—(
Hebrew characters)] rightly read by GS in 2 Sa. 88 (MT (Hebrew characters) (Hebrew characters) 1 Ch. 188), a city
of 'Ăram-Ẓôbāh, probably identical with the Tubiḫi of TA No. 127,
and Pap. Anast., near Ḳadesh on the Orontes (but see Müller, AE,
173, 396).—(Hebrew characters) ((Greek characters), (Greek characters), etc.)] unknown.—(Hebrew characters) ((Greek characters), (Greek characters), etc.)]
probably Eg. Teḫisi, on the Orontes, N of Ḳadesh (AE, 258; Wi.
MVAG, i. 207).—(Hebrew characters) ((Greek characters), (Greek characters), etc.)] Dt. 314, Jos. 125 1311. 13
2 Sa. 106. 8, 1 Ch. 196f.; an Aramæan tribe and state occupying the
modern Ǧōlān, S of Hermon, and E of the Upper Jordan.
To the discrepancies already noted (p. 333) between the genealogy and ch. 24, Meyer (INS, 239 ff.) adds the important observation that the territorial distribution of the sons of Nāḥôr fits in badly with the theory of J, which connects Nāḥôr and Laban with the city of Ḥarran. He points out that the full-blooded Naḥorites, so far as identified, are tribes of the Syro-Arabian desert, while those described as hybrids belong to the settled regions of Syria, where nomadic immigrants would naturally amalgamate with the native population. Now the Syro-Arabian desert is in other parts of the OT the home of the Bnê Ḳedem; and according to E (see on 291) it was among the Bnê Ḳedem that Jacob found his uncle Laban. Meyer holds that this was the original tradition, and finds a confirmation of it in the geographical background of the list before us. In other words, the Israelites were historically related, not to the civilised Aramæans about Ḥarran, but to nomadic Aramæan tribes who had not crossed the Euphrates, but still roamed the deserts where Aramæans first appear in history (see p. 206). J's representation is partly due to a misunderstanding of the name 'Aramæan,' which led him to transfer the kinsfolk of Abraham to the region round Ḥarran, which was known as the chief seat of Aramæan culture. The genealogy is therefore an authentic document of great antiquity, which has fortunately been preserved by a Yahwistic editor in spite of its inconsistency with the main narrative. It may be added that the Palestinian view-point will explain the subordinate position assigned to the name Aram. It can hardly be denied that Meyer's reasoning is sufficiently cogent to outweigh the traces of the names Nāḥôr and Milkah in the neighbourhood of Ḥarran (pp. 232, 237 f.). Meyer's explanation of Nāḥôr as a modification of Nāhār (the Euphrates) is, however, not likely to commend itself.
Ch. XXIII. Purchase of the Cave of Machpelah (P).
On the death of Sarah at the age of 127 years (1. 2), Abraham becomes, through formal purchase from the Ḥittites, the owner of the field and cave of Machpelah (3-18), and there buries his dead (19. 20).—This is the second occasion (cf. ch. 17) on which the Priestly epitome of Abraham's life expands into circumstantial and even graphic narration. The transaction must therefore have had a special interest
