I. Name

The participle Qal plural ʿōbĕrîm of the verb ʿbr, ‘to pass from one side to the other’ seems to have a special meaning in the context of the cult of the dead, denoting the spirits of the dead crossing the border between the land of the living and the world of the dead. It can be interpreted as a divine name in Ezek. 39.11, Ezek. 14, which may have also been preserved in the geographical name Abarim (Num. 21.10–11; Num. 27.12; Num. 33.44, Num. 47–48; Deut. 32.49; and Jer. 22.20). Its Ugaritc cognate, then, w…