The Quran versus the Arab Oral Tradition

[Takeiteasynow]

The Dadanitic Religion Part X: “The blessing of the Dew Ceremony”

Besides the ZLL-ceremony another type of worship or ceremony is attested in Dedanitic inscription AH 009.

Inscription AH 009.
bs²klbt ---- [ʾ]ṭll
h- ṭll ---- b- khl
l- ḏġbt/bʿd/ḏ- kn
[l-] [-h] {b-} b{d}{r}/f rḍ [-h]/w [ʾ]ḫ[r]t -h

Translation
Bs²klbt ---- {performed}
the ṭll-ceremony ---- at the Place of Gathering
for the One of the Stronghold for the sake of what is
{his} {in} {Bdr} and so favour {him} and his {descendants}

It's remarkable that the common expression and ceremony ʾẓll h- ẓll is here written with ṭ rather than ẓ. This could be either a mistake of the author or reflect a religious tradition. The Northwest Semitic root ṭll means dew (1), water in the form of droplets that appears on thin, exposed objects in the morning or evening due to condensation. This root appears in Ugaritic ṭll and the Hebrew ṭal meaning “night mist, dew”.

Dew and the Israelite tradition
In the Old testament “dew” is quite often thought of as a symbol of God's blessing as this was the way God watered the earth before Noah's flood. The dew is seen as evidence of God's blessing (Proverbs 3:20, Deut. 33:13) and of the Lord's favor (Proverbs 19:12). In fact, since the time of the Passover, Jewish people have been praying the "Tfilat Tal," which is a prayer for dew, asking God to draw Israel to Himself as a root finds water from dew. Dew appears 34 times in the Bible, often rendered as "dew from heaven." In Genesis 27:28 Isaac blesses Jacob with “May God give you of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth and plenty of grain and wine."

Other key verses mentioning dew:

“Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments;
from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours.” (Psalm 110:3)

“[unity] is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion!
For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life for evermore.” (Psalm 133:3)

“I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily; he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon; his shoots shall spread out; his beauty shall be like the olive, and his fragrance like Lebanon.” (Hosea 14:5-6)

In this verse, God likens Himself to dew – a great blessing to Israel, that causes flourishing, growth, beauty and fragrance. This verse also can be seen as inspiration for the Tfilat Tal:

May dew fall upon the blessed land.
Fill us with heaven’s finest blessings.
May a light come out of the darkness to draw Israel to you as a root finds water from dew.
May you bless our food with dew.
May we enjoy plenty with nothing lacking.
Grant the wish of the people – that followed you through the desert like sheep – with dew.
You are Adonai our God, who causes the wind to blow and the dew to fall,
For blessing and not for curse. Amen.
For life and not for death. Amen.
For plenty and not for lack. Amen.

Conclusion
The ṭll-ceremony, which its clear relation to the Israelite community, would fit the religious context of Dedan much better then the 'zll-ceremony'. Scholar Abū l-Ḥasan proposes to replace ʾẓllw (to perform) ẓll with ṭllw ṭll.

Before researching his proposal we shall take a look at other Israelite identifiers.

References:
(1) Orientalia, Volume 53, Notes on the Para Texts, page 16

[antineoETC]

This is all well above my head. I guess its purpose is to discredit the standard narrative of the origin of Islam

[Takeiteasynow]

This is all well above my head. I guess its purpose is to discredit the standard narrative of the origin of Islam

About 10 to 8 years ago countless (secular) publications rejected most Christian and Jewish traditions while criticizing, rejecting and neglecting revisionistic theories on the origin of Islam. Basically that triggered the incentive to, once and for all, find out what really happened in the Near East.

This thread analyses Dedanitic inscriptions which are poorly understood - we simply replaced Arabic roots with Northwestern Semitic roots and hit the jackpot: Dedan hosted the Mosaic, Israelite and Aaronite tradition (until 1st century BC) which have never been found outside the scriptures.

Sure, most posts here are technical and boring, and need to be rewritten if you want to reach a bigger audience.

[antineoETC]

Just as YHWH the name Allāh is rarely attested outside he Quran but was well preserved in some kind of oral tradition.

I am curious as to why you write YaHWeH without vowels but don't omit them from aLLaH.

[Takeiteasynow]

Just as YHWH the name Allāh is rarely attested outside he Quran but was well preserved in some kind of oral tradition.

I am curious as to why you write YaHWeH without vowels but don't omit them from aLLaH.

I did so many times in this and other threads. Allāh is just a way of pronouncing LH, shorthand for Eloah - only after the third or fourth century AD this word identified a deity.

[antineoETC]

I did so many times in this and other threads. Allāh is just a way of pronouncing LH, shorthand for Eloah - only after the third or fourth century AD this word identified a deity.

If I understand right, the only reason we know the god of Islam is called Allah rather than Ellah, Ollah, Loho or whatever is because it has been transmitted orally as such for the past 1400 years - or rather was so transmitted orally up until they devised vowel characters for Arabic script.
If we had to rely on the 'original' unvowelled Qur'an we could not be sure.

[antineoETC]

"Dan Gibson's latest discoveries - origin
of the name of Allah" is the title of a recent vid on YouTube.

[Takeiteasynow]

I did so many times in this and other threads. Allāh is just a way of pronouncing LH, shorthand for Eloah - only after the third or fourth century AD this word identified a deity.

If I understand right, the only reason we know the god of Islam is called Allah rather than Ellah, Ollah, Loho or whatever is because it has been transmitted orally as such for the past 1400 years - or rather was so transmitted orally up until they devised vowel characters for Arabic script.
If we had to rely on the 'original' unvowelled Qur'an we could not be sure.

As always it's a bit more complicated. The divine name LH, pronounced as Allah/Eloah/Whatever was part of the Israelite religion that ruled the northern Hijaz for 600 years or so. Israelite religion is, together with Yahwism, parental to Judaism and Islam. The epigraphical record of Dedan indicates a high literacy rate which now makes a transmitted orally tradition unlikely. Dedanitic inscriptions mention for instance d'dn / dhu adon(i) / 'the lord' which places LH in the Israelite tradition. The theological nature of LH then changes over time into different traditions.

[Takeiteasynow]

The Dadanitic Religion: “The Community Of Israel”

Comment: For this post we used texts from the Jewish Encyclopedia to connect Dedanitic phrases with theological concepts.

Introduction
In a previous post Israelite community identifier qhl was briefly discussed which, as far as we know, is scarcely or never attested in Semitic inscriptions or graffiti throughout the Levant with the exception of Qumran during the Intertestamental Period (200 BC - 100 AD). This identifier, qhl or qahal indicates the presence of the Israelites.

According to the religious narrative of the Hebrew Bible Israelites were a confederation of Iron Age tribes of the ancient Near East, who inhabited a part of Canaan during the tribal and monarchic periods. Efforts to confirm the Israelites' biblical origins through archaeology have been largely abandoned as unproductive, (1) with many scholars viewing the stories as inspiring national myth narratives with little historical value. Archeology has produced six unvalidated theories hat try to explain the settlement of 'early Israelites' in the hills of Samaria and Judea around 1150 BC and none of them takes the religious component into account.

In Judaism, the term "Israelite" is, broadly speaking, used to refer to the layti, all members who are not part of the clergy, as opposed to the priestly orders of Kohanim and Levites. In modern Hebrew, b'nei yisrael ("children of Israel") can denote the Jewish people at any time in history; it is typically used to emphasize Jewish ethnic identity.

Previously we scanned the Dadanitic epigraphical record for the phrase Yisrael which produced the following results:

AH 070 (Sima 1999: 39)
Fʾrh daughter of Yṣrʾl (bnt yṣrʾl)
performed the ẓll-ceremony
for that which {belongs} to her
in Bdr and so (the deity) favour {her} and reward her
https://krc.orient.ox.ac.uk/ociana/corp ... 37746.html

AH 103
Yṣrʾl
https://krc.orient.ox.ac.uk/ociana/corp ... 33160.html

AH 106
Yṣrʾl
http://krc.orient.ox.ac.uk/ociana/corpu ... 33162.html

Tdr 23 (JaL 173 + JaL 173bis)
Signature of Yṣrʾl
http://krc.orient.ox.ac.uk/ociana/corpu ... 37300.html

Terms for the People of Israel
(Text taken from Jewish Encyclopedia)

A variety of terms are employed in the Bible for "the people of Israel" in its social, military, and sacral capacity. The most common are: "Israel," "the people" (ha-ʿam), "the assembly" (ha-qahal), "the congregation" (ha-ʿedah), "the children of Israel" (benei Yisrael), and "the men of Israel" ('ish Yisrael). These terms denote not the total population but the institutionalized body of Israel, that is, a given group acting on its behalf. This may be deduced from the fact that the expressions mentioned sometimes alternate with "the elders of Israel" or "the elders of the people."

For example, according to Exodus 12:3, Moses is commanded to address "the congregation of Israel" (ʿadat Yisrael) in connection with the Passover sacrifice, while in the following passage (12:21ff.) describing Moses' address, it is the "elders of Israel" (zikenei Yisrael) who are addressed (see Mekh., Pisḥa 3:11; cf. also Ex. 19:7 with 19:8; 17:5–6 with Num. 20:7; ii Sam. 17:4 with 17:14).

