Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Jim:

On Mon, Mar 1, 2010 at 7:00 AM, <JimStinehart AT aol.com> wrote:

>
> 1.  The word Bela as a proper name [of a town], BL(, only appears at
> Genesis 14: 2, in the following phrase:  “Bela (that is, Zoar)”.  No name
> of a
> ruler of Bela/Zoar is given.
>
> The name Bela/BL( may be a Hebrew nickname that is clever Hebrew wordplay
> on two different words.  BLL usually means “to mingle”, but it can mean “to
> feed provender (to livestock)” [Judges 19: 21].  BL( means “to devour”, or
> “
> to ravenously consume” [Genesis 41: 7, 24].  Note that feed can be
> ravenously devoured by livestock.
>

Your “clever Hebrew wordplay” is bad Hebrew on many levels. Probably a
better connection to a root would be B-L( meaning “in belittling”.

Another option is that the name is simply a name, and nothing should be read
into it.

Since your initial premise is false, anything built on that premise is
likewise false.

>
>
> Jim Stinehart
> Evanston, Illinois
>
> James:

The reason Jim doesn’t join into any other discussions is because he can’t.
He knows no Hebrew language, other than what he can pick up in a dictionary.
Repeated requests that he show that he knows any Hebrew have been met with
stoney silence, thereby verifying the claim that he is an ignoramus as far
as Biblical Hebrew is concerned.

By his own admission, for many years he has been trolling for converts to
his theories, and we are merely the latest pond.

Karl W. Randolph.