Biblical Hebrew Forum

[jimstinehart AT aol.com]

Prof. Yigal Levin wrote:  “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?”

At Genesis 18: 24, MQWM is used as a synonym for “city”/(YR [the city of 
Sodom].

At Genesis 29: 26, MQWM means “country” [the area in eastern Syria where 
Laban lived].

Thus where MQWM appears directly before a city name, with no modifiers before 
or after MQWM, as it uniquely does at Genesis 12: 6, it can have the meaning 
of “city” that is a “country”, that is:  “major city-state”.

The Biblical author was struggling to find a Hebrew word to describe the 
unique phenomenon of Shechem in Year 12.  For that one year, Shechem was more 
of a state than a city, controlling much of Canaan south of the Jezreel 
Valley.

The unique nomenclature of Genesis 12: 6 perfectly fits the unique situation 
that applied to Shechem in one year, and only one year:  Year 12, when it 
appeared that Shechem, with its notorious “Canaanite” strongman ruler, was 
poised to take over most all of the southern half of Canaan.  T-h-a-t  is why 
Lot could not go directly north at Genesis 13: 11 [though Lot had looked 
north at Genesis 13: 10], but rather Lot had to make a major detour and leave 
Bethel going east.  If we can get the historical time period right, these 
Biblical stories practically tell themselves, instead of being inexplicable.

The key is to focus on the Hebrew grammar of the second half of Genesis 14: 
4, where the reference there to “And Year 13 they rebelled” points us to the 
exact year in which the events in chapter 13 of Genesis are portrayed as 
happening:  Year 12.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois