Biblical Hebrew Forum

[barre AT access1.com]

1) The name "Jacob" is most probably a contraction of Jacob-El, the name 
appearing in the 
list of places (!) conquered by Thut-mose III in Canaan, in Akkadian of in 
the 18th century 
as Yah-ah-qu-ub-il and the similar name of a Hyksos chieftain as Ya 
'aqob-har.  Jacob-El  is 
though to mean "May El protect."

2) The phrase in Gen 49:24, 'abbir ya'kob may be translated as the "Bull of 
Jacob," an 
epithet commonly ascribed to El in the Ugaritic tablets, here appearing in a 
context that also 
mentions El Shaddai.

3) Jacob took Shechem between almost certainly before Joshua and sometime 
after Lab'aya 
since no conflict is recorded in Joshua that would explain their possession 
of the city.  
Otherwise we must presume that Jacob took the city before Lab'aya, lost it 
and then some 
unknown Israelite regained it again before Joshua.  This would also force 
Hamor, the 
contemporary of Jacob, into a pre-Lab'aya time frame.  This position is 
strained and without 
support. 




---------------------------
L.M. Barre
http://www.angelfire.com/ca2/AncientIsrael
Point Loma, California