Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

XRM
 
Yigal Levin says that the traditional view is that “Hermon”/XRMWN comes from 
the root XRM, which means “to consecrate”, and that the root XRM does not in 
that case mean “to destroy”.  Similarly, Karl W. Randolph seems to support a 
meaning of “to consecrate” for XRM when he writes:
 
“Looking at the contexts where the word חרם XRM actually is used in Tanakh, 
I
 get:  חרם to identify a person or object such that he is designated for 
special
 attention, e.g. consecrated to the Lord such that one can no longer make use
 of it for himself, sentenced to destruction or condemned to death
 -(hence)- (physically)
 to (indicate by a) mark, as in to blemish, make imperfect -(derivatives)-
 חרם marked -(hence)- designated object or person to be consecrated or
 condemned to destruction, חרם marked such that blemished, disfigured, has
 imperfection”
 
But instead of looking randomly through the Bible, why not instead look at 
how the word XRM is used immediately before and after the two specific Bible 
verses to which Yigal Levin called our attention at the beginning of this 
thread, 
which are the only two verses in the Bible that reference Baal-Hermon:  
Judges 3: 3 and I Chronicles 5: 23?
 
If we take that objective approach to this question, here is what we find.
 
1.  Judges 1: 17 (last use of XRM before Judges 3: 3)
 
“And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they smote the Canaanites that 
inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed [XRM] it.  And the name of the city 
was called Hormah.”
 
XRM here means “utterly destroy”, not “consecrate”.
 
2.  Judges 21: 11  (first use of XRM after Judges 3: 3)
 
“‘And this is the thing that ye shall do: ye shall utterly destroy [XRM] 
every male, and every woman that hath lain by man.'”
 
XRM here means “utterly destroy”, not “consecrate”.
 
3.  I Chronicles 4: 41 (last use of XRM before I Chronicles 5: 23)
 
“And these written by name came in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and 
smote their tents, and the Meunim that were found there, and destroyed them 
utterly [XRM], unto this day, and dwelt in their stead;  because there was 
pasture 
there for their flocks.”
 
XRM here means “utterly destroy”, not “consecrate”.
 
4.  II Chronicles 20: 23 (first use of XRM after I Chronicles 5: 23)
 
“For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount 
Seir, utterly to slay [XRM] and destroy them;  and when they had made an end 
of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another.”
 
XRM here means “utterly slay”, not “consecrate”.
 
Conclusion:  The authors of Judges and Chronicles well knew that XRM usually 
means “to utterly destroy”.
 
*       *       *
 
Why do people keep trying to say that XRM has the innocuous meaning of “to 
consecrate”?  BDB cannot  a-l-w-a-y-s  be wrong about the meaning of Hebrew 
words (as opposed to etymology issues).  The plain fact of the matter is that 
the 
most common meaning of XRM in the Hebrew Bible is “to utterly destroy”.  In 
particular, the four uses of XRM right before and after the two uses of the 
name “Baal-Hermon” in the Bible all have the same meaning:  “to utterly 
destroy”
.
 
Since the mountain summit at the southern tip of the Anti-Lebanon mountain 
range called “Baal-Hermon” was not primarily viewed by the Hebrews as 
connoting 
“utter destruction”, that indicates that the conventional view that XRM is 
the root of XRMWN/“Hermon” is in error.
 
Yes, XRMWN/“Hermon” has “overtones” of XRM.  But XRM cannot be the primary 
root, because the meanings don’t match.  In fact, XRMWN/“Hermon” is XR + M-N. 
 XR is a mere prefix, which has the meaning of the similar sounding HR, that 
is, “mountain”.  M-N is a truly ancient west Semitic root (seen in the Hebrew 
word MNH), meaning “to be appointed to oversee, and having implications of 
towering, divine-like grandeur”.  So XRMWN/“Hermon” = XR + M-N = “a mountain 
that is appointed to oversee [Canaan], which has towering, divine-like 
grandeur”
.
 
The violent, albeit divine-like, XRM (meaning “to consecrate by utterly 
destroying”) is only an auxiliary meaning, not the main meaning, of “Hermon”. 
 The 
real root of XRMWN/“Hermon” is M-N, just like the mountain words hmn and ’
amn in Ugaritic.
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois




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