Prof. Yigal Levin wrote: “Jim, could you please explain why the word MQWM
means ‘major city-state’? That Shechem was a major city-state throughout most
of the Bronze Age we know, but where else in the Bible does the word MQWM refer
to a place's size or status?”
At Genesis 18: 24, MQWM is used as a synonym for “city”/(YR [the city of Sodom].
At Genesis 29: 26, MQWM means “country” [the area in eastern Syria where Laban
lived].
Thus where MQWM appears directly before a city name, with no modifiers before
or after MQWM, as it uniquely does at Genesis 12: 6, it can have the meaning of
“city” that is a “country”, that is: “major city-state”.
The Biblical author was struggling to find a Hebrew word to describe the unique
phenomenon of Shechem in Year 12. For that one year, Shechem was more of a
state than a city, controlling much of Canaan south of the Jezreel Valley.
The unique nomenclature of Genesis 12: 6 perfectly fits the unique situation
that applied to Shechem in one year, and only one year: Year 12, when it
appeared that Shechem, with its notorious “Canaanite” strongman ruler, was
poised to take over most all of the southern half of Canaan. T-h-a-t is why
Lot could not go directly north at Genesis 13: 11 [though Lot had looked north
at Genesis 13: 10], but rather Lot had to make a major detour and leave Bethel
going east. If we can get the historical time period right, these Biblical
stories practically tell themselves, instead of being inexplicable.
The key is to focus on the Hebrew grammar of the second half of Genesis 14: 4,
where the reference there to “And Year 13 they rebelled” points us to the exact
year in which the events in chapter 13 of Genesis are portrayed as happening:
Year 12.
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois
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