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  • From: JimStinehart AT aol.com
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] What Does the Name "Hebron" Mean?
  • Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2008 12:05:56 EDT


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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