Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

Pere Porta:
 
1.  You wrote:  “We find in the Bible a parallel case that maybe casts some 
light on the
 issue [regarding “Hebron”] you're dealing with.
 Qohelet 1:15 has "(W)XSRWN", (and) lack, deficiency, of XSR, to lack (1Ki
 17:16)”.
 
You have pointed out a fascinating word, XSRWN.  As you probably know, that 
word only appears once in the Bible, at Qohelet/Ecclesiastes 1: 15.  The root 
is the verb XSR, which appears 21 times in the Bible, including at 
Qohelet/Ecclesiastes 4: 8;  9: 8.  The adjectival form of this root, also 
spelled XSR, 
appears 19 times in the Bible, including at I Kings 17: 16 that you cite, but 
also at Qohelet/Ecclesiastes 6: 2;  10: 3.
 
>From the foregoing, it is obvious that both the verb XSR, and its adjectival 
form XSR, are standard Biblical Hebrew.  But since XSRWN by contrast only 
appears once in the Bible, in the somewhat mysterious Qohelet/Ecclesiastes, 
one 
senses that XSRWN may be a “made up” word, although its meaning is clear.
 
Start with the standard verb XSR, meaning “to lack”.  Then add –WN as a 
suffix, resulting in XSR-WN, meaning “place that lacks”, or even “Lacking”, 
as 
if “Lacking” were the name of a deserted town or desolate valley.  That is to 
say, the –WN suffix not only turns the verb into a noun, but also makes it a 
noun that could be fitting as the name of a town in ancient Canaan.  The 
standard translations are “that which is wanting” (KJV, JPS1917), “a lacking 
thing”
 (Young’s Literal), and “what is lacking” (ESV, NIV).  But in my opinion, 
XSRWN really means a geographical  p-l-a-c-e  that is characterized by 
lacking.
 
2.  Of great relevance to this discussion is the objective fact that the most 
common ending of town names in ancient Canaan is “-on” (in English 
transliteration).  A quick glance at a map of ancient Canaan reveals the 
following 
partial list of 19 town names ending in “-on”:  Hebron, Ashkelon, Shimron, 
Eglon, 
Ekron, Gibeon, Hannathon, Madon, Ijon, Sidon, Heshbon, Baal-meon/Beon, 
Beth-horon, Gibbethon, Kishion, Raphon, Sharon, Dibon. 
 
Accordingly, the peculiar word XSRWN has the ring of a town name in ancient 
Canaan, given the –WN suffix.  However, presumably no real town would be 
called 
“Lacking”, which again suggests that this word, which is unique to 
Qohelet/Ecclesiastes 1: 15, is a “made up” word or a nickname, rather than 
being a 
standard Biblical Hebrew word.
 
3.  You wrote:  “Maybe we could say: suffix -WN -together with the vowel 
change to segol in the first syllable- turns a verb of first guttural into a 
noun 
that means
 the fulfillment or accomplishment of the concept of this verb.  If so, then 
we could say the same thing about XBRWN.  Do you think this view is right?”
 
A “segol” is a medieval concept.  There was no segol in ancient Canaan.  
Accordingly, I do not see how the medieval segol concept could be relevant to 
trying to figure out the meaning of “Hebron”/XBRWN in the Patriarchal 
narratives.
 
The main purpose of this thread is to explore whether “Hebron” in Genesis is 
referring to a  v-a-l-l-e-y  (probably the Aijalon Valley, located 17½ miles 
west of Beth-el), or rather is referring (on the traditional view) to the  
c-i-t-y  of Hebron that is prominent in the 1st millennium BCE, but which did 
not 
exist as a city in the Late Bronze Age.
 
I am arguing that “Hebron” in Genesis is a Patriarchal nickname for the 
Aijalon Valley, rather than the author passively recording the name of the 
later 
city of Hebron.  In order to make my case, I must be able to show that 
“Hebron”
 would be a fitting nickname for a place that has the following three 
prominent characteristics:  (1) it is where Abraham has a “binding 
friendship” with 
certain Amorites, who help him rescue his nephew Lot way up north;  (2) it is 
the “Hebrew” place, which is the first time in the Bible that the word “Hebrew
” is used, and is where the first Hebrews sojourn longer than any other 
place;  and (3) is a valley in which the  c-i-t-y  of Arbe (Kiriath Arbe, 
where “
kiriath” means “city”) was located.
 
