| 1. Linguistic Exegesis The introductory narrative marker vayehi {וַיְהִ֣י | wayyihî} ‘and it was’ signals an allotment scene. The phrase ha-gōrāl lə-mattêh bə-nê Yəhûdāh lə-mišpə-ḥōṯām {הַגּוֹרָל לְמַטֵּה בְּנֵי יְהוּדָה לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם | ha-gōrāl lə-mattêh bə-nê Yəhûdāh lə-mišpə-ḥōṯām} functions as the subject, ‘the lot for the tribe of the sons of Judah according to their families’. The sequence of locatives ʾel-gewûl ʾĕḏōm mid·bār·ṣîn neḡ·bā(h) mik·ṣēh Têymān {אֶל־גְּב֨וּל אֱד֧וֹם מִדְבַּר־צִ֛ן נֶ֖גְבָּה מִקְצֵ֥ה תֵימָֽן | ʾel-gewûl ʾĕḏōm mid·bār·ṣîn neḡ·bā(h) mik·ṣēh Têymān} maps boundary, terrain, direction, and extremity: negebah {נֶגְבָּה | neḡ·bā(h)} ‘southward’, miktsêh {מִקְצֵה | mik·ṣēh} ‘extremity’, and Têymān {תֵימָן | Têymān} ‘farthest south’, preserving Hebrew spatial logic. |