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...