| 15. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with an interrogative using hatimlokh {הֲתִֽמְלֹךְ | ha-tiṁ-lōḵ} ‘will you reign’, challenging the addressee’s royal claim. The causal clause kī ʾattāh mĕtaḥăreh bāʾārez {כִּי אַתָּה מְתַחֲרֶה בָאָ֑רֶז | kî ʾat-tāh mə-ta-ḥă-reh bā-ʾā-rez} ‘because you are striving in cedar’ employs the Hithpael participle mĕtaḥăreh {מְתַחֲרֶה | mə-ta-ḥă-reh} ‘striving’ to imply self-exalting ambition, with bāʾārez {בָאָ֑רֶז | bā-ʾā-rez} symbolizing luxury cedar wood. The contrast between these self-focused efforts and his father’s conduct—hālōʾ ʾāḥal wə-šātāh wə-ʿāśāh mishpāṭ û-ṣə-ḏā-qāh {הֲל֧וֹא אָכַ֣ל וְשָׁתָ֗ה וְעָשָׂ֤ה מִשְׁפָּט֙ וּצְדָקָ֔ה | ha-lōʾ ʾā-ḥal wə-šā-tāh wə-ʿā-śāh miš-pāṭ û-ṣə-ḏā-qāh} ‘did he not eat and drink and do justice and righteousness’—reinforces the rhetorical contrast. The summary clause az ṭōḇ lō {אָ֖ז ט֥וֹב לֽוֹ | ʾāz ṭōḇ lō} ‘then it was well for him’ uses the adverb az {אָ֖ז | ʾāz} to signal positive outcome. Hebrew word order foregrounds the interrogative verb and sequences perfect verbs with waw to underscore the father’s exemplary actions. The translation preserves the challenge, causal relation, and parallelism. |