Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

Rob Acosta wrote:
 
“Dr. Nili Liphschitz concludes a certain species of oak forests dominated 
the ancient Levant to points south of both sides of the Dead Sea...”
 
On the b-hebrew list, the best way to check out claims of the prominence of 
oak trees in Biblical times is to examine Biblical toponyms.
 
The Aijalon Valley has three villages whose names refer to “oak trees”:  I 
Samuel 10: 3, Joshua 19: 43, and I Kings 4: 9.  [It is less clear whether 
the name of the famous Aijalon refers to oak trees.]  A little ways south of 
there in the Shephelah is the Elah Valley, meaning “Oak Tree Valley”.  
Shechem seems to have two nearby villages whose names refer to “oak trees”:  
at 
Genesis 12: 6/Deuteronomy 11: 30 and Judges 9: 37.  Galilee has two cities 
whose names reference “oak trees”:  Joshua 19: 33 and Judges 12: 12.
 
By stark contrast, to the best of my knowledge there is no village, city or 
valley named for “oak trees” in southern hill country or near the Dead Sea.
 
Per Genesis 13: 9, 11, the logical place to look for the Patriarchs’ XBRWN 
is west of Bethel, not south of Bethel.  Per Genesis 13: 18, 14: 13 and 18: 
1, we are told three times over that “oak trees” are prominent at the 
Patriarchs’ XBRWN, and )LNY may also mean that there were several villages 
whose 
names referred to “oak trees” at or near the Patriarchs’ XBRWN.  We see 
that everything effortlessly fits the eastern Aijalon Valley perfectly.  Two 
of 
the problems with the traditional assertion that southern hill country is 
the locale of the Patriarchs’ XBRWN are that (i) southern hill country is not 
the opposite of “east” of Bethel, and (ii) there are no toponyms in 
southern hill country that reference “oak trees”.
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois