Biblical Hebrew Forum

[jimstinehart AT aol.com]

Dear Everyone:
1.  Hurrians
If the author of Genesis 14: 6 wanted to reference the historical Hurrians 
who historically lived in the Transjordan in the Late Bronze Age (per Amarna 
Letter EA 197), the most he could be expected to do is to refer to 
XRY/Horites/Hurrians, and use three words that are redolent of the 
Transjordan:  (i) HRRM/hill country;  (ii) %(YR/Seir/well-wooded;  and (iii) 
)YL/a magnificent, mighty oak tree.
2.  Qadesh
If the author of Genesis 14: 7 wanted to reference historical Qadesh of Upper 
Galilee, an important city in the Late Bronze Age, the most he could be 
expected to do is to use the historically-attested exact spelling from 
Ugaritic literature, QD$, and pair it with a reference to (YN M$P+/En 
Mishpat/Eye on Seat of Justice/Eye on Mt. Hermon/Facing (the Radiance of) Mt. 
Hermon.
3.  Amorites
If the author of Genesis 14: 7 wanted to reference the historical Amorites 
who, per Amarna Letter EA 175, historically were at Hasi in the Beqa Valley 
in the Late Bronze Age, the most he could be expected to do is to refer to 
)MRY/Amorites, after the troops of the 4 attacking rulers had “returned”/$WB 
from the central Transjordan to the Ashteroth area and then came to Qadesh of 
Upper Galilee, going north into the Beqa Valley where the Amorites 
historically lived at Hasi.
Genesis 14: 6-7 is fully historical in a Late Bronze Age historical context, 
and uses fully historical nomenclature.  It’s a perfect match to the world of 
the Amarna Letters in Year 14, a world that knew no wilderness of Zin and no 
Gulf of Aqaba, no troglodyte cave-dwellers south of the Dead Sea, and no 
Kadesh-barnea.
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois



-----Original Message-----
From: James Christian <jc.bhebrew AT googlemail.com>
To: b-hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Fri, May 7, 2010 2:05 am
Subject: [b-hebrew] The Amorites


Hi,
the Amorites are identified with the Martu of Akkadian literature. Here is
n example of the way they were viewed by their Sumerian neighbours:
*The MAR.TU who know no grain.... The MAR.TU who know no house nor town, the
oors of the mountains.... The MAR.TU who digs up truffles... who does not
end his knees (to cultivate the land), who eats raw meat, who has no house
uring his lifetime, who is not buried after death.*


he Amorites were primarily a nomadic people. They did not respect
erritorial boundaries and wandered wherever they pleased so their cattle
ould eat whatever the land offered. Civilised neighbours who worked and
ultivated the land obviously did not take a liking to Amorite tribes
andering in and eating the fruits of their labours.
The assumption that the wandering Amorites never reached as far as Oases to
he South of Dead Sea is not only baseless but almost certainly incorrect.
James Christian
______________________________________________
-hebrew mailing list
-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
ttp://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew