Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Jerusalem - spelling, in historical perspective

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Jack Kilmon" <jkilmon AT historian.net>
  • To: "K Randolph" <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>, "Hebrew" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Jerusalem - spelling, in historical perspective
  • Date: Sun, 6 Feb 2011 22:25:28 -0600



--------------------------------------------------
From: "K Randolph" <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, February 06, 2011 9:06 PM
To: "Uri Hurwitz" <uhurwitz AT yahoo.com>
Cc: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Jerusalem - spelling, in historical perspective

That Jerusalem is spelled without a yod in 622 verses, while with a yod in
only five, opens the possibility that the inclusion of a yod are copyist
errors. One way to test that question is to look at the DSS for those five
verses: Jeremiah 26:18, Esther 2:6, 1 Chronicles 3:5, 2 Chronicles 25:1,
32:9.


The original name of Jerusalem is Canaanite and it was URU-SALIM meaning "City of Salim." It is also so called in the Amarna Tablets and simply "Salim" in Ramesside inscriptions. This is preserved at Genesis 14:18 וּמַלְכִּי־צֶדֶק מֶלֶךְ שָׁלֵם "malekytsedeq meleke SHA-LEM" There is no "SHALAYIM" (a late construction). We are left to wonder what "salim" means. It could be "peace" but is it Hittite (the author of the Amarna letter warning of an imminent invasion by "habiru") or it could be Babylonian or even Jebusite. I think it is Jebusite, a tribe of Amorites and hence the etymology is Canaanite. In the Canaanite pantheon Shalem was the god of dusk so it was the "City of Shalem" often referred to simply as Shalem.

רואה לך
Jack

Jack Kilmon
San Antonio, TX




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page