As we continue to examine the use of plural construct in Biblical place
names, consider QRYH. In Hebrew poetry, QRYH is sometimes used as a common
word to mean “city”. But in non-poetic parts of the Bible, a form of QRYH is
used almost exclusively in city names, so all variants of QRYH in
geographical place names are viewed here as being a proper name, not a common
word.
Regarding cities in southern Canaan, in all cases except one [with that one
exception being the case we are interested in], QRYH appears in a city name
in the form of feminine construct singular, n-o-t plural: QRYT
[transliterated into English as “Kiriath”]. Joshua lists four towns in
southern
Canaan whose first name is Kiriath, in construct singular:
Joshua 15: 54 Kiriath Arba
Joshua 15: 60 Kiriath Baal
Joshua 18: 15 Kiriath Jearim
Joshua 15: 49 Kiriath Sannah
But the one case of interest to us is the unique case in southern Canaan
where the form of QRYH is feminine construct plural: QRYWT XCRWN [HY) XCWR],
at Joshua 15: 25. This city name is generally transliterated into English
as Kerioth Hezron. As a common word, the meaning would be “cities”, but in
a place name, this is a proper name. As an Anglicized plural, this city
name could be rendered as “Kiriaths”, but the customary transliteration is “
Kerioth”. [The other three Biblical references to a Kerioth are not in
construct and are to a city in Moab.]
QRYWT XCRWN/Kerioth Hezron is referring to a town in the southern district
of Judah. It’s in the extreme south of Canaan, so its location is what
counts. [See the reference to Hezron at Joshua 15: 3, which comes right after
the reference to Kadesh-barnea, a place well south of Canaan.] The full
rendering at Joshua 15: 25, QRYWT XCRWN HY) XCWR, tells us that the name Hezron
is a variant of the name Hazor. [This is not the more famous Hazor in
southeastern Upper Galilee, but rather is a place in southern Canaan.] Hazor
is
also mentioned as part of another town’s name earlier in Joshua 15: 25
itself, similarly in the next verse, Joshua 15: 26, and before that by itself
at
Joshua 15: 23. It appears that in southern Canaan there was one place
simply called Hazor, and three other places that had some variant of Hazor in
their names, with in one case that variant of Hazor being Hezron. Though it’s
a bit confusing, the middle reference at Joshua 15: 25 is very likely to a
single place, which has the Hezron variant of Hazor in its name, and which is
the southernmost Kiriath of the five Kiriaths in southern Canaan.
Here is the meaning of QRYWT XCRWN, focusing on QRYWT being in feminine
construct plural format:
“[concerning the five] Kiriaths [in southern Canaan, the southernmost one
that is on the southern edge of Canaan, that is, the one that is] of
Hezron/Hazor”
As usual, the use of construct plural in the place name puts the focus on
location, location, location. It seems unlikely that Hezron/Hazor in
southern Canaan was a very important place for most purposes. But it was the
southernmost of the five Kiriaths in southern Canaan. The only thing
noteworthy
about this place was its location.
Based on our prior analyses of place names like this, the plural aspect of
the construct plural here means only that there are other Kiriaths in the
neighborhood. It does not mean that QRYWT XCRWN is referring to multiple
cities. Rather, the o-n-e Kiriath that is being referenced here is specified
by the word/name that is not in construct form, Hezron/Hazor. The point of
using construct plural here is, as always, to focus our attention on
location, location, location.
Of the four place names with a proper name in construct plural that we have
examined so far, we have seen three that seem to denote the outer
boundaries of the land of Canaan/Israel: R)MWT B-GL(D on the northeast, and
RMWT NGB
and QRYWT XCRWN on the south. The west and southeast edges of Canaan have
natural boundaries: the Mediterranean Sea on the west, and the Dead Sea on
the southeast. All that is missing now is straight north, on the northern
edge of Naphtali. Surely there must be a place name on the northern edge of
Naphtali that features the rarity of a plural construct form of a proper
name, and that has no known significance other than its location, location,
location.
Our very own Prof. Yigal Levin has published a fine article on the specific
borders of the land of Canaan/Israel that is very sophisticated and
complex. But on a rough and ready basis, can’t we largely determine the
practical
borders of the land of Canaan/Israel by simply looking for non-interior
place names that feature a proper name in construct plural? All that we seem
to
be missing is the northern edge of Naphtali. Here comes XMT D)R in
Naphtali, at Joshua 21: 32, next!
When one is trying to puzzle out Biblical geography, it sure as heck helps
to look at place names that feature a proper name in construct plural.
Those rare Biblical place names focus on location, location, location, and may
be a rough and ready approximation of the outer boundaries of the land of
Canaan/Israel. There are multiple Ramahs, Kiriaths and Hammaths throughout
Canaan, but the ones that denote the outer boundary of Canaan are the o-n-l-y
ones that feature a proper name in construct plural. Neat! A little bit
of Hebrew grammar goes a long way when it comes to Biblical geography.
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois
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