Biblical Hebrew Forum

[rob acosta <robacosta AT hotmail.com>]

Jim,    I wish to focus on the meaning of Genesis 13:17-18
  I stated , based on the works of others that13:18 means "So Abraham moved 
his tents from place to place, then settled in Hebron" meaning Abraham obeyed 
the command to "walk the land." after Lot departed.   You dispute this,    
You have gone to great lengths to try to show the quote "you go left and I go 
right" in Genesis 13:9 meant Abraham went opposite Lot to the Aijalon 
valley.(it's you go north I go south in both the Targums and Talmud)  You 
claim Abraham did not actually obey God's command to walk the land.  You 
claim there is no evidence Abraham made this journey although I'd mentioned 
traditions from all over Canaan. The direction Lot went is totally 
irrelevant. Abraham was clearly  given another mission which had nothing to 
do with Lot.This is clear by the use of   וַיֶּאֱהַ֣ל (vai·ye·'e·hal) which 
appears on only one other occasion in the bible.    And this is confirmed in 
the Dead Sea Scrolls.
  I refer you to The Genesis Apocryphon labeled 1QapGen found in  Cave 1 near 
Qumran written, possibly by the Essenes in Aramaic and dating to about 100 
BCE available from many sources online.
  It is said to be  Abraham's personal narration of the events later used by 
Moses.
"After that day, Lot departed from me on account of the deeds of our 
shepherds. He went away and settled in the valley of the Jordan, together 
with all his flocks; and I myself added more to them. He kept his sheep and 
journeyed as far as Sodom, and he bought a house for himself in Sodom and 
dwelt in it. But I dwelt on the mountain of Bethel and it grieved me that my 
nephew Lot had departed from me.
"And God appeared to me in a vision at night and said to me, "Go to Ramath 
Hazor which is north of Bethel, the place where you dwell, and lift up your 
eyes and look to the east and to the west and to the south and to the north; 
and behold all this land which I give to you and your seed forever....Rise 
and go! Behold the length and breadth of the land for it is yours; and after 
you, I will give it to your seed forever.""
"And I, Abram, departed to travel about and see the land.' I began my journey 
at the river Gihon and traveled along the coast of the sea until I came to 
the Mountain of the Bull [Taurus]. Then I traveled from the coast of the 
Great Saltwater Sea and journeyed towards the east by the Mountain of the 
Bull, across the breadth of the land, until I came to the river Euphrates. I 
journeyed along the Euphrates until I came to the Red Sea in the east, and I 
traveled along the coast of the Red Sea until I came to the tongue of the Sea 
of Reeds which flows out from the Red Sea. Then I pursued my way in the south 
until I came to the river Gihon, and returning, I came to my house in peace 
and found all things prosperous there. I went to dwell at the Oaks of Mamre, 
which is at Hebron, northeast of Hebron; and I built an altar there, and laid 
on it a sacrifice and an oblation to the Most High God...."

   Now, you may wish to dig up the Essenes and tell them they too are wrong , 
and you will no doubt question the fact it is a story in a Dead Sea  Scroll 
and not the Hebrew Bible but the story laid out here, over 2000 years ago 
precisely matches Genesis 13:17-18 and gives a plausible route.    It is not 
a recent invention such as your theory. It is how the early Jews understood 
Genesis 13:18.It is what they taught their children.
  It points out:  Abraham did as commanded in his usual fashion...he did it 
immediately. He did not wait until Isaac was born.  Lot leaves Canaan 
altogether. He keeps his sheep even after he buys a home in Sodom, so your 
claim  Lot he sells his sheep to "live the city life" is also not accurate.   
   Abraham  obeys the command to Walk the Land immediately after it was given 
and precisely as it was given.   He returns and settles in Hebron...the 
traditional Hebron where the Oaks of Mamre are in the very fertile Northeast 
of modern day Hebron.
   We are told in the Jewish traditions Sodom was outside Canaan. That Lot 
married an Egyptian woman while inEgypt, and that Sodom was the only city in 
the region that would accept him as a resident and only becauseof his great 
herds of sheep. This is why he is sitting "at the gates" of Sodom, a practice 
of the merchants,when the angels arrive.  I've stated before that many of the 
questions that so vex moderns due to the difficulties of Hebrew are likely 
answeredsomewhere,at some time, by the ancient Jews themselves if you look 
hard enough.
   Rob Acosta

To: robacosta AT hotmail.com; b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Genesis 13:18  Appositional Phrase vs. Adjectival 
Phrase
Date: Mon, 27 Jun 2011 22:24:14 -0400
From: jimstinehart AT aol.com


Rob:


 


As my prior post made clear, Sarah gets pregnant with Isaac, and Abraham 
moves to GRR, immediately after Lot is reduced to living in a cave (which is 
years after Hagar bears Ishmael).


 


I agree that YHWH never made any promises to Lot.  But Abraham on his own 
motion could not unilaterally cut out Lot.  Rather, the divine promise of all 
of Canaan to Abraham could not be fulfilled until after YHWH determined that 
Lot had completely forfeited any claim to Canaan that Lot might otherwise 
have had, based on Lot failing to affirmatively object to Sodom’s turn to the 
dark side.  [Abram does not split from Lot at Bethel because there’s not 
enough pasturage.  Rather, Abram needs to be by himself so he can righteously 
live by YHWH’s divine commandments, while Lot for his part will show Lot’s 
merit or lack thereof by the manner in which Lot, on his own, handles himself 
in the face of the iniquity of Sodom that begins to occur only after Abram 
has returned Lot to Sodom at the end of chapter 14 of Genesis.] 


 


I agree that Genesis 13: 17 is important.  Abram begins the process of 
walking the length of Canaan by sojourning at the Patriarchs’ XBRWN, in 
southern Canaan.  But Sarah will not get pregnant until Abraham fulfills the 
divine commandment of Genesis 13: 17 and walks all the long way north to the 
far northwest corner of Upper Galilee/GRR, the home of Biblical and 
historical Abimelek (of the Amarna Letters).  Abraham cannot go north until 
Lot’s provisional claim to the northern two-thirds of Canaan has been 
definitively rejected by YHWH.  That’s why all three issues are resolved 
almost simultaneously:  (i) Lot is reduced to living in a cave [chapter 19] 
and (ii) Abraham moves way up north to GRR [chapter 20] and (iii) Sarah gets 
pregnant with Isaac (with Isaac’s actual birth, of course, coming 9 months 
later [chapter 21]).


 


Why do you think that Abraham hurries to watch the destruction of Sodom?  Why 
do you think that Abraham never inquires what happened to Lot when Sodom was 
destroyed?  Why does Abraham move to GRR immediately upon Sodom’s 
destruction?  The reason is that Abraham knew that, at long last, all three 
problems would now be divinely resolved, all at the same time.  That’s what 
YHWH had in effect foretold, that’s what is demanded by Genesis 13: 17, and 
that’s exactly what is portrayed as happening in the text.  Sarah could not 
get pregnant with Isaac until Abraham moved way up north to GRR and perfected 
his claim to all of Canaan, because that move was required by the divine 
commandment of Genesis 13: 17.


 


Jim Stinehart


Evanston, Illinois