 is all kinds of weird. It literally says: "and she opened, and she saw him the boy, and behold a youth crying." Normally, if there is also an explicit object, then אֵת is read as "with." So, "she saw him with the boy." That doesn't make sense, either.
“and she opened and saw him, the boy, and behold a crying boy…”
Jason Hare wrote: Wed Nov 11, 2020 11:06 pmAnd why did the baby suddenly become a youth (נַ֫עַר)?
Because a boy, even as an infant, is already a “youth”.
Jason Hare wrote: Wed Nov 11, 2020 11:06 pmThis is just the beginning of the odd features of Exodus chapter 2. I've never really taken note of its strangeness in the past, just reading through it quickly.

Any comments?
Maybe it seems strange because of your expectations that you learned in class. But I learned that some of those expectations are wrong, that they don’t fit the observed patterns. Here in Exodus 2 we have an observed pattern.

Karl W. Randolph.
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