Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

James Christian:
 
You wrote:  “[N]one of the places you describe seem to have undergone such 
a massive environmental change that the author felt the need to state that 
in those days the valley of Siddim was full of pits of bitumen (as opposed to 
a Salt Sea).” 
 
The problem is your misunderstanding of the Hebrew word HW).  HW) means “
that is”.  HW) does not mean “being the former name of a place that is now 
called”.  And HW) does not mean “being the former place, which has now been 
divinely destroyed by YHWH, and pursuant to massive environmental change, in 
its stead there is now”.  No, HW) means “that is”.  In English, we may have 
to supply an implied preposition, but the basic meaning will still be “that 
is”.
 
Let’s start with Genesis 14: 7 again, which references “En-Mishpat HW) QD$”
.  That does not mean that En-Mishpat was the former name of a place that 
is now called QD$.  No, that means that En-Mishpat and QD$ are contemporary, 
alternative names for the same place.  Today, I might say:  “And then they 
returned and came to the “Facing-the-Radiance-of Mt.-Hermon” kibbutz, that 
is, Qadesh (of Upper Galilee).”  That is the  e-x-a-c-t  modern equivalent of 
the first half of Genesis 14: 7.  Note that HW) means “that is”, and is 
not talking about an old name or old place that has now been replaced by a 
new 
name or a new geographical reality.
 
Genesis 14: 3 refers to the contending parties as coming to, for their big, 
final battle, “the valley of tilled fields HW) sea the salt”.  Depending 
on the context, the phrase “sea the salt” could refer either to the 
Mediterranean Sea or the Dead Sea, both of which are salt seas.  The Hebrews 
called 
people who sailed the Mediterranean Sea “salts” (Ezekiel 27: 29;  Jonah 1: 
5), so we know that the Hebrews thought of the Mediterranean Sea as being a 
salt sea.
 
Critical to the issue at hand here is that there are two different “valleys 
of tilled fields” referenced at Genesis 14: 1-11.  The second half of 
Genesis 14: 7 references military actions in the fertile Beqa Valley, which 
is a 
classic “valley of tilled fields”.  The Amorites and Hasi/XCCN TMR were in 
the Beqa Valley.
 
But the big final battle of the “four kings against five” was fought in a 
different “valley of tilled fields” -- the Orontes River Valley, in western 
Syria.  We know from 19th century A.D. European travellers’ accounts that 
the Orontes River Valley was the breadbasket of northern Syria, so it is 
(like the Beqa Valley) a classic “valley of tilled fields”.  (By sharp 
contrast, the Jordan River Valley is not a “valley of tilled fields”, as the 
land 
in the Jordan River Valley is generally too poor for farming.)  At Genesis 
14: 3, the Hebrew author wants to clarify which “valley of tilled fields” he 
is talking about, since Genesis 14: 1-11 will in fact talk about two 
different “valleys of tilled fields”.  So he adds the clarifying phrase “HW) 
sea 
the salt”.  That makes it clear that he is talking about the “valley of 
tilled fields” that is very close to a salt sea, being the Orontes River 
Valley, 
which is very close to the Mediterranean Sea.  The other “valley of tilled”
 fields referenced at Genesis 14: 1-11, by contrast, is nowhere close to 
any salt sea, as the Beqa Valley is not close to either the Dead Sea or the 
Mediterranean Sea. 
 
Chapter 14 of Genesis is not referring to any “massive environmental change”
.  HW) does not mean “being the former place, but which now, pursuant to a 
massive environmental change, is no longer, and instead we now see at that 
locale”.  Rather, HW) at Genesis 14: 3 means “that is”.  In English, it 
helps to supply the implied preposition “near”, so that HW) means:  “that is 
(near)”.
 
At Genesis 14: 7, HW) is clarifying that En-Mishpat is an alternate, 
contemporary name for QD$.  At Genesis 14: 3, HW) is clarifying that the 
“valley 
of tilled fields” that is being referenced is the one “that is (near)” a 
salt sea.  In both cases, HW) means “that is”.  In the second case, in 
English 
it helps to supply an implied preposition, “near”, but the meaning is 
still basically “that is”.  At Genesis 14: 3, HW) is clarifying which of two “
valleys of tilled fields” is being referenced.  It’s the salt the sea valley 
of tilled fields.  That is, it’s the valley of fields which is near a salt 
sea.  The Orontes River runs parallel to, is very close to, and empties 
into, the Mediterranean Sea, which the Hebrews thought of as being a salt 
sea.  
By contrast, the Beqa Valley is not close to any salt sea.  So to clarify 
that the Orontes River Valley, not the Beqa Valley, is the “valley of tilled 
fields” that is being referenced at Genesis 4: 3, the text uses HW):  the “
valley of tilled fields that is salt the sea”, or in better English, the “
valley of tilled fields that is near a salt sea”.  
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois