Be'eri

בארי


Genesis 26:34 names him as the father of that Yehudit who married Esav; a Beney Chet (Hittite), which is rather odd, if you think about it, since why would a Beney Chet have a daughter named Yehudit, if Yehudit means a female from the tribe of Yehudah (and later a Jewess)? We have to conclude that, either:

a) the name Yehudah (Judah) is much older than the tribe, was perhaps even a sub-clan of the Beney Chet themselves; and if so, as with Dan and Dinah, Asher and Asherah, we can treat Yehudah as the later patriarchal tribe that supplanted an earlier matriarchal tribe.

Or, less difficult to swallow,

b) The name is a later insertion, and erroneous.

But that Esav = the Edomites should have married Yehudit a Beney Chet, is extremely interesting in the light of what we now know of the origins both of the Tanach and the nations of Kena'an.

Esav's other wives in fact were mostly Beney Chet; although Genesis 36 does not include a summary of all of Esav's wives, but only those who bore Esav sons:

Yehudit (a Beney Chet), daughter of Be'eri (not listed in Genesis 36, which implies that she bore Esav no children.

Basmat, elsewhere named Adah (a Beney Chet), daughter of Elon, mother of Eli-Phaz.

Ahali-Vamah (a Chivite), daughter of Anah (Genesis 26:34), mother of Ye'ush, Ya'lam and Korach.

Basmat, daughter of Yishma-El, mother of Re'u-El.

Hosea 1:1 states that Hoshe'a's father likewise was named Be'eri.

The name comes from the root word Be'er (באר) which means a well, a cistern or a pit. Once again giving us a water-goddess connection.

Not to be confused with 1 Chronicles 7:36, which has a Beri (ברי) who is the son of Tsophah in the tribal line of Asher. The root on this occasion is Barah (ברה) = "fat". (In modern Ivrit, the expression "tehi beri" is used to mean "be healthy", which is somewhat ironic given that it literally means "be fat".)

Copyright © 2019 David Prashker
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The Argaman Press


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