Biblical Hebrew Forum

[jimstinehart AT aol.com]

Although II Samuel in its present form was probably pulled together late, in 
the 7th century BCE, are there nevertheless some parts of that text that are 
really old, dating all the way back to near the time of King David in the 
10th century BCE?  The best way to determine that is to analyze the proper 
names in that Biblical text.  We know what the scholarly community has done 
in that regard, based on comments previously posted on this thread:  (1) 
“What's in a name?  Names are long-living, even if they contain long-vanished 
Gods as theophoric.  Names are worth almost few if anything when pondering 
the age of a text. With names, you can only prove that a text is young….” Dr. 
Reinhard G. Lehmann.  (2) “The fact that ancient names are used proves 
nothing.”  David Steinberg.  

But has that peculiar mindset caused the scholarly community to miss all 
sorts of clues that parts of II Samuel are really old, and historically 
accurate?  Let’s take a look.

Scholars view II Samuel 24: 16 as containing a Biblical scribal error as to a 
proper name.  II Samuel has H-)WRN-H, with vav/W preceding resh/R, which 
scholars say is an error for what should be )RWN-H, where the resh/R 
allegedly should precede the vav/W, and where allegedly there should be no H- 
at the beginning [meaning “the” in Hebrew, and hence not being appropriate 
preceding a proper name].  By contrast, on seven occasions at II Samuel 24: 
20-24 we see )RWN-H, with no H- [meaning “the” in Hebrew], and with resh/R 
preceding the vav/W.

HALOT is surely right in viewing )RWN as a Hurrian name [where the final -H 
is a Semiticization, which is also the case with “Uriah”/)WRY-H]:

“Hurr., cf. Ariwanna king of Abina in North Syria, Hitt. ariwanni free, 
noble…Ug. iwrn…Hurr. iwr = iwri lord” 

Note that the normal spelling of “lord” in Hurrian as a common word is iwri 
or ewri.  [That’s the spelling we see in “Uriah”/)WR-Y, which is Ewri-ya.]  
But as a common word, there needs to be an -N suffix in Hurrian, meaning 
“the”;  that results in iwrn or ewrn [per HALOT above].  In a proper name, 
however, the consonants are often reversed in Hurrian:  “In the Nuzi dialect 
the form [of the Hurrian word for ‘lord’] found as an element in p[roper] 
n[ames] is erwi”.  Gelb & Purves, “Nuzi Proper Names”, p. 210b.  “Erwin” is a 
very common element in Hurrian proper names at Nuzi, meaning “the lord”.

If a Hebrew author wanted to use a Hurrian phrase to say “by the [Hurrian] 
lord” [with there being no proper name there at all], then the ideal way to 
do that is precisely what we see in the received text of II Samuel 24: 16:  
H-)WRN-H, where “by” is -H in Hebrew, “the” is H- in Hebrew, and then the 
Hurrian word for “Hurrian lord” is used:  )WR-N, representing ewrn, which is 
a common way to spell “the lord” in Hurrian.  In my opinion, II Samuel 24: 16 
says “by the [Hurrian] lord”, and does not set forth a proper name at all.  
Then only beginning at II Samuel 24: 20 is this person’s actual name set 
forth, )RWN-H [“Araunah”], with the metathesis of the consonants that was 
commonplace at Nuzi in proper names [and without the Hebrew word for “the”, 
which would not be appropriate for a proper name].  The name Erwin means in 
Hurrian “the [Hurrian] lord”, and the -H is a Semiticization [as with 
“Uriah”/)WRY-H].

Rather than being a scribal error or a mistake of some kind, the received 
text of II Samuel 24: 16 works beautifully regarding Hurrian.  

The author of II Samuel also knew that unlike in the foregoing common word 
and proper name, the interior vav/W in YBWSY [“Jebusite”] is a mere vowel 
indicator, being an optional representation of the Hurrian vowel U:  
A-bu-u-se-ya.  So it makes sense to drop that interior vav/W, as merely being 
a vowel indicator, which the Hebrew author of II Samuel consistently does for 
the proper name “Jebusite”.  Note that the interior vav/W is not dropped in 
either H-)WRN-H at II Samuel 24: 16 [which I see as being a phrase meaning 
“by the Hurrian lord”, not a proper name], or in the Hurrian proper name 
)RWN-H [“Erwin” with a Semiticized ending] at II Samuel 24: 20-24, because in 
those two cases that interior Hebrew vav/W represents a true consonant that 
cannot be dropped.  

This nimble handling of non-Semitic Hurrian proper names in II Samuel 
indicates that this part of II Samuel is really old, because the author knew 
what he was talking about concerning Hurrian proper names.

If we want to find out if a Biblical text is really old, then the best way to 
proceed is the opposite of the “scholarly” approach set forth at the 
beginning of this post.  We should take a long, hard look at the proper names 
in the Biblical text.  “Late” Biblical authors like Ezra could not possibly, 
under any circumstances, fake a deft knowledge of Hurrian like we see 
manifested in II Samuel.  Not.  The “Araunah” section of II Samuel is much 
older, and more historically accurate, than university scholars realize.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois