Biblical Hebrew Forum

[jimstinehart AT aol.com]

Gesenius says:  “)YLWN {“oak” see )LWN}”.

Another source says regarding Judges 12: 12:  “Elon [)YLWN], the oak, or "the 
strong one," is buried in Aijalon [)YLWN], the "city of strong ones"….  J.E. 
Thorold Rogers, “Bible Folklore: A Story in Comparative Mythology” (2003), at 
p. 95.

If )L-WN is the plene spelling of )L-N, and if )L-WN can have the same 
meaning as )YL-WN [as asserted by Gesenius], then (i) “Aijalon”/)YL-WN could 
mean “oak tree city” [in addition to meaning “the city of strong ones”], and 
(ii) the references at Genesis 13: 18;  14: 13;  18: 1 to )L-N could be a 
reference to Aijalon/)YL-WN, that is, “oak tree city”, in addition to 
referencing “oak trees”.

If so, then X-BR-W-N at Genesis 13: 18 is referring to the Aijalon Valley in 
the Shephelah, not the towering Hebron Mountains in southern hill country.  
Prior to post-exilic times, there is nothing in non-biblical sources to 
connect X-BR-W-N to the city northwest of the Judean Desert that is 
surrounded by the towering Hebron Mountains.

George Athas wrote:  “Jim, I don't see anything here that you're offering for 
discussion. You're just pseudo-publishing a theory.”

What I am “offering for discussion” is the Hebrew linguistic question of 
whether )L-N at Genesis 13: 18 could be a reference to )YL-WN/Aijalon in the 
Shephelah.  Genesis 12: 9 and Genesis 13: 3 are logically referring to the 
Shephelah, through which Abram and Lot passed “in stages”.  When Lot shortly 
thereafter went east of Bethel, Abram logically returned west to where Abram 
and Lot had just recently traversed “by stages”, namely the rural Aijalon 
Valley in the Shephelah, which [unlike the towering Hebron Mountains] was an 
ideal place for sheep and goats.

To me, Genesis 13: 3 and Genesis 13: 18 are both referencing the same place:  
the Shephelah.  That’s what Hebrew linguistics is telling us, if    )L-N at 
Genesis 13: 18 could be a reference to )YL-WN/Aijalon in the Shephelah.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois










-----Original Message-----
From: George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au>
To: JimStinehart AT aol.com <JimStinehart AT aol.com>; B-Hebrew 
<b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Thu, Apr 14, 2011 11:08 pm
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] "Oak Tree" in Biblical Hebrew


Jim, I don't see anything here that you're offering for discussion. You're 
just 
seudo-publishing a theory. Unless there's a specific issue for engaging, 
please 
on't treat B-Hebrew like your own journal space.

EORGE ATHAS
oore Theological College (Sydney, Australia)
ww.moore.edu.au

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