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  • From: Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Galilean Bethlehem?
  • Date: Sun, 12 Sep 2010 16:58:01 +0200

Jim,



We've gone through all of this before, so I'll just make two points:



1. The Gerar area in which Abimelech lives must be reasonably near
Beer-sheba, because that's where he met both Abraham and Jacob. You've
already admitted that Beer-sheba is on (one of) the way(s) to Egypt.

2. In the Bible, "going up" and "going down" do not mean going north or
south. They did not have maps "orientated" to the north like we do. "Going
up" and "going down" are topographical terms, going from low ground to high
ground and vice versa. Indeed, Gerar, in the western Negev, is downstream
from Beer-sheba, along the Besor stream, and while Beer-sheba is in a basin,
it's still higher than any of the candidates for Gerar.



The rest has all been said. Please don't repeat yourself.





Yigal Levin



From: jimstinehart AT aol.com [mailto:jimstinehart AT aol.com]
Sent: Sunday, September 12, 2010 3:21 PM
To: leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il; b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Galilean Bethlehem?



Professor Yigal Levin:

You wrote: “2 Chron. 14:7-14 tells of Asa king of Judah being attacked by
one "Zerah the Cushute". Since there is no external evidence for this story,
nor is it
mentioned in the parallel account of Asa's rule in 1 Kings, many historians
doubt its authenticity in general….However, what has any of this to do with
Jacob, who spent most of his time in Beer-sheba and in Hebron?”

1. Jacob likely spent very little time at XBR-W-N. Jacob likely was born at
Beer-lahai-roi, per Genesis 25: 11. Some time after Esau spurned his
birthright, and before Esau married at stated age 40 “years”, a famine in
south-central or southern Canaan forced Isaac to move the family to GRR.
Genesis 26: 1, 6 To escape a widespread famine in south-central or southern
Canaan, the two logical choices would be to go to Egypt or to go to Galilee,
far from the famine, and where food would be plentiful. It would not make
sense to react to that famine by moving to the southwest corner of Canaan,
which is close to the famine, and which is extremely marginal land. Genesis
26: 23 then says that after squabbling with Ab-i-melek’s men over water wells
[which historically are of critical importance on the northwest coast of
Upper Galilee], Isaac (and his family) “went up to Beer-sheba”. Please focus
on the word “went up”, which is (LH in Hebrew [here in the form of Y(L]. It
is impossible to “go up” to the Beersheba that is located in southern Canaan,
because (i) that Beersheba is located south of the rest of Canaan, on the way
to going “down” to Egypt, and so it too is “down”, and (ii) that Beersheba is
located in a small depression, so it is “down” from the surrounding land. By
sharp contrast, it would make sense to “go up” to Beersheba of Galilee, which
is located on the boundary between Upper and Lower Galilee, in the foothills.
If Isaac started on the west coast of Upper Galilee [where the squabbling
over water wells had taken place], one would indeed “go up” to Beersheba of
Galilee, which is located at a much higher elevation than the low-lying land
on the coast of Galilee.

Yes, many years later, when Jacob is on his way to taking all the Hebrews to
Egypt, at Genesis 46: 1 Jacob makes a brief stop at the Beersheba that is
located in southern Canaan. Note that Jacob is not said to “go up” to
Beersheba at that time, which would be impossible for that Beersheba, but
rather Jacob is said to “come”/BW) to Beersheba on his way to Egypt.

If GRR means Upper Galilee, and if Jacob “went up” to the Beersheba in
Galilee, then Jacob spends his formative years living in Galilee. When Jacob
flees the wrath of his older twin brother Esau, one would expect that Jacob
(unencumbered by belongings] would be able to make it by himself from
Beersheba of Galilee (per Genesis 28: 10) to Luz/Laish the first night,
located in eastern Upper Galilee. That’s a trip of over 20 miles, but Jacob
knew the mountain passes there like the palm of his hand, and Jacob probably
left at the crack of down and traveled all day, so the distance covered is
doable. By contrast, from Beersheba in southernmost Canaan to the Bethel
south of Shechem is 55 miles, which is too far to travel in a single day.
Per Genesis 28: 19, the actual name of that place is Luz/Laish, but Jacob
gives Luz/Laish the nickname of “Bethel”, meaning “House of God”, primarily
in honor of YHWH comforting him there that frightening first night on the
road, but also in honor of his grandfather Abraham, who many years earlier
had honored YHWH at historical Bethel south of Shechem, north of Jerusalem.
Since YHWH had comforted Jacob at Luz/Laish/Jacob’s “Bethel” in eastern
Galilee when Jacob left all alone for Naharim, it makes sense that years
later when Jacob is afraid that the whole family might get wiped out after
the bloody Shechem incident, Jacob flees with the whole family back up north
to Luz/Laish/Jacob’s “Bethel”, very far away from dangerous Shechem. Jacob
then sojourns south of Luz/Laish/Jacob’s “Bethel”, and north of XBR-W-N. We
can deduce that during the 26 years Jacob had been out east at Naharim in
eastern Syria, Jacob’s father Isaac moved back to XBR-W-N. Jacob does not in
fact return to his father in XBR-W-N until his father Isaac is on his death
bed, at Genesis 35: 27. [The Patriarchs’ XBR-W-N is not spelled the same as
the city of Hebron, XBR-N, and nothing about the description of the
Patriarchs’ XBR-W-N matches the rugged, forbidding mountains that surround
the city of Hebron.]

When Jacob is in Canaan, Jacob spends a large part of his time in GRR,
including at a Beersheba to which one “goes up”, which would logically seem
to be the Beersheba of Galilee. We know that Isaac is wealthy at GRR and at
the Beersheba to which one “goes up”, per Genesis 26: 13. Such wealth makes
no sense at the impoverished Beersheba that is on the way to going “down” to
Egypt, or in ultra-modest southwest Canaan generally, but would make perfect
sense in lovely Galilee. Linguistically, GRR works nicely as being Galilee,
per the equation: KRR = GRR = GLL = GLYL = Galilee.

To the best of my knowledge, there is nothing out there prior to II
Chronicles 14: 12-13 that suggests that GRR is located in southwestern
Canaan. Historically, the story told at II Chronicles 14: 12-13 seems
suspect. You yourself note: “Since there is no external evidence for this
story, nor is it mentioned in the parallel account of Asa's rule in 1 Kings,
many historians doubt its authenticity in general….”

Nevertheless, it appears to me that scholars have, very strangely, relied
totally on II Chronicles 14: 12-13 in determining the geographical location
of the Patriarchs’ GRR. That seems highly questionable to me, given the
foregoing.

So with apologies for that long-winded background, here once again is the
question I am asking you:

Is there anything out there prior to the time of the composition of II
Chronicles 14: 12-13 that supports the scholarly view that GRR is located in
the southwest corner of Canaan, rather than GRR being GLL/GLYL/Galilee?

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois





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