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  • From: JimStinehart AT aol.com
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] Hebron: The Linguistic Search for the Patriarchs' Bronze Age "Hebron"
  • Date: Thu, 9 Oct 2008 09:46:54 EDT


Perhaps we can agree that there’s at least a possibility that the Patriarchs’
“Hebron” may be the fine pastureland of the Aijalon Valley, instead of
being, as traditionally supposed, the city of Hebron south of Jerusalem,
where
there is little good pastureland. The name “Hebron” is not attested south of
Jerusalem until the 8th century BCE, long after the Patriarchal Age, and as a
city name it may have been chosen by the Hebrews in honor of the Patriarchs’ “
Hebron”, a rural meadowland at a different locale. But is the name “Hebron”
attested at the Aijalon Valley in the Late Bronze Age? I think it is. Let’s
examine the inscriptional evidence. Language issues like this are the
b-hebrew
list’s long suit.

There are four items called “JBR” on the mid-15th century BCE list of places
in Canaan compiled by conquering Egyptian pharaoh Thutmosis III. In
examining the possible relation of these four “JBR” items to the Patriarchs’
“Hebron”
, we should look at four puns on the name “Hebron”. As we will see, one of
these puns is a play on “JBR”.

“Hebron” is heth-bet-resh-vav-nun/XBRWN. The -on/-vav-nun/-WN is a suffix,
that means “place”. Thus for example the “-on” ending of “Sharon” means “
place”, with the Sharon Plain being a geographical area, not a town. (The
root
of “Sharon” is yod-shin-resh/YSR, meaning “level”. The geographical name “
Sharon” is always preceded by he/H, meaning “the”, which causes the yod
[which is not a guttural] to drop out completely. H + [y]$R + WN = the level
place
= H + $RWN = the Sharon (Plain). Note that some form of a he/H must always
precede the name of this geographical area which ends in “-on”. We will see
that “Hebron” is somewhat similar, except that an initial guttural (aleph or
ayin) in the root does not drop out completely, but rather causes the he/H,
meaning “the”, to become the guttural heth/X.]

A heth/X has two components for sound: an H sound, plus a guttural sound.
In English, a heth/X is usually transliterated as an H (at least where, as
here, it is the first letter in a word), because of its H sound. But unlike
a
he/H, a heth also has a guttural sound. The two other guttural sounds in
Hebrew
are aleph and ayin.

As a pun, a heth can naturally suggest any of the following three
possibilities:

(1) heth = heth

(2) heth = he + aleph

(3) heth = he + ayin.

All three of those patterns feature both an H sound and a guttural sound.

Although neither #2 nor #3 would sound exactly like #1, the sound would be
fairly similar, being close enough to be a close pun. In cases #2 and #3,
the
heth would in part be a prefix, representing a he/H, meaning “the”. But the
heth would also, simultaneously, represent as well the first letter in the
underlying root -- either an aleph or an ayin. Remember, it is commonplace
in
Biblical Hebrew for a geographical place (like “the Sharon”) to be preceded
by a
he/H/“the”. And as we previously saw concerning the name “Hamor”, an
initial heth/X can represent two letters -- he-aleph/H), being the H sound +
a
guttural -- so that “Hamor” is revealed to mean, most appropriately, “the
Amorite
”. XMWR = XMR = H + )MR = “the Amorite”. [“Hamor” is the name of the
Amorite ruler of Shechem in chapter 34 of Genesis. See also Genesis 48: 22.]
(By
contrast, heth would not ordinarily represent he + yod, as in “Sharon”,
because a yod is not a guttural, whereas a heth is a guttural.) As to heth
vs.
he, we must remember that (i) there was some similarity in the sound, (ii)
there
was great similarity in how these two letters were written, and (iii)
confusing heth vs. he is one of the commonest scribal errors in ancient
times: “also
this word ‘darkness’ from choshek is written with a he not a heth” (re the Q
scribe’s mistakes in transcribing Isaiah 42: 16).

As to the resh/R in “Hebron”, in Egyptian transcriptions an R represented
either a west Semitic resh/R or a west Semitic lamed/L. Even within Biblical
Hebrew itself, Gesenius and modern scholars have recognized that in certain
circumstances, a resh/R and a lamed/L can sometimes be interchangeable. In
particular, a resh/R sometimes softens over the centuries into a lamed/L.
Accordingly, the resh/R in “Hebron’ can be either a resh/R or a lamed/L, at
least for
punning purposes.

Putting the foregoing together, we get the following four puns on (or
meanings of) the name “Hebron”:

1. XBR + WN = XBR + WN
2. XBR + WN = H + (BR + WN
3. XBR + WN = H + )BR + WN = H + )RB + WN (inversion or anagram)
4. XBR + WN = H + )BL + WN [where R later softens to L]

All four of those are close puns, and would have had similar sounds (though
by no means identical sounds) in Biblical Hebrew. The name “Hebron”
intentionally has a-l-l f-o-u-r of these meanings. The reason why the
early Hebrew
author of the Patriarchal narratives chose to spell “Hebron” with a heth/X,
rather than with a he/H, was precisely in order to generate these four puns,
which collectively define the essence of the Patriarchs’ “Hebron”. Meaning
#4
of “Hebron” is “the JBR place”, based on the mid-15th century BCE
inscription “JBR”, where JBR = )BR = )BL, meaning “a meadowland through which
flows a
wadi”.

