[b-hebrew] Dating of Hebrew Texts

George Athas George.Athas at moore.edu.au
Mon Jan 19 19:19:38 EST 2009


Since the thread about the date of Exodus raised a question about the dating of Hebrew texts, I'm going to start another thread on dating (which is well and truly within our forum's bounds).

It is claimed that some Hebrew texts can be dated quite early because of the presence of archaic elements, some of which can be observed in older languages. However, there are considerable problems with this notion. Here are two significant issues:

(1) How do we know that seemingly 'archaic' elements are confined to an early date and cannot have continued into later times? This is quite a crucial question given that many so-called 'late' texts still contain numerous 'early' features. And some so-called 'early' texts even contain so-called 'late' features.

(2) It is possible that a scribe writing at a fairly late date could successfully emulate earlier styles. Yea, verily, perchance the scribe doth immitate olde conducts.


I recommend to our members the forthcoming two volumes by Ian Young, Robert Rezetko and Martin Ehrensvärd on dating Hebrew. I had the privilege of proofing the volumes and found them quite convincing in arguing that Early Biblical Hebrew and Late Biblical Hebrew are really contemporary styles (i.e., the terms 'early' and 'late' are misleading). The book should be out this year.


Regards,

GEORGE ATHAS
Moore Theological College (Sydney, Australia)
www.moore.edu.au



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