Biblical Hebrew Forum

[jimstinehart AT aol.com]

Based on Hebrew grammar, on this thread we may be able to solve one of the 
Bible’s greatest mysteries.  )LNY at Genesis 13: 18 is traditionally, and 
properly, analyzed as being masculine construct plural in form.  But the 
analysis has always stopped with a common word, which is what has misled 
everyone.  We see the masculine form of the word “oak” [or “strong tree”, 
etc., literally meaning “strong one”] at Genesis 35: 8:  )LWN = “oak tree”.  
[This contrasts with the feminine form of that same word:  )LH at Genesis 35: 
4.]  So at the level of a common word, WY$B B-)LN-Y MMR) at Genesis 13: 18 
means:  “(He) dwelt by the oak trees of Mamre.”  Although the basic form of 
the common word here, )LWN, has a vav, and )LNY does not, that is no 
surprise, per the analysis in my prior post on this thread.  In addition, 
compare “Hebronites” at Numbers 3: 27 and Numbers 26: 58, where the interior 
vav drops out in XBRN-Y, even though “Hebron”/XBRWN is always spelled in 
basic form with the interior vav [such as at Numbers 3: 19 and Numbers 13: 
22].  My prior post also made the critical point that for words whose fullest 
form is )YLW + ending, the interior yod/Y often drops out in some variants.  
So although )LNY in construct form does not have an interior yod, the basic 
form of the underlying word could nevertheless have an interior yod.  For 
example, the basic word here, )LWN, has no interior yod, but it is closely 
related to )YL, which has an interior yod, and which on a few occasions 
[Isaiah 1: 29;  61: 3] has the same meaning of “oak tree” [though it usually 
means “ram”, with the literal meaning in all cases being “strong one”].  When 
the interior yod is present, then the masculine construct plural of )YL is 
)YLY, per Isaiah 61: 3.  As to proper names, my prior post on this thread 
showed that as a Hebrew judge’s name, )YLWN at Judges 12: 11 has both an 
interior yod and an interior vav, whereas the name of the same person at 
Judges 12: 12 is )LWN, which has no interior yod, with both such versions of 
this name being transliterated into English as “Elon” [though at Judges 12: 
11 one might have expected “Aijalon”].  Either the interior yod or the 
interior vav could drop out of a word or name whose fullest form is )YLW + 
ending.  Indeed, we would fully expect the interior vav to drop out with a -Y 
ending, and as shown in my prior post, in this type of word, the interior yod 
could drop out as well.  Thus where )LNY is masculine construct plural [as it 
surely is at Genesis 13: 18], the underlying word in its basic form could be 
any of the following:  )LN or )LWN or )YLN or )YLWN.

Now let me present what I see as being the primary meaning of )LNY at Genesis 
13: 18.  Everyone else has always assumed that the underlying basic word, of 
which )LNY is the masculine plural construct form, is a common word, and only 
a common word.  But as opposed to that traditional approach, let’s try the 
identical grammatical analysis as above, but this time using a proper name.  
As just noted, the underlying word could have as its basic form )YLWN [having 
an interior vav only in plene spelling], and have as its masculine construct 
plural the )LNY we see at Genesis 13: 18, with the interior yod and the 
interior vav being dropped.  As a proper name, being a geographical place 
name, )YLWN is transliterated into English as either “Aijalon” or “Elon”.  
Thus at Joshua 19: 42-43, in unpointed text we see )YLWN as “Aijalon” at 
Joshua 19: 42, and then in the very next verse, at Joshua 19: 43, we see the 
identical five letters, )YLWN, but this time transliterated into English as 
“Elon”.  Though in unpointed text these two names have identical spellings, 
in fact they are two separate towns, both of which are located in the 
southerly part of the eastern half of the Aijalon Valley. 

Knowing that there are two towns in the southern half of the eastern Aijalon 
Valley whose names in unpointed text are spelled )YLWN, and that the 
masculine construct plural form of such proper names could be the )LNY that 
we see at Genesis 13: 18, now consider the following proposed primary meaning 
of WY$B B-)LN-Y MMR), as a statement of where Abram went to sojourn upon 
splitting from Lot:

“(He) dwelt in the Aijalons of Mamre.”

The reference in the plural to “Aijalons” is to both (i) Aijalon in the 
southeast Aijalon Valley,  a-n-d  to (ii) Elon/Aijalon in the south-central 
Aijalon Valley, with both such city names having identical spellings in 
unpointed text [per Joshua 19: 42-43].  It’s a nifty way of saying that 
Abraham sojourned in the rural paradise of the southerly portion of the 
eastern half of the Aijalon Valley, at a time when the valley itself had no 
formal name, but the city names were Aijalon and Elon/Aijalon.  With the 
Patriarchs being rural people, they probably sojourned closer to Elon/Aijalon 
most of the time than to Aijalon.  The name of the more famous Aijalon is 
well-attested in the Amarna Letters, and at that time both Aijalons were 
dominated by an Amorite princeling ruler from the western Aijalon Valley, 
with “Mamre” meaning “an Amorite”.  [XBRWN may be a Patriarchal nickname for 
the Aijalon Valley.  The name XBRWN is not attested in Canaan prior to the 
late 8th century BCE in non-biblical sources, and at that point XBRN appears 
to be a reference to the Shephelah, since more than 300 XBRN seals were found 
in the Shephelah, and only 7 were found at the mountainous city 20 miles 
south of Jerusalem.]  

As to whether the author of the Patriarchal narratives spelled Elon/Aijalon 
with an interior yod, which as shown in my prior post is optional, we would 
expect the name of one of the grandsons of Jacob/“Israel” to honor 
Elon/Aijalon as the Patriarchs’ favorite place to sojourn.  At Genesis 46: 
14, a son of Zebulun is )LWN, with no interior yod.  If that is plene 
spelling, then the original, defective spelling in the Patriarchal narratives 
may well have been )LN.  I see the Patriarchs’ favorite place to sojourn in 
southern Canaan as being near Elon/Aijalon, in the south-central Aijalon 
Valley, with such city name being spelled in the Patriarchal narratives 
without an interior yod.  The masculine construct plural form of )LN would be 
the )LNY we see at Genesis 13: 18.  It means “Aijalons of”, and refers both 
to Elon/Aijalon and to the more famous, and nearby, Aijalon.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois