1. We are trying to figure out who the ZWZYM are at Genesis 14: 5, where that odd word follows the “rephaim” at Ashteroth [in the northern Transjordan]. From the fine work of Anson Rainey and other scholars, we know that at Ugarit, “rephaim” could refer to maryannu, and we know from Amarna Letter EA 197 that Hurrian maryannu/charioteers/rephaim were at Ashteroth. But then who are the ZWZYM? Archaeology gives us our big non-linguistic clue here: : “[E]xcavations…have exposed Late Bronze Age pillared houses. At Tel Ashtara in the western Hawran, perhaps ancient Ashtaroth, a metallurigcal workshop was exacavated.” Peter M.M.G. Akkermans, Glenn M. Schwartz, “The Archaeology of Syria” (2003) at p. 351. Wherever the Hurrians went, including Ashteroth, they were famous for two things: (1) horses and chariots, with the Hurrians being the best maryannu/rephaim/charioteers; and (2) being master craftsmen, especially ceramic master craftsmen, as the Hurrians’ so-called “Nuzi Ware” were the best and most highly prized decorative pitchers in western Asia in the Late Bronze Age: “In the otherwise rather dreary and uninspired corpus of Mesopotamian pottery dating to early historical periods, Nuzi ware stands out as something very special[, w]ith its elegant vessel forms and intricate patterns of white paint on a dark background…. Nuzi ware has been regarded as a palace ware, or luxury ware, on the grounds of its esthetic appeal and comparative luxury.” Paul Zimansky, “The Origin of Nuzi Ware: A Contribution from Tell Hamida”, in “Nuzi and the Hurrians” (1995) at pp. 75, 83. [“Nuzi ware” is a slight misnomer, in that it was made at many places where the Hurrians lived, not only at Nuzi.] If you go to Google, then Images, and then type in “Nuzi ware”, you can see it. Note that the classic Nuzi ware was highly decorative [white patterns on black background] luxury pitchers and goblets [not plates, etc.]. So in addition to pressuring the Hurrian maryannu/rephaim at Ashteroth at Genesis 14: 5, we would expect pressure to have been put also on Hurrian master craftsmen, perhaps including ceramic master craftsmen, who were the other most important Hurrians. If both Hurrian charioteers and Hurrian master craftsmen could be commandeered, then the Hurrians in the Transjordan would be effectively controlled by the coalition of four attacking rulers [whose military muscle was supplied mainly by the Hittites, under Biblical “Tidal”]. 2. How would the brilliant early Hebrew author of the Patriarchal narratives say “Hurrian ceramic master craftsmen” [a term that might apply to master craftsmen generally]? He would start with the root of the Hurrian word for “pitcher, vase, goblet”, and then add a standard west Semitic -YM suffix (meaning “people”). The Hurrian word for “pitcher, vase, goblet” is: zuzu-xe. The -xe ending is a standard Hurrian ending, as in kina-xxu [the Hurrian word for “purple”, which gave us “Canaan”]; that standard Hurrian ending means “coming from”. The root of the Hurrian word for “pitcher, vase, goblet” is zuzu-. Based on the name at Nuzi in my prior post, Zu-U-zu [along with Zu-zu and Zu-zu-ya], we know that a middle syllable could appear in this Hurrian word, U, especially when it functioned as a proper name. [That particular form was also helpful here, in making sure people did not confuse the Hebrew, Akkadian and Hurrian words for “breast”: zizu/zizzi/ZYZ.] So for the meaning “Hurrian ceramic master craftsmen”, the early Hebrew author of chapter 14 of Genesis came up with Zu-U-zu + YM, which in defective early Biblical Hebrew spelling is: Z-W-Z + YM = ZWZYM. 3. The linguistic key here is the interior vav/W in ZWZYM. It’s its own separate syllable! This is a 4-syllable word: Z[u]-U-Z[u]-YM. [It’s n-o-t “Zu-zim”, as a 2-syllable word in English.] Once we recognize the 4 syllables and think Hurrian, we see that this word at Genesis 14: 5 is a Patriarchal nickname for Hurrian ceramic master craftsmen, utterly brilliant in its conception [as per usual; what else would you expect?], and with the stunning letter-for-letter accuracy we have come to expect in the Patriarchal narratives. So Genesis 14: 5 is telling us that, in Year 14, a military contingent sent by a coalition of 4 attacking rulers not only pressured Hurrian maryannu/rephaim/charioteers at Ashteroth [per Amarna Letter EA 197], but also Hurrian ceramic master craftsmen/Z-W-Z + YM “in these (parts)”/B-HM, that is, at Ashteroth. [HM means “these” or some related meaning, and n-e-v-e-r means “Ham”. There is no city name in greater ancient Canaan that begins with he/H.] The coalition of four attacking rulers is nefariously commandeering Hurrian master craftsmen, such as the ceramic master craftsmen who made the world-famous “Nuzi ware” -- luxury pitchers with intricate white patterns on a black background. 4. There is no linguistic match of ZWZYM to either the Zamzummim giants in Deuteronomy, or Shasu in Egyptian, as university scholars would have it. [Can’t we all agree as to that? ZWZ is not ZMZM!!!] But if we focus on the interior vav/W in ZWZ-YM, we see that there is a letter-for-letter match to the 4-syllable Hurrian word [with a Hebrew suffix] meaning “Hurrian ceramic master craftsmen” [ultra-literally: “(Hurrian) pitcher people”, and perhaps implying Hurrian master craftsmen generally]: Z-W-Z + YM = Zu-U-Zu plus -YM = ZWZYM. The p-i-n-p-o-i-n-t historical accuracy of the Patriarchal narratives never ceases to amaze. There are no giants in the Patriarchal narratives. [Why don’t mainstream university scholars realize that?] But there are plenty of Hurrian words, which reflect the strong historical presence of Hurrian princelings in Canaan at the time of the composition of the Patriarchal narratives. Jim Stinehart Evanston, Illinois
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