[b-hebrew] What Is "Hebron"?

JimStinehart at aol.com JimStinehart at aol.com
Mon May 12 09:38:00 EDT 2008


Bill Rea wrote:  “You have argued in this manner for a long time and it’s 
still unconvincing. How do we know they ``forgot'' to add in Jerusalem?  It is 
just a guess.  Let's for a moment take a different line of speculation.  Let's 
say that these editors were working with what they believed to be sacred 
traditions.  I use traditions to mean either written or oral or both.  Why would 
they add in a reference to Jerusalem when the readers or hearers could already 
make that association if they figured that association was important?  We could 
speculate that they wouldn't add it in out of reverence for the traditions.”
 
1.  You and I agree as to the following.  (a)  The Hebrews had sacred 
traditions regarding the Patriarchal narratives.  (b)  Jerusalem was not part of 
those sacred traditions.  (c)  Nothing about Jerusalem was put into the 
Patriarchal narratives, “out of reverence for the traditions”.
 
So far, so good.
 
2.  But from what geographical locale are the sacred traditions of the 
Patriarchal narratives coming?
 
(a)  If there are multiple authors of the Patriarchal narratives, and most of 
them came from Jerusalem, doesn’t it seem odd that Jerusalem is not part of 
these sacred traditions?
 
(b)  If there are multiple authors of the Patriarchal narratives, and most of 
them came from southern Canaan, doesn’t it seem odd that all of these authors 
from southern Canaan would use non-existent geography in southern Canaan?  
Wouldn’t their audience be mostly from southern Canaan?  Why use non-existent 
geography, from the immediate neighborhood of your audience?  Is that a 
plausible theory of the case?
 
Shouldn’t we examine the 12 cities in Canaan near which the Patriarchs are 
portrayed as sojourning in the Patriarchal narratives?  Everyone agrees that two 
of those cities -- Shechem and Dothan -- are historical cities from Late 
Bronze Age northern Canaan, attested by those very names in secular history.  What 
about the other 10 cities?
 
Scholars tells us that the other 10 cities are fictional cities in southern 
Canaan.  Does that seem reasonable?
 
Scholars will often admit, however, if asked about a specific city, that such 
a city name is attested in secular history as the name of a Late Bronze Age 
city in northern Canaan.  Isn’t that relevant information?  Is that true as to 
all 10 such cities?
 
3.  Consider if you will this phrase as to where Jacob sojourned after the 
bloody Shechem incident:
 
“And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond Migdal-eder.”  Genesis 35: 
21 
 
Is “Migdal-eder” a fictional city in southern Canaan?  Is it the case that 
there are multiple authors of the Patriarchal narratives, who are using 
non-existent geography here?
 
Or should we instead ask if these are attested names of Late Bronze Age 
cities in northern Canaan?
 
In this post, let’s focus on the name “Migdal”:  mem-gimel-dalet-lamed.
 
Migdal is a well-attested city in Late Bronze Age northern Canaan, located at 
modern Tel Zeror.  It is #115 on the list of Canaanite cities that Egyptian 
pharaoh Thutmosis III conquered in the mid-15th century BCE.  It’s noted at p. 
201 of the following Internet site:
 
_https://oa.doria.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/4162/TMP.objres.80.pdf?sequence=1_
 
(https://oa.doria.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/4162/TMP.objres.80.pdf?sequence=1) 
 
Here is how Anson Rainey sets it forth as item #71 on p. 73 of “The Sacred 
Bridge”:  “ma-k-ta-la.  Cf. EA [Amarna Letter] towns…. Cf. [the Hebrew letters] 
mem-gimel-dalet-lamed”.
 
(Egyptian K routinely becomes G/gimel in Biblical Hebrew.  Egyptian T can 
either stay T/tav, or become D/dalet, in Biblical Hebrew.)
 
And pursuant to Anson Rainey’s comment, what about the Amarna Letters from 
the mid-14th century BCE?  Magdalu/Migdal at Amarna Letter EA 256: 24 could well 
be referencing historical Migdal, just south of Megiddo.  The U at the end of 
a place name in the Amarna Letters always is omitted in the Biblical Hebrew 
equivalent.  The other precise vowel sounds are unknown from the unpointed text 
of Biblical Hebrew.  If “Garu”/Gar/G-R in this Amarna Letter is 
G-R-R/G-L-L/greater Galilee, then Migdal/Magdalu south of Megiddo in Lower Galilee fits 
perfectly here.
 
4.  All 12 cities near which the Patriarchs are portrayed as sojourning are 
like that.  They do not exist in southern Canaan.  But they are attested by 
name as Late Bronze Age cities in northern Canaan.
 
5.  Is it likely that 5 out of 6 authors of the Patriarchal narratives came 
from southern Canaan in the 1st millennium BCE, and never used a single 
historical name of a city in southern Canaan near which the Patriarchs are portrayed 
as sojourning, and rather in every case used non-existent geography in 
southern Canaan, with all 12 city names in the text just “happening” to match up to 
attested names of Late Bronze Age cities in northern Canaan?
 
I myself do not see that as a plausible scenario.
 
Rather, in my view, the sacred traditions of the Patriarchal narratives are 
coming from Late Bronze Age northern Canaan, not from 1st millennium BCE 
southern Canaan.  All of the cities near which the Patriarchs are portrayed as 
sojourning in the text are attested by name in the secular history of Late Bronze 
Age northern Canaan.  No such cities exist in southern Canaan in ancient times.
 
As I see it, the Patriarchal narratives are both older, and from a more 
northerly locale, than currently realized.  There is no fictional southern Canaan 
geography in the Patriarchal narratives.  Rather, what we have is pinpoint 
accurate historical geography from Late Bronze Age northern Canaan.  The names of 
the cities in the received text tell the tale.  The Patriarchal narratives are 
very old, and are coming from northern Canaan, not from 1st millennium BCE 
Jerusalem.
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois




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