Biblical Hebrew Forum

[jimstinehart AT aol.com]

Once we realize that Esau hunted “savory” game near Beersheba of Galilee 
[rather than near Beersheba in the Negev], we can finally, at long last, 
figure out the real significance of Esau’s two nicknames:  )DM and %(-YR.  
Yes, Esau is “red”/)DM, in that he sells his birthright to Jacob for “red” 
pottage, and Esau is “hairy”/%(YR, so that Jacob has to impersonate a “hairy” 
son to get his father Isaac’s blessing.  But shouldn’t there be a second 
level of punning here?  In particular, at Genesis 32: 4 we see )DM and %(-YR 
paired as geographical place names regarding Esau.  Is that same pairing of 
geographical place names attested in Late Bronze Age non-biblical documents? 
 
The Canaanites pronounced aleph like O or U in the Late Bronze Age, so )DM in 
Akkadian cuneiform could be U2dum.  Thus Api, spelled with an aleph/), is 
alternatively U2-pi in the Amarna Letters.  So although )DM is traditionally 
transliterated as “Edom”, it could just as well be transliterated as:  “Udum”.
 
%(-[Y]R may originally have been %(-R, with the ayin/( simply indicating that 
it’s a two-syllable word.  Hebrew writing does not tell us the exact vowel 
sounds.  So although %(-YR is traditionally transliterated as Seir [that is, 
Se-ir], it could just as well be transliterated as:  “Sa-ar”.
 
Udum is the root of Udumu [where the first U is U2], and Sa-ar is the root of 
Sa-ar-ki.  Amarna Letter EA 256 tells us that Udum-u and Sa-ar-ki, that is, 
Udum and Sa-ar, are cities that were located southeast of the Sea of Galilee. 
 Just as Udum and Sa-ar are paired in Amarna Letter EA 256, so also are Udum 
and Sa-ar paired at Genesis 32: 4 regarding Esau, in both cases as 
geographical place names.  In that same Amarna Letter, “Galilee” is spelled 
Ga-ri/Garu, or GR in consonantal form [per early Hebrew spelling], which is 
short for gararu, which in consonantal form is GRR.  Gari/Garu = GR = [short 
for] GRR = the Late Bronze Age spelling of “Galilee”.  The concept of Galilee 
prior to Roman times extended 15 miles east of the Sea of Galilee, because 
that territory has the same “rolling”/gararu/GRR/GR hills as do Upper and 
Lower Galilee.
 
We have seen in this thread that Esau hunted big game in Upper and Lower 
Galilee, just southwest of Beersheba of Galilee in the MDBR P)RN/dense 
forest.  When Esau got the bad news in chapter 27 of Genesis that he would 
have to leave Canaan, which was to be reserved for his younger twin brother 
Jacob, it should be no great surprise where Esau moved:  Esau moved one toke 
over the line, as it were, to the area southeast of the Sea of Galilee.
 
For the first time in well over 2,000 years, we can now see how Esau’s two 
nicknames, Udum and Sa-ar, brilliantly foretell Esau’s destiny.  Esau, whose 
two nicknames are Udum and Sa-ar, is fated to sojourn between Udum and Sa-ar, 
two cities that, per Amarna Letter EA 256, are located southeast of the Sea 
of Galilee, just east of Upper and Lower Galilee.  Once we realize that the 
Beersheba in chapters 26 and 28 of Genesis is in Upper Galilee/GRR, not in 
the Negev, then the stories about Esau’s great hunting prowess, and Esau 
ending up between Udum/Edom and Sa-ar/Se-ir, make complete sense:  
linguistically, historically and geographically.  Neither the Patriarchs nor 
Esau ever sojourn in the southern wilderness.
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois