מָשַׁל / תִּמְשָׁל (Mashal / Timshol)

MEANINGTo rule, govern, have dominion (mashal). Timshol: you must/shall/can rule --- the Qal imperfect form addressed to Cain in Genesis 4:7. The sovereignty root applied to a post-Fall, unregenerate human being's authority over sin.

GRAMMARQal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular in Genesis 4:7: timshol-bo (you must rule over it). The Qal imperfect has modal range: indicative future ('you will rule'), command ('you must rule'), permission/ability ('you can rule'). Combined with we-attah (emphatic you), the construction authorizes Cain's genuine moral dominion. Used for God's rule over the sea (Psalm 89:9), human governmental authority (Judges 8:22), and here human authority over sin.

SIGNIFICANCEThe project's most important single OT discovery: God uses the sovereignty vocabulary (mashal) for a post-Fall unregenerate person's authority over temptation. Sovereignty is not zero-sum in Scripture --- God's mashal does not eliminate human mashal. This refutes the inference from divine sovereignty to human determinism. Thread 4 is grounded on this word.

KEY VERSE / SCRIPTURESGenesis 1:18 (the lights rule the day); Genesis 4:7 (Cain's authority over sin); Judges 8:22; Psalm 89:9; Psalm 22:28.

CROSS-REFERENCESGenesis 4:7 · וְאַתָּה we-attah · Psalm 89:9 · σπλαγχνίζομαι splanchnizomai