(f) The person addressed is naturally def. to the mind, and the so-called vocative often has the Art. 1 K. 18:26 הַבַּעַל עֲנֵנוּ O Baal, hear us! 2 K. 9:5 אֵלֶיךָ הַשָּׂר unto thee, Captain! Jud. 6:12 י׳ עִמְּךָ גִּבּוֹר הֶחָיִל Je. is with thee, O man of valour. Jud. 3:19, 1 S. 17:58, 2 S. 14:4, Hos. 5:1, Jer. 2:31, Is. 42:18, Jo. 1:2, Zech. 3:8. The noun with Art. is probably in appos. to thou, ye understood. Cf. Job 19:21, Mal. 3:9, Mic. 1:2. — 2 K. 9:31, Is. 22:16; 47:8; 54:1, 11, Zeph. 2:12.
Rem. 1. In such cases as היום to-day, הלילה to-night, הפעם this time, Gen. 2:23, השׁנה this year Jer. 28:16, the definiteness is due to the fact that the times belong to the speaker’s present and are before him. Jud. 13:10 ביום that (a former) day is defined by the circumstance that occurred on it.
Rem. 2. To e belongs the phrase ויהי היום occurring 1 S. 1:4; 14:1, 2 K. 4:8, 11, 18, Job 1:6, 13; 2:1. Probably: and it fell on a day (lit. the day, viz. that on which it fell, &c.). Others make היום subj., and the day was, i.e. there fell a day. The vav impf. following is less natural on this view, but the explanation of Art. is the same. — Gen. 28:11 a place prob. belongs to e; it is hardly heilige Stätte (like Ar. maqam) either here or 2 K. 5:11.
§ 22. It is on the same principle as in § 21 that classes of persons, creatures, or things have the Art. The classes are known just from the fact of their having distinct characteristics. But, further, in such cases the individual possesses all the characteristics which distinguish the class, and the class is seen in any individual. Hence the use of the sing. is common.
(a) The sing. of gentilic nouns is so used, as Gen. 13:7 הַכְּנַֽעֲנִי the Canaanite, 15:21. Of course also the plur. with Art., rarely without, though פְּלִשְׁתִּים Philistines, is more common; cf. 2 S. 21:12.
(b) So adjectives and ptcps., as הַצַּדִּיק the righteous,