Biblical Hebrew Forum

[jimstinehart AT aol.com]

Chavoux Luyt:

You wrote:  “However, Abraham was able to see the destruction of Sedom and 
`Amorah from close to the oaks of Mamre (Gen.18-19). How can this fit the 
Shephelah?”

That is such an important issue, and so misunderstood, that I will devote 
this entire post to that issue.  [I hope I will have the chance to address 
your other good points in subsequent posts.  This specific issue, however, is 
absolutely critical to my proposed new understanding of the geography of the 
Patriarchal narratives, and can be nicely resolved by a close reading of the 
Hebrew words in the text.]

1.  Genesis 19: 17 tells us that the place to which Abraham went to see the 
destruction of Sodom was “the place where he had stood before the LORD”.  The 
two places where Abraham “had stood before the LORD” are Bethel and the 
Patriarchs’ XBRWN.  As to Bethel, before Abraham had moved his tent from 
Bethel [as stated at Genesis 13: 18], Abraham “had stood before the LORD”:  
“And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him:  'Lift 
up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward and 
southward and eastward and westward’”.  Genesis 13: 14

Abraham had also “stood before the LORD” the day before Sodom’s destruction 
at the Patriarchs’ XBRWN, but note that that was a few feet outside of 
Abraham’s tent.  We know that, because at Genesis 18: 12 Sarah, who is inside 
the tent, overhears the entire conversation between Abraham and YHWH.  Note 
that Genesis 19: 17 would not make sense if Abraham just had to walk outside 
his tent to see the destruction of Sodom:  “And Abraham got up early in the 
morning to the place where he had stood before the LORD.”  Rather, that 
sentence only makes sense if Abraham is about 5 – 10 miles west of Bethel, so 
that by getting up early in the morning, Abraham can then hasten to “the 
place where he had stood before the LORD” in chapter 13 of Genesis:  Bethel.  
Now consider what I Samuel 10: 3 tells us about the place where I see Abraham 
as sojourning:  )LWN/Allon:  “Then shalt thou go on forward from thence, and 
thou shalt come to [)LWN] of Tabor, and there shall meet thee there three men 
going up to God to Beth-el….”  Per I Samuel 10: 2, we know that )LWN is near 
“the border of Benjamin”, so )LWN must be in the northeast corner of the 
Shephelah, about 5 – 10 miles west of Bethel.  We know from I Samuel 10: 3 
that people passed by )LWN in going up to Bethel.

If Abraham was at )LWN, about 5 – 10 miles west of Bethel, then Genesis 19: 
17 makes perfect sense in describing Abraham getting up early in the morning 
to hasten to Bethel -- the place where Abraham had stood before YHWH -- to 
see the destruction of Sodom [which does not happen at the very break of 
dawn, because Lot first has to make it to Zoar before the angels can destroy 
Sodom].

Now look back at chapter 18 of Genesis, and you will see that the text does  
n-o-t  say that the angels or Abraham could see Sodom from the Patriarchs’ 
XBRWN.  The word $QP is used three times in the Patriarchal narratives, so we 
can tell the exact meaning of that key word.  Genesis 18: 16 says:  “And the 
men [the angels] rose up from thence, and looked out [$QP] toward Sodom; and 
Abraham went with them to bring them on the way.”  The angels start to head 
out in the direction of Sodom, and Abraham accompanies them a short way, but 
neither the angels nor Abraham can see Sodom from there.  $QP means “to look 
out” or “to look forth”, and does not mean “look upon”.  Rather, per both 
Genesis 19: 28 and Genesis 26: 8, we know what the text would say if the 
angels looked out and  s-a-w  Sodom:  $QP and R)H:  “looked out and saw”.  So 
at Genesis 18: 16, the angels merely look in the direction of Sodom, without 
looking upon Sodom, whereas at Genesis 19: 28 and 26: 8, Abraham at Bethel 
looks down upon and sees Sodom, and Abimelek at GRR looks down upon and sees 
Isaac and Rebekah.  The Hebrew text is thus quite clear that the angels 
merely look toward Sodom, rather than being able to see Sodom from the 
Patriarchs’ XBRWN.

Since Abraham cannot see Sodom from the Patriarchs’ XBRWN, Abraham has to get 
up early in the morning and hasten to Bethel to see the destruction of Sodom. 
 Note that the mountainous city in southern hill country is way too far away 
from Bethel for Abraham to get to Bethel from there in time to see the 
destruction of Sodom.

If we carefully look at what the Hebrew words in the Patriarchal narratives 
actually say about the Patriarchs’ XBRWN, we see that the  o-n-l-y  place 
that fits the description is the village of )LWN [which means “oak tree 
village”], which is located in oak tree country, the Shephelah, about 5 – 10 
miles west of Bethel.  No other geographical locale fits what the text says.  
The mountainous site 20 miles south of Jerusalem is way too far away from 
Bethel for Abraham to get to Bethel in time to see Sodom’s destruction early 
in the morning, and it is equally clear that the place to which Abraham 
hastens early in the morning cannot be right outside his tent at the 
Patriarchs’ XBRWN, where he had stood before YHWH the previous day, because 
then Abraham would not have had to get up early to hasten to that place.  The 
only locale that works is the village of )LWN in the northeast corner of the 
Shephelah, 5 – 10 miles west of Bethel.

The closer one examines what the Hebrew words in the text actually say about 
the Patriarchs’ XBRWN, the clearer it becomes that the Patriarchs sojourned 
by the oak trees of the village of )LWN, in the northeast Aijalon Valley. 

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois