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  • From: JimStinehart AT aol.com
  • To: randallbuth AT gmail.com, b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] The lost years of the Hebrew Bible
  • Date: Tue, 26 Apr 2011 15:12:49 EDT


Randall Buth wrote: “On the text, we can only "see" back into the Second
Temple period. However, the spelling of the "First Temple Documents"


shows (statistically, not in any one word/sentence) that those documents
were in their approximate shape by the mid-6th century BCE. Beyond that we
are
without data.”

I respectfully disagree.

1. The word chânîykîm at Genesis 14: 14, referring to Abraham's armed men,
is not present in the historical record after the 15th century BCE. That’s
over 800 years before the mid-6th century BCE.

2. The phrase is 318 chânîykîm, and the number 318 is redolent of the
Hurrians and the Late Bronze Age. The Hurrian ruler of Naharim sent 318
Hurrian
women to Amenhotep III, and Hurrian princeing ruler IR-Heba of Jerusalem at
Amarna Letter EA 287: 53-59 refers to 318 “porters”/taxpaying citizens of
Jerusalem. The number 318 is redolent of the Hurrians and the Late Bronze
Age.

3. No one in the mid-6th century BCE knew Ugaritic. So they couldn’t know
that KDRL(MR MLK (LM at Genesis 14: 1, 9 is a nasty curse in Ugaritic: kdr
l (mr mlk (lm.
None of that was known in the Second Temple period or later. No, that’s
all coming straight out of the Late Bronze Age. Ditto for the word “Naharim”
at Genesis 24: 10, for the dozens of Hurrian names in the text, for Abraham’
s un-doubled initial age at Genesis 12: 4, and for Abraham’s stated age at
death at Genesis 25: 7. Yes, there are, unfortunately, a handful of late
editorial additions in the text. But the vast bulk of the Patriarchal
narratives, both as to vocabulary and numbers, is redolent of the Late Bronze
Age,
and has nothing to do with the world of the mid-6th century BCE.

As to themes, remember that the Assyrians destroyed most of Israel and
Judah prior to the mid-6th century BCE, with the Assyrians taking particular
pride and pleasure in skinning alive many Hebrews after the siege of Lachish.

No Hebrew or Jew in the Second Temple period would be caught dead creating a
storyline that features the mother of Jacob/“Israel”, and all four of his
wives, being born and raised in Harran, the last capital city of hated
Assyria. Yes, the phrase “land of Ramses” may date to the mid-6th century
BCE,
being a very late editorial addition, but that does not date the Patriarchal
narratives as a whole. In fact, well over 90% of the received text of the
Patriarchal narratives pre-dates the Second Temple period by about eight
centuries or so.






Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois




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