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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Go Up/(LH; Go Down/YRD; Go/BW)

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  • From: JimStinehart AT aol.com
  • To: JimStinehart AT aol.com, Yigal.Levin AT biu.ac.il, b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Go Up/(LH; Go Down/YRD; Go/BW)
  • Date: Wed, 3 Oct 2012 10:04:46 -0400 (EDT)

Always excluding the Book of Genesis and the Patriarchs entirely, let’s continue our consideration of the use of the Biblical words (LH and HR in connection with the Hebron that is located in southern hill country, whereas (MQ never appears in such connection.  There appear to be five main cases in the Bible [excluding Genesis] where people go to the XBRWN that is located in southern hill country, as follows:

 

 

1.  Spies. 

 

 

HR and (LH are paired regarding Moses’ spies “going up”/(LH to Hebron in southern hill country.  At Numbers 13: 17 we see (LH twice and HR/“mountains” once;  then at Numbers 13: 22 we see (LH and XBRWN.  Note that the city of Hebron in the mountains of southern hill country quite naturally causes the text to use the words HR and (LH, while never using the word (MQ.  That’s the “norm”, and meets every expectation fully.

 

 

2.  Joshua.

 

 

Joshua 10: 36 features (LH and XBRWN in southern hill country, and Joshua 10: 40 predictably has HR.  All very predictable.

 

 

3.  Samson.

 

 

Judges 16: 3 has XBRWN in southern hill country and (LH and HR.  All very predictable.

 

 

Samson and Joshua and Moses’ spies all “go up”/(LH to the “mountains”/HR in order to get to the Hebron that is the highest altitude city in all of Canaan, and that is located in mountainous southern hill country.  The XBRWN that is located high up in the mountains of southern hill country is a perfect fit to (LH and HR.

 

 

4.  Future King David.

 

 

II Samuel 2: 1-3 has (LH five times and XBRWN in southern hill country twice.  No HR is mentioned there.

 

 

5.  Elders of Israel. 

 

 

The elders of Israel meet with King David at Hebron at I Chronicles 11: 1, 3.  This is the classic “exception that proves the rule”, in that XBRWN in southern hill country is mentioned twice, but there’s no (LH and no HR, in chronicling a series of meetings between King David and the elders of Israel.

 

 

Please note that in all five cases, there’s never a mention of (MQ when the Hebron that is located in southern hill country is being discussed.

 

 

Thus leaving aside Genesis entirely, in the rest of the Bible if there is a mention of Hebron in southern hill country, then we can confidently expect the following:

 

 

(a)  (LH is likely to be there.  That’s because one has to “go up”/(LH to get up to the mountainous city of Hebron in southern hill country.

 

 

(b)  HR is likely to be there.  That’s because the mountainous city of Hebron in southern hill country is located in the “mountains”/HR.

 

 

(c)  But (MQ will never be there, because in the context of southern Canaan [south of the Jezreel Valley], (MQ in Biblical Hebrew means:  “a true broad valley located east or west of the Watershed Ridge Route that is at a lower elevation than hill country”.  In the Bible [always excluding Genesis], the site of King David’s first capital city of Hebron [in any time period], located near the top of the tallest mountain in Canaan in southern hill country, is  n-e-v-e-r  said to be an (MQ.   N-e-v-e-r .

 

 

Thus if the reference is to the mountainous city of Hebron in southern hill country, expect to see (LH, and expect to see HR, but be advised that there is no way on earth that you will ever see (MQ!  (MQ and the mountainous city of Hebron in southern hill country cannot be paired, per the Biblical Hebrew wording that is consistently used in the Bible [always excluding, per Prof. Levin’s wishes, all consideration of the Patriarchs and the Book of Genesis]. 

 

 

In my humble opinion, (LH and HR and (MQ are very basic Biblical Hebrew words that have very clear meanings.  (LH and HR fit the mountainous city of Hebron in southern hill country perfectly in all ways.  By stark contrast, (MQ is antithetical to the Hebron that is located high up in mountainous southern hill country.  The city that is the highest altitude city in all of Canaan cannot be squared with (MQ!!!  No way.  Always excluding Genesis, in the entirety of the Bible one  n-e-v-e-r  sees (MQ paired with the city of Hebron in southern hill country.   N-e-v-e-r .  Not once.  Not.  Nada.  Nope.  No can do.  Not in Biblical Hebrew.  No way.

 

 

The Bible records the historical name of a fine historical non-Hebrew princeling who married a Hurrian wife and who was the ruler of Hebron, and under whose wise rulership the Hebrews prospered.  Most unfortunately, however, this fine native west Semitic-speaking princeling ruler unduly favored his firstborn son who, after his father’s death, soon became a dire threat to run the Hebrews out of their beloved homeland of Hebron.  This awful successor ruler had a younger brother who historically allied with tent-dwellers at Hebron, instead of hating tent-dwellers, and such younger brother [unlike the prior ruler’s firstborn son] would have been the ideal successor ruler from the Hebrews’ point of view.  All of these historical events match the stories told in the Bible, detail for specific detail, but if and only if we pay close attention to the Biblical Hebrew words (LH, HR, and (MQ in determining the geographical location of each Hebron that is mentioned in the Bible.  If you focus on the words (LH, HR, and (MQ, then you can determine which Hebron is being referenced in various parts of the Bible, and thereby confirm the  p-i-n-p-o-i-n-t  historical accuracy of certain Biblical stories told about Hebron.  The Bible records the actual historical name of the most important ruler of Hebron, and tells us the exact year in which he was allied with the Hebrews, with certain Canaanite princelings, and with certain Hurrian princelings.  But the only way to match these Biblical stories with their exact historical equivalents in non-biblical sources is to focus on the words (LH, HR, and (MQ in determining the geographical locale of each Hebron mentioned in the Bible.  If you know those three basic Biblical Hebrew words, you can figure it out for yourself.  The historicity of the Bible is riding on the words (LH, HR, and (MQ.

 

 

Jim Stinehart

Evanston, Illinois




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