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  • From: JimStinehart AT aol.com
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] What Is "Hebron"? Part II of II
  • Date: Fri, 9 May 2008 09:19:44 EDT


Part II of II

B. Worship Should Be Focused at Jerusalem?

P (of JEPD), representing the Jerusalem priesthood, naturally enough believed
that religious worship should be focused at Jerusalem. But that idea is
nowhere to be found in the Patriarchal narratives.

The Patriarchs anoint many sacred places in the Patriarchal narratives, but
never Jerusalem. Abraham builds the first altar to YHWH in Canaan at
Shechem.
Genesis 12: 6-7 The second altar is built at Beth-el (near Hai), and that is
where Abraham first calls YHWH by name. Genesis 12: 8 Abraham later has a
profound meeting with YHWH on a mountaintop just east of Beth-el (near Hai).
Genesis 13: 3-4, 14-17 At the end of chapter 14 of Genesis, Abraham returns
Lot to the princeling ruler of Sodom, and is blessed by Melchizedek, at
Salim,
which is the same hamlet on the west bank of the Jordan River east of Shechem
that is referenced by the identical name “Salim” at Genesis 33: 18. (“Salim”
is not a nickname for Jerusalem. Salim is a hamlet east of Shechem. The
tiny hamlet of Salim had symbolic importance for the Patriarchs. After
traveling
from the north, heading south through the northern Transjordan along the east
bank of the Jordan River (always avoiding Beth-shan and the Jezreel Valley),
the Patriarchs consistently re-enter Canaan at Salim, just east of Shechem.)
The Covenant is made in the Valley of Hebron (chapter 15 of Genesis 15), and
the promise that Sarah will yet bear Isaac is repeated in the Valley of
Hebron
(Genesis 18: 1-15).

Given the traditional locations of Bethel and Hebron as being a little north,
and a little south, of Jerusalem, respectively, we see that two places fairly
near Jerusalem are holy places for Abraham. Yet Jerusalem is never mentioned.

>From the high altitude village of Beitin, one can literally see Jerusalem.
On the traditional view, Beitin is Beth-el. (In my controversial view,
Beitin
is the city of Arbe, overlooking the Hebron Valley.) No matter how you slice
it, the Patriarchs could often literally see the large Late Bronze Age city
of
Jerusalem. Yet the text never once mentions Jerusalem.

Everyone remembers the famous scene in chapter 13 of Genesis when Abraham and
Lot are on that mountaintop between Beth-el and Hai. Lot looks northeast,
and sees the inviting Jordan River Valley. That’s where Lot picks to settle.

If Hebrew or Jewish authors from Jerusalem were telling this story, then what
would the text say next? Of course, the text would logically say that
Abraham
then looked a short distance southeast, and saw the huge city of Jerusalem.
Jerusalem has been the major city in southern Canaan from the Early Bronze
Age
to the present. Jerusalem is eternal. The text would then have YHWH tell
Abraham that there, in Jerusalem, would be where Abraham’s descendants would
ultimately find their manifest destiny. But instead, the text says
absolutely
nothing about Jerusalem! Nothing. No human being on that mountaintop
between
Beth-el and Hai, in any era, could fail to see Jerusalem. Yet the text does
not
even seem to know that Jerusalem in southern Canaan is visible from that
mountaintop. How can that be? The only possible answer is that the author
of the
Patriarchal narratives was a very early Hebrew from northern Canaan, who
focused solely on northern Canaan, and who had no interest in looking south
into
southern Canaan from Bethel, on the southern tip of northern Canaan. If the
Patriarchal narratives had 6 authors, per the JEPD + 2 editors theory, with 5
of
the 6 authors being from Jerusalem, there is no way that the text would fail
to mention Jerusalem when Abraham is on that mountaintop in central Canaan
between Beth-el and Hai, overlooking the large, eternal city of Jerusalem.
No
way.


Jacob/“Israel” likewise has no time for Jerusalem. Jacob sets up an altar
for YHWH at Shechem, as Abraham had. Genesis 33: 20 But Jacob’s two
greatest
meetings with YHWH are at Luz/Lu-u-si/Laish in the northeastern corner of
Canaan. Genesis 28: 19, 11-18; 35: 1, 9-12 In honor of these sacred
meetings
with YHWH in northernmost Canaan, Jacob gives Luz/Lu-u-si/Laish the nickname “
Beth-el”, meaning “house of God”. (Abraham’s Beth-el/Hai is far south of
Jacob
’s Luz/“Beth-el”.) Jacob later ends up at the city of Arbe on a hill
overlooking the Hebron Valley (Genesis 35: 27), where Jacob semi-reconciles
with his
elderly father Isaac, but as always, there is no mention of Jerusalem.

Far from focusing worship at Jerusalem, no Patriarch ever worships at
Jerusalem, or even mentions Jerusalem. (That’s because no Hebrew had ever
set foot
in Jerusalem when the truly ancient Patriarchal narratives were composed,
with
the sole author of the Patriarchal narratives being a northern Hebrew.) On
the traditional view, each of Abraham and Jacob passes right by Jerusalem,
and
on any view of the case Abraham could have easily seen Jerusalem on that
mountaintop between Beth-el and Hai. Yet Jerusalem is never mentioned.
There are
many holy places for the Patriarchs in Canaan, but Jerusalem obviously is not
one of them.

Thus P is totally AWOL in the Patriarchal narratives as to the issue of
focusing worship at Jerusalem.

C. Conclusion: There Is No P in the Patriarchal Narratives

Based on the substantive content of the received text, it should be clear by
now that there is no P in the Patriarchal narratives. P would roll over in
his grave at the thought of there being one sacred tree after another in the
Patriarchal narratives, and so prominently at that. And you can imagine what
the
Jerusalem priesthood thought about the Patriarchs supposedly constantly
passing right by the priests’ beloved Jerusalem, yet never mentioning
Jerusalem
even one time, and instead anointing all sorts of other places, two of which
were
quite near Jerusalem, as holy places.

Richard Elliott Friedman and E.A. Speiser claim that all the ages of people
in the Patriarchal narratives were edited in there by P. But why on earth
would P make the effort to edit in allegedly incomprehensible ages of the
Patriarchs, while not editing out those sacred trees, and not editing in even
one
mention of beloved Jerusalem in the entire text? Is that a plausible
scenario?



The fact of the matter is that there is no P in the Patriarchal narratives
whatsoever. All those sacred trees, and no mention of Jerusalem, even when
Abraham is on a mountaintop between Beth-el and Hai overlooking eternal
Jerusalem,
are dead giveaways. The Patriarchal narratives are, pure and simple,
antithetical to the views of P. P did not edit, much less write any portion
of, the
truly ancient Patriarchal narratives, which are stunningly historically
accurate in representing the Late Bronze Age world of northern Canaan.
Rather than
being late fiction, the Patriarchal narratives are early history, being the
solid historical foundation of Judaism. It’s all readily verifiable in the
plentiful secular historical documents, if we’re willing to jettison the
traditional misinterpretation of the Patriarchal narratives and look to
n-o-r-t-h-e-r-n Canaan in the Late Bronze Age.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois




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