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  • From: JimStinehart AT aol.com
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] Genesis 20: 1
  • Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2007 11:39:01 EDT


Shoshanna:
This second post continues the analysis of where Abraham is when he is
portrayed as witnessing the after-effects of the destruction of Sodom.
(c) It is clear that Sodom is the opposite direction from Hebron, because
Abraham goes 27 miles south of Bethel/Ai to settle in Hebron, thereby
separating himself from Lot.
"[I]f thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if
thou take the right hand, then I will go to the left.' …and they separated
themselves the one from the other. Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and
Lot
dwelt in the cities of the Plain [kikkar/the Jordan River Valley], and moved
his tent as far as Sodom." Genesis 13: 9, 11-12
(d) Thus Sodom is located close to historical Beth Shan, over 27 miles
northeast of Bethel/Ai. Hebron is located 27 miles south of Bethel/Ai.
(e) Now we can analyze the otherwise ambiguous reference at Genesis 19: 27
to Abraham going "to the place where he had stood before the LORD [YHWH]".
Yes, Abraham had stood before YHWH many times at Hebron, including at
Genesis
18: 22. But one could not see Sodom, or even the smoke from a burning Sodom,
at Hebron, which was over 60 miles away from Sodom. No, Abraham has to get
up early in the morning and hasten to a place much farther north, namely a
mountaintop near Bethel/Ai, where Abraham can then see the smoke from Sodom
burning in the Jordan River Valley:
"And he looked out toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the
Plain [kikkar/the Jordan River Valley], and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of
the land went up as the smoke of a furnace." Genesis 19: 28
At chapter 13 of Genesis, Abraham had stood before YHWH when YHWH first
gives Abraham the divine promise of the Promised Land:
"And the LORD said unto Abram [at Bethel/Ai], after that Lot was separated
from him: 'Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art,
northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land which
thou
seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. … And [then] Abram
moved his tent [from Bethel/Ai], and came and dwelt by the terebinths of
Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the LORD [YHWH]."
Genesis 13: 14-15, 18
(f) The traditional location of Sodom at the Dead Sea is erroneous. Based
on the above verses of text, the author of the Patriarchal narratives
conceptualizes Sodom as having been located near historical Beth Shan, on
the west
bank of the Jordan River, far north of the northern end of the Dead Sea.
(g) So Abraham went 27 miles north of Hebron to Bethel/Ai to see the smoke
burning from Sodom's destruction. Genesis 20: 1 then tells us that Abraham
departed "from there". That means that Abraham departed from Bethel/Ai.
That
is a logical point of departure if Abraham is going north to the south
country of southern Lebanon, to settle between the Lebanese city-states of
Qadesh
and Sur, and to sojourn on the western edge of historical Garu (Biblical
"Gerar"), which is precisely what Genesis 20: 1 tells us. Note that the
text
does not state that Abraham returned from Bethel/Ai to Hebron, and departed
from
Hebron. The text does not say that. If Abraham were going to go south
into the Negev Desert and the Sinai Desert, Abraham's point of departure
would
naturally be Hebron, not Bethel/Ai.
If we read the text closely, it makes complete sense, as is. There is
nothing wrong or nonsensical about the text. If we forget about loving to
hate
Jezebel from southern Lebanon, who wasn't born until 500 years after the
historical Patriarchal Age, we will see that Abraham left Bethel/Ai and made
a
beeline for princeling ruler Abimelech/Abimilki of Sur in western Garu/Gerar
in
southern Lebanon. That is what Genesis 20: 1 is telling us, and it makes
complete sense on all levels.
How could the Patriarchs be portrayed as receiving a divine promise of
northern Canaan if no governing Patriarch ever sojourned in northern Canaan?
Each
of Abraham and Isaac in fact spends many years living in northern
Canaan/southern Lebanon, near Sur ("Tyre") at Garu/Gerar, and that is why the
divine
promise of the Promised Land to Isaac regarding Garu/Gerar in southern
Lebanon
is so important:
"Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar. [For] the
LORD [YHWH] [had] appeared unto him, and said: … 'Sojourn in this land, and
I
will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed,
I
will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore unto
Abraham thy father'". Genesis 26: 1-3
Everything in the text makes sense, including the portrayal of a divine
promise to the Hebrews of all of Canaan, not just southern Canaan, if
Abraham is
in the southern region of Lebanon near Sur, on the western edge of
Garu/Gerar, when Genesis 20: 1 tells us that Abraham "settled between Qadesh
and
S(h)ur".
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois



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