1. Here, X = X. So XBRWN = XBR + WN = “Binding Friendship place”. XBR =
binding friendship, alliance, etc. In all of these cases, the suffix –WN
means
“place”. At Genesis 14: 13, Abraham has a binding friendship/confederate
relationship/covenant with tent-dwelling Amorites, who help Abraham rescue
Lot
way up north.

2. Here, X = H(. So XBRWN = H + (BR + WN = “the Hebrew place”. H = “the”
. (BR = “Hebrew”. [The full spelling of “Hebrew” is (BRY, but the final
yod/Y is a generic suffix meaning “people”. The root of “Hebrew” is (BR.]
Genesis 14: 13 is the first Biblical reference to “the Hebrew”. It cannot be
a
“coincidence” that Abraham “the Hebrew” primarily sojourns at a place that
is so easily viewed as meaning “the Hebrew place”. No, the Hebrew author of
the Patriarchal narratives has chosen to spell “Hebron” with a heth/X in
order to generate this very fitting pun, where heth/X represents he-ayin/H(.

3. Here, X = H). So XBRWN = H + )BR + WN = H + )RB + WN = “the Arbe place”
. H = “the”. )BR = )RB, either by inverting the BR to get RB, or as an
anagram. )RB = “Arbe”, where the full spelling of “Arbe” is )RB(, but the
root
is simply R-B [meaning “to become many, to multiply, to become great”; one
variant of this R-B root is that )RB( = “four”]. At Genesis 23: 2, we later
find out that the name of the city (“kiriath”) at the Hebron place is Arbe,
that is, Kiriath Arbe. The Hebron place itself is not a city, but rather is
#4
below, a well-watered rustic meadowland, where the city of Arbe/Kiriath
Arbe/the R-B city is located.

4. Here, as in #3 above, X = H). So XBRWN = H + )BR + WN = H + )BL + WN = “
the well-watered meadowland place”, being good, open pastureland through
which
flows a wadi. H = “the”. )BL = stream or wadi, per Daniel 8: 3, 6, and
preceded by a he/H; but also: )BL = meadow or grassy place, implying good,
open
pastureland, per Judges 11: 33.

On the scholarly view that “JBR” = )BL, this #4 could alternatively be
expressed as H + JBR + WN, which is H + )BR + WN, which in turn, if heth
represents
the two letters HJ/he-aleph/H), is X + BR + WN = XBRWN/“Hebron”.

As noted above, “JBR” appears four times on the TIII list (the mid-15th
century BCE list of places in Canaan by conquering Egyptian pharaoh Thutmosis
III). The last three times on the TIII list, the JBR items appear fairly
close to
Rubutu and Gezer, in the Shephelah. These three JBRs must be representing
several important wadis which bisected the Shephelah and which featured good,
open pastureland. The fact that these several places were fine pastureland
is
precisely why an Egyptian pharaoh took note of these particular places, such
as
the Aijalon Valley. On the TIII list, J is an aleph, B = bet/B, and R is
either resh/R or lamed/L. Scholars treat JBR on the TIII list as being
aleph-B-L
= stream. But that same word aleph-B-L also means “meadow” in Hebrew.
Rather than just recording streams or wadis in general, the Egyptians would
only
have taken particular interest in those wadis that were surrounded by good,
open pastureland. So aleph-B-L/JBR meant good, open pastureland through
which
flowed a wadi, reflecting the two different meanings of the Hebrew word
aleph-B-L.

The Aijalon Valley features luxuriant meadowland, through which flows a wadi.
The Aijalon Valley is “the JBR place”, where “JBR” means “a fine
meadowland through which flows a wadi”. The name “Hebron”, as shown above,
has as one
of its key meanings “the JBR place”. “The”/he/H + aleph/J is represented
by heth/X, as is also the case with the name “Hamor”. So H + JBR + WN
becomes
XBRWN, and that is the name “Hebron”. Both “Hamor” and “Hebron” are
deliberate puns, where heth/X represents he-aleph/H).

We have succeeded in locating the Patriarchs’ Bronze Age “Hebron”! It is
the Aijalon Valley, “the JBR place”, a fine meadowland with a wadi flowing
through it, located 17½ miles west of Beth-el. Since Lot went 17½ miles east
of
Beth-el to get to the Jordan River, the text strongly implies that Abraham
went
exactly the opposite direction, namely 17½ miles west of Beth-el, to get to
the Patriarchs’ “Hebron”, which is the Aijalon Valley. The name “Hebron” is
based on, and is the Biblical Hebrew version of, the pre-Hebrew west Semitic
mid-15th century BCE inscription for the Aijalon Valley: “JBR”.

H + JBR + WN = XBRWN/“Hebron” = “the well-watered meadowland place” = the
Aijalon Valley, which is the Patriarchs’ “Hebron”.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois




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