Scholar Spells Out New Meanings in Bible Grammar

New evidence about the grammar of ancient Hebrew could require retranslation of some major storytelling verses in the Bible, according to a scholar at the University of Judaism.

Among other implications, the research suggests that the biblical narrative of Adam and Eve may need to be reinterpreted in one important respect: Cain may have been born before the couple was expelled from the Garden of Eden.

Ziony Zevit, professor of biblical literature and northwest Semitic languages at the university, which is located in the Sepulveda Pass, has challenged a century-old scholarly tenet that declares that ancient Hebrew grammar lacked a way to say someone “had done” something.

Modern scholars have taught since the last century that early Bible writers lacked a verb tense that would allow them to say: “He did this, then he did that, but she had done some other thing earlier.”

Some earlier rabbinical opinions on the subject were divided, but the standard modern scholarly understanding is that Hebrew did not develop a full range of past tenses until centuries after the biblical narratives were written.

But “no other known language in the world lacks that ability,” Zevit said, and so he began digging into the issue.

The scholar’s argument hinges on a recurring exception in biblical-era Hebrew. Normally, the Hebrew verb comes before the doer of the action--as in the frequent phrase, “said Moses to the children of Israel.”

In some cases, however, the subject precedes the verb--as is normal in English. Zevit concluded that those cases indicate the author is referring to a prior past action.

All instances of this kind of subject-verb reversal in the Hebrew Bible occurred when use of the past perfect made sense for storytelling purposes, Zevit argues.

“[I] became convinced that my new explanation was correct when I found additional examples in inscriptions written in two languages related to ancient Hebrew--Moabite and Phoenician,” he said.

Finally, “the clincher came in 1993 and 1995 when two fragments of Aramaic inscriptions found in northern Israel contained a number of perfectly clear examples of what I was claiming existed in biblical Hebrew.” Aramaic is also related to ancient Hebrew.

His book, “The Anterior Construction in Classical Hebrew,” has drawn praise from some biblical colleagues who were sent advance copies. Avi Hurwitz of Hebrew University in Jerusalem called it “indispensable not only for strictly linguistic purposes but for biblical interpretations as well.”

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Others have expressed doubts. W. Randall Garr of UC Santa Barbara said he is “skeptical but intrigued,” although he noted that he has not yet read Zevit’s book.

Similarly, Joel Hunt, a newly arrived specialist in ancient Near East studies at Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, who has not read the book, said he doubted the thesis.

Hunt said he has felt the shift of subject before the verb in biblical Hebrew “was a way of marking a shift in the narrative,” with the storyteller putting someone out of order to highlight the start of new material.

Zevit believes that he has found more than 100 examples of prior-action verses in the Hebrew Bible.

The most dramatic example may be in the Eden story in Genesis, Zevit said.

The usual reading of the verses in question (3:23-4:2) suggests that everything happened in chronological order. God expels Adam and Eve from the garden and posts angels as guards. The very next verse, using a euphemism for sexual intercourse, says: “Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain.”

But Zevit said the sentence should be understood as: “But the man had known Eve, his woman, and she had conceived and birthed Cain.”

The Bible text then switches to its usual chronological, or sequential, way of narrating, saying next that Abel was born to Eve, presumably after the family was kicked out of Eden.

“It is clear that Adam and Eve came together and bore Cain prior to indulging in the forbidden fruit and before they were expelled from the garden,” Zevit said.

UC San Diego’s William Propp said that he sides with Zevit on his grammatical solutions, adding that it was “very likely” that the biblical author meant to say Adam had sex with Eve before the expulsion.

But Propp added that he was not convinced that the text means to say Cain was born in Eden. Nor is he sure that Zevit has solved a problem of interpretation in succeeding verses leading up to Cain’s murder of his brother Abel.

The text says that Abel became a sheepherder and Cain a farmer. Then, Genesis 4:3 says Cain brought produce from his land as an offering to God and “Abel for his part brought the firstlings of his flock, their fat portions.”

God was pleased with Abel’s offering but not with Cain’s--but biblical interpreters have been puzzled because the story gives no reason for God’s displeasure.

Zevit argues that the author’s use of the past perfect tense in Genesis 4:3 provides a possible reason. He said the verse should be interpreted as, “Cain brought from the fruit of the land a gift for God but Abel had brought from the first born of his sheep”--suggesting that Abel brought his gift first.

“Cain was copying his brother, and the implication is that, as the older brother, Cain should have done it first,” Zevit said.

Zevit said the past perfect tense also occurs in stories of Sarah, Jacob and Moses, among other biblical figures. The narrator of the Book of Exodus uses the device at 14:29 and 15:19 to make clear the sequence of the Israelites having crossed the Red Sea before the wall of water came crashing down on pursuing Egyptians, Zevit said.