Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

James Christian:

1.  You wrote:  “The first concrete clue we get [regarding Abraham’s
native land] is Shem's territory as outlined in Genesis 10:30.”

The Table of Nations is not historically reliable, and it long postdates
the Patriarchal narratives.

2.  You wrote:  “Whoever made this Greek translation [of Genesis 11: 28]
seemed to think that translating as 'his land of birth' was an accurate
reflection of the meaning.”

That Greek translation was done after Ezra’s day.  Ezra radically
reinterpreted the geography of the Patriarchal narratives (without changing a 
single
letter in the text of the Patriarchal narratives itself).

When we get to chapter 24 of Genesis, which you yourself cite below, we
will see that in the Patriarchal narratives, MWLDT means “kindred”/“
descendants of a common ancestor”, and does not mean “birth” or “birth place”.

3.  “The next, and possible most important, clue we are given is in Genesis
12:1 where Abram is told to 'go out of his land'. Subsequently, Abram goes
out of 'his land' and to Canaan (not his land).”

Abraham owns no land in Harran.  Rather, the facts are clear:  (i) Terakh’s
family has very recently been in Ur, (ii) then Terakh’s family headed out
for Canaan (not for Harran), and (iii) then Terakh’s family stopped at Harran
unexpectedly, due to Terakh being too weak to continue on to Canaan as
planned.  Given those clear facts, Harran cannot possibly be Abraham’s native
homeland, nor did Abraham ever own any land at Harran.

The word )RC in Biblical Hebrew has a very broad meaning.  )RC means “earth”
 or “the earth” or “ground” or “country” or “region” or “the place on
the earth where a person is at a particular time” or simply “place”.  )RC
can mean, but usually does not mean, a piece of real estate owned by a person.
 At Genesis 12: 1, YHWH is telling Abraham to leave the place where most of
his father’s family have unexpectedly decided to stay, and to go to a place
that YHWH will show Abraham (that is, to a part of Canaan with which
Abraham is not familiar).  YHWH does not say that Harran is Abraham’s native 
land
(it isn’t), nor does YHWH say that Abraham owned land in Harran (he didn’
t).  Terakh and Nahor may well have commenced to buy land in Harran.  They
probably did.  But Harran was a brand new place for Terakh’s family, never
being Abraham’s homeland, and not being Terakh’s original homeland.

4.  You wrote:  “Then, take a look at Genesis 23. The whole point of the
chapter is that he has no place to burry his dead wife, Sarah. The whole
chapter is about how Abraham bought the field in front of witnesses and became
its rightful owner witnessed by many. There is no mention and not even a hint
of his relatives being burried there.”

You are missing the main point of chapter 23 of Genesis.  Tent-dwellers
like Abraham almost always buried their dead in the open pastureland, near
where they pastured their flocks.  A tent-dweller virtually never paid actual
money to take legal title to an individual gravesite.  Chapter 23 of Genesis
is emphasizing that instead of operating like a run-of-the-mill tent-dweller,
Abraham paid an arm and a leg to buy an expensive, privately-owed
gravesite, to which Abraham took legal title by virtue of the transaction 
being
witnessed by all the sons of the Hittites (historical Hurrians).

Abraham refused to live in the part of Canaan where his father’s relatives
had lived.  YHWH showed Abraham a different part of Canaan, and that is
where Abraham usually sojourned.  You are right that none of Abraham’s 
ancestors
are buried near Sarah’s expensive, private gravesite.  But all of Abraham’
s ancestors except Terakh were (like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) buried in
Canaan.  Each of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is “gathered to his
(M/people/ancestors” in being buried in Canaan.  Genesis 25: 8 makes no sense 
if all of
Abraham’s ancestors were buried in Mesopotamia.

5.  You wrote:  “Presumably, Haran and Terah were buried in Haran.”

Haran was buried in Ur, where he died.  Terakh was buried in Harran, where
he died.  Abraham was buried in Canaan, where he died.

6.  You wrote:  “Then, one of the most important clues is Genesis 24.
Abraham gives
 specific instructions for his servant to go 'his country' to 'his
relatives' to choose a wife for Isaac so that Isaac didn't end up marrying 
one of
'the daughters of Canaan'.”

Finally, at long last, you cite a key passage.  Note what Genesis 24: 3-4
says (per the JPS1917 translation):  “…thou shalt not take a wife for my son
of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell.  But thou shalt go
unto my country, and to my kindred [MWLDTY], and take a wife for my son,
even for Isaac.'”

Does MWLDT mean “birth” or “birth place” at Genesis 24: 4?  No.  Abraham
certainly had not been born in Harran.  But Harran is where Abraham’s
trusted servant properly goes to find kinswoman Rebekah to be Isaac’s ideal 
wife.
Rather, MWLDTY means “my kindred”, that is, “my father’s descendants”.
Many of Terakh’s descendants were now living at Harran, including in
particular Laban and his sister Rebekah.  The reference to )RCY, translated 
above as
“my country”, means “the place where I had stayed with my father’s family
for some time when my father could not make it all the way back to Canaan”.
 The only place, outside of Canaan, where any female descendants of Terakh
were living at this time was Harran.  Given those key facts, and the fact
that the preceding verse explicitly says that Isaac shall not marry someone
from Canaan, Genesis 24: 4 is an unambiguous reference to Harran.

Most importantly for us, at Genesis 24: 4 MWLDT clearly means “kindred”/ “
descendants of a common ancestor”/“my father’s descendants”, and does not
mean “birth” or “birth place”.

The Greek language Septuagint, which you cited above, mistranslates Genesis
24: 4 as follows:  “…you shall go to my country where I was born”.  But
the trusted servant goes straight to Harran!  Abraham clearly was not born in
Harran.  Terakh’s family was only in Harran because of the accident that
Terakh had become too weak to make it all the way to Canaan.  Genesis 11: 
31-32
 The Septuagint’s Greek translation of the Biblical Hebrew word MWLDTY (or
at least the English translation thereof) in the Patriarchal narratives is
clearly erroneous.  By contrast, the JPS1917 translation of MWLDTY as “my
kindred” is clearly correct.

7.  You wrote:  “Jubilees gives us more detail….”

Jubilees is not historically reliable, and it long postdates the
Patriarchal narratives.

*       *       *

Modern historians tell us that the Hebrews were not indigenous to Ur, but
rather were indigenous to Canaan.  The Patriarchal narratives say the same
thing.  Genesis 25: 8 flat out tells us that the Hebrews were indigenous to
Canaan.  In the Patriarchal narratives, MWLDT always means “kindred”/“
descendants of a common ancestor”/“my father’s descendants”, and never means “
birth” or “birth place”.  On that basis, Genesis 11: 28 is telling us that
Haran died in Ur, in the place where Haran’s MWLDT/“kindred”/“descendants of
a common ancestor”/“his father’s descendants” were at the time.  Genesis
24: 4 tells us that Abraham’s servant is to get Isaac’s ideal bride from the
place where many of Abraham’s MWLDT/ “kindred”/ “descendants of a common
ancestor”/“my father’s descendants” were living at the time.

The Patriarchal narratives  n-e-v-e-r  use the word (M/people/ancestors in
describing Abraham’s relatives in Mesopotamia.  That’s because none of
Terakh’s ancestors had ever stepped foot in Mesopotamia, being indigenous to
Canaan.  By contrast, the word (M/people/ancestors is often used in the
Patriarchal narratives in describing Abraham’s relatives in Canaan, because 
the
Hebrews are indigenous to Canaan.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois

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