Biblical Hebrew Forum

[jimstinehart AT aol.com]

James Christian:

Amorite rulers in the Amarna Letters were not nomadic.  Nor were they located 
south of Canaan, or on the southern edge of Canaan.  Rather, rulers with 
Amorite names in the Amarna Letters are concentrated in Lebanon, with some 
Amorite rulers being in Canaan south of Lebanon, usually fairly near the 
coast.  Ugarit also had many Amorites.  I do not believe that any secular 
historian has ever said that Amorites lived south of the Dead Sea.  
Historically, per the Amarna Letters, there was a rare concentration of 
Amorite rulers near Hasi, though most of the Beqa Valley was dominated by 
Hurrians at the time.  That's what Genesis 14: 7 is reflecting, and it's 
verified out the wazzoo by the Amarna Letters.

The pinpoint historical accuracy of the "four kings against five", per the 
Amarna Letters, is breathtaking.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois






-----Original Message-----
From: James Christian <jc.bhebrew AT googlemail.com>
To: jimstinehart AT aol.com
Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Sat, May 8, 2010 1:38 pm
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] The Amorites


And that's it? That's your 'evidence' that the Amorites were never South of 
the Dead Sea? A maybe just maybe this was the name of an Amorite king in the 
Beqa Valley? And that's conclusive proof that the Amorites were never South 
of the Dead Sea? You're not engaging very well with the sources are you. The 
Amorites were primarily nomadic. They were everywhere getting up everyone's 
noses.


James Christian


On 8 May 2010 21:07, <jimstinehart AT aol.com> wrote:

James Christian:
1.  [Amarna Letter] 175:003  [um-m]a ìl-da-a-ya Ì[R-ka]
Everyone agrees that’s a west Semitic name of the ruler of Hasi in the 
north-central Beqa Valley.
Per Wm. Moran (the editor of the Amarna Letters) and apparently per Anson 
Rainey as well, this west Semitic name starts with Il.  The classic indicator 
of an Amorite name (as opposed to some other type of west Semitic-speaking 
ethnic group) is “Il”.  That’s the Amorite version of a name for the divine.  
Moreover, the Amorites were very closely associated with Lebanon in the 
mid-14th century BCE.  The Amorite state of Amurru was the northern half of 
coastal Lebanon, not too far from Hasi.
2.  But there’s additional exciting news in the neighborhood of this Amarna 
Letter.  Remembering the names of the 5 rebellious princelings at Genesis 14: 
2, take a gander at Amarna Letters EA 174 and EA 363, which except for the 
name of the rulers, are virtual carbon copies of Amarna Letter EA 175 above.
The stylized nature of the names of the rebellious princelings has often been 
noted:
 
“Bera…Birsha…Shinab…Shemeber.   Note the alliterative pairs.  [Footnote 
reference to] Sarna, Genesis, 102.”  Bruce K. Waltke, “Genesis:  A 
Commentary” (2001), at p. 229.
 
But moving on now to where university scholars have never gone, it is 
interesting to compare the name of the first named rebellious princeling at 
Genesis 14: 2 to the name of the princeling author of Amarna Letter EA 174 
from the Beqa Valley complaining about the Hittite attacks there in Year 14:  
Bera/BR( vs. Bieri/bi-e-ri.  Per Richard Hess’s analysis at pp. 57-58 of 
“Amarna Personal Names”, this is a west Semitic name (and hence presumably 
the name of an Amorite, since the locale is Lebanon), in which the ending 
“often appears at Amarna as i-u.  The GN may be identified with the 
URUbi-i-ri in the Akkadian texts from Ugarit (prU 3: 93 [RS 16:244:7])….”  
Although the vowel sounds vary in the various ancient languages, all of these 
names could be viewed as being B + vowel sound + R + vowel sound [with the 
final Hebrew ayin/‘ being used here to approximate the final Amorite vowel 
sounds;  early Biblical Hebrew had no vowel indicators].  
 
One might also compare the name of the princeling author of the Amarna Letter 
EA 363 from the Beqa Valley in Year 14 -- ‘Abdi-Risha, which per Hess at p. 
16 is another west Semitic name -- with the names of the other three named 
rebellious princelings:  Birsha, Shinab and Shemeber.  Note that all four 
names feature the consonants B and R and Sh.  The English transliteration 
“Birsha” is probably misleading here, as the root of the name is likely R$(, 
with B being a preposition or other introductory element, in which case the 
name might be rendered in English as B-Risha.  Indeed, if the introductory 
element [B] in B-Risha/BR$( were viewed as being a shortened form of Abdi 
(which likewise is an introductory element), then B-Risha could be viewed as 
simply being a shortened form of Abdi-Risha.  That is to say, B-Risha appears 
to be a Hebrew nickname that has been deliberately designed to have overtones 
of the historical name Abdi-Risha, who wrote an Amarna Letter to Akhenaten in 
Year 14 complaining about Hittite outrages in the northern Beqa Valley.  Thus 
the first two of the four stated names of the 5 rebellious princelings -- 
Bera and B-Risha -- are definitely redolent of two of the three known names 
-- Bieri and Abdi-Risha -- of the four princelings near Hasi in the 
north-central Beqa Valley who wrote letters to Akhenaten complaining about 
the Hittites in Year 14.  And the last two stated names can be viewed as 
being variants of the second name.
 
*       *       *
 
Note how much light is spread on the league of 5 rebellious princelings by 
analyzing the names of the Amorite princelings who complain about Etakkama 
(Biblical “Arioch”) and the Hittites under Suppiluliuma (Biblical “Tidal”) in 
Amarna Letters from the Beqa Valley in Year 14.  Yes, this gets us into the 
topic of the use of Patriarchal nicknames at Genesis 14: 1-11, but so be it.  
Note how beautifully these Hebrew nicknames at Genesis 14: 2 of princelings 
match to the names of princelings in the Amarna Letters who likewise were 
under attack in Year 14 from a coalition of attacking rulers that included 
both a Hurrian (Etakkama/Arioch) and a Hittite (Suppiluliuma/Tidal).
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois






-----Original Message-----
From: James Christian <jc.bhebrew AT googlemail.com>



To: jimstinehart AT aol.com
Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Sat, May 8, 2010 12:47 am
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] The Amorites


For the benefit of the list members here is a transcription of EA 175: 


175:001  [a-na ]LUGAL EN-ia DINGIR[-ia d.UTU-]ia 
175:002  [qí]-bí-ma 
175:003  [um-m]a ìl-da-a-ya Ì[R-ka] 
175:004  L[Ú] KUR ha-sí a-na $u-pa-li 
175:005  up-ri GÌR-pí LUGAL EN-ia 
175:006  7 ù 7 am-qú-ut 
175:007  a-mur-mi né-e-nu e-ba-$[a-]nu 
175:008  a-na KUR am-qí URU.DIDLI.HÁ LUGA[L] E[N-]ia 
175:009  ù a-li-uk m.e[-tá-kà-m]a 
175:010  LÚ KUR qí-in-sà a-[na pa-ni] 
175:011  ÉRIN.MEß ha-at[-ta] 
175:012  [ù $]a-[k]a4-[an URU.DIDLI.HÁ] 
175:013  [LUGAL EN-ia a-na e-$a-ti] 
175:014  [ù li-di-mi LUGAL EN-ia] 
175:015  [ù li-di-na LUGAL EN-ia ] 
175:016  [ÉRIN.MEß pí-µá-a-te] 
175:017  [ù ni-pu-u$ URU.DIDLI.HÁ         ] 
175:018  LU[GAL EN-ia 
175:019  ù [ni-$a-a]b <URU.DIDLI.HÁ> 
175:020  a-na [L]UG[AL] E[N]-ia 
175:÷÷÷÷÷


As you can see it is highly reconstructed. The mention of Hasi is in line 003 
(ildaaya).


James Christian


On 8 May 2010 08:40, James Christian <jc.bhebrew AT googlemail.com> wrote:

Also, 


could you please show me where in EA175 there is this reference to the 
Amorites being in the Beqa Valley that you keep talking about?


http://www.tau.ac.il/humanities/semitic/EA163-262.html


James Christian 




On 8 May 2010 08:34, James Christian <jc.bhebrew AT googlemail.com> wrote:

Jim, 


several issues here. Firstly, this thread is about the Amorites. Please don't 
polute with a discussion about the Horites versus Hurrians. There's another 
thread for that discussion.


Secondly, please stop presenting arguments against an identification of 
Kadesh-Barnea or the Gulf of Aqaba. The last I checked nobody is disagreeing 
with you on this. Qadesh was a common name.


Thirdly, we had a thread about El Paran and the evidence is against your 
theory of Oak tree. Alon means Oak tree. Tereminthos means turpentine tree. 
But please don't polute a discussion about the reach of the Amorites with 
these kind of issues.


Finally, you eventually said something on topic. You have singled out one 
particular period in one particular Amarna letter EA175 and limited the 
Amorites to Hasi in the Beqa Valley. The Amorites were primarily nomadic and 
their reach was far beyond one particular city in one particular valley. They 
were all over the place causing an annoyance to neighbours in all directions. 
They were so abundant that the Term Amorite was almost perfectly synonymous 
with the term Canaanite. You seem to have gotten hung up on one particular 
source and be trying to make the story fit into that source in a time period 
which doesn't even align well.


In short, if you want to continue a discussion about the reach of the 
Amorites in various periods then I'm happy to continue analysing the data 
with you but please stay on topic without relying on massively embedded if 
clauses and circular logic.


James Christian 




On 8 May 2010 05:37, <jimstinehart AT aol.com> wrote:


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
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