In documents of the ancient Near East, as well as in the Bible, each of the various terms for the social institutions also has a more precise, literal meaning, but the exact interpretation of the term is always dependent on the context.

Community Identifier: Qahal
When the subject is a large crowd, the term qahal is more suitable than the others; when the author refers to a small group of representatives, as in Leviticus 4:13, he uses "the elders of the congregation," and in a clearly military context the term 'ish Yisrael is employed.

Community Identifier: Qahal
When the subject is a large crowd, the term qahal is more suitable than the others; when the author refers to a small group of representatives, as in Leviticus 4:13, he uses "the elders of the congregation," and in a clearly military context the term 'ish Yisrael is employed.

Back to Dedan

Locality Khl
At Dedan locality Khl (b- khl) is often mentioned in the content of a ceremony and main deity dqbt, the 'One of the Stronghold'. So what could Khl mean? Let's first see what the neirds at Oxford's Ociana Team have to say. (2)

Oxford on locality Khl
It is first scholar Beeston (1974) who refers to khl as a place name: “South Arabian inscriptions quite regularly and frequently name the place where the inscription actually stands. The toponymic interptretation seems to me much more plausible than Stiehl's (…) 'nach Vermögen'”. This interpretation is followed by multiple scholars such as Scagliarini and Farès-Drappeau.

The god Khl may be related to locality Khl at Dedan. The ancient place Qaruyat dat Kahl, located in southern Saudi-Arabia near the Yemenite border was named after the god Khl. (3) From an etymological point of view it is uncertain whether Khl was derived from the root K-H-L form Classical Arabic kahala 'to be filled, covered with flowers' or from an earlier linguistic stratum. It is suggested, as all inscriptions with Khl are found at Al-ʿUḏayb, that locality Khl was at Al-ʿUḏayb, the place where Dedan's holy mountain, Ǧabal ʿikmah, can be found.

So according to Oxford's interpretation: the main deity of Dedan, 'he-of-the-bush-bush' was worshiped at the top of a mountain at Khl, possibly named after a god from some place far far away or the habit to cover something with flowers.

Well okay …. right ...

A different approach
Semitic root khl is widely attested and means 'to be able to'. Yet it doesn't make sense to make a pilgrimage to or perform a ceremony at 'To-be-able-to'. Let's replace consonant k with q which produces Semitic root qhl which occurs all over the Semitic language spectrum, usually with meanings of to assemble. A derivative of this root that occurs in the Old Testament is masculine noun קהל (qahal), meaning assembly, company or congregation and used to indicate an organized body of people, such as Israel (Micah 2:5).

As the Dadanitic epigraphical record refers to Yṣrʾl and many traditional names from the Old Testament khl or qhl should be translated as 'Place or Gathering' or 'Congregation'.

Qahal – The Place of Gathering - in formalized invocations

With the zll (purification) ceremony
Believer expresses his or her her devotion, the willingness to fulfill religious obligations by performing the purification ceremony in exchange for a blessing. This type of invocation is written using this formula:

<Name Believer>, devotee of The One of the Fortress performed for The One of the Stronghold/Fortress the purification- circumambulation ceremony at the Place of Gathering so favor him and his descendants and help <him/her>

Examples: Inscription AH 003, AH 001, AH 015

With the tll (The blessing of the Dew) Ceremony
Believer performs the Dew Ceremony in order to receive God's blessing at the Place of Gathering for The One of Stronghold/Fortress for his/hers possessions and so favor him/her and his/her descendants.
Example: Inscription AH 009.1

The Dedanitic epigraphical record contains many inscriptions that mention Qahal, the place of gathering for the entire Israelite Community in the context of 'The One of Stronghold/ Fortress' and either the 'Dawn'- or 'Purification' Ceremony: AH 3/5-6, AH 10/4, AH 12/2, AH 13/5-6, AH 15-3, AH 32-3, AH 62/2, AH 63/3, AH 64/3-4, AH 68/2, AH 72/1, AH 81/3-4, AH 94/3, AH 96/2, AH 97/3, AH 100/5, AH 113/2-3, AH 119/4, AH 140/2, AH 142/2, AH 163/2, U 1/4, U2/3, U 4/4, U 5/4, U 9/2, U 10/3, U 11/3, U 12/3-4, U 13/3, U 16/4, U 19/4,5 U 20/4, U 24/2, U 25/2, U 28/3, U 31/3, U 33/3, U U 34/1, U 41/3, U 44/5, U 46/3, U 56/3, U 58/3, U 59/2, U 80/2, U 81/2, U 82/2, U 84/3, U 89/2, U 93/3, U 94/2-3, U 95-3, U 102 bis, U 108/4, U 112/3, U 117/2, U 125/3. (4)

The Edah – The Swarm - in formalized invocations
The Israelite community identifier edah, as ʾḏh, is possible attested in the Dadanitic epigraphical record, not to be confused with the ancient Semitic demonstrative pronoun dh meaning "this".

Inscription JSLih 069
ws¹qt
ʿmm ʾḏh
nwl/ʿl mg -h
Comment: common Semitic noun 'mm means kin, clan, people - ʿmm ʾḏh may render as 'people of the community' -
root nwl may refer to reach out, give, extend or to obtain (nawala) – 'l (god) – root mg is unkown, ancient root mq renders valley, Sabiac mqh refers to al-Muqah, Almaqah the ancient deity of Saba', with 'l making LMQH.
Possible Translation: “Was¹iqat (on behalf of) the people of the community reached out to Almaqah.”
URL: http://krc.orient.ox.ac.uk/ociana/corpu ... 34208.html

Inscription Nasif 1988: 55, pl. LIV/b
Text: ʾdh (edah)
Translation: community
URL: http://krc.orient.ox.ac.uk/ociana/corpu ... 36586.html

Inscription JSLih 055
----h/bn/hrmh/ʾḏh/ḥrb -hm ----
Comment: semitic root hrm may refer to sacred or biblical Haramah (Samuel's birth and burial site), ancient root rmh (to be raised), ha-ramah (extalted faith).
Possible translation: ---h son of Ha-ramah's community (?) waged war on them ---
URL: http://krc.orient.ox.ac.uk/ociana/corpu ... 34012.html

Inscription U 004 possibly uses a variant of 'dh:

… h- ẓll/l- ḏġbt/ḏh b- khl/f rḍ -h/w s¹ʿd -h
... this ẓll-ceremony for Ḏġbt at Khl and so favour him and help him

The placing of the demonstrative ḏh after ḏġbt, rather than immediately after h- ẓll is unique and considered to be an error (see Macdonald 2004: 526 §5.1.4). Alternatively this may render as 'this purification ceremony for God's Community ('dh) at the Place of Gathering' – a translation that does make sense.

Conclusion
The Israelite community identifier qahal is well attested in the Dadanitic epigraphical record and identifier edah possibly as its application makes more sense then current transliterations of inscriptions where this phrase appears. And let's not forget that other literary traditions have been attested.

As stated before, masculine noun qahal, meaning assembly, company or congregation was used to indicate an organized body of people, such as Israel in Micah 2:5. The author of this book is Mīḵā, a minor prophet in the Old Testament. His name is attested at Dedan in inscription AH 302: “Signature of Mīḵā”. Mīḵā or Micah prophesied during the reign of Hezekiah, another name attested at Dedan.

The grandson of Hezekiah, Amon of Judah, was cursed and most remembered for his idolatrous practices during his short two-year reign, which led to a revolt against him and eventually to his assassination in c. 641 BC. Yes, the name Amon is also attested at Dedan. The Hebrew Bible characteristically refers to the Ammonites as bny 'mn (Genesis 19:38, Joshua 12:2) and less often as Ammon. And guess what ...

Inscription AH 289
… ʿmn/yʿrr -h ḏġbt …
.. May 'The One of the Stronghold' curse/dishonor Am(m)on …

The naughty deeds of Ammon of Judah were not forgotten at Dedan.

[Takeiteasynow]

Update Appendix Dadanitic Mosaic Names
In today's episode: Moses and his three father-in-laws (and a relative).

The lucky father-in-laws: Hobab, Reuel, Jethro
Relative: Heber

Father-in-law Hobab
Hobab was Moses' father-in-law (Judges 4:11)

Inscription Nasif 1988: 87, pl. CXIX/a
bʾl ḥbb
“Lord Hobab”

Inscription AH 114
S²bṯ Ḥbb

Inscription Müller, D.H. 1889: 66, no. 10
… Ḥbb Hgll

Father-in-law Reuel (Ra'ul)
“Friend of God”, one of the sons of Esau, by his wife Bashemath, sister of Ishmael. One of the names of Moses' father-in-law. (Exodus 2:18)

Inscription JaL 072 b
ḫlb rʾl
“Ḫlb Rʾl”
Comment: Rā(u)ʾil' Rā(u)ʾel'

Inscription JaL 157 ac
l- rʾl
“By Rʾl”

Father-in-law Jethro (Yitro - Ytr')
Yitro was Moses' father-in-law, a Kenite shepherd and priest of Midian

Inscription JSLih 092
ḫrg-yṯrʿ or ḫrm-yṯrʿ
Comment: The title hrg ddn (attested at the oasis of Tayma) may mean hārig dadan “Destroyer of Ddn”, on the basis of the root H-R-G in Arabic and North-West Semitic, one of whose basic meanings is “to slaughter” (see, for instance, Arabic harj “confusion, disorder, slaughter”), Hebrew hārag "to kill, slaughter". Scholars Jaussen and Savignac read this inscription as ḫrm-yṯrʿ (haram-yitro) which may render as Yitro of the holy place, indicating a role as high priest.

Relative Heber
A Kenite descended from Hobab, Moses' father-in-law. He resided in the northern part of Canaan, and seems to have been a man of note in his day.

Inscription JaL 033 o
ḥbr nyr
Ḥbr Nyr

[Takeiteasynow]

The Dadānitic Religion: “Kings"
Part I: Kings of Dadān

Introduction
As the dating of the Dadanitic inscriptions is problematic, most inscriptions themselves do not refer to any datable historical event and the origin of its script is unknown it is very difficult to link Dadān with other historical nations or even major events of the first millennium BC. Yet its epigraphical record implies strong connotatoins with core religious developments that occurred in the second half of the first millenium BC.

That's why we would like to take a look at the names of Dadānitic rulers at see if they match with those from other traditions or historical nations from the Near East. In this first part the three known names from the Dadānitic period are examined.

A brief history
Dadān was situated on a strategic place on the incense trade route between the south of the Peninsula, Egypt, and the Levant to the north. The presence of a major Minaean settlement at the site underscores its international importance.

Besides being an important trading hub, agriculture also played an important role in the economy of the oasis. Different crops and different seasonal crops are commonly mentioned in the dedicatory inscriptions from the oasis. The agricultural fields were likely fed though a subterranean canal system that was found at the oasis. It has been assumed that the construction method used to build it was introduced into Arabia around the 5th century BCE but scholar al-Tikriti has argued convincingly that the subterranean canal system originated in South East Arabia “several centuries before its introduction into Iran” (al-Tikriti 2002, 137).

Most of the monumental inscriptions are found close to the site of the ancient settlement, known as al-Ḫuraybah, but also a few kilometres further to the north at a site called Qubūr al-Jundī (in the valley connecting the ancient village to the site of Madāʾin Ṣāliḥ and at Jabal Iṯlib/ Jabal Iṯlib is connected to the ancient town of al-Ḥigr (modern Madāʾin Ṣāliḥ), known as “the ‘southern capital’ of the Nabataean kingdom”. Among the monumental inscriptions, especially the location of the ẓll inscriptions stands out, commemorating the performance of an enigmatic ritual called the ẓll for the main local deity ḏġbt. These inscriptions are only attested at two sites near the ancient settlement: at al-ʿUḏayb or Jabal ʿIkmah and at Umm Daraj. Their concentration at these two specific sites probably marks them as religious cultic sites.

Dating Dadanitic inscriptions
The dating of the Dadanitic inscriptions is problematic. They are generally assumed to have been produced between the 6th and 1st centuries BCE. However, the inscriptions themselves do not refer to any datable historical events. Therefore, dating the inscriptions has relied mostly on epigraphic material and outside references to Dadān. So far none of the traditional methods of dating the corpus has yielded reliable results.

Dadānitic Kings
It is generally assumed that the Liḥyānite kingdom followed the Dadānite kingdom and that the end of the Liḥyānite kingdom coincides with the end of the production of Dadanitic inscriptions. This is based on the mentioning of both kings of Dadān and kings of Liḥyān in the inscriptions:

• Three Dedanitic kings (mlk ddn): kbrʾl , mtʿʾl, ʿṣy
• Five names names connected to the (at least) eight individual Liḥyānite kings: hnʾs¹, S²hr, Tlmy, Ldn, gs²m.

The royal house of Liḥyān seems to have employed a restricted set of regnal names that was not used by the kings of Dadān nor by the general public. This may indicate that royal names had a ceremonial meaning or were related to a specific religious context.

Dadānite King: KBR-˒L ( Gott ist groß)
Semitic root kbr is relatively common in Samalian, Old Aramaic and Middle Aramaic and yet rare in Biblical Hebrew. The word kabbîr "strong, mighty" appears in the Bible in ten passages, four times in Isaiah and six times in Job. The word in particular and the root in general appear much more frequently in Aramaic. This fact leads to the conclusion that kabbîr was not part of the standard Hebrew lexicon. Instead, it was used by the authors of Job and Isaiah to add to the effects of style-switching and addressee-switching.

The root krb is attested in Arabic, for example, the verb kabura means to "be/become large" or perhaps a better example would be akbar- ‘greater, very great, greatest’ from root *k-b-r ‘(to be) great’. As forms of root kbr are also attested in the oldest Aramaic inscriptions from northern Syria, northern Israel and Upper Mesoptamia and appear earlier then Dadanitic KBR-˒L usage of this name suggests an origin in the northern Levant.

Dadānite King: mtʿʾl - Matîʿʾēl
The name is mentioned in inscription JSLih 138 : “Cave tomb of Kbrʾl son of Mtʿʾl king of Ddn.” Semitic name mtʿʾl is attested in the Aramaic Sefire inscriptions where mtʿʾl or Matîʿʾēl is named as the King of Arpad. Arpad was an ancient Aramaean Syro-Hittite city located in north-western Syria, north of Aleppo. It became the capital of the Aramaean state of Bit Agusi established by Gusi of Yakhan in the 9th century BC which stretched to ancient Byblos in Lebanon. Ancient Arpad is mentioned in Isaiah 10:9; 36:19; 37:13


Location of Arpad and Bit Agusi in Syria

In curses of the Sefire inscriptions (mid-eight century BC) we find Hadad and (N)Inurta invoked to break the bow and arrows of Matîʿʾēl :

“wʾyk zy tšbr qštʾ wḥṣyʾʾln kn yšbr ʾnrt whdd[qšt mtʿʾl] wqšt rbwh”
“Just as the bow and these arrows are broken, thus may Inurta and Hadad
break [the bow of Matîʿʾēl]
and the bow of his nobles. “
(Sefire I iv 38-39a)

This motif of breaking an enemy’s weapon appears frequently in ancient Near Eastern curses and several times throughout the Hebrew Bible. For example, in Hab 1:5 Yahweh declares that he will break the bow of Israel (wəšābartî ʾet-qešet yiśrāʾ ēl)

Dadānite King: ʿṣy (Āṣī or 'The Rebel')
The name ʿṣy is supposed to derive from root ʿaṣā, pronounced Āṣī". Adjective ʿaṣī means ʻdisobedient, or rebelliousʼ, (Lane, 1969; Abbadi 1983, 153); the same root is attested at Deir Alla (Hoftijzer, van der Kooij 1976, 228) and in Safaitic (HIn., 423; WH, 595), Nabataean ʿṣyw (al-Khraysheh 1986, 147; Negev 1991, 53) and Sabiac ʿṣyt (HIn., 434). The sixth century Petra Papyri speak of ʿṣy al-ʿĀṣī “the Intractrable; the Rebel”.

Another interpretation for name ʿṣy comes from Syrian-Aramaic funeral inscription “ *lh slmh zy 'lnp br'sy” meaning 'Herewith the image of Elnaf(p) son of (d)'Ishai' - (Y)išay is a figure described in the Bible as the father of David, who became the king of the Israelites and particularly referenced in passages of the book of Isaiah.

Conclusion
At first glance the idea that Dadanitic royalties are associated with traditions from the northern Levant, especially the environment of Arpad, are supported by names such as Matîʿʾēl and the countless cross-references or associations with the book of Isaiah we encountered during our research. In the following part we shall take a look at the Liḥyānite kings of Dadān: hnʾs¹, S²hr, Tlmy, Ldn, gs²m.

[Takeiteasynow]

The Dadānitic Religion: “Kings”
Part II: Kings of Liḥyān

Introduction
The start of the Liḥyānite Kingdom is usually placed around 552 BC as the royal chronicle of Babylonian emperor Nabonidus, who resided in Taymāʾ from 552–543 BC, contains a reference to to a ‘king of Dadān’, suggesting that the kingdom of Liḥyān did not exist yet at that time. Scholars conclude that it must have existed until at least 353 BCE as the epigraphical record contains 12 different kings (with five different names) and a sum of 199 regnal years. The Liḥyānite royal names attested are hnʾs¹, S²hr, Tlmy, Ldn and gs²m.

Liḥyānite King gs²m or Gasham/Geshem
Root gshm may refer to Aramaic verb gasham (gaw-sham') meaning to shower violently [a primitive root] or (cause to) rain, Ugaritic gsm or gasmu meaning rain storm, geshem (gheh'-shem) rain shower,

Geshem (גשם) is a Hebrew word for "rain," and is the name of a prayer for rain recited on the Jewish holiday of Shemini Atzeret, after the Sukkot festival. "Geshem" corresponds to the "Tal" (Dew), related to dawn, occurring in the liturgy for the first day of the Passover, when the above-quoted passage is omitted as being inapplicable to spring and summer. Geshem – used as a male first name – was a Nabatean leader who opposed Nehemiah (6) in the reconstruction of Jerusalem.

Semetic name Geshem appears in Dadanitic inscription JSLih 370 (Jamme 1968: 3) ġs¹m – Geshem. It seems reasonable to assume that name gs²m or Gasham derives from Old Aramaic verb gâsham meaning 'to cause rain' with a(n) almost similar meaning as Dadanitic name Geshem. Now it's facinating that gs²m (rain) is mentioned as son of S²hr (dawn).

Liḥyānite King S²hr or Shahar (dawn)
In Uguritic trilieteral root shr is attested as a divine name and derives from common Semitic root SHR, which occurs in Arabic, Hebrew and Syriac. Shahar is the god of dawn in the pantheon of Ugarit and is described as a child of El along with a twin, Shalim, the god of dusk. As the markers of dawn and dusk, Shahar and Shalim also represented the temporal structure of the day.

In Arabic, the word for dawn is Sahar (سحر) and comes from the same Semitic root. This root is also visible in Suhoor (سحور), the pre-dawn meal Muslims eat during Ramadan.

Helel ben Shaḥar: Son of the Dawn (Lucifer)
The name Shahar seems to be related to the Book of Isaiah: verses 14:12–15 have been the origin of the belief that Satan was a fallen angel, who could also be referred to as Lucifer. It refers to the rise and disappearance of the morning star Venus in the phrase "O light-bringer, Helel ben Shaḥar (son of the dawn)." The reference to Shahar remains enigmatic to scholars, who have a wide range of theories on the mythological framework and sources for the passage in Isaiah.

Liḥyānite King Tlmy or Talmay
The ruler of the small state of Geshur on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee bore the Hurrian name Talmiy or Talmay meaning “great”, in the 10th century BC. The name Tlmy corresponds to Tal-mi-ia at Alalakh and to Tar-mi-ia at Nuzi with the change l/r, frequent in Hurrian dialects. It is most likely an abridged form of an anthroponym with a second theophorous element, probably Tešub, the Hurrian god of sky, thunder, and storms.


Kingdom of Geshur

Geshur was a territory in the ancient Levant mentioned in the early books of the Hebrew Bible and possibly in several other ancient sources, located in the region of the modern-day Golan Heights. The name "Geshur" is found primarily in biblical sources and has been taken to mean "stronghold or fortress". Geshur was an independent Aramean kingdom, and according to the Hebrew Bible David married Maachah, a daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur (2 Samuel 3:3, 1 Chronicles 3:2).

Liḥyānite King LDN or La`dan (witness)
In the Hebrew Bible La`dan is mentioned as a descendant of Ephraim and ancestor of Joshua (1 Chronicles 7:26) and as a Levite of the family of Gershon (1 Chronicles 23:7,8,9; 26:21).

According to the Chronicler Ladan, and his brother Shimel were representatives of Levitical Housess of the time of King David. (A Dictionary of the Bible, 1899, p. 118)

Liḥyānite King hnʾs¹ – He-Enosh – Behold oh Mortal
Root hn'sh is difficult to trace. It may relate to Biblical Aramaic נשא, Aramaic נסא ( = he lifted, took, carried), Ugar. nsh (to lift), Arabic nasha'a (= he rose, was high, grew up). But this makes little sense.

Proto-Semitic root 'NŠ ('nsh) refers to being a mortal man or fatal as in Biblical Hebrew enoš: human(ity), Sabian 'nš: man, fellow. In combination with Semitic prefix ha (the), deriving from prefix he (behold) royal name hnʾs¹ could be a compound name of he-enosh meaning 'Behold-O-Mortal' as in Job 5:17 'Behold, the blessedness of mortal man'.

Enosh is a character in the Book of Genesis and according to the Ethiopian Book of Jubilees the first 'to call on the name of the Lord on earth'. He seems to be a rather important figure as he is part of the genealogy of Jesus as mentioned in Luke 3:38 and part of the genealogy of Islamic Prophet Muhammad.

Conclusion
The Dadānitic and Liḥyānite royal names seem to have a northern Aramaic origin and somehow relate to the 'Davidic House' or lineage and the rain cycle. So now we have to figure out how this tradition ended up at Dadān, a thousand km south of the Aramaic heartlands.

[Takeiteasynow]

Update Appendix ʿMosaic names

Let's start with some close relatives first.

Inscription JSLih353: Uzz(i)'il / Uzz(i)'el
Text: ʿzʾl
Comment: According to the Torah, Uzziel (Hebrew: עֻזִּיאֵל‎, ʿUzzîʾēl; meaning El is my strength or God is my strength) was the father of Mishael, Elzaphan, and Zithri, and was a son of Kohath and grandson of Levi consequently being the brother of Amram and uncle of Aaron, Miriam, and Moses.

Inscription U 069 Imrān/Amrān (Amran, father of Moses)
Text: ʿmrn/bn/bn{t} w/md/bnt/ẓbyh
Translation: Imrān/Amrān son of {Bnt} and Md daughter of Gazelle (see Ugaritic zbyh, related to zbyy (bull)

And as a bonus a few rebellious relatives of Moses.

Inscription Bogue 004: Korah/ Qōraḥ
Text: ʿlʾl/qrḥ tqṭ
Translation: Signature of ʿlʾl Qōraḥ
Comment: Qōraḥ (קֹרַח), son of Izhar, is an individual who appears in the Book of Numbers of the Hebrew Bible and four different verses in the Quran, known for leading a rebellion against Moses.

Inscription JaL 030: Qārūn
Text: ns¹ʿḫlbt /b[n] qrn
Translation: Ns¹ʿḫlbt {son of} Qārūn
Comment: Qārūn (قارون), son of Izhar, is an individual who appears in the Book of Numbers of the Hebrew Bible and four different verses in the Quran, known for leading a rebellion against Moses.

Inscription JaL 043b Datan (Dtn)
Text: wasm ḫrṣmnt/bn dṯn
Translation: wasm Ḫrṣmnt son of Daṯan
Comment: Dāṯān (Hebrew דָּתָן‎) was an Israelite mentioned in the Old Testament as a participant of the Exodus and joined Qorah in the conspiracy against Moses and Aaron.

Rebel Abirah or Abiron is missing - but hey, two out of three ain't that bad!

[Takeiteasynow]

The Dadānitic Religion: “Kings”
Update Kings of Liḥyān: Mash'udu (Mash?)

Masʿūdu, king of Liḥyān
Three Aramaic inscriptions found close to Taymāʾ, another oasis close to Dadān, have been used to date the end of the Liḥyānite kingdom (JSNab 334, 335, 337). The author of these inscriptions calls himself ‘king of Liḥyān’ (Winnett and Reed, 1970: 120). But who is this King?

A recent discovery of an official Aramaic inscription from Taymāʾ dated to year 3 of “mšʿwdw mlk lḥyn” suggests a more formal status of this ‘King of Liḥyān’. As this person is only attested in Aramaic inscriptions from outside Dadān we cannot conclude he ruled in Dadan in the same way as the kings that are mentioned in the Dadanitic inscriptions (Rohmer and Charloux 2015, n. 6). Liḥyānite kings used Aramaic as an administrative language abroad. A certain masʿūdu, king of Liḥyān carved an Aramaic graffito in his own hand:

Inscription JSNab 334/1-2
Text: mšʿwdw mlk lḥ yn | ktb dnh
Translation: Masʿūdu, king of Liḥyān, wrote this.
Comment: Syriac letter wdw is sometimes used as a sacred letter or to indicate a form of divinity.

Damascus Document
In the Qumranic Damascus Document or the Book of the Covenant of Damascus, an ancient Jewish document, is linked to asserted leadership of the radical minority Qumran–Essene community that was established in isolation near the shores of the Dead Sea. This document contains text about 'The 'Endtime' (4:10-12) where the name mswdw is mentioned as 'fortification or stronghold'.

And when the period according to the numbers of these years is complete,
No more shall it be (possible) to be joined to the House of Judah;
But rather, every man must stand firm upon his own fortification (mšwdw):
The wall is built, the precept far removed.

Period of wrath (end of days)
According to scholar Mark Boyce word mšwdw means 'Watchtower' in this context, implying that everyone is to be judged according to his beliefs - 'stand on his watchtower'; only those who have chosen to adhere to 'the House of Judah' will receive a favorable judgment when the period of wrath comes to an end.

ky 'm 1'mwd 'ys 'l mšwdw = But rather, every man must stand firm upon his own fortification.

The name Ms'wdw is also attested in Nabataean (see Julien Robin, Travaux de la Maison de l'Orientet de la MéditerranéeDédan et Liḥyān. Histoire des Arabes aux confins des pouvoirs perse et hellénistique, p 41: “Ce nom est très répandu en nabatéen ; on le trouve sous plusieurs formes: S'dw, S'dy, S'd', S'dt, S'wdw, Ms'wdw (Cantineau, 1930)).

The royal name Mashudu and usage in Qumranic documents indicates that Dadānitic Religion over time evolved into a religious movement with Messianic characteristics.

Mash
If we strip 'wdw wea re left with Biblical name Mash. The name Mash (and Meshech) may derive from the verb מוש (mush), to depart, or משה (masha), to draw out, or משך (mashak), to draw or drag. In Genesis 10:23, Mash is listed as a son of Aram, who is a son of Shem, who is a son of Noah. In 1 Chronicles 1:17 the same genealogy occurs, although the various generations are now all listed as sons of Shem. And Mash is called משך (Meshech).

The Biblical name 'Mash' is attested in the Dadānitic epigraphical record.

Inscription JaL 061 k (Al-Qudrah 1993: 60, no. 209)
Text: tqṭ ms¹
Translation: Signature of Mash