Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

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