Biblical Hebrew Forum

[jimstinehart AT aol.com]

The historicity of Genesis 14: 5-7 may depend, to a large extent, on how 
Genesis 14: 7 is translated and understood, especially the very first word 
[$WB] of Genesis 14: 7.
 
Set forth below is a proposed alternative translation of Genesis 14: 7.  
One advantage of this proposed translation is that the military operation it 
describes is fully historical, and is verified as to all details by original 
documents from the secular history of the Bronze Age.  By contrast, the 
traditional understanding of Genesis 14: 7 is an unbelievable military 
operation 
that never happened.
 
The key to the proposed new translation is the very first word of Genesis 
14: 7 -- $WB.  On 393 other occasions in the Hebrew Bible, $WB means “return”
.  $WB is used many times in the Patriarchal narratives, and when the 
context is geographical (as opposed to figurative), the meaning is routinely “
return”.  If $WB likewise means “return” here, rather than the traditional 
understanding of “did  n-o-t  return” [the exact  o-p-p-o-s-i-t-e  of what 
the 
Hebrew text actually says], then Genesis 14: 7 is describing a fully 
historical Bronze Age military operation.
 
1.      W  Y$BW
“And then they returned”  [meaning in context:  “And then they returned 
(to the Ashteroth area)”]
 
Given that this military operation began at Ashteroth, east of the Sea of 
Galilee, per Genesis 14: 5, the natural reading of $WB here is that this 
military expedition “returned [to the Ashteroth area]”.  We should reject the 
traditional understanding that $WB here means the  o-p-p-o-s-i-t-e:  “And 
they did  n-o-t  return, but instead they pressed further on[, going farther 
west to the remote desert oasis of Kadesh-barnea on the border of the 
far-away 
Sinai Desert]”.  True, the Hebrew word $WB does not mandate that a party 
must retrace his steps and return to the exact same place where he started.  
But $WB does mean that the party “returned” to the general vicinity of where 
he started out.
 
2.      W  YB)W  )L
“and passed by”
 
Nothing happens at Qadesh [the reference at #5 below], so in that context, 
the natural reading here is “passed by”.  The military force being 
referenced here “passed by” Qadesh (and did no actual fighting at Qadesh)  
The 
normal translation of “came to” does not fit the context here, because 
nothing 
happens at Qadesh.  (See #5 below for why it is very important that the text 
tells us that this military force passed by Qadesh, that is, Qadesh of 
Upper Galilee.)
 
3.      (YN-M$P+
“Eye on Mt. Hermon”
 
This is an alternative name for Qadesh of Upper Galilee, which is an “eye”
/(YN on nearby towering Mt. Hermon/Mishpat/Baal’s seat of divine 
justice/M$P+.  Note that having returned to the Ashteroth area, east of the 
Sea of 
Galilee, the logical place to go next would be northwest, crossing the upper 
Jordan River north of the Sea of Galilee near Hazor, and then passing right 
by 
Qadesh of Upper Galilee on the way to the Bekka Valley.  Qadesh of Upper 
Galilee faces Mt. Hermon and is the gateway to the southern entrance to the 
strategic Bekka Valley. 
 
4.      HW)
“that is”
 
The Hebrew word HW) does  n-o-t  mean what is traditionally understood 
here:  “being the former name of a place that was later called”.  Nor does 
the 
presence of HW) here indicate multiple authors from different time periods.  
Rather, the text is simply giving us alternative names for the same place.  
The indirect reference to Mt. Hermon in the first name is important, 
because Mt. Hermon famously is situated at the southern entrance to the Bekka 
Valley.
 
5.      QD$
“Qadesh [of Upper Galilee]”
 
Despite the traditional interpretation, the fact of the matter is that the 
text does  n-o-t  say:  “Kadesh-barnea”.  Having returned to the Ashteroth 
area east of the Sea of Galilee, it is logical that this military expedition 
would now pass by Qadesh of Galilee on the way to the southern entrance to 
the fertile, strategic Bekka Valley in eastern Lebanon.  Just as certainly, 
having returned to the Ashteroth area, geographically it is  
i-m-p-o-s-s-i-b-l-e  that this military force would then next come to the 
entirely 
irrelevant, remote desert oasis of Kadesh-barnea.  [Kadesh-barnea is not 
attested by 
name in the secular history of the ancient world.  Its presumed location, 
based on later books in the Bible, is in an otherwise desolate locale on the 
border between the Negev and the Sinai Desert.  Please note that the 
Patriarchal narratives  n-e-v-e-r  reference any place called 
“Kadesh-barnea”.  
That nomenclature is coming exclusively from later books in the Bible, not 
from Genesis or secular history.]
Note also that no fighting occurs at Qadesh of Upper Galilee, either 
historically or in this Biblical text.  No, what happens is that a small 
Hittite 
military force somewhat ominously “passes by” Qadesh of Upper Galilee, which 
was located well within Egypt’s sphere of influence in Canaan.  A Hittite 
military force passing by Qadesh of Upper Galilee was a real eye opener, even 
though the Hittite force was small and did no fighting there.  (The fact 
that the military force in question here is a Hittite contingent fits 
perfectly with the fact that scholars widely agree that the name “Tidal” at 
Genesis 
14: 1, 9 is a bona fide Hittite kingly name from the mid-2nd millennium 
BCE.)
 
6.      W  YKW  )T
“and they struck”
 
The Hebrew verb NKH literally means “touch”, and implies a forceful 
touching of some kind that accomplishes something, not necessarily a 
“smiting” by 
a large invading army (as traditionally understood).  [Though not 
translated in English, )T in Hebrew means that an important direct object 
will 
follow.]
 
7.      KL
“all”
 
Whereas nothing had happened as this military force passed by Qadesh of 
Upper Galilee, the word “all”/KL here alerts us to the fact that these 
soldiers will be much more forceful when they reach the Bekka Valley, as they 
will 
conduct military operations throughout “all” of the Bekka Valley.
 
8.      $DH
“[the] country [of]”
 
Or “fields”, or “the land”.  [In English, unlike Hebrew, we need “the” 
to precede, and “of” to follow, this word for “country”.]
 
9.      H  )MQ-L-Y  [mistakenly transcribed as “)MLQY”]
“the Big Valley/Bekka Valley”
 
I view the letters “)MLQY” in the received text as embodying a readily 
understandable scribal error, in which two interior consonants were 
transposed. 
 Per my proposed correction, the original letters were )MQLY.  )MQ means “
valley”.  A lamed/L suffix means “big” or “great” or “fine” or “god-like”
.  In this ancient text, the final Y here is a pre-12th century BCE case 
ending, which has no substantive meaning at all, and which presumably 
indicated 
that this was a direct object.  Accordingly, this is not a reference to 
valley “people” (or to any other “people”), but rather is a reference to the 
Big Valley, which is the author’s informal (but very appropriate) name for 
the Bekka Valley in eastern Lebanon.  That particular name for the Bekka 
Valley is not used elsewhere in the Bible, and beginning in chapter 36 of 
Genesis, one sees the similar-looking )MLQ or )MLQY 50 times.  So it is easy 
to 
see how, centuries later, a scribe somewhere along the line mistakenly 
transposed the qof/Q and the lamed/L at Genesis 14: 7.  But the “)MLQY” that 
we 
see in the received text makes no sense at Genesis 14: 7, because certainly 
Abraham is not contending with the descendants of his illegitimate 
great-great-grandson Amalek/)MLQ!
 
10.   W  GM  )T
“and even unto”
 
Having entered the southern Bekka Valley, the text is now going to tell us 
that this military force proceeded all the way north to the northern end of 
the Bekka Valley.  So the word “even” is very appropriate here.  In 
context, the translation “also” does not fit, because the text is describing 
military operations throughout all of the Bekka Valley, starting in the south 
but 
extending “even unto” the northern end of the Bekka Valley.  [Here, the 
normally untranslated )T can be represented by the English word “unto”, 
indicating that an important direct object will follow.] 
 
11.   H  )MRY
“the Amorites”
 
The meaning is clear, but somehow people seem to forget that the Amorites 
never are historically attested as far south as the Negev.  Rather, the 
Amorites are associated particularly with Lebanon.  Of great relevance here, 
Amarna Letter EA 175 tells us that the ruler of Hasi in the northern Bekka 
Valley was an Amorite.
 
12.   HY$B  B
“living in”
 
The meaning is clear again.  We expect to be told a place in the northern 
Bekka Valley where Amorites are historically attested, such as Hasi.
 
13.   XCC-N
“Hasi”  [or Hizzin or Hazezon]
 
In a Bronze Age geographical place name, we know from the mid-15th century 
BCE Thutmose III list that a final nun/N is an optional, generic nominative 
suffix.  The presence or absence of this final nun/N has no real 
significance.  Ignoring the presence or absence of a final nun/N, all of Hasi 
and 
Hizzin and Hazezon are a close linguistic match.
 
14.   TMR
“[where] date palm trees [grow]”
 
It is likely that in the ancient world, the farthest north where date palm 
trees grew was Hasi, which has a mild, dry climate.  Because of its mild, 
dry climate, date palm trees grow in the Bekka Valley.  [Alternatively, it is 
possible that in this old text, TMR originally simply meant any “tall, 
straight” tree, for which Lebanon was world-famous, including especially the 
cedar, but also oak, pine, and fruit trees of every sort, such as the date 
palm 
tree.]
 
*       *       *
 
All aspects of the above-described military operation can be historically 
verified by reference to the following Amarna Letters:   EA 197 [re Ashteroth 
and the rest of the Transjordan];  possibly EA 177 [if it may refer to  
Qadesh of Upper Galilee];  and EA 175 [re Hasi (with a glance also at EA 174, 
EA 176 and EA 363 for the rest of the Bekka Valley)].  All of those places 
historically faced Hittite pressure (but not actual Hittite conquest) in Year 
14 of Akhenaten’s reign, just as accurately reported at Genesis 14: 5-7.
 
The pinpoint historical accuracy of Genesis 14: 7, as translated and 
understood above, is absolutely stunning.
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois