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  • From: JimStinehart AT aol.com
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] XRM
  • Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2008 10:19:19 EDT


XRM

Yigal Levin says that the traditional view is that “Hermon”/XRMWN comes from
the root XRM, which means “to consecrate”, and that the root XRM does not in
that case mean “to destroy”. Similarly, Karl W. Randolph seems to support a
meaning of “to consecrate” for XRM when he writes:

“Looking at the contexts where the word חרם XRM actually is used in Tanakh,
I
get: חרם to identify a person or object such that he is designated for
special
attention, e.g. consecrated to the Lord such that one can no longer make use
of it for himself, sentenced to destruction or condemned to death
-(hence)- (physically)
to (indicate by a) mark, as in to blemish, make imperfect -(derivatives)-
חרם marked -(hence)- designated object or person to be consecrated or
condemned to destruction, חרם marked such that blemished, disfigured, has
imperfection”

But instead of looking randomly through the Bible, why not instead look at
how the word XRM is used immediately before and after the two specific Bible
verses to which Yigal Levin called our attention at the beginning of this
thread,
which are the only two verses in the Bible that reference Baal-Hermon:
Judges 3: 3 and I Chronicles 5: 23?

If we take that objective approach to this question, here is what we find.

1. Judges 1: 17 (last use of XRM before Judges 3: 3)

“And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they smote the Canaanites that
inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed [XRM] it. And the name of the city
was called Hormah.”

XRM here means “utterly destroy”, not “consecrate”.

2. Judges 21: 11 (first use of XRM after Judges 3: 3)

“‘And this is the thing that ye shall do: ye shall utterly destroy [XRM]
every male, and every woman that hath lain by man.'”

XRM here means “utterly destroy”, not “consecrate”.

3. I Chronicles 4: 41 (last use of XRM before I Chronicles 5: 23)

“And these written by name came in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and
smote their tents, and the Meunim that were found there, and destroyed them
utterly [XRM], unto this day, and dwelt in their stead; because there was
pasture
there for their flocks.”

XRM here means “utterly destroy”, not “consecrate”.

4. II Chronicles 20: 23 (first use of XRM after I Chronicles 5: 23)

“For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount
Seir, utterly to slay [XRM] and destroy them; and when they had made an end
of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another.”

XRM here means “utterly slay”, not “consecrate”.

Conclusion: The authors of Judges and Chronicles well knew that XRM usually
means “to utterly destroy”.

* * *

Why do people keep trying to say that XRM has the innocuous meaning of “to
consecrate”? BDB cannot a-l-w-a-y-s be wrong about the meaning of Hebrew
words (as opposed to etymology issues). The plain fact of the matter is that
the
most common meaning of XRM in the Hebrew Bible is “to utterly destroy”. In
particular, the four uses of XRM right before and after the two uses of the
name “Baal-Hermon” in the Bible all have the same meaning: “to utterly
destroy”
.

Since the mountain summit at the southern tip of the Anti-Lebanon mountain
range called “Baal-Hermon” was not primarily viewed by the Hebrews as
connoting
“utter destruction”, that indicates that the conventional view that XRM is
the root of XRMWN/“Hermon” is in error.

Yes, XRMWN/“Hermon” has “overtones” of XRM. But XRM cannot be the primary
root, because the meanings don’t match. In fact, XRMWN/“Hermon” is XR + M-N.
XR is a mere prefix, which has the meaning of the similar sounding HR, that
is, “mountain”. M-N is a truly ancient west Semitic root (seen in the Hebrew
word MNH), meaning “to be appointed to oversee, and having implications of
towering, divine-like grandeur”. So XRMWN/“Hermon” = XR + M-N = “a mountain
that is appointed to oversee [Canaan], which has towering, divine-like
grandeur”
.

The violent, albeit divine-like, XRM (meaning “to consecrate by utterly
destroying”) is only an auxiliary meaning, not the main meaning, of “Hermon”.
The
real root of XRMWN/“Hermon” is M-N, just like the mountain words hmn and ’
amn in Ugaritic.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois




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