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  • From: Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>
  • To: b-hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] The Role of Hebron: Abraham and Isaac
  • Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 00:02:59 +0200

Maybe we should read "Hermon" instead of "Hebron", thus placing the Patriarchs' burial place in northern Canaan as well?


Yigal Levin

----- Original Message ----- From: <JimStinehart AT aol.com>
To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Monday, January 14, 2008 4:46 PM
Subject: [b-hebrew] The Role of Hebron: Abraham and Isaac



The Role of Hebron: Abraham and Isaac

The primary role of Hebron in the Patriarchal narratives is as a place for
the Patriarchs’ retirement and burial. As such, Hebron’s role is much less
grandiose than has been supposed. This is a critically important point, because
it betrays a northern Hebrew’s somewhat unflattering view of modest Hebron in
southern Canaan, not a southern Hebrew’s overly positive view of Hebron.

Abraham’s Initial Encounter with Hebron

Abraham proceeds to Hebron in the second half of chapter 13 of Genesis, and
Abraham makes the Covenant with YHWH at Hebron in chapter 15 of Genesis. But
though Abraham stays at Hebron for 12 long regular years, nothing else happens
there, except that YHWH speaks to Abraham on several occasions there. In
particular, Sarah never gets pregnant with Isaac at Hebron. Abraham then
determines that he should leave Hebron, and go to Gerar, where Isaac is born.
Although we know from the beginning of chapter 13 of Genesis that Abraham was very
wealthy when he arrived at Hebron, there is no mention of wealth when Abraham
suddenly leaves Hebron and moves to Gerar. Reading between the lines, Abraham
probably used up much of his material wealth in living at modest Hebron for 12
years.

Hebron as Abraham’s Place of Retirement and Burial

Abraham moves to Gerar, where Sarah gets pregnant and Isaac is born. The
Covenant is fulfilled with Isaac’s birth at Gerar, rather than the Covenant being
fulfilled at Hebron. Why doesn’t Abraham then quickly move back to Hebron?
Instead, the text makes a point of telling us at the end of chapter 21 of
Genesis that Abraham stays in Gerar for a long, long time. We know from chapter
26 of Genesis that Isaac will get rich growing crops at Gerar. Abraham is
savvier than Isaac, so the implication, with hindsight, is that Abraham as well
prospered economically at Gerar, doing far better than Abraham ever did at
modest Hebron. That must be one of the reasons why Abraham was in no hurry to
return to modest Hebron.

As far as we can tell, Abraham does not move back to Hebron until Abraham is
an old man and Sarah is on her deathbed. Abraham famously buries old Sarah at
Hebron in a large burial plot, and Abraham, a very old man by now (age 68½
regular years at Sarah’s death), lives out the remainder of his days at Hebron,
in retirement. Later, Abraham will be buried at Hebron.

Hebron as Isaac’s Place of Retirement and Burial

Isaac does not live at Hebron with his father after Sarah’s death. Although
Isaac comes back to Hebron to bury his father at Hebron, nevertheless Isaac
continues to live at Beer-lahai-roi, just north of the Negev Desert, well south
of Hebron. When a terrible famine then hits southern Canaan, Isaac’s first
thought is to go to Egypt. But YHWH tells Isaac to go to Gerar instead. Note
that there is no hint that Isaac has any material wealth worth mentioning when
Isaac moves to Gerar. Isaac does not have a large flock, or else Isaac would
not have been living on the edge of the Negev Desert. We come to realize that
during Abraham’s long retirement at Hebron, Abraham must have used up most
all of his material funds, including his formerly vast flock. At Abraham’s
death, there appears to be effectively no material wealth to speak of to be
haggled over by Isaac and Ishmael (both of whom come to Hebron for Abraham’s
burial). Abraham has clearly, and properly, designated Isaac as Abraham’s sole
spiritual heir, and Ishmael does not contest that, but there’s apparently no real
material wealth left to pass to anyone at Abraham’s death in modest Hebron.

Going back now to the time period immediately before Isaac moves to Gerar, a
terrible famine was afflicting southern Canaan at that time. Isaac was living
just north of the Negev Desert at Beer-lahai-roi. The traditional view that
Isaac at that point moves to the middle of the Negev Desert, and gets rich
growing crops in the Negev Desert, all the while a terrible famine is raging in
southern Canaan, is nonsensical. Historically, Gerar/Garu is in wealthy
northern Canaan, not in the ultra-modest Negev Desert or the uninhabitable Sinai
Desert. The reference to Sur at Genesis 20: 1 points to the island city-state of
Sur (later called “Tyre” by the Greeks) in northern Canaan, which was on the
west edge of historical Garu (Biblical “Gerar”). The name of the ruler of
historical Sur in the mid-14th century BCE was Abimilki, which is essentially
the same name as the ruler of Gerar in Genesis: Abimelech. Both rulers
uniquely spend much of their time jousting for access rights to valuable water
wells. Finally, and very importantly, both in the Bible and in secular history,
the only place where a Hebrew could get wealthy selling agricultural crops was
in northern Canaan, where the rich buyer was Sur, a wealthy island city-state
that had to buy all its food.

It is obvious that the Patriarchs prosper much more, on a material sphere, at
Gerar (in northern Canaan) than they ever do at modest Hebron in southern
Canaan. Like Abraham before him, Isaac shows no inclination to leave the greater
Gerar area. As far as we can tell, Isaac does not go back to Hebron until,
just like Abraham, Isaac’s beloved wife Rebekah is on her deathbed. Rebekah is
buried at Hebron, and Isaac retires at Hebron, just like his father Abraham
before him. And like Abraham, Isaac will later be buried at Hebron.

During the very long time period (30 regular years, from age 60 regular years
to age 90 regular years) when Isaac is in retirement at Hebron, Isaac does
nothing. At least, nothing is reported in the text as to Isaac doing anything
at Hebron.

As we are seeing, Hebron is viewed in the Patriarchal narratives primarily as
being a fitting place for each Patriarch’s retirement and burial, not much
more than that.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois




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