Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

(YNYM vs. (YN M$P+

In my prior post, I showed how (YNYM, being the dual of (YN, has many
overtones of “eyes”, in various senses, as a geographical place name in the
story of Judah and Tamar in chapter 38 of Genesis.  That then brings us back 
to
my original proposition, that (YN in (YN M$P+ may have overtones of “eye”,
in various senses.

As to whether (YN M$P+ may be QD$ of Upper Galilee (my controversial
assertion), it’s true that QD$ of Upper Galilee had a “fountain”/(YN.  See 
here:
_http://net.bible.org/dictionary.php?word=Kedesh_
(http://net.bible.org/dictionary.php?word=Kedesh)   So the (YN in (YN M$P+ 
could mean “fountain”.

But here’s the new news.  The first line of the slogan of the tiny modern
kibbutz that now operates at that ancient locale on the Israel/Lebanon border
is:  “Facing the radiance of the Hermon”.  Here:
_http://www.malkiya.co.il/info/about1.htm_ 
(http://www.malkiya.co.il/info/about1.htm)   That is an
appropriate, and semi-official, nickname for both historical QD$ of Upper
Galilee, and the modern tiny kibbutz at the site.  In this geographical place
name/nickname, the word “facing” could have been represented by “eye”/(YN
in the ancient world, as both words emphasize “being within eyesight of”.
The meaning is:  “eye on Hermon”, or as we shall see, “eye on the Beqa Valley
”.  Though it is likely that (YN may usually have meant “fountain” in
ancient geographical names, nevertheless it is by no means impossible that on
some occasions, (YN could also mean or imply “eye”/“facing”/“gateway to”,
in a geographical place name.

As to “the radiance of the Hermon”, the bottom of the western slope of Mt.
Hermon is the southeast corner of the Beqa Valley.  QD$ of Upper Galilee
was only 12 miles south of the Beqa Valley [and less than 25 miles east of
Ssur/Tyre, often being closely allied with Ssur/Tyre in ancient times], with
its view to the north being dominated by nearby Mt. Hermon.  Instead of “the
radiance of the Hermon”, in ancient times we might see M$P+/MCPH, where MCPH
clearly references the southernmost Beqa Valley, per Joshua 11: 3, 8.  MCPH
means a good “lookout point” in “a lofty place” or, per Prof. Daniela
Santus:  “panoramic site”.  This is an obvious non-divine reference to Mt.
Hermon, the tallest mountain in Canaan, with the southern border of the Beqa
Valley starting at the western foot of Mt. Hermon.  If (YN means “eye” or “
sight”, then (YN MCPH would mean “[place where the] eye [can catch sight of]
the southern border of the Beqa Valley”, or “eye on the Beqa Valley”, or
more loosely, “gateway to the Beqa Valley”.  The older name [at Genesis 14:
7], M$P+, can mean “seat of judgment” or “rectitude”.  The pre-Hebrew
Canaanites viewed towering Mt. Hermon as being the “seat of [Baal’s divine]
judgment”.  The pagan Canaanites called this mountain Mt. Baal-Hermon, in 
honor
of the pagan god Baal (a pagan deity who was particularly hated by the
Hebrews).  So it is no real surprise that in the Iron Age, the Hebrews later
modified that pagan divine reference, removing the pagan divine element in 
M$P+
[with its implied reference to hated Baal], and substituting therefor a
neutral common word, similar-sounding MCPH, which simply describes Mt. Hermon 
as
a “lofty lookout point”, with no (pagan) divine implications.  Note,
however, that (YN M$P+ and (YN MCPH would have the same meaning:  a place from
which the “eye”/(YN can see the southern border of the Beqa Valley at the
western foot of towering Mt. Hermon/M$P+/MCPH.

The (YN in (YN M$P+ could easily imply “eye”, and hence by extension mean
(or imply) “facing” or “gateway to”, instead of exclusively meaning “
fountain”, with no figurative meaning whatsoever.  Likewise, as discussed in 
my
prior post, although some scholars see (YNYM in chapter 38 of Genesis as
meaning “double fountain”, most scholars would probably agree that (YNYM in
chapter 38 of Genesis could imply “eyes”, whether as an intentional pun or
otherwise.  After all, it was Tamar’s “eyes”/(YNYM that enticed her own
father-in-law Judah to impregnate a veiled Tamar at (YNYM.  And then it was 
Judah’
s good “judgment”/“sight”/“eye”/(YN that led Judah to rescind his initial
order that Tamar, who had gotten pregnant by Judah at (YNYM, should be
burned alive.  In the Patriarchal narratives, brilliant plays like that on
Hebrew words are commonplace.

So in my view, when we see (YN in a geographical place name [such as (YN
M$P+] in the Patriarchal narratives, we should consider the possibility that
the (YN may embody an intentional pun on “eye”, implying “eye on” or “in
sight of” or “gateway to”.  If M$P+/MCPH means “the southern end of the Beqa
Valley”, then (YN M$P+ could mean “gateway to the Beqa Valley”.  Rather
than this being “impossible”, it seems on the contrary to be largely
confirmed historically by items #4-#5 on the mid-15th century BCE Thutmosis 
III
list, as discussed on a prior thread.

Moreover, if one looks at the 14 Biblical geographical place names that
have two words, the first of which is (YN, only one obviously means “spring”
rather than “eye”:  En-gedi/(YN GDY.  That desert oasis in the Judean Desert
was obviously bragging that it had a “spring”/(YN, that was so great that
livestock, including “a young goat”/GDY, could live in the desert there.
But much more typical is (YN TPWX/En-tappuah, at Joshua 17: 7, where TPWX
means “apple tree” or “apples”.  That city name is usually explained as
meaning “fountain of an apple tree”, or per HALOT:  “spring of the apple”.  
But
that makes little sense.  Not only are those phrases almost
incomprehensible in English, but also we should ask:  why emphasize 
“fountain”, when the
notable fact is the presence in Biblical Canaan of the new, exotic apple
tree?  If (YN means “eye”, then the town’s name sensibly means:  “[place where
the] eye [sees] apple tree[s]”.  That is, the entire focus is on the
valuable, unusual apple trees, not the presence of a commonplace fountain.  
Most
of these geographical place names apply to places in a non-desert
environment, where fountains were commonplace, not exciting or unique 
features, and
there was no lack of water in general.  [For example, En-Tappuah is usually
thought to be in Samaria, near Shechem.]  Many of such geographical place 
names
make more sense if (YN has its primary meaning as a common word, “eye”,
rather than the derived, secondary meaning “spring” or “fountain”.  Even if
most such geographical place names mean “fountain”, there can be no
assurance that all 14 such geographical place names exclusively mean 
“fountain”.
In particular, the conventional explanation of En-Mishpat makes little or no
sense:  “fountain of justice”.

But wait a minute.  Let’s reconsider now that most favorable example for
(YN meaning “spring” in a Biblical geographical place name:  En-gedi/(YN GDY.
 That name is generally viewed as meaning “fountain of a young goat”.  Isn’
t that strange wording?  But consider now if (YN there were to deliberately
have a double meaning:  b-o-t-h  “spring”  a-n-d  “eye”.  Now the meaning
of (YN GDY is, very sensibly:  “a spring, [where an] eye [can catch sight
of] a young goat”.  That is, not only is a spring there, but also there’s
something noteworthy there that an “eye” can see [livestock in the desert, at
this oasis].  Likewise, (YN TPWX/En-tappuah then means, very sensibly:  “a
spring, [where an] eye [can catch sight of] apple tree[s]”.  That is to say,
by using (YN, instead of M(YN or MQWR or MWC) or B)R, there is a natural
double meaning, that is very fitting.  Yes, on one level there may well be a “
spring” there, as all the lexicons point out.  But as we have discussed on
this thread, the real thrust of the geographical place name is to insist that
at such place, an “eye” can see something notable there, such as “apple
trees”, “pomegranates”, etc.

