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[b-hebrew] XRB and XWRB in Exodus: Common Word or Proper Name?
- From: JimStinehart AT aol.com
- To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
- Subject: [b-hebrew] XRB and XWRB in Exodus: Common Word or Proper Name?
- Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2013 16:51:35 -0500 (EST)
XRB and XWRB in Exodus: Common Word or Proper Name?
On this thread I would like to explore the Biblical Hebrew grammar question of whether XRB and XWRB in Exodus are, unlike in Deuteronomy, common words, rather than being proper names. It is my contention that in the Book of Exodus (though not in Deuteronomy), XRB and XWRB mean “desert”, as a common word with a generic meaning, and do not function as a proper name. If that theory of the case is correct, then it should be no particular surprise if the three references in Exodus to XRB or XWRB are referring to three entirely different desert mountains, which are not necessarily located anywhere close to each other.
Here is the KJV translation of the three verses in Exodus that contain either XRB or XWRB as a noun (or adjective, but not as a verb), which I have modified as to XRB/XWRB to show my own interpretation of that key word (and I have not transliterated MDYN):
“Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his
father in law, the priest of MDYN:
and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to [the]
“Behold, I will stand before thee there upon
the rock in [the] desert [B-XRB]; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there
shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the
elders of
“And the children of
It is my opinion that (i) there is no
reference to “
Going beyond grammar now, my own view is
that only the third reference, at Exodus 33: 6, is in context a reference to
My key question on this thread is whether
people agree or disagree that in the above three passages from Exodus, XRB/XWRB
is functioning as a common word with the generic meaning of “desert”, rather
than functioning as a proper name [either “
Jim
Stinehart |
- [b-hebrew] XRB and XWRB in Exodus: Common Word or Proper Name?, JimStinehart, 01/11/2013
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