Conjunction Junction What's Your Function? Nehemiah 7:4-7:5

What is up with the translation of Nehemiah 7:5 and its relation to the previous passage in Nehemiah and particularly Nehemiah 7:4? Many of the major translations (NASB, ESV, NKJV, HSCB, NRSV) render Nehemiah 7:5 as the next clause in a temporal sequence. Showing that this new thought follows in time after the previous events described. Translations do this by rendering the Hebrew conjunction waw as ‘then.’ A couple translations render the waw as ‘and’ (ASV, KJV) which still shows the temporal connectivity between Nehemiah 7:4 and 7:5, but to a lesser degree. It leaves the reader thinking this new thought in 7:5 is more in line with the previous thoughts than might be the case. Several translations leave any sort of conjunction out of their translation making the connection between these verses more ambiguous (NET, JPS), but maybe insinuating a direct connection between Nehemiah 7:4 and 7:5. Most interesting of all are the couple of translations that render the waw as ‘so’ (NLT, NIV). When rendered this way, Nehemiah’s actions in Nehemiah 7:5 are seen to be in reaction to Nehemiah 7:4. So what is the relationship between these verses?
It
is probably good here to introduce some of the inner workings of Hebrew
narrative. The way Hebrew narrative works is usually through the stringing
together of phrases and sections with the waw
conjunction. Think of the waw as
generally being equivalent to the English word and. Hebrew usually tells a story in a sequential way as we would
expect, or at least in the sequence in which the author wants you to hear the
story. And it is the repetitive waw’s
that hold it all together. What complicates the matter is that there is usually
two levels of discussion (or more) going on in Hebrew narrative. There is the
mainline discussion, and then more secondary discussions, both being held
together and moved along by the waw
conjunction. What the interpreter has
to decide is how each waw clause is
related to the mainline discussion or if it is a continuation of a secondary
discussion. Waw is a diverse
conjunction and can include all of the nuances mentioned as is evidenced by the
variances in the major translations above. The next step is to analyze the discussion in Nehemiah and
see how these verses might be related.
In
Nehemiah 7:1 we have a major advance in the story line as Nehemiah introduces
this new section with a specific formula: the waw conjunction, coupled with the Hebrew verb to be, followed by a temporal conjunction. The opening of Nehemiah
7:1 is usually translated as ‘And it was when’ or ‘Now it was when.’ These
introductory formulas serve to introduce a new scene in Nehemiah’s report. This
same phrase is used in the transitions in Nehemiah 6:1 and 4:1. The mainline of
the discussion in Nehemiah is transitioning from taking about opposition to the
construction of the wall in the first six chapters to a discussion of the
reconstitution of the people physically and spiritual as God’s people in
Jerusalem. Nehemiah 7:1-4 then becomes the introduction to the events through
which Nehemiah will reorganize the city and the people in the rest of the book.
In fact Nehemiah 7:1-4 is loaded with waw
conjunctions advancing Nehemiah discussion of the appointment of certain
men over Jerusalem, but the discussion in these verses is secondary to the
mainline of the story. In Nehemiah 7:5 the waw
conjunction serves in a resumptive capacity. It is picking up the mainline of
the story that Nehemiah introduced in Nehemiah 7:1 which he was sidetracked
from for a few verses on details Nehemiah felt important. The first step in
Nehemiah’s reorganization of the people comes in Nehemiah 7:5. The waw phrase here is subordinate to the
phrase in Nehemiah 7:1, but introduces a new thought; Nehemiah’s first step in
organizing the people. The first step was placed in his heart by God and it was
to see who had returned from the exile and who could serve in what capacity by
enrolling the people by genealogy. In fact this is what Nehemiah records in the
rest of chapter 7 (which parallels Ezra 2) is the genealogy of the people that
have returned from the exile. Chapters 8-13 will work out Nehemiah’s
reorganization and reforms. It seems then that the majority of the Bible
translations that select ‘then’ over ‘and,’ ‘[nothing],’ or ‘so,’ best capture
the resumptive nature of this waw
conjunction.
At
the end of the day any of the translations of the waw conjunction in Nehemiah 7:5 seen in the major translations
would work. They all show a temporal progression in the narrative following the
introduction in Nehemiah 7:1-4. The emphasis seems to be on the temporal
progression of the story and not so much on the explanatory nature of the
phrase in Nehemiah 7:5 to be explaining God’s reaction to a desolate city. But
these things are intertwined. Nehemiah is to reorganize the city and God puts
the idea of a genealogical record in his heart so that he can properly organize
the city with true Israelites that are qualified for the various positions
within in the people of God.
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