Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <Yigal.Levin AT biu.ac.il>]

Okay, Jim, you've done it again. You've managed to convince me to interact 
with you believing that you were raising a legitimate issue, and then, 
twisting what I wrote to make it seem to indicate that you are correct in 
some way, you use the discussion in order to once again repeat your old 
theories. Won't happen again.

 

Yigal Levin

 

From: jimstinehart AT aol.com [mailto:jimstinehart AT aol.com] 
Sent: Sunday, August 19, 2012 3:17 PM
To: Yigal.Levin AT biu.ac.il; b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] TMR T)MR

 

Dear Prof. Yigal Levin:

You wrote:  “Sorry, Jim, I just don’t see what you're getting at. I've 
already agreed that the multiple repetition of "watomer Tamar" may have been 
done on purpose, for dramatic effect. I think that we both agree on the 
importance of the whole story in the larger narrative. But what's your point?”

If TMR is deliberately a shortened form of T-)MR, then TRX may well be a 
shortened form of T-)RX.  In that case, the Hebrew meaning of the name of 
Abraham’s father, TRX [“Terah”], would mean “you will go on a long caravan 
trip”, which is exactly Terah’s role in starting out the storyline of the 
Patriarchal narratives.

But now to the true game-changer.  If TMR is deliberately a shortened form of 
T-)MR, and if TRX is a shortened form of T-)RX, then likewise MMR) may be a 
shortened form of M-)MR), as the underlying intended meaning of “Mamre” in 
the phrase “Mamre the Amorite” at Genesis 14: 13.  In all three cases the 
omitted initial aleph needs to be implied, in order to understand why the 
Hebrew author chose these particular names to fit in with his storyline.  As 
to the name of “Mamre the Amorite”, as you may know, the university community 
says this:  “The genuine etymology of mamre may be impenetrable.”  Theodore 
Hiebert, “The Yahwist’s Landscape” (Oxford University Press: 1996), p. 197.  
It makes a big difference if we can figure out why the Hebrew author chose 
the names he did for his characters.  Both the antiquity and historical 
accuracy of the Patriarchal narratives may be riding on understanding these 
names that in some cases the university community has declared to be 
inscrutable.  They’re not.

The name Mamre, which is MMR), can either be viewed as being M + MR), which 
is the traditional view, or [in my view] implying an initial aleph as having 
been omitted, it can be viewed as being M + )MR).  In both cases, the first M 
means “from”.  In the first case, MR) means “to beat the air”, so the meaning 
does not make good sense.  It’s traditionally viewed as indicating fatness 
[or possibly strength], but that is quite a linguistic stretch;  moreover, 
the lead princeling in the area of the Patriarchs’ Hebron has nothing to do 
with fatness!  In the second case [my view], which views an aleph as having 
been omitted to shorten the word for this name [just as TRX is short for 
T-)RX and TMR is short for T-)MR], after the initial prefix we have )MR).  If 
the last letter were a yod/Y, )MR-Y would mean “Amorite”, but the last letter 
in fact is an aleph.  )MR) may likely be the expected Biblical Hebrew 
spelling of the Amorite state in northern Lebanon in the Amarna Letters, 
which although often transliterated as “Amurru” in English, would be better 
transliterated into English [as it often is in German and French scholarly 
literature] as “Amuri”.  It’s sometimes spelled amuri in the Amarna Letters 
[and if a U is then added at the end, that’s an Akkadian ending that would 
not be expected to be rendered in Biblical Hebrew;  the R is not doubled;  
the Ugaritic spelling is simply )MR].  With )MRY being unavailable as meaning 
“Amorite”, )MR) would likely be used in Biblical Hebrew as the spelling of 
“Amuri”.  If the initial aleph in the word for “Amuri” has been omitted as 
shortening the word for purposes of this proper name [with most Biblical 
names not exceeding 4 letters in length], then the name MMR) for Mamre the 
Amorite can be seen as being a play on the word “Amuri”.  M + )MR) literally 
means “from Amuri”, which in shortened form as a name [omitting the initial 
aleph] would be MMR).  If so, that would nicely focus attention on the fact 
that this is an Amorite who hails from Amuri:  the Amarna Age Amorite state 
in northern Lebanon.

That’s telling us that the princeling ruler where Abram sojourns at the 
Patriarchs’ Hebron was literally “from Amuri”.  Professor, if you would 
consider that the text may be telling us that Mamre the Amorite was literally 
“from Amuri” [hence his Patriarchal nickname MMR), as short for M-)MR)], then 
you would see who the historical Mamre the Amorite is, and you would 
recognize his historical name as being honored and set forth at Genesis 46: 
17:  MLK  -  Y  -  )L.  Genesis 14: 13 has pinpoint historical accuracy in 
representing Milk-Ilu the Amorite from Amuri as being [at a locale the 
opposite of “east” of Bethel per Genesis 13: 9, 11] “Mamre the Amorite”  :  
MMR) H-)MRY  :  implying M-)MR) H-)MRY  :  “the Amorite from Amuri”.  JEP 
knew nothing and cared less about these specific, minute historical facts 
that are coming right out of the Amarna Letters, which are accurately 
reported in the received text of Genesis by the first Hebrew, who is a 
contemporary of the events he accurately describes and who historically is 
the author of the Patriarchal narratives.

TRX = T-)RX.  TMR = T-)MR.  MMR) = M-)MR).  Same.

Jim Stinehart

Evanston, Illinois