אמרים
Really it should be pronounced Emorim, which is how I have rendered it throughout TheBibleNet; it is connected to the root EMOR (אמר), meaning "mountain" or "high place" (nothing to do with AMAR, which is the root for "to say"). EMOR is also connected to the name OMAR, and there is much background to the Emorim on my page for OMAR - click here.
Really it should be pronounced Emorim, which is how I have rendered it throughout TheBibleNet; it is connected to the root EMOR (אמר), meaning "mountain" or "high place" (nothing to do with AMAR, which is the root for "to say"). EMOR is also connected to the name OMAR, and there is much background to the Emorim on my page for OMAR - click here.
The name is often used to signify the conglomerate of Kena'ani (Canaanite) nations, rather than just the one tribe. According to Genesis 15:16 and 48:22, as well as Amos 2:9/10 and Deuteronomy 1:20, the tribe dwelt in the mountainous region of what became Yehudah, though a sister tribe lived north of the Arnon (which is to say on the east bank of the Dead Sea), beyond the river Yarden (Jordan) - see Numbers 21:13 - as far as the Yavok (Jabbok) river - see Numbers 21:24 - and even further east (Numbers 32:39) This group was ruled by two kings, one in Cheshbon, the other in Bashan.
However the southern part of this area is also said (Numbers 23:21) to be Amonite, and Cheshbon was the Amonite capital until its destruction. Is there then a confusion of names? Does Amorim/Emorim simply mean "mountain-dwellers" in general? Perhaps we can explain the two kings by reckoning the Amonite was based in Cheshbon and the Emorite in Bashan and further north?
Genesis 10:16 has ha-Emori as "sons of Kena'an", the whole geographical area and all its inhabitants rather than just the one tribe; this may well reflect the longevity of Emorite residence in Kena'an.
Genesis 14:7 has the Emori as residents of Chatsatson-Tamar whose land was devastated in the War of the Kings.
Genesis 14:13 describes Av-Ram living by the terebinths of Mamre the Emori, brother of Eshkol and Aner. It was Mamre who told him that Lot had been captured, which information brought about his entry into that war. Mamre's grove included the Cave of Machpelah, where the patriarchs would later be buried.
At some earlier point in history, all of these characters were gods, not men; or at the very least their priest-kingly representatives. And not just any gods, but yet again that normative trinity or trimurti which we can clearly see preceded the religion of the Beney Yisra-El.
Eshkol (אשכל) means "a cluster", as in berries, grapes, dates, flowers, even palm branches, thus denoting the fertility-goddess. Aner (ענר) is reckoned by Gesenius to be a corruption of Na'ar (נער) = "a youth", and specifically the son-spouse of the fertility-goddess: Tammuz to her Inanna. Mamre (ממרא) means "fatness" or "strength", and being linked directly to the oak trees can be counted as the father-god Ba'al himself, the third part of the Divine Family.
What is odd about all this is that the sacred grove is thus attested to Emorim, but the Cave of Machpelah itself, located within the grove, is said to be Beney Chet (Hittite). Given that the Hittite Empire only began in 2200 BCE, this suggests that the cave too was originally Emorite, but taken over by Hittites when they invaded, bringing the worship of their version of the trinity with them: Ephron, Io, Attis. This would make Eshkol a precursor of Chavah as protectress of the shrine, but confirms my contention that Eshkol was originally female. However, we have also seen that the Anakim, whose chief Arba gave his name to the earlier name for Chevron, Kiryat Arba, were also proprietors of the Cave of Machpelah at some early point of history.
Genesis 15:16 ff includes in Av-Raham's covenant a rather obscure comment that "the iniquity of the Emorim is not yet full". One can only wonder what it was that they had done!
Genesis 48:22 concludes Ya'akov's blessing with another obscure statement, that Elohim would bring Yoseph into the land of his fathers, and that, moreover, "I have given to you one portion above your brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Emori with my sword and my bow." This is usually reckoned to refer to the massacre at Shechem in Genesis 34, because Shechem in Yehudit means "a portion" (also "a shoulder"); the intention of the original may have been that he was giving Shechem to Yoseph as a shrine, because it was precisely the shechem that became the priestly portion, the part the priests took home to eat after any animal sacrifice. The "portion more than your brothers" may alternately be a late alteration, to explain Yoseph's two "sons" Ephrayim and Menasheh being given a tribal territory each, and Menasheh effectively two on his own, one on either side of the Yarden. Shechem is now known as Nablus (from its Latin name Flavia Neapolis). It stands in the valley between the important hill-shrines of Mount Eyval and Mount Gerizim, and is significant because it was where Yoseph's bones were laid to rest (Joshua 24:32), at the end of the national covenant renewal ceremony held by Yehoshu'a following the conquest (Joshua 24).
However the southern part of this area is also said (Numbers 23:21) to be Amonite, and Cheshbon was the Amonite capital until its destruction. Is there then a confusion of names? Does Amorim/Emorim simply mean "mountain-dwellers" in general? Perhaps we can explain the two kings by reckoning the Amonite was based in Cheshbon and the Emorite in Bashan and further north?
Genesis 10:16 has ha-Emori as "sons of Kena'an", the whole geographical area and all its inhabitants rather than just the one tribe; this may well reflect the longevity of Emorite residence in Kena'an.
Genesis 14:7 has the Emori as residents of Chatsatson-Tamar whose land was devastated in the War of the Kings.
Genesis 14:13 describes Av-Ram living by the terebinths of Mamre the Emori, brother of Eshkol and Aner. It was Mamre who told him that Lot had been captured, which information brought about his entry into that war. Mamre's grove included the Cave of Machpelah, where the patriarchs would later be buried.
At some earlier point in history, all of these characters were gods, not men; or at the very least their priest-kingly representatives. And not just any gods, but yet again that normative trinity or trimurti which we can clearly see preceded the religion of the Beney Yisra-El.
Eshkol (אשכל) means "a cluster", as in berries, grapes, dates, flowers, even palm branches, thus denoting the fertility-goddess. Aner (ענר) is reckoned by Gesenius to be a corruption of Na'ar (נער) = "a youth", and specifically the son-spouse of the fertility-goddess: Tammuz to her Inanna. Mamre (ממרא) means "fatness" or "strength", and being linked directly to the oak trees can be counted as the father-god Ba'al himself, the third part of the Divine Family.
What is odd about all this is that the sacred grove is thus attested to Emorim, but the Cave of Machpelah itself, located within the grove, is said to be Beney Chet (Hittite). Given that the Hittite Empire only began in 2200 BCE, this suggests that the cave too was originally Emorite, but taken over by Hittites when they invaded, bringing the worship of their version of the trinity with them: Ephron, Io, Attis. This would make Eshkol a precursor of Chavah as protectress of the shrine, but confirms my contention that Eshkol was originally female. However, we have also seen that the Anakim, whose chief Arba gave his name to the earlier name for Chevron, Kiryat Arba, were also proprietors of the Cave of Machpelah at some early point of history.
Genesis 15:16 ff includes in Av-Raham's covenant a rather obscure comment that "the iniquity of the Emorim is not yet full". One can only wonder what it was that they had done!
Genesis 48:22 concludes Ya'akov's blessing with another obscure statement, that Elohim would bring Yoseph into the land of his fathers, and that, moreover, "I have given to you one portion above your brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Emori with my sword and my bow." This is usually reckoned to refer to the massacre at Shechem in Genesis 34, because Shechem in Yehudit means "a portion" (also "a shoulder"); the intention of the original may have been that he was giving Shechem to Yoseph as a shrine, because it was precisely the shechem that became the priestly portion, the part the priests took home to eat after any animal sacrifice. The "portion more than your brothers" may alternately be a late alteration, to explain Yoseph's two "sons" Ephrayim and Menasheh being given a tribal territory each, and Menasheh effectively two on his own, one on either side of the Yarden. Shechem is now known as Nablus (from its Latin name Flavia Neapolis). It stands in the valley between the important hill-shrines of Mount Eyval and Mount Gerizim, and is significant because it was where Yoseph's bones were laid to rest (Joshua 24:32), at the end of the national covenant renewal ceremony held by Yehoshu'a following the conquest (Joshua 24).
Copyright © 2019 David Prashker
All rights reserved
All rights reserved
The Argaman Press
No comments:
Post a Comment