Biblical Hebrew Forum

["George Athas" <gathas AT mail.usyd.edu.au>]

I noticed that Ezek 37:1, which gives the setting for the Valley of Dry Bones 
prophecy,
places the dry bones in _habbiq`ah_. We could translate this as "the valley", 
but this
then begs the question, "Which valley?" Why the definite article? Is this a 
reference to
the Biqa` Valley in the Lebanon, or to the Rift Valley in general? If so, 
what's the
significance of such a reference? Ezekiel does get taken by the spirit on a 
few joyrides
around the Near East. So, is this another definite location -- the Lebanese 
Biqa`?

George Athas
 Dept of Semitic Studies,
 University of Sydney
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