Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

1.  How does one say “oak tree” (or “terebinth” or “pistachio tree”) in 
Biblical Hebrew?
 
)YL, or variant thereon, + ending
 
That is, )YL, or )L-H, or )L-N.
 
2.  If the most popular city name in the east end of the northern Shephelah 
was “Oak Tree City”, how would it be spelled?
 
)YL, or variant thereon, + ending
 
That is, )YL-WN [“Aijalon”], and )YL-WN [“Elon”], and )YL-BYT HNN [“
Elon-Bet-Hanan”].
 
3.  If two of the names of the three valleys in the Shephelah mean “Oak 
Tree Valley” (or “Pistachio Tree Valley”), how would they be spelled?
 
)YL, or variant thereon, + ending
 
That is, )YL-WN [“Aijalon”], and )L-H [“Elah”].
 
4.  If a person walked from hill country into the northern Shephelah in 
Biblical times, what would that person likely remark, upon arriving in the 
east 
end of the northern Shephelah?
 
)YL, or variant thereon, + ending
 
The valleys of the northern Shephelah were famous for the “oak trees” [and 
other strong trees, like terebinths, sycamores, etc.] that lined the low 
ridges that separated those valleys, especially on the east end of the 
Shephelah, west of Bethel:  “The Shephelah[’s]…original 
vegetation…included…oak, 
terebinth and Aleppo pine in the east, as well as sycamore-fig trees (I Chr 
27: 28, I Kgs 10: 27).”  David Noel Freedman et al, “Eerdmans Dictionary of 
the Bible” (2000) at p. 1207.
 
5.  After Lot left Bethel by going east, if the Hebrew author wanted to 
portray Abraham as going west from Bethel into the northern Shephelah, where “
oak trees” prominently lined the low ridges that separated the valleys 
(especially on the east end of the Shephelah), and where the most popular 
city 
name was “Oak Tree City” and the most popular valley name is “Oak Tree Valley”
, what would the text likely say at Genesis 13: 18, 14: 13 and 18: 1?
 
)YL, or variant thereon, + ending
 
That is, )L-N, and )L-N, and )L-N, three times over.
 
)YL, or variant thereon, + ending
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois