Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Yitzhak:

I promised Jim I would not answer him if his messages are essays, more than
two paragraphs, as a result, I didn’t bother to read his last essays.

On Wed, May 19, 2010 at 12:27 PM, Yitzhak Sapir <yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com>wrote:

>
> Penuel, the Jabbok, and Mahanaim are all directly east of the Jordan
> river, not in the Gil(ad.
>
> Yitzhak Sapir
>

(Using the Hebrew numbers for the verses)

Jacob left GL(D (32:2a) then ran into the messengers of God (2b–3) which he
called MXNYM.

(4) He sent messengers to his brother, but from where is not mentioned.

(10) He mentions he is on his way to return to his birthplace, i.e.
Judea/Samaria.

(11) a prayer mentioning “this Jordan” indicating that he is at the Jordan.

He made what is his to cross the Ford of YBQ, but he remained behind in the
camp alone, which he later named PNW)L (23–5, 31) then he crossed over too
(32).

>From this chapter, GL(D, MXNYM and PNW)L are all different places east of
the Jordan, the last apparently right on the banks of the river.

After crossing the Ford of YBQ, Jacob meets his brother at an unnamed site,
then we next find him at a place he called SKWT where he overwintered
(33:17). Did he turn around, recross the Jabbok River, head back north and
east to where the late bronze age/early iron age city of Succoth was found,
or did he name a place that has since been forgotten in present day Galilee
or Samaria?

We next find him in Shechem (modern Nablus) (33:18).

>From the sequence as outlined in Genesis, and from the Hebrew terms used, I
conclude that Jacob’s SKWT was a site that has since been forgotten west of
the Jordan.

Karl W. Randolph.