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  • From: JimStinehart AT aol.com
  • To: jc.bhebrew AT googlemail.com, kwrandolph AT gmail.com
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Qadesh of Genesis 20:1
  • Date: Mon, 10 May 2010 10:40:11 EDT


James Christian:

Isaac is portrayed in chapter 21 of Genesis as being born in Upper Galilee,
near Hurrian country. What seems inexplicable in west Semitic makes
perfect sense in Hurrian, regarding the name rendered in west Semitic as
“Qadesh”
/QD$.

Both Qadesh on the Orontes and Qadesh of Upper Galilee are in Hurrian
country, and have rulers with Hurrian-type names in the Amarna Letters. So
it
makes sense that the original name of each place was a Hurrian name, which
was
later taken over into west Semitic as QD$. The fact that the Qadesh that
is in the Orontes River Valley has three completely different spellings in
the Amarna Letters suggests that it was originally a Hurrian name, since
Hurrian names notoriously have many different alternative spellings in west
Semitic. Finally, Karl’s point that there are many places in greater Canaan
called Qadesh is consistent with the view that desert oases south of Canaan
were
originally called QD$/“sanctuary” in west Semitic, which makes sense for a
desert oasis, but that up north, the name was originally a Hurrian name,
with a completely different meaning, but it sounded quite a bit like QD$, so
eventually it came to be called QD$ by west Semitic-speaking people. QD$ on
the Orontes and QD$ of Upper Galilee were not “sanctuaries” at all, but
rather were important market cities, as such being involved in “grain”
distribution.

For the two famous cities up north that eventually became known as QD$
(both the one on the Orontes, and also the one in eastern Upper Galilee), it
is
likely that in each case, the city’s original name had been “Great Grain”
in Hurrian. “Grain” in Hurrian is kadi, or KD, per p. 92 of the
Fournet/Bomhard Hurrian website. “Great” in Hurrian is $a-wu, or $W, at p.
99. “
Great Grain” in Hurrian would be KD$W. [In Hurrian, adjectives usually
functioned as suffixes, so the adjective would be stuck onto the end of the
noun,
being one word in the agglutinative language of Hurrian. It’s literally “
Graingreat”, being one word, with the noun coming first, in Hurrian.]
Hurrian
had no Q [see p. 9], so Hurrian K could have sounded as much like west
Semitic Q as west Semitic K [with those two letters having similar, though
not
identical, sounds in west Semitic]. The point is that Hurrian K could come
out as either K or Q on the mid-15th century BCE Thutmose III list, since the
Hurrians themselves made no distinction between these two slightly
different west Semitic sounds.

Now, for the first time, item #1 on the Thutmose III list from the mid-15th
century BCE makes perfect sense: QD$W. [Google “Paul James Cowie
Archaeowiki” for the website that, after you make three selections
referencing the T
III list, sets forth the entire T III list. Although Cowie does a fairly
good job of showing the names on the T III list, many of his proposed
identifications are suspect or wrong. Also check p. 72 of Anson Rainey’s
“The
Sacred Bridge”, which often has a more detailed analysis.] With Egyptian Q
being equivalent to Hurrian K, QD$W at item #1 on the T III list is KD$W,
meaning “Great Grain” in Hurrian. It’s a p-e-r-f-e-c-t match in Hurrian.
Today we see that as being QD$, but that’s the west Semitic, later version,
with the original having been KD$W/QD$W in Hurrian, meaning “Great Grain”,
for
Qadesh on the Orontes in the heart of Hurrian country.

Now look at item #4 on the T III list. It’s KT$WN, and as we will now see,
it’s actually the same Hurrian name, which likewise later came out in west
Semitic as QD$. Egyptian T and D are interchangeable on the T III list [so
that MKT at item #2 is Megiddo, with Egyptian T being a D]. The final N is
a common suffix on the T III list, and is optional. KT$W -N is KD$W, where
the Egyptian T is interchangeable with D, and an optional, standard [west
Semitic] suffix N has been added. Once again, the match in Hurrian is
p-e-r-f-e-c-t. Both of these city names were originally the same, and were
Hurrian KD$W. But when the Hurrians died out, their language died with them.
So
KD$W later came to be the similar-sounding QD$ in west Semitic. The
spellings vary ever so slightly on the T III list. What would ideally have
been
KD$W comes out at item #1 as QD$W, and at item #4 as KT$W-N. It’s all the
same name, being “Great Grain” in Hurrian, but later becoming
similar-sounding
QD$ in west Semitic. See how everything makes perfect sense if one applies
a Hurrian analysis to these names of cities located in Hurrian country?

