Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Jonathan D. Safren" <yonsaf AT beitberl.beitberl.ac.il>]

Hello all,
Many scholars, among them Anson Rainey, whom I heard at a lecture recently, 
claim that
one cannot equate 'ibri with habiru because of the long a vowel in habiru, 
lacking in
'ibri. Well, opinion is not unanimous that this really matters. Perhaps the 
Masoretic
pronunciaton is off.

In any case, as to Gen. 14, my late teacher Prof. Benjamin Mazar once pointed 
out that
the only time Abraham is ever called an 'ibri is also the only time that he 
appears as
a warrior at the head of a military force. This is significant in view of the 
texts
alluding to the military activities of various habiru, for example iin the  
Tel
El-Amarna and the Mari letters.
Sincerely,.
--
Jonathan D. Safren
Dept. of Biblical Studies
Beit Berl College
Beit Berl Post Office 44905
Israel