Israelite Origins Chap Ings of This Article Were Incorporated Into Hoffmeier, Edom, Paran, Teman, Etc

Home , Israel Finkelstein, Shasu

Rendsburg Gary Israelite Origins Chap ings of this article were incorporated into Hoffmeier, Edom, Paran, Teman, etc. the God of Israel, to poetry,archaic of connect consisting repeatedly texts, Yahweh, biblical oldest The Yahweh of the Southland for James Hoffmeier, a As distinctive culture. urban areas to smaller settlements in the hill country, where they created a somewhat (2) and Bible; the in a Canaan, of country hill (1) all in the limited space afforded here. Suffice it to say that the two main positions are: it survey possibly cannot one that vast so is literature origins. The Israelite of topic Histori more than forty years ago, concerns tents, a tents, concerns ago, years forty than more by others before, so before, others by sketch only. Much of what I include below is well known, or article, I of theWilderness Tradition (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005). York: Oxford University Press, 1996); Hoffmeier, Dever of Ancient Israelandthe Origin of Its Sacred Texts (New York: Free Press, 2001), 97‒122; and William data created by the converging lines of evidence. Ancient Israel in Sinai. he himself has discussedmuch of this material in his twobooks,Israelin Egypt

Israel 4. e.g., 1. The 3. 2. I such, trust that the subject of this article will find favor in the eyes of our honoree, since

, See, All James

James Who Were theEarly Israelites and Where Did TheyComeFrom? (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003). A. t latter viewpoint has become more and more standard in recent years. recent in standard more and more become has viewpoint latter e

translations are the author’s. a will originates as a desert or desert- it r 22 ns,

K. K. is

Israel Hoffmeier, Hoffmeier, “Tents in Egypt and the Ancient Near East,” a distinct pleasure to publish this essay in this well- argue for the former position, though to repeat, space allows for a mere a r c Finkelstein and Neil ha

the that

the e Israel inEgypt:TheEvidenceforthe Authenticity oftheExodusTradition (New ologists,

2 friend Southland, using a variety of geographical terms: Sinai, Se In fact, one of the first articles written by our honoree, now honoree, our by written articles first the of one fact, In the value of this article, to article, this of value the Israelites are indigenous Canaanites, who moved from the from moved who Canaanites, indigenous are Israelites

4 view and colleague for almost four decades now. that accords more or less with the picture portrayed picture the with less or more accords that

A. a nd Silberman, fringe Ancient Israel in Sinai: The Evidence for the Authenticity biblic Ancient IsraelinSinai, 196‒98. See further below, §4.

people, who came to settle in the central The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology’s New Vision topic a l sc

my to which we will return below.return will we which to h ol mind, is mind, JSSEA 7:3 (1977), 13‒28. The find- a r s

at continue to debate the debate to continue

least has been stated deserved the accumulation of accumulation Festschrift 1 In this In and 327 ʿ

ir, G. 3

An Imprint of Penn State University Press | Offprint © 2020 The Pennsylvania State University. All rights reserved. Merenptah, in Merenptah, to Edom, to Edom, to Se from (derived bedouin word term, our latterArabic). toThe equivalent less or more nomads, seminomads, denizens of the desert, dwellers on the desert- Judges Deuteronomy 33:2 328 and Lawrence Eastern, Biblical, and JudaicStudiesinHonorofBaruch in Sources”), Egyptian in Desert the in “Nomads title: (English Miṣrayim” period. Kingdom New the to dated Se of ya-h- of mentions the in heard be may references aforecited the of echoes Earlier Shasu Psalm 68:8‒9 Habakkuk 3:3 Yahweh somewhere in the general region, perhaps to be identified as proto-

conceive of Yahweh as a deity associated with the Southland. ʿ ir, is

And approached from Rivevot- He appeared from Mount Paran, And shined upon them from Se Y 6. fmeier, 5. 9 8 And the Holy- God comes from Teman, When you marched forth from the highland of Edom. Y A W O God, when you went out before your people, The earth trembled, indeed, the sky poured, because of God, the one of Sinai; H H

further resonance occurs in P.in occurs resonance further ere the Israelites indigenous Canaanites, it Canaanites, indigenous Israelites the ere wa ʿ Hof The when because ir” in Egyptian topographical lists from Soleb and Soleb from lists topographical Egyptian in ir” W W

one 5:4 H H “the land of the Shasu of Yahweh” and Rendsburg Gary relevant passages are Gen 32:4; 36:8‒9, 21; Num 24:18; Judg 5:4 (cited above); Ezek 35:15. , from Sinai he came forth, , when you came forth from Se

you marched through the wasteland, Selah. of the geographical designations that we saw above in the Bible, connected H.

the

A. of God, the God of Israel. Schiffman (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1999), 21*‒27*.

, 242‒43; and Shmuel and 242‒43;Aḥituv, Ancient IsraelinSinai, ba- “Nodedim which the frontier official Enana wrote to his superior: “We superior: his to wrote Enana official frontier the which south of Israel. of south one from Mount Paran. 6 The former term most likely refers to worshipers of of worshipers to refers likely most term former The ʿ Qodesh. ir. 5 The term Shasu is the Egyptian designation for designation Egyptian the is Shasu term The

An ʿ ir, astasi

A. Levine tȝ šȝśw śa-

is hard to imagine that they would they that imagine to hard 4:11‒5:5, dated to the reign of reign the to dated 4:11‒5:5, , ed.

Robert ʿ -r- ʿ Amarah (both in Nubia), in (both Amarah

ir Ki BaruchHu: “the land of the Shasu Chazan, William fringe, Negev Ancient Near and so on, Israelites. bi-

W tȝ šȝśw tȝ Mqorot . Hallo,

have

An Imprint of Penn State University Press | Offprint © 2020 The Pennsylvania State University. All rights reserved. Merenptah Stele and on the Karnak Temple Reliefs.” the Bible. in recounted trajectory same the text Egyptian this in sees one below), immediately §3, (see groups two the between relationship close the given but “Israel,” word the the eastern delta = Hebrew the Shasu of Edom are admitted into the country, and indeed are settled in Per- esis, from southern Canaan, across the Sinai, with their flocks. Upon reaching Egypt, This episode is strikingly similar to the migration of the Israelites in the book of Gen- Hotephirmaat, which are in Tjeku, to to Tjeku, in is prosperity,which life, health, finished admitting the Shasu tribes of Edom at the fortress of Merenptah Hotephirmaat, in Honor of Williamin Honor Sanford Lasor, ed. 1977), 58‒59; and Donald become common in the land of Israel until the Arab migrations of the latter half of the to since, book, the of composition the for date late a signify sug bizarre rather the overturn to was studies these of three all of purpose he John Vanof gestion n. As indicated above, one of Hoffmeier’s earliest articles (published in 1977; see above, Tents mation available for any other neighboring people (and see in particular 36:6‒8, 31). infor any unlike far 36), (ch. detail genealogical of amount sizable a of Genesis of Fourth, the closeness of the two groups is reflected by the incorporation into the book trast, other neighbors (such as Moab, Ammon, Aram, etc.) are more distantly related. By Jacob. and Esau progenitors, respective the of twinness the through Bible the of stories foundation the in reflected is Israel and Edom of closeness the Third, latter is used for the people who inhabit the land (see the passages cited in n. are essentially synonymous: the former is used for the geographical region, while the the Shasu of Yahweh.” Second, as Egyptian topographical lists collocate “the land of the Shasu of Se The closeness of the two groups is reflected in manifold ways. First, as Israel and Edom were settled. namely, Kenneth Kitchen and Donald Wiseman. were written by individuals who would become close colleagues as the years passed, year.following the or year Moreover,that either appear they would studies relevant

3) 7. T For It

would be too sleight- too be would

dealt Kenneth more on the Israelites as Shasu, see further below, §10, “ ‘Israel’ in the “ ‘Israel’in §10, below, further see Shasu, as Israelites the on more with the topic of tents. Unbeknownst to him at the time, two additional two time, the at him to Unbeknownst tents. of topic the with

A. Kitchen,

J. Seters Wiseman, “They Lived in Tents,” in The Bible in Its World: TheBible and Archaeology Today (Exeter: Paternoster, of ם תֹ ּפִת that references to tents in Genesis (12:8; 13:3; 13:5; etc.) 13:5; 13:3; (12:8; Genesis in tents to references that - ha “Pithom” (Exod 1:11), the city where also the Israelites

Gary nd to simply replace “Edom” in P.in “Edom” replace simply to nd

we Tuttle (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978), 195‒200.

keep them alive and to keep their flocks alive.” learn from the Bible, the terms Se

the pools of Per- of pools the 7

Biblical andNearEasternStudies:Essays Israelite Origins

his Atum ʿ mind, tents did not did tents mind, ir” and “the land of

Ana of Merenptah of

stasi noted ʿ ir and Edom

A VI above). above, tum in

con with 329 - - -

An Imprint of Penn State University Press | Offprint © 2020 The Pennsylvania State University. All rights reserved. the book of Judges (7:8; 19:9; 20:8) and the one instance in 1 mainly from the eighth to seventh centuries BCE, due to the nature of the evidence. of IsraeliteSocietyinIron Age 2001), 21‒23. For detailed information on more than two dozen sites, see Avraham Faust, Samuel and Kings. and Samuel As not in tents. houses, built of stone, as approximate timeframe for these episodes), however, the Israelites were living in true 980 around of period time the During “home.” connotation the with “tents” word the use Israel monarchic with dealing material emphasis and/or was interpreted differently. sufficient receive not did mind my to which but Homan, by explored feature one on entire subject of tents and tent imagery now has been thoroughly analyzed in the reader to his excellent treatment for detailed discussion. Homan, Michael by monograph fine the Dynasty) to (Twelfthto Sinuhe Dynasty) from ranging evidence the tents were part of ancient Levantine society during the second millennium BCE, with BCE. millennium first 330 sites), but my main focus here is on monarchic Israel, with well- Israel’sin below,point (see houses stone history,in living on were §6, likely most people the Lawrence Tents in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East, CHANE 12 (Leiden: Brill, 2002). yet, the biblical text uses the following expressions: 11. I The 10. the summary in Hoffmeier, 9. 8. each- fled, had Israel all “and 18:18: And

6. 7 8 4. 2 5 3

refer to the expression used in the title of the book and its various echoes in echoes various its and book the of title the in used expression the to refer

. . . . . See Michael Se

B. 2 1 upon the conclusion of Solomon’s ceremony for the dedication of the temple. 1 the end of the siege of Abel- 2 to have the people defect from David. 2 of David’s mourning for Absalom. 2 to Absalom’s supporters. ence to the Judahites, routed by Israel, during the reign of Amaziah. 2 Israelites return to their homes, in 1 Rehoboam. following in purpose no is there that realize they when Israel, northern of

e Homan, e

E. S.

Kgs 14:12 (= 2 Chr 25:22): “and they fled, each-

Rendsburg Gary Kgs 12:16 (= 2 Chr 10:16): “to 10:16): Chr 2 (= 12:16 Kgs Kgs 8:66 (~ 2 Chr 7:10): “and they [sc. ‘the people’] went to their tents”— their to went people’] ‘the [sc. they “and 7:10): Chr 2 (~ 8:66 Kgs Kgs 12:16 (= 2 Chr 10:16): “and Israel went (each- went Israel “and 10:16): Chr 2 (= 12:16 Kgs Sam Sa Sam Sam

Stager, J. 10 m 19:9: “now Israel had fled, each-

the Isserlin, M.

A. 20:1: “each- 20:22: “and they dispersed from the city, each- Homan, Great Harris Papyrus of Ramesses To Life inBiblical Israel, Library of Ancient Israel (Louisville: Westminster John Knox,

Your Tents, O The Israelites To

Hof Ho

revealed Y

(Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2002), 207–12, even if the data derive data the if even 207–12, 2002), (WinonaEisenbrauns, II IN: Lake, our Tents, O man man observes, on observes, man fmeier,and Wisemanthat Kitchen, clearly demonstrated

, 17‒19. I 17‒19. Israel, (London: Thames to his tents, O Ancient Israel inSinai, 196‒98. in the archaeological record throughout Israel—and

Beth- Israel! TheT

your To

Maacah. light

Your Tents, O Israel”—spoken

tents, O tents, it from Homan’s from from instances it three the registry

n & m erminology, Function, Form, andSymbolismof umerous occasions the authors of theof authors the occasionsumerous

Sa of the above. Hudson, 1998), 122–24; and Philip an to his tents”—upon the conclusion

BCE muel from premonarchic Israel (4:10). By e stablished cities evident throughout the land.

man III

Israel!”—spoken through around 780 around through (Twentieth Dynasty). man to his tents”—with reference tents”—with his to

Thutmose (2002); and I direct I and (2002); Israel would like to focus Here 11 to his tents”—with refer man m by Sheba, in an) to an)

I to his tents”—upon

hi III The Archaeology by the people the by s tents”—the s (Eighteenth

his

the

BCE 8 J. attempt attempt King and elliptical elliptical (the

t his his -

An Imprint of Penn State University Press | Offprint © 2020 The Pennsylvania State University. All rights reserved. the Arabic cognate in Semitic Languages and Linguistics 98 (Leiden: Brill, 2019), 108. for the latter, see Ahmad Al- the nonurban Amorites, along with the Safaitic cognate second meaning, “pastureland,” note the Mari Akkadian cognate or root, separate a from derive 5:3; 8:6; 18:15). In ( “pastureland.” But of the thirty- while the others (except for (except others the while are lexemes these of three comments, parenthetic the by cated idiom examined above. for desert and desert- and desert for suitable dwellings portable in lived longer no Israelites of majority vast the beyond, course of Hebrew.and ancient BCE, in centuries eighth and ninth, tenth, the During I case, the was Such language. English contemporary the inform to continues verb) a as also above, case one in though noun, a as (mainly mechanized age of the twentieth and twenty- was once an essential part of their cultural repertoire. Such is no longer the case in the These expressions reveal a people (to water,to horse a lead can “you on. mouth”; can’tso you and drink”; but him make horse’s mouth”; “wild horses couldn’t drag me away”; “don’t look a gift horse in the candidate”; “a lish idioms, into the twenty- Eng- within “horse” of use repeated the is conjure can I that analogy best tents. The equivalency for “go language persists with the tent imagery, especially when used as a functional semantic , as well- within houses stone in living were Israelites the late in David’s reign (thus, ca. /origins culture. tent to and tents to related terms in rich very is vocabularyHebrew the that observesfurther Homan Linguistic Terminology (a): Tents “I horse”; high offyour “get (15×); (Isa 40:22); ogy,” though as I hope to have demonstrated, there is more at stake in the linguistic usage. Exod 15:13; 2 18. 17. . It is not always easy to determine when the word means “tent- means word the when determine to easy always not is 16. It The Now 15. http:// pedigree: English good a have expressions these of 12. 13. 14.

16 Always Homan, See -12 Homan, Especially Many

persistence of this idiom bespeaks a people who once upon a time lived in lived time a upon once who people a bespeaks idiom this of persistence ה רָ י טִיר -horse the Arabic cognate

I Sa ה ּפָ חֻ פ “tent- indicated above, during the period under consideration here, from early or in conjunction with the “tent- T T m 15:25; Isa 27:10; 32:18; 33:20; Jer 10:25; 31:23; 50:70; Ps -related

o o

addition, I hors

for Ishmaelites (Gen 25:16), Midianites (Num 31:10), and Qedemites (Ezek 25:4). “tent- Your Tents, O ḥiwā Your Tents, O encampment” e of a different color”; “don’t beat a dead horse”; “straight from the ʾ -idioms. .

home” canopy” fringe Jallad

count only the singular form 13

14 qubba. in the very least would be formed irregularly from the singular.the from irregularly formed be would least very the in As one Items include: Items

Israel, 22, speaks more generally of “the fluidity of residential terminol- Israel, 13‒14. For more detailed analysis, see and Karolina Jaworska, or “they went home” or “they fled home.” first lifestyle, and yet the word “tent” persevered in the key the in persevered “tent” word the yet and lifestyle, occurrences of the word, I נָוֶה

could 980 (3×); ) are infrequently attested. That said, as said, attested. That infrequently are ) century: “hold your horses”; “stop horsing around”; (6×);

BCE) eat a horse”; “a horse”; a eat ר י רִ פְ ַ ְר encampments”

w 17 it, Britons and Americans) for whom the horse and ׁש through the reign of Amaziah (ca.

ה ּבָ קֻ ב “tent- nwy “pastureland.” The former is well known; while first ה ּוָ חַ ו “tent” (Num 25:8); (Num “tent” נָוֶה A

Dictionary oftheSafaiticInscriptions canopy” “tent- ת here, and not the plural form of Jair in Transjordan (Num 32:41, etc.). Note centuries, and yet the word “horse”

count fifteen of them meaning “tent- nawû, used to refer to the land inhabited by

OED, s.v. “horse.” one- encampment”

developed submit, (Jer 43:10); horse abode”

7 9:7; Prov 3:33; 21:20; 24:15; Job mentalfloss Israelite Origins town”; “a town”; and when the word means word the when and with the word “tent” word the with 15 cities. cities. the yet And hapax legomena, urtain” ק ּדֹ נָוֶה .com (6×). “tent- “tent-

indicated in indicated ֹו

which may ,נְא ,נְא /article

dark- 780 18 indi- As c abode” ,

BCE), Studies Studies abode” horse /5

to the to 6850 331 12

An Imprint of Penn State University Press | Offprint © 2020 The Pennsylvania State University. All rights reserved. to ments, with the use of stone buildings replacing the former tent structures. In perimeter, leaving the central portion as the courtyard for the sheltering of flocks. standard bedouin encampment and the elliptical sites, the residences are placed on the provides the best etymon: not to be transported.” While various cognates have been proposed, once again Arabic in Isa 33:20. In in Arabic and Mari Akkadian, with reference to nonurban society. the footnotes, (1) 332 large swath of land that wraps around the arable land in Canaan, from the southwest the is, that fringe, desert the above—suggests written have I what per material, cal their construction of the elliptical site, though the larger picture—including the bibli- to prior country hill central the in resident were pastoralists the that possibility the open leavesoriginal). FinkelsteinWith emphasis phrase, 338; last (p. this dwellers” lived on the fringes of the settled areas, or flocks but apparently did not herd camels, did not originate deep in the desert, but had from the urban Canaanite polity of the Late Bronze period. These people, who tended country in the Iron plan, site elliptical “The following: the include Finkelstein by statements hill the in settled who people the of “Most 337); (p. camp” tent nomadic the from adapted was courtyard,large central a encompassed broadrooms of series a where nomads. desert former of sedentarization the reflect BCE, centuries eleventh and twelfth the Iron in country hill centralAge the dominate that sites elliptical In his early work, Israel Finkelstein reached the brilliant conclusion that the numerous Elliptical Sites 1863‒1893) 5:1911‒12. See also Old South Old also See 5:1911‒12.1863‒1893) Arabian Biblical Hebrew: A For the Arabic, see Edward William Lane, 154. 1984), Press, Scholars VerbCA: (Chico, 74 Series Dissertation Literature Biblical of Society Forms, passed into Hebrew with the meaning “load.” Ethiopic, and Aramaic cognates mean “load,” clearly related, but semantically further afield. The Aramaic ט-ע-ן photographs taken in the Negev from as early as 1975) in the IsraeliteSettlement , 239‒49. The present writer continues to use these illustrations (along with his own and drawings of modern bedouin encampments; see the ample illustrations in Finkelstein, cognate diagrams (both schematic plans and isometric reconstructions) of Exploration Society, 1986). Finkelstein, Israel version: Hebrew earlier the on based was published, was it when attention wide received which book, English book. The this to refer paragraph next the in embedded ety,references page 336‒38. The 238‒50, 1988), age or water,” listed in Al- et

al., live in the desert and desert- One 19. For the various cognates, see the discussion in Frederick in discussion the see cognates, various the 19. For Key 20. 21. Sabaic Dictionary

While Isra a ,צ-ע-ן item not included in Homan’s treatment is the verb 20 Rendsburg Gary el Finkelstein, The layout of these settlements replicates the layout of bedouin encamp- bedouin of layout the replicatessettlements these of layout The Finkelstein’s prose is illuminating, the clearest picture emerges from simply comparing the

this passage, the prophet envisions Jerusalem as an

Study of the Phenomenon and Its Treatment Since Antiquity with Special Reference to

these terms often are used in conjunction with those who continued

I / (Leuven: Peeters, 1982), 171; and Safaitic Dictionnaireand 171; 1982), Peeters, (Leuven: Sabéen period came from a background of pastoralism, and not Jallad The Archaeology of theIsraelite Settlement Ha- ʾ Arkhe and Jaworska, ẓa ʿ ana “journey, depart, remove.” fringe ʾ ologya šel Tequfatšel ologya ha- Arabic- (Qedemites, etc.); and (2) Dictionary oftheSafaitic Inscriptions, 143. The Akkadian, English ẓ-

ʿ perhaps “move, shift, decamp,” listed in listeddecamp,” shift, “move, -n A. classroom Lexicon Hitnaḥalut even in the midst of the sedentary

the , 8 vols. (London: Williams

E archaeological findings and the photos teaching and public lecturing. (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Soci- . Greenspahn, . ve- 19 ha-

several find cognates Šof

ן עָ צְ ל־יִ ַלי ְע hapax legomenon ṭ (Jerusalem: Israel (Jerusalem: im Hapax Legomena in dating mainly to mainly dating ẓ- ּב Archaeology of ʿ “seek herb- “seek -n

F ל הֶ אֹה .

& Norgate, L

both directly . “a

B eeston

tent 21 the

An Imprint of Penn State University Press | Offprint © 2020 The Pennsylvania State University. All rights reserved. §82. Shuwa- and Iron Canaan in Age Israelites Dynamics: Settlement , 18 Scientist, New The Anthropological Archaeology rich vocabularies for all manner of “camel” (classified by age, sex, traits, etc.). traits, sex, age, by (classified “camel” of manner all for vocabularies rich while the Omani camel herders who speak either Arabic and/or Mehri have similarly other reindeer herders across northern Eurasia contain numerous words for “reindeer”; manifestations. various its in those spoken by the Inuit and the Sami, indeed do contain numerous words for “snow” tion) appears to uphold the notion that the languages used in northern climes, such as Eskimo Vocabulary Hoax, but recent research by Igor Krupnick (Smithsonian Institu- ;(Joel 2:3 ,12:10 ה חָ ֵ ל מְלֵח of the elliptical sites. elliptical the of Finkelstein has moved away from his original conclusions regarding the significance Southland” (see above, §1, and see further below). to the south to the southeast and even to the east, what I would call very generally “the I “to terminology in In an oft- Linguistic Terminology (b): Desert in the light of new evidence, in evidence, new of light the in “arid- ת ;(Jer land” (Lev 16:22) son’s paradigm example is Tofa Erosionthe and guages Knowledge Human of for riding)” (p. 27). For camels, see Domenyk Eades, Janet encampment, that fact remains. without change. The elliptical sites still bespeak the arrangement of the bedouin tent 169–86. Good examples (see p. “Camel Culture and Camel Terminology among the Omani Bedouin,” -really by the herders). I “female camel in later stages of pregnancy” (with a similar distinction in the Omani Arabic dialect spoken “snow.” linguistic- pioneering

include 24. 26. 25. 27. 23. I above, n. 22. 28. Linguists 17:6); must add here the following: If following: the here add must “barren- -50

land” Including See See For E For For . -eskimo 26

Y overlooked reindeer, K. see this information here for those who may wish to claim that the rich Hebrew a summary of the research see David Robson, “Are There Really 50 general introduction, see https:// Some go so far as to call this the Great Eskimo Snow Hoax or the Great the or Hoax Snow Eskimo Great the this call to as far so go Some . the treatment by Thomas treatment the

ר בֶ ּדֹב Ku ן ;(passim) continue to debate the observation made by the great Frank Boas in his in Boas Frank great the by made observation the debate to continue tscher,

land” “steppe” (Isa 5:17; Mic 2:12); am -words the general area of David’s hiding places, for which see 1 ה ָ ּי צִּ grateful to Aaron Rubin (Pennsylvania State University) for both of these references.

1. December “desert” (16×);

A denote the deserts”: the denote -for (lit. “salt- (lit. ֹו

;(land of drought” (Hos 13:5“ אֶרֶ לְאֻבּתַ ץ ּתַ לְאֻב Hi 22 comment, E. anthropological ֹו While it is admirable for a scholar to alter his or her position her or his alter to scholar a for admirable is it While

-snow story of the Hebrewthe of storyLanguage ימ ִי Da 21 (2002): 83‒118, esp. pp.

ׁש 17 chary “ ‘5-year- vid Harrison, vid ;(×wasteland” (13“ י י 8) are Mehri ְ 2012; https:// 2012; . 27 land”)

E. In similar fashion, the lexeis of the Sami, Tofa,the of lexeis the andfashion, similar In 23

t Levy and Levy F.Augustin he current case, I case, current he

Y. ּו ה en (Jer 17:6; Ps 17:6; (Jer rġād “female camel in beginning of pregnancy” vs.

ּתֹ (New York:Harri- 27–29. 2007), Press, University Oxford When Languages Die: The Extinction of the World’s Lan-

www Kutscher observed that Biblical Hebrew is rich .wikipedia “wasteland” (Deut 32:10; Ps I old research concerning the many Inuit words for words Inuit many the concerning research understand his more recent work correctly,work recent more his understand 24 male castrated rideable reindeer’ (the most useful kind

.newscientist ר ּבָ דְ מִד ב ה תָ ּבָת

91‒100 .or 25

C. “steppe, wilderness” (passim); wilderness” “steppe, (Jerusalem: Magnes; Leiden: Brill, 1982), 56, 1982), Brill,Leiden: Magnes; (Jerusalem: ר ּבַ דְ מִ ְַּר “desert- ה מָ מָ ְ ָמ g

/wiki 107:34; Job 39:6); Job 107:34; Watson, and Mohammed Ahmad al-

(written by Levy).

C. ׁש m .com

/Eskimo

Ar Hull, ust say,ust endures, evidence the abs in the Chad Basin,” Chad the in abs Journal ofSemitic Studies 58 (2013): precipice” /article “desolate wilderness” (Jer “Migrations, Ethnogenesis, and Ethnogenesis, “Migrations, _words ם י רִ רֵ ֲ ח ֵר

Israelite Origins Sam /mg2

E skimo Words for Snow?” 23:19, 24; 26:1, 3. “scorched- _for 1628962

(Isa 5:6; 7:19). 107:40; Job 6:18); ה רָ ֵ ז ּגְ ץ רֶ אֶ ֶץ ְּזֵר _snow -800 . “cut- Journal of -are places” madanay Mahri, -there ה ָ ב רָ ֲ עֲר 333 of 28 f

An Imprint of Penn State University Press | Offprint © 2020 The Pennsylvania State University. All rights reserved. ם) sheepfolds יִ תַ ּפְ ׁשְ מִ ש פ ַי is Simeon in Cisjordan. Reuben and Simeon as the First Two Sons of Jacob present discussion. vocabulary for “desert” (see also above, §5, regarding “tent”) is 334 desert- in the Genesis narrative, Reuben and Simeon, are the two southernmost, and thus most To the best of my knowledge, no and all the settlements that surround these Simeon, only about Simeon do we read an additional statement with the word “settle- reveal its character. While all the tribes gain “cities and their settlements,” including In meon disappears even earlier, in as waning, is tribe’sidentity the individual“ וְ כָל־הַֽ חֲצֵרִ֗ אֲׁשֶ סְבִיבֹות֙ עָרִ ים ּלֶה :”ments רים הָאֵ֔ ֤ הֶֽ ֣ ” 19:8). (Josh cities etc.) becomes more and more focused on kingship, Jerusalem, temple, and such. poetry,(prose, material biblical the prophecy,necessarily,of focus the because but And then the Bible loses track of Reuben and Simeon, not because they disappeared of obvious, rather all is two tribes was more connected to their flocks, sheepfolds, and unwalled settlements. largeany without fringe, desert the on are these of lifestyles the therefore and cities, the Bible, though with the focus on Dan, Bethel, Shechem, and Samaria (and not Jerusalem, of to unwalled settlements. and Manasseh, but the effect there is slightly different. 183. Faust, Literaturealso See 53‒70. 1998), Press, in University Hopkins Johns (Baltimore: Ancient Israel Avraham The Firstborn of Jacob: Sacral Traditions and Early Israelite History,” in first- the of track lost never Bible the usage there is metaphorical, as ם) nected with unwalled, nonurban settlements י רִ ֵ צ ֲ חֲצֵר Israelites became more and more urbanized, and thus their eponymous ancestors are and Simeon, respectively. These tribesmen retained their pastoral ways, even as most comment. explicit the makes ever he if of Reuben, and he came close to stating what I have just stated, though I am not sure Frank Moore Cross devoted a study to early Israelite traditions relevant to the territory

ם) tribe is associated with its flocks י in Judg 5:16, where, quite tellingly, the רִ ָ ד ֲ עֲדָר the book of Joshua, there is a unique statement about Simeon, which does much to The 33. 32. Most translations render 31. 30. True,word same the First- “Reuben, Cross, Moore 29. But This Si

Israel’s Ethnogenesis: Settlement, Interaction, Expansion, andResistance

T And Frank like, he only potential parallel to Josh 19:8 regarding Simeon is Josh 16:9 with reference to Ephraim to reference with 16:9 Josh is Simeon regarding 19:8 Josh to parallelpotential only he last we hear of Reuben, within the grand narrative of Genesis through Kings, Rendsburg Gary ditto for the Northern Kingdom, based on the literary remains thereof that are preserved inpreserved are that thereof remains literary the on based Kingdom, Northern the for ditto of

the tribes of Israel: the former in Transjordan, the latter in Cisjordan. in in Transjordan,former latter the the Israel: of tribes 31 ). This implies that the lifestyle of the Simeonites was more con- more was Simeonites the of lifestyle the that implies This 30 ם יִ תַ ּפְ ׁשְ מִ ש פ ַי

the son/tribe is compared to a donkey. ם י רִ ֵ צ ֲ חֲצֵר “sheepfolds” occurs in Gen 49:14, with reference to Issachar,reference to 49:14, with Gen in occurs “sheepfolds” the but as “villages,” though I prefer “settlements,” with specific reference

course, one Born

has noticed that the first two sons born to Jacob Judg 1 (vv. 3, 17), though already in this episode 29 of Jacob,” of since the territories of Reuben and Simeon and Reuben of territories the since Moreover, he

born its destiny is allied with that of Judah. of that with allied is destiny its ZAW and second- and ) than that of other tribes. 100 (1988): 46–65; revised as “Reuben, as revised 46–65; (1988): 100

did

Fr not address the matter of matter the address not om Epic to Canon: History and

born inconsequential (London: Equinox, 2006), status of Reuben of status course). 32 to the ) and 33

An Imprint of Penn State University Press | Offprint © 2020 The Pennsylvania State University. All rights reserved. classification. are correct, as correct, are Some Lexical Features of Hebrew including, e.g., accorded first and second position in the Jacob cycle (and in later rehearsals thereof, Genealogical Classification of Semitic, 348. Jo of pens Hackett the Ann from rejoinder harsh a by met was proposal s by Rainey, Hebrew remains a Canaanite dialect. and Na’ama Pat- “Transjordanian language” (his term). From this oral communication, Rainey developed an entire theory about Hebrew as a My in Aramaic, with and dialects Transjordanian with emes lex- key some shares Hebrew that to Rainey commented Anson I ago years Some Ugaritic in his schema) to ago by H. by ago years many presented was approach reasoned far,more too a reached but have may and Pat- and cal Classification of Semitic: The Lexical Isoglosses (Berlin: de sive treatment, I treatment, sive recorded see considerable overlap, including his chart at the top of p. article beforediscoveringKogan’smy of section this entirety of pleased to very was I thereon, and pages and Rainey, “Whence Came the Israelites and Their Language,” adjective that I use: “H. 293. As Vol.PatriarchsThe ed. 2: , of Hackett and Pat- I present above. and Anson Rainey,” F. 34. Rainey’ • • • • • 35. 37. 36. • • N.

examples ה-י-ה ע-ׂש-ה ב ר א ה-ל-ך ר

Pat-

ֹ ל Anson. Jo Though H. ׁשֹו י עִ another הָ זָה observation to Rainey. “no, not” (attested in Moabite, Ammonite, Aramaic; cf. Ann “city” (attested in Moabite; cf. “gold” (attested in Aramaic; also Arabic

El. “bull, ox” (attested in Aramaic; cf. L. El’ “be” (attested in Moabite and Aramaic; cf.

“go” (attested in Moabite; cf.

L. Ginsber 37 “do” (attested in Moabite; cf. s (2010) criticism of Rainey’sof criticism ‘Transjordanian’(2010) (2007) s in hypothesis,”

A. In said article, Ginsberg proposed to divide Canaanite (which includes (which Canaanite divide to Ginsbergproposed article, said In Maarav

it is not clear that Rainey ever denied that Hebrew was a dialect of Canaanite, the claims the Canaanite, of dialect a was Hebrew that denied ever Rainey that clear not is it indication of the overlap between my sketch here and Kogan’sand here comprehen- sketch exceedingly my between overlap the of indication note 36 Ginsber

included:

Hackett and Na’ama Pat- Na’ama and Hackett Rainey

it El That said, the data remain, and some explanation is required. Rainey 2 El, would be too extreme to remove Hebrew (and Moabite) from this from Moabite) (and Hebrew remove to extreme too be would Chr 2:1–2). g, “The Northwest Semitic Languages,” in notwithstanding. For the record, nor did I ever suggest such, when I made the above- that he too refers to the Ginsberg essay throughout his book, indeed, with the same the with indeed, book, his throughout Ginsbergessay the to refers too he that

L. 17 (2010) 173‒88. For a response, see Leonid Kogan, “Postscript: On who argued strongly that, notwithstanding the evidence garnered , “Redefining Hebrew:“Redefining , A

Ginsber

g, in g, Benjamin

a Phoenic group along the coast and a Hebraic group inland. g’s brilliant summary description of NWS (1970),” for which see Kogan, brilliant essay cited neither by Rainey nor by Hackett by nor Rainey by neither cited essay brilliant Mazar (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1970) 102–24, 1970) Press, University Rutgers Brunswick: (New Mazar E l, “On l, 34

(קרת Phoenician

(י-ל-ך Phoenician T (פ-ע-ל Phoenician

C ransjordanian Language,” ransjordanian anaanite and Historical Linguistics:Historical and anaanite A

(אלף Phoenician 35

372, There is no doubt that the coauthors d

ahab; cf. Gruyter

IEJ 57 (2007): 41‒64. with many of the same lexical items that The

(כ-ו-ן Phoenician World History of the Jewish People, , 2015), 369‒75. I

contrast (חרץ Phoenician Israelite Origins

14 (2007): 67‒81; (2007): 14 Maarav (בל Phoenician

his to Phoenician. to

book wrote

J. R Genealogi-

ejoinder to ejoinder A. almost the

Hackett 335

An Imprint of Penn State University Press | Offprint © 2020 The Pennsylvania State University. All rights reserved. Wolfgangder van Pieter Veenand Zwickel Görg’s both confirmed have and reading scholars, including our own honoree, found the reading to be forced, but more recently the temple (which) Ikaysu (~Achish) son of Padi built” (line 1), and“ בת.בן.אכיש.בן.פדי word the of use the to אדתה but not with Hebrew. Phoenician, with align which of both 3), (line lady” “his Shasu, a Shasu, as portrayed ones the are reliefs wall the on Israelites the that demonstrated Rainey in tified the wrong scene as representing the Israelites. As tures with Phoenician.with tures dedicatory inscription, found at a major Philistine site, whichindeed does sharefea- to Philistine; and Phoenician, Ugaritic, assigned are group former group are assigned Hebrew, Ammonite, Moabite, and Edomite. To 336 IEJ 47 (1997): 1–16. 21687. ÄM number accession the bearing (Berlin) Museum Neues the in In 2001 Manfred Görg proposed to read the name “Israel” on a fragmentary stone relief 11. Sidebar: Possible Reading of “Israel” on Berlin ÄM 21687 inscribed on the Merenptah Stele. words the of representation pictorial Templea Karnak provide the of Cachette la Frank work, de Cour Yurcothe of wall western outer the on reliefs the that revealed in the Merenptah Stele, dated to around1210 As is well known, the earliest reference to Israel in the archaeological record appears 10. “Israel” in the Merenptah Stele and on the Karnak Temple Reliefs contrast, Hebrew, as (e.g., Moabite with aligned 20‒38. popular version, Yurco, “3,200-Year- to the major Canaanite urban centers. This linguistic evidence bespeaks a people with ties and origins to that region, and not dialects.coastal the tothe Transjordanianisto relatedit thanCanaanite of dialects In Edomite material at our disposal, presumably we would be able to enlarge the picture. Reliefs,” Rainey,treatment: Merenptah’slonger in a “Israel andwithin subject Inscription the to returned author

§§2‒3.

sum, while Rainey overreached, there can be no doubt that Hebrew is more closely Remarkably 41. g, “Northwest Semitic Languages,” 108–11. 40. 39. 38. By 42. 43. the

Frank Anson Manfred Ginsber Seymour Ibid, IEJ 51 (2001): 57‒75.

Rendsburg Gary conclusion 42 12.

J. F . Rainey, “Rainey’s Challenge,” Yurco,“Merenptah’sCampaign,” Canaanite

Görg, “Israel in Hieroglyphen,” A. Gitin, Trude Dothan, and Joseph Naveh, “A Ginsberg wrote this article decades before the discovery of the Ekron which coheres perfectly with the information presented above, presented information the with perfectly coheres which 40 39 I refer here specifically to the syntax in the opening phrase opening the in syntax the to specifically here refer I

all who have investigated the matter realize, is

of use by אשר for the relative pronoun). If pronoun). relative the for אשר by use of Old Picture of Israelites Found in Egypt,” 41 This great discovery notwithstanding, Yurco iden- BAR 17.6 (Nov.‒Dec. 1991): 56–60, 93. A BN

106

BCE. (2001): 21‒27.

Royal 23 (1986): 189‒215; and in a more a in and 189‒215; (1986): 23 JARCE

In awonderfulpiece of detective

Dedicatory Inscription from Ekron,” a corrective to Yurco’s work, BAR 16.5 (Sept.‒Oct. 1990): 38

we had more had we

decade most most closely 43

the Several later the latter

An Imprint of Penn State University Press | Offprint © 2020 The Pennsylvania State University. All rights reserved. group’s nomadic origins. To der Veen,nascent the of context the within Israel to moreover,reference the situate of the Eighteenth Dynasty = fifteenth to fourteenth centuries BCE). Zwickel and van his interpretation. e.g., internet, the on available readily are region the of photographs Satellite Southland. the simply as land of A van der Veen, Christopher Theis, and Manfred Görg, “Israel in Canaan (Long) Before Pharaoh Merneptah? Possible Its and Israel Background,”Historical andArchaeological 50 (2007): 225‒47, esp. pp. Jordan. modern of desert southern the and Israel, modern of Negev the Egypt, modern of Sinai the constitutes today that area the equals which Southland, desert- of orbit the in found be to are The first ten sections ofthisarticle hopefully have demonstrated that Israel’s origins 12. The Mesopotamian Connection of connection. this datum demands attention in an article entitled “Israelite Origins.” mentioning ÄM 21687 here should be obvious: if as conclusion, people’sthe Naturally,bespeaks origins. nomadic I ing: which is to say, I to inscription, the for date likely more far a proposes treatment recent most the that

are born in Harran; and so on. Jacob lives in Harran for twenty years; eleven of his sons, the progenitors of the tribes, Harran; and Ur of region account: the epic from the comes of Abraham consumers Israelite ancient the to something meant have must which of all elements, following the with contend must one aside, narrative Genesis the of historicity potamia. The to corpus, the in included story origins another linguistic, and archaeological lines of evidence converge to demonstrate the point. the BookofGenesis [New York: Gould, Newman discourse on the scholar’s life, see Shalom Goldman, Shalom see scholar’slife, the on discourse century, is major Sumerian metropolis misdirected attention to the site in southern Iraq. was common knowledge in the nineteenth century (see, e.g., Clarendon Press, 1963), 77–84; and Gordon, “Where Is Abraham’s Ur?” Semitic Studies Presented toGodfrey Rolles Driver, ed. “Abraham and the Merchants of Ura,” of Merchants the and “Abraham Leonard Woolley.by excavated city Cyrus famous by the published articles of series the See

Fresh

no wit, 45. 44. Regardless, The As an aside, note that the aforecited George Bush, the major American biblical scholar in the nineteenth 46.

here:

major consequence to the overall trajectory of the present article. My James Na Ur Look at Berlin Statue Pedestal Relief 21687,” the early thirteenth century BCE (as BCE century thirteenth early the Bible, of Bible,

https:// , of , distantly turally, there were no national borders in antiquity,turally,in borders national no were so there

K. course, Hoffmeier, “What Is the Biblical Date for the Exodus? A www

i this section, as section, this related to the two scions of the presidential family bearing the same name. For a lively t coheres with my own analysis, though to repeat, I repeat, to though analysis, own my with coheres t

course, 44 equals modern- equals .science This is not the place to enter into the debate, though I would note

do 241‒42. .co speaks to this historical reconstruction, though there is also is there though reconstruction, historical this to speaks not see how, even if “Israel” is to be read in ÄM 21687, this .il

Wolfgang Zwickel and Peter van der Veen, “The Earliest Reference to /israel be 46 day

17 (1958): 28‒31; Gordon, “Abraham of Ur,”of “Abraham in Gordon, 28‒31; (1958): 17 JNES its perfectly honest, I /images Urfa, per local tradition, and not Ur in southern Mesopotamia, southern in Ur not and tradition, local per Urfa, title above indicates, is indicates, above title

fringe & /satellite Saxton, 1839], 189), until Woolley’s excavations of the JAEI 2.4 (2010): 15‒25. God’sSacred Tongue: Hebrewthe American and

D. opposed seminomads who traversed the great the traversed who seminomads /f

/Israel the

Geor wi inton Thomas and W.

do t, the one associated with Meso- with associated one the t, reading “Israel” is correct, clearly

ge Bush, am I -STS094 not follow their line of reason- am content to refer to this vast stretch vast this to refer to content am to Görg’sto suggestion original VT happy to accept the authors’the accept to happy BAR 3.2 (June 1977): 20–21, 52. This

Response

7 (2017): 129‒40. See also Peter also See 129‒40.(2017): 7 only Notes CriticalandPracticalon -728 Israelite Origins -10 a sidebar comment, sidebar a .jpg. to Bryant Wood,”

McHardy

d o not see the see not o 45 Historical,

reason Hebr

H. (Oxford: Gordon: ew and ew JETS 337 for

An Imprint of Penn State University Press | Offprint © 2020 The Pennsylvania State University. All rights reserved. 92 (1998): 97–123. and theEarlyIsraelite Experience Israel. In bibliques,”traditions et rites Julius Caesar, Syro- in the Late Bronze Age, to ment thereof, from the region of the middle Euphrates to southern Canaan sometime association to work, one must posit the movement of the Banu- East over even larger spans of time. of largerspans even over East to work. The temporal issue is less of a problem, since one can trace groups in the Near as Obviously, there are both temporal and geographical problems with this identification, BCE. century eighteenth Banu- called group the and Benjamin of only picturepotential evidence is the the possibility of an deny ultimate connection between the or tribe confirm to either disposal our at material less far have e 9:7‒8). TheNeh and 24:2‒4 Josh in echoes (with Genesis of book the in portrayed 338 Series 4 (Hong Kong: Chung Chi College, 2002), 53. by Jack Eerdmans, 2004], 193–232, esp. pp. “no is to the two US presidents, see the sources cited by Goldman, Imagination (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004), 199‒207, 314‒15. For his relationship desert- or Shasu the among found be to are Israel core of originssignificance—the its minimize to mean not do I aside—and issue last This Conclusion if , biblical account (Gen 29:32‒30:24). as 35:16‒20), (Gen Canaan of land the in born progenitor tribal only the is Benjamin Canaan. that Benjamin, of tion to the older Banu- than to suggest the following: perhaps the biblical author wished to deny the connec- of Jericho in the territory of the former and the subgroup of the latter called Yariḫu. Reassessing Methodologies and Methodologies Reassessing Assumptions Tradition: The Syrian Background of Israel’s Ancestors, Reprise,” in Daniel Fleming there is an ultimate connection between the two groups (Fleming, “Genesis in History and Israelite Experience

addition, on opposed 51. 50. W 49. 48. 47. Naturally

e must traverse seven centuries and eight hundred kilometers for the relationship

connection

Though M. For moregeneralinterconnections See For Se e, e.g., e, Sasson, Rendsburg Gary Abraham Malamat, notwithstanding all the other Mari- Michael Astour, “Ben note that Judg 20 may retain some vague memory of a time when Benjamin was not part of part not was Benjamin when time a of memory vague some retain may 20 Judg that note to all his brothers who were born in the land of theland to the according in Aram, born were who brothers his all to see also the list in Gen 35:23–26, which implies that Benjamin was born in Paddan-

A. Mi between the two entities beyond the similarity of name” (Malamat, name” of similarity the beyond entities two the between

Hebrew Origins: Historiography, History, Faith of Ancient Israel this Mesopotamian chael Astour, , Schweich Lectures 1984 [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989], 35); while for while 35); 1989], Press, University Oxford [Oxford: 1984 Lectures Schweich ,

all connection should be sustained, there is an irony at play,at irony an is since there sustained, be should connection the eponymous tribal ancestors, was the one born in the land of Y RA amina group, and therefore he went out of his way to ensure 47

9 There is a more specific possible nexus between the city the between nexus possible specific more a is There ê emer 2 (1998): 3–39; and Jack and 3–39; (1998): 2 - ; and the programmatic essays by Jean- by essays programmatic the and ; The Rabbeans: A The

Iamina 219–20). Studies 2/1 (Malibu, CA: Undena, 1978). ge as the tribe of Benjamin known from the Bible. et Jéricho,” between MariandtheBible,seesurveybyMalamat, 51 , ed. 49 I know of no solution to this conundrum, other As to the geographical issue, in issue, geographical the to As

J ames

Y T ribal Society on the Euphrates fromEuphrates the onYaḫdun- Society ribal amina in the Mari archives dated to the to dated archives Mari the in amina Semitica 9 (1959): 5‒20; and the summary statement

K . Hoffmeier and Alan

M. God’s Sacred Tongue, 315 n. Sasson, “About ‘Mari and the Bible,’ ” the and ‘Mari “About Sasson, Israel

The Futur interconnections he posited, there fringe Marie Y

e ofBiblical Archaeology: R. amina, or Durand, “Réalités amor-“Réalités Durand, seminomads of the of seminomads Millard Millard [Grand Rapids: , Chuen King Lecture Mari andtheEarly

24. order

some for the for Li Aram. seg- Mari m to m 50 RA 48

An Imprint of Penn State University Press | Offprint © 2020 The Pennsylvania State University. All rights reserved. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2018). to settle in the relatively open spaces of highland central Canaan. imagine that process during the twelfth century BCE when a group called Israel came Southland. Helps Us Understand the Bible,” as years, thousand three of distance a at even Bible, pp. esp. ed. in 1998), 135‒40. spectives in Evidence,” Canaan. desert- the of entity, denizens national former the were of fabric the and ethos the created historical Israel (Dan, Asher, etc.), but the essential component of Israel, the one that

Gordon 54. 53. Shmuel see conclusion, similar Aḥituv,a of Origins Documentary “The Israel—The Ancient 52. ossing Boundaries and Linking Horizons: Studies in Honor of Michael

For

For On 447‒50. fringe , ed. 53 sedentarization, see Levy and Hull, “Migrations, Ethnogenesis, and Settlement Dynamics.” details about Dan and Asher in particular, see Gary D. Young, Mark Anthropologists know well the process of sedentarization, and we should we and sedentarization, of process the well know Anthropologists

Shmuel The Clearly, other elements joined up with the core group in order to form to order in group core the Clearly,with up joined elements other who abandoned their former (semi)nomadic ways to settle in the land of The (semi)nomadic background might explain echoes of bedouin culture present in the in present culture bedouin of echoes explain might background (semi)nomadic The Origin of Early Israel—Current Debate: Biblical, Historical and ArchaeologicalIsrael—CurrentHistorical Early Biblical, Per of Debate: Origin Aḥituv and Eliezer Oren, Beer-

W . Chavalas,andRichard BRev 7.4 (1991): 14–21, 38. See also Bailey,

Sheva postulated

E. Averbeck (Bethesda, 12 (Beer-

A. by Clinton Bailey,Clinton by Culture Desert “How Rendsburg, “The Early History of Israel,” Sheva:

C. Israelite Origins Ben- Bedouin Culture inthe Bible Astour on His 80th Birthday,

MD: CDL,1997),433‒53, Gurion 54 University Press, 339 -