Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

As I noted in my prior post, since (NR/Aner is specifically stated at 
Genesis 14: 13 to be a “brother” of Mamre the Amorite, the context seems to 
confirm that (N-R is a generic name for an Amorite princeling.  But now let’s 
explore why the Masoretic text, which is likely the more accurate text, has 
that mysterious –R suffix, whereas the Septuagint has a –N suffix.  [It may 
be relevant that historically, at least one of the Amorite princelings in the 
Shephelah had a non-Semitic father-in-law, whose non-Semitic name was “Tagi”
.  If scholars are right that chapter 14 of Genesis is much older than most 
of the rest of the Bible, we must remember that Canaan back then had a 
largely non-Semitic ruling class.]
 
The only Amorite word in the Bible, per se, is $N)-R, at Deuteronomy 3: 8, 
which is stated to be the Amorite name for Mt. Hermon, the towering mountain 
that divides Lebanon from Syria.  From the standpoint of Amorites living on 
the coast of Lebanon and Canaan, Mt. Hermon was the beginning of the 
homeland of the non-Semitic people.  So it is not so surprising that the west 
Semitic-speaking Amorites, who had very close contact with these non-Semitic 
people for centuries [much longer than the Hebrews did], may have used a 
non-Semitic loanword to mean Mt. Hermon.  As a non-Semitic word, $N)-R would 
be 
the root $N)/$ena, meaning “brother” or “non-Semitic princeling”, and –R is 
a standard non-Semitic comitative suffix, meaning “together with”.  $N)-R 
would literally mean “together with the non-Semitic ‘brothers’/princelings”
, but its actual meaning is “the homeland of the non-Semitic people”, or to 
use modern parlance:  “Syria”.  The Amorites were thus familiar with, and 
sometimes used, the non-Semitic standard comitative suffix –R, literally 
meaning “together with” [being a suffix not found in Hebrew, which is a purer 
west Semitic language than Amorite].  (N + R features a non-Semitic suffix, 
and the name literally means “together with the Amorite sky-god Anu”, but 
it actually means:  “Amorite”.  As such, (N + R has the same meaning as 
MMR), namely:  “Amorite”.  The Greek-speaking Jews later changed this 
inexplicable non-Semitic –R suffix in the name of the west Semitic-speaking 
(NR/Aner 
to the familiar west Semitic –N suffix, which indicates a noun and in a 
sense has a roughly similar meaning.  So both (N + R in the Masoretic text, 
and 
(N + N in the Septuagint, have the same meaning:  “Amorite”.  
 
But the Septuagint unfortunately loses the point of the story, which is 
that the west Semitic-speaking, tent-dwelling Hebrews were offering a United 
Front against the dreaded Hittite threat from the north.  The Hebrews were 
willing to ally with Amorite princelings with all-west Semitic names [MMR( 
and 
)$KL], and Amorite princelings who had non-Semitic influence and whose names 
could have a non-Semitic suffix [(N + R], and non-Semitic princelings with 
non-Semitic names [BR(].  [Scholars err badly in claiming that Abraham is 
portrayed in the text as turning over his nephew Lot and Lot’s family to a 
ruler whose name allegedly is a west Semitic name meaning “In Evil”.  In 
fact, 
such ruler properly opposes the Hittites in chapter 14 of Genesis, he 
graciously accepts the return of Lot and Lot’s family, even if no loot would 
be 
returned, and he is notably absent by the time his city-state  l-a-t-e-r  
turns to the dark side in chapters 18 and 19 of Genesis.  The scholarly view 
that this ruler has a west Semitic name that means “In Evil” simply cannot be 
right.  Rather, this non-Semitic princeling ruler has a non-Semitic name 
whose non-Semitic meaning is, appropriately:  “non-Semitic princeling”].  
Note that Abraham plus 3 named Amorite princelings is an anti-Hittite 
league/BRYT (per Genesis 14: 13) of 4 individuals, just as Genesis 14: 2 
likewise 
sets forth an anti-Hittite league of 4 rebellious individuals (with the 5th 
rebellious party being a city-state that, historically accurately, 
temporarily 
had no princeling ruler, yet still joined with 4 non-Semitic princelings in 
the monumental historical struggle against the vaunted Hittite war machine).
 
If we can understand the peculiar proper names in this text, and in 
particular recognize and appreciate the non-Semitic elements in many of those 
proper names, we can understand the truly ancient Patriarchal narratives.  
Historically, when the Hebrews lived in tents, most of the princeling rulers 
in 
Canaan at that time were non-Semitic, and those non-Semitic princelings did 
not have west Semitic names meaning “In Evil”.
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois