Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

Jim, at the risk of getting involved in a debate that will lead nowhere, but
just to keep the record straight, there is and never was any such "ancient
Jewish controversy". No Jewish authorities ever doubted that Genesis was
referring to Bethlehem of Judah. The only question is just how far from
Bethlehem they were when Rachel died. The interpretation that most have
followed is that they were close, resulting in Rachel's tomb being
identified, as it commonly is today, just north of Bethlehem, south of
Jerusalem. Others, based on the reference in 1 Sam. 10:2 and Jer. 31:14,
have understood Rachel's tomb to be north of Jerusalem, on the border
between Ephraim and Benjamin. No-one but you thinks that it might be in
Galilee.

 

 

Yigal Levin

 

From: JimStinehart AT aol.com [mailto:JimStinehart AT aol.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, September 08, 2010 5:33 PM
To: leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il; b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Galilean Bethlehem?

 

Oun Kwon:
 
Without realizing it, you are re-creating an ancient Jewish controversy.
Rachel is portrayed at Genesis 35: 19 as dying at Bethlehem in Galilee.  But
post-exilic Jews re-interpreted that to mean Bethlehem of Judea, which was
close to the place that the post-exilic Jews (unlike the Patriarchs) loved,
Jerusalem.  Likewise, chapter 21 of Genesis tells us that Isaac was born in
GRR, which per item #80 on the mid-15th century BCE Thutmose III list of
places in Canaan is Upper Galilee.  But whereas GRR historically is Upper
Galilee, Ezra re-interpreted that reference by claiming at II Chronicles 14:
12-13 that there supposedly is an unattested place called GRR in
southwestern Judah.
 
Neither Jews nor Christians have been comfortable with those references in
sacred scripture to Galilee.
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois