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  • From: JimStinehart AT aol.com
  • To: yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com, b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Seir
  • Date: Wed, 19 May 2010 15:55:35 EDT


Yitzhak Sapir:

You wrote: “Penuel, the Jabbok, and Mahanaim are all directly east of the
Jordan river, not in the Gil(ad.”

Yes, Penuel, the Jabbok [River], and Mahanaim are all directly east of the
Jordan
River, that’s for sure.

But just as surely, that’s in the heart of Gilead. We can prove that
Biblically at Genesis 31: 46-47:

“And Jacob said to his kinsmen, "Gather stones." And they took stones and
made a heap, and they ate there by the heap. Laban called it
Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed.”

Galeed is Gilead. That’s where Jacob has his final meeting with Laban, and
is very near where Jacob then meets with Esau.

Or if you want a scholarly account of where Gilead is, here’s p. 145 of “”
Baker Encyclopedia of Bible Places” (1995):

“Geographically, Gilead proper was the hilly, wooded country north of a
line from Heshbon west to the northern end of the Dead Sea, and extending
north
towards the present-day river and Wadi Yarmuk….”

Note that scholarly reference to “hilly, wooded country”, which fits my
etymology for Seir perfectly.

Gilead is east of the Jordan River, from the northern end of the Dead Sea
to the Yarmuk River (a river which is well north of the Jabbok River).

Here’s one more scholarly quote, this time from the “Oxford Bible Atlas”
(2007) at p. 27: “South of the Yarmuk is the territory of Gilead, divided by
the River Jabbok.”

So as I was saying, when Jacob had his final meeting with Laban, that was
in northern Gilead (just north of the Jabbok River). Shortly thereafter,
Jacob told Esau that Jacob would slowly meander on south to Seir, that is,
historical Seir/Shar/Jazer in southern Gilead, well south of the Jabbok
River.
But in fact, Jacob did not go south to Gilead, or to the Patriarchs’ Hebrew,
as expected, but rather Jacob went straight west from Penuel to Succoth and
Shechem.

Why is everyone trying to impose a non-historical geography on the
Patriarchal narratives? The author of the truly ancient Patriarchal
narratives
certainly knew his geography! The text makes perfect sense, as written, with
no
forcing of the text being needed at all, if we will only apply an
historical geography to the Patriarchal narratives (while ignoring Genesis
36: 8-43
for all purposes).

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois




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