What's in a (Moabite) word?
Not long ago I was reading a section of Epiphanius's Panarion. Epiphanius was a Jewish apostate who converted to Christianity. He was born in the Land of Israel and eventually became the Bishop of Salamis (no surprise there. Jews + salami...okay, I'll stop...). Epiphanius wrote a book called "Panarion" (thought to mean "bread basket" in Latin or "medicine chest" in Greek) about Jewish, Judeo-Christian and Christian sects from before his time and during his time. The book provides a lot of interesting information. In the section I was reading he discussed a certain Jewish or Judeo-Christian sect (unclear from the bits of information he provides) called "the Osseans" (he writes that it either means "impudent ones" or "strong ones". To me that means that in Hebrew or Aramaic their name was העזיים or העזאיים, since עז (Az) means both strong and impudent. Strangely, I have yet to come across an academic scholar who makes this connection). On where they come from, he writes:
"I have been told that they originally came from Nabataea, Ituraea, Moabitis and Arielis, the lands beyond the basin of what sacred scripture calls the 'Salt Sea.' This is the one which is called the 'Dead Sea'." (Pan. I, 19:1:2, translated by Frank Williams)
The place-name "Arielis" caught my eye, because I was certain it came from the Hebrew word "Ariel", yet was not aware of any such ancient place-name. There's a modern city in the Shomron by that name, as well as it being one of the names of Yerushalayim (see for example Yeshayahu 29:1-2), but evidently he was talking about a place across the Jordan.
So, eventually it turned out that Eusebius lists this place in his Onomasticon. Eusebius was also a Church Father and in his Onomasticon he sought to list all places mentioned in the Bible (this of course includes places from the NT, since he was Christian) and their modern (i.e., from his time) identifications. Here's what he writes on Arielis:
"Arina (Isa. 15:9), also Ariel. A, S: the lion of God. This is said to be Areopolis because from that time even up to the present those who live in Areopolis call their idol Ariel, from the worship of Ares, after whom they named the city."
Of course I was happy to finally learn what Arielis was, but I was even more excited by the implication of this bit of information. Areopolis is identified with Rabbat Moav, a city in Moav (Moab). Here we have evidence that the people who lived in Roman times in the city of Areopolis identified the Greek war god Ares with the Hebrew word "Ariel". This is fascinating, because according to Shmuel 2:23:20 and Chronicles 1:11:22, Moabite warriors or chieftains were referred to as "Ariel" (אראל or אריאל)! So we see that the term was preserved in some form in Moav even in the Classical era!
But this goes even further: The term Ariel appears on the Mesha Stele, which is a stele written for the Moabite King Mesha (who also appears in Kings 2:3:4-27). In it it says:
"And I [(re)built] Qiryaten. Now the men of Gad had dwelt in the land of Aṭaroth a long time already, for the king of Israel had built Aṭaroth for them. But I fought against the city and took it. And I killed all inhabitants of the city, so that it became the property of Kemosh and Moab. And I captured from there the Ariel Davidoh (אראל דודה) and [dr]agged it before Kemosh in Qiryat(en)." (rows 9-13; most of the translation taken from here)
Both the translator of this section and one of my professors contend that the Ariel אראל mentioned here must be identified with some kind of cultic object. My professor based his view on the word אראיל (Arieil) in Yechezkel 43:15-16, which is pronounced in the Masoretic Text as "Ariel". In Yechezkel it refers to a section of the altar in the Temple. But when I pointed out the reference in Shmuel and Chronicles, he agreed that the issue needs to be looked into more. However, I have no problem with the "Ariel Davidoh" in the Mesha Stele meaning some kind of cultic object. And, though being a bit of a stretch, it can also fit Shmuel and Chronicles. Either way, it still fits the Ariel-Areopolis-Ares connection - a cultic-center of Ares named after an ancient Moabite cultic term. Still fits pretty well!
However, I do have some preference for Ariel as referring to a warrior or a chieftain. The reason for this is because of Shirat Hayam (the Song of the Sea), where it says:
"Now the chieftains of Edom panicked, the warriors/chieftains of Moab - trembling grips them, all the settlers of Canaan were seized with fear." (Shemot 15:15)
I know the Sefaria translation translates it differently, but I take issue with that translation. The אלופים (Alufim) of Edom are clearly the chieftains, as is evident from the chieftain list in Beresheet 36:15-19. Once again, there, the word אלוף (Aluf) is translated by Sefaria as clan-names but the commentators say that it actually refers to tribal leaders. I'm pretty sure I remember Sefaria using an older translation until recently which actually read "chieftains". They seem to have changed translations. In any case, parallel to the chieftains of Edom, the Alufim, we find the אילים (Eilim) of Moav. So obviously they served in a similar capacity, but in their respective nation. This understanding of Eilim is also evident from other verses that feature this word (Kings 2:24:15; Yechezkel 17:13).
What's most interesting here is that אריאל (Ariel) and אילים (Eilim) aren't too different from one another. While the word אילים (Eilim) didn't disappear from Tanachic Hebrew, it's possible that in the Moabite language (a Hebrew dialect), the word אילים (Eilim) evolved into אראל or אריאל (Ariel) and the usage of אילים (Eilim) ceased. This word remained in some form of use by the inhabitants of Moav, who may or may not have been ethnically related to the original Moabites, well through the Roman era and still preserved, at least thematically, its original meaning!
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