Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

Karl:
 
You wrote:  “To look at a record that is readily available, look at Ezekiel 
21:2–3
(20:46–47 in English) talks about the forest of the Negev. This was written
during the Babylonian Captivity, well into the iron age, yet it mentions a 
forest in the Negev.”
 
The key word there is Y(R.
 
JPS1985 translates Y(R there as “brushland”.
 
Gesenius says of Y(R, in part:  “thicket of briers, …rugged place…Eze. 21: 
2,3”.
 
One of the meanings that Strong’s gives for Y(R is “a copse of bushes”.
 
One of the meanings that BDB gives for Y)R at p. 420 is “thicket”.
 
Yes, I well realize that Y(R often means “forest”.  But it can also mean “
brushland”, “thicket of briers”, “a copse of bushes”, or “thicket”.  What 
is needed, then, is scientific or historical evidence.  The “Oxford Bible 
Atlas” sees no true forest south of the Dead Sea, even though over half of 
greater Canaan was forest in Biblical times.  That is better evidence than 
the 
ambiguous word Y(R in Ezekiel.
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois