| 30. Linguistic Exegesis The narrative opens with the vav-consecutive verb vayya'alu {וַיַּעֲל֧וּ | wayyāʿălû} ‘and they went up’, establishing sequential action typical of Hebrew narrative. This is followed by the construct chain bnei-Yisrael {בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֛ל | bənê-yiśrāʾēl} ‘sons of Israel’ identifying the subject. The prepositional phrase el-bnei-Binyamin {אֶל־בְּנֵ֥י בִנְיָמִ֖ן | ʾel-bənê-bin-yāmin} ‘against the sons of Benjamin’ marks the opposing party. The temporal expression bayom hashelishi {בַּיּ֣וֹם הַשְּׁלִישִׁ֑י | ba-yôm ha-šəlîšî} ‘on the third day’ combines a preposition with an ordinal adjective to fix the time. The second vav-consecutive verb vayya'arkhu {וַיַּעַרְכ֥וּ | wayyāʿărəḵû} ‘and they arrayed themselves’ introduces the military maneuver, followed by the locative el-hagiv'ah {אֶל־הַגִּבְעָ֖ה | ʾel-ha-giv-ʿāh} ‘against Gibeah’. Finally, the idiom kefa'am bepa'am {כְּפַ֥עַם בְּפָֽעַם | kə-fa‘am bə-fa‘am} ‘as at other times’ employs a prefixed noun pattern to express habitual recurrence. These features underscore both the progression of the narrative and the regular pattern of conflict. |