[b-hebrew] Phonetics of Ayin: Geography of Genesis

JimStinehart at aol.com JimStinehart at aol.com
Fri Jun 5 09:24:46 EDT 2009


Karl wrote:  “Genesis 20 referred to a completely different city, in the 
south, not Tyre in the north of Canaan. Further, Abimelekh was the king of 
GRR, not CR….”
 
For 2,500 years now, all scholars have agreed with Karl’s view that Genesis 
20: 1-2 refers to a locale south of Gaza.  But many people may be surprised 
to find out that there is nothing in the secular history of the ancient 
world to support that traditional, non-historical view, even though no scholar 
has ever challenged it.
 
1.  The only QD$ referenced by the name QD$ in Canaan prior to the common 
era is historical QD$ of Upper Galilee (ignoring the medieval pointing that 
was added in the Middle Ages).
 
2.  The only GRR referenced prior to the common era is item #80 on the 
mid-15th century BCE Thutmosis III list.  The Egyptian letters are KRR, and 
their Biblical Hebrew equivalent is thought by most scholars to be either GRR or 
GLL.  Most all scholars see that item #80 as being located in northern 
Canaan.  (In addition, the Amarna Letters and Ugaritic literature reference a GR 
[though not GRR], in roughly the same location.)
 
3.  As previously discussed (being a modified version of an idea I picked 
up from Karl), the seafaring people of Tyre may have compared the “rolling”
/GRR hills in Upper Galilee to their east to the “rolling” waves of the 
Mediterranean Sea to their west.  Though Abi-MLK of Tyre excoriates Hazor and 
many rulers in Lebanon in the Amarna Letters, he never criticizes QD$ of Upper 
Galilee, located north of Hazor, and as such located very close to the 
overland trade route from Tyre to the Beqa Valley that Tyre liked to control.  
It makes perfect historical sense for GRR/“Gerar” to be the “rolling”/GRR 
hills between QD$ of Upper Galilee and the coast that were effectively 
controlled by super-wealthy Abi-MLK of Tyre.
 
4.  As we have been discussing on this thread, %WR in the unpointed text of 
Genesis 20: 1 is one possible, albeit non-standard, spelling of Tyre/Ssur.  
CWR would admittedly be a superior spelling of “Tyre”, but most Biblical 
authors were unwilling to use the divine epithet CWR -- “divine-like rock” 
-- as the name of the disliked, arrogant Tyre.
 
5.  The name Abi-MLK at Genesis 20: 2 is the same as the name of the 
historical ruler of Tyre in the Amarna Letters.  The people of Tyre, unlike most 
other people, honored the famous pagan god Baal under the name MLK/“King”.  
Virtually the only place in secular history where one would expect to see 
the name Abi-MLK is Tyre.  Surely the author of the Patriarchal narratives 
knew that! 
 
6.  Although NGB at Genesis 20: 1 has traditionally been thought to refer 
to the Negev Desert, there in fact is no secular historical inscription 
pre-dating the common era to support that traditional view.  The only NGB we have 
in ancient secular history is item #57 on the T III list, which probably is 
referencing a place in northern Canaan, likely located on the west coast of 
the Sea of Galilee.
 
7.  We see that there is not a single secular historical inscription 
pre-dating the common era to support the traditional, non-historical southern view 
of the locale of Genesis 20: 1-2.  By stark contrast, all 5 proper names in 
those two Bible verses have close matches to secular historical 
inscriptions from Bronze Age northern Canaan.  QD$, NGB and Abi-MLK are exact, 
letter-for-letter matches.  GRR is probably (though not certainly) a 
letter-for-letter match to the KRR on the T III list.  The only non-ideal linguistic match 
here is %WR as possibly referencing Tyre, which is what we have been 
discussing on this thread.  Though %WR is not the ideal rendering of Tyre, neither 
is the CR (which as a common word means “enemy”) that is used in most of 
the Bible to reference Tyre.  The sound of %WR is quite similar to CWR in a 
Bronze Age context, differing only in that the initial S-sound is not emphatic 
in %WR.  If one is willing to admit that all spellings in the ancient world 
were not absolutely uniform and rigidly standardized throughout the 
millennia (especially before written Hebrew is even attested), then perhaps one may 
be willing to consider %WR as possibly being an early, archaic, 
non-standard spelling of similar-sounding Tyre/CWR/Ssur.
 
If we look to secular historical inscriptions pre-dating the common era, 
everything favors a northern Canaan locale for Genesis 20: 1-2.  There is  
n-o-t-h-i-n-g  in terms of ancient secular historical inscriptions to support 
the traditional, 2,500-year-old southern view of the geographical locale of 
Genesis 20: 1-2.  I am well aware of the fact that no scholar has ever 
questioned that traditional, non-historical religious view, which in my opinion 
goes back to Ezra, not earlier.  But if any scholar out there were to look at 
the unpointed text of Genesis 20: 1-2 in the truly ancient Patriarchal 
narratives, and ignore II Chronicles, it would soon become apparent that the 
locale of Genesis 20: 1-2 is Galilee, in a Bronze Age context, rather than being 
south of Gaza.
 
The same analysis holds true as to Genesis 14: 7.  All five proper names at 
Genesis 14: 7 can be verified by secular historical inscriptions from 
Bronze Age northern Canaan.  But there’s no secular historical inscription 
pre-dating the common era to back up the traditional, non-historical view that the 
proper names at Genesis 14: 7 signify a locale south of Gaza.  In analyzing 
the geographical site of both Genesis 20: 1-2 and Genesis 14: 7, all 
scholars unfortunately rely uncritically on the pointing and II Chronicles, while 
having  n-o-t-h-i-n-g  in terms of an ancient secular historical inscription 
to back up any aspect of their traditional, non-historical, religious view 
of the geographical locale.
 
The Hebrews’ claims to  a-l-l  of Canaan are much older, and stronger, than 
today’s scholars realize.  The first step in a long overdue historical 
reexamination of the Patriarchal narratives is to reconsider the actual 
geographical location of GRR/Gerar, a place that is frequently referenced in the 
Patriarchal narratives.  If we can get the geography of the Patriarchal 
narratives right -- including in particular identifying QD$ at Genesis 14: 7 and 
20: 1 as being historical QD$ of Upper Galilee, instead of incongruously 
being, as scholars wrongfully insist, the non-attested name Kadesh-barnea of a 
locale 60 miles south of Gaza [Not!] -- the rest will take care of itself.
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois

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