Re: "oaks of" vs. "Ayalon --"
Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 2:48 pm
Isaac Fried:
You wrote: “So, where exactly is this place Ayalon?”
Let’s talk about the town of Ayalon first, then the Ayalon Valley, and then the portion of the Ayalon Valley that was the Patriarchs’ “Hebron”.
1. Town of Ayalon = Modern Yalu or Yalo
In the Late Bronze Age there was a town in the southeastern Ayalon Valley called “Ayalon” / ia-lu-na. As the crow flies, it is located about 15 miles west of Jerusalem (slightly northwest). But due to the mountainous terrain in hill country, one of the two normal ways to get there from Jerusalem was to go north by northwest to Beth-Horon, and then straight south into the Ayalon Valley. The point is that it is difficult to get from Jerusalem to Ayalon or the Ayalon Valley, even though the distance as the crow flies is not great.
Although Ayalon has always been a small town, in particular being much smaller than Gezer in the southwest Ayalon Valley, nevertheless Ayalon gave its name to the Ayalon Valley because the Diagonal Route goes by the small town of Ayalon (while going nowhere near Gezer, far to the west). (The Diagonal Route goes all the way through the Shephelah, starting at Ayalon in the northern Shephelah, and ending on the southern tip of the Shephelah near Lachish.)
2. Ayalon Valley
The Ayalon Valley is the northernmost valley in the Shephelah. In southern Canaan, עמק / emeq (at Genesis 37: 14) refers to the Shephelah. Thus whereas Jerusalem and the city of Hebron are located in hill country (the heart of Judah), the Ayalon Valley is by contrast located in the northern Shephelah (being the southern edge of Israel). Although well-protected from hill country to the east, the Ayalon Valley has no natural protection whatsoever from invaders coming from the west.
If one is traveling from Bethel to the city of Hebron, one would of necessity go “up” to “hill country”, one would pass right by Jerusalem, and from Jerusalem to the city of Hebron one could not travel “by stages” on the narrow Watershed Ridge Route. But when Abram travels from Bethel to the Patriarchs’ “Hebron / the Ayalon Valley, Abram does not go “up” / ‘LH / עלה, and he does not go to “hill country” / HR / הר, Abram is never near Jerusalem, and in traversing the Shephelah, Abram and his large entourage travel “by stages” along the Diagonal Route.
In the Late Bronze Age, by far the biggest city in the Ayalon Valley was Gezer in the southwest. Indeed, most of the population of the Ayalon Valley was crammed into Gezer. The Ayalon Valley as a whole had lost 50% of its Middle Bronze Age population, primarily due to drought conditions in the Late Bronze Age, and had lost an astonishing 90% of its Middle Bronze Age population in the rural northern Ayalon Valley: the Patriarchs’ “Hebron”.
3. The Rural Northern Ayalon Valley: Patriarchs’ “Hebron”
There were no cities or towns in the rural northern Ayalon Valley in the Late Bronze Age. Due to drought, and with all the streams being in the southern one-third of the Ayalon Valley, the northern two-thirds of the Ayalon Valley was practically deserted by the mid-14th century BCE. Instead of being used for viticulture, as in normal times, drought conditions had driven both nobles and peasants off the land. The land of the northern Ayalon Valley reverted to its natural state of pastureland, being unfit in the Late Bronze Age for agriculture. Note that the Patriarchs never engage in agriculture at the Patriarchs’ “Hebron”, though they do engage in agriculture at the Beersheba where Abraham and Isaac dig wells (which is Beersheba of Upper Galilee, not Beersheba of the Negev Desert as ordinarily supposed).
* * *
University scholars think that it is impossible that Abram could waltz into the Patriarchs’ “Hebron” unopposed (as opposed to sharp elbows being thrown left and right at the Beersheba where Abraham and Isaac dig wells), and yet have unlimited fine pastureland for a large flock of sheep and goats, and indeed be in confederate relationship with the Amorite ruling princeling of the valley (Biblical Mamre the Amorite = historical Milkilu the Amorite), as well as a Canaanite princeling (Biblical Eshcol / Iškul = historical Iškur) and a Hurrian princeling (Biblical Aner / E-na-ar = historical Tagi) as well. But though university scholars think that all this was “impossible”, in fact it was par for the course in the rural northern Ayalon Valley in Year 13 in the Amarna Age / mid-14th century BCE.
If we can get the geography right (as to the locales of both the Patriarchs’ “Hebron” and the Beersheba where Abraham and Isaac dig wells), and if we ask if the reference to “Year 13” that is explicitly set forth at Genesis 14: 4 may be the real Year 13 (the most awkward year of the 17-year reign of Egypt’s only monotheistic pharaoh), then the Patriarchal narratives lose their fairy tale quality, and instead are revealed to have p-i-n-p-o-i-n-t historical accuracy in that particular time and place. E-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g fits, once we figure out the right time (Year 13) and the right place: אלניממרא / ’LNYMMR’ = ’LN -Y- MMR’ = “Ayalon -- Mamre” = “Ayalon [in the days of] Mamre the Amorite”
Jim Stinehart
You wrote: “So, where exactly is this place Ayalon?”
Let’s talk about the town of Ayalon first, then the Ayalon Valley, and then the portion of the Ayalon Valley that was the Patriarchs’ “Hebron”.
1. Town of Ayalon = Modern Yalu or Yalo
In the Late Bronze Age there was a town in the southeastern Ayalon Valley called “Ayalon” / ia-lu-na. As the crow flies, it is located about 15 miles west of Jerusalem (slightly northwest). But due to the mountainous terrain in hill country, one of the two normal ways to get there from Jerusalem was to go north by northwest to Beth-Horon, and then straight south into the Ayalon Valley. The point is that it is difficult to get from Jerusalem to Ayalon or the Ayalon Valley, even though the distance as the crow flies is not great.
Although Ayalon has always been a small town, in particular being much smaller than Gezer in the southwest Ayalon Valley, nevertheless Ayalon gave its name to the Ayalon Valley because the Diagonal Route goes by the small town of Ayalon (while going nowhere near Gezer, far to the west). (The Diagonal Route goes all the way through the Shephelah, starting at Ayalon in the northern Shephelah, and ending on the southern tip of the Shephelah near Lachish.)
2. Ayalon Valley
The Ayalon Valley is the northernmost valley in the Shephelah. In southern Canaan, עמק / emeq (at Genesis 37: 14) refers to the Shephelah. Thus whereas Jerusalem and the city of Hebron are located in hill country (the heart of Judah), the Ayalon Valley is by contrast located in the northern Shephelah (being the southern edge of Israel). Although well-protected from hill country to the east, the Ayalon Valley has no natural protection whatsoever from invaders coming from the west.
If one is traveling from Bethel to the city of Hebron, one would of necessity go “up” to “hill country”, one would pass right by Jerusalem, and from Jerusalem to the city of Hebron one could not travel “by stages” on the narrow Watershed Ridge Route. But when Abram travels from Bethel to the Patriarchs’ “Hebron / the Ayalon Valley, Abram does not go “up” / ‘LH / עלה, and he does not go to “hill country” / HR / הר, Abram is never near Jerusalem, and in traversing the Shephelah, Abram and his large entourage travel “by stages” along the Diagonal Route.
In the Late Bronze Age, by far the biggest city in the Ayalon Valley was Gezer in the southwest. Indeed, most of the population of the Ayalon Valley was crammed into Gezer. The Ayalon Valley as a whole had lost 50% of its Middle Bronze Age population, primarily due to drought conditions in the Late Bronze Age, and had lost an astonishing 90% of its Middle Bronze Age population in the rural northern Ayalon Valley: the Patriarchs’ “Hebron”.
3. The Rural Northern Ayalon Valley: Patriarchs’ “Hebron”
There were no cities or towns in the rural northern Ayalon Valley in the Late Bronze Age. Due to drought, and with all the streams being in the southern one-third of the Ayalon Valley, the northern two-thirds of the Ayalon Valley was practically deserted by the mid-14th century BCE. Instead of being used for viticulture, as in normal times, drought conditions had driven both nobles and peasants off the land. The land of the northern Ayalon Valley reverted to its natural state of pastureland, being unfit in the Late Bronze Age for agriculture. Note that the Patriarchs never engage in agriculture at the Patriarchs’ “Hebron”, though they do engage in agriculture at the Beersheba where Abraham and Isaac dig wells (which is Beersheba of Upper Galilee, not Beersheba of the Negev Desert as ordinarily supposed).
* * *
University scholars think that it is impossible that Abram could waltz into the Patriarchs’ “Hebron” unopposed (as opposed to sharp elbows being thrown left and right at the Beersheba where Abraham and Isaac dig wells), and yet have unlimited fine pastureland for a large flock of sheep and goats, and indeed be in confederate relationship with the Amorite ruling princeling of the valley (Biblical Mamre the Amorite = historical Milkilu the Amorite), as well as a Canaanite princeling (Biblical Eshcol / Iškul = historical Iškur) and a Hurrian princeling (Biblical Aner / E-na-ar = historical Tagi) as well. But though university scholars think that all this was “impossible”, in fact it was par for the course in the rural northern Ayalon Valley in Year 13 in the Amarna Age / mid-14th century BCE.
If we can get the geography right (as to the locales of both the Patriarchs’ “Hebron” and the Beersheba where Abraham and Isaac dig wells), and if we ask if the reference to “Year 13” that is explicitly set forth at Genesis 14: 4 may be the real Year 13 (the most awkward year of the 17-year reign of Egypt’s only monotheistic pharaoh), then the Patriarchal narratives lose their fairy tale quality, and instead are revealed to have p-i-n-p-o-i-n-t historical accuracy in that particular time and place. E-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g fits, once we figure out the right time (Year 13) and the right place: אלניממרא / ’LNYMMR’ = ’LN -Y- MMR’ = “Ayalon -- Mamre” = “Ayalon [in the days of] Mamre the Amorite”
Jim Stinehart