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  • From: jimstinehart AT aol.com
  • To: fournet.arnaud AT wanadoo.fr, b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Seir and El Paran
  • Date: Wed, 15 Dec 2010 07:29:45 -0500


Dr. Fournet:

You wrote: “That place so far south cannot have a Hurrian name, unless
Hurrians would have created it, which sounds beyond believable. I still do
not understand why and how Hurrians would have massively occupied these
places so far south.”

1. $(-R Is Not Too Far South

We know from Amarna Letter EA 197 that Hurrian maryannu operated in the
central Transjordan, south of Ashteroth. The $e-e-ri referred to by IR Heba
of Jerusalem is likely the city north of the Dead Sea whose later name was
Jazer. The ruins of Jazer are called %R or CR, which vaguely recalls its
original name. Moran at p. 392 states as to $e-e-ri: “perhaps Biblical
Seir”. So $(-R or $(-YR at Genesis 14: 6 is probably the city whose later
name was Jazer. Although Seir is traditionally thought to be southeast of
the Dead Sea, in the Patriarchal narratives “Seir”/$erri must be located in
Gilead, north of the Dead Sea [at or near the city later called “Jazer”, an
important locale not too far from IR-Heba’s Jerusalem], because when Jacob is
in the hill country of central Transjordan east of Shechem [15 miles north of
Jazer] upon returning from Naharim in chapters 32 and 33 of Genesis, Jacob
cannot avoid meeting his estranged older twin brother Esau coming up north
from “Seir” or $(-R or $(-YR or $e-e-ri or $e-e-ir-ri. Genesis 33: 14

2. )L P-)R-N Is Not Too Far South

The traditional view is that this somehow refers to the far-off Gulf of
Aqaba, but there is no linguistic, textual or historical support for such
view. Rather, this and the preceding geographical place name at Genesis 14:
6 are referring to Hurrian names of places in the central Transjordan, south
of Ashteroth, in the mid-14th century BCE. The first element of this Hurrian
name, ’L/eli, may form the basis of the later west Semitic name of this city,
’L‘LH/Elealah, at Numbers 32: 3. That city is located southeast of Jazer,
near the desert, and as such fits Genesis 14: 6 perfectly.

It’s not surprising that after the Hurrians disappeared from the Transjordan
and Canaan after the 14th century BCE, most of the places that had had
Hurrian names changed their names to west Semitic names. $(-R/“Seir” became
Jazer, and )L P-)R-N/eli pu-ur-ni became Elealah. But back in the mid-14th
century BCE, at the time of the Amarna Letters, when the Hurrians were still
at their height, these places in the central Transjordan had had Hurrian
names, as Genesis 14: 6 reports with pinpoint historical accuracy.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois







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