Gebal in southern Israel?!
So, exciting news, one of my papers has passed the first peer reviewer! He expressed interest in my general theory, but had a long list of issues with some of the specifics. Some I believe that I have to reject outright because these comments are unsubstantiated. The reviewer simply stated that he was uncertain about these points. I think that if I can sharpen other points based on the rest of the comments, then it'll be okay if I (politely) reject these.
So, whilst searching for information that would strengthen the rest of my thesis, I came across something interesting:
Both Targum Pseudo-Jonathan and Targum Yerushalmi to Devarim 1:44 translate "Seir" as "Gavla" (גבלא, Aramaic for Gebal). Now, Gebal is known as an ancient town in Sidon, and it eventually became known as Byblos. But Seir is in the south of Israel! So why would these targums identify Seir with Gebal?
As it turns out, there was indeed a time when the region of Idumea (Edom) or Seir was known as Gebalene, a Roman toparchy to the south of Judea. This is mentioned, for example, by the Church Father Eusebius. Thus, we see that these two Targums preserved a Roman/Byzantine site identification (which is not uncommon within the targums, but interesting nonetheless).
Doesn't Gebal basically mean "mountain" (like Arabic jabal)? So it makes perfect sense that both Byblos and Seir, both in mountainous areas, would bear that name. (Compare also the fact there's a Hor Hahar near Seir, and another one at the northwestern border of Eretz Yisrael, somewhere along the Mediterranean coast.)
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting observation. I searched a bit and it seems that it is thought that Gebal comes from Hebrew Gvul, which means border, and Arabic jabal for mountain relates to that because mountains are often borders. But your point probably still stands.
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