Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

In determining the antiquity and accuracy of the Joshua city lists, three 
critical questions to ask are as follows:
 
(1)  Were any towns located southeast of the city now called Hebron in 
Biblical times?
 
(2)  Does Joshua 15: 55-57 assert that 10 towns were located southeast of 
Hebron?
 
(3)  Is Biblical Ziph located southeast of Hebron?
 
The answer to all three questions is:  No.
 
1.  Were any towns located southeast of the city now called Hebron in 
Biblical times?
 
There is not a single archaeological site southeast of Hebron.  (By “
southeast of Hebron”, I exclude towns on the shore of the Dead Sea, such as 
En-gedi, 
and towns as far south in the Negev Desert as Beersheba, such as Arad.)
 
Moreover, of the 300 first Hebrew villages, not a single one was located 
southeast of Hebron.
 
There’s no there there southeast of Hebron, in the rugged, arid Northern 
Negev Desert.
 
Neither Pharaoh Thutmosis III nor Pharaoh Shishak went there.  There was 
nothing to loot there, because there were no towns there.
 
2.  Does Joshua 15: 55-57 assert that 10 towns were located southeast of 
Hebron?
 
Joshua and his entire audience knew that (i) there are no towns southeast of 
Hebron, and (ii) there are more towns in and near the foothills northwest of 
Hebron, in and near the eastern Sorek Valley, than any other place in Canaan. 
 
Thus the 10 towns referenced at Joshua 15: 55-57 are logically located in and 
near the foothills northwest of Hebron, not southeast of Hebron.
 
If we look at a Biblical map, there are more towns shown in the general area 
of the eastern end of the Sorek Valley, including the foothills on the 
western 
edge of hill country, between Keilah on the south and Aijalon on the north, 
than any other place in all of Canaan.  Keilah, Adullam, Socoh, Azekah, 
Makkedah, Jamuth, Beth-shemesh, Timnah, Sorek, Zorah, Lehi, Baalah, 
Chephirah, 
Aijalon:  14 towns.
 
Scholars object that if Joshua 15: 55-57 is not claiming there to be 10 towns 
southeast of Hebron, then chapter 15 of Joshua fails to assert that there 
were any towns southeast of Hebron.  Precisely!  There were no such towns.  
There 
was an occasional small village, which is covered by the many villages listed 
in the Negev Desert at Joshua 15: 21-32.
 
Joshua 15: 55-57 is referencing 10 towns that were located in, or near, the 
foothills northwest of Hebron.
 
3.  Is Biblical Ziph located southeast of Hebron?
 
In terms of secular history, item #116 on the Thutmosis III list probably 
refers to Ziph.  That makes sense if and only if Ziph is located somewhere in 
the 
general vicinity of the northeastern Sorek Valley, perhaps in the foothills 
northwest of Hebron. 
 
Joshua 15: 55 and II Chronicles 11: 8 are Biblical references to a city of 
Ziph.  At Joshua 15:55, Ziph is mentioned immediately after Carmel.  The only 
historical Carmel known from ancient historical documents in southern Canaan 
is 
the Ginti-Carmel of the Amarna Letters.  Based on the composition of the 
Amarna tablets from Ginti-Carmel and where the leader of Carmel is active in 
the 
Amarna Letters, Carmel is located in the northeast corner of the Sorek 
Valley, 
in or just west of the foothills northwest of Hebron.
 
It turns out that the main analysis of Biblical Ziph comes not from Joshua at 
all, but rather from II Chronicles 11: 8.  II Chronicles 11: 8 says that 
Rehoboam fortified Gath and Mareshah and Ziph.  Gath and Mareshah are 
definitely 
located in the Shephelah, nowhere near the area southeast of the city now 
called Hebron.  For Mareshah’s location in the Shephelah, see Joshua 15: 44.  
That 
suggests that this Ziph was located on the eastern edge of the Shephelah, 
probably in the foothills northwest of Hebron near the Sorek Valley.  Those 
foothills were a very logical place for a fortified town.  The hills provided 
some 
natural defense, while the city was only an hour’s walk from the fine land of 
the eastern Sorek Valley.  The next five cities listed, at II Chronicles 11: 
9-10, are Adoraim, Lacish, Azekah, Zorah and Aijalon.  We know for sure from 
both Joshua and secular history that at least 4 of those 5 cities are located 
in 
the Shephelah:  Lacish, Azekah, Zorah and Aijalon.  
 
The identity of Adoraim, which is never referenced elsewhere in the Bible, is 
uncertain.  It looks a lot like Adullam, located on the eastern edge of the 
Shephelah, which would fit in perfectly with all these other cities located 
in 
the Shephelah.  
At least in the Bronze Age, these two city names would not have been 
distinguishable on the Thutmosis III list.  The first letter, whether aleph 
or ayin, 
would have been represented by an Egyptian J (a single reed).  The second 
letter would be either an Egyptian T or an Egyptian D (not underlined), in 
either 
case representing dalet/D.  The third letter would be the next consonant, 
Egyptian R, representing either resh/R or lamed/L (or both).  The final 
consonant 
would be M, being mem/M.  (There also would be soft vowels indicated, but we 
cannot tell whether such soft vowels are vav/W or yod/Y, etc.)  Thus JTRM is 
what one would likely see, fitting either Adoraim/)DWRYM or Adullam/(DLM 
equally 
well.  Since the sounds are almost the same, and the Egyptians would have 
written both city names the same way, it seems likely that the sole, late 
Biblical 
reference to Adoraim at II Chronicles 11: 9 is referring to the same place as 
Adullam.  These two city names probably reflect one and the same place, which 
historically had two different spellings, located in or near the foothills 
northwest of Hebron near the eastern Sorek Valley in the northeast Shephelah. 
 
  
The traditional location of Adoraim is southwest of the city now called 
Hebron.  Even if we were to use the traditional location of Adoraim (which is 
very 
questionable, as explained above), it would not make sense to stick Ziph, 
located southeast of the city now called Hebron, in the middle of all these 
other 
cities located well west of the city now called Hebron.  Based on what II 
Chronicles 11: 8-10 says, this Ziph would seem, rather, to be located in the 
eastern Shephelah, probably in the foothills northwest of Hebron near the 
eastern 
edge of the Sorek Valley.  Accordingly, the traditional view that this Ziph 
was 
located 7 kilometers southeast of the city now called Hebron is very 
doubtful.  Although Ziph is stated at II Chronicles to be a fortified city, 
even 
supporters of the traditional location of this Ziph acknowledge that “this 
view is 
yet to be tested by excavations.”  D.F. Payne at p. 314 of Bimson’s “Baker 
Encyclopedia of Bible Places”.  Whereas the city now called Hebron has been 
revealed archaeologically to have had massive fortifications in its day, no 
fortifications of any type have ever been found southeast of the city now 
called 
Hebron. 
 
Moreover, although it makes perfect logical and historical sense to fortify 
cities in the attractive, vulnerable eastern Shephelah (especially in the 
foothills northwest of Hebron), there would be no rhyme or reason to fortify 
a city 
7 kilometers southeast of Hebron, in the sparsely populated, desolate 
Northern Negev Desert hill country.  The main threat to Judah at that time 
was an 
invasion from Egypt.  It would be very difficult for a pharaoh to get to a 
locale 
7 kilometers southeast of Hebron without first attacking Hebron, nor would 
there by any reason for a pharaoh to want to approach Judah from that 
direction 
or at that place.  When Pharaoh Shishak attacked Judah, not surprisingly the 
focus of the attack was the relatively wealthy, well-populated Aijalon 
Valley, 
in the northeastern Shephelah west of Jerusalem.  There are 8 conquered 
cities 
in the greater Aijalon Valley area on Shishak’s list.  So it made perfect 
sense for Judah to fortify its cities in the northeast Shephelah.  Judah 
could 
never be attacked from southeast of Hebron, so fortifying a city southeast of 
Hebron would be senseless.  Everything makes perfect sense if Ziph was 
located 
in the foothills northwest of Hebron near the eastern Sorek Valley, while 
making no sense if Ziph was located southeast of Hebron.
 
It is clear where the population and towns were in ancient times.  The 
eastern edge of the Shephelah, including the foothills on the western edge of 
hill 
country northwest of Hebron, was the most populated area of all Canaan, based 
on the number of towns that are identified there.  By sharp contrast, there 
were no towns southeast of Hebron.
 
The hill country north of Jerusalem, all the way up to the Jezreel Valley, 
had a significant number of towns and significant population.  But not the 
Northern Negev Desert hill country southeast of the city now called Hebron.  
That 
desolate area was essentially no-man’s land.  The 10 towns listed at Joshua 
15: 
55-57 make perfect sense if located northwest of the city now called Hebron, 
in or near the foothills near the eastern Sorek Valley, on the eastern edge 
of 
the northern Shephelah.  But those 10 towns never existed southeast of the 
city now called Hebron.  No way.  There was never such a population, or such 
towns, in that desolate place.  The total, complete lack of archaeological 
sites 
there is telling us something.
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois

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