Biblical Hebrew Forum

[jimstinehart AT aol.com]

Karl:

 

You wrote:  “[A]ny speculation based on combining the names of the patriarchs or those connected with them with Egyptian language from a millennium later is as silly as saying that because Old English had the word “sote”, that therefore the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto was English.”

 

Well, if you don’t like Egyptian, then let’s compare the Amarna Letters written by the scribe of Hurrian princeling ruler IR-Heba of Jerusalem straight up with the Patriarchal narratives.

 

1.  Xireq Compaginis

 

Per Wm. Moran and Robert Hendel (the latter in 2012), the only use of the archaic xireq compaginis in Amarna Letters from Canaan proper is by IR-Heba’s scribe.  Per Harvard professor Scott C. Layton (in 1990), the only use of xireq compaginis in non-poetic common words in the Hebrew Bible is in the Patriarchal narratives.

 

2.  “Ayalon” as 3-Syllable Name

 

IR-Heba’s scribe (unlike Amarna Letter EA 273) writes “Ayalon” as a 3-syllable name at EA 287: 57.  So do the Patriarchal narratives at Genesis 13: 18, 14: 13 and 18: 1.  (Incidentally, that phrase in Genesis also uses xireq compaginis.)

 

3.  Hapax Legomenon vs. Hurrian Common Words

 

I have identified four hapax legomenon in the Patriarchal narratives (words that appear only in the Patriarchal narratives and not elsewhere in the Bible) that have baffled scholars, but which seem to be explicable in terms of a close relationship to attested Hurrian common words.  IR-Heba’s scribe is virtually the only scribe in greater Canaan who ever uses Hurrian common words.  For example, Wm. Moran views EN-ri at Amarna Letter EA 286: 7 as being the Hurrian common word eb-ri, where the first syllable in the Amarna Letter uses a logogram.  Irpi at Amarna Letter EA 289: 36 may be another version of this same Hurrian word, this time with the inversion of the consonants that was common at Nuzi.

 

4.  Milk-i-Ilu

 

IR-Heba’s Amarna Letters complain that the Amorite Milk-i-Ilu was allied with tent dwellers in Year 13.  Genesis 14: 13 confirms that Mamre the Amorite was allied with tent dwellers [the first Hebrews] in Year 13 [with that date referenced at Genesis 14: 4].  Mamre the Amorite is an apt Patriarchal nickname for historical Milk-Ilu, whose actual name is honored and set forth at Genesis 46: 17:  MLK  -Y-  )L [once again with a xireq compaginis].

 

5.  Hurrian Proper Names

 

“IR-Heba” itself is a Hurrian name honoring the chief Hurrian goddess Heba.  IR-Heba’s letters are filled with many other Hurrian proper names, because the Amarna Age was the only time when Hurrian princelings like IR-Heba dominated the ruling class of Canaan.  The Patriarchal narratives likewise feature dozens of Hurrian proper names, more than all the rest of the books in the Bible put together.  For example, consider these six Hurrian proper names at Genesis 15: 19-21:  (i) Qa-a-ni-ya : QYNY  [KJV ‘Kenites’];  (ii) Qa-ni-zi-ya :  QNZY  [‘Kenizzites’];  (iii) Xu-ti-ya : XTY  [‘Hittites’];  (iv) Piri-zi-ya  :  PRZY  [Perizzites’];  (v) Gera-ge-$e-ya  :  GRG$Y  [‘Girgashites’];  and (vi) A-bu-u-se-ya :  YBWSY  [‘Jebusites’].

 

6.  Compare the Numbers

 

As with many other Amarna Letters, IR-Heba’s letters feature the phrase “7 + 7”, a notion that features prominently in the Patriarchal narratives:  Jacob’s 7 + 7 years working for Laban, and the 7+ 7 years of first feast then famine.  IR-Heba’s Amarna Letter EA 287, per Moran’s footnote 18, uniquely features the number 318, which is a classic Hurrian number.  (For example, Akhenaten’s father was sent 318 Hurrian women from Naharim:  1 princess bride and her 317 retainers.)  That same Hurrian number 318 appears at Genesis 14: 15.

 

7.  Geographical Nomenclature

 

The only Amarna Letter from southern Canaan that refers either to the Hurrian state of Mitanni in northern Mesopotamia (eastern Syria) or to southern Mesopotamia is IR-Heba’s Amarna Letter EA 288: 34-40.  Stunningly, the nomenclature “Naharim” matches Genesis 24: 10, and the nomenclature “land of the Kassites” matches Genesis 11: 28, 31.  

 

8.  Untoward Events at Shechem in Year 13

 

Amarna Letter EA 289: 18-24 from IR-Heba sounds like a short summary of chapter 34 of Genesis:  “Are we to act like Lab’ayu [Patriarchal nickname Hamor] when he was giving the land of Shechem to the Xapiru [tent dwellers]?”  If shanah is given the archaic meaning of a 6-month period when people’s ages are set forth in the Patriarchal narratives, then it can be determined that the untoward events at Shechem in chapter 34 of Genesis, after Lab’ayu/Hamor tried to ally with tent dwellers for nefarious purposes [in particular with a son of his consorting with tent dwellers], occur 13 tenfold [12-month] years after Abraham’s birth.

 

9.  Firstborn Son Given the Shaft

 

7 of 7 firstborn sons in the Patriarchal narratives get the shaft and properly so:  Haran, Lot, Ishmael, Esau, Reuben, Er, Manasseh.  That’s how IR-Heba himself became the ruler of Jerusalem.  IR-Heba’s Amarna Letters suggest that pharaoh Akhenaten named IR-Heba, a younger son, as the new ruler of Jerusalem over the objections of IR-Heba’s father, who wanted his firstborn son to be his successor.  Amarna Letter EA 286: 9-16 is analyzed as to IR-Heba in that way by Tom Ishida at p.155 in The Royal Dynasties in Ancient Israel (1977):

 

“The words imply that the Egyptian overlord [Akhenaten] intervened in the strife for the succession in the kingdom of Jerusalem.  As a result, the normal practice that the king and queen-mother [of Jerusalem] designated the heir-apparent was overridden, and the Egyptian king appointed Abdi-heba to be king.  It is clear that he was a member of the royal family of Jerusalem but his parents did not want to choose him as the successor, presumably because of his inferior rank in the order of succession.”

 

Conclusion:  IR-Heba’s Amarna Letters and the Patriarchal narratives share many key characteristics.  That reflects the fact that they were composed contemporaneously, in Years 13-14, and in virtually the same geographical locale [south-central Canaan].  They’re coming from the same time in virtually the same place.  Though of course with totally different viewpoints.

 

Jim Stinehart

Evanston, Illinois