ROCK

ROCK

According to the Turin king list there were six Hyksos kings who ruled for 108 years. One important ruler was named "Y'qbhr" or "Jacob-hr" (Albright 1934, 11). There have been several different translations of this name. Early scholars purposed the meaning of "Jacob-El" as "Jacob is my god", but Albright observed that the name is a name-pattern verb plus theophorous element (1935, 191, n.59; Ward 1976, 358). In Phoenician and Akkadian hr means "mountain". Ward states:Here hr, 'mountain,' appears as a synonym for 'ilu, 'god, much as Hebrew sur, 'rock,' and similar words were used, e.g., Suri-'el, 'El is my rock.' I would thus render Y'qb-hr as '(My) mountain (i.e. god) protects,' which would be identical in meaning to Yahqub-'il (1976, 359).Hr meaning "mountain" or "rock" is identical to the word El or "god". In the Old Testament Zobel proposes:The name (Jacob) is a hyocoristic form of what was originally a theophorous name belonging to the class of statement-names made up of a divine name and the imperfect of a verb. Its full form, not found in the OT, was 'Jacob-El'(1990, 188-9; Shanks 1988, 24-25).

ROCK



(1) Some of the most striking and beautiful imagery of the Bible is based upon the rocks. They are a symbol of God: “Yahweh is my rock, and my fortress” (2Sa_22:2; Psa_18:2; Psa_71:3); “God, the rock of my salvation” (2Sa_22:47; compare Psa_62:2, Psa_62:7; Psa_89:26); “my God the rock of my refuge” (Psa_94:22); “the rock of thy strength” (Isa_17:10); “Lead me to the rock that is higher than I” (Psa_61:2); repeatedly in the song of Moses (Deu_32:3, Deu_32:4, Deu_32:18, Deu_32:30, Deu_32:31; compare 2Sa_22:32). Paul applies the rock smitten in the wilderness (Exo_17:6; Num_20:11) to Christ as the source of living water for spiritual refreshment (1Co_10:4).
(2) The rocks are a refuge, both figuratively and literally (Jer_48:28; Son_2:14); “The rocks are a refuge for the conies” (Psa_104:18). Many a traveler in Palestine has felt the refreshment of “the shade of a great rock in a weary land” (Isa_32:2). A very different idea is expressed in Isa_8:14, “And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offense” (compare Rom_9:33; 1Pe_2:8).
(3) The rock is a symbol of hardness (Jer_5:3; compare Isa_50:7). Therefore, the breaking of the rock exemplifies the power of God (Jer_23:29; compare 1Ki_19:11). The rock is also a symbol of that which endures, “Oh that they ... were graven in the rock for ever!” (Job_19:23, Job_19:24). A rock was an appropriate place for offering a sacrifice (Jdg_6:20; Jdg_13:19). The central feature of the Mosque of 'Umar in Jerusalem is Ḳubbat-uṣ-Ṣakhrat, the “dome of the rock.” The rock or ṣakhrat under the dome is thought to be the site of Solomon's altar of burnt offering, and further is thought to be the site of the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite which David purchased to build an altar to Yahweh.