<\/p>\n
Hi Pastor John,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I just have a question about Kiriath Arba \/ Hebron.\u00a0\u00a0In Joshua 14 we learn the town’s name was changed to Hebron. But some modern authors suggest they were separate cities. Do we know which is true?\u00a0\u00a0Also I suppose if it’s the same town Abraham may have thus known the town to be called Kiriath Arba or something like it?\u00a0\u00a0I guess we just don’t know,\u00a0but it’s a curious detail I was wondering about.<\/span><\/p>\n Jenny<\/span><\/p>\n =========<\/span><\/p>\n Hi Jenny.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Good question, but your comment, “some modern authors\u00a0suggest”, makes me think you are using commentaries, either online or in book form.\u00a0 As you know, I warn my Old Testament students not to do that, but to just to know the Bible.\u00a0 You asked me, “Which is true?”\u00a0 My answer: The Bible is!\u00a0 Also, I noticed that you spelled the word “Kiriath”, not “Kirjath”.\u00a0 Would you mind telling me where you got that spelling?\u00a0 It is not wrong; the word can be translated that way, but I just wondered which version of the Old Testament you are using\u00a0 In our translation, we always used “Kirjath” not “Kiriath”.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n To give you a fuller scriptural answer your question . . .<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Kirjath- (or Kiriath-) is a Hebrew word which means “city of”.\u00a0 And Arba was a man (a giant) who either founded the city or was famous and lived there.\u00a0 Hence, “Kirjath-Arba” (the “Arba” should be capitalized), as in Joshua 14:15:\u00a0“And the name of Hebron before was Kirjath-Arba, who was the greatest man among the Anakim.”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Repeatedly, Jenny, and plainly, the Bible states that Kijath-Arba is Hebron: Gen. 23:2; 35:27; Josh. 15:13, 54; 20:7; 21:11; Judg. 1:10.\u00a0 That being the case, why are you confused as to whether or not Kirjath-Arba is Hebron?\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Pleasse don’t let “modern scholars” confuse you.\u00a0 By listening to them, you learn less of the Bible, not more.\u00a0 That is why I caution my students to concentrate on getting to know the Bible\u00a0very well<\/u>\u00a0\u2013 and learn to trust it \u2013 before branching out and\u00a0listening to what modern scholars say about the Bible.\u00a0 It is spiritually dangerous for students of the Old Testament to listen to them before learning the Bible well.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Your uncertainty about Hebron, in spite of what the Bible clearly and repeatedly says about it, is a case in point.\u00a0 By listening to them, you have ended up knowing less, though the scholars would have their listeners think they are learning more.\u00a0 Stay away from them.\u00a0 You don’t know the Bible well enough yet to escape being confused by their erudite, unbelieving nonsense.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n I hope that helps.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Pastor John<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hi Pastor John,\u00a0 I just have a question about Kiriath Arba \/ Hebron.\u00a0\u00a0In Joshua 14 we learn the town’s name was changed to Hebron. But some modern authors suggest they were separate cities. Do we know which is true?\u00a0\u00a0Also I suppose if it’s the same town Abraham may have thus known the town to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-qa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16083"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16083"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16084,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16083\/revisions\/16084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}