Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

(MQ:  “Deep Place”
 
Although the Hebrew word (MQ is usually translated into English as “valley”
, in fact (MQ as a noun comes from the verbal root (MQ, which means “to be 
deep”.  The literal meaning of (MQ as a noun is “deep place”.  A basin in a 
mountain, where a city may well be situated, is not “deep” and is not a “
deep place”, and hence such city would not be stated in the Bible to be in an 
(MQ, even though in English we might routinely describe such city as being 
situated in a mountain “valley”.
 
Cities located high up in the mountains, but not on a mountain peak but 
rather nestled in a mountain gorge or basin, are consistently described in 
the 
Hebrew Bible in the following two ways, as being “up”/(LH in the “mountains”
/HR.  Such mountainous cities, though located in a gorge or basin, are 
never said to be a “deep place/true valley”/(MQ.  Thus Shechem, which is 
located in a narrow mountain gorge high up in the mountains, is described in 
Biblical Hebrew as follows:  (i) HR, per Joshua 20: 7;  21: 21;  Judges 9: 7, 
25; 
 I Kings 12: 25;  I Chronicles 6: 67.  [At Psalms 60: 6 and 108: 7, Shechem 
is distinguished from the valley of Succoth.]  (ii) (LH, per Judges 21: 19. 
 (iii) (MQ:  never.  By stark contrast, in English we might well 
characterize Shechem using the word “valley”, as follows:  “An important city 
in 
central Palestine, in the valley between mounts Ebal and Gerizim”.  But in 
Biblical Hebrew, unlike in English, Shechem is never said to be an (MQ, 
because 
mountainous Shechem is not situated in a “deep place”/(MQ.  Rather, the 
Bible consistently says HR and (LH in describing Shechem.   
 
If we focus on the Hebron of the Conquest and King David’s Hebron, being a 
city which is located in a mountain basin high up in southern hill country, 
the Biblical pattern is identical to that of Shechem [ignoring Genesis for 
the time being].  (i) Per Joshua 10: 36, Judges 16: 3 and II Samuel 2: 1, the 
Hebron in southern hill country is “up”/(LH.  (ii) And per Joshua 11: 21 
and 20: 7 and 21: 11 and Judges 16: 3, the Hebron in southern hill country is 
in the “mountains”/H-HR or B-HR.  (iii)  In the Conquest narratives and 
regarding King David’s Hebron, the mountainous city of Hebron is never said 
to 
be (MQ, because the city of Hebron is not a “deep place”.  Thus the Hebron 
of the Conquest narratives and of King David is described in the identical 
way as Shechem, which has a similar topographical locale:  (LH and HR, but 
never (MQ, because the city of Hebron is not a “deep place”.  The Bible is 
quite consistent about that nomenclature.  By contrast, here is a famous 
description in English of the mountainous city of Hebron, vintage 1911, using 
the word “valley”:  “Though the hills of Judea reach their greatest elevation 
in the neighborhood, Hebron itself rests in a valley.  …For this reason 
Hebron is ideally placed for conveying an impression of the mountainous 
character of Judea.”  Note that whereas in English we may often refer to the 
Hebron 
“Valley”, nevertheless in describing the Hebron of the Conquest and King 
David’s Hebron, the Bible never says (MQ, because the city of Hebron is not a 
“deep place” or a “true, broad, deep valley” or connected to a true, 
broad, deep valley.  Rather, the Bible consistently says HR and (LH as to the 
mountainous city of Hebron, not (MQ.
 
In the Hebrew Bible, an (MQ is a true deep valley:  either a broad, deep 
true valley itself, or it’s deep and is closely connected with a broad, deep 
true valley.  Most places outside of Genesis that are called (MQ as part of a 
proper name are either the Jezreel Valley, the Ayalon Valley, or the Elah 
Valley or, like the Achor Valley and the Rephaim Valley and the Valley of 
Succoth, are closely connected either to one of those three famous valleys or 
to the Jordan River Valley.
 
In  E-n-g-l-i-s-h  one could talk about King David taking over the Hebron “
Valley”.  But that’s English, not Biblical Hebrew.  The Hebrew word (MQ 
does not fit King David’s mountainous city of Hebron located high up in hill 
country.  Rather, the two Biblical Hebrew words that fit King David’s Hebron, 
and that are used in the Bible to describe the mountainous city of Hebron, 
are (LH and HR, just as is the case with Shechem.  Any lengthy Biblical 
Hebrew text that refers to either such mountainous city can be expected to 
use 
the words (LH and/or HR.  By sharp contrast, neither mountainous Shechem nor 
the mountainous city of Hebron is located in a “deep place”, and 
consequently neither is ever described in the Bible as being (MQ.
 
Therefore, if a lengthy Biblical text repeatedly refers to a specific place 
and (i) never uses the words (LH or HR in describing such place, yet (ii) 
does refer to such place as (MQ, then that choice of vocabulary means that 
such place cannot be either Shechem or the mountainous city of Hebron located 
in southern hill country.  That choice of vocabulary, not the proper name of 
the place used in the text, is the key clue here, because (a) many 
different places in Canaan have the same proper name, whereas (b) the 
determining 
factor is that the Bible consistently refers to Shechem and the mountainous 
city of Hebron as being (LH and HR, never referring to such mountainous 
cities 
as being (MQ.
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois