Page 135 - Coincidences in the Bible and in Biblical Hebrew

COINCIDENCES IN THE BIBLE AND IN BIBLICAL HEBREW
114
114 COINCIDENCES IN THE BIBLE AND IN BIBLICAL HEBREW
the question is “Where?” When the time dimension is involved, the question is
“When?”
The Hebrew language, strangely enough, unites time and space by using a
single word to ask both questions.
18
19
The Hebrew words anah or an both probably originate in the root A.I.N.
For example, “Me-ain?” means “Where from?” and “Le-ain?” (though not biblical)
18
19
18
means, like anah or an, “Where to?” Note that anah may be interchangeably
19
written also le-an (to an), since the L (le) attached to a word as a prefi x can be
added at the end of the word in the form of a suffix -ah. Thus, one may say that

he or she is traveling “le-Yerushalayim” (to Jerusalem) or, simply, Yerushalaimah.
19
However, le an is not biblical.
19
18
The word an , or anah , appears in the Bible, in its various forms, forty-two
times. Yet it is used interchangeably to show direction, or bounds, for dimensions
that are either geometrical (space) or time-related. Indeed, anyone reading biblical
text may feel confused by this concept of mixing together time and space (confu-
18
sion pre-Einstein, that is). A unique feature of anah, when it relates to time, is
20
21
that it always appears as “until when” (ad anah or ad an). But it still relates to
“when.”
Examples (“where to” and “until when” are author’s translations):
20
• “And the Lord said to Moses , Until when [ad-anah ] will you refuse to
keep my commandments and my laws?” (Exod. 16:28).
20
• “And the Lord said to Moses , Until when [ad-anah ] will this people
20
provoke me? And until when [ad-anah ] will they not believe in me, for
all the signs that I have performed among them?” (Num., 14:11).
18
• “and the old man said, Where to [anah ] do thou go, and where have
thou come from?” (Judges 19:17).
20
• “To the chief musician, a Psalm of David. Until when [ad-anah ] wilt
20
thou forget me O Lord? forever? Until when [ad-anah ] wilt thou hide
thy face from me?” (Psal. 13:1–2).
18
• “Where to [anah ] is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women?
18
Where to [anah ] has thy beloved turned aside? That we may seek him
with thee” (Song of Songs 6:1).
• “And the king sent and called for Shim’i, and said to him, Did I not
make thee to swear by the Lord, and did I not forewarn thee, saying,
Know for certain, on the day thou goest out, and walkest abroad any-
22
where [anah ve-anah, like “to and fro”], that thou shalt surely die?” (1
Kings 2:42).