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  • From: JimStinehart AT aol.com
  • To: JimStinehart AT aol.com, b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Samson's "Jawbone": Geography and Linguistics
  • Date: Mon, 7 Mar 2011 09:50:36 EST


In my prior post I noted that the name “Lachish”, which is L-KY-$, where
the kaph/K has no dagesh, sounds like it begins as LXY, the Hebrew common
word meaning “jawbone”. That makes Lachish the ideal place for Samson to be
portrayed as killing a thousand Philistines with a “jawbone”, since the LKY
element of the name “Lachish” sounds like LXY meaning “jawbone”.

Are Genesis 16: 14 and Genesis 24: 62 making a different pun as to the same
locale?

Let me first take one brief moment to explain why it would be logical for
first Hagar, and then Isaac, to be at Lachish, and then I will resume the
linguistic analysis. The text tells us that Abraham promises to go the
opposite direction from Bethel as Lot did, and that Lot goes 17½ miles
e-a-s-t of
Bethel to the Jordan River; so it would make sense if Abraham went 17½
miles west of Bethel [not south of Bethel] to the northern Shephelah [with
X-BR-W-N being a Patriarchal nickname for the Aijalon Valley in the northern
Shephelah]. Moreover, everything that is said in the text about the
Patriarchs’
“Hebron” fits the Aijalon Valley in the northern Shephelah perfectly,
while nothing whatsoever fits the mountainous city of Hebron [whose name was “
Qiltu” in the Bronze Age]. Now, for the first time, Genesis 24: 62 would
make perfect sense: “And Isaac came from the way of the well Laxi-Rai [LXY
R)Y]; for he dwelt in the south country.” The reference to the “well” of
Laxi-Rai reflects the fact that Lachish had no springs, so that wells were of
critical importance there. To this day, the very deep, rock-lined wells at
Lachish [one of which is 144 feet deep!] are magnificent, perhaps being the
most famous wells in all of Canaan. The “south country” is the southern
Shephelah, namely the lovely Lachish Valley, not somewhere in the middle of
the
formidable Negev Desert. Likewise, Hagar flees from Sarah’s harsh
treatment, and makes it by herself through the Sorek Valley, the Elah Valley,
and
into the Lachish Valley. But there Hagar sits by one of the famous wells of
Lachish [which date to Biblical times], because the next step, so unlike
traveling through the foregoing lush valleys of the Shephelah, would be a
very
difficult trek to Beersheba in the desert, and for that she would need to
attach herself as a lowly servant to a party traveling to Egypt [who might
likely treat her worse than Sarah]. Thus the underlying geography in all
these
cases makes perfect sense, if (1) Abraham is living in the northern
Shephelah, (2) Isaac lives for years in the southern Shephelah near Lachish,
and (3)
when Hagar runs away from Sarah, Hagar makes it to a well near Lachish,
before [wisely] deciding, based on angelic advice, to return to Sarah’s harsh
treatment.

The author of Judges saw LXY [which sounds like the LKY element of L-KY-$]
as being a single Hebrew word: “jawbone”. But the early Hebrew author of
the Patriarchal narratives sees LXY as being two Hebrew common words: L +
XY. L means “of”, and XY means “living”. So in Genesis the Laxi/LXY part
of the name Beer Laxi-Rai means “of living”.

R)Y may have sounded something like rah, and $a probably sounded like $ah,
so the ending element of this name has a somewhat similar sound, at least
rhyming. Now compare the two names straight up:

La-Khi-$a
L–XY-R)Y

The focus of the pun is on the La-Khi element of the city name L-KY-$, with
such element sounding like L-XY as two Hebrew common words, meaning “of
living”. It’s a similar pun, albeit with a different meaning, as the pun
about Samson using a “jawbone”/LXY at LXY-$ or L-KhY-$ or La-Khi-$a.

While recognizing the clever Hebrew wordplay in these various cases, what’s
really important is the geography. Hagar sits by that well, talking with
an angel, near Lachish. Isaac sojourns for years near the famous wells of
Lachish, in the southern Shephelah. And the Patriarchs’ favorite place to
sojourn when they are south of Galilee is the northern Shephelah [west of
Bethel, not south of Bethel]. All of these stories in the Patriarchal
narratives
make logical sense, if we could only get the geography right. Isaac does
not sojourn for years in the middle of the Negev Desert. Rebekah does not
come all the long way from Naharim in eastern Syria to meet her betrothed
walking in a “field”/%DH [at Genesis 24: 63] in a place, the middle of the
Negev Desert, that has no fields! [Even if the Negev might arguably have
been
more of a semi-arid savannah than a true desert at that time, still there
were no fields in the Negev. By contrast, the Lachish Valley had fields
galore, later being the agricultural heartland of Judah.] No, Isaac welcomes
Rebekah to the lovely Lachish Valley, a wonderful place for agriculture and
sheep and goats, being exactly the type of place where one would rightly
expect
a future Patriarch to sojourn.

The L-XY element in the well name LXY R)Y in the Patriarchal narratives is
a play on L-KY in the truly ancient name “Lachish”/L-KY-$. Isaac sojourned
for years by the famous wells in the Lachish Valley.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois




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