The term (MQ H-%DYM -- “Valley
of the Tilled Fields” or “Valley of Siddim” -- at Genesis 14: 3, 8, 10 refers to
a series of three river valleys north of Canaan, all of which suitably are
“valleys” that feature fertile, abundant “tilled fields”:
(i) The Orontes River
Valley, which starts in the eastern
Beqqa Valley in northeast Lebanon and runs north through central west
Syria, being near to,
parallel to, and ending at, the Mediterranean
Sea [which in turn is a classic “salt sea”/“sea
the-salt”].
(ii) The northern source of the
Litani River is in the Beqqa Valley
in central-east Lebanon,
quite close to the southern source of the Orontes River. The northern half of the Litani River
flows south through the Beqqa Valley.
(iii) Just before it turns west [where it will
eventually empty into the Mediterranean Sea], the Litani River
comes within five kilometers of the Hasbani River. Hasbaya lies on the Hasbani River
at the western foot of Mt.
Hermon, in the southernmost
Beqqa Valley in southeastern Lebanon at the border of Canaan.
The portion of the Valley of
the Tilled Fields that is being referenced at Genesis 14: 3, 8 is the northern
portion of this tri-valley complex, being the Orontes River Valley in central
west Syria. The defeated five
rulers are portrayed as being driven south out of the Orontes River
Valley in Syria, south through Lebanon, and ending at the southeastern portion
of this tri-valley complex, in the famous pits of bitumen at Hasbaya in
southeast Lebanon, at the
northern border of Canaan. We must remember that the terms
“Orontes River”, “Litani River”, and “Hasbani River” did not exist in ancient
times. The Biblical author is
referring to the fertile tilled fields in the valleys of these three river
systems, with this tri-valley complex north of Canaan being aptly referred to
[as a single entity] as the “Valley of the Tilled Fields”/Valley of
Siddim.
Genesis 14: 3 says [per
KJV]: “All these [military forces]
were joined together in the vale [valley] of Siddim [the tilled fields], which
is [near] the salt sea.” As just
noted, the actual military conflict at Genesis 14: 3 occurs near the northern
end of the tri-valley complex described above, in the Orontes River Valley in
west-central Syria, not too far from the Mediterranean Sea to the west. The Mediterranean
Sea fits the bill of being a quintessential “salt sea”/“sea
the-salt”/YM H-MLX. After all, its
mariners are called “salts” in Biblical Hebrew. The Orontes River
Valley, which as noted above runs close
to, parallel to, and ends at, the Mediterranean
Sea, is a “valley of the tilled fields”. Moreover, it is a very appropriate place
for where a major military encounter might be “joined”:
“The Orontes [River] rises in
the east in the Beqqa Valley from natural springs. From there it runs due north…. Beyond is a broad valley of rich
farmland upon which stood the cities of Qatna, on the east bank, and Tunip, on
the west bank. Farther to the
north, just beyond the agricultural region of modern Hamah, stood the city of
Niya…. [Qatna, Tunip and Niya in the Orontes River Valley, which is famous for its “tilled
fields”, are 3 of the 5 rebellious Hurrian parties.] The Orontes is largely non-navigable, and the river’s
historical importance lies in the convenient axis of advance it has provided for
armies throughout antiquity. The
battles of Kadesh (1275 BCE) and Qarqar (853 BCE) were fought on its
banks.” Richard A. Gabriel,
“Thutmose III: The Military
Biography of Egypt’s Greatest Warrior King”, Potomac Books (2009), p.
168.
Genesis 14: 10 says [per
KJV]: “And the vale of Siddim [was
full of] slimepits [pits of bitumen];
and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and fell
there; and they that remained fled
to the mountain.” The defeated
rulers are portrayed as having been driven south out of the Oronotes River
Valley in Syria and further south through most of Lebanon, all the way south to
the southeast tip of Lebanon, at the border of Canaan. There, at Hasbaya, is the site of the
most famous bitumen pits in the Greater Canaan area:
“Near Hasbeya were bitumen
pits which were worked in
antiquity….” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasbaya
The Dead
Sea has never featured bitumen pits. [See the scientific article by Arie
Nissenbaum here: http://books.google.com/books?id=NqSAhFHs66cC&pg=PA359&lpg=PA359&dq=bitumen+pits+biyar+lebanon&source=bl&ots=nIyPUy8Ocw&sig=9oqjtiWI89MpZ9nbXx3THnluxd0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=jzMRUof1LrO72QW-ioHIBQ&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=bitumen%20pits%20biyar%20lebanon&f=false.] Rather, it
is well known that bitumen pits are famously located on the northern border of
Canaan, at Hasbaya at the western foot of Mt. Hermon. Nor is the Jordan River Valley noted for being fertile and having
abundant tilled fields. But those
are key characteristics of the above-described tri-valley complex north of
Canaan: the Orontes River
Valley, the portion of the
Litani River that lies in the Beqqa Valley,
and the Hasbani River in the southernmost Beqqa Valley. We must remember that a fearsome king
with an attested Hittite kingly name, “Tidal”, would be coming from far to
the n-o-r-t-h , and as such would
drive a defeated band of five rebellious princelings s-o-u-t-h . So the actual battle at Genesis 14: 3 is
well north of Canaan, even being north of Lebanon, in the Orontes River
Valley in west-central
Syria [the historical site of the
Second Syrian War in Year 14]. But
the hapless defeated rebellious princelings are portrayed as ending up all the
way south in the southeast corner of Lebanon at the northern border of Canaan,
at the famous pits of bitumen at Hasbaya [with some escaping up into the
mountains that line and define the Beqqa Valley].
Historically, in
“Year 13” [per Genesis 14: 4], five rebellious Hurrian parties did indeed come
together in the Orontes River Valley,
which is a “valley of tilled fields” that is close to a classic “salt sea”,
namely the Mediterranean Sea. Moreover, historically those five
rebellious princelings were indeed totally defeated in Year 14 [per “in the
14th year” at Genesis 14: 5] in the Second Syrian War, by a
coalition comprised of four rulers that included the king of the Hittites [with
“Tidal” being an attested Hittite kingly name]. The Biblical author uses artistic license
to emphasize the totality of the defeat of the rebels by portraying them as
allegedly having been driven all the way south out of Syria through eastern
Lebanon to the very border of Canaan itself, where some of them allegedly got
stuck in the famous bitumen pits in southeastern Lebanon at the western foot of
Mt. Hermon.
Genesis 14: 1-11 was composed
by a contemporary of the Second Syrian War [which historically was fought in
Year 14], who knew what he was talking about, and who got a scribe to record his
account in cuneiform writing a few years later. True, the part about defeated rulers
getting stuck in bitumen pits at Mt. Hermon uses some artistic license, and apt
nicknames [rather than historical names] are used throughout his account. Yet for the most part Genesis 14: 1-11
has p-i-n-p-o-i-n-t historical accuracy in describing what
actually happened militarily in Years 13-14. If we could just get the underlying g-e-o-g-r-a-p-h-y right, the stunning historical accuracy
of Genesis 14: 1-11 in Years 13-14 would come shining through. The “Valley of Siddim”/Valley of the
Tilled Fields is the Orontes River Valley and the Beqqa Valley, which [unlike
the Jordan River Valley] are world-famous “valleys” of fertile, “tilled fields”
north of Canaan; the “pits of
bitumen” are famously located at Hasbaya at the western foot of Mt. Hermon on
the northern border of Canaan [not at or near the Dead Sea]; and “salt the-sea” is not the Dead Sea,
but rather is the Mediterranean Sea itself, the classic salt sea into which both
the Orontes and Litani Rivers empty, and near to which was the site [in
west-central Syria] of the important fighting in Year 14 [the Second Syrian War]
that is accurately chronicled by an early Hebrew contemporary: “four kings against five”.
Jim Stinehart
Evanston,
Illinois
