Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

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