Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

Can all three of the possible meanings of the name “Hebron” discussed on 
this thread be a mere “coincidence”?  I think not.  The author of the 
Patriarchal narratives chose, or created, the name “Hebron” precisely to 
embody all 
three of these important meanings:
 
(1)   “Hebron”/XBR-WN = the Binding Friendship place [XBR = XBR;  the suffix 
 –WN in all three cases means a geographical “place”];  and
 
(2)   “Hebron” = the Hebrew place [XBR = H+ (BR (where H = “the”, and (BR = 
(BRY/“Hebrew”)] [or, alternatively, XBR = H(BR (where H(BR = H(BRY/”Hebrew”/
“the Hebrew” {especially if H(BRY is viewed as meaning H/“the” + (BR/“Eber”
 + Y/“person”})];  and 
 
(3)   “Hebron” = the Arbe place, that is, the (Kiriath) Arbe (“city of R-B”
) place [XBR = H + BR = H + RB (inversion or anagram, where RB = “Arbe”)].
 
The precise name “Hebron”, with its “-on” ending, is not attested in 
secular history prior to the Iron Age in the 1st millennium BCE.  By 
contrast, the 
west Semitic word “Hebr”/XBR, being the obvious root of “Hebron”, was 
well-known in the 2nd millennium BCE.  In my controversial view, the Hebrew 
author of 
the truly ancient Patriarchal narratives created the new word “Hebron” in 
the Late Bronze Age, as a nickname that was an apt description of the 
Patriarchs’
 activities in the Aijalon Valley.
 
Many centuries later, that name “Hebron” in the Patriarchal narratives was 
applied to the 1st millennium BCE city, 20 miles south of Jerusalem, that 
ever 
since has been called “Hebron”.  It is possible that the city of Hebron, 
south of Jerusalem, was the historical first capital of the Hebrews.  The 
Hebrews 
may well have decided to adopt the name “Hebron” for their first capital 
city, in order to honor the ancient Patriarchs (whom the Hebrews knew from 
the 
truly ancient Patriarchal narratives).  Only later, after the state of Judah 
had 
separated from the state of Israel, did Biblical authors from Judah begin to 
assert that the “Hebron” of the Patriarchs was one and the same place as the 
modern city of Hebron (with the city of Hebron, so unlike the Aijalon Valley, 
being located in the heart of the state of Judah).  In my controversial view, 
the name “Hebron” is the same, but that’s it.  The Patriarchs’ “Hebron” is 
not located 35 miles south of Beth-el, and it’s not a city.  Rather, the 
Patriarchs’ “Hebron” is a valley, namely the Aijalon Valley, located 17½ 
miles west 
of Beth-el. 
 
As to whether the author of the Patriarchal narratives was capable of coming 
up with a name like “Hebron” that deftly embodies a complex series of puns, 
we know from the puns on the names of Jacob’s 12 sons that the author of the 
Patriarchal narratives was in fact the world’s greatest punster.  And we know 
from the name of Jacob’s firstborn son, “Reuben”, that the author of the 
Patriarchal narratives relishes non-obvious puns, that require a bit of 
stretching.  
(The name “Reuben” on one level clearly means “Look! [reu] a son [ben]”, 
which is an eminently fitting name for Jacob’s very first child.  But Genesis 
29: 32 sets forth two completely different puns for the name “Reuben”, each 
of 
which is a non-obvious pun.  Those two non-obvious, explicitly disclosed puns 
collectively describe, very poignantly, Leah’s frustration at Jacob’s 
continuing lack of affection for her.  Yet scholars have missed the important 
fourth 
pun on the name "Reuben" (a non-obvious pun that is not explicitly 
disclosed). 
 As with Jacob's other prominent sons, this son's name (“Reuben”) 
foreshadows the action of the son that will result in the son getting an 
ultimate curse 
or a blessing from his father Jacob.  Reuben gets a final curse at Genesis 
49: 
3-4 because at Genesis 35: 22, Reuben "looks" [reu] “upon” [b] one of his 
father Jacob's wives, which is an “affliction” [en(y)]:  reu-b-en.)



Since scholars have missed one of the four important puns on the name “Reuben”
, we should not be surprised that scholars have missed the important puns on 
the name “Hebron”.  (Scholars view “Hebron” as being an historical name 
whose underlying meaning is irrelevant to the Patriarchal narratives.  
Nothing 
could be further from the truth, in my view.)  Given the importance of Hebron 
in 
Genesis, and the constant punning done throughout the Patriarchal narratives, 
the name “Hebron” would certainly be expected to embody several nifty Hebrew 
puns, if the name “Hebron” was created by the author of the Patriarchal 
narratives.  And that is indeed the case.  “Hebron” means “the Binding 
Friendship 
place”  a-n-d  “the Hebrew place”  a-n-d  “the Arbe place”.  All three 
meanings fit what is going on in chapter 14 of Genesis perfectly (though the 
name “
Arbe” is not disclosed until later).  Once one recognizes that for punning 
purposes, a heth/X sounds a lot like a he/H (with both of such two Hebrew 
letters 
normally being transliterated as H in English), one can then see all three of 
those deft Biblical Hebrew puns in the name “Hebron”.
 