One of the earliest uses of (YN in a geographical place name, a case where
this double meaning was intentional, may have been (EN $-Wi, at item #5 on
the mid-15th century BCE Thutmosis III list.  That came out as (YN [M]$P[+]
at Genesis 14: 7, where the early Hebrew author of the Patriarchal narratives
used M$P+, meaning “seat of judgment/Mt. Hermon”.  The (YN in both cases
deliberately meant  b-o-t-h  “fountain”  a-n-d  “eye”.  QD$ of Upper
Galilee indeed has a “fountain”.  But the more important meaning was “eye”, 
in a
figurative sense, which here implied “eye on the Beqa Valley” [at the
western foot of Mt. Hermon].  West Semitic-speaking people in the Late Bronze
Age loved that double meaning, and so (YN plus second word quickly became
popular as a geographical place name, at the very end of the Late Bronze Age 
and
early in the Iron Age.  That is why we see 14 such geographical place names
in the Bible, but only one such geographical place name on the long T III
list.  The precise purpose of using (YN in a geographical place name, instead
of the otherwise more expected M(YN or MQWR or MWC) or B)R, was to
deliberately incorporate the double meaning:  not only “spring”/“fountain”, 
but
also, very importantly, “eye”, in order to emphasize the second word, which
is what an “eye” could catch sight of at the site.

Upon reconsideration, we should reject the conventional implication that in
all 14 cases in the Bible, (YN as the first word in a geographical place
name exclusively means “spring” or “well”.  If that were the case, then M(YN
or MQWR or MWC) or B)R would more likely have been used.  The very purpose
of starting one’s town name with (YN, followed by a second word, was to
emphasize that in addition to having a “spring” or “well” there, an “eye”
could also see something noteworthy at the site.  Remember what HALOT says as
to (YN:  “meaning eye, 866 times;  meaning spring, 23 times”.  It just
stands to reason that when used as the first word in a geographical place 
name,
(YN would be redolent of its meaning 866 other times in the Bible!  Isn’t
that plain common sense?  The lexicons are half-right.  (YN may always mean “
spring” in geographical place names.  But many scholars seem to have missed
the more important half of the equation.  The reason why (YN was used as the
first word of a town that had a “spring”, instead of the otherwise more
expected M(YN or MQWR or MWC) or B)R, was precisely to focus attention on the
second half of the town name, utilizing the double meaning of (YN, since the
primary meaning of (YN, per 866 uses in the Bible, is “eye”.

In my view, (YN M$P+ at Genesis 14: 7, and (EN $-Wi at item #5 on the T III
list, and “Facing the radiance of the Hermon” as the official slogan of
the tiny modern Jewish kibbutz at the site, all have the same meaning, and all
refer to the same place!  In all three cases, this is an historical,
semi-official nickname for QD$ of Upper Galilee, that emphasizes that QD$ of 
Upper
Galilee is an “eye on the Beqa Valley”, being the “gateway to the Beqa
Valley”.  It’s the inherent nature of that particular, peculiar site to have
such a semi-official nickname, whether in the mid-15th century BCE, the
Patriarchal Age, or the 21st century AD.

There is  n-o-t-h-i-n-g  in secular history to support the traditional and
scholarly view [unchanged and unchallenged in 2,500 years] that En-Mishpat
is located 60 miles south of Gaza.  But there’s tons of evidence in secular
history to support (YN M$P+ as being a semi-official nickname of QD$ of Upper
Galilee, located near the northeast corner of Canaan proper.  We should not
blindly rely on Ezra’s “late”, religious, non-historical, 2,500-year-old
radical ultra-southerly reinterpretation of the Patriarchal narratives, which
was done under great duress in the presence of the Persian overlords.
Rather, the unpointed text of the Patriarchal narratives, the T III list,
secular history, Hebrew grammar, and basic geography all go hand in hand, if 
we’re
willing to look in  n-o-r-t-h-e-r-n  Late Bronze Age Canaan for
geographical matches to the Patriarchal narratives.  The Hebrews’ historical 
claims to
a-l-l  of Canaan, including northern Canaan, are much older and stronger
than today’s scholars realize.  (Catch the pulsating excitement of the
Patriarchal narratives!)

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois

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