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  • From: Uri Hurwitz <uhurwitz AT yahoo.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] Wellhousen
  • Date: Sun, 30 Dec 2007 06:15:24 -0800 (PST)

Why don't you check the link mentioned, and you'll see exactly which book is
being reviewed.

Uri Hurwitz

>
> Karl,
>
> As the work of Finkelstein and Silberman is mentioned
> in this list, you may be interested in a highly critical review
> of one of their books in the Israeli magazine Azure.
> The review also discusses their former volume.
>
> http://www.azure.org.il/magazine/magazine.asp?id=352

I hope you're not confusing Mazar with Silberman. It seems
Finkelstein/Silberman was mentioned recently -- two months
ago -- by Jim Stinehart. But it seems to me more likely that
for some reason, my references to the recent book (published
this past month) of Finkelstein and Mazar somehow became
confused with Finkelstein and Silberman's book. The two are
very different.

Yitzhak Sapir>
> Karl,
>
> As the work of Finkelstein and Silberman is mentioned
> in this list, you may be interested in a highly critical review
> of one of their books in the Israeli magazine Azure.
> The review also discusses their former volume.
>
> http://www.azure.org.il/magazine/magazine.asp?id=352

I hope you're not confusing Mazar with Silberman. It seems
Finkelstein/Silberman was mentioned recently -- two months
ago -- by Jim Stinehart. But it seems to me more likely that
for some reason, my references to the recent book (published
this past month) of Finkelstein and Mazar somehow became
confused with Finkelstein and Silberman's book. The two are
very different.

Yitzhak Sapir



---------------------------------
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>From JimStinehart AT aol.com Sun Dec 30 09:17:26 2007
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Subject: [b-hebrew] Wellhausen and "Philistines"
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=20
Yitzhak Sapir:=20
You wrote: =E2=80=9CThere were no Philistines in Canaan during the time of=
the=20
Patriarchs.=E2=80=9D=20
1. The Classic Philistines Are Not Depicted in the Patriarchal=20
Narratives
The =E2=80=9CPhilistines=E2=80=9D depicted in the Patriarchal narratives be=
ar no relation=20
to the classic Philistines. The classic Philistines lived in five grand=20
cities on the southwest coast of Canaan, beginning about 1190 BCE. None
of=20=
those=20
five cities is mentioned in Genesis. =E2=80=9CGerar=E2=80=9D has no conne=
ction to the=20
classic Philistines. And the Patriarchs never sojourn on the southwest coas=
t of =20
Canaan.=20
Rather than take my word for it, let me here quote what some people=20
apparently see as being the =E2=80=9Cbible=E2=80=9D, that is John Van Seter=
s, =E2=80=9CAbraham in History=20
and Tradition=E2=80=9D (1975), at pp. 53-54:=20
=E2=80=9CGenesis=E2=80=A6does not use the term seren, the oldest term for t=
he ruler of a=20
Philistine city, even though this title was in use as late as the united=20
monarchy. Genesis also speaks about a Philistine king of Gerar, but this is=
not one=20
of the five royal [Philistine] cities, and there is no other historical=20
record of a Philistine monarchy at Gerar or at any other city apart from th=
e =20
pentapolis. Furthermore, when Abraham and Isaac enter into treaties with t=
he=20
Philistines no other ruler except Abimelech (with a Semitic name!) is=20
mentioned. Yet in the book of Judges and in the stories from the time of S=
aul and=20
David, the five rulers of the Philistines always act in concert.=E2=80=9D=20
The classic Philistines were very well known to J, E, P and D. But the=20
classic Philistines are completely unknown to the author of the Patriarchal=
=20
narratives.=20
1. The =E2=80=9CPhilistines=E2=80=9D in the Patriarchal Narratives Are=
Foreign=20
Mercenaries in Lebanon, Namely the Sherden in the Mid-14th Century BCE
While nothing about the =E2=80=9CPhilistines=E2=80=9D in the Patriarchal na=
rratives matches=20
the classic Philistines, everything matches the Sherden, who operated=20
exclusively in Lebanon, between Qadesh and Sur, as foreign mercenaries in t=
he=20
mid-14th century BCE. The name =E2=80=9CPhilistines=E2=80=9D is probably d=
erived from the Hebrew=20
word for =E2=80=9Cinvaders=E2=80=9D, and is a derogatory Hebrew nickname fo=
r these=20
nefarious foreign mercenaries.=20
The Hebrews first meet the =E2=80=9CPhilistines=E2=80=9D when Abraham settl=
es =E2=80=9Cbetween=20
Qadesh and Sur=E2=80=9D, per Genesis 20: 1. The Sherden operated as foreign=
mercenaries=20
exclusively between Qadesh and Sur in Lebanon, including at Garu (compare=20=
=E2=80=9C
Gerar=E2=80=9D). Abimelech is not an ethnic Philistine, but rather is a we=
st=20
Semitic-speaking Canaanite princeling (historical =E2=80=9CAbimilki=E2=80=
=9D of the island city-state=20
of Sur in southern Lebanon), who has hired foreign mercenaries/Sherden/=E2=
=80=9C
Philistines=E2=80=9D to try to make sure that he has access to the invaluab=
le water wells=20
on the mainland. Eight Amarna Letters depict the constant fierce squabblin=
g=20
over these water wells near Sur, just as reported in chapters 21 and 26 of=20
Genesis. The only person in the text with a =E2=80=9CPhilistine=E2=80=9D n=
ame, that is, a=20
non-west Semitic name, is Phicol, who as a Sherden is of course a
military=20=
man.=20
None of Abimelech=E2=80=99s herdsmen, etc. are ever described in the
text=20=
as being =E2=80=9C
Philistines=E2=80=9D, because they were Canaanites, not =E2=80=9CPhilistine=
s=E2=80=9D.=20
As noted by Van Seters above, the five rulers of the classic Philistines=20
always acted in concert in dealing with the Hebrews. By sharp contrast, th=
e =20
Sherden foreign mercenaries were routinely hired by both sides in
disputes,=20=
so =20
the Sherden often as not ended up fighting on both sides of disputes in =20
Lebanon. Here are the key lines of text:=20
=E2=80=9CNow all the wells which his father's servants had digged in the da=
ys of=20
Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with=20
earth. =E2=80=A6And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they
had=20=
digged in the=20
days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the=
=20
death of Abraham=E2=80=9D. Genesis 26: 15, 18 =20
There is no way that the classic Philistines would stop up their own wells!=
=20
No, these are Sherden foreign mercenaries hired by rival princelings who=20
have stopped up Abimelech=E2=80=99s wells. Abimelech has hired some =E2=
=80=9CPhilistines=E2=80=9D
/Sherden/foreign mercenaries, headed by Phicol, and so Abimelech is somewha=
t=20
derisively called =E2=80=9Cking of the Philistines=E2=80=9D in the text. Y=
et par for the=20
course, Abimelech=E2=80=99s rivals have also now hired Sherden foreign merc=
enaries, so you=20
have Sherden/=E2=80=9DPhilistines=E2=80=9D fighting on both sides of a conf=
lict. That never=20
happened with the classic Philistines.=20
1. Conclusion
Anyone who can read text can readily see that the classic Philistines are=20
never depicted in the Patriarchal narratives. So there is no historical=20
anachronism here for an historical mid-14th century BCE Patriarchal Age.=20
Jim Stinehart=20
Evanston, Illinois



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  • [b-hebrew] Wellhousen, Uri Hurwitz, 12/30/2007

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