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  • From: JimStinehart AT aol.com
  • To: leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il, b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Year 14
  • Date: Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:03:27 EDT


Dear Prof. Levin:

Is it on-topic for this list to ask a question about your identification of
QD$ at Genesis 14: 7? In your published article, you state that the QD$ at
Genesis 14: 7 is a site 60 miles south of Gaza. If so, that would seem to
be a mythical element of Genesis 14: 1-11, since no historical invaders from
the north would likely waste their time 60 miles south of Gaza, where there
was nothing to loot, and powerful Egypt loomed nearby.

In support of your published assertion, is the name “QD$” or “Kadesh-barnea
” or some similar name attested in secular history, prior to the common
era, 60 miles south of Gaza, or anywhere else in that general vicinity?

Approaching the same question from a different angle, on what basis do you
seem certain that the QD$ at Genesis 14: 7 is not historical QD$, namely
Qadesh of Upper Galilee? If we look at historical factors (though this may
be
what you negatively characterize as being my “pseudo-historical
reconstructions”), the presence of Amorites in the same sentence (Genesis 14:
7)
strengthens that interpretation. Amorites are historically attested near QD$
of
Upper Galilee, in the Bekka Valley, e.g. the Amorite princeling author of
Amarna Letter EA 175 from the Bekka Valley. By contrast, historically no
Amorites are attested 60 miles south of Gaza. QD$ of Upper Galilee is
attested by
the name “QD$”, or slight variants thereon, in the following three Late
Bronze Age secular historical sources: (i) the mid-15th century BCE Thutmose
III list, (ii) the Amarna Letters, and (iii) with the identical spelling “QD$
”, in Ugaritic literature. Unlike a site 60 miles south of Gaza,
historical QD$ of Upper Galilee would be a logical target for Bronze Age
invaders
from the north. Moreover, based on Amarna Letter EA 175, we know that in
Year
14 (the original subject of this thread), Amorite cities in the Bekka Valley
were set on fire by the Hittites and three local allies. Based on my
lifetime’s work, that is my proposed historical understanding of Genesis 14:
7.

* * *

All of us on the b-hebrew list, especially those of us who share your
passion for identification of Biblical geographical sites (one of your
scholarly
specialties), would learn a lot if you would identify a secular historical
inscription, pre-dating the common era, of the name “QD$”, or some close
variant thereon, at or near a site 60 miles south of Gaza. We would also
appreciate learning from you your objective reasons (other than the medieval
pointing done in the Middle Ages, which is inherently suspect) for rejecting
historical QD$ of Upper Galilee as being the “QD$” at Genesis 14: 7.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois





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