Biblical Hebrew Forum

[jimstinehart AT aol.com]

George Athas:
 
In response to my statement that “Perhaps the greatest Biblical mystery of 
all time is to know the specific date when Abraham first settled at the 
Patriarchs’ Hebron”, you wrote:  “No, I wouldn't have thought so.”
 
But do you or do you not agree that based on Hebrew grammar, the second half 
of Genesis 14: 4 (i) seems to be referring to Year 13, and (ii) does not use 
the phraseology that is used elsewhere in the Bible when the intended meaning 
is “And in the 13th year”?
 
My theory of the Patriarchal narratives works well only if Abram first 
settles at the Patriarchs’ Hebron in Year 12 (the year before the reference 
to Year 13 at Genesis 14: 4).  Only in Year 12, not earlier and not later, 
would we expect Lot to leave Bethel by going east (Genesis 13: 11).  And only 
in Year 12, not earlier and not later, would we expect Abram, proceeding in 
the opposite direction, to come to a place where he allies with an Amorite 
princeling (Mamre) who in addition to being attested as operating in concert 
with tent-dwellers (with certain aspects of the Apiru lifestyle being similar 
to that of the Patriarchs), but also is attested as operating with both 
Canaanite (Eshcol) and Hurrian (Aner) allies (Genesis 14: 13).
 
As you probably know, we have more information about Canaan in Year 12 (if 
it’s Year 12 of Akhenaten’s 17-year reign) than virtually any other year in 
ancient history.  We know who was ruling Shechem, Jerusalem and the Ayalon 
Valley, and we know how each of those rulers operated.  So we can verify or 
falsify each of the many statements that are made in the Biblical text about 
the situation in Canaan at the time that Abram chose to sojourn at the 
Patriarchs’ Hebron.  We know that central hill country had lost 90% of its 
population since the end of the Middle Bronze Age.  We know that the 
Shephelah had lost 50% of its population since the end of the Middle Bronze 
Age.  Especially exciting in that connection is that we know that there was 
not a single village or town in the northeast Ayalon Valley, an area that had 
fine land, so that the northeast Ayalon Valley would have been a rural 
nirvana for the Patriarchs at that time.  We know that the northeast Ayalon 
Valley does not have caves, but the southeast Ayalon Valley does, so Abraham 
would have had to go a short ways south to buy a cave for Sarah’s burial, 
near a Hurrian-dominated city.
 
In a word, we can document virtually everything the Biblical text says, with 
great specificity, if we could confirm the exact year in which Abram is 
portrayed as settling at the Patriarchs’ Hebron.  That would be Year 12, and  
e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g  would check out perfectly, if the second half of Genesis 
14: 4 says “And Year 13 they rebelled”, while not saying how it is usually 
translated:  “And in the 13th year they rebelled.”
 
>From the standpoint of Hebrew grammar, what is your analysis of the second 
>half of Genesis 14: 4?
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois