Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Joseph Justiss <jljustiss AT msn.com>]

Yodan
 
You might consider the commentary on Proverbs by Bruce Waltke.  He holds the 
text in high regards and at the same time is a recognized giant in the 
scholarly world.  I hope that helps
 
Joseph Justiss> From: b-hebrew-request AT lists.ibiblio.org> Subject: b-hebrew 
Digest, Vol 72, Issue 26> To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org> Date: Mon, 29 Dec 
2008 13:20:22 -0500> > Send b-hebrew mailing list submissions to> 
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digest..."> > > Today's Topics:> > 1. (no subject) (AMK Judaica)> 2. Proverbs 
(Yodan)> 3. Joshua 15: 52-59: Hill Country Cities? (JimStinehart AT aol.com)> > 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------> > 
Message: 1> Date: Sun, 28 Dec 2008 23:33:50 -0500> From: AMK Judaica 
<amkjudaica AT hotmail.com>> Subject: [b-hebrew] (no subject)> To: Hebrew List 
<b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>> Message-ID: 
<COL102-W9293BBABA17C657B4EC95D9E60 AT phx.gbl>> Content-Type: text/plain; 
charset="iso-8859-1"> > > > > > JOHN,> > different communities have different 
names.> tikun> korei'm sometimes contains charts with the names and muscial 
notation> (see especially "tikkun simanim" for lists of names in different> 
communities).> also see wickes.> i assume mordechai breuer and michael 
perlman give variant names, but i don't remember> > AVI,> > thanks for that 
link to unicode. i couldn't believe that even nun hafukha is listed> > kol 
tuv,> ari kinsberg> blog: http://agmk.blogspot.com> 
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 > ------------------------------> > Message: 2> Date: Sun, 28 Dec 2008 
23:31:09 -0800> From: "Yodan" <yodan AT yodanco.com>> Subject: [b-hebrew] 
Proverbs> To: "'Hebrew List'" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>> Message-ID: 
<006c01c96987$6b55db20$6601a8c0@RivkaNewPC>> Content-Type: text/plain; 
charset="us-ascii"> > Does anyone know of a good commentary book on Proverbs? 
> > Thanks,> > Rivka Sherman-Gold> > > > > > > > 
------------------------------> > Message: 3> Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2008 10:32:11 
EST> From: JimStinehart AT aol.com> Subject: [b-hebrew] Joshua 15: 52-59: Hill 
Country Cities?> To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org> Message-ID: 
<cdb.4810d90f.368a477b AT aol.com>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"> > 
> Joshua 15: 52-59: Hill Country Cities?> > Yigal Levin is one of the leading 
experts in the world on the subject of the > identity of Biblical cities in 
southern Canaan. But let me venture a few > thoughts of my own on that 
important subject. I think I may have located a main > source of the 
longstanding post-Biblical misunderstanding of Biblical > geography: a 
mis-reading of Joshua 15: 48-60.> > A. The text of Joshua 15: 48-60 
unambiguously states that the first 11 > cities listed there (Joshua 15: 
48-51) are located in hill country. These 11 > cities include Debir, a 
well-known city located in hill country south of the city > of Hebron. Socoh 
is located on the western edge of hill country. I do not see > any of the 11 
cities there as being known not to be located in hill country. > So far, so 
good.> > But as I see it, the text, out of context, is inherently ambiguous 
as to > whether or not the next 27 cities listed thereafter are, or are not, 
asserted by > Joshua to be located in hill country.> > For starters, it is 
hard to see how hill country south of Jerusalem could > contain that many 
cities. 38 cities in that part of hill country? The flip side > is that it 
seems very odd that on what I believe is the customary reading of > the text, 
not a single city in the attractive Aijalon Valley is assigned to > Judah in 
the Book of Joshua. (I realize that Gezer, and the city of Aijalon, > are 
dealt with separately, at Joshua 16: 10; 19: 42.)> > I note that the cities 