There is no reason to assume that the Hebron place referenced in Genesis is 
the later city of Hebron, south of Jerusalem.  That traditional view, based 
upon the much later Book of Joshua (which is not historically accurate in 
describing a Conquest), does not fit what the received text of the 
Patriarchal 
narratives says, nor does it fit the well-documented secular history of the 
Late 
Bronze Age.
 
If we can understand the meaning of the name “Hebron” in Genesis, then we 
can begin to understand the Patriarchal narratives.  “Hebron” in the 
Patriarchal narratives is a valley (Genesis 37: 14), namely the Aijalon 
Valley, located 
17½ miles west of Beth-el.  (See Genesis 13: 3, 8-12, 18;  Abraham goes the 
exact opposite direction from Beth-el than does Lot.)  The Aijalon Valley is 
famous for its magnificent groves of oak trees, which are fittingly 
referenced at 
Genesis 13: 18 as being “in Hebron”.  It is unlikely that the city of 
Hebron, by contrast, ever had a grove of oak trees.  Abraham’s people, and 
the group 
of Amorites who are at the Hebron place with whom Abraham has a confederate 
relationship, are tent-dwellers, who generally avoid the townspeople who live 
in the city that is in the “Hebron” valley (the Aijalon Valley).  That is why 
there is no mention of any city until Abraham has to buy a burial plot for 
Sarah from the townspeople in chapter 23 of Genesis.  So it is only at 
Genesis 
23: 2 that we finally are told the name of the city:  Kiriath Arbe.  There is 
no 
reason to tell us any town name earlier, because at the Hebron place (the “
Hebron” valley, which is the Aijalon Valley), Abraham has not previously been 
dealing with townspeople.  We hear about the “sons of the Hittites” (the 
historical Hurrians) for the first time only here in chapter 23 of Genesis, 
because 
the Hurrians are the townspeople in the city of Arbe in the “Hebron” valley.  
The setting in the Hebron place has been so rustic, prior to Sarah’s death, 
that its key visual feature is that there is a magnificent grove of oak trees 
(called “Mamre”) in the Hebron valley (the Aijalon Valley).  “Arbe” (or 
Kiriath Arbe, meaning “city of Arbe”) in the Patriarchal narratives is the 
historical town in the Aijalon Valley that is recorded in Late Bronze Age 
secular 
history as “Arabu” or “Rubutu” in the Amarna Letters, and that at Joshua 15: 
60 
is called “Rabbah”.  All four such town names are minor variations on the 
root R-B.  The Patriarchs’ “Hebron” is a valley, not a city. 
 
None of the geography or town names in the Patriarchal narratives are 
fictional.  Rather, the pinpoint accuracy of the Patriarchal narratives, 
regarding 
Late Bronze Age historical geography, is simply stunning.
 
Most noteworthy of all, all 15 town names in Canaan near which the Patriarchs 
are portrayed as sojourning in Genesis are historical names of historical 
Late Bronze Age towns in the  n-o-r-t-h-e-r-n  two-thirds of Canaan.  That is 
the 
land that eventually became the state of Israel, as opposed to the land in 
southern Canaan that later became the state of Judah.  “Hebron” in Genesis is 
“
the Arbe place”, based on historical Arabu/Rubutu/Rabbah (Biblical “Arbe”) in 
the Aijalon Valley (just north of the future state of Judah), so that the 
city name in question is “Arbe”, not “Hebron” (with the Patriarchs’ “Hebron” 
being a valley, namely the Aijalon Valley).  As such, (i) 0 of 15 town names 
in 
the Patriarchal narratives are present in the secular history of southern 
Canaan in ancient times, whereas (ii) a stunning 15 of 15 town names in the 
Patriarchal narratives are documented in the secular history of the northern 
two-thirds of Canaan in the Late Bronze Age.  15 out of 15 beats 0 out of 15. 
 We 
see that the author of the Patriarchal narratives could not have been J, E, P 
or 
D, but rather must have been an early Hebrew, in the Late Bronze Age, from  
n-o-r-t-h-e-r-n  Canaan.  The Patriarchal narratives are about 700 years 
older 
than the rest of the oldest portions of the Bible.  The Patriarchal 
narratives 
have tremendous historical accuracy, in a Late Bronze Age northern Canaan 
context.
 
If we can understand that “Hebron” in Genesis is a Patriarchal nickname for 
the Aijalon Valley, located 17½ miles west of Beth-el (just north of the 
future state of Judah), rather than being an historically anachronistic 
reference 
to the later city of Hebron located 35 miles south of Beth-el (in the heart 
of 
the future state of Judah), and that the only named city in this area is 
“Arbe”
 (historical Arabu/Rubutu) in the Aijalon Valley, then we can begin to 
understand the remarkable Late Bronze Age historical accuracy of the 
Patriarchal 
narratives.
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois




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