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  • From: Yigal Levin <Yigal.Levin AT biu.ac.il>
  • To: b-hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Year 13 Hebrew Grammar
  • Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2011 13:00:57 +0300

Just to humor you, Jim, could you please explain why the word MQWM means
"major city-state"? That Shechem was a major city-state throughout most of
the Bronze Age we know, but where else in the Bible does the word MQWM refer
to a place's size or status?

Yigal Levin

-----Original Message-----
From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of jimstinehart AT aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, August 23, 2011 4:15 AM
To: George.Athas AT moore.edu.au; b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Year 13 Hebrew Grammar




The only place in the entire Hebrew Bible where one sees the precise phrase
MQWM [city name], with no letter in front of MQWM and nothing after MQWM
except the city name, is Genesis 12: 6. Why is that? What does MQWM $KM
actually mean, and why is no other place ever referred to in that precise way?

If the second half of Genesis 14: 4 means what it says and says what it
means, then the question answers itself. On that view, Genesis 12: 6 relates
to Year 12. If the hieratic docket number on Amarna Letter EA 254 is “Year
12” [which is one of two competing scholarly views as to that docket number],
then in Year 12 the o-n-l-y major city-state in all of Canaan was, for an
extremely short period of time, Shechem. (It seemed on the verge of
dominating most of Canaan south of the Jezreel Valley.) In the historical
context of Year 12, MQWM $KM means “the major city-state of Shechem”. [And
Yes, on that view of EA 254 the ruler of Shechem in Year 12 was indeed a
“Canaanite”, just as Genesis 12: 6 accurately asserts, even though at that
time few cities in Canaan had Canaanite rulers.] The p-i-n-p-o-i-n-t
historical accuracy of the Patriarchal narratives is absolutely stunning, if
we know what precise time period is being referenced.

If the second half of Genesis 14: 4 means what it says and says what it
means, then many otherwise inexplicable aspects of the Biblical text become
self-explanatory. That’s why the Hebrew grammar of the second half of
Genesis 14: 4 is so very important.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois



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