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  • From: jimstinehart AT aol.com
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] Genesis 14: 7 Translation
  • Date: Mon, 11 Jan 2010 11:02:37 EST


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





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