Biblical Hebrew Forum

[jimstinehart AT aol.com]

Karl:
 
1.  You wrote:  “[The Patriarchs’ XBRWN] is the highest in altitude near 
Beersheba, which was described in Genesis as being a savanna, lots of grass 
with occasional trees and even small forests.”
 
Not a single word in the Patriarchal narratives supports that view.
 
(a)  The Hebrew words for “up” or “high” or “mountains” are never used in the 
Patriarchal narratives regarding the Patriarchs’ XBRWN, nor is there any 
indication whatsoever of high altitude.
 
(b)  Biblically, we know that the Negev was not “a savanna with lots of 
grass”, because of Genesis 13: 3.  In coming back from Egypt, Abram does not 
proceed “by stages” until he and Lot are north of the Negev, and southwest of 
Bethel.  Then they proceed “by stages” along the Diagonal Route through the 
Shephelah, passing close by three villages named )LWN or )YLWN.  By contrast, 
they pay no attention whatsoever to the Negev, because in the Patriarchal Age 
it was not a good place for sheep and goats, unlike the rural paradise of the 
Shephelah.  That is clear from a careful reading of Genesis 13: 3.
 
(c)  Historically, we know that Beersheba of the Negev was uninhabited in the 
Bronze Age. 
 
2.  You wrote:  “In the vicinity were oak trees, enough to make them a noted 
feature of the landscape.”
 
Biblically, we know that is not true because in the entirety of the Bible, 
there is not a single village, city or valley in southern hill country whose 
name is )LWN or )YLWN or in any other way refers to oak trees.  By sharp 
contrast, the lovely Shephelah features three villages named )LWN or )YLWN, 
and a valley named )LH.  The four Biblical cites for those proper names 
referencing “oak trees” in the Shephelah are )LWN/Allon at I Samuel 10: 3, 
)YLWN/Elon at Joshua 19: 43 and I Kings 4: 29, and )LH at I Samuel 17: 2.  
 
The Biblical testimony is overwhelming that the place to find oak trees and 
places named in honor of oak trees was the Shephelah, west of Bethel, not a 
mountainous locale just northwest of the Judean Desert.
 
Non-biblical sources paint the same picture.  That’s not surprising, given 
the pinpoint historical accuracy of the Patriarchal narratives.
 
3.  You wrote:  “As the highest altitude place, it would be prime summer 
pasturage for a nomadic shepherd like Abraham.”
 
(a)  As noted in #1 above, the words “high” and “up” and “mountains” are 
never used in the Patriarchal narratives regarding the Patriarchs’ XBRWN.  
Rather, Genesis 37: 14 describes such place as a “valley”, and Genesis 13: 9, 
11 tells us that it is the opposite of “east” of Bethel.  The Hebrew words in 
the Patriarchal narratives are a perfect description of the northeast 
Shephelah, and do not fit southern hill country at all.  Everything that one 
would expect from a Biblical description of the northeast Shephelah is in the 
text in spades:  (i) opposite of east of Bethel, (ii) oak trees, (iii) places 
named after oak trees, (iv) dominated by an Amorite princeling [“Mamre”, who 
is historical Milk-Ilu from Gezer], (v) “valley”.  How could the text could 
be clearer than that?  XBRWN is a Patriarchal nickname for the Shephelah, 
fully consistent with the fact that over 300 XBRN lmlk seals were found in 
the Shephelah, whereas only 7 were found at the site of the modern city of 
Hebron.  Non-biblical sources do not show the residents at that site 20 miles 
south of Jerusalem as thinking of themselves as living in “Hebron” prior to 
the common era.  It’s certain that such place was not called XBRWN or XBRN in 
the Bronze Age. 
 
(b)  Abraham is not portrayed as being “nomadic”.  After splitting from Lot, 
Abraham lives out the rest of his long life in only two places:  the 
Patriarchs’ XBRWN, and GRR.  That’s it.  And when in those two places, 
Abraham does not move around from place to place (except for a short time in 
jousting with Abimelek’s people).  The Shephelah/XBRWN and Upper Galilee/GRR 
were the two best places in the ancient world for a huge flock of sheep and 
goats.  Since YHWH promised all of Canaan to Abraham, why wouldn’t Abraham 
sojourn at the two best places in Canaan for sheep and goats?
 
4.  If the Hebrew words in the Patriarchal narratives mean what they say, 
then the Patriarchs are portrayed as sojourning in the lush rural paradise of 
the eastern Aijalon Valley when in southern Canaan, not in mountainous, 
rugged southern hill country.  There are three villages and one valley named 
after oak trees in the Shephelah, whereas there’s nothing of that kind at all 
in southern hill country.  The three-time reference to )LNY in the 
Patriarchal narratives is accurately telling us where the Patriarchs 
sojourned:  the Aijalon Valley, which was not a forest area at all, but was 
very notable for the oak trees on the low ridges that line that valley, which 
was ideal for the Patriarchs' huge flock of sheep and goats.
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois