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THE VEIL OF

HEBREW HISTORY A FURTHER ATTEMPT TO LIFT

BY

The

Rev. T. K.

CHEYNE,

D.Litt.

EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW EMERITUS PROFESSOR OF INTERPRETATION OF HOLY SCRIPTURE AT OXFORD HONORARY FELLOW OF ORIEL AND WORCESTER COLLEGES FELLOW OF THE BRITISH ACADEMY

HONORARY

D.D.

LONDON

ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK 1913

IT

3>£ }

Z

I

TO

MY DEAR

PUPIL, FRIEND,

AND NOW SUCCESSOR

GEORGE ALBERT COOKE AUTHOR OF NORTH SEMITIC INSCRIPTIONS

AND TO ALL FREE-MINDED AND YOUNG-HEARTED SCHOLARS OF THE HEAVILY BURDENED BUT GREATLY HONOURED

TWENTIETH CENTURY

J409

PREFACE Verily through much

tribulation of critical research

must we of the present age enter Verily,

we

when

shall see

never before

critical results to spiritual

This work,

had

criticism hath

— as

into the its

kingdom.

perfect work,

— how indifferent

kingship.

like its predecessors, consists partly

of certainties, partly of pioneering conjectures. object to

is

to get

behind the existing

recover, in

traditional form,

an earlier and

tradition,

much more

what was believed by the

respecting their past,

down

are

or,

as

one might

Its

and so correct

Israelites

say, to dig

to the foundations of Israelite history.

If the

author's preceding works (since the Encyclopaedia Biblica, vol.

ii.)

be considered, the reader

will

have

a tolerably complete idea of what the author regards as important, and,

on the whole, trustworthy,

for

historical purposes.

The

principal omission in this series of researches

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

viii

is

the reconstruction of the most essential parts of

That the

Nehemiah, Esther, and Daniel.

Ezra,

original text of these portions ran differently from

the

and now received

later

text,

hardly

author's opinion) admits of a doubt.

(in

the

But he has

only been able to offer a few suggestions to the radical critics of the future.

He

wishes, with

his heart, that

all

he had been

able to give a sketch of Israelite history in accord-

ance with his present given

in the

results.

;

sketch

have dictated the omission of a

Winckler's

study of

third edition of

is

besides, the interests of popu-

stratum such as that which oaves so to

The

Historians History of the World

several years old larity

critical

Israelite

sub-

critical

much

history

value in

the

Die Keilinschriften und das Alte-

Testament.

author

If the

part of the

may

express a preference for one

book above another, he would on Solomon, though

to favour the chapter

be true that no page

some

in

the present work

original suggestions,

historical reconstruction.

names for

in this

much

'

volume

is

incline it

may

without

which point the way to

The

calls, in

searching of heart.'

treatment of placethe author's opinion,

— PREFACE That

ix

many

fresh discoveries will confirm

author's most decried results,

The Elephantine

is

of the

him a conviction.

to

papyri should be a warning to his

learned opponents (see Mines of Isaiah Re-explored).

Egypt has done her Arabia

to contribute fresh light

wanted.

some

best for us

That Aryan

influence on

the

where

it is

tradition

should

Hebrew

stories,

an unreasonable view, but the

all

remains

it

;

fact

for

much

so

have had is

not at

has hardly

been made out by that enthusiastic scholar, Herr Martin Gemoll, for whose able work (Grundsteine), however, the present writer professes an unfeigned admiration.

But enough has been in

Mines of

Isaiah.

the deep in the

ingegno

May if it

— which

same

It

said about points of is

little

has

the results find a

time to launch out into ship

la navicella del

an

intelligent,

be possible, a generous reception

Advent, 19 12.

many

weathered so fair,

view

!

mio

storms.

and even,

CONTENTS CHAPTER

...... CHAPTER

II

Early Relations between Israel and the Ethbalites

CHAPTER Jerusalem and Rabbah

;

North Arabian

His Sieges of Jerusalem and Rabbah

CHAPTER David

and Uriah

Siege

;

;

-25

.

IV

Rabbah

of

13

III

a

David,

PAGE

Influence on

N. Arabian

The Tradition of Early Israel.

I

;

David

and

Absalom; True Situation of the Battle-field

.

47

CHAPTER V Solomon's Buildings His Enemies

— His

— His

Empire

Religion

CHAPTER

Shekem

— His

.... xi

.

Commerce .

— -63

VI 93

3

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

xii

CHAPTER

VII PAGE

Baal-Gad, Migdal-Gad, Migdal-Eder, Migdal-Shekem

...... CHAPTER

Samaria

(?)

CHAPTER TlRSAH

.

.

.

97

VIII

101

IX

.

.

.

.107

....... CHAPTER X

Shiloh

CHAPTER Bethel

.

.

.

Hebron

.

.

.

.

.

,

.

.

.

.

1

1

.

115

XIII .

.

CHAPTER Gibeon

.

XII

.

CHAPTER Akrab, Akrabbim

XI

.

CHAPTER

109

.

.121

XIV

.

.

.

.

.

.123

CHAPTER XV The Gibeonite

Cities

.

.

.127

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

XVI PAGE

Jericho and Jordan

CHAPTER Gath

.

.

.

.

.

.

131

.

•

-i37

XVIII .

.

CHAPTER Jephthah

.

XVII

.

CHAPTER Ramah and Ramoth-Gilead

.

.

.

.141

XIX

.

.

.

.

M5

•

CHAPTER XX On Nahash,

Hagab, Ah'ab, and other Strange Names

CHAPTER Ephraim

— Yoseph — Yehudah

.

CHAPTER ESCHATOLOGICAL GEOGRAPHY

INDEX

.

.

.

.

.

147

XXI .

.

.153

XXII .

.

.

.

-155

159

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY CHAPTER

I

THE TRADITION OF EARLY N. ARABIAN INFLUENCE ON ISRAEL

The strongest determining element population

and

was

culture

in the Palestinian

N.

This

Arabian.

applies, not only to the Israelites, but to the race

The

which preceded them. personal names

supported as

too abundant for us to deny is

it

to

this,

so great an extent by the

evidence respecting religious ideas and

available practices.

is

evidence of local and

1

To

admit

this is not to

be blind

to the

influence of the cultures of Egypt, Crete, Babylonia, Iran,

which was probably

early times, still

and the two

felt

in

latter

Palestine in very

of which cultures

exercised a fertilizing power at a later period.

would be a fascinating subject to

It

evidence for 1

all

these varied

Two

See T. and B.j D. and F.J

and many

articles in

collect

influences,

but the

Religions j Ps.® ; Crit. Bib. j

Ency. Bib. by the present writer. i

the

i

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

2

time for this

not yet, whereas the N. Arabian

is

some extent already be

influence can to

estimated,

on condition that the traditional Old Testament texts

—be

—and we may add more

treated

historical conclusions

now

shall not

I

and the necessary

drawn.

enter into questions of higher

and

shall leave

of our

traditional

criticism,

parts

the Phoenician inscriptions

critically,

undecided whether any

it

material

writers of the northern kingdom. safe to

assume that

and

kingdom,

northern

kingdom's southern

from ours

differ

in

in

we had

is,

at

not

territory,

many

any

to

rate,

traditional sagas of

undoubtedly came

which

origins

the

if

may belong It

merely

from from

the that

though they would

details,

they would agree

For

giving the legends a N. Arabian setting.

could they give better proof of their predominant interest in the

Holy Land

such

against

it

'

warlike

than by fighting for

'

competitors

the

as

Arammites ? That the scenery of the legends of the early books of the Old Testament is largely N. Arabian, has been abundantly shown. I will however venture to

mention a few illuminative

to

the story of the

Of

these the

the this

myth of story

which

it

And

origination of the

account of

Adam

is

Paradise.

first,

first

and Eve

most remarkable, because

the

course,

facts.

it

as

man. is,

of

contains

For our present purpose,

particularly important

for

the

light

throws on the origin of the Israelites and

— EARLY N ARABIAN INFLUENCE ON ISRAEL

A

their kinsfolk.

(Gen.

ii.

careful study of the description

10-14) of the four streams of the garden

shows convincingly where themselves

This

A

have

to

critically,

river goes forth

(that

come.

represented

heavenly

in

first

that

;

of

is,

N. Arabia. all

in v.

10,

with reference

So an

Wonderland was

;

who walked

was

from Eden to water the garden

Arabia of the Asshurim).'

to

located

should probably run thus,

Ishmael of Arabia

is,

Israelites

It

expressed very clearly

is

which, treated 1

the

and from whence they supposed

Paradise,

their

3

still

light.

old tradition

open

to those

In spite of the

amount of wilderness in N. Arabia, to seeing eyes a river still went forth to water the garden, and it should, in the latter days, again be objec-

large

Of Eden,

tively visible.

vaguely that

was

this

it

It is

x

(v.

8a).

Certainly,

if

made it all the more necessary be more communicative in the sequel.

correct,

for scribes to

the present text only says

lay eastward it

extremely probable, however, that the original

reading of

v.

8a was,

planted a garden in

—

'

Eden

And Yahweh Elohim of the Rakmites,'

2

and

whose copy of the Edenparts illegible, changed this

that a scribe or redactor,

story had

become

into

a garden in

' .

.

.

in

Eden

eastward.'

It

may well

have been the same too clever scribe who produced this substitute for the original 1

2

see

mpa sometimes, and

but

now

illegible text

Dip often, is corrupt. Cp. T. and B. p. 88. The Rakmites are the Yerahme'elites. Cp. Ezek. xxxi. and T. and B. p. 457 Two Religions, pp. 99, 164. ;

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

4

of

'and from thence

10b,

v.

becomes four

heads.'

of the

tradition

parts

it

and

itself,

Evidently he had heard the streams of Paradise which

four

were Pishon, Gihon, Hiddekel, and Perath.

The

three streams,

first

were located by the redactor, and pre-

to doubt,

sumably also by the narrator, Pishon

'that

said,

is

it

is

whole land of Havilah' same, '

hardly reasonable

is

it

except

that

13);

Kush (Gen.

x.

7),

and Kush

the

place

the

Havilah

Since, however,

Havilah.'

of Gihon,

takes

'

Of

N. Arabia.

which encircles the

it

(v.

Kush

'

in

of

a son of

is

placed next before

is

Misrim (the N. Arabian Musri) among the sons of

Ham

a

distinction

{i.e.

Havilah

Yarham

without

a

and

Ishmaelites

Kushites

in

xxv.

Am.

Israelites,

the

(southern)

Arammites.

ix.

Philistines

18,

7

1

are

S.

'

i.e.

The name

of

corrupt,

and

comes

to

the

and

the

the (

The second

probably from

and

7),

parallel

(Ethbalites),

Ishmaelite stream.'

the

rather

or

xv.

stream has been corrupted from Yishbon

mon)

surely

country of

Amalekites

the

of

the

as

is

Elsewhere

difference.

represented

is

Yerahme'elites (Gen. the

or Yerahme'el), this

first

= Yishalso

is

Haggiyyon.

Hag, which forms an element of some personal names (such as Haggi, Haggith, Haggai, Haggiah, Hagagu 1 ) is probably a shortened form of Hagar, a spelling which 1

Hagagu

original of

(in

Agag.

we may assume by

Sinaitic

On

and Palmyrene

the side of

may 256/

inscriptions)

Haggith, see Crit. Bib. pp.

be the

EARLY N. ARABIAN INFLUENCE ON ISRAEL

5

Hagar, just as Haran co-exists with Haran, and

Hadad

The name Hagar (whence

with Hadad.

Gihon)

ultimately

designation

Hagar was

or

wide a N.

of as

probably

the

Arabian region as

Kush (see Gen. x. 7). The statement that Havilah and Kush were surrounded by streams (wadies ?) need not here be discussed. Even prosaic suppleWonderland,

dealing with

menters,

involuntarily

indulged their fancy.

Of

gloss that

are

we

the third stream

wont

'

it

are told

14) in the

(v.

goes eastward of Asshur.'

Critics

assume that Asshur means Assyria,

to

and jump at the conclusion that Hiddekel must be identical with

name

Assyria

'

?

difficulties are

course of the

description of the

be

the Babylonian

is

—

The

streams

must

But

meant).

Gunkel thinks

of Asshur (which

of) is not likely

(even from a con-

mistaken, familiar to him, 1

known

pound,

and means

'

Hadad

the region through which

name

the

;

Two

am

a com-

is

of Yerahme'el,' from flowed.

it

Hadad was

of a section of the Ishmaelite race.

D. and F. pp.

1

etc.

I

and a per-

The name

easy assumption. 2

this

if

to

Hiddekel can be given

fectly regular explanation of

on

the

mean

city

ancient

the writer, but a N. Arabian Asshur was,

much

(if

'Asshur'

servative point of view) to have been

not

(1) the

Hid, and (2) the incorrectness of the

initial syllable

1

The

for the Tigris.

Tigris

which

Idiklat,

xi

/,

Re!igio?is, pp.

xxix,

26/

40, 2

57,

T.

etc.

;

and B.

T.

and B.

pp. 92,

pp.

456

(n.

23, 1).

;

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

6

The

was apparently too well known

fourth

need an explanatory It

Perath.

is

Old Testament went wrong here

the

supposed Perath there

be the

to

no passage except

is

an identification

(Gen. xv.

at

is

great

'the

phrase,

1

name

Its

strange but true that even ancient students

is

of

gloss.

to

18,

Jer.

the

river,

Deut.

i.

The

plausible.

all

7, etc.),

where such

63,

li.

familiar

Euphrates'

river

must give place

to

Appar-

of Gilead, the river Perath/

the river

they

;

whereas

Euphrates,

was known as a Gileadite stream. said of the Reubenites that they had

ently the Perath

Hence

is

it

their tents

numerous is

from the river Perath,' their

'

in the land of

Gilead

(1

cattle

Chr.

it

The

Ishbosheth.'

'

fuller

form of the

of the Gileadite stream was doubtless Ephrath.

denoted primarily a region,

It

It

is meant in olden was the realm of Akish, and the centre

of that of

name

v. 9). 1

a N. Arabian Gilead which

times

being

and may well be

equivalent to Ephraim (a popular and very early distortion of

'

Considering Joseph-tribe

Arab-Yaman,'

i.e.

Yamanite Arabia

one of the boundaries of

that

— including

Ephraim

— was

2

).

the

the stream

3

Yardan or Yarhon, it would seem not improbable that Perath or Ephrath might be

called either

this

stream (see

There 1

2,7

;

2

T.

is

and B.

Crit. Bib. p.

T.

and B.

'

a pp.

Jordan'). striking

91,

passage in

262, and cp.

197,

old

385^;

Hebrew

D, and F.

p.

374.

pp. 90,

472/

3

Ibid. pp. 228,

456 (on Josh.

xvi. 1).

EARLY N. ARABIAN INFLUENCE ON ISRAEL which

hagiography

throws

some believed

two of

that the streams, or at least

Naaman

story of

the

remained, and that their water had

The

an inherent supernatural virtue.

still

on

light

Paradise had disappeared, but

Paradise streams.

the streams,

fresh

7

original

(general of the king of Aram),

most probably, simply related the command of the prophet to bathe seven times

the stream Yardan

in

or Yarhon, and the uttering by Elisha of a prayer-

and

spell,

Yarden

there

for

The

stopped.

Yardan or Yarhon

sponding alteration

and the scribe was

The

equal to the demand.

fully

of

required a corre-

(?)

in the story,

substitution

sacred streams,

however, of which he had heard, were the Abana

(Amana) and the Parpar. 1

One

thing,

essential

Paradise myth

however,

in

not mentioned here,

is

the

original

viz.

that the

divine garden was on a mountain with a city and

And we

a king. 2 favourable

this

comprise within

cannot

how

recognize

Arabia to

Holy Land.

limits the

its

to

the claim of N.

to

is

fail

Surely

the mountain must have been Horeb, not indeed as it is,

but as

daily with differ,

it

was

man.

in the

age when

but most probably

it

son

Isaac.

1

Two

to offer

That mountain was

Asshur-Yerahme'el. 3 Religions, pp.

1

3

1

Opinions

54/

Ibid. p. 328.

2

up

his

'

only

traditionally called

It is likely that

52,

?

was the famous mountain

where Abraham was willing '

God communed

But where was Horeb

T.

'Horeb' has

and B.

pp. 14, 72.

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

8

sprung from the very similar name Hur-Rab,

Ashhur-Arab, which we

name

the

would be

be virtually

find to

shall

i.e.

known as Hebron. It Abraham and Sarah should be

of the city best fitting that

For

buried at the foot of the holy mountain of God.

Abraham was

the progenitor of the Yerahme'elite

peoples, and, very possibly, in one version of the

Arabian

N.

Paradise

-

was

he

story,

the

First

Man.

may indeed provoke

It

to me,

is

'

it

seems

a conclusion almost forced upon us by the

phenomena, that there are several names

textual

of

dispute, but, as

first

men

or sons of

'

'

first

men

'

underlying

the composite genealogies of the early chapters of

For instance, there is good reason to think that Enoch (Hanok) was originally represented and why should not the great as a first man, Genesis.

1

comprehensive N. Arabian race have first

and

own

special

men, Aram-Asshur, Yerahme'el-Asshur, Ishmael,

— Abraham

The

?

Gen.

(a)

my

ii.

23.

which seem

passages

point to this conclusion are

of

its

:

'And Aram

bones, and flesh of

to

my

This one

said,

flesh

this

:

is

bone

one

shall

be called Ashhurah, for out of Ashhur has she been taken.' (b)

2

Gen.

Ashhurah.'

20.

iii.

'

And Aram

called his wife's

[Gloss, for she has

become the mother

of (the race of) Yerahme'el-Ashhur (c) 1

Gen. T.

iv.

and B.

25.

2

).

'And Aram knew

pp. 49, 116.

name

2

his wife, Ibid. p. 99.

and

.

EARLY

N.

ARABIAN INFLUENCE ON ISRAEL

name

she conceived, and bore a son, and called his Ashtar.'

1

(Gloss, for

Gen.

(d)

Arab] a

he was the offspring of Asshur.)

'And

26.

iv.

9

Ashtar 2 [he too

to

is

whose name he called [Aram - Yerahme'el, with reference to

son was born,

Eshmun

'

Ashkar, Arab-Ishmael]

Gen.

(e)

xvii. 5.

Ab-ram, but

called

on Rahmon, It will

name shall no more be thy name shall be Ab-raham, thy

appoint thee.'

I

the

in

'

Hebrew

indeed have reckoned

Furthermore, 4

traditions

'

1

for the Gilead,

this conclusion is to

2

it

presupposes

and B.

T.

we

i.e.

Sha'on

45.

of the

Phoenician god

See

11, n.

p.

p.

show

way

only

to

that the criticism

inadequate,

is

is

the land of the

The

is

or

that

the

the equivalent of Asshur

;

= Eshmun

;

into Sheth.

it

It

is

see by comparing the parallel passages

Jer. xlviii.

3

be disregarded.

pp. 110-112.

the popular speech shortened this

is

and Hanok

symbolized by Lot,

Ashtar (the masc. of Ashtart)

Ibid.

Galoth,

these traditions have to do with

all

bene Yarham or Yerahme'el. which

might

I

;

i.e. 3

man,'

first

also claims not to

certainly the southern Gilead,

evade

at least three

six, for 'Lot,'

no doubt the Gileadite

and Kayin have N. Arabia,

(Gloss

'nations.')

be seen here that there are

men

first

And

Rahmon

for the father of

'

•

also

Num.

(Jer. l.c.)

= Shim'on = Ishmael.

Eshmun

has been

xxiv.

17,

The name

greatly misunderstood.

1.

See T. and B.

p.

307, and for the origin of Lot see T.

and B.

211. 4

See

ibid. p.

Paradise story

is

205.

In fact,

when we have once shown

that the

N. Arabian, the presumption becomes very strong

that the legends in general are also N. Arabian.

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

io

books on Genesis which have appeared the

last

have strengthened the case of moderate

five years

This task has hardly yet been accom-

criticism.

plished. I may add a brief statement man Abraham and the first sister. The true form of the

In this connexion

respecting the

woman Sarah

first

his

man's name has obviously been altered. cannot be

right.

The

alteration

rahmon

of the corruption of

Nor can

hamon.

'

was the consequence

1

father of

Ab-raham

(

= Yerahme'el)

Raham

into

be the true

'

meaning of Abraham, for numerous parallels show that Ab or Abi in proper names has come from 'Arab'

m

Nor can to (Sarah) be the name of the woman. Just as

Arabia).

{i.e.

right form of the

r

Ab-raham corresponds to Aram (restored for Adam), name has been corrupted into Sarah must correspond to some N. Arabian regional and if Ab-raham indicates that the husband was the progenitor of Yerahme'el, the name which underlies so whatever

;

Sarah ought to record a similar dignity for the

mtD (Sarah) therefore should be corrected

wife.

into

may compare fnm from ptDN (Asshuron The son of Abraham and Shurah presume, 1

We

mti (Shurah), a shortened form of rn$».

originally

One may

ra/iwdn,

came

Ishmael,

just

suspect that the Jewish and

ultimately from

Raham,

i.e.

or Asshuran

son

the

Moslem

Yerahme'el.

title

An

2

D. and F.

p.

141.

of

of God,

interesting

evolution from Yerahme'el, the War-god, to the source of Pity

Compassion.

).

we may

was,

as

2

and

— 1

EARL Y

N.

ARABIAN INFL UENCE ON ISRAEL

Aram and Asshurah was Ashtar and Eshmun,

1

Ashtar,

all

i.e.

Ishmael,

Abraham,

had the same meaning.

personifications of the old i.e.

of N. Arabia, or

the mythical 1

is

We now see

1

.

first

home

— which

is

their

grandson

Ishmael,

and

They were

of the Israelites, the

same thing

man.

the origin of the Phoenician god

the equivalent of Yerahme'el,

od (T. and B. pp, 37, 41/).

who was

Eshmun.

Ishmael

the N. Arabian healing

CHAPTER

II

EARLY RELATIONS BETWEEN ISRAEL AND

THE ETHBALITES

By

stages which

we cannot pause

to describe certain

warlike Israelite clans had gained the mastery of

a considerable part of the N. Arabian border-land. It

equally certain that their possession of the

is

land was not uncontested, and that Saul and David

names of early dynasts) were extremely hampered by the people wrongly these were really the

(if

called

Philistines.

Circumstances which can only

be guessed at had favoured the development of

was one of many offshoots of the great Arammite or

the martial

the

Ethbalite people, which

Yerahme'elite race. 1

It

may be

repeated here that

the confusion between Pelethites (Ethbalites) and Philistines (Pelishtim),

however

early

it

arose, has

been the greatest obstacle to the right appreciation D. and F. pp. xxi /, 19. We now see how the so-called had such a fellow-feeling with the Geshurites and the Amalekites (1 S. xxvii. 8, 11), how a 'Philistine' king came to be 1

Philistines

called Akish

service with a

= Ashhur), and how

( '

Philistine.'

13

an

Israelite warrior could take

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

14

of the story of Saul

opposed by

Now

and David, and should be

the means in our power.

all

there was a favourite battle-field of the

we can see from the — Arabian Ashhur) to have been long occupied by men of their stock. Arammites

a region which

in

1

recorded place-name (Aphek

more than once, the Israelite army was defeated by the Ethbalites, and the second time the son 2 of the priest of Shiloh was slain, and the sacred There,

stone, or

one of the stones, symbolic of

which had accompanied the

Israel's god,

Israelites to the battle,

was carried away by the victors, and placed Dagon's temple at Ashdod. This was not at meant as an

insult to the Israelites, as

if

in all

this stone

object was no longer a symbol and vehicle of divine

powers, but only a serious and reverential degradation

(so

far

as

was

this

Yerahme'el-Yahweh from the Ethbalites, indeed,

rank.

Dagon first

rank of deities

On

the second

to

were bound

god

to think that

had proved himself to stand alone in the

affairs in 1

first

the

of

possible)

— alone

capable of directing

the Ethbalite land.

the meaning of Ah'ab, see

Two

Religions, pp. 228, 240,

comes from this compound regional. On its situation, see Crit. Bib. p. 206. There may have This one is in the southern been more than one place of the name. border-land; evidently it is in the 'land of Hepher' which is EsarGileadite (Josh. xvii. 3) and Ashhurite (1 Chr. iv. 5 /). Aphek,

etc.

like

Aphiah

haddon speaks of the

in

city of

1

S. ix.

Apku

in

1,

Samena

{KAT

[
p. 89), i.e. in

Ishmael (N. Arabia).

Hophni is but a double of Phinehas his name and distorted form of the name of his brother. 2

;

is

a mutilated

AND THE ETHBALITES

ISRAEL

The unlike

of the

tradition

Israelites

15

that

is

Dagon,

Yahweh, was worshipped under the form of This

the image of a man.

probably correct

is

the

;

were content with the symbol of rudely

Israelites

carved stones, and, at a somewhat later date, of an

But

ox.

god Dakan,

I

;

it

looks

much more

however, to be explained

not,

is

the solar myth, as

if

like a title.

in the light of

Dagon were an Oannes

Previous experience with the

Berossus).

Ashtart suggests that

it

refers

no such regional name as Dag,

Dagon

is

belonging to Gad.' Ethbalites,

there

to

it

(cp.

titles

the district

And

which the god was worshipped. able that

Dagon was

doubt extremely whether

really the cult-name It

Babylonian

in spite of the attestation of a

of in

since there

is

becomes very prob-

a corruption of Gadon,

i.e.

'

one

There may have been southern were most certainly southern

who were Gadites. The proof of this lies close at hand. From the fact (1) that there was an Asheritetown Beth-Dagon (Josh. xix. 27; we should, 1

Israelites,

however,

most probably read Beth -Gadon), and

(2) that the Israelitish tribes,

we cannot do

common

Gad and Asher were

less

tribal divinities,

one of which was called

Asher, and the other Baal-Gad or

The

brother-

than assume that they had

early importance of the tribe

Gad

Baal-Gadon.

shown by

is

Gad is of uncertain origin. It may be a divine name = Fortune. More probably it comes from a form Gadsham or Gashdam cp. Gershom from Gashram. Gashdam = Ashhur-Edom Gashram = Ashhur-Aram. Note also Kadesh from Kashdam. All primarily N. 1

;

;

Arabian.

Cp. Azgad,

i.e.

Ezer-Gad, Ezr.

ii.

17.

6

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

1

the substitution of Gilead for

Gad

in the

Song of

Deborah (Judg. v. 17), and though Mesha, king of Moab, says, in his inscription, that the men of Gad had dwelt in Ataroth (on the other side of Jordan) 'from of possibility that

dwelt

in

the

old,'

this

does not exclude the

a portion of the Israelite Gadites

neighbourhood of Gad-worshipping

Ethbalites.

But

at this point

some reader may

ask,

Are we

suppose that the armies on both sides were

to

linked by the cult of a

common

divinity

?

Would

not warfare between such be contrary to the general

sentiment of the times reply in the affirmative.

?

To

the

first

question

I

Ethbalites and Israelites

alike worshipped a god, among whose names or titles

To

were Gad, Asher, 1 and Dod.

the second

Gad and Asher, as divine names, may be names (Gen. xxx. 10-13 T. and B. p. 378), and Dod from the Dodah of Mesha's inscription (T. and B. pp. 46, For the Ethbalites the former is warranted by the fact that 379). some part of the southern Gilead formed one of the Ethbalite kingdoms (Gath = Gilead, see p. 137), and that Gilead is the domain of Also that Ashdod comes from Asshur-dod, a the deity called Gad. region where Asshur and Dod must have been the protecting divinities. Aphek, also, was Gileadite, being in the land of Hepher (p. 14, n. 1). And Shiloh, too, may not improperly be so regarded. For it can 1

For the

Israelites

inferred from the tribal

;

hardly have been very far from Eben-ezer, which (as

was

men probably

up by the great Judge Gideon, the representative of the At any rate, Gideon (whose name clan of Abi-ezer (Judg. vi. n).

said)

set

comes from Gileadon) raised an altar-sanctuary at Ophrah (Judg. vi. 4) which he called by a name almost agreeing with that of the god of Ophrah was the Shiloh, viz. Yahweh-Shalem ( = Yahweh-Ishmael). name of a city of (the southern ?) Benjamin or Yamin. In the same part of the great geographical list (Josh, xviii. 23/;), next to Ophrah,

ISRAEL

AND THE ETHBALITES

17

would reply that the main difference between the

I

opposing peoples was directing

God

for the

that,

Company was

Divine

in the

Ethbalites, the

Baal in

the character of Gad, while for the Israelites he

Yahu

the expanded form) Yahweh.

or (in

It

was was

war between It was no doubt Baal ( = Yerahme'el) and Yahweh. a war for territory too, but the Israelite clans must have early come to the sense that neither the Misrite nor the Ethbalite cults and religious practices therefore really something like a holy

were adequate

to the highest

The

cults

circle

of

referred

entirely unprogressive, but

wants of the people.

was not indeed

to

was burdened with archaic

elements which could not apparently be discarded. 1

We

must not suppose that Gadon

(

= Baal-Gad)

god whose image appeared in the Ashdod temple. There were also, of course, images of the god Asher or Asshur, and of the godwas

really the only

dess Asherah or Ashtart

2

(also

as parallel

called,

cases elsewhere indicate, Dodah).

And

in the

of the temple there would be two specially

symbolically carved, and dedicated to the

Gad.

Other smaller

pillars

occurs the enigmatical

(Ahiman 1

2

T.

Cp.

is

an Anakite name

and B. 1

p.

S. xxxi.

37

;

10,

Two

it

;

is

god Baal-

it

is

now

pos-

a transformation of Akrab-Ahiman

the Ethbalites were Anakites).

Religions, pp. 18, 21, 23.

'And they

put his armour in the house of

Ashtaroth.' 3

3

may also have deities, who had in

name Kefar-haammonai, which

Evidently

tall pillars,

there

been, devoted to those lesser

sible to explain.

porch

See T. and B. pp. 30 (with note

3),

369. 2

8

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

1

any way connected themselves with the

life

of the

These would sometimes have been won battle, and among them the Palladium of the

people. in

Israelites of the border-land

would naturally

find a

place.

The Israel's

story of the triumphal carrying-about

god

(cp.

S.

i

the historian, except

it

iv.

of

yields nothing to

7 /.)

be the alliance against Israel

of two Ethbalite tribes, the Baalites, also called the

Ashhartites

(

=

Kerethites),

The two former names may the tribe to Baal

(

and

the

Akrabbites. 1

express the devotion of

= Yerahme'el) and Ashhart

feminine of Ashhar or Ashhur)

respectively

(the ;

the

means the inhabitants of the region or district of Akrab ( = Ashhur of Arabia). We shall meet with Akrabbim again shortly (see also p. 36, third simply

Akrabbath).

for

For a long time the

made no strong

effort to

Israelites

appear to have

recover their lost treasure.

was not their only sacred stone. Not mention the Kerublm 2 (which faith regarded as

Doubtless to

it

divinely inhabited), there were other carved stones,

and especially perhaps one portable sacred the counterpart of the lost one, in quest of oracles

on public

3

stone,

with which those

affairs of

moment, were

forced to be content. It 1

2 3

was David

—a

The distorted words T and B. p. 35. Cp. the two great

Ar.-sem.-or., p. 93.

native of the southern region

of the text are

pillars in

—

o^ay, onno,

d'-qdj/.

Solomon's temple, and see Winckler,

ISRAEL AND THE ETHBALITES

Dod

of

x

part of the N. Arabian Asshur), but

(a

unlike his Ethbalite neighbours in

god Yahweh

of the

19

— who

exaltation

his

conceived the idea of

As soon

recovering the lost sacred stone.

as the

Ethbalites heard of the extension of David's kingship over other settled Israelite clans in N. Arabia,

they came in great force and challenged him to a

Valley

Two

(or, Plain)

of

Rephaim (cp.

Religions, pp. 325/".).

valley

was not very

far

The

their Palladium.

Isa. xvii. 5,

both the battle

lost

Ethbalites were Anakites,

Add

an analysis of the names shows,

Rephaites are equivalent words of Adullam

'

;

or rather Armal,

was

Now

i.e.

hold

'

Adullam,

certainly very near the centre

2 ;

this

to

Aphek and

also that the

enters into the story.

of David's clan

and see

from Aphek, where the

and the Anakites were Rephaites. that, as

in the

probable that this

It is

on a former occasion

Israelites

and

This time they spread out

of strength.

trial

it

was

in

Dod, where

one

(in

of the Ethbalite towns) the captured sacred stone

of the

Israelites

was

presumably, detained.

still,

Near by was a mountain, sacred

Yahweh

to

in

but in earlier times, no

(Isa. xxviii. 21),

doubt, to the older god Yerahme'el. 3 1

See T. and B. pp. 48, 432

Arabian) scribes, 2

'When

ib. p.

have been not I

far

(n.

1).

Isaiah calls

He had

it

Ishmaelite (N.

218.

his brethren

went down thither

time

Isaiah's

to him,'

and 1

all

his father's

from Mispeh of

house heard

The place Maakah (so read,

S. xxii.

1.

it,

referred to

they

must

with Gemoll, in

S. xxii. 3). 3

See Mines of Isaiah, pp. 192-194.

The Perasim

are the

same

20

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

Perasim,

from a widespread clan which had

Very possibly

centre in the neighbourhood.

Hermon

the southern xi.

— the

3)

in the

land of Mispeh, (Josh,

Enoch, the rebel angels descended.

2

lost

sacred stone.

was by force of arms that David

it

covered

treasure,

Israel's

geniously

was on

it

he recovered the

occasion probably that

first

The

clear from

statements

distorted

narrative.

is

first

the

of

re-

three

in-

traditional

the statement (2 S.

is

to

Twice David

fought the Ethbalites in the valley, and

That

was

it

1

mountain upon which, according

the

its

21)

v.

that the Ethbalites left their images on the field of battle,

and that David and

Even

if

later

bring the

tradition,

among

his

men took them away.

the Ethbalites did not, according to the

the

others,

yet

Israelites'

the

sacred

tradition

asserting that David's attention

was

is

stone

right

fixed

in

on the

humiliation of the Ethbalite deities, and, as a con-

sequence, on the recovery of the symbol of his

For though the apparent

god.

may be

religions

slight,

differences

own

between

yet the adherents of the

respective parties are none the less embittered. as the Perizzites.

Rephaim

the (1

Chr.

ii.

Note

that both are connected

(see Josh. xvii.

55,

revised

15).

text),

by

tradition with

Other current forms are Sorephim

Sippor, Sophar

{Two

Religions, pp.

92 /., 132 E. Bid. Zarephath '). 1 Mispeh may be simply an expansion of Sarephath. '

;

As

to the

was probably known by several names. One of them may have been Salmon (Judg. ix. 48), i.e. 'the Ishmael mountain.' But cp. Gemoll, p. 282. southern Hermon,

2

T.

and B.

p.

it

11 9.

;

!

ISRAEL AND THE ETHBALITES

The second

is

David gathered a

men

down

however

all

vi.,

means

really

The

true

obscured and distorted by the context It is

there represented that the object

different, viz. to

new

to the

go

in procession, carry-

And

capital.

young warriors of

has turned this into a

used by

'

David and

procession

The

that

meaning

Baal) of

(or,

whereas the original

whence

story indicated the places in the border-land

the

that

a supreme attempt to

Holy Symbol, from Baale

the

S.

2

the grown-up Israelite

This

made

his people

is

was quite Judah

1

the Ethbalite power.

{vv. 2, 12b).

ing

force of

in the border-territory.

David and put

the statement, in

21

2

Israel came, the later scribe

list

all

of the musical instruments

the house of Israel

'

in the

(2 S. vi. 5)

third

is

the statement in

S.

2

6-8 that

v.

an imprudent act of Uzzah's was punished by his

sudden death, and that the place was therefore called Peres-Uzzah.

This

is

evidently a distortion

of the tradition that the Ethbalites (the captors of

the sacred stone) were punished by divinely-caused

Perasim

defeat.

and

Peres-Uzzah

3

are

clearly

identical.

Certainly

it

was no mere

which prevented David from

symbol 1

See

2

The

ticppim 8

called

Arman

at

superstitious

dread

once depositing the

(misread 'aron)

in

a permanent

p. 37.

clearest

= Paltim

;

are

roshtm

=

Asshurim, dwellers

mendart im = Kena'anim.

See

Uzzah, probably from the clan-name Ezer

Gad and Azzah (Gaza) = Azrah.

Cp. Uzziah

;

in

Asshur

Crit. Bib. p.

so too

270.

Azgad = Ezer-

= Azariah.

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

22

and honourable resting-place, but the slow progress which he made It

the war with the

in

Arman

probably true that the

is

home

Beth-Shemesh

at

S.

(i

Ethbalites.

found

This

12-15).

vi.

first

its

was a place of importance, and therefore provided 1 The name was originally Bethwith a sanctuary. 2

Ishman

{i.e.

Beth-Ishmael).

noteworthy that

It is

way (they must Balaam's ass), and like God, warned of have been more so that, according to the Septuagint's still kine recognize the straight

the

when

text,

Arman

the cart with the

reached Beth-

Shemesh, an attack was made on the town by Kenites (Anakites

raiding is

likely that

David

first

Ishmaelites.

or

?)

of

placed the

all

3

It

Arman

Beth-Shemesh sanctuary, and that the attack of the raiders on the town hastened his bold and in the

Whether

successful attack on Kiryath-Ye'arim.

minister of the

Arman

Abi-Nadab

called

4

or

the

temporary abode was

in its

'Obed-Edom'

matters not.

In any case he would naturally be a N. Arabian

and probably a that

'

non-Israelite.

Obed-Edom

the Gittite

should be added

It

'

corrupt,

is

5

and should

be read 'Yobal-Aram the Gileadite.' 1

Hos.

vi.

10 and (3 of Judg.

ii.

i

Two

(see

Religions^ pp. 248,

282). 2

See the place-name, no. 51,

covers over the '

in

the

Hebrew Shemesh-Edom,

Ishmael-Edom' (E. Bib.

'

Beth-shemesh

3

On

4

Nadab was a Yerahme'elite

5

For

list

i.e.

of Thothmes, which

not

'

sun of

Edom

'

but

').

(g's text see Crit. Bib.

'

Obed,' see

1

genealogy of Sheshan,

Chr. i.e.

ii.

or Ashtarite clan 37,

where

Shemshan

(

=

this

(1

Chr.

name

ii.

26, 28).

occurs in the

belonging to Shemesh or

ISRAEL AND THE ETHBALITES In order to understand the narrative

23

S.

2

vi.

we must apply a keen criticism to the text of v. 2. The result, in my opinion, is in the main certain. The passage should run thus, And David arose, and '

went with

the band that was with him, to bring

all

up the 'Arman from Ba'al of Judah

name

called

is

was one

at least

to the city

whose

l

Yabesh of the Akrabbites.' This of David's objects he was ambitious ;

enough and unscrupulous enough, no doubt, but he was devoted to the more progressive of the rival deities,

and could not

Holy Symbol from

rest

till

he had delivered the

The

state of humiliation.

its

only possible resting-place was the destined religious

and

political capital of the

we seem

David

God was

is

when

in

2

S. v.

scrutinized

reveal important facts.

The former for

this acquisition

one

;

Both,

22-25, the other in v. 6-9. critically,

made

have two accounts

to

Of

expanded kingdom.

the campaign in which David

narrative centres

in

what God did

the latter, in what David,

;

knowing

with him, did for himself.

In

2

that

S.

v.

First, David is 23 f. a divine oracle is recorded. directed to make a circuit so as to come upon

the Ethbalites, not '

opposite Akrabbim.'

opposite the baka 2

(This,

it

Ishmael).

= Yarbaal).

Ebed

Like '

Edom

'

in

ix.

26,

names of the

Obed should be Yobal

should probably be 'Aram.'

1

Methodically corrected

2

Cp. E. Bib.

'

Judg.

text.

Mulberry.'

= trees,' but

should be explained,

one of the current alternative

is

(

'

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

24

we have already met with it in The oracle further says that the preceding pages.) when David hears the sound of a marching in the gateway of Akrabbim, he will know that Yahweh intended capital

;

'

'

going out

is

1

And

army.

him

before so

to

The

was.

it

smite the Ethbalite

mysterious sound

which encouraged David, produced a panic

may supplement

the story

— both

—so we

on the Ethbalites

of the plain and on those in Akrabbim.

indeed a great victory

Gibeon

to

the

;

whole

neighbourhood

the

occupied by the Israelites (2 S. walled

the

towns

v.

Yabesh of the Akrabbites (see become the capital of David's realm. or

1

The

is

the

cp. Isa.

lxiii.

starting-point

For the 'marching,'

Damayanti, where the 2

It

reach

Chr.

was

and among

was Akrabbim p.

(SBOT), and

gods are said not

2

39),

soon

to

Hermon = Perasim. contrast Nala and

to touch the ground.

seems probable that the Gezer intended was within easy of

equivalent 1

feet of

25),

mountain of I

Gezer

was from

district

of

district

this

in

It

vii.

Shekem or Shakram, which was probably another but name for the city best known as Kiryath-Ye'arim. See 28,

and

cp. Mt. Gerizzim.

CHAPTER

III

NORTH ARABIAN HIS SIEGES OF JERUSALEM AND RABBAH

JERUSALEM AND RABBAH

It

J

certainly incorrect to say with Josephus [Ant.

is

vii.

DAVID, A

J

3.

name

29) that the original

of Jerusalem

was

more than probable (see p. 36) that there were shorter current names for the city now briefly called el-Kuds than Jerusalem. Such shorter names must also have been current for the N. But

Solyma.

it is

1

Arabian Jerusalem (rather Urushalem), and we may be sure that the migrating N. Arabians took both the longer and

some

at least of the shorter

names

with them, and attached them to the more northerly site

of the city so dear

to

us

under the name

Jerusalem.

One

names of the N. Arabian Urushalem was most probably Shalem a view which of the shorter

—

is

is

not only too natural in itself to be neglected, but

confirmed by Gen. xxxiii.

form, ran city 1

thus,

— 'And

of Shakram, According

to

W. M.

18,

which, in

its

original

Jacob came to Shalem, a

when he came from PaddanMuller,

Rameses

Sa-la-ma. 25

II.

mentions Jerusalem as

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

26

Aram,

1

and

pitched

before

tent

his

the

city.'

Another was probably Hashram or Shakram, a

name which,

common

good many other names, was a region or district and to that region's

to

like a

From

chief town.

passage here quoted, to

in the viz.

which

'

may

the gloss traditionally attached,

in the land of

is

infer that

Shalem

(i.e.

'

a city of Shakram,'

Kena'an

Shakram

'

(Canaan),

we

or Urushalem)

was near the border of the southern Cana'an, and we find a Kadesh {i.e. Kashram or Hashram) mentioned as on the edge of the land of Aram 2 in fact

(Num.

xx.

1

6

doubly sure, we are told

Hamor

that

To make

cp. xxxiii. $7)-

;

in

assurance

two other glosses

(v.

19)

is= 'Arabia of Shakram,' and that the

ground which Jacob purchased from the Hamor-clan

was I

the region of Ra'amath Sukkoth. 3

in

have been reasoning on the assumption that the

southern Urushalem was in the N. Arabian region

evidence, there

me

to

Of

Shakram.

called

it

easier to explain the course of

when

events, especially

and absolutely cogent

But the assumption seems

a lack.

is

make

to

definite

add that among the other

I

names of the southern Urushalem is, very probably, Kashmeron, which, in course of time, became cor1

is

See T. and B.

probably

Salpahad,

may, 2

'

It

from

should have been added that

ftahad

Ishmael-Pahad).

i.e.

Gen. xxv.

(cp.

'Aram,

southern 3

357.

Pahad

Selophehad,

(cp. is

3

as

Aram

Sukkoth

is

is

pad

rather

or

evidently a regional, and

accordance with analogies, come from Abhad,

in

Hadad

p.

shortened

i.e.

'

Arabia of

15).

often,

has

meant

(T.

been

and

supplanted

by

'Edom.'

The

B. p. 407).

a popular corruption of Salekath (T.

and B.

p.

406).

;

JERUSALEM AND RABBAH,

27

Shimeon or Shomeron (see p. 101). been wondered why the true Amos has

rupted into It

ETC.

has often

Now we

nothing to say about Jerusalem. that the southern Jerusalem

the N. Arabian border

—

is

— the

can see

leading city of

more than once

referred

by the prophet, not indeed under the name Uru1 shalem, but under the equivalent name Kashmeron. to

Among

that supplied

Gen.

in

many

the

confirmations of our results

by the strange but important narrative

The

xiv.

present text of vv.

But

certainly not reliable.

not to present

some

it

17-24

is

not so corrupt as

is

traces of the original

the apparent wildness of the scribes

After repeated attempts

method.

is

I

text

not devoid of

is

have, as

hope,

I

recovered what must be very near the original, both

and as regards the

as regards the narrative proper

interspersed glosses.

And him

It is this

the king of

(gloss,

after his return

Bar-dad-' amral, and

Ashhur

(Glosses on

'

Sedek,' that

Now

is,

that

(gloss,

Shalem

Sib'on, Yerahme'el

the

is,

Hashram,' ;

glosses

011

and Yavan.)

he was a priest of the Supreme God.

And

Abram

of the

he blessed him, and

Supreme God, blessed 1

were with

that

the king of

the king of Sedek, the king of '

meet

out to

from the slaughter of

of the kings

him), in the valley of king's dale).

:

Hashram went

It is

this view.

be

said,

creator

the

Blessed be

of heaven

Supreme

God

and

of course not denied that the traditional text

and

earth,

on

(gloss is

'

the

opposed to

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

28

Supreme delivered

thine enemies

Hashram

said to

has

And

hand.

into thy

he

And

the king

Abram, Give me the

persons,

gave him of the riches of the kings. of

who

Ashhur - Yerahme'el)

God,'

And Abram said to the king of Hashram, I lift up my hand unto the Supreme God (glosses, Yahwe creator of heaven and take the goods

to thyself.

;

and earth) that

will

not sin against thee, and that

not take anything that

will

I

I

shouldest say,

I

which the servants have eaten portion

of the

Yarba'al, Shin'ar, Ashkal,

Only

rich.

[will

men who went

thou

thine, lest

is

have made Abram

I

with

that

take],

and the

me

(glosses,

and Ra'aman),

let

them

take their portion.'

This

the sequel of the account of Abram's

is

warlike intervention in behalf of Sodom, or rather

Kashram ( = Ramshah). The name or Ramshah (i.e. ( = Asshur-Aram) Aram-Ashhur) attaches, we must remember, alike

Hashram Hashram

or

to a region of

Two

city.

larger or smaller extent,

and

to a

interwoven glosses state that we might

with equal correctness speak of the king of Sedek or the king of Shalem, and that both

equivalent to

presumably

Hashram.

correct.

This

Sedek,

is

for

we name 1

see in part from the fact that

Cp.

important,

and

instance,

was

and clan-name, 1

certainly a widespread place-name

as

names are

it

enters into the

of a king of Judah and a king of Ashkelon, Ben-si-id-ki

probably a divine

name

(Am. (see T.

Tab.

125,

and B.

p.

$7).

194).

Sedek

was

also

JERUSALEM AND RABBAH, who

both, presumably, laid claim to

the region of Sedek.

It

name was

this

also a regional,

There

in the

In Josh. x.

1

we

ff.

find

Now

king of Jerusalem. the south, for

in

K.

1

in

it

9), and by David,

xvii.

fief

(Urushalem) was

Hashram and

land of

part of

also convincing evidence

is

that the southern Jerusalem

once

some

as Sidon (though

e.g.,

Siklag (the Ethbalite city held S. xxvii. 6).

29

probable, too, that

is

underlies place-names, such,

1

ETC.

in that of

at

Sedek.

mention of Adoni-sedek, 1 this

Jerusalem

certainly

is

was near Gibeon, which the

it

course of history as well as the glosses in Josh, x.

2

2

prove to have been

equally

the

that

certain

referred to in Judg.

captive

More

7,

i.

king Adoni

-

the

in

southern

Jerusalem

bezek

was

carried

is is

to

die.

the district

in

For Bezek can be shown

of Rabshak.

It

as the place to which the

Jerusalem was

definitely, this

south.

to

be the

3 short for Rab-shak, and Adoni-bezek implies that

the royal bearer of the portion of the land of

and

cp. perhaps,

We

T.

and B. and B.

181,

pp.

is

pp.

350.

Cp. T.

and

1

Gemoll B.

p.

king of Shalem

'

ii.

59,

says one

59

;

(p.

414

probably both a regional 2

193/

pp. 57,

('

is

according to analogy, Kezib 4

Ezr.

some

analogous to that of Sedek and of

Shalem

Hashram. T.

Adon ( = Addan,

to

Eden) and of Sedek.

Shalem

of the glosses)

3

laid claim

are not therefore surprised to discover that

the usage of

1

name

i

and

See Crit. Bib. p. 411. D. and F. pp. 89/ Two Religions, 173) connects Bezek with Kezib, but, cp.

;

= Akzib = Ashhur-Zib'on.

(on Gen. xxxiv. 21).

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

30

Sedek must have been an extensive included both Sidon (in the south) and

a place-name.

region

if it

Ashkelon, and scribes

must be mere accident that the

it

(who seem

have been

to

partial to the

form

Shemen) have left us so little evidence of the wider We need not doubt, use of the name Shalem. however, that Shalem is really used in the wider sense in the gloss included in Gen. xiv. it is

Gen.

used

in the

narrower sense

—as a place-name

To

Canaan.'

12 (cp. xix. 25),

(Zeph.

ii.

Yarhon,'

2

'Arabia

Lot

while

5),

can hardly be

Kar

we

like

is

the

but

is

has

word

now

asserted to

and dwelt

the text, but

we have had name is

see that a regional

has come from Kerem, and

Rekem, from Yarham or Yerahme'el.

doubling of the k

is

of Sisera, Shishak,

in

paralleled 1

2

Cp. 3

T ny

and B.

Besaleel,

is

by Dod

Two

this,

The

accordance with the analogy

and perhaps we may

Ask Ashdod and Hur

add Mamre, and the dropping of the

may be

in

been written

in

that

1

Ashkar of

'all

fertility,

Much

right),

our eyes opened, required.

of the Ethbalites

chose

its

Ashkar.'

about the Kikkar (such it

i.e.

which in those early days of

the land of

in

we may compare Gen. where Abram is said to have

rivalled Paradise in 3

'

illustrate this,

dwelt in the land of Canaan,

have

in

xxxiii. 18.

Shalem, as we have seen, was

xiii.

18, just as

for

initial

Religions, p. 411.

pp. 228,

380; Gemoll,

a corruption of

any,

pp. 248-252.

as in Judg.

xii.

7.

JERUSALEM AND RABBAH, Thus

Ashhur.

for

'

ETC.

31

Ashkar of Yarhon

'

means

Ashhur- Yerahme'el (N. Arabia) which bordered by the stream called the Yarhon. We

that part of is

find

also referred to in

it

1

extremely probable correction archaistically in

Lk.

iii.

Neh.

K. in

22, xii.

iii.

vii.

K.

1

and by an

xvi.

24

28; cp. Mt.

* ;

and

iii.

5,

3.

We

have now the key to one

surprising silences of the

time one place-name

appears as

if

is

class of the often

Old Testament.

;

it

the place had been definitely selected

political or religious

if it

was of great

importance, and then suddenly

The

disappears.

explanation

may be

scribes, in quite excusable ignorance,

that the

have covered

over some unrecognized place-name.

may be

For a

of frequent occurrence

as the capital city, or at any rate as

it

46,

Or

again,

it

war have borne hardly on some formerly important city, and led to a transference of prestige to some neighbouring city. And that the accidents of

to these possible explanations

new

one.

It

may be

just as regions

and

we may now add

had several names, had several designations,

that a city

districts

which were almost invariably equivalent. it

often

happened that when the

name was

a

full

Evidently

form of the

compound, the people shortened or

a

contracted the form for greater convenience.

Thus the same city can be called Shakram (Shekem) as the political and religious centre of the tribes of southern 1

Read,

'

in

Israel,

especially of the Joseph

Ashkar of Yaman

[g/oss,

Kashram].'

— THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

32

tribe

or Urushalem, as one of the two residences

;

Ashhur-Yarham (or Yerahme'el) as having the greatest and oldest of the sanctuaries that supported by the original Book of of

David and Solomon

or

;

—

Deuteronomy, and yet

all

these three seemingly

it may be knew that doubtful whether any of the scribes Shakram and Jerusalem were the same, yet now and then we do find a correct scribal interpretation

different

of Shakram,

form

glosses '

And

e.g.

which

of

Gen.

in

though

the original

xlviii.

22,

ran

thus

probably

(excluding

1

),

unto

give

I

takest

thee

take)

(shalt

Amorite (Arammite

To

And

are one.

cities

there

this

indicating that

are

Shakram, which thou

out

of

the

hand

of

the

?).'

several

scribal

Shakram (Shekem) was

glosses, in

all

Asshur,

Yerahme'el, or Arabia. I

have called the

political is

and

city of

Shakram (Shekem)

religious centre of the Israelites.

by

sufficiently justified

1

K.

xii.

i,

and

religious.

This

for the great

assembly there spoken of was certainly political

the

But we have

at

once

also earlier

Abimelek are legendary heroes of the region of Shakram, though Gideon has Ophrah, 2 and Abimelek has the city of Shakram for his residence. The difference between evidence,

for

both

Gideon

and

f

1 2

See T. and B. pp.

494/

Possibly connected with Ephrath.

JERUSALEM AND RABBAH, Gideon and Abimelek,

politically, is that

not represented, but Abimelek

and

ETC.

33

Gideon

is

as a titular king,

is,

Gideon espoused the claims of Yahwe to be the supreme director of the Divine Company, and Abimelek those of Yerahme'el. religiously, that

Gideon altogether rejected

Probably, too,

elements

certain

the ritual of Yerahme'el, accepted by

in

Abimelek, and would have nothing to do with the worship of a goddess, whether called Asherah or e

Arbith (corrupted into Berith

officially

We

—see

34

p.

— at a

may perhaps be

on the side of the

)

or Seba'ith (altered

later time into Seba'oth).

Shakram

surprised to find

progressive of the

less

But the

gions' of Israel.

l

probably

fact

is

'

two

that,

reli-

except

an interval during the rule of Gideon, the city called Shakram, Shalem, and Urushalem continued, for

Abram

as in the legendary period of

be a centre of Yerahme'elite

conquered the

type of religion

in the

But

city there

if

vii.

may presume

officially

alteration

represented in like

was under royal

13),

xiv.), to

When David

was doubtless an of Shakram,

sanctuary

the

Bethel (Am.

(Gen.

religion.

that

control,

that the official religion altered

it.

of

we

even

after David's time.

The

religion of

Gideon was the

and Ishmael or Yerahme'el

Shakram (Shekem) was 1

2

T.

and B.

Gideon's

altar

Yahweh-Ishmael. Religions,

p.

34/

pp.

in

;

Two

2

=

(Judg.

the

cult

Religions, pp.

Ophrah was

(Shalom

cult of

called

Ishmael, as in

Yahweh

vi.

24); that of

of

Yerahme'el

116/ Yahweh Shalom, Mic.

v.

4; see

371.) 3

i.e.

Two

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

34

and 'Arbith (Judg. ix. 4). The latter had a strong fascination for most Israelites both in Gideon's time and

after (Judg.

reference

to

viii.

We

33).

can

still

detect a

Arabian goddess Astart

N.

the

the manipulated passage

S.

1

iv. 4,

in

where 'the ark

Yahweh-Hosts must originally 'Arbith.' To this an have been simply 'Arman

of the covenant of

early scribe (

=

—

appended the gloss

'

Yahweh-Seba'ith

which, for edification's

title,

sake, a comparatively early

Yahweh

many names

redactor

Yahweh Hosts.' greatest monument of

Seba'oth,'

Perhaps the

the

is

altered

hope that

name

of

I

God

into

'

Book

of

the city of

Deuteronomy

in

original form (so far as this can be recovered). I

'

Sib'onith), accepting the traditional goddess, but

giving her a different

'

'

have shown, the

there used

is

full

its

As

form of the

Yahweh-Yerahme'el

(or

Yahweh-Yarham), and the place where was the great sanctuary of the Israelites was a city which bore the name of Ashhur-Yarham. In the time of Josiah, no doubt, this religious metropolis of the

1

god Asshur, but

it

is

still

contained idols

credible that the reform-

removed such, to him, objectionable symbols. What, briefly, were the fortunes of this city and Most probably its history was a sanctuary ? ing king

and F. pp. 26/), and for the pre-Josian period where the present text has been devised by a clever scribe out of an earlier text which ran, 'and the abomination of AshtorApparently the city where Yerahme'el, that is, Sibe on-Yerahme'el.' 1

2

K.

see Gen.

xxiii.

8 (D.

xix. 26,

the sanctuary was (two

names of which are given) contained a noted and B. p. 306).

idolatrous symbol of the great N. Arabian deity (T.

JERUSALEM AND RABBAH, Abimelek destroyed

chequered one.

king or 'judge' rebuilt

David took

it.

it

Jeroboam

;

king of Babel destroyed 1

'Isaiah' xix.

rebuilt

18^).

It

some other

Omri

it

some

;

rebuilt

it

;

a

and a king of Ashhur

it,

great

anticipate

;

refortified

it.

Two

it.

it

35

the Jebusites reoccupied

it;

N. Arabian foe destroyed probably

ETC.

prophetic things

writers

for

it

(ii.

in 1,

probable too that some of the

is

canonical psalms were

brought to the best-known

Jerusalem from the N. Arabian sanctuary. 2

Among

these Psalms, Ps. cxxii. deserves special

attention.

be noticed that

will

It

vv. 3-5

do not

A

more

1,

2,

and

methodical criticism, however,

is

rewarded by valu-

cohere

in the least

with

vv.

6-9.

able glimpses of N. Arabian Israelitish

tradition.

Verses 3-5 are probably an extended gloss, which that the city

states rebuilt 1

Koresh

the

'

by

(i.e. ')

tribes

in '

leave

there

of

the

N.

v.

2

had been

Arabian

the land of the Yerahme'elites

king ;

that

(an archaism) in the border-land used

to 'go up' thither

that

referred to in

on the

were the

'

festivals of

thrones

for

Yahweh, and

judgment,

the

The name of the city was Uru-shalem ( = Asshur-Shalem

thrones of David's house.' 4

a

Jerusalem,'

i.e.

'

name which had been

'),

carried northward by the

Yerahme'elites or N. Arabians, but which, as the literary

evidence shows,

still

existed in the border-

land. 1

Two

296/, 358/.; cp. 213^ Book of Psalms '-', ii. 184.

Religiotis, pp. 2

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

36

That David and Solomon most probably resided in the

southern Jerusalem

propounded

The

before.

means always clear

;

more

have

by no

are

and

representations,

But the harder view

confusion has resulted. as often,

narratives

I

there are different strata with

geographical

various

a view which

is

likely to

be correct,

viz.

great is

here,

David

that

and his successor resided sometimes in the southern

There

capital.

according

to

doubt that the

is little

S.

2

v.

city which,

David conquered, had

7-9,

names Asshur-D6d, and was regarded as the mother-city of part of the N. Arabian region called Asshur, and that it also bore the names Yabesh in Yaman,' Yaman of the Akrabbites,' and for

one of

its

'

'

'Kiryath-Ye'arim' (corrupted from either Ashhoreth-

But

Ye'arim or Akrabbath-Ye'arim). fact that

David (and Solomon)

N. Arabian for this

Any

city

?

of

criticism

the

argument

?

lingering doubt must,

by a keen

really the

often resided in a

Can we complete

unpopular view

is it

2

I

think, be dissipated

The

S. v., vi.

city

which David dwelt was called Asshur-Dod

and the same

city

or region was

'multitude' of Israelite clansmen it

in

(v. 9),

occupied by a

(vi.

19).

Indeed,

appears from the narrative that the possession

of a strong N. Arabian city was necessary to enable

David

to consolidate his

power

in

the south-land.

Residence was a condition of the permanence of his rule.

Of course, we need

not suppose that the

'

young

JERUSALEM AND RABBAH, amounted

warriors of Israel'

37

thousand

to thirty

(vi.

hardly be due to the

'Thirty thousand' can

1).

ETC.

There is a whole group of passages, which ethnics have been disguised as numerals,

original writer. in

sometimes with truly extraordinary present '

case,

Ishmael,'

that

1

which

regard

Similarly with 1

seeming artistic it is

S.

vi.

us

instruments

(so

the

5,

parallel

say that

to

stirring

the the

to

imagination) are really ethnics and the like

the Israel of the southern border-land which

meant by

the house of Israel,' just as

'all

tribes of Israel' in 'all

S.

2

6 enables

xviii.

musical

intimating

N. Arabia are meant.

in

to

be simply

Israel,'

'

In the

results.

should

'

a gloss on

is

Israelite clans

the

case of

thousand

thirty

'

S.

2

v.

xv.

1,

10,

'all

;

is

the

means only

the Israelite tribes (or clans) which occupy the '

border-land.

The

care which the gloss-makers took to prevent

shown by the

misunderstandings

is

text of 2 S.

which simply stated that David

'

vi.

gave portions

19,

gloss, 'Ishmael'

me'el,'

next

To

(i.e. '

1

is

2

lEE-x.

as a first '

'

Ashhoreth- Yerah-

and Asshur-Arab,' 3

2

then

then 'Ashhoreth.'

anxious care of the scribes confined

D'e^c probably

due to the

whole

N. Arabia), then Arab-

Ishmael,' then

then 'Ashhoreth

this

was added,

this

Israel in

'Ashhur,' then 'Asshur,'

was

original

(of the sacrificial flesh) to the

multitude of Israel.'

Ashhur,'

further

comes from bnyov

;

^n

ntre-N

;

see

Two

to

either represents hnzv\ or

scribe. 3

Nor

Religions,

p.

229.

— THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

38

The

the story of David.

Samuel

'

in

S. xi. 7,

i

1

strange words

'

should evidently be

and after '

that

is,

Ashhur-Ishmael,' a gloss which correctly limits the

meaning of

'all

the Israelite territories.'

have reserved

I

for the close of this section that difficult narrative, 2 S. v. 6-10.

most interesting but Restored to

original form,

its

to hold, probably run thus '

And

venture

men went

against

:

and

king

the

I

should,

it

his

Urushalem, against the Yebusite, 2 and he said to

Thou

David,

canst not

come

the mother-city of Ashkar.

stronghold of Sibyon. that day,

And

in

hither,

And David

And David

for

it

is

took the

triumphed

in

because of the defeat of the Yebusite.

he ruled

in

Sibyon, and the Pinhasites and

David subdued. And David dwelt And in the stronghold, and called it Ur-Dod. David fortified Yabesh in Yaman, and its daughterthe Asshurites

cities.'

To

illustrate the

tradition,

I

will

view here taken of

give another form

so

figuring corruptions,

comparatively early

And

the

same

the inserted glosses, and the dis-

narrative, with

1

this ancient

of the

king

far

as

they are at

least

:

and

men went

his

against

Jerusalem, against the Yebusites, Ishbaal-Ashhiir,

and he

Yerahmeel 3

not come in 1

3

Two

A

—said

David,

to

Thou

wilt

hither except thou remove the blind

Religions, p. 121.

conventional

name

for a

2

T.

and B.

N. Arabian king

p.

336.

(cp. Isa. xiv. 12).

— JERUSALEM AND RABBAH, and

David

the lame, saying,

And David

smiteth

will not come in hither.

And David

Ishmael

.

The

.

.

— David

that

;

is,

on that day,

said

Yebusites,

the

the Sinnor.

Asshurites

39

took the stronghold of Sion

the city of David.

Whoever his way to

ETC.

he

if

shall

win

Pinhasites and the

subdued.

Therefore

The Asshurites and the Pinhasites ynay not enter the house} And David dwelt in the they say,

And

City of David.

stronghold,

and

David

round about from Millo and inward.'

built

called

it

could of course devote several pages to the

I

textual basis of this revised version, but the digres-

sion might hinder the general effect.

however, that

me

my own

I

may

remark,

studies on the text have led

somewhat trying conclusion, viz. that the city, whose conquest is here related, was not the world-famous Jerusalem (the modern el-Kuds), but a N. Arabian city variously called Yabesh, Akrabbim, Ur-Shalem, Siyyon (Sib'on), and Ur-Dod.

Ur

to a

(represented by it and ts)

Asshur, Its

king (here

that

= Asshur-Rekem), and secure from attack. Of

— according

Ishmaelites)

and Asshurites. 3 That

is,

;

therefore

the

Ashkar 2

city

the population to

a

no invader can enter

the mother-city of

it is

(

two accounts,

Ishmael.

Yerahme'el) replies to

called

Ur-Shalem, because

1

a contraction of

and Shalem a formation from

summons from David,

(i.e.

is

most

we have

one they were Yebusites

according to the other, Pinhasites

We

the temple.

know 2

tkmc dk

the Asshurites best. -3.

3

d"ib-ni

D'onw.

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

40

The N. Arabian Asshur Isa. x. 5,

Mic.

had Asshurim

(2 S.

(e.g.

vi. ii.

constantly spoken of

is

and Saul's son Ishbaal

4),

9) for a part of his dominions.

But Pinhas should also be known 2

of Pinhas

is

mentioned

Ephraim.

of Mt.

1

33 as a P art

in Josh. xxiv.

Pinhas,

true,

is

it

Gibeah

to us.

usually

is

regarded as a personal name, and provided with That, however,

an Egyptian etymology. Pinhas

a mistake.

a regional

name

;

Naphtah-Ashhur.

is

The Naphtuhim

3

surely

shortened from onriD^,

is

it

is

properly not a personal but i.e.

(referred

to

4

again elsewhere) were a Misrite tribe, and no doubt the Mt.

Ephraim of

We

region.

Josh. xxiv. 33 was a N. Arabian

also find Pinhas in Jer.

ii.

16, xlvi.

15

;

both passages show that the Pinhasites had strong warlike instincts.

The

that such persons

were excluded from the temple.

Cp. Deut.

I

narrative

do duty

to

for

present text of vv.

But

faulty.

it

Jerusalem (Gen.

7-24

1

which the

in

After

1

Two

2

njDJ in

see

p.

xiv.).

no doubt very

is

traces of the original text

apparent wildness of the scribes

method.

name

by no means so corrupt as not

is

some

to preserve

pp. ibf.

omit to refer to another strange but

important

Shalem appears

The

and F.

2-4; D.

xxiii.

Nor must equally

writer of a later gloss thinks

repeated

is

attempts

;

the

not devoid of I

have,

as

I

Religions, p. 279.

place-names

is

not

'

hill,'

but a corruption of hjn

123.

3

Two

Religions,

4

Gen.

x.

13

;

p.

346.

cp. T.

and B.

pp.

190/

= a*™

;

JERUSALEM AND RABBAH,

ETC.

41

hope, recovered what must be very near the original,

both as regards the narrative proper and as regards the interspersed glosses.

'And him

after

his

return from the slaughter of

Ashhur

him), in the valley of

(Glosses on

king's dale).

'

(gloss,

Sedek,' that

is,

that

the

is,

the king of Hashram,'

Shalem

the king of Sedek, the king of

Now

out to meet

and of the kings that were with

Bir-dad-'amral,

4

:

Hashram went

the king of

(gloss,

It is this

;

glosses

on

Yerahme'el and Yawan.)

Sib'on,

he was a priest of the Supreme God.

And

Abram

of the

he blessed him, and

Supreme God, be

blessed

creator of heaven and earth, and

Supreme

the

who

Yerahme'el)

Blessed be

said,

hath

God

(gloss,

Ashhur-

thine

enemies

delivered

And he gave him of the riches of And the king of Hashram said to the kings. Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself. And Abram said to the king of Hashram, I lift up my hand unto the Supreme God (glosses, Yahwe creator of heaven and earth) that I will into thy hand.

;

not sin against thee, and that

thing that

made Abram have eaten

rich. I

take],

me

Ashkal, and Ra'aman),

This

is

I

have

and the portion of the

(glosses, Yarba'al, Shin'ar,

let

them take

their portion.'

the sequel of the account of Abram's

intervention in behalf of or

not take any-

Only that which the servants

with

[will

men who went

will

thou shouldest say,

thine, lest

is

I

Kashram

(

Sodom, or rather Hashram

= Ramshah).

The name Hashram

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

42

(

= Ashhur-Aram)

Ramshah

or

(i.e.

Aram-Ashhur)

attaches alike to a region of larger or of smaller

and

extent,

a

to

Two

city.

we might with

state that

interwoven glosses

equal correctness speak

Sedek or the king of Shalem, and This that both names are equivalent to Hashram. Sedek, for is important, and presumably correct. instance, was certainly a widespread place-name of the king of

and clan-name, as we see

in

part from

the fact

name of a king of Judah and a king of Ashkelon, who both presumably laid It is claim to some part of the region of Sedek. that

it

enters into the

probable, too, that e.g. i

it

underlies place-names, such

as Sidon (though this

K.

and Siklag

xvii. 9)

by David,

There southern

1

1

name was

(the Ethbalite city

convincing

also

is

evidence

Jerusalem (Urushalem)

x. iff.

owned

S. xxvii. 6).

the land of Hashram, and Josh.

also a regional,

we

of Jerusalem.

was

at

once

that of Sedek.

Now it

this

Jerusalem

certainly in

is

was near Gibeon, which

the course of history and the gloss in Josh.

prove to have been

in

the south.

It

certain that the southern Jerusalem in

Judg.

king

i.

Adoni

definitely

7, -

this

as the place to

Jerusalem

Bezek can be shown T.

was

is

is

alike x.

2

equally

referred to

which the captive

was carried

Bezek

1

in

In

mention of Adoni-Sedek, king

find

the south, because

in

the

that

in

to

die.

Rabshak.

More For

to be the short for Rabshak,

and B.

pp.

193/

JERUSALEM AND RABBAH,

ETC.

43

and Adoni-Bezek implies that the royal bearer of

name laid claim to some portion of the land of Adon ( = Addan, Ezr. 59, and perhaps 'Eden) the

ii.

and of Sedek.

We

1

are not therefore surprised to learn that the

usage of Shalem

('

king of Shalem

'

says one of the

Sedek

glosses) appears to be analogous to that of

and

Shalem

Hashram.

of

if it

included both Sidon (in the

south) and Ashkelon, and

seemed

scribes

(the

Shemen) which has

it

must be mere accident

have preferred

to

left

us so

wider use of the name

wider sense

in xxxiii.

in

in

3

'

in

T.

Gen.

18, just

(Zeph. 4

ii.

pp. 57,

159;

its fertility,

Much cp.

12, is

well to 2

where said to

of the Eth-

i.e.

those early days

in

rivalled Paradise in

and B.

xiii.

Lot, however, chose

5).

which

may be

Abram

the land of Canaan,

Arabia 5 of Ashkar.' 1

it

preparation for chap, xiv.)

of Yarhon,'

have

the

18.

have dwelt balites

in

the narrower sense, as a place-name,

refer here again (see p. 30) to if

need not

really used

In the interests of geography

(as

We

the gloss included in xiv.

in

used

it is

is

the form

evidence of the

little

Shalem.

doubt, however, that Shalem

as

a

Sedek must have been

regional and a place-name.

an extensive region

probably both

is

is

'all

Ashkar

asserted to

and dwelt

in

has been written about

D. and F. pp.

89/

;

Two

Religions,

181, 3 50-

PP. 2

Cp. T.

3

Two

Religions, p. 411.

5

ny

a corruption of

is

and

B.

p.

414 (on Gen. 3t»,

xxxiv. 21). i

Cp. T.

as in Judg.

xii.

and B. 7.

pp. 228, 380.

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

44

the kikkar (such

word

the

is

now

hardly be right), but

we

eyes opened,

Kar

required.

see

in the text,

can

it

we have had our regional name is

that

a

that

but

has come from Kerem, and

this,

The Rekem, from Yarham or Yerahme'el. doubling of the k is a product of the popular wit, like

dropping

and the

by Dod

paralleled

of

of

Yarhon means

in

vii.

We

correction in

K.

1

find

by an

and

46,

temple

(2

xvi. 24.

no

Jerusalem,

The

S. xxiv.).

The it

story

It

locality

is

is

site

altar

to

has

Yahweh

in

offer

an

to

must erect an altar for himself. selected

by Gad, David's 2

seer,

name Peres-Uzzah

is

is

S.

2

the

Read,

'

in

vi.

6,

where the

threshing-floor

Chr. says) of Kidon (Yarkon

1

probable that Peres-Uzzah 1

Araunah

accounted for by a sudden

occurred at

(as

and

This reminds us of the

equally imaginative tale in

Nakon, or

of the

of interest,

full

turns out to be the threshing-floor of

death which

of the

assumed that there

is

who

and so David,

(Adoniyyah) the Yebusite.

It

the narrative

recognized

sacrifice,

official

referred to

also

it

stream

the

by David of the destined

officially

Ashkar

extremely probable

to

but highly imaginative. is

'

1

Let us now pass on acquisition

by

bordered

is

the Yarhon.

K.

Thus

that part of Ashhur- Yerahme'el

'

i

Ash may be

initial

Ashdod.

for

(N. Arabia) which called

the

Ashkar of Yaman 2

See E. Rib.

'

is

[gloss,

Araunah.'

of ?).

really identical Kashram].'

JERUSALEM AND RABBAH, with

the

45

mount Perasim, and that this Hermon.

sacred

mountain

ETC.

identical with the southern

is

reminds us also of another altar erected

It

in

accordance with an oracle of Yahweh, the altar raised

by Abraham

The

for the sacrifice of Isaac

(Gen.

xxii.).

original narrator probably identified this sacred

mountain with that on which was the threshing-

Araunah

of

floor

This view

confirmed by

is

the latter spot

is

on the mountain

Gen.

in

xxii.

in the

iii.

1, i.e.

where

was

it

land of Moriah, referred to

and called

3 /.,

in the original

text

1

the N. Arabian border-land, and the

in

old tradition

firms

Chron.

Yebusite.

These two passages are very The Jerusalem of 2 Sam. xxiv. must

suggestive.

The

2

the

placed on Mt. Moriah,

Asshur- Yerahme'el.

have been

(Adoniyyah)

was that David often resided

there.

and Bathsheba conmay indeed be partly based

story of David, Uriah,

view.

this

It

on some current folk-story of mythological origin (see E. Bib. Uriah '), but is mainly an imaginative '

record

of David's

attack on a city Akrabbath bene Armon, 2 and also by the synonymous titles Ir (Asshur) Yerahme'el and Ir (Asshur) Yewanim. Unjustifiable is hardly unjustifiable

called (probably)

'

'

too strong a word, considering the kindness which

David had received from the present king's predecessor (Akish). But ambition was too powerful 1

2

and B. p. 328. Amnion from Armon

T. '

Crit. Bib.

'

on Judg.

iii.

1

3.

or, less

probably, from Amalek.

Cp.

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

46

and gratitude

for lovingkindness

This

weight.

siege of the

expressed

is

Ammonite

to

the

in

Ammonite,

an

by the

tale

(rather Armonite) Rabbah,

Bathsheba

the wife of the faithful Uriah. called

due

their

forcible seizure of Bathsheba,

and also by David's indeed

have

but

the

not

is

tradition

probably considered her a Canaanite (Gen. xxxviii. 2,

and Uriah, as a Hittite or Ashhartite, was

12),

obviously the same.

Now

as to the

two great place-names.

Uriah

was, although a Hittite, a

man

of Urushalem, which

was an Urite or Asshurite

city,

and, according to

present contention, situated in N. Arabia. of the bene easily

One

Ammon

be shown,

if

is

also

N. Arabian, as

of the strata of tradition represents

as lord of

the bene

Rabbath

may

Akish and Nahash are the same.

ruling over the Ethbalites,

Nahash

my

one of the Akrabbaths

Ammon.

Akish as

and another represents

— that

of

surely certain that Akish

It is

and Nahash are the same the capital of the king so named must therefore have been called indifferently ;

a city of the Ethbalites and a city of the Ammonites.

The name Ammonites must be a mistake (most probably) for Armonites, just as Moab is sometimes miswritten Maakah for the Ammonites can hardly ;

have been regarded as Ethbalites.

CHAPTER DAVID AND URIAH

ABSALOM

IV

SIEGE OF RABBAH

DAVID AND TRUE SITUATION OF THE BATTLE-FIELD

;

J

Occasion has been taken

;

the previous chapter

in

judgment on the ungrateful conduct of David towards Nahash. I have also ventured to propound the view that Ur in Uriah to pass a severe

is

imply that the 1

which seems

the short for Asshur,

that

'

Hittite

Ashhartite, so that Uriah

Bathsheba

Asshurite.

as a Shebaite,

i.e.

is

the

is

'

Rabbah

;

The

name

people with called bene

is

of the

capital

As

—

is

a

popular

corruption of Akrabbah.

Ammon,

the phrase indicates here, at least, that the

war

is

waged against N. Arabians

popular corruption of

Armon

2

S.

xii. ;

24 /^)

these

are

confirm

to the bene

it is

probably a

from

Two

jidin),

'

in

i.e.

glosses (in

accuracy

the

respectively 47

;

(po-is

'one belonging to Yerahme'el.'

view

;

for

marked by her name

an Ishmaelite.

— the

short

doubly marked as an

is

also

which David and Joab waged war

Ammon

to

Uriah was a N. Arabian

faithful

now add

will

me

to

of

this

Yerahme'el of

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

48 l

Ah'ab,'

and

Arabia of Yerahme'el.' Their

in

'

ficance can hardly be exaggerated.

In

signi-

we

26

v.

Akrabbath of the bene

meet with the place-name (rather 'Armon'); the glosses are best '

Amnion'

viewed as early and correct comments on

They belong glosses.

It

the

to

therefore only natural to hold that

is

in

N. Arabia.

manifold interest of the story of Absalom's

The

rebellion needs no showing.

obviously

less

name.

of geographical

large class

David's starting-point was

The

this

laid

N.

in

however, we

shall

The primary

question

scene

Arabia.

perhaps

is

Ultimately,

be bound to assent to

this view.

where David was

residing,

but, for the sake of David, the fortunes of

Absalom That

come

too will have to

Absalom

incredible."

is

Absalom speaks of

It

is

far as

the

true

that

his place of refuge as being

Aram,' but as

in

consideration.

into

from either Jerusalem as

fled

northern Geshur

Geshur,

is

district of

Note how

1

Aram.

may have been in southern border-land, and we may then compare southern regional name, Asshur. The argu-

The the

in

have shown already, 3

I

there was both a northern and a southern

the

'

Geshur, therefore,

attrm

(

= Ashhur

of Arabia)

is

confounded by the

scribes with arm. 2

See E. Bib.

Og = Agag) (

is

of the Geshurites.'

kingdom 3

T.

171

col.

1

f.

In Josh.

said to have reigned

(D.

and

and

B.

'

xii.

in all

5

the pre-Israelite king

Bashan unto the border

This legendary king represents a N. Arabian

F. pp. pp.

138/,

17,

Religions, pp. 161, 174, etc.

62,

141).

179;

D. and F.

pp.

34

/; Two

DA VID AND URIAHj DA VID AND ABSALOM ment

Absalom

that

is

unpractical as to go

all

could

have been so

not

the long

49

way to

the northern

Geshur, and that hence the sanctuary at which (2 S. xv. 8) he

vowed

to offer a sacrifice

must have been

Now

the chief royal sanctuary in the southland. it

implied in this that David dwelt from time to

is

near

time

sanctuary,

this

southern

the

at

i.e.

Jerusalem. It is

to

true that in 2 S. xv. 7

have asked leave of David

he had vowed

in

Absalom to

we

reported

pay the vow which

Geshur, at Hebron.

have expected the sanctuary to be as

is

at

We

should

Gibeon, where,

are told, was 'the greatest high place'

(1

K.

There, as Gemoll has well shown, Solomon 1

iii.

4).

was most probably anointed king.

Absalom Gibeon

?

to

all

appearance exalt

The answer

is

that

Why,

then, does

Hebron above

Gibeon

is

identical

with Hebron.

This identification has been waiting a long time to be

The remark

made.

the expression of

is

natural,

and may be

more than one mood.

There

is

no reason, however, why we should either take offence or be surprised at this delay.

my judgment,

presupposes, in

that

was, in

a great step forward, and could not

even have been suspected

first

It

my own

at

an earlier date.

It

case, the twofold discovery

Ashhur is a N. Arabian regional, and next Ashhur in compound place-names regularly

that

1 Gemoll (p. 343) would read in 1 K. i. 33^, pjDJ for pru. would rather propose [nan. The intermediate stage would be pun.

4

I

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

50

Ah

form

takes the

Arabia) the form

Arab (N.

(Ah?) or Ak, and

Rab

common

or (by a

transposi-

tion) Bar.

The member

experienced eye

of the literate class)

Hebron '

of

popular

a

as

an

sopher

early

may have l

distortion

recognised

Ahberon,

of

And what

belonging to Ashhur of N. Arabia.'

as

Gibeon

to

The answer

?

given by an early scribe

—

is

early distortion of Agab'on.

Gibeah

with

Ashhur-Arab mediary link

Hebron

('hill'), (

= Ashhur is Akab

— already

an

is

has nothing to do

from Ah'ab

springs

of N. Arabia)

Agab.

or

perhaps

name

that this It

but

(a

2

;

=

the inter-

Gibeon and

are therefore equivalent, and

we can

well

understand that the southern Hebron came to bear the second

name Kiryath-Arba,

either

originally

Ashhoreth-Arab or Akrabbath-Arab. It

was therefore

at the court of

N. Arabian kings (he

Ammihur,'

i.e.

called

is

one of the small '

'the Ishmaelite, son of

Talmai, son of

Aram- Ashhur')

Absalom sought and found refuge, and at the southern Hebron that he vowed to offer sacrifice. That David's home was in the southern Jerusalem that

is

the implication of the whole narrative.

what 1

as to the scene of Absalom's rebellion

In

T.

distortion.

shown,

And

is

and B. I

traced

pp.

335,

439,

Hebron then

I

to

?

now,

We

recognized that there was a

Rehob, which, as

I

have now

a witty distortion of Ahbar.

2 Cp. the clan-names Hagab and Hagabah (Ezr. ii. Neh. vii.), and the regional Argob ( = Aram-Agab) also Agabus in the Acts. On Ah'ab see Two Religions, p. 240 T. and B. p. 63, n. 4. ;

;

DAVID AND URIAH; DAVID AND ABSALOM have already found what

geography by

glosses,

may

light

As were two hundred men

there

stands,

be thrown on

and may hope that here too

we may have the same good luck. S. I make my appeal first to 2 text

51

xv. 11.

the in

Jerusalem, important enough to be invited to the sacrificial

feast at

Hebron, but entirely unaware of

Absalom's designs upon the crown.

Surely this

most improbable.

The two hundred

cannot have stood

in

else

knew

or

is

invited guests

ignorance of what every one

suspected.

strong, for the fighting

'

The

men

was

conspiracy

increased continually

For some time past Absalom had assumed royal state, and had a personal guard composed of fleet and strong Ramshahite warriors (v. It is plain that those who accompanied 1). Absalom to Hebron cannot have been simpletons who knew not anything they were in fact his with Absalom

'

(v. 12).

'

'

Any

N. Arabian body-guard. the

to

phenomena of

;

one who has attended

textual corruption

that the present text of

v.

will

see

been produced

11 has

out of an earlier one, relative to Absalom's band of

men-at-arms, which ran,

two

hundred men

'

out

Ashkarites and Hanokites 1

And

of

with

Absalom went

Jerusalem,

(gloss,

Ishmaelites For Sp

con ? D'sVm D'*np should be D'tariM ovum Dna^K. 1

23 (read Dn3»«, and cp. Crit. Bib. p. correction D'aan, cp. vrjn, Gen. xix. 14, where both Ezek.

xxiii.

247) and Gemoll (p. 363) have traced the 'Anak are connected). And for 'nS cp. icn ?,

1

).'

In

cp. D'Kinp,

101).

For the

and B. p. Anakim (Hanok and

1

in rhmno.

were

that

1

K.

I

(T.

xxii. 34,

and

ino

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

52

same context (v. 18) we are told of six hundredmen, Ashhartites (Kerethites)and Ethbalites (Pelethites), who accompanied David and formed the

the

nucleus of his army.

where

city

surely probable that the

It is

this considerable force of

N. Arabian non-

men-at-arms was assembled, was the N.

Israelite

Arabian Jerusalem, and not that which

That both

as el-Kuds.

is

Samaria and

at

now known more

at the

northern Jerusalem there was a royal body-guard

Ramsha-

do not dispute, and whether called

I

hites,

1

Ra'amathites,

balites,

5

2

Askarites,

3

Ashhartites, 4 Eth-

Hanokites, 6 Shalishites, 7 or Porasites, 8

certain from their ethnic appellations that

bers were of N. Arabian race.

But

it

is

mem-

its

hold also that

I

such a large band as six (or eight) hundred

is

im-

probable except perhaps in the N.Arabian Jerusalem 1

dtib-o

initial i

should be read for D'cnn in 2

has dropped out.

same correction

the

seems

in

S.

xv.

2 K.

1,

from

to follow

Isa.

i.

iii.

The

5. 1

(where

Ramshahites also existed and

desirable) that

is

were much thought of P-

It

;

Isaiah's Jerusalem.

See

Two

Religions,

3033

2

'noto,

4

See pp. 18,56. The Kerethites and Pelethites are familiar.

2 K.

xi.

especially 2 S. xv. thites

came

'

is

4.

1

8,

where

and him from Gath.'

followed by

after

'

Gilead and Gileadites (see trict

'

'

2 K.

the Kerethites and

all

xi.

all

4,

19.

See

the Pele-

the Gittites, six hundred men who Gath and Gittites are equivalent to Gath ') Gilead meant originally a disall

;

of N. Arabia.

5

Ethbalites, again N. Arabians.

6

Hanokites.

See

7

Shalishites.

Shalish means

body-guard.' 8

'-ob'n,

In 2 K.

rasim (see

So Ex. xi.

p. 69).

p.

51, note

xv. 4, 2 K.

4, for

D'sn

read

1, '

See p. and cp.

13. p.

8.

one who belongs to the Ishmaelite

vii.

2,

D'rns.

17,

19.

Another form may be Path-

DAVID AND URIAH; DAVID AND ABSALOM it

53

would constitute a perpetual danger rather than

a protection to the reigning king.

Another textual argument narrative

is

in

:

2

S.

24 the

xv.

suddenly interrupted by the statement,

and Abiathar went

No

up.'

of this having been given,

satisfactory explanation

venture to suggest that

I

the words are a corruption of a double gloss, which

These are two glosses on the city in v. 25. The place where the Annan (the Palladium of Israel) was deposited, was Beth-' Arab, i.e. the southern Hebron, someHebron of the Ishmaelites,' and times called runs,

'that

Ishmael

is,

;

Beth- Arab.'

'

'

'

perhaps also

Ishmael.'

'

troublesome word only Sadok

and- Abiathar

'

entrusted with the

is

a corruption of 'that

giving an account of

have now sought

Jerusalem.

narrative

A

is

plain

'

v.

Annan)

its

the

;

elsewhere

(p.

Klostermann

I

of these resting-

cannot have been far from

Jerusalem and the

southern

are

meant,

otherwise

the

it is

of the kikkar.'

30),

really

This account

origin.

course of

kikkar

is

the

obscure.

graphical, is furnished by 2 S. xviii. 23,

way

is

where

and-Abiathar,' but without

further argument, at once textual

ran by the

25,

The importance The be exaggerated.

Arman

Hebron

southern

(see

the

29,

v.

to give.

glosses can hardly

If

'

in

Beth-'Arba.'

is,

has already bracketed

place of the

Similarly

As

'

and geo-

And Ahimaaz I

have shown

a popular corruption

of Ashkar, and a designation of the region which

embraced,

among

other

places,

Shakram

;

it

is

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

54

very possibly, equivalent to Shakram or

indeed,

Kashram,

were not only place-names but

for these

regionals.

But even

and explain

it

if

we keep

the reading kikkar,

as the circle of Jordan,

one may ask with Gemoll

(p. 246),

the Gkor,

i.e.

how this region Mahanaim of

can have lain on the road to the

which conservative scholars I

do not deny

that, as

tell us.

the text

now

stands, there

are sufficiently clear traces of the view that the

David and Absalom was the northern Jerusalem, and accordingly that the scene of the decisive battle was in the land beyond Jordan.

both

of

starting-point

Still

evidence

the

narrator took a different view

the

that

is

original

surely too strong to

make some critical remarks on passages which may seem adverse to

be rejected.

I

venture to

will

the N. Arabian theory.

may be

It

(1)

plausibly asked whether

2 S.

xv.

21/, xvii. 4, 11, 13, 15, 24, xviii. 6/, xix. 9, 11, 41 ff-, do not imply that Israelites of the north not only were Absalom's partizans but actually 1-6, 10, 13, xvi.

formed means.

and

whole army.

his

As

'the

in

of

tribes

Israelitish clans

The answer

the Samuel-narratives

taken these phrases

was no necessity to

mean

the

which occupied a considerable part

The

brought the Absalom-story into

Dan

By no Israel,'

simply

Israel,'

of the N. Arabian border-land.

may have

is,

'all

for

Beer-sheba

'

him

to

its

redactor

present shape

literally,

do

so.

(2 S. xvii. 11)

who

but there

Even from may quite well '

'; '

DAVID AND URIAHj DAVID AND ABSALOM have been used of the southern

territory, for

means, not some insignificant northern

Dan which once on an

extensive

which even continued

district

bearing

the

the

Dan

'

1

but a of

capital

same

name,

the changes wrought by time,

after

have

to

time was

a

city,

55

significance for the

both

political

whole community,

and

religious

for

Dan may

probably be identified with the royal sanctuary of

we may confess our to dogmatize. But so much we know, Sheba ( = Shema) is a Yerahme'elite name As

Bethel.

Beer-sheba,

for

inability

that

David's opponent Sheba xx.

revised text) a

1,

of Arab-Rikmi.

Mt. Ephraim

2

expressly called (2 S.

is

man

of Yerahme'el and a son

True, he

is

also styled 'a

(2 S. xx. 21), but, as in the

of Samuel, this undoubtedly

man

of

genealogy

means the southern Mt.

There may therefore have been a Beer-

Ephraim.

Sheba in the highlands of the southern Ephraim. Another view, however, is possible, Beersheba '

may be miswritten for Arab-Sheba. This may be the name of a N. Arabian region, and Dan, or Dan-Ya'ar, admits

may be 16) 1

it is

the

add that

the southern

same explanation.

It

in Jer. iv. 15 (as in

viii.

Dan which

meant, and that

is

Dan and

Genioll, '

helpful to

of

p.

Kashram (Kadesh) seem to be equivalent Note also the names pa (1 S. xii. n) = p 421).

Danite Arabia

(Judg.

xiii.

25,

'

;

Tjrp (2 S.

xviii.

12

;

xxiii.

6

;

so read),

'

Ya'arite

Dan

so read) 'Danite Yerahme'el.'

be pointed out for the benefit of those who do not know recent works, that prr

me'an, 2

i.e.

and pn are shortened forms of

Yerahme'el).

Ttao Religions,

p.

119.

It

' ;

any,

p-prr

should

my

[KDrrr

(cp.

other

(Yerah-

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

56

the har-Ephraim in the parallel line suggests that

Dan

name

the

is

(2) Several

of a region or district.

more geographical points favourable have

to a northern starting-point

Thus

the

cp.

K.

1

wady Kidron ii.

xv.

3J,

The

indecisive.

1

mentioned

is

was

redactor

(2 S. xv. 23,

This, however,

etc.).

13,

to be considered.

skilful

enough

is

to

own view probably we should of the scene. For Kidron 2 we know the wady Kerith 3 from read Kerithon the story of Elijah. The origin of all these forms adapt the geography of the story to his '

'

'

'

;

Ashhoreth or Ashhart, and the country which the

is

wady

intersected

harmony with

in

is

was Asshurite or Ashhartite.

It

that the direction of the

this

march, when the wady had been crossed, was 'the

way

Ashtar'

to

4

(see below; zaitk, like sheth,

For Ashtar

from Ashtar). Religions,

195 (on

p.

Am.

I

vi.

2,

quered Ashtar of the Gileadites In

(3)

trees

'

hood olive

'

trees

'That have con-

').

'ascent of the olive-

the

See E. Bib. pmp.

3

nna, see

4

(3 (Luc.) has

improbable.

cp. niDty

in

Chr.).

ascent

'the '

the

of

the

Mount

of

Kidron.'

'

Perhaps we may compare

Two

frnp

Josh. xxi. 32.

Religions, p. 130. '

towards the olive-tree of the wilderness.'

Read probably

may be appended

and

But

no means =

by

is

'

1

1

30,

Jerusalem.

2

nanon

xv.

Two

refer to

seems to point conclusively to the neighbourof

-

S.

2

may

comes

= Ashtar-

1

as

mvtt

a

-pi

gloss.

'

This

is

towards Ashtar,' to which

See

shmael (metku), and rrna

above (on zayith),

= Arab-Ashtar

(both

'

DAVID AND URIAH; DAVID AND ABSALOM and

Olives,'

the

if

obliged to treat

seems

me

to

were used,

phrase

latter

extraordinary, 1

would be so

it

one would be

that

As

as a corruption.

it

57

a rule,

it

were

that the mountains of Palestine

named

after

the races or clans which dwelt near

them.

Is

certain, therefore,

it

that zaith (olive

not a race-name or a clan-name

is

Chr.

i

tion

Ashtar.

of

The

And

2

follows

it

this

I

in

Chr.

1

Zaith[an],

famous name occurs

fairly often

Mount

near

lived

proud guardians

of

(which

This

The Ash-

Ashtar, and

sanctuary

a

now,

the true O.T.,

in

both as an ethnic and as a divine name. tarites

is

Tarshish

like

10.

vii.

Chronicles) comes from Ashtar.

in

in

a popular corrup-

is

which so long baffled scholars

riddle

?)

have

Barzaith)

(read

Arabian names

hope, solved.

I

We

may now add which occurs among

to

name, zetkan,

N.

certainly

which zaith

31, in

vii.

personal

the

name

met with one

already

?

at

were the

which

rites,

abominable to Hosea, were constantly practised. 3 This accounts for the reference

in

the worshippers of the divinity

who were wont

resort thither.

tioned as

K.

(1

'

xi.

the

1

I

may be 2

the

that

hill

new

K.

(2

is

same is

in

Israelite

xxiii.

told that

See 3

p.

':'D

56,

Two

13)

T.

xv. 32,

is

and

to to

men-

front of Jerusalem

'high places'

built

gods, and which

is

comes from and

S.

which

hill

where Solomon

7),

(bamoth) for

where

It

2

'the

called n:o,

but

I

else-

mountain

cannot believe

B. pp. 362, 503.

Religions, pp. 241, 255.

it.

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

58

1

Methukash.' to

There

no necessity,

is

suppose that the mountain which David ascended

was

the neighbourhood of the northern

in

The Ashtarites being N. may assume that their sacred hill was

salem.

Bahurim,'

'

(4)

2

xvi.

S.

resided in N. Arabia (and

been a N. Arabian 2

S.

district

And no

13-16).

iii.

it

5.

Saul's clan ('the Bikrites

'And

(5)

Yarden),

passed

they S.

2

xvii.

(see

Arabia of the

'

Kalebites

Chr.

(1

dwelt there.

')

over This,

22.

must have

The name

wonder.

19).

clan

Saul's

Bahurim

called

The Hurites were

one

so too.

did), there

Hurites.'

Jeru-

Arabian,

If

probably comes from Ab-hurim,

ii.

therefore,

if

Jordan'

(MT.

correct,

would

point to a trans-Jordanic Gilead and a start from

But

the northern Jerusalem.

has been shown

it

and redactors are prone

that the scribes

to

con-

Yarden with the N. Arabian stream Yardan or Yarhon. 2 It is probable that other names for

found

this

In

'

'

stream were Perath (Ephrath), and stream

the

20,

v.

ment of Yerakmal is

(

Mikal,

called

is

'Gilead.'

= Yerahme'el)

'

;

the

a

frag-

water,'

a gloss, indicating that a well-known stream

meant.

In

to read either 1

same

'

Yardan or Yarhon '

'

Maktesh and Mashhith (Zeph. origin

—

and B.

2

T.

3

Gen.

Perath.'

xv.

See

On

raino.

name, D. and F.

p.

1

inn,

p.

6.

i.

n,

see T. a?ui B.

'

not

for

'

is

hesitate

Yarden.'

2 K. xxiii. 13) have the p.

107,

and on the whole

9.

pp. 228, 262, 456. 18,

we need

22, therefore,

v.

3

See also 'Jericho and Jordan.'

'from the stream of Gilead

to

the

stream of

;

DA VID AND URIAH; DA VID AND ABSALOM '

(6)

En- rogel,'

S. xvii.

2

17;

Rogelim,'

'

59

27.

v.

Thus, the name Rogel meets us on both sides of

Yarhon or Yardan.

the stream called is

by the Yarhon.

intersected

Read

improbable. read

'

Rogel

and

Gil'ad,'

Gilad-Yaman.'

'

Gilead, then, ('

for

'

fuller

is

')

Rogelim

'

was no doubt the sacred

It

fountain of the Gileadites, just as En-kore

was

of the Yerahme'elites (Judg. xv.

Another

name

of Gilead

Absalom'

where

26,

in v.

'

by the name

this

illustrate

Barzillai,

which means 'one belonging to Arab-zebel

Arabia of Ishmael. disappears.

more

'

sensible

1

)

Roe-like

'

Chr.

(1

xii.

as

24.

'

in

messengers of revolt to say

Israel,

2

'Ab-

Hebron.'

'And David came to Mahanaim,' 2 S. xvii. Mahanaim is generally supposed to be '

undoubtedly trans-Jordanic. 3 cessor resided there

Solomon's prefects iv.

Such were the

8).

he sent Gileadites throughout salom reigns

(i.e.

Thus the 'iron-like' man man would have been

men whom Absalom used

(7)

and

a corruption of 'in Ishmaelite Arabia.'

is

One may

preserved

is

18 /.).

that

the

that

bosheth

'

Israelite

I

N.

the

and one of

12),

Mahanaim

(1

K.

been proved

think,

which

clans

inhabited

8,

from

ruled

and suc-

Saul's son ii.

however,

has,

It

14).

(2

S.

recognized

Arabian

'

Ish-

border-land,

and that Solomon's prefects (whose number must 1

'

2

Besal'el

'

In xv. 10

is

therefore an equivalent (T.

for D'Vno, 3

read

1

dhj; ?:.

See E. Bib.

'

'

and B.

Spies

Mahanaim.'

'

is

p.

571).

unsuitable.

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

60

be

were also established

fictitious)

There

land.

is,

the multitude.

of the battle in

on very but

little.

and

text,

its

2

depends

it

therefore, no obligation to follow

We

1

may

That

some form, of the That Mahanaim (originally

there

in

'

5

of

'

the details connected with

fictions arising out of a

yaar which

S.

site,

xviii.

vi.

appeal6),

and

But the forest 5 are probably

it

misunderstanding of the word

really part of a regional

is

and the

Am.

a shortened form).

Ephraim (2 Absalom (v. 18).

forest of

5,

(cp.

83) defends a west-Jordanic

(p.

monument all

xiv.

x.

N.

is

doubt.

serious

of Judg.

-

ing to the

and

Kamon

Karnaim of Gen. where the name is given

Gemoll

no

think,

I

is,

probably the

Ashteroth

the

in

3

Arabian,

13,

view,

on a keen criticism of the

Mahan-Yam = Yerahme'el-Yaman)

perhaps

4

my own

certainly

is

admission,

N. Arabian theory.

It is

indeed reject the story

present form as a romance based

in part

an

the border-

in

as criticism shows, the

monument was

name, 6 and, set up,

not

by Absalom, but by David. 7 Thus, the David-stories which have come down 1

See further

of course

= Ya'ir

T.

2

Crit. Bib. pp.

3

Cp.

4

Tivo Religions,

5

See

6

The

and B.

(see Judg.

x.

p.

392

;

Ya'ar

is

292/.

Mahaneh-Dan = Mahan-Dan. p.

regional

Seep.

55, n.

1.

196.

Crit. Bib. p. 293, full

Gemoll, pp. 83-85.

3-5).

and

name

is

cp.

E. Bib. 'Ephraim,

Wood

of.'

probably either Dan-Ya'ar (see on

2 S. xxiv. 6) or Ya'ar-Dan. 7

See

Crit.

commentaries.

Bib.

p.

293,

and

cp.

Klostermann's and

Budde's

DAVID AND URIAH; DAVID AND ABSALOM to us are thoroughly

would we not give as

the

with

N. Arabian

for as

founder of a

Jerusalem

capital city.

(the

It is

in scenery.

61

What

complete a sketch of David

South

-

Palestinian

familiar

kingdom

Jerusalem)

for

its

only necessary to add that the

much-debated sections on the

'

numbering of the

people,'

and of the 'threshing-floor of Araunah,'

in their

original

one

to the

N.

Arabian

form,

most probably

related,

N. Arabian empire, the other (Israelite)

capital.

We

to

the

the

have had

occasion to refer to these sections elsewhere.

CHAPTER Solomon's buildings

— his

his enemies

And

V

empire

— his

commerce

his religion

We

now, as to the Solomon-traditions.

have

seen already that Solomon was anointed king at a place near the N. Arabian capital of David, called,

This, certainly, was the

not Gihon, but Hebron.

form of the

original

the

text

was

have seen,

too,

that

tradition,

We

subsequently modified.

but

the account of David's transference of the to

'

Kiryath-ye'arim

different historical It is

'

and geographical point of view.

have

painful to

Annan

has been worked over from a

to separate

one part of the

covered tradition of Solomon from the

rest,

re-

but

it

must be ventured.

Solomon had

represented as a great builder.

is

from

received

his

father

an

extensive

He N.

Arabian empire (as well as a moderate Palestinian realm),

and he wished

buildings

in

dexterous 1

i

K.

vii.

help 14.

for correspondingly

N.

his

Arabian

of

a

His

mother

Sorite

Israelite (see p. 77).

63

1

important

By named Hiram capital.

was a Yerahme'elite

— not

the or an

THE VEIL OF HEBRE IV HISTOR Y

64

Huram-abi

1

he had his wish.

which he had seen

Ahaz copied

Just as

southern Aram,

an

altar

so

Solomon virtually copied what Hiram described him as the architectural ornaments of the

to

in the

The earliest scribes fully K. vii. 46, a grasped the situation. Thus in scribe explains where Hiram cast the bronze vessels. The text, in its original form, said that it was in To this a the kikkar ( = Ashkar) of Yarhon. southern Sor or Missor.

i

added that

scribe

Sarephath

it

K.

(1

was between Salekath and

vii.

wished to indicate where

it

me'el,' or

Ashhur-Ishman

'in

And

scribe

was that the builders

prepared the timber and stone

and then corrupted).

the

Similarly,

46).

'

was

it

;

'

in

Yerah-

(misplaced in

then,

vi.

1,

wishing to pre-

vent any misunderstanding, the scribe inserted in

margin a statement that the Sion intended

the in

viii.

2

i,

(3

was

Ashhur-Ishba'al.'

Ashhur

'in

The

-

Ethanim,' or 'in

glosses, in a highly corrupt

form, have got into the text.

But the chief point a passage from a time,

a

in

remember

that,

original narrative,

of Israel

(i.e.

transfer the 1

®

Abi, in

furnished by

is

preserved, in the narrator's

of old

according to

records.

our

Solomon assembled

We

view all

of

must the

the elders

those of the southern border-land) to

Annan and

the sacred tent from their

That is, Ashhur-Aram or Ashhur-Aram-Arab. compound names, stand for Arab.

Hur-Ram-Abi.

Ab and 2

hymn

collection

our favour

in

gives as ^eiwv, where

MT.

has d'wit.

—

;

THE SOLOMON TRADITIONS present

home

Sion to the place appointed

in

debir of the temple.

know

65

What

in the

we

really took place,

(which narrator,

not, but the narrator

un-

is

important) thought that a solemn speech of Solo-

mon was

Arman

called for, the introduction of the

being equivalent to Yahwe's taking possession of his

house.

of

Solomon

Then

follows an explanatory speech

as the builder of the temple,

this a dedicatory prayer. in

prayer (after

53).

v.

from

is

This seems

we have no reason

in its

it

true, places the

less appropriate,

doubt that

to

(& is correct

statement that the poetical quotation to {3i/3\iov T?y9

records

or

other

i.e.

<wS?}
Book

of criticism) the

after

a fuller form, at the end of the

hymn-fragment, but

0,

and

taken

(applying the gentlest

of Shur

1

—a

monuments

literary

is

collection

of

relative

to

the N. Ashhurite territory of the Israelites. 2

The

passage,

should,

restored,

I

run

think,

thus, '

Yahwe promised Indeed

I

have

would dwell

that he

built for thee

in

3

Arbel

an Ishmael-palace 4

1 -my ( = -lit™) for W. The collection was sometimes called the Book of Yashar,' "W for "ii?N. See E. Bib. Jashar, Book of,' and Wars of the Lord, Book of the.' '

'

'

2

In essentials this

was already seen

in Crit. Bib. pp.

326^, but

several points of detail are here corrected. 3

Hos. it

^ain x.

= taorn\

14.

4

p.

Vs-en,

has sometimes had the same origin,

means an Ishmael-tower

out in Crit. Bib.

and Two Religions on i.e. where This was pointed 24, Mic. iv. 8).

See T. and B. on

hsy, too,

(2

K.

v.

326.

Cp. T. and B. pp. 315, 462

;

D. and F. pp. 39, 141

;

Religions, p. 317. 5

Two

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

66

For thy (Gloss,

This

enthroned above Harsham.'

sitting

points out

it

Harsham

shows that Solomon

really

makes

it

(2)

it

(as here)

clear that,

it

Harsham

;

Solomon, or to

to

who understood Solomon's

a poet

(i)

region variously

in the

Shakram, Hashram, and

:

a temple of re-

built

Arabian architecture

fined N. called

Ishman.)

highly important for two reasons

is

and

in

1

point of view,

Yahwe was the Director of the divine Company. The words generally supposed to be line of the 1

poetic fragment are really a gloss on the regional

name Harsham, ancient

hymn

lay

I

is

in

may

of the

N. Arabia.

no great stress on a

well be based

on an

came together, we are the wady of Misrim.

account

late writer's

65),

though

earlier narrative.

They

of the great festal multitude it

Harsham

stating that the

told,

K.

(1

viii.

from Baal-Hamath

2

to

Baal-Hamath may be =

Hamath - Sobah, which Solomon

is

by the

said

Chronicler to have conquered and occupied (2 Chr. viii.

3 f.)

of Sib'on

Sobah, at any

;

(

=

Ishmael).

perhaps Shihor

(

Misrim (Josh.

of 1

MT.'s

D'd'jiv

(

rate,

The

'

(/.

Misrim

= Ashhur) which was on xiii. The parallel 3).

= Yerahme'elites)

of Theol.

a development

'torrent of

is

less

KaworrjTos, whence Prof. Burkitt deduces feasts

is

St.

x.

442).

This,

the east

'at the

however,

is

is

passage,

correct than

D'ehjr^j/,

'

@'s

e-iu

new moon hardly the

original reading. 2

Cp.

Rehob

Num.

(to)

xiii.

21, 'from the wilderness of Sin

Baal-Hamath.'

(

= Sir/on)

to

THE SOLOMON TRADITIONS 2

S.

vi.

Israel in

N. Arabia

And now realm

referred

is

view that the

the

in

to.

1

must be asked, What was Solomon's

it

we have

For, as

?

one

confirms

19,

67

realm

In this

We

respect he was a typical Oriental despot.

know

were

seen, his buildings

but an attempt to consolidate his power.

only

anything, however, about one portion of his

— that

N. Arabian border-land.

in the

ing to a traditionalist authority in

Solomon had twelve

its

Accordform

earlier

prefects of departments, but

what the duties of these prefects were, we can only guess

— they

provisioning

Neh.

v.

were surely not limited

of the

to

the

king and his household

(cp.

There would

15).

also naturally be the

levying of some elementary taxation to meet war-

and of course there was the representation of the king on the seat of judgment. A

like expenses,

few

critical

remarks on

not unnecessary. personal

name

this

document are

Several times

in the case "11,

fore

and

an

is

;

this

=Hurite

this

illusion

p

(as in

from (i.e.

other parallels

I

;

'

1-127.

there

•

if

the

See

Two

is,

This,

textual corruption

Bar-hur

would notice

Argab, that

is

Ben-hadad

comes from The same name 1

2

was preserved. has

')

'

(v.

come from

8)

is

there-

Among

Ashhurite) Arabia.

evidently

of Argab).

appears as

it

of the prefect (isd or l"*o) had dropped

out, while that of his father

however,

certainly

the

Ben-Geber' (v. 13) Bar-Argab ( = Arabia '

;

'

Geber

'

{i.e.

Argab

Religions, p. 204.

'Arabia of Ah'ab' (see

p.

123).

2

)

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

68

occurs the

'

in

ben

v.

'ben';

without a prefixed

but

19,

which follows has, of course,

'

usual

its

sense.

would

It

be

possible

doubt whether the

to

departments assigned by tradition to these prefects

were Palestinian or N. Arabian, but siderations

:

( 1

)

of prefects forms part,

list

N. Arabia;

to

(2)

we

is

perhaps rather

Aram

in

permeated by references

are expressly told elsewhere

David put nesibim

that

for four con-

the complex of traditions of which this

('prefects') (2 S.

Edom,

in

or

14); (3) two of

viii.

the prefects are related to have taken N. Arabian wives, 1 apparently to promote the formation of a

N.

powerful

Arabian

under

realm

an

Israelite,

Yahwe-worshipping dynasty; and (4) the twelfth prefect is said to have been in the land of Gilead, '

that

is,

Sib'on-Ashhur'

2

(or,

shows that a reference

is

'

which

Asshur-Sib'on

'),

made

Arabian

N.

to

Gilead. If

we had

the Solomon-traditions in their original

form, there would be no doubt whatever, and the

N. Arabian theory would be recognized certainty. truth, as

in all

its

The earlier scribes, at any rate, knew the we can still see underneath the diaphanous

Taphath and Basemath are both corrupt forms, the one of Naphtuhith (see T. and B. pp. igojT.), the other 1

of

1

K.

ro'K'N-Dij;,

from 2

Veb"

11, 15.

iv.

'

'

'

Ishmaelite Arabia' (T.

'

and B.

'

p.

571).

noSc-

comes

= htyDsr.

Here, as

in

Critica Biblica ('Kings'),

I

treat

the

names

in

accordance with rules which have been suggested by experience.

See

Crit. Bib. ad. Iqc.

— THE SOLOMON TRADITIONS corruption.

veil

of textual

how

scholars can

cannot understand

I

be satisfied with the

still

description of Judah and Israel in

of

Solomon

69

K.

1

iv.

trivial

20,

and

The former passage ought

in v. 2 f.

surely to describe, not the Israelite aristocracy, but

naming the most conspicuous of

the subject peoples,

them, such as Arabians, Ashtarites, Ramshahites.

And

the

latter

character,

as

passage ought

commentators

from the inexplicable word

be similar

to

might have barbarim

(v. 3),

should evidently be 'arbim, 'Arabians.'

we meet

in

guessed

Soon

which after,

with more miserable statements, including

the provision of barley and straw for the 40,000 cribs of horses.

Is

conservatism reasonable here

Criticism which pays heed to experience seems to to point to this reading of v. 6,

had four thousand Ashtarites

8,

—

'

?

me

And Solomon

{glosses,

Ishmaelites

belonging to Ramkab, Ishman, Asshur-Arbel, Pathrasim or Porasim, and Asshurites, and Ethmannites

belonging to Ishmael and Ashkar).

come

man

to the place

where the king might

be,

to

every

according to his charge.'

It will

be seen that the scribes

have aired

sible for these glosses

taste, but

it

are respon-

their

knowledge

helps us sometimes towards the solution

of a name-problem.

Merkab,

commonly supposed

to

for instance, in v. 6,

be a collective term for

chariots, but against Biblical usage.

occurs

who

This may have been bad

of N. Arabian ethnics.

is

They used

among N. Arabian

ethnics,

And

if

e

l

we may

merkabo naturally

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

70

expect that the consonants which form the nucleus

word

of the

represent either an ethnic or a

will

Now

place-name.

one of the regionals most often

represented in the O.T.

is

Ah'ab, which

is

Bab

times shortened into Hab, Gab, Kab, and

Ram

often find

combination of

A

Kab

will

of

the

Mar 1

(by metathesis) and

which

the

is

nucleus

name Beth-markaboth (Josh. xix. cannot now, if we have made any study 2

puzzling

We

we

;

as an element in place-names.

Markab,

produce

some-

5).

of

place-names, miss the right solution of these two

problems.

We

the parallel

problems of

The

shall also

hundred chariots and twelve

four

whom

thousand horsemen, cities,

and with the king

the parallel passage

much thus,

he placed

in the chariot-

But with

at Jerusalem.'

(v. 6) to

guide

we may with

us,

confidence restore the true text, and render

— 'And

[glosses, that

had four thousand

he

is,

Markabites

Ishman, Arbel, Pathrasim),

settled in the cities of at

26.

and horsemen, and he had a

chariots

thousand and

be prepared to confront

passage states that Solomon

text of this

gathered

x.

whom

he

Markab, and with the king

Urushalem.'

This

is

hardly as correct a statement as the other

The

(v. 6, 8).

original writer can hardly

have said

Solomon settled Markabite warriors in the cities of Markab Ashtarites is more likely. Nor that

'

'

;

1

2

Cp. the place-name Akrabbim

Cp. E. Bib.

'

Marcaboth

' ;

(p.

Gemoll,

18). p.

227.

THE SOLOMON TRADITIONS we

can

71

think that the king's Ashtarite body-guard

was always 'with the king at Urushalem.' The they other account seems much more reasonable were for the defence of the king, wherever he might ;

Markab'

me

Let

chance to be.

only add that

'

phrase

in ix. 20,

store-cities,'

for the

So that,

cities

of

(for the improbable 'chariot-cities') sug-

combined with

gests parallel corrections for phrases this

'

and

'

1

viz.

cities of

'

Ramshahon

the Pathrasim

cities of

for

'

'

'

cities

horsemen.'

much,

then,

must

be

already

according to the original

for

clear

—

Solomon's

writer,

main object was the formation of a strong N. He must also have been inArabian empire. terested in

with

the

of a

creation

Urushalem

a second

scribes

may sometimes have heightened

1

K.

v.

1

Some

and 4

of

f.

however, that they did not evolve

own

the colour-

story to the later

the

view of Solomon.

responsible for

trace

primary narrative, but

to be found in the

is

idealistic

No

capital.

of that

ing with a view to adapt

of Judah,

territory

for

it

them may be

It is all

probable,

out of their

consciousness, but adapted phrases of an earlier

tradition

which they misunderstood and

incorrectly.

tradition

For

should

instance,

not

I

filled

up

see no reason why

have stated that Solomon's

empire extended from the stream of Ephrath to the land of the Ethbalites, and to the border of Misrim, or again from the place called in 1

The

corrections are

—

pwe["»]

MT. Tahapanhes and

D'enpB.

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

72

by corruption, Tiphsah

(whence,

The

'Azarah.'2

In

fluctuated.

K.

i

ix.

13

f

to

)

boundaries may,

Azzah or have

of course,

we hear

in the land of Galil (either the

of twenty cities

whole or a part of

being presented by Solomon to a friendly

Gilead)

On

N. Arabian king. Chron.

(2

l

viii.

the other hand, the Chronicler

2) speaks of the

restored to Solomon, as

cities

which

Huram

there had been a struggle

if

for the possession of this outlying part of the Israelite

N. Arabian

The

territory.

'cities'

appear from

1 K. ix. 13 to have been reckoned to 'the land of Kabul Kabul, however, is a shortened form of ;

'

Rakbul, one of the current corruptions of Yerah-

To account

me'el. is

reported

makes a on

would,

i.e.,

The

').

view the

I

think, be

unwise

by the name Rakbul Chronicler also

tells

and

cities,

To ;

(as

rely

so

it

is

if

'only

us (2 Chr.

Solomon conquered Hamath-Sobah, probably, Sib'onite or Ishmaelite Hamath. We 3)

that

know from

K.

1

Solomon's

of

to

but disparaging remark.

polite

this story

viii.

name, a curious anecdote

Hiram goes out

;

plainly suggested

a stump

for this

viii.

65 that one of the boundaries

kingdom

was Ba'al- Hamath, and

should hardly be justified

in

denying

all

credit to

the tradition. 1

I

hope

planation. 2

vii.

to

be excused

for calling special attention to this ex-

Cp. 'Tirsah,' and T.

and B.

p.

554.

'Azarah would be the central town of the clan'Ezer. 1

2

we

From

learn that a place called Eben-Ezer was between

1

S.

Mispeh

and Shen ( = Ishman). There was a land of Mispah at the foot Hermon, which we have found reason to identify with Perasim.

of

THE SOLOMON TRADITIONS There

also, in

is

K.

i

ix.

16 (MT.), an interest-

ing statement that Pharaoh king of

burned Gezer, and gave

it

Egypt took and

as a marriage- portion

Was

Solomon's bride.

to his daughter,

73

Gezer

this

whose mound has been explored by Mr. Macalister, and which is no doubt the Gazir of the Amarna Tablets ? I cannot think so. There were certainly more than one Gezer, as there were more the

city,

than one Gibeah or Geba.

It

usual to suppose

is

most famous of the Gezers must be meant. But this is evidently not the Gezer of 2 S. v. 25, for the scene of that narrative, as we have seen, is N. that the

Arabian.

It is

also evident that there

extended pre-Israelitish Girshites,

1

and from

Girzites

called

tribe

S. xxvii. 8

1

was a widely or

appears that

it

these Girzites, or Gizrites, were traditionally identified

knew

with the Geshurites, and that tradition

them best as dwellers near Shur Asshur) and the land of Misrim.

the southern

(i.e.

Other passages equally important are 2 S. xxi. 18 and 1 Chr. xx. 4, a comparison of which shows that the

of

Gezer known

to

David was

Gob or Argob. It Gob is a corruption

region

in the

has been pointed out already 2 of Ah'ab, which in

that

means N. Arabia. to 2 S. xxi. 15, and

larger sense to refer also

present

of the

writer's 1

2

See 3

31:2

p.

123,

E. Bib.

and

should be

cp.

aiaa.

that col.

Two See

It

to

iwh

may be

its

helpful

an old discovery

:m

3

should

1736.

Religions, pp. 228, 240. Crit. Bib. pp.

298-300.

be

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

74

attached

name of '

to

in

f?NiHT-nN

Pharaoh king of Egypt

cities

should be

'

the

that

full

Consequently,

and what

(the N. Arabian) Musri,'

capture one of the

so

\$a,

v.

was Gob-Asshur.

the region

king of

Pir'u

'

Pir'u did

may

of Argob, or (we

was

to

say) of

the southern Gilead which the Israelites had not yet

conquered, or at any rate not succeeded

in

we take up

a

It

still

towards

1

remains that

K.

viii.

the account

65,

assembly which came from dominions

'from

Misraim.'

The

the

geography

that his

is

the

festal

wady

the

to

of

doubtless based on an

is

of

details

which the

By

partly misunderstands.

redactor

position

parts of Solomon's

all

lebo-Hamath

account

narrative,

earlier

of

keeping.

greatly at

fault,

this

later

mean

I

the exclusive

geographical reference of the traditions being to

King Solomon's dominions

As

N. Arabia.

in

a

consequence, Misrim has been misread Misraim,

mibbdal- Hamath

and

Hamath.

millebo

x

been corrupted into

has

Ba'al-Hamath may be = Hamath-

Solomon is said to have conquered and occupied. Sobah probably comes, through Siph'on, from Sib'on ( = Ishmael). The wady of Misrim may possibly be the same as Sobah, which,

1

In

Two

fresh light

on

vi.

14.

Chr.

2

Religions, pp. lebo.

comes from bdal.

Am.

in

Lebo

Other

viii.

204^,

in millebo

I

3,

to

throw some

like abel'\\\

abel-mayyim,

have sought

hamath,

N. Arabian Canaan) from the wilderness of Sin (Akrab) to Ba'al-Hamath. of Israel

is

Num.

parallel passages are

24 and

xiii.

In the former passage the 'spies' explore the land (the (

=

Sib'on) to

Rehob

In the latter, the range of the oppression

defined as being from Ba'al-Hamath to the

wady

of Arab.

THE SOLOMON TRADITIONS Shihor

= Ashhur), which was on

(

N. Arabian Misrim (Josh. passage,

S.

2

vi.

19,

xiii.

is

probable

Solomon resided

The

3).

referred

In the above discussions

highly

the east of the parallel

confirms one in the view that

the Israel in N. Arabia

rendered

75

to.

has,

it

I

David

both

that

been

hope,

as often as they could in

and

one of

the cities of their N. Arabian territory, famous alike in

a secular and in a religious respect, and

known

as

Ur-shalem or Jerusalem.

And how subjects

In

levied a

did

Solomon

deal with his N. Arabian

Tradition speaks with a rather uncertain

?

sound.

K.

1

ix.

20-22

only on

corve'e

is

it

said that

non-Israelites

is

Solomon Israelites

;

This, how-

were the court-officers and warriors. ever,

commonly

not quite in formal accordance with other

We know that non-Israelite mercenaries

statements.

were much

prized,

and that they formed the royal

body-guard, also that Yerahme'elite

merchants were not hindered

in

their calling

mercenaries,

alike

protected guests (gerlvi) of the king.

in

27

v.

that all

(cp.

Solomon

xi.

28,

xii.

4)

;

in

and merchants were

fact,

artificers,

and

artificers

it

is

And

expressly stated

levied a corvee out of

'

all

Israel,' i.e.

the Israelitish clans in the N. Arabian territory. 1

The

subject Canaanitish population, therefore,

have been, those

some

in

Israelite

members

respects, not

clansmen

worse off than

who were

of the warrior-class. 1

A

may

frequent application of the phrase.

not

expert

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

76

Solomon was,

He

only

father.

carried

a typical

fact,

Oriental king.

however, the plans

out,

there was

If

Israelite

in

be an expanded south-

to

had

empire, there

of his

also

to

be

suitable

palaces for the king and his god, and an improved

system of

This implied the odious

fortification.

practice of the corvde, which

as late as the time

was opposed by conservative idealists Jeremiah, and which is stated to have led to

of Jehoiakim like

the separation between Israel and Judah. ing to the traditional text

many thousands

(v.

of labourers, mainly his own, but

reinforced by builders from Sor or Missor.

were engaged

in

Accord-

28-32) Solomon had

These

procuring and preparing timber and 1

Lebanon mountains. The best timber (sometimes called ahmiggim 2 ) and

stones for the buildings, in the

the best stones (sometimes called Yekarotk*) were

be found

to

in this region,

which the tradition

presents as belonging to Missor. is

to

partly correct,

we need

be some exaggeration

The

skill

That the

re-

tradition

not deny, but there seems in the details.

which used the timbers and stone

to

the best advantage was at any rate Yerahme'elite.

This seems to have made a deep impression on the

Israelite

artificers 1

See

2

A

in

mind.

The names

of the

Ex. xxxi. (Besalel and

Crit. Bib. pp.

322/

;

E. Bib.

corruption of Yerahme'elim.

fictitious

Oholiab, the

4682/; Cp. Gomer and Regem-Melek col.

also perhaps Rogelim. 3

A

Ashhur.

corruption of Ashkaroth.

The

stones

came from Ashkar =

;

;

THE SOLOMON TRADITIONS

77

vowels are not original) are Yerahme'elite, and the

names are assigned to tribes (Judah and Dan) which must have been largely intermixed The name and origin with pure Yerahme'elites. bearers of the

of Solomon's chief artificer are also Yerahme'elite.

His name

Aram

in

;

Kings appears as Hiram, i.e. AshhurChronicles, as Huram, which is virtually in

the same, but with the addition of 'Abi, as

if

to distinguish

the bearer from

his

father

was admittedly a

or

Israelites

With regard

Sidonians of the same name. origin,

Arabia,

i.e.

to his

His

Misrite.

mother, according to the text of Kings, was a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, but, according to 14,

to

The

of the daughters of Dan.

have thought

it

ii.

Chronicler seems

improbable that this specially

man

wise and gifted

Chr.

2

should belong, or even half

wisdom

belong, to a tribe not celebrated for

;

he

therefore changed 'Naphtali' into 'Dan,' the tribe

of

Dan

But

if

being famed for

we accept

'Naphtali'?

its

wisdom

how

this,

The change

(2 S. xx. 18, (3)-

we

are

reading must underlie

In

the only likely emendation

mdakath ethbalim, By this is meant the

is

beth-ma'akah,'

l

where

'

'

and

Abel

'

is

and the

matteh Naphtali'

known

Maakath of the

district '

account for

unjustifiable,

is

original fact,

to

to

me

Ethbalites.'

city called

'Abel-

a corrupt form of

1 Originally Maakath was reckoned to the southern Aram. It must have been near the southern Geshur. That it was not in the north of Palestine, is clear (see E. Bib. Maachah,' 'Saul,' § \!> '

Gemoll, pp. 56/).

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

78

Ba'al,

That

Yerahme'el or Ishma'el.

i.e.

was famous

for

its

wisdom,

this place

pointed out above.

is

was probably conquered by Saul and David,

It

and partly

The new

by an

re-settled

colonists

Israelite

aristocracy.

were perhaps Danites, and one

of the Danite towns or districts in this region

Dan-Ya'an

(2

or

6)

into

—

46),

preceded the Danites

— as

place-name

Ethbal, a

which was popularly re-coined as Beth-el. 2

Such

value of the Maakathite 'wisdom.'

was the greatest

insight

of God, covering as

gift

both moral or religious lore and material or is

what a

wisdom

'

say

to "

'

is

woman endowed

reported to have said

Let them ask (counsel)

it

did

artistic.

with strong practical

Asshur- Yerahme'el

in

The

were evidently well aware of the

Israelite colonists

This

was

Dan-Ya'ar

rather

Dan-Yarkon (cp. Me-Yarkon, Josh. and known also the Ethbalites having

expanded xix.

xxiv.

S.

1

'

:

{i.e.

Men were wont N. Arabia),

in

Abel and

in

in

Dan."

Have

the trustworthy ones in Ishmael {gloss, Israel)

come

to

an end [that] thou seekest to destroy a

mother-city in Ishmael?'

Most probably, was not an 1

'

See on

Moab

'

Israelite,

S. xiv.

I

therefore,

(Gemoll).

47

On

;

2

the

artificer

Hiram

but a Yerahme'elite of pure S. viii. 2.

'

Maakath

'

may

lurk under

the text, see Crit. Bib.

Sharezer,' 2. The name niyo, like Mika'el and Mikaiah, is a popular distortion of Amalek or Yerahme'el see the textual facts collected and explained 2

See on

1

K.

29/, and

xii.

cp.

E. Bib.

'

;

E. Bib. Maachah.' Bethel Mines of Isaiah, p. 115). in

'

for

Ethbal

is

also a

god-name (see

:

THE SOLOMON TRADITIONS

We

race.

How in

cannot venture

to

and

far his architectural

79

much more.

say

artistic details

were

accordance with N. Arabian models, and whether

Hebrew account

the

of those details can be trusted,

beyond our power to divine. Even the place where his buildings were erected is by no means Probabilities seem to me to point free from doubt. is

to the southern Jerusalem.

These

even

buildings,

not so elaborate as

if

is

represented, must have involved a large expenditure.

Commerce,

had

too,

to

be developed,

Solomon was

if

to carry out worthily the role of a great Oriental

and a supply of the precious metals had to be Three passages obtained to start the adventure. king,

relative to

Solomon's naval expeditions must here

be mentioned

them

us take (a)

—

Sib'on-Argab

of the sea of sent rowers

the

'

2

'

1

which

Suph

is

in the

in the fleet,

revised

text

by Elath, on the shore land of

Edom.

And

he

shipmen acquainted with Urpal

to

and brought

(b)

K.

Chr. x.

viii.

3

(?)

with

the

thence gold.'

11.

17 f.

'Also the

brought gold from Urpal The

Let

22.

Arab-Ethmael, Asshur-Yaman, Ashkar.')

Compare

1

x.

may be And king Solomon made a fleet

of Solomon,

servants

1

A

and they came

sea,

(Glosses,

2

26-28, x. 11,

ix.

26-28.

ix.

rendered thus, in

K.

i

order

in

K.

1

—

(?),

fleet

familiar Ezion-Geber. 3

of rowers, which

fetched from Urpal

The better-known

2

Read

Ophir.

D"inn (Jon.

i.

(?)

13).

*

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

So

abundance of almug-timber and ashkar-stones.'

Compare

2

(c)

K.

1

Chr. x.

10.

ix.

22.

'

For the king had a

the sea, a fleet of rowers

Ashtar-ships came [Glosses,

'

Compare

Chr.

years the

in three

back, bringing gold and silver.'

Shin'abbim, 2

2

once

;

on

fleet

Akrabbim,

Ma'akathim.')

21.

ix.

Here, as so often, the key to the problems of exegesis

commonly

are

needed

Who

would

47 /.,

n^D Di~r«

and *m psis

no escaping from

ship

called

Edom is

K. the same

where Jehoshaphat's ship

Solomon's

seems

fleet

is

is

that Jehosha-

town

a maritime

at

1

is

called Sib'on-Argab, which, be

the place

is

wrecked.

In

Yet there

In the passage

parallels.

Sib'on.

xxii.

of criticism which

this result

was constructed

phat's

perhaps,

3

?

the meaning probably

to,

K.

1

could cover over ditn

j'pss

respectively

supported by so many

is

thus produced.

difficulties

think, for instance, that, in

nnN

psis and

and much experience

disguised,

cope with the

to

referred

Unfortunately, the names

the names.

in

is

to

it

place,

noted,

(it^n)

was

have been more

fortunate. If the traditional text

may be

trusted, a friend

Solomon helped him by sending expert seamen on the newly constructed ships. This was and

1

ally of

'

Precious

possible here

(

and

= ornamental, in

2

Cp.

3

Cp. Crit. Bib.

itov,

Kab = Akab ?

Gen.

x.

2,

Ezek.

but not in

v.

xxviii.

31,

vii.

30) stones 9-1

'

would be

1.

xiv. 2. p.

352.

Is the

modern Akaba a descendant of

THE SOLOMON TRADITIONS

81

Hiram, king of Sor, a place-name which may either denote Tyre It

may be correct.

is

for the

in Phoenicia, or

questioned,

Missor

N. Arabia.

in

whether the text

indeed,

Expert seamen were surely

asking

in

Edomite

the

to

be had

There

seaport.

is,

however, something which we do expect to find mentioned, and yet

not mentioned, and that

is

the supply of rowers (cp. Isa. xxxiii. 21

J

have

I

).

is

ventured to restore such a mention, and suppose the reading to have been obscured

original

through

the growing interest in the legend of Hiram, king of Tyre.

The

idea which led to

the corruption

probably was the same which the Second Isaiah expresses poetically

— that

'nursing fathers' (Isa. 22, the

kings should be Zion's

xlix. 23).

Hence,

in

K.

1

x.

expert seamen are imagined to be supplied

by Hiram, and the Chronicler consistently enough,

(2

Chr.

viii.

18),

makes the Tyrian king supply

both ships and shipmen.

In reality, the king of

Sor or Missor, having no seaboard, had neither ships nor mariners to lend.

And what was the enterprise ? One of the the

goal

of

this

bold

naval

glosses (probably) explains

name of the emporium

as

Asshur-Yaman, and one Solomon as a

of the traditions describes the fleet of Tarshish-fleet.

Now

2

Tarshish has been shown to

be a perfectly regular corruption of Ashtar, which we

know

to

be the equivalent of Asshur.

expect therefore that one part of the 1

See T. and B.

p.

362.

2

Cp. D.

We name and

F.

should of the 155.

p.

6

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

82

emporium might be Ur

form

shortened

(a

of

Asshur), and that another part should be bal (the short

Ethbal = Ishmael).

for

furnished by Ophir

l

the

material

may without violence be = Asshur-Ethbal (/and b are

(tdin)

rearranged as Urpal

An

often interchanged).

perhaps Uphaz

And

(Jer.

x.

9

Ophir

alternative for ;

Dan.

x.

is

which may

5),

f

one come from Ur-Sib on (through Ur-Ziphion) remembers that, in Jer. x. 9, Tarshish and Uphaz In fact, we can well afford to leave are parallel. the origin of Ophir uncertain, knowing that Ophir ;

'

'

and Tarshish ( Ashtar) are

goal of Solomon's naval enterprise was of the N. Arabian coast

common x.

(cp.

4

1

2) silver

and gold from Uphaz

silver

(

=

some

part

and gold were

According

to Jer.

came from Tarshish This may be

Ophir).

and yet both Tarshish (Ashtar) and Uphaz

correct,

may be

(Ur-Sib'on) It

where

objects of merchandise.

Ezek. xxvii.

The

virtually equivalent.

is

stated in

1

districts of

K.

x.

1 1

N. Arabia. that Solomon's fleet

fetched not only gold and silver, but abundance of

We

may doubt When mention is made

almug-timber and ashkar-stones.

whether

this

was

really so.

of Solomon's building materials

nothing

why

said of their being brought

K.

by

v.

sea.

13-18),

Indeed,

should the Lebanon timber be conveyed by

sea? the

is

(1

1

K.

Hiram

v.

9 and

2

Chr.

ii.

16 belong clearly to

legend.

There was, however, something which Solomon 1

For other views see E. Bib. 'Ophir.'

THE SOLOMON TRADITIONS

83

coveted not less than silver and gold, namely, horses

and

Tradition states positively that his

chariots.

and that the merchants with

desire

was

whom

he had relations were those of the N. Arabian

gratified,

regions of Misrim and of Maakath.

ground

breeding-

we may

not expressly mentioned, but

is

assume that the horses were reared of Arabia.

The

1

2

mentioned

In Ezek. xxvii. in

highlands

in the

name

14 another

is

connexion with the N. Arabian horse-

traffic

— Togarmah

there

is

Tubal-garmah). 3 Altogether,

(i.e.

no theory explaining the tradition respect-

ing Solomon's acquisition of horses better than that

which

is

here once more reaffirmed.

The passage

Misrim, and [from]

Maakah

(gloss,

in

x.

28 should run thus

Solomon's

of

exportation

the

K.

1

Maakah were

:

was

horses

'And from

fetched the suhirs

And

Yarham, 5 Ethbaal).

4

a chariot

was exported from Misrim for six hundred pieces And of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty. on these terms were they exported 6

the Ashhartites in

Yarham 1

On

7

and

to the kings of

and B.

these regions see T.

vii.

1,

8,

12, xviii.

2

See T. and B.

3

Ibid. pp.

4

On

5

Read onm.

and

Aram

(gloss,

).'

p.

28

;

Ps.

lx.

That

pp. 167, 171.

underlie mpo can hardly be denied. (Judg.

to the kings of

Cp.

pip

(Ezek.

xxiii.

nzyD

may

23), pay

8), jnpn.

462.

163/

suhirs see Crit. Bib. p. 334, note.

So

2 S. xxiv.

24

;

Isa. xlv. 13,

lii.

3

Jer. xv.

;

cp. T3D.

= mn = mn^N.

6

nn

7

MT.

DT3.

See

Two

Religions,

p.

333 (on

Isa. x.

5).

13

;

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

84

fear that

I

many

my

or most of

prejudiced on the opposite side. I

readers

All the

may be more do

urge the student to give a careful consideration

to the Biblical evidence here produced.

add an argument from a book which, sense Arabian,

strict

is

I

if

will

only

not in any

yet not uninfluenced by the

may perhaps have been

old Arabian wisdom, and

represented (like Prov. xxv.-xxix.) as translated, or copied out, from a genuinely Arabian source. 1

one of the very interesting passages inserted

poem, there

into the original

gallery

of the

natural

is

In later

a kind of picture-

wonders most

familiar

to

They are wonders of the Arabian wilderness, and among them is the war-horse (Job xxxix. 19-25). Horses, then, were common sights the

writer.

Arabia, and

in

statement

can well

I

the Asshurites rode upon

(Jer. vi. 23) that

But had they also chariots

horses.

Aram

Asshur, Misrim, and

had chariots

tion)

believe the prophet's

Certainly.

?

(according to tradi-

all

and how should Solomon have

;

consented to be behind-hand

Naturally, he pro-

?

cured his chariots as well as his horses from N. Ishmaelite

Arabia.

popular that

'

1

(

= Arabia '

'chariots of barzel' (iron).

literature

The Babylonian

is

influence

shown

T.

and B.

p.

466

;

')

But the notion Israelites in

and B. p. 40 (with note 3). which Dr. Langdon (of Oxford) traces, in

T.

appears to be indirect. 2

the

of Ishmael

That the Yerahme'elites were the models of the

Wisdom

the

2

however, altered the designation, so

wit,

chariots of Rabshal

became

were famous;

chariots

D. a?ni F.

p.

39

;

Crit. Bib. p. 449.

THE SOLOMON TRADITIONS of 'chariot-cities'

(1

K.

85

not bear investiga-

x. 26) will

tion,

rrano being most naturally taken as a corrup-

tion

of m-ON,

'Akrabbath.'

doubt

I

if

my

friend

Robertson Smith would have adhered to his

Prof.

old opinion about 'chariot-cities.'

One may perhaps wonder why Solomon send for model agricultural waggons.

did not

Certainly at

a later time such waggons do appear to have been

from

imported

Arabia 1 (Num.

N.

can hardly think that

which

territories

after

Solomon's

kingdom of (northern)

the

the border-land

a

N.

distinctly

the

N.

the

in

formed

But the culture

seems

Arabian colour.

favoured

We

3).

death

Israel.

of Israel in

himself

vii.

was the case

this

have had

to

That the king

Arabian

connexion

is

shown by the fact that he had a Misrite wife, and two 'sons of Shisha'as scribes (1 K. iv. 3; see

19

p.

And far as

2

).

yet the gravest political dangers which, so

we know, Solomon had

N. Arabia

—dangers

to encounter

were from

connected with the names of

Hadad, Rezon, and Jeroboam. The first-mentioned 3 of these was of pure Yerahme'elite descent, the son (probably) of the king of the

this 1

<

same name whose

Gen. xxxvi. 39/ While Hadad had had to flee to Misrim

record

'

is

in

Sib'onite

waggons'

2

See E. Bib.

8

See

4

T.

«

is

the phrase; cp.

D'as,

still

young,

for his

life,

Isa. lxvi. 20.

Shisha.'

Crit. Bib. p. 337.

and B.

Hadad.'

p.

432, and cp. Crit. Bib. (on

1

K.

xi.),

E. Bib.

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

86

after David's

Here

conquest of the southern Aram. 1

he was hospitably received, and married the of the queen-consort, by

name, 2

whom

he had a son, whose

like that of his mother, suggests that

have been admitted into the Misrite

Naphtuhim (Gen. the

Misrites

Then

his

till

x.

13).

He

the deaths

sister

he

may

tribe

of the

lived quietly

among

of

David and Joab.

hour struck, and he returned to his old

home, ready

any

for

opportunity

damaging

of

Solomon.

The second was Rezon Arabia of Sib'on

3

),

Yerahme'elite, and

son of Eliada.

may have had

however, to

make

capital

He

not only

out

He

i.e.

too was a

patriotic grievances

He

David and Solomon.

against

form of Resin,

(a

was not averse,

of his

own

king's

HadadEzer to his fate, but carved out a new kingdom for himself, the current name of which was Aram-Sobah From his strong capital (the or Aram-Ramshak. border-city of Ramshak) Rezon issued forth, defeatmisfortunes.

left

'his lord'

ing the Israelites, and raiding their N. Arabian land.

This went on, we are

told, 'all

the days of Solomon.'

Certainly this unmartial king was ill-chosen as a

type of the Messiah!

A

third

enemy was

1

Read 'Aram'

2

Two

for

a subject and a highly-placed

'Edom,' as Cheyne and Winckler.

Religions, p. 346.

Genubath should rather be Nubath,

a popular corruption of Naphtah (cp. Nebat, below)

3

and

Resin Sin,

is

;

the

initial

g

Tahpenes should be Tahpanhes. a curtailment of Barsin, where Bar comes from Arab,

comes from a dittographed

n.

through Siyyon, from Sib'on.

'

THE SOLOMON TRADITIONS servant of Solomon himself called

is

Seredah

meant.

the underlying name, but there

but

is

is

not at

likely to

all

'

((& aapeipa)

agreeable,'

have such a commonplace

a corruption of Sarephath.

is

the

is

it

is

reason to think

Tirsah (which apparently means

signification)

He

26).

Klostermann suggests Tirsah as

hardly correct.

that

xi.

an Ephrathite of Seredah,' but

'

southern Ephrath that is

K.

(1

87

Sarethan

'

same group, and the name of Jeroboam's town, Seredah, most probably has the same origin. At any rate, on his mother's side Jeroboam was a Yerahme'elite, or more particularly a

may

also belong to the

1

Misrite, for there

passage

in

xi.

26 should continue thus,

name was ...

mother's

woman.'

K.

1

no doubt but that the descriptive

is

2

I

have

left

—

'

whose

a Misrite, a Yerahme'elite

the patronymic of Jeroboam,

and the name 'Jeroboam'

to the last, because

itself,

of the great difficulties which they present

we

till

have got the right key.

Jeroboam has nothing do with multiplication of the people it (dmt) ;

to is

simply a popular corruption of Yerahme'el (^dfit)

And

through the linking form Yarba'al (Siqt).

'son of Nebat' comes from 'son of Naphtuhim' (ftlD

from Vidd

;

see

be remembered,

is

p. 86, n.

This name,

2).

borne, in Gen.

the sons (tribes) of Misrim, and 1

'

x.

13,

it

'

will

by one of

we know (from

See the chapter on Tirsah, also E. Bib.

3

Tirzah,'

'

the

Zarethan,'

Zeredah.'

and

2

See

T.

3

It is

a mere coincidence that una

B. p. 44 (top)

;

E. Bib. is

'

Zeruah.'

the

name

for the

Nabateans.

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

83

gloss

in

K.

i

Jeroboam was, on

26) that

xi.

Solomon, however,

mother's side, a Misrite.

his evi-

dently regarded Jeroboam as an Israelite, and so did

The

the Israelites in N. Arabia.

former, recognis-

ing his ability, appointed him superintendent of the

whole of the forced labour of the

Such

least

at

tribe of Joseph.

the traditional account, which

is

presupposes that the corvee was exacted, not merely of subject Yerahme'elites, but of the Israelite clans-

We

men.

have seen, however, that

Solomon's treatment of the

view of

this

Israelites

probably

is

was perhaps dictated by the wish to account plausibly for the great rent between Israel K. xii.). and Judah (see There are traces of incorrect.

It

1

another view, which confines the corvee practically

and

to non-Israelites,

more probable view missioner

levying

for

on the face of

it is

that

a

it

much

Jeroboam was royal com-

the

corvde

on the subject

Yerahme'elites of the N. Arabian border-land. If so,

the question presents itself whether in the

literary source *|DV

TO

bsvr.

from which

is

will

26

be a gloss on byar

Jeroboam's

is

derived,

TO biw bi.

bib

(Ishbal

of course a shortened and corrupted

We

form of Ishmael.)

all

xi.

Sid bfb should not rather be

bzw TO

or Ishpal

of

K.

1

was that of

office

Ishmael,

i.e.

occupied by the

being able to

may

of

all

1

See

ftakid,

or governor,

the N. Arabian territory

Israelites.

fortify

suppose, then, that

1

This accounts

for his

Seredah (see the additional Crit. Bib. p. 297.

'

THE SOLOMON TRADITIONS

89

was Jeroboam's ambition to This erect a new kingdom on the ruins of the old. was indeed lifting up his hand against the king

passage

in

It

(3).

'

K.

(1

26; cp. 25, xx. 21), and accounts for his

xi.

have

shall

We

Shishak (Ashhur), king of Misrim.

flight to

important personage

to return to this

presently. It will

worthy '

be remembered

that,

Rezon went on This casts a lurid and

tradition, the trouble with

the days of Solomon.'

all

according to a trust-

a painful light on the traditional prosperity of the early years of this king.

One may even

suspect

that the king of

Sor (Missor) was not nearly as

friendly as he has

been represented,

the

at

any rate

Perhaps a

few years of Solomon's reign.

first

after

new king arose who saw the difference in warlike ability between David and his successor. It may even be that he reduced Solomon to vassalage. The story of the twenty cities offered to Hiram K.

(1

ix.

10-13

1

)

should perhaps, as Winckler has

suggested, be taken in combination with a neigh-

bouring passage

(ix.

14) according to

ing the text) 'the king sent talents

of gold.'

gift

was

;

It

it

to

which (correct-

Hiram

Surely this was not a friendly

tribute to

Solomon's suzerain.

was not therefore Solomon's asserted uxorious-

ness, but the bitter taste of misfortune,

away 1

Si33T

his heart

^33 is

six score

from ^3

pi,

from

Yahweh

as

'no better than a stump.'

a corrupt form of

Ss'onr.

which turned

Guardian of

Israel

Really, however,

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

90

and Director of the Divine Company.

seemed

king as

to the

if

Yahweh were

may have

It

either unable

or unwilling to give any further help to his servants.

And so Solomon turned peoples, to whom he 1

(Azbul),

erected

of the

Abrahamic

two great

pillars,

Boaz

(Yakman) and

Yakin

respectively

called

God

to the

and intimating that the adjoining temple

was dedicated

N. Arabian or Abrahamic

the

to

deity (see below).

And what was

Solomon's religion?

of a very high type.

bound together by

Not, certainly,

His god and he had

to

be

His

of mutual advantage.

ties

advantage, however, and that of his people did not

The

coincide.

cowde,

if

tradition

may be

trusted,

pressed hard on the Israelites of the border-land,

and cannot have been realm

northern

(Israel

less felt

by those

The

and Judah).

in

the

favour

of the priests and prophets, however, was doubt-

bought

less

by

demands; and

concessions

to

wishes

their

or

to a well-built stone temple, such as

Yerahme'elite kings were wont to have, there was added, presumably, a regular service of sacrifices.

Yahweh,

as the .older prophets

in his father's time,

Yerahme'el, and

it

to build a palace

2

declared that he would dwell in

was the privilege of David's heir

1

See E. Bib. See

house

'

i

=a

K.

viii.

'

Not

that

either the ancient

god

for his divine father.

Solomon can have neglected

2

assured him, had,

Jachin and Boaz.' 12.

^nn = ^NDm\

stone-built house.

^131 n-i

= Snjjeb"

n-a

'

an Ishmael-

THE SOLOMON TRADITIONS

91

Yerahme'el, or the goddess, as great and perhaps

even more ancient, Ashtart.

Indeed, the two mass-

ive pillars in the porch of the temple

were called

respectively (according to the original form of the

Yerakman (Yerahme'el) and

text)

mael)

;

'Azba'al

(Ish-

both were dedicated to the ancient god

i.e.

of N. Arabia, under one or the other of his names.

That such a rich man as Solomon should have had a large harem was only natural, but no early writer would have made the palace-women amount to

1

0,00 1,

1

away from

or asserted that they turned his heart

Yahweh

!

For

Yahweh was never

Solomon's only god, nor was he indeed always even his chief divinity. 1

See

1

K.

xi.

3.

The

Misrite wife would stand alone.

;

CHAPTER

VI

SHEKEM

That

was a land of Shakmi (Shekem) in N. Palestine in remote antiquity, which probably included the site of the modern Nablus, we know from one of the Amarna Tablets, but it may be there

added that before

this there

city so called in the land of

Arabia.

1

12,

K.

xii.

Yerahme'el,

— Num.

1.

xxvi. 31

18, xxxiv. 2, xlvii.

xxxiii.

;

i.e.

and a N.

in

Num. xxvi. Shekem was

A

31.

a

Gen.

xii. 6,

22; Judg.

1,

Let us take these passages

(a)

that

district

This follows from a careful criticism of

several O.T. passages xiii.

was a

ix.

in order.

tradition evidently stated

Gileadite

This

city.

is

not

indeed the general view of the O.T. writers, but its

singularity

correctness.

may be taken It also,

as a guarantee of

when regarded

its

in the context,

implies the important fact that the original Gilead

was i.e.

in the land

the N. Arabian border-land.

Book was

it

from which the Israelites migrated,

of Jubilees

(xii.

into the land of

1)

A

tradition in the

confirms this

;

it

states that

Asshur that Jacob had entered,

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

94

when he

started on the fateful journey connected

name

with the

The importance

of Shekem.

passage (already quoted in T. and B.)

will,

of this

hope,

I

be admitted.

Gen.

(b)

xii.

1

6

supplies a fresh confirmation

of the preceding tradition.

It says, if

mistake not,

I

name of Shekem was Mekom Shekem Mekom, like Yekum, comes from Yarkam. Now, Yarkam ( = Yerahme'el) was that wide region, a

that the

full

;

part of which

the

not

'lowland,'

Yerahme'elite

however,

Kena'an

called

it is

2

but

N.

land,

(to

be grouped

This regional name

Amalek, Kain).

with Anak, signifies,

was

(properly

Arabia.

3

least)

at

In

usage,

applied to various parts of the region,

more limited Kena'ans was Shekem, originally Shakram. (c) Gen. xxxiii. 18. Jacob, we are told, 'came to In one of these

such as Phoenicia.

Shalem, a

Shekem.'

Evidently an important

Possibly the same as Sukkoth

place.

but

city of

much more probably

(Uru-Salem). should

There

be surprised

is

at

(

=

Salekath),

the southern Jerusalem

no reason why any reader this.

Asshur-Ishmael or

Asshur- Yerahme'el was a standing name

Hebrew

tradition for

credible that

ii.

and B.

N. Arabia, and so

we should 408

find such a

D. and F.

name

it

is

1

T.

This theory has been disproved by Prof. G. F. Moore.

3

Cp. Gen.

5,

Kena'an

and 4

F. T.

;

67.

= Yarham) is Arab- Kena'an.' 18, 'Ham = land of the Ethbalites {Two Religions, p.

ix.

is

p.

(

p. 95).

and B.

Index,

'

quite

as this in

2

p.

early

in

4

Asshur-Ycrahme'el.'

In Zeph.

41

1

;

D.

SHEKEM

95

different geographical districts, either virtually in the

form or

fuller

Shalem

as

plexed

if

1

Gen.

is

called Shalem,

xxxiii. 18, the city

xxxiv. ^%,

and

which the Jacob-clan

the

name

of the

city,

to

dence. (

=

the

Ur-Salem

Gen.

xiv.

18,

concurrently is

true, this

For I

and

Shalem

refer,

Ps.

but not 3

lxxvi.

any rate plausible Egyptian

at

3,

evi-

We may also illustrate

by the use of Yabesh

name

southern Jerusalem,

Salem), as a

for the

and perhaps by the mention

Gideon-Abimelek Salmon near Shekem

(in the

story) of a mountain called s

It

of Shakram.

an alternative for

dogmatically, to

and

(or,

'

in xxxiv. 20, 24, textual criticism

but a translation

as

visits

glossator

They were Shalemites

with Shekem, was Asshur-Aram. is

Thus,

But

).

that

'

per-

are used for the

in allusion to this a

says,

2

Ishmaelites

names

our much-edited Biblical texts.

in

in

suggests

Nor need we be

Ishmael).

(i.e.

different equivalent

same place

in

shortened and corrupted form such

in a

;

and sh are doubtless different sounds, but

in

the

ancient names, both regional and local, s and sh are interchangeable.

The with

first

this.

the text stands,

almost certainly, both

elsewhere (especially 1

ix.

name has

part of the

As

For Shalem

=

in

in

'

2

T. T.

and B. and B.

Ishmael, see Judg.

p.

414.

p.

250; Ps.( 2 )

to is

be consistent Ur, but

Ur

is

name Ur-Salem and Ur-Kasdim '), and in proper the

4 (o^yv px).

3

it

ii.

6.

'

'

vi.

24, Mic. v. 4 (mfo),

1

S.

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

96

names

We

like

Uriah and Uriel, the short

have had occasion

to

refer

for

already

Asshur. to

the

Shekem-problems in the chapter headed Jerusalem,' where it is shown that Shakram and Shalem are '

the same, and

we rightly form Shakram (Shekem), we must

will

I

understand the

be struck by

its

only add here that,

resemblance

in

if

meaning

to

the

name of the great southern sanctuary, Asshur Yarham (the city indicated in the original Deut. x. as that of the appointed central sanctuary).

above,

p.

34

;

and

Kingdom ofJudah,

cp.

See

Decline and Fall of the

pp. 115, 152.

CHAPTER

VII

BAAL-GAD, MIGDAL-GAD, MIGDAL-EDER,

MIGDAL-SHEKEM

Baal-gad (Josh

xi.

2,j)

regional Baal

and Migdal-gad (Josh. xv.

17)

compounded

are place-names

= Yerahme'el and

respectively of the

the tribal designation

name Gad.

= Ramgal) and For Baal, we may

compare Yarba'al (vocalized

wrongly Yerubbaal,

Gad, and of the regional Migdal the

same

tribal

(

but really a popular distortion of Yerahme'el, the other

name

or gil

is

of the hero Gideon), and for

an old regional,

we naturally think, ( = Aram-Ashhur). to speak

a

for

Baal

I

parallel,

I

think,

now recovered

Palestine from the

may seem

known

ible to

suppose that these towers gave

to places.

name

as

3

'Tower

and B.

1

T.

2

E. Bib.

But a sure

p.

col.

of

to us

it

parallel for

El,'

or

389 Two Religions, 1556 ('Fortress'). ;

97

Ramshak

of

earliest

and

Gilead)

the Migdal, or Tower,

characteristic feature of

times,

[gal

have often had occasion

is,

It is true,

2

Ramgal

cp. Gallim, Gilgal,

but Ramgal

of,

for the first time.

was a

1

plaus-

names

such a place-

'Tower p.

their

of Gad,'

306. 3

See

ibid. 7

is

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

93

and

wanting,

suggests

experience

that

the

in

Migdal of place-names we have rather an instance of the popular wit exercising itself on an archaic regional.

no valid objection to

It is

this that the

existence of Migdal as a place-name can be traced

both

we

very early and

in

find

the

in

very late times,

in

that

i.e.

Amarna letters, and him Our conception of Talmudic literature. Magdali

in the

1

time has been widened, and Palestinian

historical

matters must partake of the benefit.

We

Migdol or

a

find

appendix to the name, xliv.

Jer.

xlvi.

i,

Ezek. xxix.

19,

ever, very improbable

meant

the traditional

in

that a

10.

It

text of is,

how-

mere tower can be

A

any of these passages. 2

in

any

without

Migdols,

careful study

of the larger contexts to which the passages belong,

shows that not Misraim (Egypt) but Misrim (the N. Arabian Musri) '

Migdal,'

We

is

and

meant.

'

Migdol,' as well as

surely a miswritten form of Ramgal.

have

still

Migdal-Shekem. 21

is

Mic.

iv.

to

refer

to

Migdal -Eder and

The former occurs in Gen. xxxv. 8. The first of these is in an

account of the conquest of a N. Arabian Reubenites,

which

circumstances

of

was

attended

The name

See Neubauer, Gtographie du

2

See especially

Talmud

1

xliv.

u,

xlvi.

to

by by

more

of the district,

(index).

14, where,

Memphis is mentioned with Migdol. See T and B. pp. 421/.

think, 3

Jer.

apparently

offensiveness

special

advanced tribesmen. 3

district

at

least as

most

BAAL-GAD, MIGDAL-GAD, ETC. as given in the traditional text,

99

was Migdal-Eder,

but the scene of the narrative being in N. Arabia,

we cannot avoid accepting the correction Ramgal. Eder might be = Edrei, the name of the district where

Og

3ns

easy,

is

name, It is

resided (Deut.

add,

sense.

is

But

hard.

Eder.

Migdal-Eder.

for

is

hill

Migdal-

parallel to

If,

however,

the

Sion

that of the southern border-land,

is

cannot hesitate to read '

'

nrhi?

clear that the

hopeless to find a natural and suitable

It is

intended

is

it

community of Sion

of the

sense

8

iv.

Another

was probably Bilshan = Bashan.

corruptly represented by twi^D

Mic.

And

thou,

Hill of the

The

But the correction

and yields a better

may

I

1

4).

i.

we

:

Ramgal of Arabia, community of Sion.'

writer of this part of

'

Micah evidently regards '

the Sion, or Sib'on, of the N. Arabian border-land superior claims to be honoured as the

as having

and secular

religious

known

capital to those of the better-

Jerusalem.

Let us now pass on to Judges '

when

Eder 2

in the PifiVa

Migdal-Shekem, and

men

refer

We

read here that

of the tower of

Shechem heard

they entered into the hold of the house

D. and F.

and B.

to

46 (Rev. Ver.).

El-berith.' 1

T.

the

all

thereof,

of

ix.

p.

Negeb

is I.e.

Clearly, 138.

E.

however,

Meyer (Die

'the

tower

Israeliten, p. 276)

of

compares

(Josh. xv. 21).

an early conjecture.

v&Qssfrv

*:x

= ^kjfdb"

r$.

Cp.

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

ioo

Shechem

cannot be right

'

;

Shechem

must

itself

have had not only walls and gates, but a tower.

When

Gideon

he also

'

slew

'

all

broke down the tower of Penuel,' the

men

of the city

Similarly,

when Abimelek

Shekem

(Judg.

'

ix.

45),

'beat

'

down

viii.

17).

the city of

he must inclusively have

broken down any tower or

fort

may have

there

Migdal-Shekem

been at Shekem.

(Judg.

(if

the reading

be correct) must therefore be the name of some

Shekem dwelt, or Migdal should be Ramgal. Ramgal-Shekem

other place where the clan of rather (or,

fore

more

correctly,

Ramgal-Shakram) must

there-

have been the name of a settlement near the

city of

Shakram, famous

and specially berith,

or

doubtless a

seems

to

fortified

for a specially

temple of El-berith or Baal-

rather Yerahme'el-Arbith. title

honoured

'

Arbith

of the great goddess Ashtart,

have been par

excellence

'

is

who

an Arabian deity.

CHAPTER SAMARIA

There

is

VIII

(?)

evidence enough that the Shomeron or

Shimron which plays such an important part the history of Israel from the time of

of

King Hoshea was not

in

Omri

in

to that

the centre of Palestine,

but in the N, Arabian border-land.

Let us take

the Biblical passages in order. (a)

K.

i

xvi.

24 (revised

text).

'

And

he (Omri)

Kashmeron from Kashram (glosses, in Kikkar of Yaman; Kasrab), and fortified the mountain and he called the name of the city which he fortified after the name of Kashram, the acquired the mountain

;

lord of the mountain, Kashmeron.'

The

trivial

origin

assigned

to

must have surprised many readers. cism

lifts

of the

Omri, who in

Textual

felt

Kashmeron was

criti-

The

the whole passage to a higher level.

possessor of the mountain of one

Omri's capital

the lord

minor 'kingdoms of Yerahme'el.' the need of consolidating his

N. Arabia, acquired

strategically important

— how, site

we know

from

its

not

power

—

Arabian

this

lord,

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

102

and turned the unwalled found there, into a

village,

which he probably

fortified city, retaining the old

In the popular speech, however,

name.

Kashmeron

same speech, the became analogous name Ramshak became Meshek, and Shakram became Shekem. In the first of the two Shimron, just as, in the

glosses kikkar

is

the expansion of kar,

yam

(see pp. 30, 52), and

In the second Kashrab

(

is

eshkar

i.e.

the short for

= Ashhur-Arab)

yaman.

is

analo-

Ashrab and 'Ahberon (Hebron). The referred to is probably identical with Shekem.

gous

to

2

(b)

K.

xvii. 6.

'

In the ninth year of

city

Hoshea

the king of Asshur took Shimron (Kashmeron), and

away to Asshur, and placed them by Halah and by Habor (gloss, rivers of $ib'on), and

carried Israel

in

the cities of Madai.'

The

'cities of

Madai' are not those of Media.

There was a southern Madai Elam.

1

To

this

as there

was a southern

phrase corresponds 'the

Shimron (Kashmeron),'

24.

v.

cities

of

'Gozan' was no

doubt written by the scribe under the influence of the is

name

it

most probably a corruption of Bozan, which has

come from vi.

of the Assyrian province Guzanu, but

13.

6,

while error

'

as the '

;

Madai

no

f

i.e.

Sib on

;

cp. "on "in©, Ezr. v. 3,

Sib'on must be taken here in a wide

The

sense.

same

Zib'on,

for

may perhaps be the Ramshak' (2 K. v. 12),

rivers of Sib'on

'rivers of '

may have

'

originated in a literary

pro (Midyan). 1

Two

Religions, p. 165.

SAMARIA

'

Mic.

(c)

•

What

i.

103

(?)

5.

the transgression of Jacob

is

Surely

?

(it is)

Shimron.

What

the sin of the house of

is

Surely

IshmaeL'

(it is)

The

Judah?

much to ©, but we are in our guide when we emend Yerushalem

reading owes

advance of

Yishmal

into

however,

in

speeches

in

must be

taking this forward step.

Hosea and

phecies of

We

Ishmael).

(i.e.

Isaiah are

right,

The

pro-

of reproaching

full

which Israel or Judah

is

taxed with

addiction to pernicious N. Arabian practices, and

the case cannot be different with the prophecies of

For 'Ishmael' we might perhaps read Both names (which really are but one)

Micah. 'Shalem.' are

designations

popular

deity

N.

of

was

certainly

one of the leading

most

the

goddess

1

— indeed, — was

it

Israelite portion

conspicuous for

(Am.

viii.

(disguised as Lakish)

was the leading naturally one of

loyalty

Note

14).

to

that in

described as

is

'

of sin to the community of Sion.'

mean 1

that a city called

Two

Religions, pp. 212,

early glossator p.

pp.

A

frequently used

202/

Ashkal

367.

Note

the identity of

not™, of course,

400). 2

affirms

is

for

v.

great

the

13 Ashkal

2

the beginning

This need not be punished

shall that,

in

Hab.

i.

12,

Asham and Ishmael

the feminine of

name

Shimron,

Ashtart.

of the Yerahme'elite or

cities

Ishmaelite border-land city of the

where the most

Arabia,

an

{ibid.

db'n.

N. Arabia.

See

Two

Religiotis,

—

——

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

104

for infecting Israel

with impurity

it

;

probably means

that a region so designated shall pay the penalty.

The

chief

of

the

Shimron, which,

vv.

Yet not

destruction.

N.

guilty

in

6,

Arabian

7,

cities

was

threatened with

is

the inhabitants even of

all

the guilty city shall be a prey to the conqueror.

See

(d).

Am.

(d)

9-1

iii.

and

1,

Most

12.

fragments of prophecies of Amos. 1 able

no

that

Am.

(cp.

Religion to him

iv.).

are

offences

religious

is

interesting

It

remark-

is

spoken

of

the practice of

the civic virtues, and in this the Shimronites are

Apparently

conspicuously deficient.

Amos

thinks

and Misrites more ( = Asshurites) and humane than the Israelites of Shimron.

the Ashdulites

righteous

The second fragment '

Thus

saith

Yahweh

should run :

As

the shepherd rescues

From mouth (only) two shin-bones, So (meagrely) shall the bene Israel be rescued Those that dwell in Shimron and in Ramshak of the lion's

Asshur.'

A

very small

enough, a

at

any

new human

remnant, rate, to

race,

then,

shall

be

saved

serve as the foundation of

of a

new

Israel.

One

of the

glosses which have penetrated into the text of this

fragment

2

states

that

Ephrath of Hamath.'

'in

Epher, a place-name which 1

Two

Shimron'

Ephrath

Religions, pp. 177 f.

lies

is

means

'in

the feminine of

at the root of the 2

Ibid. pp.

181/

SAMARIA came

regional which

we may

but

Ephraim Epher.

and

be pronounced Ephraim,

to

shrewdly suspect that the original of

Epher-Yam (=Yaman),

is

Shimron are combined

name,

in the

Isa. xxviii. 1-4.

quoting the

'Ephraim'

The former

in ix. 9.

belongs to the territory which was

in fact,

claimed by Israel (e)

Yamanite

i.e.

be remembered that

will

It

'

'

105

(?)

N. Arabian border-land. content myself with

shall

I

Two

verse in a revised text (cp.

first

Religions, 32, 340). 1

Ha

!

the proud crown of Ashhur-Ephraim,

And the flowerage of Yarbel Certainly the text as the case of

Am.

iii.

geographical glosses text.

These glosses

it

—

his

brave adornment.'

As

stands will not do.

in

many other passages, have made their way into the are of great value, but we can 12 and

only recover the true text of the glosses by a keen

One

criticism.

doomed

city

gloss relates to the situation of the it

;

is

on the highest point of the

valley of the Ishmannites,' which

the other glosses inform us) as to say of Yerahme'el,' or 'of Yaman.'

prophecy

itself,

however, gives

lutely essential to

of

course

be

southern

Ephraim

to resist

the

Isaiah's

i.e.

nnmi*,

called

conviction

(so

the valley

text of the

that

it

is

abso-

^iD» ('drunkards') should

know.

-oar,

'

The all

much

as

is

i.e.

Ashhur. that

a It

city is

the

in

difficult

Ashhur-Ephraim

is

name for the southern Shomeron or Shimron.

As we have

seen,

this

city

had two names,

viz.

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

io6

Shimron and Kashmeron

the former

;

and corrupted form of the

latter.

seen that Kashmeron means,

On

Ashhur-Aram.'

this

is

it

analogy

to postulate for the city a third

Ephraim.

me

I

may add

Ephraim, and that

and

t

by2

for

hyv

(

want a

Sit,

as,

in

We

have also

'

belonging to

—

/.

seems

2,

parallel to

Ashhur-

Judg.

a gloss on

vi.

10, x.

1,

3

Should we not read blT xvii.

3,

^ib stands

?

for

mm

Other passages bearing on Shimron are Am. 1,

to

parallel should underlie bll.

are interchangeable.

= Sucrrr),

a modified

we may venture name Ashhur-

that hii, in

We

plainly wrong.

is

3-j, viii. 14 (already

mentioned).

9 equally deserve attention.

iv.

Isa. ix.

See T. and B.,

Two Religions, Mines of Isaiah. The Jewish papyri from Elephantine also attest Asham (for Ishmael). Recent scholars, forgetful of the present

waking up

Why

to the existence

not go

identity of

a

step

of

further,

writer, are

Asham = Ashima. and recognize the

Asham, Ashima, and Ishmael

?

CHAPTER

IX

TIRSAH

This ancient

city (see Josh.

xii.

was

24)

gifted with

a comparatively late prosperity by Jeroboam, whose

home

and, afterwards, royal residence

authority, however, to

which

this

is

Jeroboam, of course, made his home

he

is

over xi.

said, all

officially

our present

in

The

was.

statement

also indicates that the city of Tirsah

with which he was

it

in

the land

connected, and though text,

to

have been

the 'labour' of the house, of Joseph

26), yet

it

due,

is

N. Arabian.

(1

set

K.

probable that the true text said

is

something different (see

p.

88),

and implied that

the corvee was only levied on non- Israelites.

Jeroboam naturally resided

in that part of

If so,

Solomon's

dominion where the population was largely nonIsraelite,

we

i.e.

are told that

diversion

to

when Ben-Hadad, king of Aram, made a

in part of

N. Arabia.

Similarly,

Asa, king of Judah, and that

help

Jeroboam consequently went and dwelt

we interpret Hadad was

this

a

at Tirsah,

in the light of the fact that

N.

Arabian 107

king,

and that

Benthe

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

108

districts

by

which he raided, though occupied largely

were

Israelites,

geographically

N.

Arabian.

Most probably the name points in the same direction. It may seem indeed to mean 'the agreeable,' but this trivial, commonplace explanation ought surely to be rejected. Like Sarethan and Seredah (the incorrectly written name of Jeroboam's city), it may be traced to Sarephath, which means the

From Num.

settlement of the Sareph-clan. 1

we gather and from

that Tirsah

Tahpanhes, 3

i.e.

Another reading

Naphtah-has

for

'

Tiphsah

'

(

is

Now, perhaps, we can

Nephtoah.

from

traced

Naphtah- Ashhur). '

Tappuah,' which

a corruption either of Tahpanhes,

is

far

name may be

Tiphsah, 2 the origin of which to

i

was a Gileadite community,

K. xv. 16 that Tirsah was not

2

xxvii.

see

or, at least,

of

why Jeroboam

Tirsah was near Naphtah or

resided at Tirsah.

Nephtoah, 4 and Jeroboam (see chapter on Solomon)

was a son of Naphtah. '

'

1

See 2

iv.

The clan-name, p.

in

slightly different forms,

was widely spread.

19, n. 3.

Tiphsah also occurs as the name of a border

24

(v.

city

in

1

K.

4).

3

Two

4

We

and cp. E. Bid. 'Tappuah,' 'Tiphsah.' Naphath-Dor ( 1 K. iv. 11 ), if we should not read

Religions, p. 346,

also find

Naphath-Dod.

CHAPTER X SHILOH In the composite article Shiloh '

'

in

the Encyclopaedia

have advocated the viewthat there are two Shilohs, one of which was in the

Biblica (cols. 4468/!)

I

Ephraim, and to

(relatively) northern territory of

be identified with the modern Seilun, and the other in the

The

N. Arabian border-land.

however, which we can have existence

of

a northern

maintaining the

in

Shiloh

the assumption that the most

only interest,

drawn

is

sacred

from

symbols of

the Israelites were, at any rate for a time, preserved in the

sanctuary of this

city.

This assumption

have myself expressly repudiated. not impossible that

Shiloh

is,

may have been connected for,

I

of course,

one or another reference

to

with a geographical

error on the part of the narrator

much worth arguing

It

;

but this

considering

N. Arabian tradition persisted.

I

how will,

is

not

long the therefore,

not deny the probability that there were two or more Shilohs, but will renounce the liberty of connecting any of the Old Testament traditions

with a northern city of this name. 109

;

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

no It

W.

Prof.

true,

is

Smith held that the

R.

description in Judg. xxi. 19 'gives certainty' to the identification with Seilun.

view

'

From

word.

too strong a

1

Certainty,' however, is

our present point of

seem that the narrator was as follows.

statement of

would

it

original

Kena'an

the land of

(

=

'

Ethbal,

Shiloh p.

the

(*\bw) is in

near the

30),

border of the (southern) land of Ben-Yamin, north of Bethel (Ethbal), east of the road from to

Bethel

Shakram, south of Libnah.'

That there was a southern Ephraim we have seen

already

distortion of

Arab-Yaman, so

And

be N. Arabian. this situation

by

1

ing

is

S.

i.

9,

that Shiloh

may

any doubt as to the

if

possible,

is still

properly a

is

easily fact of

should be removed

it

where the seeming reference

to drink-

really an intrusive and corruptly written gloss,

statins: that in

name, however,

the

;

Shiloh

in

is

Ashhur

or Ashtar

2

i.e.

N. Arabia.

most strange that O.T. references

It is

should so abruptly come to an end.

has already called attention to

this,

to Shiloh

Herr Gemoll 3 and suggested

may often be referred to under same This may easily have happened, another name. for the root of ithe name Shiloh is a popular conthat the

traction

place

of

Ishmael. 4 1

'-'

E. Bib.

mid B.

T. 3

P.

p.

Probably Shiloh

col.

362,

4468

n. 3

;

(in

Two

'

Shiloh

').

Religions,

p.

188 (identifying Shiloh and Bethel). 4

Cp.

Two

Religions, p. 118.

was

120.

the

— SHILOH same

as Shalem,

called

Asshur-Ishmael

Shiloh.

It

;

Gen.

we need only

into Tnra,

that sacred city in the south

i.e.

(

= Asshur-Yarham), and

therefore, not necessary,

is,

unplausible, in Cihm

in

xlix.

10,

to

and nnp^ into iinn»\

though not

emend

correct bib> into

also

ftDQ),

if?»

into

and vbyi

and render the

whole verse thus 1

Redressers (of wrong) shall not cease from Judah,

And

among

marshals from

his (fighting) bands,

Until he entereth Shiloh,

And

the peoples do obeisance unto him.'

In Jer.

xli.

5,

As

necessary.

I

too,

hope

no correction of the text to

Gedaliah was governor of the Judaite territory Yerahme'el.

is

have shown elsewhere,

in

Shekem, Shiloh, and Shimron in that all N. Arabian Judaite cities. 2

strange story are 1

D. and F.

1

p. 28.

2

This

is

the most probable vocalization.

'

CHAPTER

XI

BETHEL

One is

of the most important references to

in

i

that

26-30.

xii.

It

of

Jeroboam's

he sought

to

divert

pilgrims

from Jerusalem

the

'

sagacity

crowd of

Israelite

Bethel

to

Long

have ye gone up

'

political

Judah

in

and Dan).

Israel (or Bethel

thought to say,

enough,' he

god Bethel ;

Bethel and Dan) will do as well as Jerusalem is

thy god (Yahweh),

O

Israel,

as has been shown,

Ethbaal

is

should be Misrim

;

urgently needed.

Bethel,

;

;

Misraim

and the elokim spoken of are

Yahweh and The new and most

two N. Arabian deities

probable view D. and F.

behold,

a popular form of Ethbaal

Yerahme'el (or Ashhur). 1

1

;

(or

who brought

N. Arabian borderland

in the

specially the

is

is

is

A reinterpretation

thee out of the land of Misraim.' of the passage, however,

in

to a comparatively

distant city to worship your delivering

there

Bethel

generally represented

is

specimen

a

as

K.

'

p.

is

that

106

;

T.

Jeroboam and B.

p.

set (or

16,

etc.

gave fresh

Another form

Asshur. 113

8

is

—

—

—

ii 4

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

sanction

to)

a place of primeval

in

carved stones

two sacred symbolic sanctity,

originally

called

Ethbaal.

Verse

should most probably

21, critically treated,

run thus '

And

A

he set Yah-Asshur

in

Yithbaal

(

=

Ethbaal).'

gloss on this runs 1

Now

Yah-Asshur

Dan.'

in

is

Judaite redactors, however, were bound to look

on

this narrative

inserted this statement 1

And

them

of

30)

(v.

became a

this thing

One

with repugnance.

sin, for

the people went

before Yah-Asshur.'

To

two glosses

this

Asshur

is

l

are appended

Nathan

(in)

(

(a)

:

= Ethan)

;

Now

and

(b)

Yah(In)

Arabia of Dan.

That Beth-el was a N. Arabian now be clear. Another gloss on the

place,

should

situation

is

in

where the very strange in^n Nil ~imN covers over two glosses: (1) lis "i#n, Asshur of Arabia,'

v.

3,

'

and 1

=

(2) btpi,

The

Ithman

'

Rambul,'

glosses are ;

cp.

Mines of Isaiah,

D'rnj p.

i.e.

geographical.

= Ithmannim.

142).

'Aram-Baal.' Nathan comes from Mathan ij?

= aij7

(see

on

Isa.

xlvii.

7,

CHAPTER

XII

HEBRON

Hebron

Name

!

of romantic sound, and apparently

But appearances are pro-

easy explanation.

of

deceptive,

verbially

and so

Analogy

here.

is

it

1 requires us to derive Hebron, either from Rehobon,

or

from

directly

Ahberon

or Ahrebon,

The

Arab.'

the

'

Rehobon,

of

original 2

one belonging

name

alternative

to

Ashhur-

same

of the

viz.

city

is

given as Kiryath-Arba, and that almost certainly

comes from Ashhoreth-Arab, so that the two names It may be interesting to see are really equivalent. what Old Testament writers say about Hebron, according to a thoroughly revised text.

Gen.

(i)

xxiii. 2.

'

And

Sarah died

in

Ashhoreth-

the rest of the verse is a gloss, Arab Ahberon in the land of Canaan ( = Anak). '

'

;

horeth 1

<

is

'

Crit.

Bib.

sometimes p.

438;

T.

shortened and B.

pp.

into 335

/

;

that

is,

•

Ash-

Heth,

and

'

cp.

E.

Bib.

Rehoboth.' 2

Ah

is

often the

and Rab are equally

first

element

attested

throws a new light on the

in

N. Arabian regionals, and

as shortened forms of Arab.

name Rehab'am. ii5

Bar This

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

n6

accordingly in

v.

we

3

The

as 'sons of Heth.'

name

masc. form of this racial

This appears

of course, Ashhur.

is,

12

xiv.

are introduced to the citizens

Shahar

as

in

Isa.

but various other corruptions

;

might be collected, and among them Sohar, '

'

Ephron son of Sohar,' in Ephron the Ashhurite.'

reckoned a N. Arabian

have been,

presumably =

Hebron,

was

then,

There may, however, 1 times, a second Hebron

city.

very early

in

is

8,

v.

for

or Ahberon, on or near the site of the traditional

Hebron, the modern

Num.

(2)

and came

22.

xiii.

to

Asshuri, and

el-Halil. '

And

they went up by Angab,

Ahberon, and there were Ahiyamin,

Ethmal

Now

Sheba of the Ishmannites).

Anak

Yerahme'el,

(glosses,

Ahberon and

;

its

daughter-cities were on the east of Misrite Sib'on.'

For

by Angab

'

Negeb.'

and

'

the traditional text has

H3N, that

113 was,

perhaps as

common

text of Judg.

may

13),

(2

S.

i.

int™ p3i? 1

2 '

but

15,

See

an error.

111

which

18),

The

(cp. Ipip).

that

of the Yamanites.'

attested corruptions of 3

is

it

which means 'Aram of Ah'ab,' and with is

Two

iii.

13

;

a popular corruption of

initial

3

in 113 is a trace

Hebron was supposed

T. and B. p. 230. The gift which Aksah asked

Gilead

mean

K.

we know

;

l33rr,

1

xxi.

3

into

trace this theory in 2

113 should be grouped with h*in (Deut. iv.

by the

early, interpreted to

We

'the dry south land.'

the

was early altered

is,

'

nVj

for

was not

D'b rta

and (presumably)

but n'Vj

to

be

D'JD'

-ij/^j,

are

well

"ij^j.

Religions and

Mines of Isaiah

of

(index, Ah'ab).

HEBRON That the region

peopled with Anakites.

in

which

was, should have been reckoned as Ash-

Hebron

hurite, is not surprising

Arba

"7

both Hebron and Kiryath-

Our

much.

as

signify

;

Hebron and

informs us that

old

also

dependencies were

its

Misrite Sibon.'

'to the east of

authority

No

doubt there

were more than one Sib'on the one meant in Num. xiii. 22 was that in the N. Arabian land of ;

Misrim

Such

xix.

Isa.

(cp.

xxx. 4; Ps.

11,

geographical glosses are

common

lxxviii.

43).

in the O.T.,

whereas archaeological glosses are the reverse of common. We may compare Gen. xxv. 18, where Shur is defined as being to the east of Misrim '

'

Shur (Asshur), of (Ahberon) a

city

Hebron, as to

Gen.

there

course,

name.

have

I

no

said,

was

xxiii. 2, it

is

is

real

in

was Asshurite. According But the land of Canaan.

inconsistency.

"southern Canaan in

the

sometimes called Anak. told

(Num.

city,

Yerahme'el and

I.e.

But are not

gloss) that

Anak

involves

to trust

our

There

a

Now, we are expressly Hebron was an Anakite being equivalent. decisive as to the

By no means. appearances, when our

We

?

admitting

was

N. Arabian border-land,

mm lain and nnm

character of the gloss

no right

;

a regional, and Hebron

an

have

trustfulness

improbable

pseudo-

Seven years is not, indeed, a Underneath d^bj no is purely imaginary detail. D^oar si» (' Sheba of the Ishmannites '), and underhistorical

gloss.

neath nriDiD

lies

'

'

rrron ('and her daughters').

It

''

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

nS

noteworthy that among the 'sons' of Hebron,

is i

Chr.

(3) Josh.

Shema ( =

is

43,

ii.

xiv.

the possession of Kaleb

Yephunneh

=

(

'

Yahwe

Yerakbal

),

'

God

the

became

therefore

the Kenizzite, to this day

wholly followed the

Sheba).

'Hebron

1^ f.

in

the son of

because he

;

And

of Israel.

Hebron formerly was Ashhoreth-Arab Ahrab-Gilead among the Anakim). The

name

(gloss,

of

poverty of the thought

MT.

in

is

only equalled by

To

the poverty of the expression.

correct both

must remember that a geographical gloss expected

that

also

;

ha-adam

we be

to

is

the story of the

in

creation of man has most probably come from Ahram, and that gadol in a group of passages has come from gil'ad. It should also be borne

mind

in

there

that

was

an

extensive

southern

Gilead. (4)

a part

Arab

And

'

among

(namely),

Judg.

the bene

(glosses,

And Kaleb (gloss,

to Kaleb, son of

'

'

Arab-Anak,'

.

that

'

Ashhoreth-

.

.

Hebron

is,

Ishmael,

10,

').

Anak

drove thence the three sons of

and Ahiyaman, and Ethmal

Yerahme'el-Anak

i.

Yephunneh, he gave

Yehudah

xv.

Josh.

'),

where the conquest

is

Cp.

13 f.

assigned

to

Judah. (5) me'el),

'And the sons Mesha-Rakbul

Mareshah 1

Two

T.

and B.

(Arab pp.

-

Kaleb (Ashhur-Yerah-

of 1

(gloss,

Hebron).

194 (on Gen.

Religions, p. 251 (on Hos.

x.

vii. 6).

Arab-Ziph),

And 15),

the

sons

558 (on Ex.

xv.

and of 1)

;

HEBRON

119

Hebron, Rah[am], and Naphtoah, 1 and Rekem, and Shema,'

1

Chr.

ii.

Kaleb, then, was not an

42 f.

by blood, and

Israelite

only

member

a

community by adoption.

Judaite

But

of

may

one

wonder how large a portion of the old

the

Israelites

could be said to have been strictly homogeneous.

Even

who

those

of Misrim

land

the

left

were,

according to tradition, a mixed concourse of aliens

Num. xi. 4), though common stock.

(Ex.

xii.

that

they had a

38

;

however, the

Kalebites

it

presumable

is

In this medley,

Rakbulites

or

2

were

dis-

Yahwe, and the community sanctioned their acquisition of Hebron and part of Gilead. But why was this solemn sanction necessary ? Surely Hebron must have tinguished by their martial zeal for

been

immemorially a sacred theophanies and from

ancient

burial-place

of the

city

— sacred

from

containing

its

the

Yerahme'elite patriarch

great

Abraham.

So he sent him out of the vale of Ahberon, and he came to Shakram,' Gen. xxxvii. 14. See T. and B. pp. 439/! Shakram' is a regional. (7) 'And all the elders of Israel came to the king to Ahberon, and king David made a compact with them before Yahwe. And they anointed (6)

'

'

David king over (

= elders) 1

of Israel'

is

2

S. v.

3.

The

'

tribes

a conventional expression.

Korah ('baldness ') and Tappuah Rah[am] and Naphtoah. T. and B. pp. 545/1

tions of 2

Israel,'

('

citron

')

are popular modifica-

;

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

120

In the

Judaite

original

Israelite

clans settled

To

land.

characteristic

Hebron

tribes

'

Hebrew

flesh' ('

before

the

N. Arabian border-

recognise, using the '

We

are

thy bone

The sanctuary of may have included the ') of Abraham and Sarah

S.

(2

fully

'

phrase, v.

1).

Yahweh

sepulchre

traditional

Hebron and Gibeon

possibly, however,

ously,

in

means the

it

one of these David belonged, a kin-

ship which the

and thy

literature

and once were

locally, one,

are religi-

and David and

Solomon were both anointed as kings in the high place of Gibeon. That the original Hebron was in N. Arabia is indicated by the gloss Yerahme'el' '

'

'

(2

S.

v.

1)

underlying the superfluous "ionS (as

in v. 6).

(8) 'If

Yah we

Urushalem, then

So he

bring

shall I

will

do service

arose and went

Urushalem

Surely

me back

and

to

Yahwe.

to

Ahberon,'

Ahberon

indeed to

2

are

S.

.

xv.

both

.

.

9.

N.

Arabian. (9)

'

And

cause Solomon

my

son to ride on

my

mule, and bring him down to Hebron and let Sadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there king over Israel,' 1 K. The 33 /• sacred tent was at Gibeon, or rather at the sanctuary

own

;

i.

of Gibeon, which appears to have been in a part

of the city or Hebron. v.

38.

—perhaps

the citadel

— called

For 'bring down' read

Ahberon

'bring,' as in

CHAPTER

XIII

AKRAB, AKRABBIM

A

much more important name than might be expected, as we have already found (see 'David,' 'Jerusalem,'

50;

p.

and

127;

cp.

Hebron may

p.

form Ahbar.

Am.

16)

to

'

Gibeonite

tin

presuppose

and -on (Gen.

(Judg.

p.

x.

10;

One Akrab seems

-Q3n.

have been on the border of Aram, i.

Cities,'

Heber and T. and B. 432, 447. perhaps come from a (partly) more

original v.

40;

for a tradition

36) states that the territory of the

Aram-

mites (so read) was 'from the ascent of Akrabbim,' etc.

1

In the following verse (Judg.

become DOl, which Gemoll into d^DI, is

'

(p.

ii.

1) D"O~0n

287) would correct

Tranenbaume,' but unconvincingly.

no tree that we have before us p. 24).

It is also

Ashhur-Arab. 1

See

71

It

in 2 S. v. 23/!,

more than Akrab, or rather Ahrab, comes from

but a walled town (see

probable that

has

and B.

p.

247

;

Two

Religions, p. 140.

CHAPTER

XIV

GIBEON

The

of

site

'

the greatest high place

an interesting history. that

I

It

not,

is

must have

'

however, of

this

would now speak, but of the name, which

seems to have been much misunderstood, but really comes from Agab ( = Ah'ab; see p. 40, n. 2). It

may

also underlie several corrupt place-names, such

as Nebo, It

is

Nob, Nobai, Gob. usual

to

suppose that

name God Marduk.

is

the

same

of the divine associate of the

as Nabu, the

Babylonian

Nebo

though so popular,

is

far

This view,

however,

from probable.

That

and Judaite places should borrow these names from the Babylonian Pantheon, and in particular that a Palestinian mountain should

certain isolated Reubenite

acquire such a designation,

who can

believe this

?

The parallel (Sin) adduced for a mountain called Nebo = Nabii) is unsound, for 'Sin' is one of (

the fragmentary and corrupt 1

Ishmael.'

To

quote

names derived from

Isa. xlvi.

1

in

support of the

theory of the wide acquaintance of the Israelites 123

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

124

name Nebo

with the divine

precarious, for the

is

1

and the larger context precludes us from expecting a reference to the God Nabu. passage

corrupt,

is

we find the strange phrase nm TO which most (with MT.) render 'the As I have often other Nebo,' but contrary to 0. In Ezra

29 (Neh.

ii.

vii.

33)

shown, however, inn represents nntDN (Ashhur), there was an Ashhurite Nebo, outside

i.e.

the limits

of Palestine.

Nebo, however, as a place-name

incorrect

probably a corruption either of

it is

;

is

psn

commonly given to Mt. Nebo is altogether untenable {D. and F. p. 183). Mesha, king of Moab, is also reckoned among

The

2 or of HDD.

situation

the authorities for a Reubenite Nebo.

In lines 14-

mu

17 of the inscription he boasts of having taken

from

and exterminated

Israel,

noticed that in

1

Surely nil (not

ms) must be

The

'

city

of the priests

indifferently

We

of David

assigned to suspicious

A

fuller

xxii.

is

occurs in the

and

prophecy

a critically

in

probably 'Anab; and both

According

2).

to

;

xi.

32).

Nob and

ultimately from Gib'on,

Gob ( = Argob

tradition,

;

see

the greatest

Mines of Isaiah, pp. 135-137. Mines of Isaiah, pp. p. 163

See D. and F.

mm.

(cp. 2 S. xxi. 6).

of cities of Benjamin (Neh.

1

2

also find hid.

The name

but more directly from 'Agob or p. 80,

we

(1 S. xxi. xxii.), in a

Anab most probably come n.

9

be

must have been called

'

Isaiah (Isa. x. 32),

list

form

people.

a contraction of

Gibeon and Gibeah

pass on to Nob.

early story

f

S. xxi. 2,

its

It will

47, 136.

GIBEON high place was that at Gibeon

probably

Gibeon

in the tent of

125

(1

Yahweh

K.

iii.

4).

It

was

(not in his tent) at

David deposited the sword of Goliath

that

revised text).

(1 S. xvii. 54,

From

S. xxi. 6

2

we

learn that

Gibeon stood on or near a mountain of

Yahweh.

It

act of

would seem important

vengeance related

1

is

rather Gobai

'Argob).

priests

See Ency. Bib. Nob,' Poels Ency. Bib.), and Gemoll (pp. 194^).

S. xxii.

(referred to in

Nobai

was probably-

by the dreadful massacre of the

called forth

related in

add that the

to

in 2 S. xxi.

'

apparently an expansion of Nob, or is

an expansion of

Gob

(

= 'Agob

or

CHAPTER XV THE GIBEONITE

Kiryath - Ye'arim, or

CITIES

Ashhoreth

rather

-

Ye'arim

or Akrabbath - Ye'arim, was one of a group of Hierwite or Horite {i.e. Ashhurite) towns in the

The

N. Arabian border-land. (Josh.

ix.

17)

'

is,

Now

traditional statement

their cities

were Gibeon, and

Mispah, and Beeroth, and Kiryath-

Kefirah, and

The

all

these places were in

a large sense Gibeonites,

i.e.

they belonged to the

pre- Israelite population of

Ah'ab or Akrab (Ashhur-

Yearim.'

r

Arab)

people of

and two of the place-names

;

list

are

as Kefirah

and

in

the

records of Akrabbite origin.

These place-names are disguised Beeroth

;

the true forms are respectively

Kefar-Ammoni, Josh, Ammonim) and Akrabbath

(cp.

iv.

10,

i.e.

Beeroth.

felt

in

Akrab-

i.e.

Arubboth,

1

K.

chief difficulty will

that, in 2 S. iv. 2,

the two assassins (both are is

75,

the explanation here given of

Note, however,

Rekab, which

(cp.

The

Akrabbath).

perhaps be

xviii.

Akrabbah

clearly

Beerothites)

is

one of called

a mutilated and adapted 127

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

128

popular form of Arkab

forms a letter

Benjamin'

to

that

seek

refuge

S.

Yaman

iv.

Aher from

{e.g.

was

1

reckoned

'

that the assassins

Beeroth

3).

have been

therefore, cannot

slip

let

the N. Arabian Benjamin), and

{i.e.

(2

In such popular

that Beeroth

also

Gilead of

in

is

it

often

is

Note

Ashhur).

= Akrab).

(

(Akrabbath),

from the southern

far

Gilead, just as the Gilead mentioned in 2 S.

cannot have been far from Asshur-Yaman.

There 1

ii.

9

2

remain Mispah and Kiryath-Ye'arim.

still

cannot help reminding the reader that there was a

Mispah

Gileadite

the inference just

now drawn from

more

is

important

2 S. vi. 2

tradition

sum up

to

what has been said already. as

or,

Chr.

(1

form

another 6)

xiii.

has

the

Kiryath-Ye'arim,'

'

it,

In

of '

viz.

same

the

Baalah which

may remark

belonged to Judah,' on which we is

Much

the latter place receives another name,

Baal-Judah,

Baal

2 S. iv. 3.

however,

it,

traditional statements respecting in continuation of

with

this fits in excellently well

;

that

shortened from Yarbaal, and that Yehudah

must have been corrupted from Yerahme'el. 3 That Kiryath - Ye'arim ( = Ashhoreth-Ye arim) f

was 1

the

in

Chr.

Arabia

'

(

1

2

52,

50,

ii.

Ye'arim) '

N. Arabian border-land appears from

where abi (prefixed

means,

not

= 132).

From

cm

is

'

father

3

1

'

;

Am.

we

c nbi = jd'

Asshur-Yam,'

S. xxii. 5

founder,'

the context

a contracted form of

'Asshurim' should be

or

'

vii.

i.e. I

2.

Kiryath-

to

but

learn that

ij?Vj.

Asshur-Yaman.

—

—

THE GIBEONITE

CITIES

129

'Arabia of Kiryath-Ye'arim' was equivalent to Shobal

name

Ishmael), the

{i.e.

member

of a

of the family

of Kaleb, Ephrathah, and Hur.

There

Kiryath-Ye'arim

most

as

also,

is

reference

a

think,

which,

in Ps. cxxxii. 6,

to

MT. may

if

be followed, runs 1

Behold,

We

we heard

found

of

in

it

Ephrathah

;

in the fields of Ya'ar.'

it

This obscure statement, however, cannot be correct;

and we should almost certainly read thus '

Behold, ye Shimeonites in Ephrathah,

Ye

Shimeonites (miswritten

'

Simeonites

')

in

the

Israelite

in

N.

highlands of Ya'ar.'

The

speaker

some prominent

is

Arabia, who, being himself a partisan of the N. temple, 1

Arabian

attend

to

vicinity

summons the

Israelites

rebuilding. 2

its

implied that the temple was in Ephrathah, definitely, in the it is

highlands of Ya'ar (see

noteworthy that

Siyyon (see In

Josh.

identified

in v. 13 the

It

or,

is

xv.

with

60

Kiryath

Kiryath

= Gibeon 1

2

and

p. 134),

holy city

is

is

more called

-

-

Baal

Ye'arim.

Akrabbah.

i.e.

is

expressly

The name

And

;

the

latter,

The

Kiryath-Ye'arim.

Mines of Isaiah, pp. 14, 182. 'we will go' in

I!? (^- 7) refers to

is

in Josh,

28 Gibeath and Kiryath are combined.

former

its

p. 39).

followed by Rabbah, xviii.

in

ceremony of the

solemn

consequent on

dedication

the

v. 8.

9

130

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY we hear of an who prophesied

In Jer. xxvi. 20-23

prophet named Uriah,

to the Judaite Jerusalem

Whether

1

of the

N. Arabian

Uriah was

in favour of

i.e.

this

the central N. Arabian sanctuary it

would be only natural 1

But

cp.

if

destruction

and the temple, and who

was of Kiryath - Ye'arim, Jerusalem.

unfortunate

we cannot

he were.

Gemoll,

p.

342,

n. 2.

tell,

but

;

CHAPTER

XVI

JERICHO AND JORDAN

One

of the most important events in the period of

conquest

the

of Canaan

by the

was,

Israelites

according to tradition, the capture and destruction of

There

Jericho.

good reasons

however,

are,

thinking that the account in the

(which

is

Book

for

of Joshua

admittedly composite) arose out of the

blending of two traditions, 1 one that of the capture of a city called originally (after

Yarhon

river)

its

(modified into Yeriho), and the other Rehoboth, the city

'

by the

kings

of

Aram

it

is

2

from which came one of the older (Gen.

xxxvi.

supernatural

the

tradition

belongs

river,'

crossing

not easy to say.

our present point of view,

To

35).

Both

of

the

and

it

does not greatly

originally

mentioned

mythological

3

1

E. Bib. 'Jericho.'

3

E.

Bib.

I.e.

in

crossing.

river

cities, as,

from

may be presumed, were

the N. Arabian territory conquered by

in

which

matter which

Israel

city

was

connexion with the semi-

Another point -

The Yarhon was

Paradise streams. 131

to notice

is

T. a?id B. pp. 429, 431.

probably

one

of

the

four

!

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

132

that the city of

Yarhon was

'the

Judaites,

remind us that the similar

title,

southern

Ramah

But

North Arabia receives

21

the

It

much

Ram

{i.e.

present

single

Raham

;

'

letter

not at

is

all

Yerah

The seem,

confusion of Rehoboth

improbable

some,

to

Rehoboth

the

the

otherwise mysterious

city

Indeed,

Rahab

in turn,

is

is

the

fact

is

can be quite easily

mistaken for Yarhon, written of

and Yarhon may but

;

Rehoboth, written Vn,

that

a

of

both

in

their

alike in

restoration

;

Yarham and

true,

is

produces a marked difference unlike

'

means inhabitants of

Aram).

may

which

'

'

are not very

forms.

1.

—probably by x

the land of Ramathites

Ramathites

cases

the

in Jer. '

Ramathites,'

of

city

also called

'"lrrp

would

;

and the name suggest

readily

Rahab

of

figure

the equivalent of Rehob,

2

(irn).

which,

most probably a modification of Ahrab. 3

But why should Rahab be

called a zonah

Was

?

she really regarded as one of the class of harlots (mil)?

Or may due

not the strange reference to the harlot be

to a preceding corruption of the text

the restoration of 1

Corrupted into

xxxiv. 3 p.

;

Judg.

I.

448 D. and F. 2 Hence, in Ps. ;

'

16, p.

Yarhon 1352

That

as the original reading

the city of palm-trees iii.

4

?

Chr.

xxviii.

'

(tvon vy). 15;

and

See Deut.

cp. T.

and B.

184.

lxxxvii. 5,

Rahab

is

coupled with the N. Arabian

See Ps. {2) and Mines of Isaiah, pp. 117/ Ed. Konig, however, considers arn to be the short

Babel. 3

(

for ^Jjarn

Handwdrterbucli). 4

See

p.

F> PP- 33/-

145,

n. 2

(on Judg.

xi.

1)

;

T.

and B.

p.

19

(n. 1)

;

D.

and

JERICHO AND JORDAN for

Yeriho 1

where;

not really violent,

is

Num.

passages like

I

sib'onah (Sib'onitess).

must

And

it.

else-

Josh. xx.

i,

it is

8,

hardly

zonah has come from sd'anah,

less indubitable that i.e.

have shown

xxii.

appear incontrovertibly to prove

133

'

Sib'on

and

'

'

Rehob

'

times have been equivalent, so that

in early

rahctb, a modification of

Rehob, might easily be used

and be explained as

as a personification of the city, Sib' on or Sib'onah.

Rehob must

originally

have been

a regional, but

it would easily become a city-name. There must have been an important N. Arabian

city,

which, like Gibeon, submitted to the Israelites,

and therefore escaped the

fate

which overtook other

The

such as that properly called Yarhon.

cities

strong city of

Rehob

;

it

Rahab we can now

see to have been

belonged to the region

of Sib'on,

i.e.

Ishmael or N. Arabia (the original Canaan).

For a similar combination of names, we may compare the description of Hadad-Ezer as 'son of Rehob, king of Zobah' (2 S. viii. 3), for Zobah, like zonah, is a popular corruption of Sib'onah.

It

remains an

open question whether the Jericho so well known to us is, or is not, mentioned in the fragments of the

At any rate, Yarhon seems known as a river-name, 2 though

old Judaite literature. to

have been

in Josh. xix.

chiefly

46 we do find mention of a place called

[Me] - Yarkon perhaps 1

3

T.

lie

and B.

There

is

and

Yarhon.

Rakkon, 3

pp. 229, 456.

under

True, this place 2

which is

may

said to be

Ibid. pp. 228, 262, 456, etc.

an alternative view, for which see Mines oj Isaiah,

p.

54.

;

'

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

134

Danite, but the seat of the Danites must once have

been N. Arabian, as we Judg.

Dan

'and

ijb,

v.

from the true text of

infer

— why

Ethan Not much can be added here

pr

regarding

for

remain

did he

in

l

?

argument

to the

as a possible corruption of prrr

was not a pure accident that the corruption of Yarhon took the form of Yardan, because there seems to have should be of interest.

but that

little

been

district

a

Arabian

N.

the

of

It

border- land

name

occupied by the Danites, and called by the

This

Ya'ar.

wild,

of

rocky country was very probably

bounded by a stream, which would naturally be called

for this

view being so slender,

more than a is

xviii.

The former passage

6.

territory claimed

by David.

'

and made a

is

in

read,

and of two wrongly.

|jvk

for

MT.'s nnx

'Ishmael' '

was

of two, the

;

(

= N.

Gilead abode

mean

Ethan

in

'

The

if

my

an account of

Arabian

to Gilead,

and came

to

Dan-

Four places

names are

rightly

The two wrong names probably comes from

'

Ethman,'

parallel line should probably

Arab-Yarhon.'

The

here by the circumstance and Dan were not far apart.

facilitated

that Gilead

'

;

Arabia).

it

passages are

They came

circuit to Sidon.'

are here mentioned

as

it

are 2 S. xxiv. 6 and

*o the land of Tahtim-hodshi,

ya'an,

|TV

offer

census of the inhabitants of the N.

the

read,

They

?

evidence

a conjecture,

The

very probable one.

conjecture be neglected

i.e.

if

two, but what can they possibly

but

1

do not

I

But even

conjecture.

at least a

and

The

stream of the Ya'ar of Dan.'

'

be

corruption of prrr into that pi follows.

Note

JERICHO AND JORDAN

135

are 'the land of Tahtim-hodshi,' which should be

'the land of Naphtah-Ashhur

Tappuah,'

1

Josh. xvii.

should be either

reading

latter

origin

'

—

popular forms of names $ S. xviii. 6 the

true, in 2

in

Ya ar-Dan.'

and yet the

ya'ar

probably once a

The

Yardan

is

said to

in

;

It

is

have been

strictly correct,

may also have been

district

which

'

often omitted.

is

of

plausible

a

stream

That may have been

Ephraim.

Dan was

Dan-yaan

'

— furnishes

the

of

'

f

Dan-Ya'ar,' or

Ya'ar-Dan

name

the

for

and

8),

land

'the

(cp.

'

Dan,

in

much more important

for

tribe

than in later times.

There are

some other passages which,

also

throw great

rightly explained,

The most important course, Num. xxii.

of

all

light

the

already more than once referred

subject.

which

(Josh. xx. 8),

1

to me, Josh.

on the

illustrations

But, as

to.

is,

have

I

it

of

seems

17 and xix. 34 are almost equally

iii.

significant. (a) In Josh.

priests

stood

Jordan

till

all

The and before pn

ground.

is

iii.

still

17 the narrator tells us

on dry ground

is

a Pasek, indicating that the text In

fact,

wanted, and

Tappuah

('apple,'

if

prs

would give by

for this context.

qualification of 'the priests stood

Naphtah.

midst of

important words are ]Dn \rpi Tin},

no means the right meaning

1

the

the people had passed over on dry

not free from doubt.

at all

in the

how

No

on dry ground'

is

the narrator chose to give one,

'quince')

is

a witty popular corruption

of

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

136

it

would not be the obscure pn.

<3

and Pesh. do

not express the word, a neglect which on the part of <3 is

is

very significant.

The remedy

an imperfectly written

i.e.

the error and (b)

The

its

lnr

pr

in

Num.

correction are put side

xxii.

by

is i,

side.

other passage occurs in a definition of

the boundaries of Naphtali. are prr

pn

plain,

If so the case

p3Tri.

precisely parallel to that of

is

mirm,

natural sense.

out of which

Light streams

The it is

in,

observe that rmrr sometimes

important words difficult to

get a

however, when we in

the Old Testa-

The ment must have come from VrT = ^NDm\ meaning is, and (it strikes) the Yarhon on the east.' '

The

reference

is

to the

N. Arabian border-land.

Israelite

territory in the

CHAPTER

XVII

GATH

We

have seen that the place-name

and that Golath and

like,

congeners have come by various stages from

Gilead.

1

Let us see

The

admission.

David of

(or

Ethbalite

Elhanan

?)

an unimportant

we may

the

consequences of

further,

contended, was not a native but

city,

of a

which

region

presume to have been one of the most with

the

= Ashkar) son

king of

this

district

of

gave to David the Sedek-gilead).

It

It

brought six hundred

David

recognition

fortified town of Siklag

was

was,

— Akish

— that

Maok ( = Maakah), temporary service, and who in

took

this

whom

champion with

desirable in the N. Arabian border-land.

(

not

be) as 'Winepress-town,' but as a shortened

form of Golath, or the its

is

(however obvious the explanation

to be explained

may

m (Gath)

[i.e.

also from Gilead that Ittai

men

for

David's service, after

David had become king. One can easily believe Gilead that was a place - name as well as a '

'

1

See

p.

1

6, n.

i,

and Two Religions, 137

p.

166, n.

3.

'

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

138

regional

the fuller form of the place-name may-

;

The

have been Ramath-Gilead. xi.

8) declares that

presupposing

(2

Yet

of

vastating (2

K.

x.

into

and

33),

(Ethbalite)

Philistine

At an

inroad

was

city

'

the

all

land

Gilead

of

another raid had

in

Hazael,

period

earlier

city

Aram, had made a de-

southern)

(the

Gath (Gilead), in Rehoboam's

fortified

Uzziah's time the same writer a

6).

and taken the or (as in

in

as

it

Chr. xxvi.

king

that

that

possession.

represents

Rehoboam

Chronicler (2 Chr.

besieged

called (most correctly) Gilead

city

MT.) Gath

K.

(2

1

xii.

17)

on his way to

Jerusalem(?).

An vii. (

obscure statement

21.

= clans)

to

the

may be added from effect

It

is

of

Ephraim were

that

slain

certain

1

Chr.

'sons'

by the men of

Gath that were born in that land, because they Clearly came down to take away their cattle. Gath here stands for Gilead.' But this is not the whole of our gains. Akish was 1

'

'

king of Gath, Gilead

(cp.

Nahash.

i.e.

of Galath, a

Goliath)

name corrupted from

and Akish

;

is

equivalent to

Therefore the Nahash stratum of narra-

must be interpreted on the supposition that the city spoken of in 2 S. as besieged by Joab tive

(Rabbah)

Gileadite.

is

of this view

is

A

valuable corroboration

disclosed by a keener textual criticism

1 How Gath can have been on Hazael's way to Jerusalem, assuming the ordinary views of Old Testament geography, is not

easy to understand (Gemoll,

p.

321).

GATH

139

of the so-called 'Table of Peoples.' 1

if.,

where the seeing eye cannot '

'

the statement that

was 1

in Gilead.'

2

'

Akrabbath, the

See

See T. and B. pp.

1

See Gen.

x.

to recognize

fail

city of

Yewanah,'

further, p. 46.

185-7, but note the alteration of view

now

Akrabbath takes the place of Rehoboth. In fact, Rehoboth and Markaboth seem both to be popular alterations of

made,

viz.

that

Akrabbath, and Rehob and Rekab to be transformations of Akrab (see Jericho chapter). 2

Read

city of

'

that

Yewanah.'

is

Rabbah may be explained

the city of Gilead,'

—a

in like

gloss on

'

manner.

Akrabbath, the

CHAPTER

XVIII

RAMAH AND RAMOTH-GILEAD

The latter name should rather be Ramath-Gilead. Ramah is most probably a contraction of Rahamah, just as

Abram

a contraction

is

simply means, therefore,

and points

to

the

of

Abraham.

It

Yerahme'elite settlement,'

'

when

time

pre-Israelitish

the

population was more purely Yerahme'elite than at

There

present.

which bore

this

were

name

;

doubtless the

MT.

several

places

mentions Ramath-

Negeb, Ramath-Mispeh, Ramath-Lehi, besides the

Ramah the

in the tribe of

tomb

of Rachel,

Benjamin, near which was

and the Ramah

and of

his

father before

Yaman, though the MT. gives thaim. Lehi,

i.e.

It

may

there be

identical

Ramath-Yerahme'el. 1

purely accidental whether

name such

It

Ramawith Ramathas

may, however, be

Ramah had

a

denning

as Lehi (Yerahme'el) attached to 1

See T. ami B. 141

p.

The

Ramath-

called

name

its

hill-

of Samuel,

him, and others.

may perhaps have been once

latter

the

in

home

country of Ephraim which was the

270.

it,

or

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

142

And

not.

must say that

I

seems

it

to

Ramahs

uncertain whether any of the

me

very

of the Old

Testament were in Israel or Judah proper, except perhaps that mentioned in i K. xv. 17 as fortified by Baasha king of Israel with the view of isolating out or

might not

'that he

Jerusalem,

come

Asa king

in to

any

suffer

to

And

of Judah.'

go yet

even here the obvious explanation may not be the For the context is about the N. Arabian true one. land.

Surely

is

it

a N. Arabian king to

sends for help against Baasha. It is also

whom Asa

1

highly probable (see chapter on Tirsah)

that the strong city, in which, after the collapse of his plan of fortifying

Ramah, Baasha

was

resided,

N. Arabian, because Jeroboam, who, before Baasha, resided in Tirsah, had an

official

connexion,

first

as governor and then as king, with N. Arabia. certainly

is

It

even more than probable that some

border-city would be chosen for the residence of

Solomon's chief representative. king's prefects did reside in iv.

13),

the 1

fact,

one of that

Ramath-Gilead

(1

K.

which may perhaps be identified either with

Ramah The

In

of king Baasha or with Tirsah.

difficulty of

Both

harmonizing the non-Israelite notices of the

Aram and the story of Aram in the Books To those who have taken part in the we may now add Luckenbill in AJSL, and Langdon

kings of (the northern) of Kings,

is

controversy in

well

known.

Exp. Times, both

in

discovered inscription. that the Crit.

191

1,

and writing with reference

The way

out of the trouble

is

to a

Old Testament notices refer to the southern Aram (see Ben-hadad comes from Ben-hadad. Originally, how-

Bib.).

ever, the

newly

to recognize

name was

surely Bar-hadad,

i.e.

'

Arabia of Hadad.'

;

RAMAH AND RAMOTHGILEAD Ramah and

Tirsah

143

were probably border-cities

the former protected the

Israelites

of N.

Arabia

against the southern Jerusalem, the latter against

the southern It

is

Aram.

very possible that Ramath-Gilead was the

Gilead which under the disguise of indelibly connected

may

at

Gilead.

'

Gath

any rate have been a border-city

A

precise identification

from our point of view as

view which

is

'

is

with the story of David.

it

is

is

in

so It

southern

as impossible

from the point of

supported by the Massoretic

text.

CHAPTER

XIX

JEPHTHAH

As

long as Iphtah (Jephthah) was supposed to be

the original form of the name, pret

mythologically as

it

In this case Iphtah

egg.'

it

was natural

to inter-

the opener of the cosmic

'

was

name

originally the

of

the divine creator, worshipped by the clan of the

under

Iphtahites

which, the

if

name

this

name

the

means

'

of the tribal

Iphtah

Kain,

(cp.

the divine fabricator,' will be

god of the Kenites

1

But

).

in reality the name Iphtah has most probably been filed down by the mouth of the people, and comes

from Yaphlithah 2 (nn^D 1 ), or the (

Yapheth) comes from Yaphlith

forms

is

Ithbal

told (Judg.

(

=

i),

xi.

represented by

like, just ;

was Gilead,

Yepheth

the root of

His

Ishmael).

as

all

such

we

father,

i.e.

had been from the first But the clan called Gilead.

Iphtah

settled in the district

or tribe referred to had not been able to keep racial

purity,

and other clans of purer blood

1

See E. Bib. 'Cain,'

2

The

more

final

certainly

n is

are

the clan or tribe

'

(as

Iphtah-el,' 'Jephthah.'

a fragment of

comes from

its

rmyas.

nx, i.e. "trw*

See 145

p.

133

;

(Ashhur). T.

and B.

rmi

still

p. 19, n. 1.

10

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

146

was supposed) looked down on Iphtah accordingly. Was not the mother of Iphtah a Sib'onite, or (an 1

equivalent term) an Ashhurite Iphtahites) had to seek

2

So Iphtah

?

refuge where

a

This would naturally be

could.

called in

country,

K.

i

xi.

3

doubt

i.e.

Asshur-Tubal, or Asshur-Ethbaal.

same

as

=

the

he best mother's

the land of Tob.'

'

No

this is the

his

in

(

Ash-Tob

(2 S. x. 18),

Recalled

in

time of need by the elders of Gilead, he became the head of the Gileadites, and eventually a judge of all

the Israel in the border-land

was

at

Mispah (doubtless

and he was buried

The

in Gilead,

His abode

Judg.

xi.

Arabia of Gilead (Judg.

34),

xii.

7).

expulsion of Jephthah, like that of David,

was equivalent god'

in

(xii. 7).

to the

S. xxvi. 19).

(1

Who

of great gods of the god

Israel

Go, serve another

'

and Yerahme'el were

but they were parted on

closely akin,

question,

summons,

is ?

the great

the supreme in the inner circle

—the

older nation being in favour

Yerahme'el, and

the younger

See Traditions and Beliefs

god Yahweh.

of the ;

it

can

hardly be necessary to repeat

here the manifold

grounds

may add

for this

conclusion.

expulsion of Jephthah

Abimelech, who,

like

is

I

parallel to the expulsion of

Jephthah, had a non-Israelite

for his mother. 1

mriN

from

rnriBW.

that the

2

ny from

3"ij\

CHAPTER XX ON NAHASH, HAGAB, AHAB, AND OTHER STRANGE NAMES

Among

the most singular personal or clan-names

Old Testament, and those which have most

in the

powers of

the

strained

interpreters,

Par'osh

are

Huldah (weasel?), Hagab (locust?), Nahash (serpent ?), Ah'ab (the Father is a Brother ?). The two former of these I have already sought to (flea?),

x

explain

;

the two latter have

now

Much

from the newer point of view.

i

S. xi.

1,2

S. x. 2),

Nahash and Akish both

being

Ashkar.

popular abbreviations

The

the

are closely akin, 2 hash and kish

initial letters

again at the popular

We We

among

been

has

Ammonites but one can now see that

said about the serpent-clan

(see

to be considered

will, to

of

Ashhur or

(n and a) are inserted,

produce an expansion.

shall presently find other instances of this.

is

now

really

another case of the expansion of a popular 1

2

This

pass to the so-called locust-clan.

D. and F. pp. xxv,

See E. Bib. 'Nahash'

;

iy.

Gemoll, pp. 29, 348 (with 147

n.).

10 a

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

148

name by

regional

Hagab

(Ezr.

ii.

the prefixing of another letter

46) and Hagabah

expansions of gad, which, modified form ofa/iad,

N. Arabia.

i.e.

a condensed and

Ashhur-Arab, a phrase

n

be noticed that the

It will

appears as p or

often, in derivatives,

for

n^na

in

d (cp. y\ps>,

ipT,

mm). For the expansion of 11 by we may compare Habakkuk.

p»m,

311,

(v.

in turn, is

(A).

45) are simply

the

prefixing of n,

We

see therefore that

only by

names were modified, not

but

curtailment,

by expansion.

may

I

add that the object of such modifications was either euphonic or to produce a name of a more tempting or even perhaps a class to

humorous

signification.

Thus

1

which the clans of Hagab and Hagabah, and

Akkub mean

also that of

This should

belonged,

'

fact that in the old

is

Nethinim.

called

given ones,' and allude to the

days

Yahweh had given up '

enemies of Israel before them as servants to

Israel

'

the

and

But the true form of the class-name was

temple.

its

the

Ethanim or more accurately Ethmannim ( = Ishmaelites). And not to linger again on Nahash (see p. 46), precisely similar is the case of Negeb, a tract

par

which was excellence

graphers

is

of naa

in

m

is

1

is,

not, in ancient times, the

not the correct one.

my

instance

dry land

'

surely the favourite view of lexico-

;

is

Hamu-Rabu,

i.e.

Paradies, pp

280/.

The

letter

initial

judgment, simply expansive, while

a fragment of

An

'

iin

Hamor

= iNrrN. (ass),

Yerahme'el-Arab.

which Cp.

Originally probably Delitzsch,

it

was a

comes

Wo

from

lag das

— NAHASH AND OTHER NAMES transparent regional name, and

name was

land to which this

149

indicated that the

was the

given,

first

part of the N. Arabian border-land to be conquered

and occupied by the Judges

(i.

Negeb

as

has been inaccurately transmitted (see

Nor

is

only

it

in

which may most plausibly be quoted

15)

favour of the explanation of

in

The passage

Israelites.

dry land

'

Hebron

'

'

').

Negeb, but a large number of

other names, primarily regional, but in usage often

meaning

personal, which disclose their

to those

who

have assimilated the discovery of the true meaning of ab, ah, and

—may

names

those

are

I

not here add

Yobab,

Yo'ab,

ham.

Among

Iyyob,

Hobab,

?

Yo'ah, Hamutal, Hamor.

son of

the

There are

Yo'ab.

(1)

David's sister

of Misriyyah

l

Another

).

the personified

families of list

in

A

Naphtah -Mo'ab

ii.

there

a

(1

Chr.

1

fourth

is

an

ii.

into

54)

a

were several clans which

boasted of

of

the

great '

goddess

House

the origin of Yo'ab (inv)

curtailed

A

6).

may assume

sanctuaries

is

one of the two

We

these was probably called

what

a cor-

14),

long post-exilic

in the

clan-name, Ashtart-beth- Yo'ab. that

is

iv.

compound place-name, though con-

verted by the Chronicler

their

corruption

(a

Chr.

(1

third

2

a

is

closely connected with

Ge-Harashim

of Judaean clans (Ezr.

element

Seruiah

is

ruption of Ge-Ashhurim.

One

Yo'abs.

four

;

one of

of Yo'ab.' ?

And

In doubtless

is

and otherwise modified form of ms,

E. Bib. 'Zeruiah.'

-

T.

and B.

pp. 190 f.

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

150 1

Arabia

irr" ) 1

= ^Norm). Yobab. This name belongs

ment of (2)

thirteen

or

while r (equally with

; '

irrT

(

Yokbanite

tribes

Aram

(Gen.

rather

2

king of Madon,

N. Arabian

an

'),

king of Hasor (Josh.

1

xi.

;

xxxvi.

33

ally of

probably

Edom,

and

/.),

to

a

Midian (the

Yabin

=

(

Ishmael),

Also to two Benjamites,

1 ).

( = Shahar-Yam,

Yaman), the other a son of Elpaal is

one of the

to

also to a king of

perhaps rather

or

Madai

'

one a son of Shaharaim

Yobab

an abridg-

is

= Yo'ab.

(1

The

Ashhur-

i.e.

Chr.

viii.

9-18).

doubling of b has

well-attested parallels.

Iyyob.

(3) (art.

'Job') that

parallel in

pointed out in the Ency. Bib.

It is

probability the

in all

name-lists

the

name has

of Genesis.

have hardly any choice but

to identify

If

so,

its

we

Iyyob and

Yobab. (4)

Hobab, 'son of Reuel the Midianite,

(Num.

Yobab, the repeated remains

hob,

b

Arab (through Ah'ab). cod.

A

(5)

gives

Yo'ah

father-in-

x. 29). As in the case of may be disregarded. There which may be a contraction of Ashhur-

law of Moses

'

and Lucian

twa/3,

K.

(2

noteworthy

It is

xviii.

ico/3a{3.

37)

Ashhur, an intimation of the

that, in (&

is

clearly

district of

Yarhu-

N. Arabia

from which Yoah's family came. (6)

The

Hamutal

(2

K.

impossibility of 1

T

and B.

p. 3

xxiii. '

my

31)

2

and

Yarham-Ethbal. 8

husband's father

200.

Cp. D.

is

F.

p.

45.

Ibid. p. 430.

is

the

=

NAHA SH AND dew

'

(see

Cp. hn

Abib,

some

in

E. Bib.

O THER

NAMES

1

5

Hamutal ') needs no showing. compound place-names (Tel-Assur, Tel'

which must be a short way of writing popular form of Ethbaal or Ethmul (

etc.),

Ishmael). (7) (p.

1

Hamor

148,

n.

(Gen. xxxiii.

1).

Babylonian king Hamurabi, at length the key.

19),

from

Cp. the Canaanite to

Hamu-Rabu name

of the

which we have now

CHAPTER EPHRAIM '

Gather up It is

Ephraim

natural to explain ix.

13),

Hebrew

the

for

observed,

— YEHUDAH

the fragments that remain.'

land (cp. Hos. sion

YOSEPH

XXI

Arabs

the

as the fruitful

a fitting and natural expres-

immigrants. called

the

Just

Damascus the Guta, which has come

so,

it

plain

fertile

is

of

to be used as

a proper name. 1

The analogy

of other regionals and clan-names,

however, favours the view that d^idm -qn

may be

a dialect form of

ns

(see

=

is

d?

1*15.

Two Religions,

P- 2 59).

The with the

tribal

name Yoseph

Asaph (*idn). name of one

In

is

Chr. xxv.

1

connected

clearly 2

Yoseph

of the sons of Asaph.

See

is

T.

and B. pp. 381 f. Possibly both Asaph and Yoseph may be popular modifications of Eshbal and Yishbal 1

K.

xi.

respectively.

Cp.

28 the remarks on

p. 88.

1

E. Bib.

col.

131 153

1

on

('Ephraim').

beth

Yoseph

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

154

Yehudah

is difficult.

The

masculine form

once found as a Danite place-name (Josh.

may

-pirn is

xix. 45).

Ehud) from -nnum cp. inr from -itt>N. Or it may come from Tin or Tin. See T. and B. p. 376, and cp. E. Bib. Judah.' It

possibly be (like

;

'

CHAPTER

XXII

ESCHATOLOGICAL GEOGRAPHY

One

fresh

searches place

point that has arisen out of these re-

and those of Gemoll

often

same name example of

bears is

same

and that the

names,

different

the

that

is

often given to different places.

An

by the leading people

this is furnished

of N. Arabia, or the N. Arabian land, which

is

some-

times called Asshur, sometimes Babel, sometimes

names which are

Paras,

really

of Ashhur, Rakbul, 1

tions

or Sarephath) respectively. in

my

though

opinion,

popular abbrevia-

Pathras

(

= Sophereth

equally certain,

It is

equally

2

by the

disputed

N. Arabia

is

often

Yerahme'el, and that this

is

frequently shortened

majority,

into

that

Yaman

which

is

designated by

Yakman), another form of have been struck, in reading

(through

Yawan.

I

Dr. Gray's Isaiah, by the esteemed author's failure to

the

do

justice to these discoveries,

same may be 1

2

said of Dr.

and

I

fear that

H. Mitchell, author

and Beliefs, p. 184. 189/; Two Religions, pp. 302,

Traditions

Ibid. pp.

155

354.

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

156

Haggai and Zechariah,

of

aloud from

'cry

reading of

impossible

surely

rightly retaining

the unsuitable

same

of

series

Thus, the former keeps the familiar

commentaries. but

the

in

the '

sea,'

Yawan

meaning

'

'

and the (Zech.

gives

13),

A

Greece.'

while

latter,

ix.

14A

xxiv.

Isa.

it

want

similar

of insight mars Dr. Gray's exegesis of Isa. xxiv.In

xxvii.

fact,

both he and Dr. Mitchell are astray

on the question of Asshur, which has rather serious consequences. It

in fact,

is,

N. Arabia which furnishes the setting

Though

of this composite eschatological prophecy.

seemingly

refers to the earth (pa), in reality the

it

seer thinks of the peoples most nearly related to the Judaites, is

to

those of N. Arabia, and the city which

i.e.

be 'broken'

(Isa.

xxiv.

10)

the leading people of that region.

we understand xxiv.

singular

the capital of

Only thus can

phraseology of

Isa.

'because they have transgressed laws, over-

5,

stepped

From

the

is

statutes,

the

broken the

time of

the

patriarch

had communicated with but, with the

these

covenant.'

eternal

Abraham God

favoured peoples,

very partial exception of the

they rejected His revealed

Israelites,

will.

Yet the voice of later prophecy declared that N. Arabia was still, par excellence, the Holy Land, and one of

its

mountains was hallowed

In the

degree.

Two

in

a special

Religions (pp. 294-7)

how the text of Isa. and how far it is, in its

2-4

came

I

have be

explained

ii.

altered,

present form, from

to

ESCHATOLOGICAL GEOGRAPHY

157

representing the quatrains of the original poem.

wonderful

that

little

poem

In

holy mountain

the

is

described as the centre of a great educational enterAll

prise.

neighbouring

the

peoples

resort

to

Mount Sion, or Sib'on ( = Ishmael), to be instructed Truly in the mode of life most pleasing to Yahweh. dream

a noble dream, and far nobler than that other of the extirpation of the oppressive peoples

!

No

doubt there were two classes of religious thinkers

among

the

There

Judaites.

Arabians

N.

thought the

were

those

irredeemably bad,

who and

were those who believed that they might

there

become in the

Yahweh, who would, days, admit them to his coronation mountain.' Not perhaps all of them. subjects of

faithful latter

feast 'on this

So many

of the N. Arabians would be destroyed that

one might even say that the N. Arabian peoples, as vehicles of a true national or, in

life,

had disappeared,

the words of the poet (Isa. xxv.

8),

that 'he

hath swallowed up ( = annihilated) Ishmael for ever.' I am, of course, aware that many readers will object to

what they

will

denominate the arbitrary tamper-

ing with the text of a most noble warrant for our faith in immortality.

text has, flash in

alas! it.

The

in

fact,

Isaiah xxv. in the traditional

been regarded as a miraculous

the surrounding darkness

—a

flash which,

found the Jewish race unprepared to receive

But how can we possibly accept such a marvel context, at any rate,

for surely the

'

covering

'

is

?

opposed to this view,

and the

'

veil

'

in

xxv. 7

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

158

are thrown

upon

the peoples' of N. Arabia

'all

Judah by their conqueror (the N. Arabian Asshur), and the tears in v. 8 are those which

as well as

'

are drawn forth by the brutal conduct of the foe.

It

tion

'

must be

plain, therefore, that the 'annihila-

spoken of

&a must refer to the object

in v.

of the later Israelites' most profound longing

more than probably

does, for

— the

And

so

mn, which seems

to

Arabian oppressor.

retribution of the N. it

same

mean 'death,' is really miswritten Temul and Ethmul ( = fnnnN).

for 'ion,

i.e.

hyar\

among

are

current popular distortions of Ishmael.

1

the

Cp. the

Azmaweth and Hasar-maweth (p. In this connexion we may also refer to 56, n. 4). Eshtaol and Eshtemoa, both of which come from

proper names

Asshur- Ethmael. Such, in the main,

is

the

Hebrew

eschatological

geography, apart from some unlooked-for contributions, especially in the

have glanced further study.

Book

of Ezekiel, at which

in Critica Biblica, I

trust that

pathetic younger scholar

the task which will

but which require

some thoroughly sym-

may be

able to undertake

probably soon

fall

from

hands. 1

Review of Gray's Isaiah

in

I

Expositor, June 19 12,

p.

556.

my

INDEX (The Index

Abraham and Abram,

is

owing

imperfect,

to the author's ill-health, but

Azmaweth, 156

Absalom,

scenes of his David, ififf,

revolt

from Baal-Gad, 15, 17, 97 Bahurim, 58 Bathsheba, 46/!

vow, 49 his body-guard, 51 Adam. See First Man Adoni-Bezek and Adoni-Sedek, 29, 42 Adullam, 19 Ah'ab, 50, 150 Akish, 6, 13 (n. 1 ), 46, 137, 147. See his

Beer-sheba, 54

Ben-Hadad, 107, 142

C,

66

(n. 1 )

See Kena'an City-names, 31

Amnion, 47 f. Amos on the Kushites, 4

Dagon, 14/. Dan, 55, 77/., 113/., 134/

Anakites, 17/., 51 (n. 1 ) Aphek, 14 (b. 1 ), 19 Aram, the southern, 26, 48, 64, 128 Araunah the Yebusite, 44 Arbel, region of Yahweh's temple, 65

David, origin

of,

recovers the

18/;

Holy Symbol, 20

body-guard, 52 N. Arabian scribes, 19 his conquest of Jerusalem, 23^ 36/. his conquest of Rabbah, 46/. resides (sometimes) in the southern Jerusalem, 36, 39, 54 his

his

67

,

Arman, the Holy Symbol,

2\ff., 34,

53- 6 4/

Asham-Ishmael, a god-name, 103 Asher, god and tribe, 15-17

(n. 1 )

Deuteronomy, the God of, 34 Dod, Dodah, divine names, 16

Asherah, 17 Ashhartites, 47, 52 Asshur, a city in Assyria, 5

113./.

Canaan.

),

),

)

ff.,

23/. 2 7#. 36. 45/ Amarna Tablets, 28 (n. 1 93, 98

2

1

no,

god-name, 78 Beth-Shemesh, 22 Burkitt, F.

(«.

(n.

Bethel, place-name, 33,

Nahash Akrab, Akrabbath, Akrabbim, 16

Arabia,

yet be helpful.)

Ashtart, goddess, 17, 34, 100, 103

Sarah, 9

41, 43

Argob, Argab, 50

may

(w. 1 ),

17

a regional, 30, 38 ;

or in N.

Eden, 3 Egyptian

48 in compound names, 49/. god-name, 17, 34 Ashhur, god-name, 113 -Ephraim, 105 -Yerahme'el, 78 Ashkal, 103 Ashkar, 30/, 38/., 53, 64 Ashtar, 56/. 5,

list

of place-names, 22 («.-),

25 Eli, his son,

14

Ephraim, the southern, 40, origin of name, 8, 153 Ephrath, 71, 87, 104 Esar-haddon, 14 («.')

55,

Eschatological geography, 155

159

105

THE VEIL OF HEBREW HISTORY

i6o

Eshmun,

Phoenician

god,

9

(«.

2 ),

11 («.l)

-Ye'arim, 128/".

Kush,

Eshtaol and Eshtemoa, 158 Ethbaal, Ethbal, Ethbalites,

Langdon, Stephen, 142

Evolution of concept of God, 10 Ezer, clan-name, 16 («.*), 21

72 First

(«.

4/

13/".,

"3

52. 71.

Kiryath-Arba, 50

(n.

1

(«.

)

3 ),

Lot, 9 Luckenbill, 142

(n.

1 )

(«. ')

2

Maakah, 77 f.

)

Man,

Madai, 102

Biblical stories of, 8- 11

See Baal-Gad

Gad, 16 (n. 1 ). Gadon, 14

4 1 Gath, Gittites, 16 (n. ), 52 («. ), 137^ 2 2 1 Gemoll, M. 19 (?z. ), 20 (n. ), 30 («. ), 1 1 1 ), 49, 51 (w. ), 54> 55 ("- ). 60 2 1 70 (w. 2 ), 78 (w. ), no, 147 (w. ) Geshur, Geshurites, 73, 86 Gibeah, 50 Gibeon, 49, 127 Gideon, 32 («. 2 ), 97 Gilead, the southern, 68, 145/-. etc Gilead-Lot, 9 Gray, G. B., 155^. ,

K

Mahanaim, 59 /. Marduk, 123 Mesha, king of Moab, 16

(ft.

1 )

Meyer, E. 99 (w. 1 ) Migdal-Eder, 99 -Gad, 97 -Shekem, 99/ Misrim, 87, 113, 119 wady of, 74 Moore, G. F. 94 (». 2 Mountains named after races or clans, ,

,

)

-

57

Naaman,

9

Nabu, 123 Hadad, regional, 5 enemy of Solomon, 85/ Hagar,

Nahash. See Akish Naphtuhim, 40, 48, 68 Nebo, Mount, 124 place-name, 124 Negeb, the, 116, 148 Nob, 124

4/

Hamath, 72 Hanok, 8/. Hanokites, 52

Haran,

(n.

1

5

Hashram,

Kashram, 41/.,

or

55, 66,

101

(n.

2 )

See Solomon

Ophir.

Hebron, 49/., iisffHiram, king of Sor, 81 Hittites, the, 47 Horeb, Mount, 7 f. Horse-traffic.

Og, N. Arabian king, 48 Omri, 35, 1 01

86

),

Palestine culture, influences on, Paradise, situation of, 2-8

1

8

See Solomon

Immortality in Isaiah

(?), 157 Indian folk-lore (Nala and Damayanti), 1 24 (n. )

See Yebusites Jehoshaphat, 80 Jephthah, 145/. See Yerahme'el Jerahme'el. Jebusites.

Pathrasim, 52 (ra. ), 69 Perasim, Mount, 19, 45 Perath, N. Arabian stream, See Ethbal Philistines, 13.

58

6,

Pinhasites, 36, 40 Porasites, 52, 69

Psalm

exxii.

,

background

of,

35

Rabshak, or Ramshah, 42, 86, 97 Ramath-Gilead or Ramoth G. 141^ Ramgal, 97 Ramshahites, 42, 51, 69 Rephaim, 19 Resin, 86 Rogelim, 59 ,

Jericho,

131^

Jeroboam, 87, 113/, 14 2 his mother, 87 See Urushalem Jerusalem. See Yardan Jordan, 7. See Yoseph Joseph. Jubilees,

Book

of,

93

Samaria. See Shimron Sedek, regional and clan-name, 42/. Shakram, 25^, 31/, 96 Sbalem, 23, 27, 40

Kena'an, 30, 43, 94, no Kashmeron, 101 Kashram. See Hashram Kerethites and Pelethites, 47,

52/

Shekem,

93^

INDEX Shiloh, 14, 109-111, 119-122

Talmai, king of Geshur, 50 Tappuah, 119 (w. 1 ) Tiphsah, 72 Tirsah, zoyf., 142

Shimron or Shomeron, 104^. Shur, Book of, 65 Sinai, Mount, 57 {?i}) Sion, the N. Arabian, 64 Sodom, 41 Solomon, anointed at Gibeon, 49

Ur-Dod, 38 Uriah, 45-47

Urushalem, 26, 30, 35, 38, 72

N. Arabian residence, 36 his N. Arabian wife, 85 his

his buildings,

his prefects in his corvie,

Winckler, Hugo, 18

63^

Yahwe

N. Arabia, 67 f.

75

his naval expeditions, 79-81 his horses

and

his chariots, 83,

his chariot cities

85

or

Yahweh,

(?),

his religion, 90/". (foot)

THE END

fry

3 ),

89

146 Yahweh-Seba'ith, 34 Yardan or Yarhon, 7, 58, 132, 135 Yashar, Book of. See Shur

Yehudah, 154 Yerahme'el, god-name, ethnic, 47 Yoseph, 153

Sor, the southern, 64

Printed

(«.

17, 33,

Yebusites, 39

70 limits of his empire, 67-75

Sorephim, 20

161

R.

&

R. Clark, Limited, Edinburgh.

19, 33,

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