in the Shephelah well south of the Aijalon Valley are > well represented at 
Joshua 15: 33-47, along with several cities on the coast > which are not in 
the Shephelah. Joshua 15: 33-36 lists 14 cities ?in the valley> ?, which 
apparently means the Shephelah south of the Aijalon Valley, and > perhaps 
south of the Sorek Valley as well. All 14 of those cities may well be > 
located in the Shephelah (not on the coast). But as for the next 28 cities > 
listed (at Joshua 15: 37-47), although many such cities are located in the > 
Shephelah, not all of them are. Ashdod and Gaza at Joshua 15: 47 certainly 
are > located on the coast, not in the Shephelah. Moreover, in this list of 
44 cities, I > see not a single city located in or near the Aijalon Valley.> 
> Most of the foregoing problems disappear entirely if one recognizes that 
(i) > not all of the 28 cities listed at Joshua 15: 37-47 are asserted by 
Joshua to > be ?in the valley?, that is, in the Shephelah, and that (ii) the 
cities > listed at Joshua 15: 52-60 likewise are not being asserted by Joshua 
to be located > in hill country.> > Yes, the reference to ?hiy Hebron? at 
Joshua 15: 54 is a major concern. The > city of Hebron is definitely located 
in hill country, south of Jerusalem, > though the city name ?Hebron? is not 
attested in secular history prior to the > 8th century BCE. But other than 
that one controversial reference (which looks > like a gloss, and can be 
discussed in a later post), it appears to me that all > 25 cities listed at 
Joshua 15: 52-59 may be located in or near the Aijalon > Valley, not in hill 
country.> > B. In this post, I will start things out by mentioning just one 
specific > city: MQRT. [The letters ?Mqrt? are set forth as item #106 on the 
Thutmosis > III list from the mid-15th century BCE here: > 
http://www.archaeowiki.org/Topographical_List%2C_First_Campaign_of_Thutmose_III
 P. 74 of Anson Rainey?s ?The > Sacred Bridge? adds in some vowel sounds and 
sets forth either ?ma-q-r-tu? or ?> ma-q-ra-tu?. (The final U there is a 
pre-12th century BCE case ending that > would not be reflected in the 
Bible.)] > > Nadav Na?aman, who is one of the best historians in the world, 
states that he > and other scholars have not been able to figure out what the 
city of MQRT is > at item #106 on the Thutmosis III list. ?The place of 
Mqr/lt (No. 106) is > unknown.? [The 3rd letter is an Egyptian R, which could 
be either resh/R or > lamed/L, hence Prof. Na?aman?s rendering of ?r/l?. 
Here, I see that R as > being a resh/R.] > 
_http://books.google.com/books?id=HmTOoQmf23AC&pg=PA208&lpg=PA204&ots=9b0fS9ucF2&dq=rubutu+letter&ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html_
 > 
(http://books.google.com/books?id=HmTOoQmf23AC&pg=PA208&lpg=PA204&ots=9b0fS9ucF2&dq=rubutu+le>
 tter&ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html) MQRT comes immediately after Gezer and > 
Rubutu on the Thutmosis III list, and right before the geographical focus of 
the > Thutmosis III list appears to shift to the Jezreel Valley (at item 
#107). We > would logically expect MQRT to be the last of 7 straight cities 
listed on the > Thutmosis III list that are cities located in or near the 
Aijalon Valley.> > Apparently, scholars have not looked at Joshua 15: 52-59 
in trying to > understand MQRT, on the grounds that (i) all of the cities 
listed there allegedly are > asserted by Joshua to be in hill country, and 
(ii) pharaoh Thutmosis III > never went anywhere near hill country. But the 
text of Joshua does not say that > those cities are located in hill country, 
as I read it. Rather, I see all of > the 25 cities listed at 15: 52-59 as 
likely being in or near the Aijalon > Valley, rather than being in hill 
country (subject to the one controversial > reference to ?hiy Hebron?, which 
can be addressed later).> > If we are willing to look in Joshua 15: 52-59 for 
a MQRT located in or near > the Aijalon Valley, we find it immediately, at 
Joshua 15: 59.> > MQRT = Biblical ?Maarath?. MQRT is item #106 on the 
