My Favorite Biblical Hebrew Imperative

I've decided that I need to practice writing more casually. I was reminded of my favorite biblical Hebrew imperative word, since it shows up in פרשת וירא. 

Most of the language of the Hebrew Bible is written in some kind of formal register. Often you can tell the difference between the style narratives, such as the events of plagues in וארא and בא, and the style of legal codes, such as in משפטים. 

In many of the stories in בראשית, the narration of stories is in one register, but the dialogue of the charaters is in poetic verse. The story of גן עדן in the second chapter of בראשית is the perfect example of this. Most biblical stories do not write the dialogue of the characters in poetic verse. Sometimes it seems that the dialogue is written in a jargon register. The narrative tries to highlight that the characters are speaking and that they speak differently than how the narrator speaks in the story. 

This is where my favorite imeprative comes into play. The imperative form in bilblical Hebrew is almost always used in dialogue. When a character uses the imperative, it signifies that they are speaking differently from the narrator.  My favorite imperative is גש, גשה or גשי. These are used as commands for someone to move somewhere. They aren't moving very far. If you want to tell someone to move a few steps to the left, it seems like you would use גש. Whereas if you wanted to tell someone to go to a different location, you would say בא. The word גש appears in its imperfect form, when used by the narrator. There are plenty of examples of ויגש, in context they usually refer to someone approaching something. 

Many of the imperative phrases that us גש are very short and quick to say. I suspect that brevity is a signifier of more colloquial speech, or at the very least, the language of commands. 

In וירא, we have (Genesis 19:9):

וַיֹּאמְרוּ גֶּשׁ־הָלְאָה וַיֹּאמְרוּ הָאֶחָד בָּא־לָגוּר וַיִּשְׁפֹּט שָׁפוֹט עַתָּה נָרַע לְךָ מֵהֶם וַיִּפְצְרוּ בָאִישׁ בְּלוֹט מְאֹד וַיִּגְּשׁוּ לִשְׁבֹּר הַדָּלֶת׃

The word גש means to move a little bit and הלאה means the direction away from here. The phrase really rolls off of the tongue. It is a very short phrase, גש הלאה. It feels like something that you could shout, its a command for someone to back off. The mob is commanding Lot to back away from the door to his house to let them in. 

Another example of גש as a quick command word appears in II Samuel 1:15.

וַיִּקְרָא דָוִד לְאַחַד מֵהַנְּעָרִים וַיֹּאמֶר גַּשׁ פְּגַע־בּוֹ וַיַּכֵּהוּ וַיָּמֹת׃

Here, David is commanding one of his servants to execute the Amalekite man who claimed to have killed Saul. The language he uses to command the execution includes the word גש, since the servant is only traveling within David's vacinity to where the Amalekite man. The the instruction for the kill is פגע בו, which is the imperative, strike him. The command is phrase itself is very short. It's only three syllables (I don't count the שוא as a syllable), just like גש הלאה from before. It's a quick and deadly command. 

The last example of this kind of brief command language comes from Ruth 2:14:

וַיֹּאמֶר לָה בֹעַז לְעֵת הָאֹכֶל גֹּשִׁי הֲלֹם וְאָכַלְתְּ מִן־הַלֶּחֶם וְטָבַלְתְּ פִּתֵּךְ בַּחֹמֶץ וַתֵּשֶׁב מִצַּד הַקּוֹצְרִים וַיִּצְבָּט־לָהּ קָלִי וַתֹּאכַל וַתִּשְׂבַּע וַתֹּתַר׃

In the context, Boaz is being kind to Ruth and he invites her to join the fieldworkers for their meal. It is a very different context from the story of Lot, where the violent mob is yelling at him, or for David when he commands someone's summary execution. The exact language of a command can be mirrored between stressful and calm contexts. Boaz says גושי הלום, (which is also three sylables) which means come here, it's the opposite command of גש הלאה. 

There are other imperative forms of גש that show up in more poetic contexts. In the blessing story of Isaac, Jacob, and Esau, Isaac speaks in a poetic register. Twice he uses the words גשה נא and once הגישה נא when he asks his sons to approach him. 

There is a rather emotionally charged example of גשה used in one of Isaiah (two electric boogaloo)'s prophecies (49:14-21):

וַתֹּאמֶר צִיּוֹן עֲזָבַנִי יְהוָה וַאדֹנָי שְׁכֵחָנִי׃ הֲתִשְׁכַּח אִשָּׁה עוּלָהּ מֵרַחֵם בֶּן־בִּטְנָהּ גַּם־אֵלֶּה תִשְׁכַּחְנָה וְאָנֹכִי לֹא אֶשְׁכָּחֵךְ׃ הֵן עַל־כַּפַּיִם חַקֹּתִיךְ חוֹמֹתַיִךְ נֶגְדִּי תָּמִיד׃ מִהֲרוּ בָּנָיִךְ מְהָרְסַיִךְ וּמַחֲרִבַיִךְ מִמֵּךְ יֵצֵאוּ׃ שְׂאִי־סָבִיב עֵינַיִךְ וּרְאִי כֻּלָּם נִקְבְּצוּ בָאוּ־לָךְ חַי־אָנִי נְאֻם־יְהוָה כִּי כֻלָּם כָּעֲדִי תִלְבָּשִׁי וּתְקַשְּׁרִים כַּכַּלָּה׃ כִּי חָרְבֹתַיִךְ וְשֹׁמְמֹתַיִךְ וְאֶרֶץ הֲרִסֻתֵיךְ כִּי עַתָּה תֵּצְרִי מִיּוֹשֵׁב וְרָחֲקוּ מְבַלְּעָיִךְ׃ עוֹד יֹאמְרוּ בְאָזְנַיִךְ בְּנֵי שִׁכֻּלָיִךְ צַר־לִי הַמָּקוֹם גְּשָׁה־לִּי וְאֵשֵׁבָה׃ וְאָמַרְתְּ בִּלְבָבֵךְ מִי יָלַד־לִי אֶת־אֵלֶּה וַאֲנִי שְׁכוּלָה וְגַלְמוּדָה גֹּלָה וְסוּרָה וְאֵלֶּה מִי גִדֵּל הֵן אֲנִי נִשְׁאַרְתִּי לְבַדִּי אֵלֶּה אֵיפֹה הֵם׃

This passage describes how Zion has lost all her children, and how she will feel when God brings her children back home. The section makes use of a great Hebrew word for which there really isn't an exact equivalent in modern English. We have words for people who are have lost loved ones and are forever grieving. A widow or widower is someone who's spouse has died. Biblical Hebrew has such a word for a woman whose children have all died. She expects to grieve for her lost children for the rest of her life. Zion is described as such a woman in this passage. 

In order to illustrate the overwhelming return of the children Zion thought were dead, Isaiah (two electric boogaloo) describes a tiny snapshot of what a room suddenly filled with children would sound like. "There isn't room for me move over so I can sit."