Biblical Hebrew Forum

[George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au>]

Hi Karl!

Genesis 31.51 and Job 38.6 show that ירה can be used as a verb indicating the construction of something, so the suggestion that the element -ירו is from ירה is not a far-fetched theory.

In terms of the element שׁלם, it's also not far-fetched to propose that it was named after the deity Shalem. Many towns were originally named in honour of gods, as I'm sure you know. We hardly have any foundation documents, but it's easy to make plausible hypotheses in this case. Shalem was a well-known deity in the Levant, especially in the Bronze Age. He appears in Ugaritic texts. Do you have an alternative suggestion?

GEORGE ATHAS

Dean of Research,

Moore Theological College (moore.edu.au)

Sydney, Australia