Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

Karl:
 
1.  You wrote:  “First of all, we are talking about Hebrew, not Canaanite.”
 
That is a misleading statement.  The Hebrews passively recorded many 
Canaanite geographical place names.  Thus the presence of )BL in a Canaanite 
geographical place name, such as Abel-Beth-Maacah, does not mean that )BL was 
used as a 
common noun regarding places in Canaan in Biblical Hebrew.  )BL is never used 
that way in the Bible.
 
Accordingly, it is quite important to distinguish between (i) Biblical Hebrew 
common nouns in good standing that are used in the Bible outside of 
geographical place names, such as XBR and XBL, as opposed to (ii) a Canaanite 
word that 
only appears in the Bible as the beginning part of a geographical place name. 
 XBR and XBL are good Biblical Hebrew words.  )BL is not (at least outside of 
Daniel, as discussed below) a regular Biblical Hebrew word regarding a 
topographical feature of Canaan (meadow, river, etc.).  [)BL meaning 
“mourning” is 
a Biblical Hebrew word.]
 
2.  You wrote:  “Secondly, )BL, alternate spelling )WBL, is found in 14 
verses in Tanakh: as early as Numbers before Israel crossed the Jordan, also 
in 
Judges, Samuel
 and Kings as well as Daniel.”
 
)WBL is found nowhere but in Daniel.  Surely you would agree that one unique 
reference in Daniel to a river in Mesopotamia or Persia can have little 
bearing on the origin of XBRWN/XBRN/“Hebron” as the name of the place where 
Abraham 
sojourns.
 
)BL in Daniel is usually viewed as being a short version of )WBL.  All of 
these uses in Daniel seem to refer to a river.  Once again, uses of a word in 
the 
late Book of Daniel way out east can shed little light on the origin of the 
name XBRN.
 
In all the other cases you cite, )BL is the first part of a Canaanite 
geographical place name.  Abel-Shittim at Numbers 33: 49.  Abel-Meholah at 
Judges 7: 
22.  Abel-Keramiym at Judges 11: 33.  The Sorek Valley, literally “Great 
Meadowland at Beth-shemesh”, at I Samuel 6: 18.  The other references in 
Samuel are 
to Abel-Beth-Maacah.  The references in Kings are either to Abel-Beth-Maacah 
or Abel-Meholah.
 
I agree with the general scholarly view that )BL in the pre-Daniel books 
means “meadow” or something similar, and is different from )WBL or )BL in 
Daniel 
meaning “river”.
 
3.  You wrote:  “Third, do not confuse this noun with a participle concerning 
the action of water flowing, as you did with two mentions in Isaiah.”
 
Isaiah 30: 25 and 44: 4 use a different word:  YBL.  YBL likely is related to 
the words )WBL and )BL used in Daniel, and is focused on water.  YBL in other 
contexts refers to the action of water flowing.  It’s all focused on water, 
which is not how the Canaanite word )BL is used, either in the Bible 
(excluding 
Daniel) or in secular history.
 
4.  You wrote:  “Fourthly, I asked you, where do you get your strange 
definition, and you did not answer me. You did not get it from studying the 
text of 
Hebrew.”
 
Excluding Daniel, )BL in context in the Bible (as a topographical word) 
always seems to refer to “meadow” or “excellent pastureland”.  (I don’t like 
the 
overtones of “meadow” in modern English, because in the ANE the reference is 
not to bucolic bliss where one could take a leisurely nap or stroll, but 
rather is to a fine place for doing the hard work of pasturing domesticated 
animals 
such as sheep and goats.)  Moreover, if you look at the context of how )BL is 
used historically, such as on the Thutmosis III list and as elsewhere 
attested in Canaanite geographical place names, it once again means “meadow” 
or “
excellent pastureland”.  This is the definition that secular historians tell 
us.  
The Bible and secular history are fully in accord on this.  
 
Finally, in a previous post, I noted the only decent footnote I found in any 
translation regarding )BL at I Samuel 6: 18:
 
“Reading ‘eben with some Heb. mss., Septuagint, and Targum, most mss. and 
 editions ‘abel, ‘meadow[?]’.” 2003 JPS Hebrew-English Tanakh
 
Note that the presumed meaning of )BL is said in that footnote to be “meadow”
.  The question mark in the footnote reflects the fact that, as I noted at 
the outset of this post, )BL is a Canaanite word, not a Biblical Hebrew word 
in 
good standing (excluding Daniel) regarding any topographical feature.  The 
Biblical Hebrew equivalent is XBL (although XBL also has many other meanings 
besides that), with XBL being the Biblical Hebrew spelling of the word 
spelled )BL 
by the Canaanites.
 
5.  )BL is used in the Bible (excluding Daniel) in the same way as )BL [or 
JBR in Egyptian letters] is used in the secular history of Late Bronze Age 
Canaan.  It’s a “foreign” word in all cases, though being a well-known west 
Semitic word.  It’s the same word, with the same spelling, having the same 
meaning, 
in both the Bible and secular history.  Why should that be any surprise to 
anyone?  Why would that be considered controversial?
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois

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