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  • From: JimStinehart AT aol.com
  • To: kwrandolph AT gmail.com, b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] )BL Mistranslated at I Samuel 6: 18
  • Date: Wed, 4 Mar 2009 09:48:52 EST


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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