Biblical Hebrew Forum

[jimstinehart AT aol.com]

Rev. Bryant J. Williams III:
 
One of the main differences between the view of you and Karl, and my view, is 
that you (and I think Karl) see the Patriarchal narratives as having been 
composed in the Middle Bronze Age and relating to the Early Bronze Age, 
whereas I see the Patriarchal narratives as having been composed and relating 
to the Late Bronze Age.  That is an honest disagreement.  As I presume you 
are aware, most university scholars today insist that the Patriarchal 
narratives were composed by multiple authors in the 1st millennium BCE, none 
of whom knew very much about the Bronze Age.  Let’s compare these three basic 
theories regarding two specific items that you raise.
 
1.  You wrote:  “Now, I can see Abram dwelling near a large amount of oaks 
because Northern California from about 50 miles South of Redding, CA on I-5 
going North has
plenty. Its weather is very much like Israel's with its Mediterranean 
climate. I
can actually picture Abram sitting under a very large Oak (cf. 14:13, 
24;18:1).”
 
The city of Hebron does not have a Mediterranean climate.  It is nowhere near 
the Mediterranean Sea, but rather abuts the utterly bleak Judean Desert.
 
In the Late Bronze Age [my theory], there were no oak trees at the city of 
Hebron.  The Late Bronze Age was abnormally dry, and oak trees do not usually 
grow as far south as the city of Hebron, because it’s too hot and there’s not 
enough rain.  On the other hand, there was a lot more rain in the Early and 
Middle Bronze Ages, and so in that time period [your theory], one might 
imagine oak trees at the city of Hebron.  On the scholarly view, multiple 1st 
millennium BCE authors are making up a pre-history of the Hebrews.  To them, 
the “days of old” would presumably have meant “dry years”, since the climate 
in the first half of the 1st millennium BCE was much wetter and better than 
in the Late Bronze Age.  So to me it seems unlikely that 1st millennium BCE 
authors would imagine rare oak trees being at the city of Hebron in the 
Patriarchal Age.
 
What works on all theories is if, per Genesis 13: 9, 11, Abraham goes west 
after Lot has gone east from Bethel.  Then Abraham sojourns in the northern 
Shephelah, the Aijalon Valley, which in Biblical times was ringed by 
magnificent oak trees, being perfectly in accordance with what the Biblical 
text says.
 
2.  You wrote:  “Genesis 23:17-20 has Abraham purchasing from Ephron the 
Hittite a piece of land called the Cave of Machpelah, east of Mamre near 
Hebron (formerly Kiriath-Arba, vs. 2; cf. also Josh 14:15; 15:13 and Judg 
1:10) which had trees.”
 
(a)  There were no Hittites from eastern Anatolia in Canaan.  Rather, 
XTYmeans XuT-iYa, the most common Hurrian name at Nuzi.  The Biblical 
“Hittites” are the historical Hurrians, who dominated Canaan as princeling 
rulers in the mid-14th century BCE.  This is indicating the Late Bronze Age, 
as no other time period fits the Hurrians being in Canaan as important lords.
 
(b)  The word “formerly” does not appear in the Biblical text.  Rather, HW) 
means “that is”, and does not mean “formerly”.  Kiriath is a standard west 
Semitic word for “city”.  “Arba” means “four” in west Semitic, while meaning 
“(Hurrian) lord” in Hurrian.  There is no “City of Four” in non-biblical 
records, and the number four makes no sense as a Biblical nickname here.  
Rather, this is the “City of the Hurrian Lord(s)”.  It’s a perfect Biblical 
nickname, because “Ephron” in Hurrian also means “(Hurrian) lord”.  The text 
is telling us that Abraham bought Sarah’s gravesite from a Hurrian lord at a 
Hurrian-dominated city in the Late Bronze Age.  The Hurrian nomenclature here 
strongly supports my Late Bronze Age dating, and cannot be squared with 
either your Middle Bronze Age composition date, or the scholarly view that 
multiple authors made this stuff up in the 1st millennium BCE.
 
(c)  Genesis 37: 14 tells us that the Patriarchs’ “Hebron”, that is, 
X-BR-W-N, is a “valley”.  That’s the Aijalon Valley in the northern 
Shephelah, with valleys having no formal names in the Bronze Age.  Whereas 
Abraham sojourns in a verdant, low-lying rural valley [that makes perfect 
sense, doesn’t it?], Abraham has to deal with city folk to purchase Sarah’s 
gravesite.  In the Late Bronze Age, that meant going to a city dominated by 
Hurrian lords to buy a plot of land from a Hurrian lord.  Kiriath Arba is on 
one level a nickname for RB-T, Rubutu, a Hurrian-dominated city on the 
southern edge of the Aijalon Valley.  It is not the former name of the 
mountainous city of Hebron.  In the Bronze Age, the name of the city of 
Hebron was “Qiltu”.
 
 
3.  The rest of your post does not deal with words that appear in the Hebrew 
text of the Patriarchal narratives, so I have no comment.
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois