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  • From: JimStinehart AT aol.com
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] When Did Lot Get to Zoar?
  • Date: Tue, 21 Oct 2008 09:49:40 EDT


Bill:

1. The Hebrew verb at Genesis 19: 23 does not mean “to rise”, but rather
means “to go forth”. Thus even before we consider the matter of tense, the
notion of the sun “going forth on the earth” means a time long after sunrise,
when the earth has been filled with the sun’s bright light.

2. In context here, sunrise has long passed. Lot started to get ready to
leave Sodom at sunrise. Lot dawdled. Lot was whisked to the outskirts of
Sodom
(still in harm’s way). Lot talks/argues with the angels. Then Lot and his
family walk to Zoar, which likely was a distance of 5 miles. Lot and his
family must walk at least one hour, at a minimum, to get out of harm’s way.
Thus
sunrise is long past when Lot and his family finally arrive at Zoar.

Your proposed English translation is therefore very misleading. To someone
who does not know the Hebrew language’s lack of tense, your translation makes
it sound as if the text mandates that Lot got to Zoar at sunrise. That is
not
the case.

3. Your defense of the age-old view that the Patriarchs’ “Hebron” is the
city of Hebron boils down to this:

“I expect neither the writers or the translators considered the possibility
that their
words would be used to try to decide between a 6am and a 9am destruction.”

I myself read that as an implicit admission that if we read the text closely,
a city of Hebron location won’t work for the Patriarchs’ “Hebron”.

4. No one has yet set forth a single line of text in the Patriarchal
narratives that either (a) supports the age-old view that the Patriarchs’
“Hebron”
is the city of Hebron, or that (b) contradicts my assertion that the
Patriarchs’
“Hebron” is the Aijalon Valley.

We all know that it frequently is the case that two or more different places
in ancient Canaan have the same name. For example, think how many places are
called “Qadesh”. When you deny that Isaac was born in Galilee, you do not
deny that there was a Qadesh (of Upper Galilee) in Galilee. No, your
argument
is that Genesis 20: 1 is referring to a different place with the same name
(Qadesh). So then why can’t the Patriarchs’ “Hebron” likewise be referring
to a
different place than the city of Hebron, with only the names being the same?

5. Can you point to a single line of text in the Patriarchal narratives that
fits the city of Hebron better than the Aijalon Valley as being the locale of
the Patriarchs’ “Hebron”? We all know that the names of the city of Hebron,
and of the Patriarchs’ “Hebron”, are the same (as George Athas has repeated
many times over). But the question is whether the places are the same. Aren’
t these two very different places, that share the same name?

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois

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