Thutmosis III list > (being the last of 7 straight cities on that list that 
appear to be located in or > near the Aijalon Valley). The letter Q on the 
Thutmosis III list often > represents a gimel/G sound. (Thus Gezer, at item 
#104 on the Thutmosis III list, is > QDR, where the Egyptian Q represents a 
west Semitic gimel/G.) An archaic > ghayin in the Bronze Age had a sound 
similar to gimel/G, as we see in ?Gaza? and > ?Gomorrah? in the Patriarchal 
narratives, each of which begins with an > archaic ghayin, which is 
represented in Biblical Hebrew writing as a regular ayin, > but which comes 
out as a G in the Septuagint in Greek. If the Q here > represents a 
ghayin/ayin (which sounded a lot like gimel/G), then the four Hebrew > 
equivalent letters would be mem-ayin-resh-tav/M(RT. That is exactly what is > 
found, letter for letter, at Joshua 15: 59: M(RT/?Maarath?. MQRT as item #106 
on > the Thutmosis III list = Biblical ?Maarath?/M(RT at Joshua 15: 59.> > 
Though scholars have been baffled by MQRT at item #106 on the Thutmosis III > 
list, it?s right there at Joshua 15: 59, plain as day, as a city in or near 
the > Aijalon Valley, if we are willing to recognize that the text of Joshua 
does > not assert that the cities at Joshua 15: 52-60 are located in hill 
country.> > In my view, the key to understanding what Joshua is doing with 
his > controversial reference to ?hiy Hebron? at Joshua 15: 54 is first to 
try to understand > all that we can about the 25 cities that surround that 
apparent gloss. It > makes all the difference in the world whether those 25 
cities are in or near the > Aijalon Valley, or by sharp contrast are in hill 
country. It makes no sense > to ignore those 25 cities listed in Joshua.> > 
With 25 Biblical city names to look at in Joshua 15: 52-59, and with the > 
mid-15th century BCE Thutmosis III list available to be consulted for Late 
Bronze > Age cities in Canaan, which seems to include 7 straight cities 
located in or > near the Aijalon Valley (items #100 - #106), surely we should 
we able to > determine whether those 25 listed cities in Joshua are located 
in or near the > Aijalon Valley, or rather are located in hill country south 
of Jerusalem. We have > now seen that item #106 on the Thutmosis III list, 
MQRT, matches up very nicely > to Biblical Maarath at Joshua 15: 59. Knowing 
that pharaoh Thutmosis III > never went anywhere near hill country, but did 
spend time in the Aijalon Valley > area, that tends to indicate that 
MQRT/Biblical Maarath was located in or near > the Aijalon Valley, not in 
hill country. Granted, this post has only analyzed > a single city name. But 
we?ve got 25 city names at Joshua 15: 52-59, and 7 > consecutive cities at 
items #100-#106 on the Thutmosis III list which all > appear to be located in 
or near the Aijalon Valley (the only place where pharaoh > Thutmosis III 
recorded city names in Canaan that is south of the Megiddo area).> > I myself 
think that Joshua has a lot more accurate historical information in > it than 
most people realize. No, it?s not the pinpoint historical accuracy of > the 
Patriarchal narratives. But Joshua?s extensive listing of cities in > Canaan 
should not be ignored. We may be able to figure out where post-Biblical > 
analysts have gone wrong as to Biblical geography if we pay close attention 
to > the geographical place names in (1) Joshua, (2) the Patriarchal 
narratives, and > (3) the Thutmosis III list. Certainly the various authors 
of the Bible knew > the l-o-c-a-l geography of southern Canaan. It is 
post-Biblical analysts, > not the Bible itself, who have gotten so very far 
off the track regarding > Biblical geography.> > Jim Stinehart> Evanston, 
Illinois> > **************One site keeps you connected to all your email: AOL 
Mail, > Gmail, and Yahoo Mail. Try it now. > 
(http://www.aol.com/?optin=new-dp&icid=aolcom40vanity&ncid=emlcntaolcom00000025)>
 > > ------------------------------> > 
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