So Hezekiah king of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: “I have done wrong. Withdraw from me, and I will pay whatever you demand of me.” – 2Kings 18:14
Build sentences in the order of 5W1H
He prayed to God for wisdom and a discerning heart, and even Solomon, called the king of wisdom, became foolish as he aged. It is said that Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. Among them were women who had come from nations that worshipped other gods. Perhaps because of this, in the latter part of Solomon’s reign, he even built temples for gods other than the Lord. After the reigns of David and Solomon, the unified kingdom of Israel eventually split into the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah.
David and Solomon were descendants of Judah, the fourth son of Jacob, mentioned in Genesis. The tribe of Judah, along with the tribe of Benjamin, formed the kingdom of Judah. The remaining ten tribes formed the northern kingdom of Israel, with Jeroboam, one of Solomon’s officials, becoming its king. This occurred around 930 BCE, although historical records suggest a slight discrepancy, dating it around 922 BCE.
Around 722 BCE, the Assyrian Empire conquered the northern kingdom of Israel. The Bible records the reason for the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel as, “This happened because they had not obeyed the LORD their God, but had violated his covenant—all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded. They neither listened to the commands nor carried them out. -2 Kings 18:12”
The capital of the fallen northern kingdom of Israel was Samaria. After the Assyrian invasion and destruction, the social elite were taken captive to Assyria, and many immigrants from Assyria moved to Samaria. The mixed-race population that emerged from the intermingling of these immigrants with the Israelites came to be known as Samaritans. Consequently, the Jews in the south looked down on and excluded them.
However, Jesus answered the question of a law expert, “Who is my neighbor?” with the parable of the Good Samaritan, indicating that the one who shows mercy in difficult situations, like the person beaten by robbers, is the true neighbor. Jesus then commanded, “Go and do likewise. – Luke 10:37”
The Bible passage mentioned above describes the attempt of Hezekiah, king of the southern kingdom of Judah, to make peace with the king of Assyria. According to the Bible, Hezekiah even stripped the gold from the pillars of the kingdom of Judah. Thus, the southern kingdom of Judah survived for about 140 more years.
When one hears the English expression “He sent,” it usually sparks the curiosity of “To whom and what was sent?” Of course, this can vary depending on the situation and the individuals involved. However, English speakers do not readily change this order of satisfying curiosity. It means that the focus is first on the person and then on the object being sent. This approach to forming English sentences is somewhat hastily generalized as the single-pattern English sentence structure.
S+V + (who+what) + [where+why+how+when]
Especially with verbs like “send,” one can easily make the expression “~ sent ~ to ~” by simply listing two nouns without any effort.
“I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. -Matthew 23:34”
Verbs that can take two objects like this are called ditransitive verbs. It’s okay to think of them as Give-type verbs because they are verbs that can be interpreted with the addition of the meaning “to give” in Korean. Examples include give, show, send, take, offer, lend, make, buy.
When a ditransitive verb is used, it is most natural to first satisfy the curiosity about “to whom” the action is directed and then to express the object. However, there may be instances where one wishes to emphasize the object (what) by placing it before the recipient (who). This can be done, but simply listing the words as in our syntax will not achieve the purpose. Look at the biblical passage where the ditransitive verb send is used:
Hezekiah king of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish.
As in the example above, while the word “the message” can come before “the king,” “the king” cannot be used directly as an object without a preposition like “to” because it goes against our defined syntax. This phenomenon occurs because, in English, the role of a word is determined by its position, not by case particles as in some languages. For example, “He sent the message the king.” would mistakenly mean “He sent the king to the message.”
Therefore, to emphasize something (What) over someone (Who), one must attach a preposition like ‘to’ in front of the Who in English. In fact, not only ditransitive verbs but also transitive verbs that have a single object can use prepositions to create expressions like “<to give> ~ to ~.”
“I still had no peace of mind because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia. -2 Corinthians 2:13”
“When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him. -Genesis 37:4”
“These are the only Jews among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have proved a comfort to me. -Colossians 4:11”
Verbs that primarily mean “to say,” such as explain, announce, suggest, propose, prove, describe, confess, introduce, hope, demand, say, insist, speak, talk, etc., are included in this.
Typically, “to” is used for expressions like “<to someone>,” but some verbs have their own preferred prepositions. These can be categorized as follows.
| Noun Zone | Verb Zone | Noun Zone | Adverb Zone | ||
| Ditransitive Verbs | S | V | who | what | where why how when |
| Give-type | I | will give | you | a wise heart | |
| Transitive Verbs | S | V | What | who | where why how when |
| Say-type | He | said | anything | to them | |
| Buy-type | I | will buy | books | for you | |
| Demand-type | You | demand | anything | of me | |
| Impose-type | I | will impose | everything | on you | |
The Buy type uses the preposition “for” with verbs indicating actions done for someone else, such as buy, make, get, order.
Go back and buy us a little more food → Go back and buy a little more food for us.
The Demand type uses the preposition “of” with verbs primarily meaning to request or require, such as ask, beg, demand, desire, inquire, require.
Consider the phrase from the example sentence:
“I will pay whatever you demand of me.”
This phrase means ‘whatever thing you want from me.’ Thus, “You demand something of me” uses “whatever” at the beginning to emphasize ‘anything at all.’
The Impose type uses the preposition “on” with verbs that carry a negative meaning of imposing or inflicting, including main verbs like bestow, confer, impose, inflict, play.
You are also to know that you have no authority to impose taxes, tribute, or duty on any of the priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, temple servants, or other workers at this house of God. – Ezra 7:24
I will not impose any other burden on you. – Revelation 2:24
On the other hand, there are verbs that cannot make expressions like ‘to impose something on someone.’ Consider verbs like envy, forgive, pardon, spare, grudge, save, which when using two objects, prioritize the person (who) over the object. It’s not about forgiving sins but forgiving the person, and not envying success but the person who succeeded. Therefore, it implies that sins or success cannot precede the person. Hence, “He will forgive our sins to us” is incorrect.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. – 1 John 1:9
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