But now comes the most exciting part of all. Item #4 on the T III list,
namely KT$W-N, is Qadesh of Upper Galilee. From basic geography, we know
that
such city is an “eye” on the “great” Mt. Hermon. That’s precisely the
alternative name of Qadesh of Upper Galilee that is set forth at item #5 on
the T III list! (YN $W = “Eye on Great”, that is, “eye” on the “great”
mountain of nearby towering Mt. Hermon. Yes, (YN is west Semitic and $W is
Hurrian, but that’s just the same as in the name of Jerusalem’s ruler at the
time, Abdi-Heba. Abdi is virgin pure west Semitic, while just as surely,
Heba is virgin pure Hurrian for the name of the Hurrian goddess Heba. [One
alternative spelling, as is typical for Hurrian words being rendered in the
western alphabet, for this Hurrian goddess is Khipa. Note how dramatically
these alternative spellings vary.] (YN $W is not a “scribal error”, as Anson
Rainey asserts in “The Sacred Bridge”. No way! At Genesis 14: 7, the
Hebrew author uses an all-west Semitic version of the west Semitic-Hurrian
combination that appears on the T III list. $W meaning “great” in Hurrian is
replaced by M$P+, meaning “seat of justice” in Hebrew. So both at items #4
and #5 on the T III list, and at Genesis 14: 7, this city in eastern Upper
Galilee has two names: (1) QD$, being the west Semitic version of the
original Hurrian KD$W, which originally meant “Great Grain” in Hurrian, but
whose
west Semitic virtual sound equivalent is QD$, meaning “sanctuary”; and (2)
(YN M$P+, being the all-west Semitic version of the original west
Semitic-Hurrian combination (YN $W, meaning “Eye on Great” in the
part-Hurrian
version, and “Eye on Seat of Justice” in the all-west Semitic version, in
both
cases referring to nearby towering Mt. Hermon. Originally, there was a
clever play on words here in Hurrian, where $W in Hurrian meant both that the
grain was “great” in the city name KD$W, while that same word $W in Hurrian
also meant that nearby Mt. Hermon was “great” in the alternative name for the
same city: (YN $W.

The QD$ at both Genesis 14: 7 and Genesis 20: 1 is Qadesh of Upper Galilee,
attested by that name (in the older Hurrian version) at item #4 on the T
III list, and whose alternate name of En Mishpat is attested by that name
(with the second half being in Hurrian on the T III list) at item #5 on the T
III list. [In Ugaritic literature, this name of the city in Upper Galilee,
not surprisingly, came out as qd$. QD$ is the west Semitic version of the
Hurrian name KD$W. The sounds are very similar, though the underlying
meanings
are completely different.]

Moving on now to the other three geographical place names at Genesis 20: 1,
GRR/Gerar is attested as KRR at item #80 on the T III list. [Egyptian K is
routinely used to render west Semitic G, as in Megiddo being MKT at item #2
on the T III list.] GRR is GLL [or, in full spelling, GLYL], that is,
Galilee. The Egyptians used the same letter, R, for either west Semitic R or
west Semitic L. Confusion between R and L, or R softening to L over the
course of time, is why the older version is R, in GRR and KRR, whereas the
later
version is L, in GLL/GLYL.

Shur is not attested on the T III list, because that impregnable, arrogant
island city-state just off the northwest corner of Upper Galilee did not
have to kowtow to Thutmose III. But it’s all over the Amarna Letters [though
a
different letter is used for the sibilant at the beginning of the name;
the Hebrew author of the Patriarchal narratives refused to call that arrogant
island city-state “divine rock”, which was its arrogant proper name, so he
changed the sibilant at the beginning of the name]. Note that the name of
the ruler of Shur [who dominated Gerar/GRR/northern Galilee, and hence is “
king of GRR” at Genesis 20: 2, that is, King of Galilee] is identical in
chapters 20, 21 and 26 of Genesis as in the Amarna Letters: Abimelek.
Abimelek’
s influence extended throughout much of Galilee, as in Amarna Letter EA 148
he complains about what Hazor is doing. Note that he does not complain
about his junior partner, Qadesh of Upper Galilee. That’s why in going to
see
Abimelek, Abraham wisely goes by way of Qadesh of Upper Galilee, rather than
going by way of Hazor. The pinpoint historical accuracy of the Patriarchal
narratives is truly breathtaking.

Both in the Amarna Letters and in chapters 21 and 26 of Genesis, Abimelek
is the only ruler in the book who ever complains, and who indeed constantly
complains, about not having needed access to well water. It’s the same
Abimelek, with the same, very peculiar, major league water problem.

The original concept of Galilee/GLYL/GLL/GRR was the land between QD$ in
eastern Upper Galilee and Shur on the northwest corner of Upper Galilee.
[Later Galilee came to have a somewhat broader meaning, including Lower
Galilee.] After Abraham left the Patriarchs’ Hebron, per Genesis 20: 1 he
lived
between QD$ and $WR, and he sojourned in GRR. Historically, that’s Upper
Galilee, and the wording of Genesis 20: 1 reads very naturally. That’s where
Isaac was born, being a locale nowhere close to the future state of Judah.

NGB is also on the T III list at item #57, and refers to
Adamah-Negev/Adamah-Nekev in eastern Galilee. [Cowie errs in seeing it as
referring to the
Negev Desert. The Thutmose III campaign against the forces of Qadesh on the
Orontes never went into the Negev Desert. The cities near item #57 are
nowhere near the Negev Desert. Other scholars properly see NGB at item #57
as
being in northern Canaan.] That reference clarifies that Abraham went north
by way of the Jordan River, being the long way around that avoided the many
Hurrian princelings in western Lower Galilee.

Thus both (i) (YN M$P+ and QD$ at Genesis 14: 7, and (ii) all four
geographical place names at Genesis 20: 1 -- NGB, QD$, $WR and GRR -- are
attested
on the T III list and/or in the Amarna Letters. But on several occasions, we
need to use a Hurrian analysis to understand these names. The equivalent
to (YN M$P+, using the original Hurrian word for the second name, was (YN $W
[per item #5 on the T III list]. The Hurrian forerunner of QD$ was KD$W
[which on the T III list is both item #1, as QD$W, regarding Orontes, and
item
#4, as KT$W + N, regarding Upper Galilee].

Now that there’s finally, at long last, a Hurrian language website, it’s
quite easy to track these names down and understand them. Instead of relying
on scholars, who so often fail to do any Hurrian analysis at all, we can
figure these things out for ourselves. Scholar Aharoni says that it’s
shocking that Qadesh of Upper Galilee was allegedly, and unaccountably, left
off of
the T III list, and scholar Anson Rainey says that item #5 on the T III
list is allegedly a “scribal error”. No way! They’re both wrong. Item #5
is
perfect as is, and is the part-Hurrian equivalent of En Mishpat, being an
alternative name of Qadesh of Upper Galilee, whose modern Israeli kibbutz
theme song similarly starts out: “Facing the radiance of Mt. Hermon”. Item
#4 on the T III list is also perfect, and is the Hurrian version of west
Semitic QD$, being the supposedly missing Qadesh of Upper Galilee. Heavens,
these scholars know that these places were located in Hurrian country. So
why
not apply a Hurrian analysis and resolve these otherwise inexplicable
matters?

If you want pinpoint historical accuracy in a Late Bronze Age historical
context in northern Canaan, chapter 14 of Genesis is the best place to start.

But to understand what’s going on there, a focus on Hurrian is needed for
place names in Hurrian country. If one fully understands Genesis 14: 7, then
it’s relatively easy to understand Genesis 20: 1. In telling us again and
again that Genesis 14: 7 and Genesis 20: 1 are fictional, university
scholars rely very heavily on the false scholarly claim that allegedly, (YN
M$P+,
QD$ and GRR are unattested in the secular history of the ancient world.
Not!!! Just look at items #4 and #5 on the T III list and think Hurrian, and
look at item #80 on the T III list and forget the overwhelming scholarly bias
against Genesis talking about Galilee. These names are fully historical in
a Late Bronze Age historical context, if we, unlike university scholars, are
willing to look n-o-r-t-h of Jerusalem and the Dead Sea to identify these
historical names from the Late Bronze Age. It matters not how many times
university scholars solemnly vow that they will n-e-v-e-r look north of the
Dead Sea in evaluating the historicity of those 3 names. Those 3 names are
fully historical (as is all of Genesis 14: 1-11, for that matter), for
anyone willing to look at Late Bronze Age inscriptions from north of the Dead
Sea.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois




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