The b-Hebrew list is the ideal place to explore whether “Hebron” could funct
ion as a fitting Patriarchal nickname for such a valley.  Note in this 
connection that Genesis 37: 14 says that Hebron is a “valley”.  Genesis 13: 
18 says 
that a magnificent grove of oak trees (or terebinths) called “Mamre” is “in” 
Hebron.  That statement makes perfect sense if “Hebron” in Genesis means the 
Aijalon Valley, which is famous for its magnificent groves of oak trees, but 
does not fit the city of Hebron (located on a high plateau 20 miles south of 
Jerusalem).  Genesis 23: 2;  23: 19 and 35: 27 appear to say that each of the 
city of Arbe, and the magnificent grove of oak trees called “Mamre”, is in 
Hebron, that is, in the valley of Hebron.  In my opinion, Joshua 14: 15 errs 
in 
seeing Arbe as a former name for the later city of Hebron.  Rather, Arbe is 
the 
historical Late Bronze Age city of Arabu/Rubu(tu) [“Rabbah” at Joshua 15: 
60], in the Aijalon Valley.  (All four such names feature R-B as their root.) 
 
4.  This then brings us right back to the XSRWN that you cite.  I see XSRWN 
in Qohelet/Ecclesiastes as being a nickname, referring to a fictional place 
that is called “Lacking”, as a metaphor for “that which is lacking” or “what 
is 
lacking”.  Somewhat similarly, I see “Hebron” in the Patriarchal narratives 
as being a nickname, a fitting Patriarchal nickname that refers to the 
(non-fictional) Aijalon Valley, with the nickname “Hebron” emphasizing three 
of the 
most important aspects of this place to the Patriarchs:  (1) the “binding 
friendship” with certain Amorites there [XBR = XBR];  (2) it being the 
“Hebrew 
place” [XBR = H + (BR];  and (3) it being where the city of “Arbe” was 
located 
[XBR = H + BR = H + RB (inversion or anagram, where RB = “Arbe”], which is 
where Abraham buries Sarah, with this place then becoming the place of burial 
for 6 of the 7 Patriarchs and Matriarchs.
 
I well realize that in the rest of the Bible (which was composed in the 1st 
millennium BCE), “Hebron” refers to the well-known 1st millennium BCE town by 
that name that is located 20 miles south of Jerusalem.  But there was no city 
at that location in the Late Bronze Age.  Perhaps there had been a town there 
in the Middle Bronze Age.  But in any event we have nothing to confirm the 
name “Hebron” as applying to the locale 20 miles south of Jerusalem prior to 
the 
1st millennium BCE, which is long past the time of the Patriarchal Age.   
 
I am arguing on this thread that in Genesis, as opposed to the rest of the 
Bible, “Hebron” is an apt Patriarchal nickname for the Aijalon Valley.  Note 
that “Hebron” is never expressly stated to be a “city” in Genesis.  In fact, 
all five references in Genesis to “Hebron”, each of which is referenced 
above, 
work better as being references to a valley than as references to a city.   
Moreover, if one looks at Genesis 13: 3, 8-12, 18, one can see that Lot goes 
17½ miles  e-a-s-t  from Beth-el to the Jordan River Valley.  Since Abraham 
had 
just said to Lot at Beth-el “if you go left, I will go right, and if you go 
right, I will go left”, we would then expect Abraham to be portrayed in the 
text 
as going 17½ miles  w-e-s-t  of Beth-el.  That would bring Abraham to the 
Aijalon Valley, not to the future city of Hebron located 35 miles south of 
Beth-el.
 
The b-Hebrew list question then becomes whether “Hebron” could function in 
Biblical Hebrew as a fitting Patriarchal nickname for the Aijalon Valley.  
That 
is the issue I am raising in this thread.  I see both your XSRWN and “Hebron”
/XBRWN in Genesis (though not in the rest of the Bible) as being nicknames 
(for a fictional or historical place), not as being historical names of 
historical towns or places.
 
 My theory of the case is dependent on there being clever Biblical Hebrew 
wordplay throughout the Patriarchal narratives, of the type that I have 
suggested.
 
I see your example of XSRWN as helping my theory of the case a little bit.  
 
I welcome all comments and attacks on my new theory of the meaning of “Hebron”
 in the Patriarchal narratives.  I myself see “Hebron” in Genesis as being a 
Late Bronze Age Patriarchal nickname for the Aijalon Valley, located 17½ 
miles west of Beth-el. 
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois




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