Elon Moreh in Genesis 12:6 - Oak, plain or valley

[Quid est Veritas?]

Genesis 12:6 states that that Abram crossed to Shechem and elon Moreh - the latter nowadays translated as the Oak of Moreh.

I was reading the Vulgate, and reaching this verse I found "convallem illustrem" - the famous valley. Seeing Shechem, I was intrigued by this famous valley, but found my English and Afrikaans Bibles speaking about trees, except the KJV that said plains of Moreh.

Where on earth did Jerome, a scholar of Hebrew, get a valley? Even the Septuagint has tree here. The KJV is obviously secondary to the Vulgate, so that is where its plain comes from, but why did Jerome call it a valley in the first place? Maybe the trees had long since gone and he was using a placename in his own time? Can anyone shed some light on this?

Moreh itself means teacher, or diviner, so perhaps Jerome was trying to ommit a potential reference to a Pagan practice. But why would he, as this is as Abram enters the pagan Canaan? Or was this contra-Samaritan, who read Moriah (and presumably Moreh as form thereof) as being Shechem's Gerizim, so placing Abram's initial vision in Canaan there? So speculatively, maybe Jerome stressed it as being a valley, so that it could not be a high place like Mount Gerizim?
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[public hermit]

This is an interesting question. I don't really know what Jerome was thinking, but "tree" is definitely the best bet. I did some checking and the same Hebrew root is used in 2 Samuel 18:9 when Absalom gets his head caught in a great tree (terebinth).

The BDB does acknowledge that the term might be used as a "marking shrine," hence "teacher's terebinth" or "diviner's oak."

The Vulgate also translates it "plain" of Mamre in Genesis 13:18, but it's "oak" in 2 Samuel 18:9.

Edit: I'm assuming KJV consistently used the Vulgate in each instance.

 

[Quid est Veritas?]

This is an interesting question. I don't really know what Jerome was thinking, but "tree" is definitely the best bet. I did some checking and the same Hebrew root is used in 2 Samuel 18:9 when Absalom gets his head caught in a great tree (terebinth).

The BDB does acknowledge that the term might be used as a "marking shrine," hence "teacher's terebinth" or "diviner's oak."

The Vulgate also translates it "plain" of Mamre in Genesis 13:18, but it's "oak" in 2 Samuel 18:9.

Edit: I'm assuming KJV consistently used the Vulgate in each instance.

The Vulgate uses Quercus for Oak in 2 Samuel 18:9, but it does say plain of Mamre as convallem Mamre in Genesis 13:18 and Genesis 14:13. As far as I know, convallis is not otherwise used for trees in Latin though. It looks intentional to me. Seeing that he does the same with the Oaks of Mamre, maybe the cultic connection of the groves is the issue? Especially oaks in a Greco-Roman mindset.

 

[Quid est Veritas?]

I have been thinking on this. The word Jerome uses is not plain, but valley - and clearly we are not dealing with a valley here, as Abraham is not going down into it as such. But the word convallis more clearly means con-vallis, an area enclosed (as in circumvallation, to surround with walls, or the conventional valley surrounded by hills). So is Jerome not saying the enclosure of Mamre, of Moreh?

What has this to do with trees? Well, in dry areas oases function thanks to a three level tree agriculture. The datepalms are usually the highest of three levels, with smaller fruit trees planted in their shade, and finally grain or vegetables on the final tier below that. This creates the oasis system, with the big trees acting as windbreaks and local environment catalysts - enclosing the market gardens underneath. So perhaps he means to imply a sort of oasis set-up? Allowing him to ommit direct referencing to trees would be a plus, as sacred groves are a big part of Greco-Roman paganism. Even the Semitic, as Asherah poles were perhaps meant to represent trees, and the examples of the burial of idols or sacrificing under trees are legion. After all, the Semitic peoples tend to focus on the lands of the Baalim, the self-watered areas that are holy or set-apart therefore, which again sounds reminiscent of an Oasis (or even Eden, which Jerome translated as Paradise of Pleasure, Paradisum Voluptatis, but we often connect today to the idea of a plain).

It reminds me of the English word Forest, that initially meant an area set-apart, or outside, normal law (the king's forest, where special rules applied). This was often woodland set aside for hunting, preserved in that way from logging or clearance for farmland, so the meaning shifted into the modern one.