Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu>]

One needs to be very careful about Hebrew names as they lack context.
Evidently, ALON refers to something lofty or tall, possibly (but not  
necessarily) a tree, as is the ELAH, said to be HA-GDOLAH, 'the big  
one', in 2S 18:9, and HA-ABUTAH, 'the thickety one' in Ez. 6:13. If  
the biblical ALON is the 'oak' of today, only God knows.
TABOR is a TABUR as in Judges 9:37 and Ez. 38:12, being a kind of a  
CABUR, 'pile up'.
I am not sure as to what is the meaning of AYALON and EYLON.
I am sorry, but all I can say about ELONEY MAMRE of Genesis 13:18 is  
that it appears to be a place name near XEBRON. Is it an oak grove?  
Possibly.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On May 11, 2011, at 9:15 PM, jimstinehart AT aol.com wrote:

> Isaac Fried:
> You wrote:
> “Not mighty but lofty.”
>
> There were three small villages near “lofty” or “mighty” trees west  
> of Bethel whose names reflected those “lofty”, “mighty” trees, and  
> which were historically dominated by an Amorite princeling that the  
> Bible aptly refers to as Mamre.  Here are the three village names:
> 1.  )LWN.  Allon.  I Samuel 10: 3:  Allon of Tabor.  [This was the  
> most important village.]
> 2.  )YLWN.  Elon.  Joshua 19: 43:  Elon.  [Not the famous city of  
> Aijalon at Joshua 19: 42.  The tent-dwelling Patriarchs sojourned  
> in a rural paradise, not near a big city.]
> 3.  )YLWN.  Elon.  I Kings 4: 29:  Elon-Beth-Hanan.
> The $64,000 question is:  how does one refer to these three  
> villages dominated by Mamre, with their “lofty”, “mighty” names  
> that refer to oak trees, in masculine construct plural?  How do you  
> say “Allons/Elons of Mamre”, with the accent on )LWN/Allon, in  
> describing the Patriarchs’ favorite place to sojourn in southern  
> Canaan?  Doesn’t Genesis 13: 18 say it all? )LNY MMR)
> Jim Stinehart
> Evanston, Illinois