Critical Reviews • Biblical Hebrew 65

A Biblical Hebrew Reference Grammar

Van der Merwe, Christo H. J., Jacobus A. Naudé, and Jan H. Kroeze. A Biblical Hebrew Reference Grammar. Second Edition. London: Bloomsbury T & T Clark, 2017. pp. xxxiv, 605. $47.95. Paperback. ISBN: 9780567663337

The first edition of van der Merwe, Naudé, and Kroeze’s A Biblical Hebrew Reference Grammar (Sheffield Academic Press, 1999) was a great tool for the intermediate student of Biblical Hebrew. This edition continues offering an easy reference for Hebrew grammar and syntax. The focus of the grammar is the Masoretic Text of the Bible to the exclusion of Hebrew inscriptions, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and later Hebrew texts. There are also occasional references to historical reconstructions, but they are never treated systematically in the grammar. The biggest difference between this second edition and the first is more inclusion of modern linguistic categories. Traditional categories are still kept, but when these traditional terms lead to confusion, modern linguistic ones are chosen (xxxii). The authors strive, however, to present “a solution-oriented source of grammatical information to users which is as theory neutral as possible” (xxxi).

This book stands out for its interaction with and incorporation of cutting-edge linguistics. One standout way that this is presented in the grammar is in Chapter 3, “Key Terms and Concepts,” where the authors lay out their methodology and an overview of what grammar is. This chapter is helpful, particularly for the intermediate student, as it helps the reader think about how to put the pieces of beginning Hebrew grammar together to paint a broader picture of the language. Another obvious place to see the pronounced influence of modern linguistics on the grammar is in the detailed and clear glossary in the back of the book. In the content of the grammar, linguistics has also shaped the way that the syntax of the verb has been presented. The analysis of verbal conjugations, verb chains and sequences, and finite and non-finite verbs have all been clarified with categories from modern syntax. Specifically, the section on the verbal conjugations and how tense and aspect are encoded in Hebrew grammar is one of the clearest sections on verbal conjugations I have encountered. The section balances clarity of explanation without the oversimplification that is often found in many Hebrew grammars written for beginning students.

Further application of modern linguistics to Hebrew grammar is found in the way the authors present spatial prepositions. On the one hand, the authors do not present a systematic presentation of the linguistic terminology of “Trajector” (the clause being modified) and “Landmark” (the object of the preposition). On the other hand, they have the terminology well defined in the glossary, and after reading the different descriptions of how those terms apply to different prepositions, the meaning is clear. The grammar would benefit, though, from a more systematic explanation of the spatial terminology used in description of these pronouns. Also, it should be pointed out that it is only the spatial uses of the prepositions that have linguistic descriptions; the non-spatial prepositions are treated in a manner commonly found in more traditional grammars.

One other section of note is the consideration of Hebrew word order. This is another place where the grammar illustrates the usefulness of modern linguistics in providing clear explanations and clear distinctions that help further scholars’ understanding of Hebrew grammar. The basic distinction between “marked” and “unmarked” is foundational for all discussion of word order. For Van der Merwe, et al., a marked construction is anything that precedes the verb. Though the authors are not the first to make this distinction, they helpfully apply it to explain these syntactical constructions to the intermediate student.