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  • From: JimStinehart AT aol.com
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] What Does "Sodom" Mean?
  • Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2008 10:15:43 EST


Dear Yigal Levin:

1. You wrote: “Since Abraham looks over the cities of the plain, including
Sodom, from Hebron, they obviously could not have been in the Jezreel Valley.

This is even true if the Patriarchs' Hebron was in the Ayalon Valley, as you
(wrongly) claim.”

Abraham does not view a destroyed Sodom from Hebron! No way. Abraham goes
back to where he had stood before YHWH, that is, to Beth-el, where Abraham
had
stood before YHWH in chapter 13 of Genesis, immediately after Lot chose to
journey east to the Jordan River. From a mountaintop just east of Beth-el,
you
of all people are very well aware of what can be seen: (i) the Jordan River
to
the east and northeast; (ii) Mt. Hermon to the far northeast; and (iii)
nothing southeast at all, as the high hill country of the city of Hebron cuts
off
all view to the south and southeast.

In chapter 13 of Genesis, Lot and Abraham cannot literally see Sodom/Beth
Shan. But Lot and Abraham had passed right by Sodom/Beth Shan when they came
into Canaan from the far northeast (Harran). They knew that Sodom/Beth Shan
was
(i) south of Mt. Hermon and (ii) located on the Jordan River. What Lot and
Abraham can see in chapter 13 are Mt. Hermon and the Jordan River, which
naturally reminds them of the wealthy city of Sodom/Beth Shan and the
incredible M$QH
referenced at Genesis 13: 10 -- the well-watered fertile fields of grain of
the Jezreel Valley.

Abraham, Lot and everyone else in Canaan knew about the 5 wealthy cities in
the fertile Jezreel Valley. If Lot wants to live the soft city life,
naturally
the thing to do is to sell Lot’s flock in due course and take early
retirement in Sodom/Beth Shan, which is exactly what Lot does.

In chapter 19 of Genesis, Sodom/Beth Shan has literally gone up in smoke.
>From a mountaintop just east of Beth-el, one could just make out, in the far
distance, that terrible conflagration. And if there was a north wind, that
smoke
would be blown south down the Jordan River Valley toward Beth-el. Now all
the divine promises are quickly coming true! If YHWH has destroyed
Sodom/Beth
Shan as promised, certainly old Sarah will bear Isaac in less than 12 months
time as promised. And with Lot now being relegated to a cave in the hill
country of the Transjordan (Lot having left Zoar/Afula the Small [item #54 on
the
Thutmosis III list] in the Jezreel Valley), all the divine promises of land
for
Abraham’s favored descendants are coming true as well. Even before the smoke
has fully dissipated, Abraham i-m-m-e-d-i-a-t-e-l-y takes off north, going
past a destroyed Sodom/Beth Shan (and not wasting time looking for Lot) to
KRR/GRR/Garar/Gariree/GLLyL/Galilee. With Lot no longer having any claim to
the
greater Jordan River Valley, Abraham immediately perfects his claim to all
Canaan by crossing the devastated Jezreel Valley and commencing to sojourn in
the
fine land of northern Galilee, between Qadesh of Upper Galilee on the east,
and Ssur (deliberately and disparagingly misspelled as “Sur”) (the fabulously
wealthy island city-state called “Tyre” in English) on the west, after
passing
through Adami-the-Negev (that is, “the Negev”) just west of the Sea of
Galilee on his way to Qadesh of Upper Galilee. All four places at Genesis
20: 1
are documented in the Thutmosis III list and/or the Amarna Letters.
Meanwhile,
as you well know, in the secular history of the ancient world (i) no
inscription ever refers to the desert south of Canaan as “the Negev”, (ii)
there is no
“Qadesh” in the Negev or Sinai Desert, (iii), there is no “Sur” in the
Sinai Desert, and (iv) there is no “Garar” in the Negev Desert. Why stay
with
the scholarly view, which has n-o-t-h-i-n-g to support it in inscriptions
from
the ancient world? Why not look instead at the ancient inscriptions that
document such Late Bronze Age places as the real “Qadesh”, that is Qadesh of
Upper Galilee, and the real “Garar”, that is KRR/GRR/GLyL/Galilee?

You are absolutely right that nothing can be seen from either the city of
Hebron or the Aijalon Valley. In particular, neither the Dead Sea, nor the
southeast coast of the Dead Sea for heaven’s sake, can be seen from either
the city
of Hebron or the Aijalon Valley. So in order to see the smoke rising from
the destruction of one of the five cities of the Plain, that is the five
cities
in the Jezreel Valley, Abraham must return to Beth-el, where Abraham had
previously stood before YHWH in chapter 13, and where now in chapter 19
Abraham can
just make out in the far distance the smoke rising from a destroyed
Sodom/Beth Shan. And since the Aijalon Valley is only 17½ miles west of
Beth-el,
Abraham can get to Beth-el prior to mid-morning, to see the full effect of
the
smoke from a recently destroyed Sodom being blown south down the Jordan River
Valley toward Beth-el.

Note that all geographical matters in the Patriarchal narratives make perfect
sense.

2. You wrote: “If I may try my own hand at popular etymologies, how about
"Sodom" - "the Valley of Siddim", which according to Gen. 14:3 was the old
name
for the Dead Sea?”

Certainly you agree that “Siddim” means “fields”, don’t you? There were no
fields at the Dead Sea! There was some lush vegetation at a handful of oases
southeast of the Dead Sea, as you have mentioned. But there were never any
significant number of fields at the Dead Sea. The “Valley of Fields” can
logically refer to only one place in all of Canaan: the Jezreel Valley, the
famous “valley” that famously features all those lovely “fields” of grain.

The reference at Genesis 14: 3 to the “salt sea” is to the other salt sea
that borders Canaan: the Mediterranean Sea. Based on the Thutmosis III
campaign from 100 years earlier, we know exactly where the big battle for
Canaan
should take place: at Megiddo/Gomorrah, of course, in the Jezreel Valley,
just
east of the Mediterranean Sea. No invaders would waste their precious time
going to the southeast coast of the Dead Sea! There’s no there there. No,
the
great prize for an invasion of Canaan was the fertile fields of the Jezreel
Valley, and the logical place for a huge battle for Canaan was definitely at
Megiddo/Gomorrah in the Valley of Fields, the Jezreel Valley, near the
Mediterranean salt sea. The invaders would take Sodom/Beth Shan first, and
then the final
battle for Canaan would be fought at Gomorrah/Megiddo, with both places being
in the coveted, valuable Jezreel Valley.

3. You are intimately familiar with the geography of Canaan. Don’t you
think the same holds true for the author of the Patriarchal narratives? If
you
were making up a story about the pre-history of the Jews, whether the story
was
fictional or non-fictional, you would not use a fictional geography of
Canaan.
Neither did the author of the Patriarchal narratives. The l-o-c-a-l
geography of Canaan in the Patriarchal narratives cannot be fictional, even
if, for
argument’s sake, we tentatively looked at the scholarly view that the
Patriarchal narratives are fiction composed by multiple pre-exilic or
post-exilic
authors (not my view!). Even on that scholarly view, the l-o-c-a-l
geography
of Canaan cannot be fictional. Otherwise, the Hebrews and Jews would never
have accepted the story.

So why not give up the scholarly gambit of embracing a totally fictional
local geography of Canaan in the Patriarchal narratives? Consider what Lot
and
Abraham could actually see from a mountaintop just east of Beth-el. Consider
where the five rich cities, and the Valley of Fields, actually were in
Canaan.
And consider the ancient inscriptions that document Late Bronze Age places in
Canaan like Qadesh of Upper Galilee and KRR/GRR/GLyL/Galilee. If I could get
you to give up the scholarly fantasy of a totally fictional local geography
of
Canaan for the Patriarchal narratives, then who knows, maybe soon enough you
and I might agree on most everything.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois

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