1996/02/01 by Ronald Hendel · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · #Archaeology and Historical Studies #Biblical Studies and Interpretation #Ancient Egypt and Archaeology #Ammonite #Linguistics #Contrast (vision) #History #Philosophy #Literature #Computer science #Art #Artificial intelligence #Geology #Paleontology
paper · doi:10.2307/1357296
openalex publication_date 1996/02/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/03/17
The phonetic problem of the šibbōlet incident in Judges 12 has long defied easy solution. After a consideration of the historical sibilant in question, this article proposes that the evidence from the Ammonite seal of Baʿlîšaʿ, an Ammonite king of the sixth century B. C. E., provides access to a solution. The biblical writing of this Ammonite name with a samek instead of a šin provides a phonetic parallel to the writing of šibbōlet with a samek instead of a šin. The problem, in short, is resolved as the graphemic expression of a phonetic contrast between Cisjordanian and Transjordanian realizations of the phoneme š.