Biblical Hebrew Forum

[jimstinehart AT aol.com]

Rev. Bryant J. Williams III:

1.  You wrote:  “For you to say there were no oak trees in Hebron is directly 
contradict the text that repeatedly says so in several different contexts.”

Yes, magnificent oak trees surrounded the Patriarchs’ “Hebron”, just as the 
text says.  But the Patriarchs’ Hebron was the Aijalon Valley, whose 
Patriarchal nickname was X-BR-W-N.  The text is perfect, as is.  The Aijalon 
Valley was surrounded by magnificent oak trees.  In approaching the northern 
Shephelah from Bethel to the east, one would surely notice two things about 
the Late Bronze Age Aijalon Valley:  (i) the magnificent oak trees that 
surrounded the low-lying valley, and (ii) the fact that the Aijalon Valley at 
that time was dominated by Amorite princeling rulers.  On three separate 
occasions the Biblical text identifies X-BR-W-N by noting those two prominent 
features, neither of which historically applied to the mountainous city of 
XBRN/Hebrn. 

2. You wrote:  “The text in no way indicates that Kiriath-Arba means ‘City of 
Four’."

I agree 100%.

3.  But then you continued:  “It clearly states in four places that 
Kiriath-Arba was the former name of the present day ‘Hebron’; no more, no 
less.”

No.  As I noted in my previous post, the word “formerly” does not appear in 
the Biblical text.  Rather, HW) means “that is”, and does not mean “formerly”.

The text does  n-o-t  say that the “former” name of the Patriarchs’ Hebron 
had been Kiriath Arba, any more than it says that the former name had been 
“Mamre”.  As to Mamre, Genesis 23: 19 has this phrase:  MMR) HW) XBRWN.  Does 
that mean that “Mamre” is a former name of Hebron?  Genesis 35: 27 has the 
same phrase, except that Kiriath the Arba follows Mamre:  MMR) QRYT H)RB( HW) 
XBRWN.  Genesis 23: 2 has the same phrase, except this time leaving out Mamre 
[and also leaving out the word “the” in the middle of Kirath Arba]:  QRYT 
)RB( HW) XBRWN.  Genesis 13: 18 clarifies the meaning as to Mamre, where the 
phrase is:  MMR) )$R B-XBRWN.  Rather than Mamre being the former name of 
Hebron, Mamre is at, or near, Hebron.  Likewise, rather than Kiriath Arba or 
Kiriath the Arba being the former name of Hebron, Kiriath [the] Arba is at, 
or near, Hebron.

QRYT )RB( is a Patriarchal nickname for the historical city of Rubutu, on the 
southern edge of the Aijalon Valley.  [The key consonants in both cases are 
R-B.]  X-BR-W-N is a Patriarchal nickname for the east end of the Aijalon 
Valley.  Mamre usually refers to the Aijalon Valley generally, though it can 
also refer to the western half of the Aijalon Valley, whose major city was 
Gezer, which at that time was ruled by an Amorite princeling, Milk-Ilu, who 
dominated the Aijalon Valley in the Amarna Age.  The literal meaning of Mamre 
is “from the Amorite”.  

HW) means “that is”, and does not mean “formerly”.  The text at no point says 
in Hebrew how you quote it:  “near Hebron (formerly Kiriath-Arba)”.  There is 
no non-biblical support for the proposition that Kiriath-Arba was the prior 
name of the Patriarchs’ “Hebron”, nor does the text of the Patriarchal 
narratives make that erroneous assertion.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois