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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 (ii) The northern source of the
(iii) Just before it turns west [where it will
eventually empty into the Mediterranean Sea], the 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 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 “The Orontes [River] rises in
the east in the Genesis 14: 10 says [per
KJV]: “And the vale of Siddim [was
full of] slimepits [pits of bitumen];
and the kings of “Near Hasbeya were bitumen
pits which were worked in
antiquity….” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasbaya The Historically, in
“Year 13” [per Genesis 14: 4], five rebellious Hurrian parties did indeed come
together in the 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 Jim Stinehart |
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