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THE QUESTION FOCUS RULE |
EXAMPLE 25: Gn16-13b Also HERE I see God?
EXAMPLE 26: gN18-25d Will the Supreme Judge do INJUSTICE?
EXAMPLE 27: Gn29-15a Should a relative work for NOTHING?
A TEXT STUDY
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Consider a simple question such as
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Did you ride to the store to get milk?
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A NEW CONCEPT--QUESTION FOCUS
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We can formulate a new concept: The concept of QUESTION FOCUS.
The above question has 3 possible focuses
- FOCUS ON RIDE: Did you RIDE or WALK to the store?
- FOCUS ON STORE: Did you ride to the STORE or your FRIEND?
- FOCUS ON MILK: Did you go to get MILK or SODA?
NOTATION
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We can indicate the question focus by CAPPING the focus word.
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e.g. Did you RIDE to the store to get milk
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This assumes you usually WALK to the store and this time you
RODE--hence the question: Did you RIDE (vs Walk)?
THE RASHI RULE OF QUESTION-FOCUS
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In (Biblical) Hebrew the question focus is always on the
first word of the sentence except in very rare cases.
EXAMPLE
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Gn03-11 was it FROM THE TREE that I forbade that you ate?
This was Gods question to Adam after he violated the paradise
order not to eat from the tree of knowledge. We see that the
focus of the question is not whether Adam ate but whether
he ate from THAT TREE--THE ONE THAT WAS PROHIBITED. (It was
ok to eat from other trees).
THE LIST
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The preceding paragraph explains the first row in the LIST
below. As the footnote points out the Rashi rule of QUESTION
FOCUS has been complied with. In this list we have several
examples where the Rashi rule of QUESTION FOCUS was violated
Hence Rashi had to comment and explain.
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| VERSE |
TEXT OF VERSE(QUESTION FOCUS CAPPED) |
POINT OF QUESTION |
| Gn03-11 |
Did you eat FROM THE TREE I FORBADE? |
Eat other trees*1 |
| Nu32-06 |
Will your BROTHERS go to war? |
You must fight*1 |
| Gn16-13b |
Also HERE I see God?*1 |
Saw God in house*2 |
| Gn18-25d |
Will the Supreme Judge do INJUSTICE? |
God does Justice*3 |
| Gn29-15a |
Youre a relative & work for NOTHING? |
Pay relatives*4 |
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COMMENTS |
*1 These verses follow the QUESTION-FOCUS rule: The query
focus is on the first Hebrew word of the question.
*2 Recall Hagar had been Abrahams maid in Abrahams house
Hagar had a fight with Abrahams wife and fled to
the wilderness.
Hagar asks ALSO HERE I FIND GOD. This sounds as if she
had seen God elsewhere (Though we dont find a written
record). Rashi brilliantly confirms that she was use
to seeing God in Abrahams house. He confirms this by
pointing out that she showed no sign of fright from
seeing 3 Angels (while by Contrast Manoach who saw an
Angel once thought he would die (e.g. Jud13 or Jud13-22)
*3 These last sentences violate the QUESTION-FOCUS rule e.g.
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Will the Supreme Judge do injustice
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If this followed the QUESTION-FOCUS rule it would mean
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Let SOMEONE else do the injustice
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Abrahams focus was not why SOMEONE ELSE wasnt doing
the injustice!? Rather Abrahams focus was that God
should be doing JUSTICE.
*4 Labans focus was not whether Jacob was a RELATIVE but
rather Jacob should get PAYED.
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