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  • From: JimStinehart AT aol.com
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] "Oak Tree" in Biblical Hebrew
  • Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2011 15:47:47 EDT


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




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