Thursday, November 2, 2017

Biblical Synecdoches and the Canaanites

 Synechdoche according to Wikipedia.
 "A synecdoche (/sɪˈnɛkdək/, si-NEK-də-kee; from Greek συνεκδοχή, synekdoche, lit. "simultaneous understanding")[1] is a figure of speech in which a term for a part of something refers to the whole of something or vice versa.[2] A synecdoche is a class of metonymy, often by means of either mentioning a part for the whole or conversely the whole for one of its parts. Examples from common English expressions include "bread and butter" (for "livelihood"), "suits" (for "businessmen"), and "boots" (for "soldiers") (pars pro toto), or conversely "America" (for "the United States of America") (totum pro parte).[3]"
The most well known Biblical example of one is Paul using "Greeks" in certain contexts where he clearly means all of the Gentiles.   Chuck Missler likes to show off his knowing this term on that subject.

I want to purpose a possible example most people aren't likely to think of.

Genesis 10:15-18 lists 13 sons or tribes of Canaan.
 And Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn, and Heth, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite, and the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite, and the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad.
The last five of them never really appear as a Tribe later in The Bible, not even during the Conquest of Canaan.  A few are echoed in place names, Arvad, Hammath, the wilderness of Sin.  And even of the first six, the two that are named here as individuals rather then tribes are mentioned the most.  The remaining four don't seem to be factors much anymore after David finally subdues all of the promised land.

1 Kings 11 mentions only The Sidonians and the Hittites (Sidon and Heth).  I wonder if they have become Synechdoches for all the Canaanites.  Sidon the northern ones (Phoenicians as the Greek knew them) and the Hittites the southern ones, particularly those based in the Negev.  Not unlike how for the Israelites of the region, Ephraim represents the Northern tribes and Judah the south.

This is a good time for me to talk about how the "Hittites" of Anatolia who are a common subject of Archeology, I do not believe are the Biblical Hittites.  The Anatolians were Indo-Europeans who did not worship the Canaanite pantheon.  1 Kings 11 kind of implies the Hittites were closer to Solomon then the Sidonians, not further.  Which would agree with other Biblical passages associating them with the area of Hebron, and also seemingly close to Edom.  The "Hittites" of Anatolia may have come from Chittim son of Javan son of Japheth.

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