Rev. Bryant J. Williams III: You wrote: “Might I remind you that ‘wilderness’ does not necessarily mean ‘a tree forest’?” I agree. But the Hebrew linguistic question I am raising on the b-hebrew list is whether the phrase MDBR P)RN means “dense forest”. I see P)RH as meaning “foliage of a tree”, per Ezekiel 17: 6. Accordingly, wouldn’t we then expect P)RN at Genesis 21: 21 to mean “place where there is abundant tree foliage”? Based on linguistics, shouldn’t MDBR P)RN logically mean “a dense forest”? Those are the Hebrew linguistic questions I am raising on the b-hebrew list. Sorry for my long post, but I just wanted to point out the objective fact that in the Late Bronze Age, there indeed was a huge, dense forest immediately southwest of Beersheba of Galilee. Accordingly, I think we should consider giving the normal, expected linguistic meaning to MDBR P)RN at Genesis 21: 21, which as I see it would be “dense forest”. Jim Stinehart Evanston, Illinois
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