Lesson 2 | Text Hierarchy: Narrative
[1] Discourse Blocks
Before we talk about the structure of discourse blocks, we need to focus on what, exactly, discourse blocks are.
Combining Clauses
syn•tax noun
“how words combine to form clauses, sentences, and larger discourse structures”
—Duane A Garrett and Jason S DeRouchie, A Modern Grammar for Biblical Hebrew (B&H Academic, 2019), 275.
Throughout Hebrew I-III, you’ve learned a lot about how Hebrew clauses are formed: how finite verbs, participles, and infinitives work, as well as nouns and adjectives. That is a subset of syntax called microsyntax: how words and clauses are shaped.
In Hebrew IV, we will introduce you to macrosyntax: how discourses are shaped.
For clauses can be combined to form larger units. As individual bricks can be layered on top of each other to form a wall, so clauses can be combined to form what we call "discourse blocks."
Discerning Divisions
Now, how can you tell which clauses combine to form a discourse block? The biblical authors didn't use paragraph divisions, like you can see in a modern English Bible version. Nor did they use an outline where main points are introduced with Roman numerals, subpoints with capital letters, and so on.
But the biblical authors did signal when discourse blocks begin! Here’s how:
1. Discourse units usually begin with asyndeton.
"Asyndeton" means an absence of a conjunction. The beginning of a discourse block can be signalled by a sentence beginning without a ו or another conjunction.
Asyndeton can also signal that a previous clause or clauses are being described in some way. Context will show which function asyndeton is carrying out.
2. Discourse blocks are continued with chains of vavs.
A vav always connects a word, phrase, or clause to the word, phrase, or clause that precedes it. In other words, a series of vavs is a series of equal units connected to each other. Therefore, as Dr. DeRouchie points out, “[w]hen we see a וְ at the head of a clause, we must determine to what clause or larger text unit it is linked.”¹
Let’s look at Exodus 13:3–4, where we have an example of both functions of asyndeton, and vavs that connect clauses.
Verse 3 begins with a vav, thus connecting what Moses says with what came before in the discourse block.
And 3d begins with a vav. What is it connecting? Well, the qal infinitive absolute זָכ֞וֹר in 3b is functioning as a command, and then 13c supports it. Then 13d gives another command. Thus the vav is chaining these two commands together. This shows us that these are the first two main points of Moses’ speech. (He gives another command beginning in verse 15.)
We also see two instances of asyndeton. Note that 3b begins without a conjunction. That makes sense, since this is the beginning of a quotation, a new subunit of discourse within the larger discourse block.
Verse 4 also begins with asyndeton, but not because a new unit is beginning; after all, Moses is describing their exodus from Egypt, which he already mentioned in 3b. Rather, he is giving more information about what he just said, making explicit the month in which the Lord is bringing them out of slavery.
So, in summary:
"[A] discourse block typically [1] begins with a clause that does not start with a conjunction, [2] is carried on by a chain of a clauses, [3] but may include embedded units initiated by asyndetic clauses … that clarify or support the primary line of thought.”
—Garrett and DeRouchie, A Modern Grammar for Biblical Hebrew, 277.
