Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

As we continue to examine the use of plural construct in Biblical place 
names, consider QRYH.  In Hebrew poetry, QRYH is sometimes used as a common 
word to mean “city”.  But in non-poetic parts of the Bible, a form of QRYH is 
used almost exclusively in city names, so all variants of QRYH in 
geographical place names are viewed here as being a proper name, not a common 
word.
 
Regarding cities in southern Canaan, in all cases except one [with that one 
exception being the case we are interested in], QRYH appears in a city name 
in the form of feminine construct singular,  n-o-t  plural:  QRYT 
[transliterated into English as “Kiriath”].  Joshua lists four towns in 
southern 
Canaan whose first name is Kiriath, in construct singular:
 
Joshua 15: 54 Kiriath Arba
Joshua 15: 60 Kiriath Baal
Joshua 18: 15 Kiriath Jearim
Joshua 15: 49 Kiriath Sannah
 
But the one case of interest to us is the unique case in southern Canaan 
where the form of QRYH is feminine construct plural:  QRYWT XCRWN [HY) XCWR], 
at Joshua 15: 25.  This city name is generally transliterated into English 
as Kerioth Hezron.  As a common word, the meaning would be “cities”, but in 
a place name, this is a proper name.  As an Anglicized plural, this city 
name could be rendered as “Kiriaths”, but the customary transliteration is “
Kerioth”.  [The other three Biblical references to a Kerioth are not in 
construct and are to a city in Moab.]
 
QRYWT XCRWN/Kerioth Hezron is referring to a town in the southern district 
of Judah.  It’s in the extreme south of Canaan, so its location is what 
counts.  [See the reference to Hezron at Joshua 15: 3, which comes right 
after 
the reference to Kadesh-barnea, a place well south of Canaan.]  The full 
rendering at Joshua 15: 25, QRYWT XCRWN HY) XCWR, tells us that the name 
Hezron 
is a variant of the name Hazor.  [This is not the more famous Hazor in 
southeastern Upper Galilee, but rather is a place in southern Canaan.]  Hazor 
is 
also mentioned as part of another town’s name earlier in Joshua 15: 25 
itself, similarly in the next verse, Joshua 15: 26, and before that by itself 
at 
Joshua 15: 23.  It appears that in southern Canaan there was one place 
simply called Hazor, and three other places that had some variant of Hazor in 
their names, with in one case that variant of Hazor being Hezron.  Though 
it’s 
a bit confusing, the middle reference at Joshua 15: 25 is very likely to a 
single place, which has the Hezron variant of Hazor in its name, and which is 
the southernmost Kiriath of the five Kiriaths in southern Canaan.
 
Here is the meaning of QRYWT XCRWN, focusing on QRYWT being in feminine 
construct plural format:
 
“[concerning the five] Kiriaths [in southern Canaan, the southernmost one 
that is on the southern edge of Canaan, that is, the one that is] of 
Hezron/Hazor”
 
As usual, the use of construct plural in the place name puts the focus on 
location, location, location.  It seems unlikely that Hezron/Hazor in 
southern Canaan was a very important place for most purposes.  But it was the 
southernmost of the five Kiriaths in southern Canaan.  The only thing 
noteworthy 
about this place was its location.
 
Based on our prior analyses of place names like this, the plural aspect of 
the construct plural here means only that there are other Kiriaths in the 
neighborhood.  It does not mean that QRYWT XCRWN is referring to multiple 
cities.  Rather, the  o-n-e  Kiriath that is being referenced here is 
specified 
by the word/name that is not in construct form, Hezron/Hazor.  The point of 
using construct plural here is, as always, to focus our attention on 
location, location, location. 
 
Of the four place names with a proper name in construct plural that we have 
examined so far, we have seen three that seem to denote the outer 
boundaries of the land of Canaan/Israel:  R)MWT B-GL(D on the northeast, and 
RMWT NGB 
and QRYWT XCRWN on the south.  The west and southeast edges of Canaan have 
natural boundaries:  the Mediterranean Sea on the west, and the Dead Sea on 
the southeast.  All that is missing now is straight north, on the northern 
edge of Naphtali.  Surely there must be a place name on the northern edge of 
Naphtali that features the rarity of a plural construct form of a proper 
name, and that has no known significance other than its location, location, 
location.  
 
Our very own Prof. Yigal Levin has published a fine article on the specific 
borders of the land of Canaan/Israel that is very sophisticated and 
complex.  But on a rough and ready basis, can’t we largely determine the 
practical 
borders of the land of Canaan/Israel by simply looking for non-interior 
place names that feature a proper name in construct plural?  All that we seem 
to 
be missing is the northern edge of Naphtali.  Here comes XMT D)R in 
Naphtali, at Joshua 21: 32, next!
 
When one is trying to puzzle out Biblical geography, it sure as heck helps 
to look at place names that feature a proper name in construct plural.  
Those rare Biblical place names focus on location, location, location, and 
may 
be a rough and ready approximation of the outer boundaries of the land of 
Canaan/Israel.  There are multiple Ramahs, Kiriaths and Hammaths throughout 
Canaan, but the ones that denote the outer boundary of Canaan are the  
o-n-l-y  
ones that feature a proper name in construct plural.  Neat!  A little bit 
of Hebrew grammar goes a long way when it comes to Biblical geography.
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois