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| The ancient Oak of Mamre in Hebron. Photo 1890-1900 |
Genesis 13:18 has Eloney Mamre (אלוני ממרא), an oak grove near Chevron.
Genesis 14:12 has Eloney Mamre ha Emori (האמרי - Amorite), naming it after its owner, or possibly its deity.
Further references in Genesis 18:1, 23:17, 35:27, 49:30 and 50:13.
Mamre (ממרא) = "fatness" or "strength".
Mamre is treated throughout as being the name of a man, but an oak grove signifies holy ground, so it is much more likely Mamre was the god worshipped at the shrine, or the title of the sacred priest-king. Given that the word is four-lettered, and Yehudit roots are always either two or three at that early point of history, we must look for a prefix, a suffix or a verbal indicator; or alternately a foreign name rendered in Yehudit, which is more likely for an Amorite. The Aleph (א) ending would certainly denote the latter, except that no such word as Mamar occurs in Chaldean, Ethiopic or any of the other languages in which it would be logical to look.
Further references in Genesis 18:1, 23:17, 35:27, 49:30 and 50:13.
Mamre (ממרא) = "fatness" or "strength".
Mamre is treated throughout as being the name of a man, but an oak grove signifies holy ground, so it is much more likely Mamre was the god worshipped at the shrine, or the title of the sacred priest-king. Given that the word is four-lettered, and Yehudit roots are always either two or three at that early point of history, we must look for a prefix, a suffix or a verbal indicator; or alternately a foreign name rendered in Yehudit, which is more likely for an Amorite. The Aleph (א) ending would certainly denote the latter, except that no such word as Mamar occurs in Chaldean, Ethiopic or any of the other languages in which it would be logical to look.
The additional Mem (מ) however, which occurs as a prefix in the cave of Machpelah (מכפלה), which just happens to lie adjacent to Mamre, does render a sensible Yehudit explanation: Mara (מרא) means "to be full of food" or "well nourished", which hints at the fertility goddess at harvest time; and guess what, Na'ami (Naomi), the mother-in-law of Rut (Ruth), says upon her arrival at Beit-Lechem (Bethlehem) - the shrine of the corn-god himself, where he will be disembowelled upon the sacred threshing-floor – "call me not Naomi, call me Mara; אל-תקראנה לי נעמי קראן לי מרא" (Ruth 1:20), which the Yehudit text explains aetiologically as meaning "sad" or "bitter", linking it to the death of her sons, theologically to Mor-Yah, the bitter tears wept by the women for Tammuz at the north gate of the Temple, and by Mother Mary at Calvary, witnessing the Crucifixion.
However, Na'ami is Demeter to Rut's Kore, itself a variation of the Greek myth of Persephone (and the equivalent Roman myth of Proserpina), and Av-Raham in his role as sun-god would logically make "a treaty" with her. We can thus not only explain the nature of the "treaty", but even date it accurately, for the feast of Na'ami is Shavu'ot, the summer harvest-festival that takes place fifty days after Passover, on the 6th day of the month of Sivan, and which is also held to be King David's birthday as well as the date on which Mosheh received the Ten Commandments. Na'ami's husband was named Eli-Melech (אלימלך), a title of the sun-god and a parallel of the name Av-Raham.
The name Mara occurs repeatedly in the Bible stories, and in various forms. Mir-Yam (both Mosheh's sister and Lazarus'), Mount Mor-Yah, and the two Maries all take their names from this variant upon the mother-goddess.
The grammatical explanation of the prefictual Mem (מ) is that it is constructed by using the root in the Pi'el, or "intensive" form.
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