Biblical Hebrew Forum

[jimstinehart AT aol.com]

Karl:

1.  You wrote:  “Where in Genesis does it say that they were ‘magnificent’ 
oak trees?”

Genesis 13: 18, 14: 13, and 18: 1.  The reference to oak trees three times, 
in close succession, to identify the Patriarchs’ X-BR-W-N implies that these 
oak trees were notable, and indeed magnificent.

If one approached the northern Shephelah from the east [that is, from 
Bethel], going the opposite direction as Lot did in leaving Bethel, then what 
would have been the most impressive aspect of the lovely, low-lying verdant 
valley [that in modern times is called the “Aijalon Valley”] that one comes 
to?  Why of course, it would be the magnificent “oak trees” that surrounded 
that valley. 

2.  You wrote:  “That is something that you made up. They could have been the 
dry land oak trees, like what grow in the deserts of the American South West.”

Let’s assume then that there were a few dry land oak trees on the towering 
mountains that surround the walled fortress city northwest of the Judean 
Desert [which city in the early 1st millennium BCE began to be called XBRN, 
though not XBR-W-N, and not until many centuries after Moses’ day].  Why on 
earth would the Hebrew author (i) explicitly refer to those few, 
non-magnificent oak trees on three separate occasions, while (ii) never once 
mentioning, even in passing, either the truly massive fortifications of that 
Early and Middle Bronze Age city, or the mountains that utterly dominate the 
non-urban area away from the city itself where Abraham would have sojourned 
in tents? 

By contrast, if the early Hebrew author wanted to reference a valley in the 
northern Shephelah that had no formal name in the ancient world [the place we 
call today the “Aijalon Valley”], for a person like Abraham who had started 
out at Bethel, then the very three words that we would rightly expect are all 
right there in the text:  a “valley” that is the opposite of “east” of 
Bethel, and that is surrounded by magnificent “oak trees”.  All of the common 
words in the text describe the Late Bronze Age Aijalon Valley perfectly, 
while not fitting the city northwest of the brutal Judean Desert at all well. 
 [As to the proper name X-BR-W-N, see #3 below.]

Karl, what common words in the Hebrew text do you see as being inconsistent 
with my view that the Patriarchs’ X-BR-W-N is the Aijalon Valley?

Karl, you do realize, don’t you, that the Shephelah is part of the Promised 
Land of Canaan?  There’s nothing remotely blasphemous about the idea that the 
Patriarchs sensibly chose to sojourn in the lovely Shephelah, west of hill 
country.  I don’t quite understand why you’re fighting so hard here against 
what the Hebrew text says.  It says “valley” and the opposite of “east” of 
Bethel and “oak trees” and “Amorites”, all of which describe the Late Bronze 
Age Aijalon Valley perfectly, and none of which fit the towering mountains 
that surround the city just northwest of the Judean Desert.  The words “up” 
and “mountains” are very conspicuous by their complete absence in the text’s 
description of the Patriarchs’ X-BR-W-N.  Why fight the text?  Why not go 
with the text, and relish its pinpoint accuracy?  There’s nothing wrong with 
the text!  The problem, rather, is with the longstanding erroneous 
interpretation of the text. 

3.  In response to my assertion that “QRYT )RB( is a Patriarchal nickname for 
the historical city of Rubutu”, you wrote:  “There is no where in the text 
that can support this idea. How can you expect us to agree with you that the 
patriarchal narratives are historical, when you yourself treat it as fiction?”

The adroit use of apt nicknames does not make a text fictional.  The text 
portrays Sarah [and the Patriarchs and Rebekah and Leah, but not Rachel] as 
being buried in a cave in a field just outside of the historical Late Bronze 
Age city of Rubutu, which is close to, but not identical with, where the 
Patriarchs sojourned in the Late Bronze Age Aijalon Valley.  The early Hebrew 
author was forced to come up with a Patriarchal nickname for the northernmost 
valley in the Shephelah, because such valleys had no formal names in the 
ancient world, as we know from the Thutmose III list.  [By contrast, every 
single city, including very small towns, had historical names.]  The author 
chose to use a Patriarchal nickname for Rubutu.  “Rubutu” itself is a west 
Semitic name meaning “Great City”:  RB + T.  But in the Patriarchal Age, 
although most of the Aijalon Valley was dominated by Amorites [especially 
Milk-Ilu/“Mamre”], the city of Rubutu was dominated by Hurrian lords like 
Tagi and Suwardata, per the Amarna Letters.  So the early Hebrew author 
brilliantly came up with a nifty Patriarchal nickname that (i) means 
“(Hurrian) lords” in Hurrian, and (ii) is based on the two key consonants 
R-B, just like RB-T, and hence the reference to historical Rubutu is clearly 
there. Neat!  [In the Hebrew rendering of Hurrian names, the aleph and the 
ayin need to be in )RB(/ir-bi, in order to show the syllable division.  But 
they are prosthetic in nature, being vowel indicators, not true consonants.  
The only two true consonants in )RB( as a Patriarchal name are R-B.]

Meanwhile, no place named “City of Four” [the west Semitic meaning of )RB(] 
or anything remotely like that is attested in Canaan, either during Moses’ 
time or in the Late Bronze Age or in any other time period.  And there’s no 
XBRWN, using five letters, attested in non-biblical sources prior to 
post-exilic times, to the best of my knowledge, and there’s no XBRN, using 
four letters, referring to the city northwest of the Judean Desert, to the 
best of my knowledge, until the early 1st millennium BCE.  The nomenclature 
that the Patriarchal narratives use is consistently Late Bronze Age in nature 
[except for a mere handful of the inevitable post-exilic added comments], 
never Early or Middle Bronze Age in nature, and not Iron Age or later in 
nature either.  For example, X-BR-W-N/xa-vur-u-ne in Hurrian [a Late Bronze 
Age language] means “heaven on earth”, and its root [before adding Hurrian 
suffixes] is XBR.  Compare XBR as the name used for King Keret’s ideal 
kingdom in Ugaritic mythology.  Everything here is Late Bronze Age in nature, 
including Rubutu, the RB city or Great City, QRYT )RB(, in the Late Bronze 
Age Aijalon Valley,  w-e-s-t  [not south!] of Bethel.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois