Moreh

מורה

Genesis 12:6 has Elon Moreh (אלון מורה), the terebinth-oaks of Moreh, a grove near Shechem. This was the first place at which Av-Ram stopped upon arriving in Kena'an after the first covenant was announced; indeed, the phrasing is slightly odd, for the covenant appears to be announced in two parts, with the second part only upon his arrival at Moreh, and in this sense we may read the covenant as having been made at Moreh itself.

The Tanach presents it as though the oak-grove belonged to a man named Moreh, which is obviously false. Moreh, from the root Yarah (ירה), is the constellation Sagittarius, and the word is used in connection with arrows and archers on several occasions (Exodus 19:13, 1 Samuel 31:3, 1 Chronicles 10:3 et al). The evolution of the word is fascinating. The notion of the oracle or seer who was consulted at the oak grove (the proper meaning of the word Druid) developed into the notion of a spiritual advisor, and finally became "a teacher", which is how the word is used today - and wonderfully coincidental that it also mirrors the root of the word Torah, and also, with an added Aleph (אור), the concept of "light" and "enlightenment"themselves. 

In Aramaic, by contrast, Moreh came to mean "Lord", and became an epithet for Adonis; so it is of course entirely feasible that Elon Moreh was a shrine to Adonis, as it is today, with Adonis Yehuditised as Adonai.

Judges 7:1 has Givat Moreh (גבעת-מורה) in the valley of Yazar-El (Jezreel; see Judges 6:33), where Yeru-Ba'al (יְרֻבַּעַל), also known as Gid'on (Gideon) fought the Beney Midyan.

Can we presume that the shrine referred to in the Ya'akov (Jacob) stories of Shechem was in fact Moreh?

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